Used RCA F38310

JoeRoscoe

I have a Sony KV-34HS420 34" widescreen, purchased in 2004 and have had no problems (it's one of three Sony's I currently have)...Renouned for it's picture quality, it's not the top of the Wega line, but it has a feature known as Digital Reality Creation (DRC) which "replaces the NTSC waveform with the HD equivalent while doubling the number of vertical and horizontal lines, this results in four times the density for quality sources"...A built in line doubler which is non-defeatable.

I use this set as my primary HD source and have not been disappointed and for the asked $150.00, it's a steal!

featherburner

If you get a chance to see the RCA before you buy it, on top of the HDTV there are a number of buttons. For the Service Menu. Press: Info, Menu-OK and right side of volume (plus). Put your 3 fingers on these buttons at one time, if you did it right you will see a darker color of grey, in towards the middle. Or a Service Menu depending on how new that particular set is.

Take your purple button in center of remote and with what ever color you 'chose'(Blue, Green etc) push right arrow. Hit OK button and HDTV will start doing its own diagnostic tests. One by one if alright you will see OK in caps.


Odometer reading of hours used, go back to Button to left. Odometer, 'again' choose right arrow and hit OK button. Hours used will be displayed. Get out of Service Menu at 'any' time hit clear on lower right purple button your using.

CleanGetaway

^Thank you! That's very useful information. Just one last question in here. I have a friend who has also been looking for a cheap HDTV, and I just found another set on craigslist that looks promising. It's a Toshiba 30HF85 for the same price ($150). Does anyone know anything about that set? Is it as good as the Sony, better? Thanks a lot for all the help!

frittob

I own this TV, have for 8+ years ... it's a champ, probably well worth the $200+ dollars (i paid over $2500 for it years ago) ... and it does have the HD Tuner built in

Chris Gerhard

I remember this RCA 38" CRT really well. It includes a built in DirecTV/ATSC tuner and it was an interesting display and the picture was in fact very good. I have the same tuner, the RCA DTC-100 still. It was good tuner for its time but I suspect current tuners are much better. I don't believe DirecTV will permit subscribing the MPEG-2 only receiver and there is no HDMI and no DVI input on this HDTV.

My recommendation is buy something newer, not this behemoth. I have a 30" CRT HDTV and I am no longer able to safely move the thing by myself, it weighs about 120 lbs so this one must be 150+ lbs.

Chris

xjayx

yea i would say pass

DonDPaul

Hi. Today is March 10th. Read your posting. I have had the RCA F38310 since 2001. The set has been wonderful. Next week I am getting a new plasma, and I'm moving the RCA to a friend's place.
Just wanted to give you a couple of things to ponder.

1. The continuing fan in the back that cools the tuner, etc. does constantly bother me, to an extent. I took a power strip and plugged the set into it. I switch it off and on when I want complete silence, like overnight. Otherwise, it's not an issue during broadcast when it's on.
2. The DirecTV high definition receiver is an old version. With new programming, DirecTV sent me a new High Def receiver. They weren't familiar with the set, and I had to educate them at least three or four times. Even when the Direct rep came with the new receiver, he couldn't understand it, then when he did, and called in, Direct said there was no way to replace the internal receiver.
So the new receiver is connected to the CMPT (component) connection in the back, and I have to move through all the inputs to get back to broadcasting. And when plugged in, there's a ghost on the right side of the screen about 1 1/2 " wide. During high def broadcasts, I got used to it.

Other than those two issues, the fan, and the obsolete tuner, the set has been VERY reliable. I hooked in DVD/VCR/TUNER to it. The picture has been wonderful.
Sound wise, I cut off the speakers and use external speakers through my digital receiver.

Because of our new age, it has no HDMI. It does have RGB component inputs and Super VHS.

It's out of date, yet quite cutting edge in it's day and was a smart buy in 2001.

It's now 2009. Plasma and LCD are here. And HDMI plus SD input also.

On my new plasma being delivered next week, there's even a pc input.

So...there you go.

Don

Bigloww

Since the thing weighs almost 250 pounds, I hope you are renting a fork lift..

I never knew they made a 38'' 16:9 CRT.. In 2001 that thing would of been the shit.. CRT still produces some of the best SD and HD PQ I have seen.. I loved my old Sony. Even if it is 7 years old, if the PQ was still great, I would probably snatch it up for $200..It would make 1 kick ass 360/PS3 TV for sure in a game room or something.. But no way I am dragging that mofo up any stairs..

__________________
Commit to the Indian..

In Loving Memory of Junkie, The Rizz, Eagle and the Boys.. They are gone (wasted in fact) but not forgotten..

gaberino

Hate to bump up old threads, but I too am a current owner and I bought this back in 2003. Been an awesome TV for me. For the first couple of years I used the DirectTV tuner, and for about 4 years it was the most spectacular HD presentation that I could compare anything to. I've never kept a car this long!

The only bothersome thing, is that it gets a weird ringingbuzz when viewing HD content. A light tap on the back or a reposition makes the sound go away. When I'm not watching it I just cut power to it. That's probably why it's lasted this long. But it's time for a "refresh", and although the only HD content I watch now is whatever I can get through an XBOX with component cables (not 360).

Now I'm looking to get rid of it, and I doubt I'll be able to get even $200 for it.

It's a heavy beast. It has survived over a dozen moves, most of them on top floors.

Tankerbot

Given that my family doesn't have a lot of money to throw at something, 250 dollars is a steal in my book. If my parents saw that at a garage sale and had the money they would most certainly buy the dam thing. :P

Something being that heavy would not be much of a deterrent. That TV is borderline 40 inches and screen size is all that is important in this house hold.

We used to own a 61inch rear projection HDTV (didn't have HDMI though, only DVI and Component inputs for HD). Worked great untill the repo man came. :P

Now we got a crappy 20 inch SD tv.

Fortunatly my computer has a ATSC tuner card. So I can watch HD in my bedroom. Only 720p though as my monitor can't do 1080 res.

JabbaTHutt

You know I would not hesitate to buy this tv if you are on a limited budget, I got my used for $700 a few years ago and its on most of the day almost every day. I didn't get the stand with mine, but it was worth $250 itself so tv and stand for $250 or less is a great price.

THE PICTURE ON THIS IS AMAZING and it does have an ATSC tuner in it and I use it every night.

I have a buddy that has been trough a few HD sets and currently has a 72" toshiba DLP and he still comes over here and sits in front of my TV and says F@#$K what a picture.

The odometer reading is actually the power timer and and the turn on time, the timer runs as long as it is plugged in. There have been a few upgrades to the tv, mine is at A05.10, I thin there is one or 2 more but they where only available over the sat connection.

I remember seeing this tv in a local shop new many years ago, I was in there a couple years ago and they asked me what tv I had, and I told them, the tech didn't know which one I was talking about so the salesguy says, you know the $5000 RCA we had sitting besides the $40,000 plazma that we had to move to the other side of the store because the RCA made the plazma look like shit.

I can tell you right now if that tv was local here for $250 and it was working it wouldn't be for sale long, I would snatch it right up.

They can have problems that will make the tv useless, I think it has something to do with the power supply in the built in tuner for HD as it controls all the inputs and everything, I think it was some kind of upgrade to parts on the power supply so if the seller has had it since new ask if it has had this upgrade, if it has I would say its going to be reliable for a few years at least..

I have had dishnet 6000 HD hooked to it and bell 6000, currently I have the component inputs hooked to my panasonic receiver which gives me 2 component inputs, one is hooked to my LG upconverting dvd player the other one is hooked to a 3 input component video switch which currently has an old sony bluray hooked to it along with a newer HD DVD player.

Another nice thing about it is that it has an optical output on the tv which also outputs anything that is put into the tv, so if you have svhs or composite inputs to it or even a channel 3/4 input it still sends the audio out the optical output.

Another thing that is nice about it is that it has 2 ATSC/NTSC inputs so one could be hooked to cable but would only get SD stations and the other one to OTA for OTA HD.

I would say the first thing to do with the tv is to take the cover off and blow all the dust out of it and then make sure all the fans are working, there are 3 of them and one of them is on all the time.

Who ever it was on here that has one that they didn't think they could get $100 for it, if you are within a couple hours of niagara falls I will come take it off your hands.

JabbaTHutt

This is the biggest 16:9 CRT ever made, there is another tv out that uses this same CRT but it doesn't have the RCA tuner in it so it is only an HD ready set, without the direct tv tuner in it there is also no ATSC tuner, so you have to supply it with HD content.

Moving it is a pain, takes a couple of strong guys to carry it and there are no handles at all on it.