Customer Reviews

RCA D40W20 40" HDTV-Ready Theaterwide TV

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Well I am still amazed at the picture in HDTV 1080i; This TV is awesome, for the money, I looked at the Mitsubishi and was impressed as well, however
The price tag was much higher. This 52" unit is the same as the Scenium line without the
Added DVD, etc. On a note I did like the black border around the Scenium but I was
On a budget. The Scenium models were over 2K. Back to this unit, It truly is nice, the
White looks as good as a tube set, sitting back watching a HD broadcast takes you into a
State of mind that causes your brain to keep saying "wow" look at how good this looks
This keeps distracting me from the content of the show... I am just now starting to get
Over that shock and can follow along with the program.
It has DVI, plus 2 sets of Component inputs and 3 sets of S-Video. You can't go wrong with this set. I sold my 4 year old 4:3 46" RCA and could never go back!

I bought the RCA D52W15, which is essentially the D52W20 without the screen shield. The price, quality of picture and overall style were the selling points for me. Normally I would buy a Sony or other Japanese brand well known for quality, but this set just looked better than any others I had seen. The cabinet styling has a very slim look. Many sets looked big and blocky from the front as well as the backs being made with particle-board where the RCA is build like the DPL receivers using light but sturdy looking plastic. I noticed also that every set with a screen shield (just about all) was reflecting the lights of the showroom where the RCA has the mat finish (D52W15 only) and barely reflected any room lighting giving a better picture without distraction. I don't have kids or pets living in the house so I'm not worried about the screen being damaged. I am very happy so far with the performance and look in my home. As of this writing I have had it a little over a month. I bought a service contract, With a large purchase like this and being an RCA, I don't want to take chances. I have experimented with the settings and have gotten satisfaction in viewing even poor quality video. I notice even on the same stations some shows look stunning while others look poor and out of focus, so it's not the TV. I am sure the more expensive HDTV sets have more features for setting the picture parameters, but I find this set has enough to get great viewing. I find the "Cinerama" screen format is best for most 3:4 ratio broadcasts where you want the whole screen filled with least distortion on the edges. I find when watching widescreen DVDs, to eliminate black bars still seen because of being filmed in a non standard aspect ratio, I use the "16:9 up/down" mode and center the picture and loose very little picture while filling my whole screen. I hate seeing black or grey bars. I have set the contrast down to about 35%, it will save on CRT phosphor wear and then juggling color and black levels it looks better to me than the factory settings that tend to be over saturated in most cases. The audio is good, but It doesn't matter, being I am hooked up to a good A/V receiver with surround sound. Even commercials sound and look good.

Well, if you're reading this review, then it's probably because you're unsure about which TV to buy, or are unsure about weather or not you want to quote "give up the quality for the price." I know because I was in the same situation as you when I went out and bought this TV. I bought this TV about two years ago and it still has the same quality as when I bought it.

To be honest with you, this is not the exact model I bought. I bought the RCA D52W15B, but the only difference that I found when researching the two is that the D52W20 model has a protective screen over the actual screen and has a black strip at the bottom of the TV where as the RCA D52W15B doesn't have the protective screen and has a silver strip at the bottom instead. But what I have found with the protective screen coverings is that when there is light, the protective coating will reflect a glare when viewed at an angle. Without the protective coating, I can watch the T.V. with a 145° viewing range without any problems and still get a clear picture.

The picture quality on this HDTV is 1080i, which makes the viewing experience one that you and your guests will remember... that is if they don't have one themselves. ;) This TV seriously produces lifelike colors and clearly defined images. And along with the many picture enhancements, there is the scan velocity modulation for improved detail and auto convergence, which will keep the picture quality in focus. There are a lot more that I yet to have player around with, probably more than enough for the home theater experience.

One factor you need to take in to consideration when purchasing a DVD player if you plan to own this TV, is to make sure the DVD's quality will match up to the T.V. I don't recommend that you cheap out on the DVD player or you'll bring down the picture quality with it. The DVD player should at LEAST have component video outputs, and I recommend turning on progressive scan if the DVD player has it. Both the component video outputs and the progressive scan will really help increase the picture quality.

There are a lot of inputs that you can choose from to use. There is an antenna/cable input, two sets of standard A/V inputs, two S-video inputs, two sets of component video inputs, and a DVI-HDTV input. The inputs you should use to achieve the best picture quality are the component video inputs for the DVD player(s) and component or DVI-HDTV input for your cable or satellite. The other inputs seriously only decrease the picture quality from what it could be when it's at its best. Also you should keep in mind that when you use the component video inputs, that in order to use the inputs, that you have use component video cables. I recommend using the Monster Standard Cables, but I'm not saying you should buy the best ones they offer. I found some cheaper ones made by Monster Standard for around 20-40 dollars a cable, depending on length. (They sell ones at 120 to "who knows where" dollars a cable too)

As for the construction of this television, I found it to be quite durable and well designed. It might have a thin screen, but the screen or picture quality didn't get damaged when I took a slight fall into the main screen. What a scare for me... I freaked, but all was well... luckily. It was a slight accident I encountered when setting up our surround sound system. But don't try it... I wouldn't take the risk if I were you, and really wish that that hadn't happened. As for the plastic casing, which looks really slick, is also really durable. It might look thin, but its really well made.

One of the drawbacks that I noticed was that the picture quality seemed to decrease when I went from my DVD video inputs to my cable T.V. inputs, which I noticed a quite of my friends TV's did as well. After a bit of research, I learned that for this TV, if you don't have an HD receiver, this set will display 480p, but you can purchase an HD receiver, and then the content can be viewed in 1,080i. Quick fix really. But also keep in mind when viewing any station, that not all the stations have switched over to HDTV, so some, actually most, will not meet the best quality that this TV will produce.

There are a lot of screen choices that you can chose from other than the 16:9 format that the display is. But when the T.V. is in the standard format, 4:3, there are gray bars on the sides that are annoying. In order to enhance the picture quality, they should make them black to make the picture stand out more than the bars. Most wide screen TV's come with black bars.

Overall, I'm really happy with this TV. It's definitely worth the money to buy it. I would say on a five star rating scale I would give this TV a 4.30.

© 2005 - David Chen - All Right's Reserved

At first I thought the RCA D52W20 was an excellent purchase, but over the next few days of ownership I started to notice the many, many flaws that ultimately led to my returning this product after 20 days and buying a Samsung instead.

In order of importance, the significant problems with this set are:

1) The screen edge regions did not produce a sharp image.
2) The convergence needed to be adjusted twice daily as there was a marked drift on both the blue and red projectors.
3) There is only 1 (center) manual convergence point. Similar sets from Sony, Toshiba, etc give you 9 points to adjust.
4) Ghost streaks appeared to the right of bright objects in high contrast situations.

This being said, the RCA generally produced a "good" picture, and who really watches the edge of the screen anyway, right? ;-)

Bottom line - this set is available at a discount price, but it also delivers discount quality.

Bought my TV in May. Loved owning it. Then it broke. Found out picture tube had a design flaw in it that allowed fluid to slowly leak onto the circuit board. Turned it on one day and the whole thing just popped and turned off. Circuit board shorted out frying most of the interior. It has been 2 months now and still haven't gotten it fixed. Not the repair guys fault. Thomson Electronics, who is the maker, is taking forever to replace the parts. My repair guy who was recommended by Thomson, said I should just try and get a new TV since most of the parts need to be replaced. Thomson doesn't like that idea. They say it
is not their policy. Got off the phone today. May take another 10 days before they even find one of the parts. I will never recommend or buy a Thomson product again. By the way I think they make RCA and Proscan as well. They also settled a class action law suit two years ago in Minn. regarding faulty picture tubes.
KP

This TV has a very nice, classy, understated look about it. The picture and features it has are absolutely amazing. I swapped from a 36" Sony flatscreen and am ecstatic. The picture tube TVs are just too darn HEAVY. You need a forklift every time you want to move it to a different place or perform a thorough cleaning. They are very difficult for 2 people to handle and you really can't use more people because there is not enough room. I can move this set around by myself!! And it is BIGGER! You can keep your large picture tube TVs; the picture is better on this one!

This unit has not worked properly since new. Great picture on regular cable, but when hooked up to HD receiver, it shuts itself off. 7 months trying to find someone to repair it, now been in shop over six weeks, with no end in sight. WARRANTY SUCKS.

I bought this TV about a year and a half ago, and although I was initially impressed with the picture quality of the TV, my TV has been in the shop for a total of 3 months as of this writing. The problem I've had with the TV is quite similar to the one which others have described, where the TV randomly blinks off and on until it finally burns and fizzles out.. I have also seen that it is a serious fire hazard because of this same problem, although I was fortunate enough not to have my set catch on fire. I had purchased a 3-year extended warranty from The Brick, but their service center says that they have tried with no avail to obtain the needed parts from Thomson/RCA. I have tried contacting their customer support department, and they have been nothing but rude and unhelpful. I would not recommend this TV or any other RCA product, unless you enjoy headaches.

Check posts on Internet forums before buying. I have had personal experience. Check out the www.hometheaterspot.com RCA GE PROSCAN forum for details. This product series has known problems that RCA has not resolved, despite the apparent number of units failing.

I bought the TV new a year ago. Had it about 4 months when I noticed that the cable connector had come loose. Replaced the TV and the new one did the same thing less than 4 months later. Also had problems with the picture and they had to replace a major component. Guess the TV is designed to be replaced every few months. The picture isn't good enough to warrant the cost! Will not own another RCA product. Good luck with customer service!