MooMooMooMoo

My beloved Sony 42" CRT died last night. As I can't pick it up (I'd guess it weighs 300-400 pounds) Best Buy ended up being about the only local choice (free delivery & haul away)

The set above & a Westinghouse were the cheapest 55"'s they had.

Does anyone have any experience &/or opinions with this for watching TV, DVD & blu?

I know it's not top quality, & it truly was a blind buy, as they didn't have a display unit but seems to have fewer neg reviews on Amazon then the $20 cheaper Westinghouse.

I paid $419 + the extended in home warranty (since it won't fit in my car if it does need repair...)

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/rca-55-c...=1219065629534

Alan Smithee

RCA isn't even a sliver of what it used to be.

MooMooMooMoo

Yes, since my original post I have come to the conclusion that it has the worst picture of any post 1980 tv I've ever seen, & that most definitely includes 480i CRT's.

My current options are: (Best Buy offers the only free delivery in the area)

1. Vizio E55-C1 (which would have to sit on THE FLOOR due to the "legs" on the outside edges), I'm looking for opinions on putting it on the floor. My concerns are:

1. The TV tipping over (me or the cats)

2. Viewing angle, potential lack of enjoyment with having to look downwards to see the TV (including potential neck pain & color wash out).

It turns out the Vizio is also an "enhanced to "120" 60hz though I was told differently; all 4 of these are in that catagory) $580

2. Keep the RCA RCA LED55C55R120Q $419

3. Toshiba Model: 55L310U $500

4. Sharp LC-55LE653U $550

5. Go TV-less for a while (not a good option, as playing music files on my Oppo also requires a TV)

kahuna

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Cheetah Mounts APTMM2B TV Wall Mount for 32-65" TVs - $25.61
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RichC2

I would go with Toshiba or Sharp, US companies don't produce TVs anymore as much as they import really cheap parts and assemble them. As such, Vizio quality is hit or miss, RCA is notoriously awful since it was broken up -- several companies license the name RCA now for various things, On Corp has rights to the RCA name for TVs, they import the absolute worst / cheapest panels they can find.

If you need to go cheap, Changhong and TCL are much better than most US-built brands these days.

jjcool

I know several people that swear by Vizio. Ive seen their setups and they seem like decent tvs, with several of them being several years old. When I bought my current TV, I was looking hard at a Toshiba. THe only reason I didn't get it, it was actually a bit less expensive than the one that I got, was because it had fewer HDMI inputs than I wanted. Easily overcome by a switch, but I had been using a switch on my previous set, and was sick of dealing with a switch. Now switches are better and will automatically switch between inputs and are less expensive than they were.

And those legs on the Vizio E55-C1 are very weird. There appears to be no way to turn that TV. There also appears to be no way to put it on a regular center stand. You can, however, put it on a wall mount. so you could use something like this: http://www.amazon.com/ShopJimmy-Univ.../dp/B009SD010O

RichC2

Vizio has some great models, but they also have some shitty ones, they're just wildly inconsistent.

kahuna

Insignia - 55" Class (54.6" Diag.) - LED - 1080p - Smart - HDTV Roku TV - Black: Model: NS-55DR420NA16 - $449.99 at BB. Yes I know it's a Insignia.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/insignia...d=abcat0101001

RichC2

Insignia usually uses better quality panels, they usually put the cheap shit into their Dynex line.

kahuna

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Norm de Plume

From personal experience, RCA is a shitty company. It's on my "avoid at all costs" list.

MooMooMooMoo

I bought the Vizio (BB) & a larger table (craig's list). It's getting delivered tomorrow. I'm starting to wish I would have waited until today to purchase the exchange, as BB has a 55" Samsung on sale at $650. With the $50 I spent on the $200 table that the Vizio will fit on, the Samsung would have only been $30 + tax more than what I've spent already.

The RCA has been quite a learning experience; it's the first flat screen 1080 I've owned (other then pc monitors).

I usually don't make expensive decisions without thorough research, but my main TV died rather suddenly, & I had no way to move it.

Here's my review on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1RDHLL...m_cr_rdp_perm/

MooMooMooMoo

The Vizio (while still not as good as my old Sony 42" CRT 480i other than having more screen real estate for widescreen) is a major upgrade over the RCA.

It has none of the RCA's issues; no glitches, movement is pretty natural despite only being a native 60 hz, & film looks like film, not like video.

I'm only so far aware of 3 issues; 2 of which I'm going to live with at this price point; 1 I'm hoping to find workarounds for:

1. Under certain low contrast conditions, greys turns extremely grainy. This is apparently a known (to reviewers anyway) issue & is apparently considered this set's #1 weakness. That's the one I hope to tweak/improve.

2. It appears that this is natively 1080i, NOT 1080P. It will lock to 1080p, but when I set the Oppo to "automatic" resolution output (i.e. the best match with the tv) it defaults to 1080i, as does my over the air box.

3. I HATE those legs & the LARGE table they require. At least I got a great deal on a $200 TV stand/table in like new condition assembled & delivered for $50. But the table takes up almost 2x the room that my other stand for a 55" with a Bezel needs. Obviously, the tv also doesn't rotate (possibly the only thing I liked about the RCA, that and dvd's were ok at 480).

All in all, from reading reviews of comparable sets, I think I did ok.

On the other side, is there any real reason other than profit why $500-$600 highly rated plasmas are completely gone? Last time I did research (last year?), Plasma seemed to be the way to go for price/performance. I almost bought a Panasonic Plasma more then once. If it wasn't for the fact that I had wanted a big Sony CRT for 20 some years & had finally got one, I probably would have done so.

jjcool

I can see how those legs can be a real pain in the ass. And it isn't just Vizio that is using them. LG is also using them on their 55 inch model 55LF6000.

MooMooMooMoo

I had to go from a 32" TV stand for the same sized RCA to a 48". It is a pain.

jjcool

And that wouldn't be a viable option for alot of people, me included.

Spiky

"Native" generally refers to the physical design of the unit. Which is no doubt 1080p60. But 1080i is often easier for the electronics, it takes a lot of processing power to transfer 1080p60. BD is native 1080p24, if your Visio doesn't do the 24 part of that easily, it will just default to 1080i. There could also be a separate setting to turn p24 in both the TV and player. Cable/sat/TV boxes suck, don't judge anything about quality by them. They are something we have to deal with, not a standard to look to.

Why didn't you go for a wall mount? Cheaper, can go almost anywhere, some rotate...

jjcool

Saw a Samsung this weekend that had those funky Vizio legs. I really hope that is not going to start being the norm.

MooMooMooMoo

Re wall mount: I'm moving soon.

Re 1080i vs 1080p: This makes no sense, but it was apparently part of some burn in process. The issue went away somewhere on the 2nd or 3rd day, & I didn't change anything that would have caused it. Weird.

For the price, I'm fairly pleased with the set (though once you add it in the extended warranty, the price wasn't quite as good.......)

After I move, I'll likely spring for a calibration disc; as someone told me on another board, the websites that list suggested settings, don't seem to get it right.

jjcool

It's not so much that the settings dont get it right, it's that everyones viewing area is not identical. Nothing wrong with trying settings found online, they may be close, but they probably arent going to be exact. There was another thread on here recently where someone asked for settings for a specific model. A nice poster listed some, but I never saw how they worked out for the original poster.

MooMooMooMoo

The main issue I'm experiencing is that there are 3 "color modes". Everything other then "cool" is quite Yellowish. I'm using "cool" for most of the presets I've created, though it's a bit intense. My old Sony CRT had a similar issue, but it was much more moderate.

Spiky

It is both. The ambient light is more important, but LCD panels are not perfectly uniform, either.