ctc187

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by jstout66

Those era of Thomson sets must not be that bad. In late 1999 I bought a no frills RCA 25" , which was the first new set I ever purchased. (I think it's a CTC-185) I ran the hell out of it, until I bought another new set in 2003. I only bought another new set because the RCA had NO inputs. Gave the RCA to some friends which was their main TV. It's now a "bedroom" set for that couple. I was over the other day and saw it running, and damn if the picture was fantastic! It's never needed a repair, and has been on daily for almost 11 years. The picture is a helluva lot better on that, than the high-end Toshiba that replaced it.

I agree with you 100 percent. I have an RCA CTC185, 19" table model. Bought it new over ten years ago, and it has been working flawlessly on cable, VHS and DVD ever since. Only had one problem with it, a year after I bought it, which was the antenna connector on the tuner PC board. Unfortunately, the warranty did not cover the repair (ouch!)--cost me something on the order of $60-$70. Then the connector broke again about six months later, but prices had gone up by then so the second repair flattened my wallet even more.

You are so right about the picture quality of these sets; mine makes a picture every bit as good as my 14-year-old Zenith Sentry 2, IMHO. As I write this the RCA set is on the NBC station in Cleveland and the last showing of the Jay Leno Show; the picture, as always, is beautiful. Say what you will about the problems RCA had with the CTC-18x series chassis up to the CTC203 (when they finally wised up and located the tuner remotely from the main board), but once those problems (poor tuner grounds, et al.) are resolved, these sets will give excellent service for years to come.