Did RCA gets into trouble? - Videokarma.org TV - Video

1993ctc175 · #1 06-23-2011, 05:16 PM

A while ago I have read in the news regarding of those RCA Televisions that have been manufactured with so-called "On-Chassis Intergrated Tuner" on them.

I have been told that On-Chassis intergated Tuner that gives trouble due to bad soldering in the tuners are very common with these sets

This have found on CTC175 to CTC203 inclusive.

Was there a Lawsuit filed against RCA?

If you have any ideas or comment on this let me know

radiotvnut · #2 06-23-2011, 05:56 PM

I think I read where there was a lawsuit; but, I don't know the outcome.

I think '92 was the first year that the "tuner on board" was used (CTC175, 6, 7 chassis). The main symptoms were intermittent snowy picture and intermittent vertical sweep issues. If the problem was not fixed, the EEPROM IC would eventually become corrupted and the set would not power up at all. I made a lot of money off those sets; but, I still think it was a bad design. These sets also had failures of tiny surface mounted components inside the tuner. On any other set, you'd simply replace the tuner module. On these RCA's, one is forced to repair the tuner. About 1.5 years ago, I had a nice 27" CTC177 console with a half dead tuner. Fortunately, the set had A/V jacks; so, I was able to feed it a signal through a DTV box or VCR. I gave the TV to a friend and I think he still uses it.

RCA used the "tuner on board" until the early production CTC203's. After 8 or 9 years, they finally figured out that the traditional seperate tuner module was more reliable and later CTC203's had a real tuner module that was soldered to the chassis and could be replaced. I've also seen a couple of late production 19" CTC185's with a seperate tuner module. Besides the integrated tuner issues, these were not bad sets.

After the CTC203, RCA quality really went to crap and Thomson eventually sold the name. Post-CTC203's are so crappy that I've now gotten to the point where I won't bother to open one. I really think RCA and Philips were in competition with one another to see who could build the junkiest TV set.

1993ctc175 · #3 06-23-2011, 06:59 PM

yes I have agree with you about the CTC 203's

I have a couple of CTC203's both newer that have tuner (The tiny silver box) was mounted traditionally on board.

I have also see that on a Low-End ctc185.

RobtWB · #4 06-23-2011, 07:57 PM

Have 2 CTC 177AM2's here. Fantastic picture when working. Unable to keep solder connections patent. The PCB is so damn flimsy and cheap ANY flexing causes a broken solder flow. I believe that the small amount of heat that is generated while the set is operating is enough to distort the PCB enough to break the continuity of the joint. And I do believe I read somewhere there was a legal action regarding these sets.

joemama99 · #5 06-23-2011, 08:56 PM

They had some type of settlement back in 2002 or so.I remember getting a letter saying they would pay up to 90 dollars to get the tuner problem fixed if it went out.
This was on my 1996 or so 32 inch rca.Of course,they never changed the tuner design till much later than that.

Geoff Bourquin · #6 06-23-2011, 10:42 PM

Hated those tuners and loved them. Made enough money on them to pay for the acre and a half our house sits on.

holmesuser01 · #7 06-24-2011, 10:38 AM

I paid off my home with those awful tuners. I kept a local hotel going with their RCA's.

I have a CTC175 20" that looks great after all these years.

rcaman · #8 06-24-2011, 01:10 PM

it was a great money maker and i sold a ton of those sets new. many still chugging along. besides the tuner it was a pretty good chassis. steve

JBL_1 · #9 06-24-2011, 08:12 PM

Hated those tuners! I was working at RCA/GE/Thomson at the time. It was shortly after Thomson bought the business from GE. They wanted us to used the Thomson tuners. They were not so hot either. The only way we could keep the tuner design was to put it on the main board. I was working on the CTC-169 CTC-170 and CTC-172. The first ones were really bad as they used the tuner wrap for the ground. So the bad solder would make the vertical go out and lots of other strange things. The newer generations only had tuner problems. The board material came rolled up, one long piece. Can't remember what it was called. There was also a class action suit on the XS stereo. I don't remember how that turned out. I did work on the fake stereo IC in the CTC-176. Was one of the worst thing I ever had to work on. There were a few old timers that really had a bad attitude and thought they could push crap on an unsuspecting public. With out the corresponding variable lowpass and variable gain matching the encoding the L-R wandered all over the place and so did the separation. We did make some pretty good things. I can tell you I designed the 5 watt and 10 watt analog audio modules that replaced that crappy digital stereo IC. Anybody see those early ones with the attenuator that switched in half way up the volume curve?? The signal to noise changed over 20 dB and it was really noticeable..

Gunslinger · #10 06-26-2011, 07:17 AM

I made a lot of profit on those sets. The eprom's failed and it took a process to realign the tuners. Most shops did not properly repair these tuners so they came to me. There were many goldenrods put out for fixes. The end result was to use jumper wires. The main problem with RCA became that you could repair the problem the set came in with but soldering put other problems into the sets. TV's became too inexpensive to repair.

ChrisW6ATV · #11 06-26-2011, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JBL_1

There was also a class action suit on the XS stereo. I don't remember how that turned out. I did work on the fake stereo IC in the CTC-176.

I had forgot RCA's "XS stereo" until now. At the time, I thought "Why is a company being a cheapskate and not giving us real BTSC stereo, are they trying to get around Zenith and/or DBX patents? I am not going near this." That was years before I knew anything about previous fights between Zenith and RCA, or Armstrong versus Sarnoff, etc.

holmesuser01 · #12 06-27-2011, 01:10 PM

I remember the XS stereo sets. I never had to work on a set with problems here.

We used lengths of solid wire to correct the problems surrounding the tuners on these sets. We were OK as long as the tuner covers would fit back in place.

I got a CTC185 20" set this weekend. I'll report what I find. The set looks brand new inside and out.

rpm1200 · #13 07-08-2011, 08:14 PM

Interesting, I just came across this document earlier in the week:
http://www.orpheuscomputing.com/down...ing-manual.pdf
Some interesting details in that training manual... nothing about the tuner issues but it does mention the on-board design of the tuner. Were those chassis some of the first to use I2C?

Gunslinger · #14 07-09-2011, 04:41 PM

They were the first versions. Downhill from that point on as far as reliability.