I love going to flea markets and yard sales and picking up the occasional piece of furniture someone threw out on trash day, and my boyfriend loves to tinker around with electronic appliances and gadgets, computers and such. So when we were driving to a store one day, we passed by a big TV someone had put out to the curb as garbage. The homeowner was still outside, so we stopped and asked him if we could take the TV and hopefully fix it. He said he hated the darn thing and gladly helped us put it in our car. He wouldn't take any money for it, and I was just two hours away from learning why.

After hooking the thing up, I was impressed with the quality of the picture and the multitude of options this TV has. From a huge range of picture quality controls to RCA's Guide Plus Gold, my boyfriend and I were in tinkering heaven! After playing around with the controls for half an hour, I was happily watching a movie on Showtime when the TV suddenly cut the picture in half and showed static on what was left of the image.

Allright, we figured out why this guy was so happy to get rid of his TV! So how did we fix it? In short, we couldn't. Despite finding flawless connections, proper temperature and no cracks or bubbles, the only way to get the picture back is to hit the TV on its top as hard as you can repeatedly until the picture comes back. It will last 15 minutes-five hours at a time.

I should note that I *did* get this TV from the trash, and who knows what the former owners did to the thing. For all I know, it could have been thrown across the room a few times before this problem developed.

That being said, I am apparently not the only one who feels this TV's sound is not the best. It sounds very much like an FM radio unless the volume is down quite low. It appears to just be the way RCA makes their lower-end TVs. Hooking up my Panasonic DVD shelf system took care of the sound problem and I must say that hooking it up was a breeze. Recording programs and movies is quick and painless, too. Just a click or two of the remote and it's all set.

I wouldn't personally go out and buy this TV, mainly because of the sound quality...but my other RCA products (which I personally bought) are wonderful and I would recommend RCA to anyone. As for the problems I've had with this TV, well hey, what do you expect for nothing?