RCA MM52110 52 in. HDTV-Ready TV
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- Digital TV Standard: HDTV-Ready
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3 16:9 Enhanced
- Weight: 278 lb.
- Built-in Tuner: NTSC
- Screen Size: 52 inch
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Pro-quality/consumer price
Pros
Good picture quality/color/black level. VGA inputs. Great price/performance.
Cons
Highly reflective screen (high glare). No overscan on VGA. Poor customer support. 4:3
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
A great deal even at the sticker price. Not suitable for bright rooms or daylight use. Invest in a line doubler or HDTV receiver
I bought this unit to replace my 8-year old RCA 52" RPTV that was finally showing signs of age. While I've been thoroughly unimpressed by RCA/Thompson's customer service over the years, the TV was outstanding for the price and held up extremely well over the years.
Anyways...the MM52110 arrived and I was shocked to find that the trademark anti-glare screens of the previous models had been replaced with a mirror-smooth high-glare screen that reflects even the slightest amount of light in the room. Even in a totally dark room, I can see two bright spots reflected off of the screen (the reflections from my glasses). Of course, my viewing room isn't normally dark, so I see reflections from everything else in the room instead of the two spots. RCA claims that this screen "protector" is an "enhancement", but I strongly disagree. Unfortunately, it's part of the screen itself and can't be removed or replaced. If you're used to anti-glare screens, this will bug the crap out of you. However, it's no worse than the glare on most direct-view TV's. It's all what you're used to.
Setup using an Avia disc was a snap. The monitor was easy to adjust and showed no evidence of any pronounced color push. The black levels were outstanding. The resolution was also excellent for a set in this price range.
RCA has included multiple room lighting profiles as well as a "custom" profile. It would have been nice if they had allowed you to create or edit multiple profiles, but the defaults aren't bad and the single custom profile is fine if your room lighting is fairly consistent. The only real gripe that I have is that the settings apply to all inputs and that there isn't a separate profile per-input. There is a huge difference between the optimal settings on the s-video and VGA inputs, for example.
The next little problem was when I hooked up my iScan line doubler to the VGA inputs. The top of the screen showed up the scan lines that are normally off-screen. This results in a dashed white line flashing at the top of the screen. There is no way for a user to adjust this. RCA and Thompson both deny any knowledge of a way to fix this and they basically told me not to use the line doubler (which somewhat defeats the purpose of having a high-res set). However, $50 for a service manual revealed the adjustments that I needed to fix this (if you're not a technician, you shouldn't be messing with these settings, so get a pro to do it for you. You can seriously damage your set if you don't know what you're doing). So...it was an annoyance that was easily solved, but add $50 and a headache to the price of the TV when you're comparing models.
The picture quality off of the line doubler was incredible. It compared favourably with sets selling at twice the price. A signal off of my satellite receiver through the iScan doubler was as good as that off of DVD. Beautiful.
DVD through the S-video, VGA via the internal and external line doublers was also great. However, progressive scan signals (480P) sent through the component video showed a nasty ghosting and loss of signal clarity, but this may have been a function of the cables. With cheap cables it was quite acceptable. However, with pro-quality cables, the signal became sharp (actually harsh), and heavily ghosted. There were also noticible interlacing artifacts, but these were definitely created by my RC6000P DVD player. I'll stick with my Toshiba 3109 through the iScan line doubler. So much for matching components from the same vendor.
800x600 SVGA signals were quite usable, though the set did not appear to produce full 800x600 resolution. However, it was as good as most of the $4000 "big-screen" presentation monitors that I work with. It'll keep the casual PC-theatre/Web surfer happy and it'll make the Playstation crowd ecstatic. HDTV-PC theatre users may want to shell out for a higher end set. Though it would take a lot of cash to get something better.
So...would I recommend the set? Of course. It's an amazing piece of technology for a great price. Get your "significant other" to agree to the sticker price and then shop around and use the money that you saved to buy an external line doubler. You won't regret it.
So...would I recommend the set? Of course. It's an amazing piece of technology for a great price. Get your "significant other" to agree to the sticker price and then shop around and use the money that you saved to buy an external line doubler. You won't regret it.
Anyways...the MM52110 arrived and I was shocked to find that the trademark anti-glare screens of the previous models had been replaced with a mirror-smooth high-glare screen that reflects even the slightest amount of light in the room. Even in a totally dark room, I can see two bright spots reflected off of the screen (the reflections from my glasses). Of course, my viewing room isn't normally dark, so I see reflections from everything else in the room instead of the two spots. RCA claims that this screen "protector" is an "enhancement", but I strongly disagree. Unfortunately, it's part of the screen itself and can't be removed or replaced. If you're used to anti-glare screens, this will bug the crap out of you. However, it's no worse than the glare on most direct-view TV's. It's all what you're used to.
Setup using an Avia disc was a snap. The monitor was easy to adjust and showed no evidence of any pronounced color push. The black levels were outstanding. The resolution was also excellent for a set in this price range.
RCA has included multiple room lighting profiles as well as a "custom" profile. It would have been nice if they had allowed you to create or edit multiple profiles, but the defaults aren't bad and the single custom profile is fine if your room lighting is fairly consistent. The only real gripe that I have is that the settings apply to all inputs and that there isn't a separate profile per-input. There is a huge difference between the optimal settings on the s-video and VGA inputs, for example.
The next little problem was when I hooked up my iScan line doubler to the VGA inputs. The top of the screen showed up the scan lines that are normally off-screen. This results in a dashed white line flashing at the top of the screen. There is no way for a user to adjust this. RCA and Thompson both deny any knowledge of a way to fix this and they basically told me not to use the line doubler (which somewhat defeats the purpose of having a high-res set). However, $50 for a service manual revealed the adjustments that I needed to fix this (if you're not a technician, you shouldn't be messing with these settings, so get a pro to do it for you. You can seriously damage your set if you don't know what you're doing). So...it was an annoyance that was easily solved, but add $50 and a headache to the price of the TV when you're comparing models.
The picture quality off of the line doubler was incredible. It compared favourably with sets selling at twice the price. A signal off of my satellite receiver through the iScan doubler was as good as that off of DVD. Beautiful.
DVD through the S-video, VGA via the internal and external line doublers was also great. However, progressive scan signals (480P) sent through the component video showed a nasty ghosting and loss of signal clarity, but this may have been a function of the cables. With cheap cables it was quite acceptable. However, with pro-quality cables, the signal became sharp (actually harsh), and heavily ghosted. There were also noticible interlacing artifacts, but these were definitely created by my RC6000P DVD player. I'll stick with my Toshiba 3109 through the iScan line doubler. So much for matching components from the same vendor.
800x600 SVGA signals were quite usable, though the set did not appear to produce full 800x600 resolution. However, it was as good as most of the $4000 "big-screen" presentation monitors that I work with. It'll keep the casual PC-theatre/Web surfer happy and it'll make the Playstation crowd ecstatic. HDTV-PC theatre users may want to shell out for a higher end set. Though it would take a lot of cash to get something better.
So...would I recommend the set? Of course. It's an amazing piece of technology for a great price. Get your "significant other" to agree to the sticker price and then shop around and use the money that you saved to buy an external line doubler. You won't regret it.
So...would I recommend the set? Of course. It's an amazing piece of technology for a great price. Get your "significant other" to agree to the sticker price and then shop around and use the money that you saved to buy an external line doubler. You won't regret it.
