» RCA 61" Select DLP HDTV - HD61LPW165

RCA 61" Select DLP HDTV - HD61LPW165 Reviews

Customer Rating:
Summary: GREAT 61" HDTV
Comment: This TV is amazing!!! This i smy first Big Screen Television and the 61" picture is great and lord does the high Def. picture just blow you AWAY!!!!!!!

---

Customer Rating:
Summary: So so
Comment: My first RCA HDTV was a 50 inch Scenium that had some serious sound issues which RCA was unable to fix so under the warranty they replaced it with the HD61LPW165. That was 17 months ago and so far this set has performed much better than its smaller cousin with the only significant problem being with the remote which never would work right. By the time it failed completely the set was under an extended warranty and Best Buy quickly took care of it by sending me a new one which works fine.

As far as the TV itself is concerned, based on what I've read from other users it appears I have a better-than-average set. It sees heavy usage and is still working well with the original bulb which has 3500 hours on it. The downside is that RCA has no bulbs on hand for this unit and my local repairmen say that certain other repair parts for the Sceniums are difficult to get and that some customers are going without their TV for months at a time.

So given that plus my own experience with faulty repair parts on the first set I can give this one no higher ranking than a 5. My advice to any potential buyer is to VERY SERIOUSLY consider another brand. RCA's reputation for customer support over the last few years is not good.

The TV stacks up well against competitors in terms of picture quality and price, at least at the time it was introduced. One negative is that set (like most DLPs) does not like bright environments. The default settings for contrast (brightness) on this set was near the max which tells you something. In a brightly lit room it's easily beaten by a standard CRT TV. But once the room is dark enogh the picture will knock your socks off and few if any adjustments have to be made on the colors. They are rich and vibrant.

The owner's manual is detailed however it offers little in the way of troubleshooting guides. It has a table of contents but no index which would have been helpful. RCA does offer the manual in PDF format online which makes for easier keyword searches. Setup on this set is not hard, anyone with mediocre wiring skills should have it up and running in no time. If this is your first HDTV go slow and read the manual. If you have to call customer support most of their call takers won't be able to tell you anything more than what you can read in the manual.

The bottom line is this set is a good value until it breaks down. Repairs are expensive so be sure to buy a good extended warranty, and even then, be prepared for lengthy waits to have repairs made. Even something as common as the user replaceable bulb is often not in stock at RCA. My recommendation is to avoid RCA products until such time as the company can restore customer confidence to the level RCA once enjoyed. Based on my own experience with them I'd say that time is a long way off. If they can sponsor a sports dome in Indianapolis they should be able to support their customers better than they are now.

Update. This review was originally posted in February 2007. As of November 22, 2007 the original bulb is at 6000 hours and still going strong which seems to me to be quite good. I still won't give this TV more than 3 stars but thought I'd toss in this extra tidbit because many complaints on RCA Sceniums is short bulb life. My set is powered through a high quality surge suppressor which I consider a must. Whether that has extended the bulb life I do not know but it's always a good idea to use a good suppressor with any of your expensive electronic equipment.

---