How are RCA F38310 owners doing? - Page 40

DM-1 and some other parts pulled for Chitown, 38310 sadly is gone, 55inch plasma is here, and break in slide show started. Sad to see this great set go but this enormous picture is looking pretty sexy.

Those of you still running the beast, take good care of her and appreciate the beauty.

Hello all - wondering if I could get some help - I received this tv about 5 years ago and its been working great - not a ton of hours viewing and I love the picture - I use a different Directv HD receiver on it btw, not the integrated one....anyway, I have been hearing a "waterfall" sound from the back of the tv. This is not the fan running but sounds like water is running back there. I know its not really water but thats the best way to describe what I hear. Turning it on and off doesn't make it go away. ( from the remote - haven't unplugged it yet). The tv works fine btw, no picture issues at all.

Doe anyone know what I may be hearing or what the tv is doing?

Thanks in advance for any assistance

There is a fan that runs 24/7 and odds are that is what you are hearing, I bet the bearings went bad in it. Or, perhaps something got stuck in the blades. If you are adventurous and are familiar with the insides of TV sets you may want to open it up, but beware there are high voltages present.

Thank you - will search for instructions and a schematic - if I have someone come out to do this repair for me, do you know what the typical charge would be?

I'd estimate ~$75 for a service call for a diagnosis/estimate, which is usually applied to the repair.

Then I'd estimate ~$125 per hour plus parts (if needed).

Hello everybody!
I have been reading through this thread because I have found an RCA F38310 on craigslist for $100 and wanted to know more about it before I go buy it. It sounds like people either love or hate this model. I was thinking this would be a cheap alternative for an hdtv. What do you guys think? I really cant afford a decent new hdtv so I thought this one would be a good starting point. I want to use it for video gaming, watching cable, and watching dvds/blurays. I am hesitant to get a cheap hdtv due to how crappy some game systems run on the new tvs. I am not afraid of the size and my brother works on tvs as a hobby so I should be able to get most minor problems resolved. Like Fan problems, capacitors, etc.. The guy I am buying it from says it works great and has no problems but I want to make sure before I haul its 220lbs around. Anybody have any tips on things to check when I go look at it? I saw the post about how to run the diagnostic and check the odometer. Any info or tips would be greatly appreciated. Also I am getting the stand with it. I think this has the potential to be a great deal. I just hope it doesn't break down right away.I am expecting at least a year or two out of it seeing as its getting old. All my friends think I am crazy for buying a tv that old and heavy but hopefully I will have the last laugh.

If it's working now, odds are it will keep on working. Many of the issues posted here happened fairly early on in the life cycle of the the set. I'd say it's a decent entry point for HD, I got mine over 10 years ago at a price well north of $2k, and it resides in my basement rec room and still gets occasional use. I had a handful of problems over the years but not enough to turn me off this set.

Depending on how adventurous you are, you can get into the settings and tweak the picture a bit and get a stunning image. But even as is it's still a good performer. Provide it with a good signal and you will be quite happy.

BTW, you might want to scout for an older Blu Ray player with component outs, as this set does not have any HDMI connections. Blu rays look fantastic on this set.

One drawback will be that the F38310 only has one set of component inputs. So... if you have a DVD player, gaming systems and a cable box, you will need a component video switch.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=1

Yeah I noticed that, so until I get a switch box I am gonna have a fun time switching things back and forth. But hopefully it will be worth it. I am so sick of playing games on my ps3 and not being able to read instructions on the screen. They don't take us old tv owners into consideration.

No, not really. New TV owners don't always consider the drawbacks of using a 12 year old HDTV.

I am kind of confused about component cables. Why is it I usually see component cables as having 3 video cables and 2 audio cables, but on some cables and inputs I see an extra cable. Is that like a digital audio cable or something else?

Component video cables are red, green and blue. Only carries video.

Analog audio is Red and white. Only carries audio.

Digital audio is carried on either a digital coax or optical cable.
The F38310 has an optical output.

If you look at the inputs on the back of this switch box, what is the extra input next to the audio plugs? Also I have seen xbox component cables that have six cable ends instead of the normal 5. That is what I was trying to ask about.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=1

The sixth connector is for digital coax (S/PDIF), if needed. If you look at the back panel of the switch in the link you provided, you will see that the orange is labelled "Digital".

Also, by reading the description of that particular product, it states:

In the case of those Xbox cables, my guess is that you're seeing a composite video cable there, not a coax audio cable. There are lots of third-party products out there, so I'm just guessing, but of the ones I've seen, there are two tails, each with three cables. One is the component video (blue, green, red) and the other is the standard A/V connections (red, white, yellow).

This configuration allows you to connect to an HDTV or a non-HDTV using the same cable. The expectation is that some connection(s) will go unused. For HDTVs, it's the yellow composite video connection. For SDTVs, is the component video connections.

Xbox 360 supports optical digital audio and HDMI, but not coax audio. I have used a component video switching receiver (Panasonic XR55) with this TV for several years and it's worked out very well. DirecTV HD DVR, Wii and Xbox 360 all connected with full HD and DD 5.1 support. There are also receivers that will convert HDMI signals to component that could be used with this TV. I have used switchboxes in the past as well, but find the receiver route to be an all-around better experience.

There are some SDTVs with component inputs for DVD players and such. My Sony KV-20FS120 is like that (but oddly enough no s-video ).

Yeah I see your point - the 6 wire cable would have 3 component, 1 composite, and 2 stereo wires. Makes universal sense.

Picked up my F38310 JX4 about 7 years ago, had to take it in to shop about 4 years ago; device on pcb that connects to yoke started arcing. Shop was able to get it working, but didn't get over-scan setup right... i.e. could not read entire football score box in upper left corner, and sometimes TV would get black lines across screen and occasionally do a power reset when scene on screen was all white... Not worth transporting 200+ pounds of tv back to shop... Picture has been slowly "moving" to left (standard def grey sidebar on left getting smaller, one on right getting wider) Now set will not sync to any source higher than 480p. 480p picture still looks great. If I can fix it myself will see how long the beast will keep running! Hoping I can set over-scan, etc. settings and get it back to 100%

Overall my picture quality is still very nice, but I have the same issues with text and scores on screen - they can get very blurry. If there is an easy fix, please post. I've adjusted the screws in the back of the set once before about a year ago, but it did not really clear anything up - I fine-tuned those but it is still blurry.

I'm still using my F38310 that I purchased 10 years ago this month. Mine was a refurb that had all the fixes applied before I bought it, and I think that has really kept it going...everything works and it's still subbed to DirecTV. Blu-Rays look great on it, even with only the component inpujt. I think It is still better than most displays currently available until you start to climb up into the $1K price range.

But, I'll be retiring it soon as my wife has ordered a Panasonic P55VT50 for my birthday, and there is no place else in the house that it will fit.

I'm in the DC area, and when the new TV is in place, I'm planning on giving the F38310 to anybody who wants to come haul it away.

But, I'll be retiring it soon as I will get a new TV soon and there is no place else in the house that it will fit.

I'm in the Baltimore area, and when the new TV is in place, I'm planning on giving the F38310 to anybody who wants to come haul it away.

New panny is home,and The RCA has got to go. Who wants to haul it away........

Bump....................

Advertise the TV on Craigslist as "FREE".

See if they have a freecycle group on yahoo for your area.
we have deverfreecycle I listed it for free and a couple of guys came and got it within a day.

Check on

http://groups.freecycle.org/

Phil

All right, FREE TV HERE W/STAND, Come and get it. Hit me up....... Oh yea, STILL WORKS...

Gone, she will be missed... But she found a new home..