How are RCA F38310 owners doing? - Page 27

Okay, here's one for ya...oh great and mighty holders of the RCA knowledge.

So the cable blinked in and out on me then went out. No biggie, done it before on a stormy night and it was storming that night. When it happened the Audio and Video went out which was followed by about 10 minutes of power outage.

I called, got a confirmation from the cable company that all would be well soon. About 15 minutes later everything came back on but there is no audio on the TV. The picture works fine and is as clear as always but I do not get any audio.

So what up?? Any suggestions? Any idea what I should try?

Leslie

Cable box? Check audio/volume settings of the cable box.
No cable box? Check audio/volume settings of the TV.
Using A/V receiver? Check audio/volume settings of the cablebox, TV and A/V receiver.

A little detail about how things are connected can go a long way since there could be many variables.

I have been following the information on your thread and it has been most helpful. I have a unit that would not power up so I did some checking and found that C14113, and C14115 caps were bad and replaced them with 4700uf 25V 105c caps. Now the TV will power up and I get a picture but I am also getting some arcing in the yoke of the picture tube. I am suspecting some type of voltage control problem but am unsure of where to go from here. Could anyone give me some helpful advice?

Ratman do you own this set?

Yes... still looks and runs well (knocks on wood).

hey guys- i've had the rca about 4 years now (echo 'knock on wood') and i'm very happy with it. but i know down the line i'll be looking for a new (read:bigger) hdtv.

i'm curious as to what other rca owners have purchased regarding a larger one since owning (and enjoying) the RCA - also, lcd, plasma, dlp - and how does it measure up??

I got this tv for *free* from a friend. I say that in asterisks, because my legs surely paid a toll lugging this beast up to my apartment!

At first, I was a little disappointed by the regular cable stations, as everything seemed slightly out of focus, but I got an HD box the next day and am very impressed with the quality.

A couple issues:

As the person above noted, the constant fan noise is annoying. What were they thinking? I'm shocked that no one has a solution for disabling that one fan. I don't feel like turning off an additional power switch every time I want to turn off the TV. To the quoted poster, your method makes a lot of sense, but I wonder if the TV is somehow protected against this and if you'll get an error message if cutting the DirectTV fan. I say this because the TV was made to sell DirectTV service.

My other issue is the single composite cable hookups on the back. I have my HD box going through them now, but would like to hookup an Xbox360 similarly. Is there a such thing as a composite-cable selector which won't degrade my HD signal?

I should add in closing that I like the life-like image that this CRT gives as opposed to the sometimes "tinny" feeling I get looking at LCD screens.

1) the TV wasn't manufactured specifically to "sell" D* service. It happened to use an RCA DTC100 receiver (internally) as an ATSC/satellite tuner... existing technology at the time and quite easy (and cost effective) to retrofit into various RCA TV's. No subscription to D* was required.

2) I think you meant "component" input. Yes... you can purchase component video switches.

I found that CR14709, CR14710, CR14750, and C14730 are all bad. I was wondering if someone could help me with the values for the diodes listed. The diodes only say 15 on them. To the best of my knowledge they are 2kv but I don't know the amperage.

Thanks,
Poacher

I don't remember exactly when this TV came out, but I bought it shortly after that. Finally gave it to my brother and purchased a Philips 7403 LCD from Sam's Club for $1199. I miss the TV, but it nice to have the extra square footage in the living room.

hi eddie if you want top notch quality like our crt then you will want to make the jump to the pioneer kuro plasma tv. even the 8th generation (last year 2007) were the big debate and some oweners posted their Rca f38310 side by side with a pioneer and the pioneer out performed their tv,

the jump is better pq for a bigger size, as far as price goes you can get one in costco very well under 2700 this is a tv that retails in bestbuy msrp of 5,000

here is a picture thread keep in mind while you are inpressed with these pictures the outcome of real world is vasy majorly diffrent

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=920011




man quoting this guy after a while oh well

are you being serious or is this sarcasm?

my 38310 finally crapped out on me, i think. purchased 3/3/01, never had a problem till now.

i returned to my room to find the TV off. i knew i had left it on. i pressed power on the remote--no luck. i pressed power on top of the TV--the little light came on, but no picture. i unplugged it and went to work. 7 hours later, i plugged it back in. it came on automatically, showing a picture. half hour later, it died again. i can press and get the little power light, but no picture. i unplugged for half an hour and tried again, the little light on top lights but no picture.

my warranty, which i had renewed a few times, ended in March of this year (wouldn't you know it?!!).

with some people selling these used for as little as $400 now, is this worth it to repair to any of you? have any of you experienced this problem and what was the solution?

this was the most expensive TV i will probably ever own (it was a job anniversary gift). i figure that if i replace it, i will probably go for a TV in the $1000 range, more my neighborhood. given that, do you think my 38310 is worth trying to repair?

thanks in advance.

Get a estimate then decide. I recently had to sh*tcan a $3300 5 year old DLP Tv, because it would have cost $1500 to repair.
I got a New 55" Sony A3000 for $1300

first of all, thanks for the suggestion.

second, the beast is back--for now at least. not sure what happened or why, but it has been running with no problems. i have left it on for the last day or so and it is still running. kind of scary that it would go out like that though...i'm kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop now.

if things go bad again, i'll have to find a local RCA repairperson familiar with the 38310. but i refuse to pay a lot for the repair (and probably the estimate too). if it will be too much, i'll opt for another TV.

I'll sell mine for $500 OBO. It works perfect, never had a problem.

Any takers. I'm near Harrisburg PA.

man that sucks have these great exceptional PQ tv sink that low? mine is in my family room Unpluged just covered works perfect. if anyone wants to buy ill sell it otherwise i'd keep it to see how long it works without powering it on!

santa cruz/watsonville/salinas area buyers are welcome to to take an offer

After quite a few years, the past two as our bedroom tv, I think my 38310 is on the way out. Starting last week, the tv would shut off and then start right back up. This was during a storm, and I thought maybe it was the electric, but last night the tv did the same as well as the screen going entirely blue before shutting off. It did this several times, then it ran fine for an hour or so before we shut it off to go to sleep. I'm going to try to read this thread again, from the start, this weekend, but does anyone have any ideas to what may be the problem? Been a great set and I love the picture.

Hello.

After I donated my broken 38310 to eBay I bought a 5265 Samsung. I love it. No issues, no need for the 38310 inspired 5yr warranty, yet.

- bueler

I've had my F38310 for about 6 years now. Haven't had a single glitch. The PQ is much better than my 42" LG 1080p LCD... especially when viewing standard definition programs.

I just can't bring myself to replace this set (while it's still working fine) with something that won't look nearly as good. I guess this is a good thing.

cheers!

I bought a component switch box from Radio Shack for about $65.00 and it works like a charm for my DirecTV in, XBOX360 in and standard DVD player in...
So far the 38310 has been GREAT - albeit having the tube replaced (under a service contract) about five years ago. NOW my only issue is that the picture on HDTV only has what a technician called a ground loop problem. He thinks it's from the satellite dish. My HDTV in the bedroom (Sharp Aquos 32" 1080P) has no problem with the picture from the same 5 lnb dish. My XBOX 360 picture is perfect on the 38310. I tried different sets of component cables to no avail. Even tried swpping the channels on the switch box to no avail. Here's a pic of the noise I'm seeing: (At least the dog is happy).

i dont get it are you saying you have that noise only when taking pictures or you are un happy with the results from xbox 360 and the f38310?

Dave, do you have a powered switch between the dish and the various boxes? Have you tried disconnecting all the other feeds to various SAT boxes? What I'm thinking is that one box is on a circuit with a bad ground or reversed wired and it is causing the problem. If you have a straight connection to the dish and no other things are electrically tied to the dish does the problem disappear?

also, is the dish ground tied to the house ground. It must be bonded wiht a #10 wire to the common ground rod for the house. If not there can be all kinds of problems, this being one of them. If you have a VOM, try to see if there is any potential between the shield of the coax, and the ground in the outlet that the box is connected to.

Thanks for the great feedback, Matt. I've got a straight feed from the dish. Two lines are run down from the roof of the apartment I'm in. One runs to the bedroom (the Aquos) with a perfect picture and the other line is run to the livingroom. I'm the owner of the HD dish in this "luxury" apartment building and no one else is getting a signal from it... As for the grounding, I believe the RG6 cable is the method of grounding; I don't recall seeing a 14 gauge copper grounding line running off the dish anywhere the last time I was up there. After T.S. Hanna goes by, I'll likely be going up on the roof tomorrow to realign the dish so I'll look then.
I just now did another test and took the sat cable from the bedroom HDTV and ran it to the livingroom HDTV receiver to see if the line itself made any difference. It did not. I'm wondering if I should try swapping the two receivers for a "quick" test but now that we're losing signal due to Hanna, it may be a weak effort.
I also bypassed the powered Radio Shack switch box and went straight from the DirecTV receiver box to the TV but the noise was still there. Frustrating! I never had this issue before; I'm not sure what could have suddenly changed. It's got to be something at the dish on the roof; that's my last check I have a feeling.

Just curious, which switch box are you using? I'm using an old RS 3 way manual switch that was designed for AV use. I really need a 4 way switch now, got my DTiVo, Blu-ray, second DTiVo, and my Oppo DVD player and I have to unplug and replug the second DTiVo to use my Oppo. I bought a electronic switch from RS last winter but it never worked. Forgot to take it back, I guess the only option with it now is to send it in for repair. It's the model that can be controlled by any remote.

Back to your problem, I'd be very curious to know what happens when you switch receivers.

Matt, the Switch Box from RS is Catalogue #15-1927. It works like a champ... See photos. The box is fairly old and has been bastardized by me but I keep it behind everything. One thing it was subject to was changing the switch selection when I was tuning a channel in on the TV... I didn't like that so I moved it to where the RF doesn't interfere.

The theater component stand I made up using a kitchen table purchased from Ikea and also a smaller shelf unit (from Ikea) that I have under the table. It holds all the components nicely. What I've done as you can see in the photo is put black cardboard on the lower front, sides and rear... it really hides all the cables my wife complained about seeing so often. I think it looks okay and it was a really low cost dress up.

Yesterday I was going to hook up the PS3 (BluRay) to my F38310 but noticed that the PS3 has no Component output nor does the F38310 have the HDMI input. So, for now, the PS3 stays in the bedroom with the 1080P Aquos. Oh well.

UPDATE: Okay, I swapped the two boxes and the noise is GONE. I put the noisy box in the bedroom on the Aquos and the picture is perfect. With the HDDVR tuner in the livingroom on the F38310 the picture is noise free. Amazing. I'll swap them back AFTER I remove all the surrounding components (Sony Surround receiver, XBOX360, etc)... They never affected the picture before; I can't imagine what changed. Maybe the newer DVR has better internal shielding against noise and/or ground loops.

Glad to hear you isolated your problem!

That is the exact switch box i picked up in December. It was on clearance for $24.99, I thought it was a good deal, plus it was the last one. Never worked, got busy with christmas and forgot about it. I'll have to dig it out and send it in for repair, i think it has a 1 year warranty.

No sound all of a sudden on my Beast. Came home today and realized we had a power outage. Sounds works thru the stereo but not the TV. TV just buzzes? Any Idears?

Well, I unplugged the unit and plugged it back in a few hrs later, and all is well. Thank Goodness!

I recently was given an F38310 which had been in storage for a while. When plugged in, there is no fan noise & when the power button is pushed, it clicks twice about 1 second apart and shuts down. Based on what I have read here, it would seem to be a problem with the DM1 power supply. Anyone have a different opinion?

Are replacement DM1 pwr supplies available?

If not, what is the probablility that replacing the cap's & diodes will fix the problem? i.e. does failure of the DM1 cause a cascade failure in other components?

Thanks!

Sounds more like the main power board, not the DM1 power supply.