2002-2003 – NEW PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENTS
by Greg Gibson

NextGenElectronics received the press kit from Thompson Electronics for their 2002-2003 line of High Definition (HD) products. While we have not yet begun to review specific products, we thought our readers would like to know what “struck the experts at NextGenElectronics” as being noteworthy.

Thompson Electronics, as many of you do NOT know, is the manufacturer for the RCA and PROSCAN lines of electronics. Their “glossy flyer” handout proclaims the “Curtain is going up on the RCA SCENIUM Home theatre series from Thompson”. OK – Let’s see…

In discussing RCA, one must first give credit where it is due: styling. Comparisons with Mitsubishi, Pioneer, Hitachi, and Sharp (the major manufacturers) quickly turn on the innovative and professional styling of the RCA sets. While Mitsubishi is basically a big-dumb-black-box (I own one so I can say it), RCA offers sleek Euro-styling, which will avoid the “Black Monolith” in the corner. Clearly, for the past several years, RCA has out designed the competition in the exterior appearance of their products.

The second important aspect of RCA is in their Industry-leading product innovation. While many HD set manufacturers still have not offered an integrated HD tuner, RCA has had one for the past 2 years. This means that you do not have to buy a set-top box to convert the signal (satellite or over-the-air signals) to HD – the HD tuner is built in!

The reader is encouraged at this point to jump to our affiliated sister-site “GamingIllustrated” for an article written on the “Future of Gaming” which discusses the current hassles of the staggering number of devices currently sitting on top of our televisions – all which have their own remote control! Please return back to this article after reading our vision of the future… Obviously, RCA has read it and is doing something about it.

With the 2002-2003 models, RCA is now offering an integrated DVD player into the set! As noted above in our prognostication in early 2002, we foresaw the future of television – and it doesn’t include a separate DVD player sitting on top the set.

If you are currently looking for a TV (see our other HDTV articles), consumers MUST consider RCA’s D61W135D, D52W135D, D40W135D rear-projection sets and the D34W135D flat-tube sets for this feature. Non-Techies may find these sets to be exactly what fits their bill.

Unfortunately, RCA has not yet integrated their digital personal recorder (DRS700N or the Surround Sound Dolby RT2660R) into their sets. When they do, and provide the consumer with a single remote control and simple commands (watch TV and watch DVD and Record program… all in full audio) then Mitsubishi and Pioneer will fall from their current “top-rated” positions.

While virtually impossible to quantify, Thompson has been focusing on improving customer care and product reliability. An informal survey of TV-repair technicians suggested that RCA is making better sets; but NextGenElectronics strongly recommends that until long-term (i.e., several years) operational experience with the new generation of HDTV’s is obtained – that the prudent consumer will ALWAYS strongly consider getting an extended warrantee when purchasing their set (this applies to ALL HDTV sets – NOTE: the product technology is new and component performance is simply not known… be prudent, this is a big investment – I have a 4-year extended warrantee).

We are currently attempting to get statistics on QA/QC and product service rates, and we are looking forward to testing current RCA products. As NextGenElectronics hopes to perform actual performance comparison in the near future, we remind the reader that there is no hard evidence/rating of manufacturing quality and reliability – reputation counts for something, but may the buyer beware. But enough for our admonition to buy an extended warrantee no matter what – it is, after all, only our recommendation.

However, having received Thompson’s new RCA product line – we believed that our readers would like our unbiased initial reaction – and that is that RCA appears to be continuing their strong product line innovations and extraordinary product styling. Certainly, the SCENIUM line styling and innovation is better than the competition, and deserves a close look by the consumer.

Commentary By: Greg Gibson - email