RCA's DTV/HDTV receiver decoder can bring HDTV to you in a matter of hours. The best part is you can use your computer monitor to get started for well under a thousand bucks.

If you're reading this review, chances are you're the kind of person that loves technology but you're still a little unsure if its time to make the leap from the last 50 years of analog television broadcasts to the relatively uncharted territory of digital television.

There is some confusion around the difference between digital-television and HDTV, and though I am straying from the Epinion rules, I hope that you, gentle reader, will forgive me.

HDTV has been a long time coming to America. You would think that a society that values Survivor/Friends/Letterman as much we do would embrace high quality television broadcasts with unbridled enthusiasm. Yet, this is hardly the case. The catch 22 roadblock has been that broadcasters have been reluctant to invest millions in digital television technology when there are so few HDTV-ready sets sitting in America's living rooms while consumers haven't wanted to shell out several thousand dollars for digital television sets with so few program choices. Due to some pushing from the FCC, most major metropolitan areas now get at least a few stations that send digital signals out over the airwaves. Now here's the part that is a little hard to grasp at first. Not very many of the shows broadcast on digital television stations are recorded in the high-definition format, which means even though you've got DigitalTV, you might not have HDTV, because it is up to the network and station to choose a broadcast resolution. Most of CBS primetime is in HDTV, and the other networks are working to bring the full promise of HDTV material to the Digital stations. There are some other confusing things, like the difference between 740progressive and 1080interlaced. But if you're getting either of those signals you'll be a very happy camper once you get an HDTV decoder box and a "television set" that can display at least most of the lines.

I am lucky to live in Berkeley, California for a number of reasons (Cheese-board Pizza, Cal Football, Berkeley Unified School district,) and now 6 digital television stations which I receive via my good-old roof-top antenna.
If you live in or very near a city, you might be getting DTV broadcasts. You can check at www.titantv.com to see what digital broadcasts you get by zip code. I encourage anyone looking at this box to consider what you'll be getting via antenna as you'll find yourself using this feature more than the satellite service.

I'm a long time DirecTV customer (around 3 years) and have been eyeing the dtc100 for about a year. I took the plunge and spent a little over $700 to get the dish (two focal points as opposed to the traditional single point focus) and the dtc100. When I purchased the box I was thinking that I was upgrading my satellite service. However, there are only 2 stations on all of DirecTV that pass the coveted HDTV signal, one is HBO and the other is Pay-per-view previews. 99% of the material on DirecTV will not benefit from the dtc100.

So why bother? Once you see what HDTV looks like you won't be able to tolerate the standard signal. Last night I tuned in some HDTV content from a PBS station. They were showing animals which I assume were shot is 35mm and then converted to the HDTV signal. I have never seen anything as stunning outside of an I-max theater. Traditional broadcasts over analog give you 480 horizontal lines where as you'll be getting around 1080 lines from this box when you get a high-quality signal. You'll also be getting Dolby digital sound if you have an enabled stereo-receiver. Many movies are in full 5.1 surround sound.

If you're looking at the RCA dtc100 as a solo purchase, odds are you're trying to output to some sort of high-definition monitor or projector. If you're trying to connect this thing to a TV, then you might want to consider upgrading your television/monitor first.

I can tell you that my 17" gateway monitor and my InFocus 740LP projector had no-problem with even the highest-resolution broadcasts. There are two things to consider when trying to find a monitor/projector to use with this box. The horizontal scan rate of your monitor should be at least 60Hz and the vertical scan rate should be well above 50 kHz. If your monitor can scan to that frequency, you'll be able to see the picture. The other factor is how many lines your monitor can display. At this point you'll be able to see all the lines with an SXGA monitor (1280x1024). Anything lower will resize the image to fit the available number of horizontal pixels.

There are some things that bug about the dtc100 - If you're using a traditional monitor (4:3 aspect ratio) you'll get gray bars at the top and bottom of your screen when the program is in 16:9 (letterbox). They should be black, but as of yet there's no way to change their color. The dish (should you decide to use it) is a major pain to aim. Schedule several hours if you're doing this install on your own. If you're getting someone to do it for you professionally, then make sure you get a quote for the job rather than the number of hours. The menu's are a little tricky and not very pretty to look at in comparison to the Sony DirecTV product offerings, but these are very minor complaints once you see what you've been missing.

I strongly recommend the dtc-100 to the technical enthusiast. It is a great box to tinker with. For Mom and Pop who just want a better TV signal, wait until the price of the integrated receiver/monitors comes down a few thousand bucks.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 550.00