RCA DTC100 High-Definition/DIRECTV Digital Receiver
A well designed receiver!
The DTC-100 has been quite a joy for my home entertainment system.  Being one of the first HDTV receivers available, it is a very capable receiver and is extremely low priced.  Despite being low-priced, its features include a standard and high-definition satellite receiver, and a digital and analog receiver for terrestrial television broadcasts. <br />It also is compatible with cable systems, however most cable systems to not support the 8-VSB modulation for HD broadcasts.  Even AT&T's so-called `Digital' cable is only a poorly implemented method of adding more channels at the expense of picture quality, and it is not compatible with digital television standards.  The receiver will receive the standard analog signals on cable systems.<br />It offers digital and analog outputs for audio, and S-Video and VGA outputs for video.  The VGA output is required for High Definition video.  While many HD televisions do not support the VGA connection, electronic signal conversion adapters are available to convert the signal to the three-line component video output.  Firmware upgrades, received via satellite, have addressed the issues of signal incompatibility with some early high definition televisions. <br />For this writer, a 21\\" computer monitor is being used to view the High Definition content, however, when programming to record, the receiver automatically switches to the S-Video output to send a signal to the VCR.  The receiver will convert high definition material to standard definition when the S-Video output is used.  The quality of the conversion is very good.  Something that I've noted is that the S-Video output, in conjunction with a digital television station broadcast, results in a much clearer recording on video tape than the same recording made from the signal available on cable systems or over the air.<br />As for the availability of High Definition Television content, CBS should be applauded for their commitment to High Definition Television by having most oftheir prime-time offerings in High Definition.  It is my hope that other major networks will soon follow suit.<br />If I had any complaint about the receiver, it would be that it doesn't send a signal to both the VGA output and the S-Video output at the same time.  The receiver does make up for this by offering a button on the front of the receiver that switches between the VGA and S-Video outputs.  There is also a button on the remote that can be set to do the switching between the two outputs.  It reality, the only time this is a problems is when wanting to record while watching in high definition(not possible unless you record to your VCR through a different tuner, but then you don't get the digital picture clarity), and when wanting to directly compare high definition to standard NTSC. (But it can be done with a seperate tv tuner)  <br />In summary, this is an excellent product that can get a person into the High Definition crowd for relatively little cost.  And even after this receiver is obsoleted by newer receiver technology over the years, it will still make an excellent second receiver for the kid's room in conjunction with an inexpencive computer monitor.