50V500 HItachi w\ poor pic...HELP !!!! (1 Viewer)

[kimCus]

Hi, My husband just bought a new hitachi ultravision digital 50V500 tv, It has recieved great reviews & had a great picture in the store.
My question is:
Our picture is not good ,we have a digital cable box, bought the "extra good" connection cables that they suggested & have tried to adjust the settings. The picture is bad both when watching "regular" tv & dvd's.
I was hoping that someone here may have the same tv & be able to help us get a picture thats not fuzzy & blury & seem to try to catch up as the scenes change. Thanks for your suggestions !

Oh the guy at the store walked us through some basic steps & repeatedly told us that we would never get the picture quality that they have in there store.....is this true? We were quite pleased with our 13 year old regular tv picture & just might switch back if we cant get this picture atleast "watchable".

Any suggestions please :frowning:

 

[Jack Briggs]

Kim, you'll get a better response here in Display Devices. The Basics area strictly is for beginners.

Without knowing which store is involved, it sounds from your post as if the place has professionally calibrated its Hitachi in the showroom, via the service menu. In addition, the store probably has some premium-level other equipment connected to the Hitachi — and the salesperson already knew which equipment you had.

But the thing is, you can have your own set calibrated similarly and it should be able to perform just as well as what you saw in the showroom. For more information, please contact the Imaging Science Foundation and see if they have a representative in your area,

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Kim - it may not be the TV's fault.

Ordinary television signals (even digital-cable) is based on a 1940's television standard for a 9-inch black-and-white display.

You are taking this old signal and blowing it up about 5 times the intended size, and displaying it on year 2000 electronics. Like looking at a newspaper under a powerfull magnifying glass - you are seeing flaws that have always been there but never noticed.

The stores simply use a high-definition feed to make the sets look great. You can do the same. Contact your cable company to see if they offer a High Def cable box.

Most of my digital CATV stations are standard video. They look horrible on my HD television. The video is washed out, grainy, dull and flat. But flipping to the HD stations is a world of difference. Even my DVD's look poor by comparison.

Here are some hints:

- Connect the DVD player directly to the TV with component video cables (3 wires in a bundle).

- Get a DVD setup disk like Avia or Video Essentials. Follow their basic tutorial to setup the brightness/contrast/color. While not as good as an ISF calibration - it can make a big difference on some out-of-box televisions.

- For your CATV box - use component cables if it offers them, or SVideo cables. The single video cable is called "Composite" and can really look horrible - no matter how expensive the cable was. SVideo looks 20% better than composite on any television.

The Hitachi Ultravision is a well-respected line of televisions. It has gotten great reviews in comparisons, and was in my top-three list of televisions to purchase. You MIGHT have gotten a damaged unit - this does happen. But we constantly see new HDTV owners post messages about "..it does not look as good as it did in the store". This is because the store uses HD video, and you are using a 1940's television signal.

One suggestion: if you get a HD box from your CATV company, dont watch CSI in high-definition while eating. We've learned this the hard-way.
:frowning:

 

[kimCus]

We do have a new digital cable reciever box ( I just swaped it out), We just went & bought a new dvd progressive dvd player & are trying to find this disk that you all refer to. Where do I get one & how much should I pay for it. Is there another cable option I need to get ? We have adelphia & only are offered 3 digital channels. All we want is a somewhat clear picture.Any links or tips you can offer

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Yes - if you want to see High Definition signals like you saw in the stores. Adelphia Southern California High Definition

See if your local Adelphia offers this.

One of the disks is Avia Guide to Home Theater

The other disk that is well known is Digital Video Essentials

Please understand that these disks only help in the event the television is out of adjustment. It likely wont make the CATV images any better.

The other thing to check: How is your current cable box connected to the television? Is it a single cable with RCA plugs at the end? Or is it a thin cable with a funny "keyboard" connector? The second is called a SVideo cable and is the better choice.

 

[kimCus]

I believe we are connected with the S connections. My husband bought the extra heavy duty special cables that the store suggested.

I'm going to see if I can find one of the disks you suggested ( thanks for the titles) & we will try that. Its not that the TV is unwatchable its just not as clear as we expected, our adelphis cable system only offers 3 digital cable channels so far.

 

[Alan Wise]

Kim,

Whoa, hold on a minute.
I had the same experience when I brought home my 50V500A this past July. My wife even questioned my decision making integrity and thought we should bring it back. We also have a Sony 57" CRT RPTV that I have calibrated to near perfection, and the Hitachi out of the box was a great disappointment. As a matter of fact I will state that it was the worst out of the box set up that I have ever seen. However, with some very simple tweaking the Hitachi is absolutely fabulous, and has been perfroming flawlessly since. I had a great deal of help from the folks another forum that have a thread for this particular TV. I had to re-train myself with regards to what "brightness" and "contrast" settings need to be. If you follow the
typical settings for a CRT set, you will teriibly mistaken.
I am currently on holiday in the mountains of Vermont (just like Bing and Danny in "White Christmas") but will be returning home briefly on Wednesday. I will grab my Hitachi owners manual with my personal "tweaks" that are easily made in the regualr user menu. I will then follow up with another response with these settings.
For now I can tell you that I am feeding the 50V500A with a DVI cable for my Comcast HD Box, and a Component Video (Red, Green, Blue) for everything else fed through my Denon AVR-3805 receiver. I have not tried feeding via S-Video. The strength of the Hitachi is in it's digital capabilities, and thus the DVI is stunning.
I will respond again on Wednesday with my settings for you.

Best Regards, Al. Wise

 

[kimCus]

E Thank you & enjoy your vacation.