50V500 Owners Should Know This (1 Viewer)

[CarmineMW]

I bought my 50V500 two weeks ago. What an image it produces...in the store. DVDs look like you can crawl inside the picture. It's that good! But beware.... I use Dish Network Sattelite. Little did I know that the image coming from the dish would not look anywhere near what I anticipated. I read all the specs before purchase. I too read about auto upscaling, virtual hd and 3:2 pulddown and the rest. After weeks of wrestling with the image and contacting tech support at Dish network, Sears and Hitachi, I finally got my answer, after all the finger pointing.

According to Hitachi, The 50V500 is not like other Hitachis. It utlizes Virtual HD but the resolution on the TV is not changeable! You are locked into the 720p 1080 mode, not like the other sets. If you have a Dish Network receiver 301 or 508PVR, you have no way to change the resolution being sent to the set, and the signal is too limited. The set does not upwards convert the signal properly and you will see bad compression noise and dancing pixels and some flicker in static text. The only solution according to a Hitachi tech was to spend another $600.00 or so, and go with and HDTV receiver...not just for viewing HDTV, but to change the input resolution manually, and utilize the component video connections. I chose not! The set is going back Friday and I am so disappointed!

My retailer found my knowledge hard to believe as well. They had DN in the store so they decided to try it by taking off the canned demo and looking at the real world. They saw what I've been seeing for 2 weeks. Their reply...most of the big screens look like this right now, but HD is still in developement. Not for my $2800.00 it's not! I then went and bought a 32" tube set for $284.00. AND it does the job! No more dancing pixels or compression noise or who struck John or nothing.

You can always tell the pioneers...they're the ones with the arrows sticking out of their back. I choose to remain in the wagon and put the money in the bank until it's time...REALLY time for a change...You all have been so helpful, I just wanted to pass my info along...happy hunting!

 

[videobruce]

This should stir something up..............

 

[Steve Schaffer]

The V500 is an lcd set, native scanrate is 720p so the set has to convert everything else to 720p.

Standard Dish stations are artifacty anyway, add in the conversion to 720p and blowup to 50" diagonal and it's pretty ugly.

The set is designed to take advantage of dvd and HD, not overcompressed 480i dbs.

Ya bought the wrong set in the first place. The 32" analog you replaced it with is ideal for that signal.

Now if you ever decide you want a good display for home theater, not overcompressed 480 satellite pictures, go back and get the V500.

 

[videobruce]

The V500 is an lcd set, native scanrate is 720p so the set has to convert everything else to 720p. Standard Dish stations are artifacty anyway, add in the conversion to 720p and blowup to 50" diagonal and it's pretty ugly.

The set is designed to take advantage of dvd and HD, not overcompressed 480i dbs.

Ya bought the wrong set in the first place. The 32" analog you replaced it with is ideal for that signal.

Now if you ever decide you want a good display for home theater, not overcompressed 480 satellite pictures, go back and get the V500.

Do both systems have the same problem (Direct TV and Echostar)?

 

[Bret Miller]

Bruce,
on DirectTV some channels look better than others for sure...best to keep that material on 4:3 mode, on my receiver I can adjust the res to 480i and some channels can fool you into being quite good. 480p via my outdoor antenna looks even better, but it's the HD factor that sold me this set...

Carmine,
While your watching SD on your 32", I will be enjoying the best quality available at the moment on my 50" widescreen, most of which does not cost me anything

Let's see Monday night I watched Spider Man HD at 1080i with Dolby Digital on HBO via Direct TV, then switched over to Monday Night Football at 720p fed from my outdoor antenna (spectacular even at 1:30 AM ), last night I watched Frasier in HD, and, then switched over to PlayMakers on ESPN in High def...all of which filled my 50" beautifully and actually watching baseball at 480p on FOX looked really good in 4:3 mode

DVDs tested on my Hitachi so far: Fifth Element Superbit, PHantom Menace, Ice Age, Pearl Harbor, Gladiator with my 6.1 channel HT to boot, I have been in heaven the last 2.5 weeks! Awesome set, and friends all say wow when they enter the room, some say "wow" when SD material is on.

I don't feel like arrows are sticking out of my back either
$2650 for my 50V500
$250 for my Zenith DirectTV / HD with built in HD Tuner
$50 for my HD Terk dish

Not a bad ticket to get into HD. Yes I was hesitant about making the transition, but once you have HD in your home and entertain some friends and family, you won't look back.

If you don't care about Home Theater stick with your 32" CRT and watch TV!

Then again, when we think of TV and local networks, I will go to bat with my Hitachi via antenna, against your Dish feed anyday of the week...because most of the over the air stuff is either HD or pretty good digital...I remember when I subscribed to locals via Directv they were sometimes overcompressed even on my CRT upstairs..

at least IMO.

 

[Bret Miller]

Here is a good quote from another forum, which may help you Dish PVR folks:

"
The problem is not with the Hitachi 50V but with the Dish PVR's. I too had Dish with a STB feeding a Tivo that looked great, then I bought a Dish 301 PVR (to record the digital feed) and it looked like crap. The way Dish compress's the signal on their recorders is awful. I would not buy any of their PVR's now.

I'm sure if that guy bought a regular Dish STB that put the straight digital signal through he would love the picture.

Some Newbies are not meant to own Big HD TV
"

 

[Parker Clack]

So how does this set look over a cable feed and not through Dish or DirecTV?

Parker