Advice Needed (1 Viewer)

[Kurt_G]

Could you guys please give me your opinions on which would be better to purchase, Toshiba or Hitachi?

I'm not too thrilled with my Mits anymore, and decided on these two brands. Although the size of screen has yet to be decided on, these are the models I've been contemplating.

Toshiba: ??H84
Hitachi: ??F500
Hitachi: LCD 50V500

I really appreciate your guys imput, for I'm really kind of lost on which way I should go between these two brands, and if by chance Hitachi gets more votes, then it's which technology, LCD or CRT.

 

[Kurt_G]

Hello, anybody?

 

[Chad B]

I would recommend the Hitachis. There's nothing wrong with Toshibas, but Hitachis have a little more flexibility in the service menu. That would only be relevent if you plan on treating your set to an ISF calibration. Also, Hitachi CRT units seem, to my eye, to have a bit more depth and 3 dimensionality.
As for LCD vs CRT, the main thing is the difference in black level (which effects contrast ratio). The LCDs have noticeably grayish blacks compared to the CRTs, but that's of less importance in a brightly lit living room than in a light controlled theater. I also calibrated one Hitachi LCD that had distracting color fringing (looks like convergence error in a CRT set, but it's not adjustable on LCDs). The other 4 or 5 I did were not as bad, so I think it was just a sample to sample variation. Hitachi wouldn't fix it for the customer, though, even though he got an extended warranty.

 

[Alan Wise]

Kurt,

I have had the Hitachi 50V500A since July and love it. THe sharpness and detail is wonderful. I also have a Sony KP-57WS510 CRT-RPTV. The only downside that I have with the Hitachi is the "screen door effect" that can be faintly seen if you are closer than 10 feet or so. It's strange, but this does not occur on all images. It has never appeared when viewing DVD's, but occurs most on HDTV shows like Dicsovery-HD and the like. I will admit that when I first plugged in the Hitachi and turned it on I thought the picture was terrible. My wife even commented that we should return it and get something else. However, after reading all the threads in another forum, I made adjustments that have this thing looking beatiful. I can't believe how far off the color, contrast, and other settings are from the factory. Sports such as Sunday football look great. Everyone talks about black levels being grey on LCD-RPTV's. My Hitachi looks very good. I do notice better black level detail in my Sony, but it's not that big of a difference.
Bottom line is that I would reccomend the 50V500A, but understand that you will need to make some tweaks for it to be at it's best.

Best Regards, Al. Wise

 

[Kurt_G]

Alan:

Thank you for your imput. Sorry I haven't been able to respond sooner. Things have been crazy with the holidays from Thanksgiving and now Christmas. To say the least I haven't had much time to spare to be able to get on the computer much. lol

I'll seriously consider the Hitachi 50V500, the only thing that would hold me back is the fact that, well, it is an LCD, and because of it, it's pretty thin. Now most would look at this as pro a not so much a con, but my darn center channel speaker is 15" deep. So I might have to take a second look at Mitsubishi.

See I haven't been disappointed with the performance of Mits, just it's size more than anything. It's only a 48", and well, I want bigger. lol

Doesn't have to be that much bigger or anything, just something a little better than 48". lol

I know the 55" Mits is deep enough were I can place my cc on top and not have any problems. Of course if I went with Hitachi 50V500, I could possibly get a wall unit, and that would solve the cc problem, for I could simply set it on top of it.

Anyways, I've got a few things to think over and contemplate, but I'll defiantly take the 50V500 seriously while doing so.

 

[Dave Miller]

Kurt,

I have been very pleased w/ the Toshiba 65h80 that I've had for 3 years. It has been professionally calibarated, has a great picture, and never had a problem with it.

Peace,

DM

 

[Alan Wise]

Kurt,

I know what you mean by it being thin. My center speaker is a rather large Boston Acoustics VRC. It would not sit on top of the Hitachi all by itself, so I used two wedges of styrafoam to fit between the angled back of the TV and the bottom of the speaker. It has worked perfectly since July and is virtually invisible.

Good Luck!

Al. Wise