need RPTV buying advice Mitsubishi, Toshiba, or Hitatachi? (1 Viewer)

[Brian Bowles]

I have narrowed down my choices to the most likely canidates at Best Buy. I like the no interest deal! So far the contenders are Mitsubishi, Toshiba, or Hitatachi.
I now have added Sony as a choice too. (kind of lost) It appears the Mitsubishis at Bestbuy are not the same as the ones reccommended here by many people. Is this true?

I am not sure but think I would get the 57" or the 65" Can someone give me some pointers? The Augusta, GA area only has on channel that has a HDTV feed. I really do not think I would get a HDTV tuner at this time. That means that most of my viewing will be DVD movies. Although, my wife will use it for broadcast viewing. So quality of cable viewing is important. Is Comcast digital cable much better than regular cable?

One more thing. How much of a visual impact difference is there when viewing a tv with a 43" vs. 57" vs. 65" screen? Also does this affect how cable looks. I wonder if cable looks worse on the larger television. Thanks so much for your time!

 

[Sheldon C]

Brian,

regardless of the brand you buy I would highly suggest that you get a 65 inch tv. I was in the same spot you are now a couple of months ago and I am sooo happy that I went BIG. I see absolutely no scan lines even on analog cable and the picture looks quite good even for football games. I sit 12 feet back, but would still prefer the 65 even if I were a couple feet closer. Make sure that you use the regular coax cable instead of s video for watching cable; surprisingly it looks much better (s video looks out of focus).

Oh, btw I went with a Mitsubishi 65311 for 2999 which included tax and delivery. I couldn't be happier.

 

[Brian Bowles]

thanks sheldon where did you get that? I hear the ones at bestbuy are not the same mitsubishi televisions.

 

[BruceSpielbauer]

>>>thanks sheldon where did you get that? I hear the ones at bestbuy are not the same mitsubishi televisions.

 

[Jan Strnad]

You'll find happy owners of all three brands. Or all four if you count the Sony.

I love my Toshiba. It has a great picture even on mediocre satellite channels, which I understand is a weakness of the Sonys. Toshibas are also quite shallow, which may or may not be a concern of yours.

I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with Sheldon, though, about the size. The larger the size, the more it'll show up whatever defects are in your signal. You have to consider the size of your room and viewing distance, and if you can even get the set up (or down) whatever stairs and around whatever corners lead to your viewing room.

You may very well end up with a 65" set, but there's no one-size-fits-all solution.

Jan

 

[BruceSpielbauer]

I would strongly agree with Jan, here.

First, I would separate the decision of "size" from "brand" completely. They all make sizes that will somehow fill the requirements of YOUR environment. So, try to determine ths size (which is most probably going to be a range). I did this by visiting showrooms with a tape measure, and written measurements of the "sweet spot" seating locations. I actually asked for a chair, and sat where viewers would be sitting, even at the same angles. I watched for as long as I could (since I know that the perception changes after ten, or twenty minutes, sometimes dramatically). I did this in many showrooms, over a two month period. I also read many testimonials from users who noted that the set tends to "shrink" after you own it. When it is delivered, it may actually seem too big. A month later, it will seem to have somehow shrunk in size. Finally, as Jan pointed out, if you sit too close, any "less than great" signal may actually look "bad." A VHS tape on a 65" at 7 feet might cause you to shut the tape off. Try to visit showrooms with this in mind, and ask to watch standard def stuff, analog cable (if they have it), digital cable (if they have it), standard def satellite (if they have it), over the air (if they have it), and then the DVDs and the HDTV. You will find the distances at which you start to notice defects in the picture... garbage in, garbage out, as they say.

Separate this issue from the question of brand. Find out if you can watch a 65" set at 8, or 9, or 10, or 11 or 12 feet, if it is the SAME type of signal which you will actually have in your home. This will tell you your size (as will your room limitations, seating distances, etc.)

Then, you can think about the brand. And the model.

-Bruce in Chi-Town

 

[Matthew_F]

Actaully the best brand TV to buy is actaully Hitachi. They have new hybrid wideneck CRT guns which are the lastest in technology and only Hitachi is the first to be using these new guns and out perform the other brand names.
The series I would recommend is the TWX because it is the top of the line. Or you can get their flagship, the XWX, which is bascially the TWX series with a HDTV decoder and has a high-gloss black finish.
I am actaully going to get the TWX series, (maybe 57 or 65.. depends" from Video Only since a friend of mine works there an he is giving me a great deal. I have seen both TVs in display and wow it's very nice.
You wouldn't be able to find these TVs series at BestBuy or Circuit city because they can't afford them and they only carry the lower series end series, like SWX, GWX and UWX. Different is the video processor, focus and other things are not as good compared to TWX/XWX.
You can look at their site for details
http://www.hitachi.com/tv/browse/pro...al_index.shtml
Hope this helps

 

[MichaelFusick]

You wouldn't be able to find these TVs series at BestBuy or Circuit city because they can't afford them and they only carry the lower series end series, like SWX, GWX and UWX

Best Buy does not carry Hitachi.

Circuit City stocks the XWX in hundreds. They are the largest Hitachi dealer and carry all models. Sears is also one of the big boys. They have more trouble getting the XWX than CC does, (from what I read) but they carry the Hitachi line too...

SWX is a great model, check out the review at Stereophile's Guide to Hometheater and Perfect Vision magazines this month.

 

[BruceSpielbauer]

>>>Actaully the best brand TV to buy is actaully Hitachi.

 

[Dan Ponze]

Circuit City stocks the XWX in hundreds. They are the largest Hitachi dealer and carry all models. Sears is also one of the big boys. They have more trouble getting the XWX than CC does, (from what I read) but they carry the Hitachi line too...

I have to disagree with you on that one Michael, I work for the Great Indoors (Parent company is Sears) and we have plenty of XWX's and SWX's in stock ready to go. I know because I sold an XWX last week and many SWX's last weekend. We'll beat Circuit City's price too. As for which one I like, I like the Hitachi SWX personally. It's a great set, easy to use and a superb value.
As for Mitsu, the Best Buy network gets a little different Mitsubishi's than everyone else. Be cautious of that. If you're looking at the Mitsu's I would shop elsewhere.

 

[Matthew_F]

Opps my mistake on the Best Buy part. Well I'm sort of correct because Future Shop in Canada (Best Buy owns them) and they carry Hitachi. The Circuit city I went to didn't have one to display so I didn't know about that.
I know my friend at Video Only can beat both of the prices because both of those retailers wouldn't be selling a TV set at cost + 5% which my friend is doing for me.
--
About what's being the best. Well just looking that TVs, the Hitachi was the one which stuck out the most. Call like a ISF would make that set better if you ment it in that way but if he were do so all the sets than Hitachi would most likely still stick out thou.

 

[Sheldon C]

I'm really surprised that more people don't think that a 65 inch HDTV looks good even on regular cable. I'm starting to wonder if I am receiving an above average signal in my area from Time Warner Cable, because I'm tellin' you it looks great from 12 feet. Sure, my HD channels are far superior but I'm not seeing a bunch of scan lines or artifacts on standard cable (if they are there I'm not noticing them).
The only time the picture does look bad is on ESPN football games. The difference between a Monday night game and a Sunday night game is huge. Other than that, I am sooo pleased with how it looks regardless of the source.
A friend of mine had a 4:3 45 inch Mits and his tv looks terrible using Time Warner Cable, so maybe there really is something to be said about the quality of the signal; I'm just lucky I guess.

 

[BruceSpielbauer]

>>> About what's being the best. Well just looking that TVs, the Hitachi was the one which stuck out the most. Call like a ISF would make that set better if you ment it in that way but if he were do so all the sets than Hitachi would most likely still stick out thou.

 

[Matthew_F]

ok thanks for the info Bruce.

Well I do have a ISF pro in my neighborhood and he owsn a TV store. Hopefullly he can give me more details on this.

I currently do own a Panasonic 47" widescreen and I believe he locked out the convergence calibration because it's always greyed out when I try to get into it. Maybe I should ask him to unlock it?

 

[Levesque]

Not according to most of the reports I have read from ISF calibrators, both on this forum and also at the Spot, and AVS, and Sound and Vision Forums. After calibration, most of the "better" sets will tend to look identical. (There are a few exceptions, where an adjustment is "locked out" from a calibrator, but I am not counting them as one of the "better" sets). Once the gray scale has been adjusted, the color decoders have been optimized to 0% push or 0% pull, the SVM has been turned off, the convergence and geometry issues have been performed, they should look identical -- the same as the NTSC standard.

Bruce, you were faster then me here. I think the exact same thing. My ISF calibrator came last weeks to calibrate my 65HDX82. He has calibrate the new Hitachi line. So he have compare both. And he says the exact same thing.
Save to money, go for the Tosh, then you will be able to pay for the ISF calibration, buy a better DVD-player, and even bring the wife out for supper (don't forget she was the one "autorizing" the money for your new toy).

 

[MichaelFusick]

I don't think they look "identical" by any stretch of the term.

I would agree they look similar and definitely more similar to each other than Out Of The Box models would.

There is still differences between models and MFG's.

Most people won't calibrate either, so what they look like out of the box and with minor tweaking really matters to some.

ISF calibration is a great idea, but when recommending an RPTV, it should not be a requirement or consideration of the conversation unless the poster plans to have it done.

If a set looks great after calibration, but almost no one calibrates them...then what does it matter?

Some sets look much better than others without calibration, and some sets have quirks that can not be fixed even with calibration.

Example- The ELITE looks best out of the box, but has non-corectable RED PUSH, leaving it behind some other sets perhaps.

Another example: Toshiba has a more accurate color decoder than most, but it is not adjustable, so other sets that do have adjustable color decoders can surpass it with color decoder correction sometimes.

These matter only if calibration is peformed, if not they are not problems, but rather benifits.

I guess the glass can be half empty, or half full.

 

[MichaelFusick]

Besides,

Just like us, calibrators have thier favorite sets too.

Some like pioneer, Some are die-hard Mits fans from years back, some like Toshiba...ect.

Calibrators are people with different opinions just like us.

 

[Levesque]

Calibrators are people with different opinions just like us.

Exactly, but their opinions is a lot more valuable then ours. Because they got their heads litteraly "in the TV"!
I don't really care about any reviews in Perfect Vision or any other paper, because we don't know how much money they receive to put adds of those company in the same paper! (you understand what I mean... would you believe your car seller? or your TV seller LOL!)
Calibrators calibrate ALL the brands and ALL models, so why would they push a product? When they give their opinions, they are not waiting to be paid for an add, because it's you paying them after the calibration.... So the opinion of an ISF calibrator is alot more valuable to me then the opinion of a "forum-dweller" (that we don't have any clue about...maybe the dude telling you that the brand "X" is the best, is maybe selling this brand for a living, and receiving money for every set he sells...)
Be very careful when listening to posters. NEVER spend that much money on the word of a poster.
Go out to see it with YOUR own eyes. Make your own decision. You are the one SPENDING the money! I've seen people recommending Bose on some forums! What do you know about the guy typing?
A lot of "not so disinterested" people are "hiding" behind a keyboard... Some forums are working hard to spot "sellers" trying to push products on different thread.
Be very careful.

 

[Ken Stokes]

Wow, this is getting silly. Every forum I look at has the same people saying the same things over and over again. Mike loves Hitachi and Levesque loves to slam Mike. Mike works at CC which has at least four brands of RPTVs but he enjoys this hobby and likes Hitachi. Levesque loves to quote a calibrator he knows and slams Mike at every turn, it's old.

The Perfect Vision is probably the least biased major publication on the market. They loved the Hitachi and made the Mits. the RPTV of the year. Some calibrators dislike Hitachi because they are harder to calibrate and take more time. Heck if I was getting paid by the job I'd push the one I could do faster and easier every time.

I shopped for some time and ended up with Hitachi, because for me it was the best. These forums are great to discover what's available and hear some opinions. If anyone makes a purchase based solely on what he reads in these forums they deserve the disappointment they will inevitably experience.

I just wish everyone would make positive posts that are meant to assist new people that are discovering our hobby.

Just wanted to say that.

Ken

 

[BruceSpielbauer]

Ken:

Exactly. Precisely.

All of the sets have strengths. All of them have flaws. At the moment, Hitachi and Mitsubishi happen to be among that group of four or five sets which are excellent choices. Pioneer can most certainly be included in this group. Loewes Acando sets can most certainly be included in this group. And, in most cases, Toshiba could be included in this group.

It is true that most will never hire a calibrator. However, it is also true that more people who tend to stop by in forums such as these will hire a calibrator. Yes, some of the above look better out of the box. Yes, some of the above look almost bad out of the box. Yes, some of the above have way, way too much red push. Yes, that red push is easier to correct on some models than on others. Yes, some of the above exhibit better SVM adjustability, or better gray scale, or better stability in the overall settings. Yes, some of the above lock into full mode, or automatically upconvert a DVD signal, or seem to have problems with quality control...

The fact is that all of the above are great choices. And, that all of us want to patted on the back for the "excellent" choice we made in buying our set, almost as an egotistical testament to the wisdom which we pretend to possess. Myself included.

Brian (who has been all but forgotten, here) is in safe hands because he listed three sets which are all perfectly good choices. They all have major strengths, and a very few minor weaknesses. All of them.

Now, excuse me while I go and watch my [Censored] brand.


-Bruce in Chi-Town


P.S. [By the way, I think you ought to buy a [Censored] brand. After all, I did.]