Sony 51ws510 Vs. Hitachi 51S500 (1 Viewer)

[TaylorSmith]

Hi All,
I've been reading the forum for about 3 or 4 weeks and i've learned SO much. I'm in the market for my first HDTV and i was most likely going to go Rear projection, 51".

I was looking at the:
Sony 51ws510 ($1999)
Hitachi 51S500 (~$2299, maybe lower)

I'm leaning mort towards the sony b/c I believe I can get a better price. Also, the store that's selling the sony (Now audio video) is having a special right now where you get a $300 shopping spree when you buy any new model TV over 1499.

I'm mainly looking to keep it around $2000. I'm not sure how good the manual convergence is on the Sony, and from reading around here, that seems to be a big deal.

Any help would be greatly appriciated. I was going to go look at the models a little more today, but I'll wait for a day or two to make my purchase to see what you guys have to say about it.

THANKS!

 

[Darren_Reed]

You can get the Hitachi for MUCH less than that price. Email me at noirATknology.net and I will let you know who to call. And don't worry, it is a BIG national chain, not some fly-by-night operation.

I am having a 57S500 delivered today, and it was a few hundred less than what you're quoting the 51-inch version to be!

 

[Peter Overduin]

I just had my 57S500 delivered today, and had compared it side by side with the Sony WV series, which is really the model you should be comparing to. The Hitachi was hands down a better unit than either the Sony WV or the new Toshiba HX series.

 

[Evan S]

I too am leaning towards the Hitachi. Question for everyone that has one. My center channel speaker (ACI Essence) is a pretty heavy speaker at 50lbs. Is that too much weight to put on top of the Hitachi's cabinet? The last thing I want to do is stress the unit in any way.

Thanks.

 

[TaylorSmith]

Well,

I ended up getting the Hitachi 51F500. I got the F model b/c the S was about 3-400 more and I'm on a tight budget.

I also had to buy a DVD player, and some pretty furniture to house all my stuff. I think that it's a good starters TV though.

I"ll get the Avia disk and have hours and hours of fun with it.

Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[EarleD]

Taylor,

Good choice. I purchased my 51F500 about 2-3 months ago and couldnt be happier. I was looking at Mits, Sony, and Toshiba sets also, but kept going back to look at the Hitachi. The set looks great with DVD's and prety good with DirecTV.

Make sure you turn down the contrast and brightness to proper levels, as the set comes from the factory in the torch mode. VE and Avia worked great for me.

Next month Gregg Lowen is professionaly calibrating my set. I can hardly wait too see the results.

Good luck with your new toy.

Earle

 

[Matt Wallace]

I just helped my grandmother select the new WV 51 " Sony and it is a great TV. She is really pleased with it and I like it quite a bit - almost as much as my Mitsubishi.

That being said, I still think you made a good choice. Hitachi makes a great projection set and are very reliable. One thing I find not many people realize is that most of the internal parts of projection tv's are made by just 2 or 3 companies and it seems that Hitachi lenses, etc, are in more sets than they aren't (even if it belongs to another company).

At any rate,congratulations on a great set!

Matt