Very Dissatisfied with Hitachi 51" - 51UWX20B (1 Viewer)

[Shawn Speer]

Well this is my first post and I need some major help. I recently purchased a Hitachi 51" Widescreen HDTV capable RPTV (51UWX20B). At the store (Sears) it was being fead a digital signal from Discovery HD. It looked amazing. I know have the TV at home in my living room being fed a signal from a Dish Network Satelite system. The picture is HORRIBLE in any mode I put it in (480p/1080i). There are artifacts everywhere, peoples mouths seem to drag behind what they are saying, and everything just looks grainy. I was thinking of purchasing a line doubler, but a TV that costs $2000 shouldn't look this bad without one. The picture from my normal DVD player (I will be purchasing a Progressive Scan unit soon) looks pretty good. Am I missing some sort of setting? Any advice is greatly appreciated, I am about ready to have Sears come pick this thing up.

Thanks,
Shawn

 

[george king]

Shawn,

This is probably an example of garbage in - garbage out since you say that DVDs look good. With a highly compressed signal like Sat, the set will magnify the problems on a big screen. There probably is not a big fix, unless you get the Dish receiver with the High Definition option.

However, a few things to consider. Have you calibrated the set with AVIA or a similar disk. I have a smaller Hitachi, and these sets are capable of a stunning picture, but take a little work to get there (as most of the reviews indicate). That will help. Also, put the TV in Movie mode, as this is the only mode that activates 3:2 pulldown, which will help some of the problems.

Hope this helps.

 

[Luis C]

Actually Shawn,

A line doubler will help significantly, especially since you mention watching NTSC broadcasts a lot. Even FAR more expensive TVs/monitors can be drastically improved with outboard line doublers. Plus units like the ISCan PRO (the one I would recommend) will also improve the picture of your DVD player as well.

 

[Shawn Speer]

I have it in the Movie Mode, and it still presents the same problems. I will be attempting to calibrate the set this evening. Any other ideas?

 

[Ken D.]

Read this thread. Click Here.
I returned a 43FDX15B because of this problem. SAT/Cable looked like complete garbage. Returned it and got a Panny 53WX42. SAT/Cable look pretty darn good now. The picture is nice and sharp and there isn't any "dithering" occuring especially on close ups of faces.

 

[MichaelFusick]

Lower contrast and sharpness.

 

[Ken D.]

Bottom line is this, if you have a general feeling of dislike towards the item you've just purchased, then return it and try something else. I know it bothered me every day that I was unhappy about my original Hitachi purchase.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

Get it calibrated with AVIA, play with tweaking it for a couple of weeks, if you still hate it swap for something else.

Been there done that with a 53UWX10B a year ago, as Michael will no doubt remember.

I ended up with a Sony which I love, but Toshiba, Mits, and Panasonic are also well respected. There are plenty of folks who swear by (not at) Hitachis, so you may just need to get it adjusted properly to be happy with it.

 

[george king]

Steve,

You could not be more right about the nature of Hitachis. For example in the most recent TPV, the reviewer said the 57" Hitachi RPTV is the best set he has ever seen, BUT only after it has been calibrated; out of the box it looked terrible.

I have the 36" Directview HDTV set, and it looked bad out of the box. But after a couple of hours with AVIA and Video Essentials, it has a killer picture. But again, I had to work at it.

Hope this helps.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

I live in a wasteland as far as the availability of professional calibration, and the lack of good tweaking information at the time (it's somewhat improved now) led me to just give up on the thing.

The replacement I got was better after 20 minutes with AVIA than the Hitachi was after 2 weeks of almost nightly sessions with trimpots and such.

I know Hitachi can make an excellent set-the analog 53SBX59B Ultravision I had prior to the UWX was about the best analog rptv I've ever seen, and got a picture comparable to a 35" Sony XBR I had with just AVIA calibration.

 

[MichaelFusick]

The replacement I got was better after 20 minutes with AVIA than the Hitachi was after 2 weeks of almost nightly sessions with trimpots and such.

Too bad you did not know that you have complete access to the color decoder and the cuts and drives with the remote and the service menu.

I was reading through alot of the old posts at the spot, where you and Tom Bliz and a few others were all talking about the Hitachi's.

The greenies...LOL

Well, the lower IRE was too low in the greyscale and a quick adjustment to the green cut could have fixed it all.

The Hitachi's were a new chasis and design, and it was not untill months later than people learned about these sets and service manuals got out to people.

Your much better off with the HW40 I think, much higher quality out of the box with regards to greyscale and geometry. I had to completely rebuild my geometry to correct a tilt and a bow in it after serious overscan reducement. Hitachi's last year were not very good out of the box.

HW40 is also pretty straightfoward tweakwise, if your ever so inclined.

I think it's cool how they took the HW40 and made it the HS500 this year and still sell it. All that seems different is the silver color and a few other things. This alows sony to hit that lower price point. Must kill you that the new 57" can be had for 2K-ish My Hitachi cost more than the new 65" does, even at cost!

These things get cheaper and better every year.

Waiting is useless, cuase you can wait forever and never be able to enjoy it. My best advice to anyone is don't wait, and just get one. You'll be glad you did.

 

[Jan Strnad]

Shawn,

From reading a lot of posts, and my own experience with Toshiba, you might be happier with a Tosh. They seem to have one of the best out-of-box pictures...though you'll have to take it off torch mode and tweak with Avia. Also, from what I gather, Tosh does better with mediocre signals than others, such as Sony.

Jan

 

[Steve Schaffer]

My HW40 just passed it's 1st anniversary, so I celebrated by getting the 3 year extended wty from CC (hope I never need it).

I do find it's service menu to have been pretty easy to deal with. It's nice to be able to get rid of SVM without physically disconnecting anything.

I think the only difference between the WS500 and the HW40 is the antireflective coating on the HW40 screen, don't think the WS has it.

I figure by the time I'm ready to replace this one I'll be able to get a DLP based 65 incher for less than I paid for the HW40.

I have learned my lesson though and am waiting for some substantial price reductions before jumping on D-VHS or upcoming HD-DVD. Even my STB is now $300 cheaper than I paid a year ago.

 

[Cameron Wright]

yeh it might just be your contrast and sharpness and other settings.. in my local HiFi store they had a Toshiba ....51inch HDV and the enw one but with the Pegasus III.. CRT's it was also given an entry level of calibration buy a ISF tech.. it was a compare the 2 kinda deal, I refused tobelive that the non calibrated one look that bad.. I sat down and just played with the controls and made the cable signal watch able. Before it was insanely bad I could have drawn a better picture..

 

[MichaelFusick]

What made you decide to get the three year warranty?

usually they go up alot in price after the 1 year is up

 

[Steve Schaffer]

I got the 3 year because I figured I'd probably upgrade about then anyway (dlp or whatever oughta be in my price range by then, plus whatever DVI is gonna be needed to get HD-dvd). The price was about $379 for 3 years, about 125 per year. Considering what one "customer pay" repair on this beast is likely to cost I figure it's well worth it. Plus if it can't be fixed they'll give me a brand new equivalent tv.

 

[Darrin_R]

Shawn

I dont think you want to watch cable or dish in movie mode. Movie mode engages 3:2 pulldown.