Why are Hitachi RPTV's so easily Ignored? (1 Viewer)

[Stephen Houdek]

Is it all in the brand or is there some hidden fact I over-looked while doing my research and comparison tests? It certainly isn't for lack of an excellent picture or features........

Seems everyone falls all over the Toshiba's and gives Sony far too much credit for its history in the direct view area. Mitsubishi's are another one I can't quite figure out the attraction to.....Oh well, I guess I'm just different.

 

[NickSo]

Yeah, i heard that Hitatchi uses the same lenses and such as Toshiba...

My friend has a Hitatchi, it looks great...

Dunno bout realiability though...

 

[LaMarcus]

I've found out that Hitachi is in fact the best rptv on the market and the pioneer is second , ofcoarse if you go along with consumer reports , they say that it was the best in everything, and they are a unbiased source.

But you've got me on the toshiba thing , i dont know why everyone praises them. I have a 36" tosh and it aint all that.

 

[NickSo]

Consumer reports gave a 4:3 RPTV top honors... who ya gonna believe, us or HTF?
Anyways, im sure the quaity of Hitatchis are good, but Toshibas are very reliable with great quality too

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

A reminder that the CR evaluation criteria is very different than the standards HT enthusiasts set for themselves.

The CR evaluation is geared toward the "every man" and not the enthusiast. Doubtful they even used AVIA or VE.

Picture = bright = good ...

Just be aware of where they are coming from. This does not invalidate the evaluation though ... as it serves the target audience just fine. We are not it.

Regards

 

[Ed Faver]

I have a Hitachi 43UWX10B & I'm in love with it. I paired it with a Panasonic RP56 and, last week, added an Elite VSX37 & it rocks. Great picture and fab sound. I have an ISF tech coming in June to tweak it, but there's nothing wrong that my eyes see. I'm very, very happy with HItachi.

 

[RyanDinan]

Correct me if Im wrong, but I believe the majority of 4x3 Hitachi's (excluding the new 16x9 models) did not have a true 16x9 mode (no squeeze), throwing away the 33% increase in resolution for anamorphic DVD's, and only using the inner 16x9 phosphor area for HDTV as well (810 lines as opposed to a true 1080). This can be evidenced by the "feature" of having "gray bars" above and below the image.

-Ryan Dinan

 

[Scott Basham]

The 2 Hitachis that I had, both 43uwx10b hdtvs, were junk. One had terrible geometry that the service man could not fix and the other had a short that caused the screen to keep resizing.

Fortunately, I bought at Sears and was able to trade up to a 55809 Mitsubishi. It's 10 times the tv that the Hitachi was. I had been a Hitachi fan because of a great tube tv and high end video recorder that I had, but their latest offerings just didn't do it for me.

Hope you find something you like.

 

[Stephen Houdek]

I guess I should have stated it...My research led me to purchase the 53UWX10B and I'm in love with the set.
My wife even loves it and that is saying a lot.

 

[NickSo]

Hope ya enjoy your set!

I think thats the one my friend has.. Hitatchi UltraVision, looks about 53".. Nice Set.. just a shame shes using it with an inerlaced player, crappy Digital Cable, and an Xbox with only a COMPOSITE connection...

gosh, she could do SOOO much better with the equipment she has... Dont you hate that? People have all this great equipment but dont use it to its full potential even though its easily achieved...

 

[Stephen Houdek]

Nick,

You don't need a progressive scan DVD player with this set. I purchased one and found the sets internal 3:2 pulldown handles everything great. I don't even use the progressive function of my DVD player and have an AWESOME picture. Just make sure she is in movie mode when watching DVD's.

 

[Jeff Leeds]

I couldn't agree with you more. I've had a Hitachi SDX 4:3 and heard the remarks about the squeeze, it is true that it isn't a true squeeze, but with anamorphic DVD the sets is awesome. As for a Mits beging so much better, Mits buys there lens from Hitachi's mothership company, so that is in the eye of the beholder. Three years ago when I bought this set I had a Tosh top-of-the-line set in the house for two weeks and pitched it for the SDX and never looked back. There was NO comparison, this set compared IMHO to a Sony, Tosh, etc or anything other than Pioneer Elite was no comparison.

 

[davepr]

Scott, sorry you had bad experiences with the 2 Hitachi's. I bought the 43UWX10b and the quality has been just fine. Also bought from Sears and got a great price match less 10%.

Stephen, CR has the Hitach's RPTV's as the most reliable. Those are the statitical responses from their questionaires. They have nothing to do with their ratings. As with what happened with Scott you can always be unlucky with any brand.

In my search, quality (somewhat subjective), size and configuration (table top) were my considerations. Although somewhat against the grain of this forum, I liked the Sony and then the Hitachi. The Sony did not meet my size and config parameters, I therefore bought the Hitachi. No regrets. My advice, as always, is worth what you paid for it.

Dave

 

[Westly T]

I've had a Hitachi 60" for about 4 years (Just checked my receipt) with no problems at all. I got the extended warranty, so of coarse I've had no problems. I've not noticed any loss of picture quality or brightness. I'm guessing they are overlooked because one of the few retailers that carry it is Circuit City. Circuit City has many enemies in the HT field due to their involvement with DIVX.

 

[ken thompson]

Another happy 60SDX user here. I've had it for 2 1/2 years and it has truely exceeded all of my expectations. There is no better picture out there. The 4x3 Hitachis get dissed by the scan line counters out there and their anamorphic DVDs and HD programming but you will not find a crisper clearer picture anywhere regardless of the source.

 

[Allan Jayne]

I find it hard to believe that a 4:3 TV without a true squeeze could deliver a picture from anamorphic DVD that is awesome.
But if it de-interlaced the incoming video first and then scaled it to the inner 360 scan lines the result will be better compared with the anamorphic downconversion from a standard DVD player which is done on one field at a time, before it has a chance to be de-interlaced by the TV.
Video hints:
http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/vidscale.htm

 

[Stephen Houdek]

Just to be clear.....My comments were directed to the 16:9 crowd. I can't speak to the 4:3 folks but it truly does apply to the 16:9 Hitachi sets. I wasted a bit of cash buying a progressive player.......But its a good one so I can't complain.

 

[Jenna]

Personally, I dislike the Hitachi RPTV's cabinets, specifically the shape of the lower half which makes it impossible to place them in a large entertainment center to get a "built-in" effect. Had the cabinets been shaped more like the Pioneers, I would have considered purchasing one. (I know it's petty, but the set HAS to look good even when it's off.)

 

[Jeff Leeds]

Well Allen, I have to comment on your note that "it could hardly be awesome" For widescreen material that is 1:85.1 or 1:79.1 using the 16x9 mode it is AWESOME (this is a squeeze, you're not going to convince me otherwise how could the set do 1080i?)...believe it, I've compared to Sony and tosh sets at friends homes, stop counting your pixels and let your eyes do the walking. There is debate on this over and over again, they make a darn nice set and in fact for me when I bought mine about 3 years ago the only set that could touch it was Pioneer Elite for double the money.

 

[RyanDinan]

this is a squeeze, you're not going to convince me otherwise how could the set do 1080i?

Jeff,

The set could still SCAN 1080i in the entire 4x3 raster area, but only draw the image in the inner 810 lines (requiring down-conversion, similar to anamorphic DVDs with a DVD player set to 4x3 letterbox mode). Hitachi sets are known for this. If your set can display gray bars aove and below the image, then that is exactly what is happening when you display 1080i - even with "black" bars.

-Ryan Dinan