In 2006....
Written: Dec 23 '02
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Pros: HDTV support
Cons: picture qual. isn't that great - default settings are bad
The Bottom Line: It's not worth the price tag it has, wait another year before investing in HDTV.
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| super-b's Full Review: Hitachi 53FDX20B 53 in. TV |
The other day I was in some Electronics Department in some store and a salesman actually used this line as a selling point for an HDTV, "In 2006, when HDTV goes into full effect..." I guess he doesn't really want to make money until 2006. Hahaha, oh well.
This is the same review I posted earlier under the 61UDX10B model and got so much grief from all the advisors and leads from Epinions.com for publishing it in the wrong place, even though this wasn't listed at the time and Epinions FAQ's specifically stated that I cannot get new products added to this site. I also updated at the end.
Hitachi 53FDX20B
This review is for the Hitachi 53FDX20B, not the 61UDX10B. The model i'm review isn't listed on Epinions and the model picture for the 61UDX10B is the same as the 53FDX20B. And with that said......
First off, this tv is heavy. I recommend having a few extra guys around to help you move it if you so choose to purchase this beast. If not, you will definitely need a dolly/hand truck to move it unless you are one of those guys from "The World's Strongest Man" - in which case you could possibly move it on your own.
Starting with the little things:
The Remote
The remote is a little small to be a universal remote and you can only control upto 2 other devices besides your tv. This would obviously be your dvd, vcr (remember if you have both those are the only things you can control along with the tv), and a cable box or satellite. I'm sure you could probably control a cd player w/ it, but I haven't tried seems how I have no need to with a DVD player hooked up.
Some of the buttons get to be rather small, especially at the bottom where you switch between input signals. But it does have svid1-svid5 buttons, which is convenient when trying to get to the right input for your DVD/VCR player or whatever else you have plugged in.
There's an ASPECT button that zooms in on the picture just a little bit. It's fame lies in if you were to have HDTV then you could zoom in and watch it at the full 4:3 aspect instead of the normal 16:9 aspect for HDTV. It's pretty much a useless feature unless you buy an HDTV converter.
The last insight i'll give for the controller is the MODE button which can quickly cycle you through some programmed modes for viewing. These modes are what i suppose Hitachi believes the video should look like when you're watching certain things. So they took the liberty of programming: Sports, Music, News, and Movies presets. More on that later.
Extra Features
PIP
This tv comes with a nice pip feature that I have yet to fully utilize. It is a 2tuner PIP so you can watch two different channels at the same time, however, you'll only get sound from the main (larger) picture. When you swap pictures between the two the screen goes to black for a couple seconds before displaying the swapped pictures again. I think that pause during the swap is a downside - other people might not mind it as much as i do though. It's also possible to have 3 PIPs on the right side of the screen cycling through your favorite programmed channels while watching another channel on the rest of the screen. These are all seperated with a black border that seems reasonable to the actual size of the screen. I don't feel like i'm getting cheated out of valuable screen size in this PIP mode.
SRS and BBE
These are virtual surround sound from the two speakers in the tv cabinet (SRS) and an enhanced bass (BBE). I am currently using the SRS and have actually begun to enjoy it. I was quite reluctant to start using it because SRS usually dulls out the main sound, like people talking, but this Hitachi handles this task pretty good. I can get a decent surround sound effect from just the tv. A definitely plus if you don't have a high quality speaker system. The BBE is pretty much the bass turned up more. I'm also using this because it makes scenes in movies feel like they're more full of rich deep sound. It's alright, but nothing i would terribly miss if it wasn't available.
Those MODES I Mentioned Earlier
All these are are different settings for the contrast, brightness, color, tint, and sharpness. The only real difference should be when you go to the Movies mode, the tv should automatically begin using the 3:2 pulldown which, as I understand, is suppose to convert the fps from 24 to 30 - or something to that effect.
When i received my tv the modes were all screwed up, particularly the Movies mode where the contrast was set at 100%! That wasn't cool so i had to adjust it and all the other settings to get a decent picture.
Inputs and Outputs
There are a lot of inputs available for this tv. 5 inputs (one on the front of the tv), 3 of which contain S-Video inputs, and the other two have component inputs. Along w/ these inputs there are 2 antenna inputs and a converter input (this is for the hdtv converter you can buy seperately). There are also 2 audio inputs that have to be hooked up to an amplifier, like a receiver. Finally, there is also an output which as I take it can be used to hook up to something else for recording - like your home pc w/ an applicable video capture card, but I could be wrong about that.
......and most importantly.......
Picture Quality
The picture qual. for this tv gets a big fat thumbs down from me. There's barely a difference between the 480i (i stands for interlaced and if you don't know what that is start researching what progressive scanning really is) and 1080i as well as the 540p (p stands for progressive). Theoretically I expect to see twice as many lines in 1080i mode than in 480i mode, but I'm not. The picture isn't twice as clear as 480i and i'm completely let down. The progressive scan mode is only available if you have a progressive scanning DVD player or an HDTV converter. There's very little difference. Do not buy into the hype! Of course, my poor picture quality could be blamed on my terrible cable provider here in St. Joseph, MO. I won't name them, but they are the only cable provider available in St. Joseph and I believe they are affiliated with CableVision.
I currently have digital cable and thus far has done no justice to my $2300 tv.
When I play my DVD's i can barely tell the difference between 540p and 1080i. Once I get some component cables the difference should be more apparent between progressive scan and interlaced.
Overall
Possibly in 7 more years this tv will finally be worth what I paid for it, but right now it's not. I have also bought my parents a 55" Philips Magnavox tv and there picture quality is the same as mine, yet I paid about $800 less for their tv nearly three years ago!
Additionally, my Hitachi has begun showing a green spot in the middle of the picture, most likely a burn spot or something from the green tube. I don't think this should have happened seems how I've owned it less than one month. I'm currently trying to get it repaired and will update on whether or not Hitachi will allow it under the manufacturer's warranty.
Update
Hitachi's support for my green dot was non-existent. Although, on the plus side - they did apologize for the green dot! Wow, that was real considerate of them. They then told me to find someone to fix it. I hassled with Sears to fix it and they kept putting me on and making me wait. I was really patient about the whole thing too! Two months later they hadn't fixed my t.v. and didn't plan on fixing it until the next year! I went to Sears, talked with some managers and finally got a replacement in 3 business days! Amazingly enough after I had received the replacement the part needed to fix the previous t.v. miraculously became available and would arrive at my house in a few days. At this point I could care less seems how I have a t.v. that's functioning properly, but I might hold on to that 600$ part until they come get it - who knows, i might just need it.
On the new 53FDX20B the default settings were still bad and needed to be changed.
Although my bottom line says wait another year - go ahead and wait until 2006 and maybe you'll find that salesman raking in the dough, ringin' up all those people he told about HDTV.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 2300
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Epinions.com ID:
super-b
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Member: Brian Johnson
Location: St. Joseph, MO
Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Life's full of suprises. Just ask this monkey.
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