Superb Picture, Excellent Value, BUT...
Written: Jan 18 '08
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Pros: Clear Picture, Great Internal Scaler, Awesome Price, Exceptional lifespan, Durable
Cons: HDMI Bug
The Bottom Line: With the picture quality, lifespan and price, why wait? Run out and get one while you can! You won't regret it!
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| skiman78's Full Review: Hitachi 65F59 65 in. HDTV CRT TV |
BUT... To get the best picture on this set,you need to know a bit about setting up a rear projection CRT. For those of you new to RP CRT, setting the convergence, contrast, brightness, tint (color) and enhancements is absolutely critical to achieving the best picture. A quick google search can explain this.
I have owned this TV for 1 year. In that time, I have visited family and friends with all types of HD televisions including Plasma, LCD, DLP and LCoS (Sony's SXRD). I have yet to find a television with a better picture, especially for the price.
Picture Quality:
Nothing short of fantastic. This pairs very well the Toshiba HD-A2 player and produces a cinematic picture. The HD feeds from Dish Network also look superb on this unit even though some artifacts can be seen on SOME of the HD channels. Standard definition programming looks very good on this TV since it is an analog system. One area where it really shines is viewing regular DVDs. The internal scaler does a very good job of converting the video to either 540p or 1018i. This ability is further enhanced when using an upconverting DVD player.
Over the Air (OTA) programming looks great on this unit. Previous reviews have stated that this unit does not have an internal HD tuner. THEY ARE CORRECT! It has an internal DIGITAL tuner. This pulls in the local HD signal, down converts it to 480 and then upconverts it using the internal scaler to native resolution. Believe me, you will think it has the full HD tuner! The internals on this unit are that good!
Since this is a crt based system, the response time is very fast. All sporting events and fast moving scenes in movies look great. Don't be worried with the fact it only supports 1080i. The picture is very smooth (as long as the source content is good!).
Audio Quality:
I haven't used the internal speakers much since most of the audio has been run through an AV receiver. However in the short time I used the internal speakers, they sounded rather good. This supports audio pass thru in the form of composite (analog L & R) and Optical (Tos-link).
Maintenance:
Since this TV is projection, some maintenance is required. The convergence needs adjusted if the TV is moved around much. The optics will need to be cleaned usually once a year to ensure proper picture quality. Also a setup disc (AVIA or DVE) is highly recommended to check the settings. Plan on spending a few hours with your set every 6 months or so or a few hundred dollars having a professional setup.
However you will never have to replace lamps in this! The crt guns are rated at 80,000 hours! The other formats have a lamp life of 2,000-6,000 hours and can cost anywhere from $200 and up for replacement.
Note:
Some of these TVs come with an HDMI problem that is easily addressed via the service menu. A quick search on google will show you the proper procedure for this fix. If it is not fixed, the picture will have the tendency to turn green or go blank all together. This is known and the fix is from Hitachi.
Price:
This Hitachi unit can be had for as little as $999 if you pay attention to the sale ads. In Dec. 06, I paid $1129 for this TV. I don't know of any other format where a full 1080i native resolution 65" set can be had for this price or even close for that matter.
Conclusion:
Get one of these before they stop selling them! They are getting hard to find. The picture quality, life span and price make these hard to beat! Don't worry about moving the set either. It comes apart in 2 pieces for easy transport!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1129
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skiman78
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