After 3 of these, I am switching to Plasma
Written: Jan 11 '05 (Updated Jan 11 '05)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Sound: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Picture Quality: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
 |
|
|
Pros: Beautiful HD cable channels, decent sound, fabulous plasma-like cabinet, narrow depth, decent blacks
Cons: Screen splotches, corner green overshoot, consistency, SD (especially TIVO with green highlighting everywhere)
The Bottom Line: Stay away from this HDTV until Hitachi fixes their problems.
|
|
|
| balleger's Full Review: Hitachi 50VS810 50 in. HDTV LCD TV |
I had great expectations when I bought this rear projection LCD HDTV in November 2004. In early November I took delivery of this set that was manufactured in October 2004.
The TV really had a fairly narrow depth (16 3/8") to the case so it didn't take up as much room as many other RPTVs. The cabinet was all black and had the desirable plasma-like appearance from the front. The built-in SRS sound was really quite good. The very first time I tuned in an HD broadcast I almost fell over. Black levels were very good and colors were vibrant. As my wife said, "it looks like you can just put your hand through the window." However, the love affair with this TV soon ended.
It was soon obvious that there was a green overshoot starting in the bottom left-hand corner, and a little in the bottom right-hand corner. Even more aggravating were the many blotches all over the screen. These blotches looked like moisture had gotten in between the layers of material that make up the screen. The end result is that, depending on your vertical and horizontal angle relative to the screen, you could see these blotches in lightly colored scenes and definitely easily spotted if you activate the set's White Screen feature. From my seat on the left-end of the sofa, I could not see these. But as soon as I moved to the right-end of the sofa they were quite visible. These splotches do not go away in time, they're always there.
Needless to say I was upset. If all that was not bad enough, there was still more to come. I had a Comcast HDTV 1080i Motorola cable box connected to Input 1. Input 2 was connected to our Pioneer Elite DVR-57H TiVo/DVD Recorder combo (read my Epinion elsewhere). I expected the Standard Def (SD) picture to not be very good, but I was surprised (or maybe not) that all the dark scenes and shadows were tinted with green around the edges. Only the very brightest scenes lacked the abundance of green edging. The SD channels from the cable box did not have this problem, only the material from the TiVo, especially the already recorded material off of the HDD. This does not happen when viewed on our 36-inch Sony XBR TV.
Since I bought this set from Circuit City (CC), I knew I was protected. They have a 30-day return for any reason policy. This 30-day clock is reset every time your return the set within the 30 days. I first called Hitachi and explained my problems. They said that they were unaware of these problems. This, in spite of the fact that the AVS forums were swamped with many complaints about the same problems. I asked the rep whether there was a chance I would encounter the same problems again if I swapped TVs. He assured me that there was little chance that would happen.
So, after requesting a swap from CC, the second unit arrived. This one was manufactured, one month earlier than the last TV, in September. My disappointment was an understatement when I found the same problems. And, to add insult to injury, I discovered yet another problem (also reported by the people posting to the AVS forums). Inputs fed via component cables (such as our TiVo with DVD recorder) sometimes suffer from a loss in video sync during certain very bright, fast moving scenes. You can read forum posts to find out which movies cause this to happen (TV goes black and video input logo appears on screen, then back to the picture). For me, it happened on a DVD and also a program I played back from the TiVo HDD.
Well, what to do. I know, we'll request another swap. What's the chance it will happen the third time? Ha! Such an optimist. There's absolutely 100% chance it will happen again.
Sure enough, the third TV arrives. This one was manufactured in November. And, yes, it had the same problems. This time, the green overshoot and green edging were even more pronounced. In addition to the screen splotches, there was a large triangular-shapred defect on the screen that was only visible about 2 feet from the screen if you are standing up and viewing from the center of the screen.
After Christmas 2004, I told CC that I give up on this Hitachi. They assured me that the store had no such problems from anyone else. I told them that I will try a 50-inch Sony plasma HDTV instead. CC was kind enough to let me hold on to the Hitachi until we receive the plasma because we still don't have a firm date on when the KDE-50XS955 will arrive.
So, the only good thing about my story is that this made me appreciate plasma TVs much more and it showed me how willing CC is to bend over backwards to keep their customers happy. So, I hold them blameless in this mess and the real fault lies with Hitachi. Maybe they'll eventually fix these manufacturing defects and beef up their quality control at the factory. Oh, maybe I should have expected these problems from a TV that is manufactured in Tijuana Mexico.
Revision History:
01/11/05 - Original Posting
01/11/05 - Spelling Corrections
- Refinement of SD green outlining
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 3,600
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
balleger
|
|
Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 2 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2010 Shopping.com, Inc.