The formats it can play, almost all disc formats you name it this unit can play them. Easy to use and understand manual.

Video and audio clipping while playing DVDs. No back lighting on the busy remote.

When I purchased this unit I though it could do it all. I intended to replace my CD player and move into the digital movie age.
The manual made set up a breeze.
A couple of very frustrating things: No S-video cable included though it has the hookup. Remote is not backlit and is cubersome with its buttons. During CD playback you must wait for the disc to start playing before skipping to particular song. I know its not a CD player but I should be able to skip between selections without the CD spinning up.
The final straw for me was that during video playback the video and audio would clip or blank out momentarily. I figured I just had a faulty unit so I exchanged it for new unit and to my dismay it did the same thing. I wrote Hitachi customer service and they said they have had no problems with video clipping on the 505. I am just lucky I guess to find the only two units that have this problem... I really wanted this unit to work for me. It has many nice options and is a very flexible machine but the playback problem was unsatisfactory. I returned this unit and now I am the proud owner of a Panasonic.

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None this was my first DVD player.

VERY GOOD QUALITY, DID NOT FIND ANY PRODUCTS WHICH WOULD BE WORTH THE EXTRA MONEY TO OWN THEM IN PLACE OF THIS, WITH THE SAME FEATURES

THE REMOTE BUTTON LABELS ARE HARD TO SEE IN A ROOM WITH DIM LIGHTING. SHOULD HAVE BEEN BACKLITED OR GLOW IN THE DARK.

EASY, TO SET UP AND OPERATE.AUTO PLAYS ANY TYPE OF CD FORMAT. (THIS WAS A BIG REASON I WENT WITH THIS PRODUCT, AS I WANTED TO BE ABLE TO PLAY BURNT BACKUP COPYS OF MOVIES ETC.) THE CD MUSIC PLAY BACK IS ALSO VERY GOOD, ANOTHER REASON FOR MY CHOICE. ONE THING I DID NOTICE IS THAT IT SKIPS ( FOR A SPLIT SECOND ON SOME DVDS ) I DO NOT KNOW IF IT IS THE DVD BEING POORLY MADE OR IF IT IS DIRT ON THE DVD, AND OR A MALFUNCTION OF THIS UNIT. THIS HAPPENS VERY SELDOM AND AT RANDOM WITH DIFFERENT DVDS. OTHER THEM THAT I AM REALY JAZZED WITH THIS PRODUCT. I WOULD SAY IT IS A VERY GOOD MID LEVEL MACHINE WHICH PREFORMS AT PAR OR BETTER THEN ITS COMPETITION, FOR THE SAME OR LESS MONEY AND COMES WITH A FEW MORE FEATURES. AT $425.00 CANADIAN IT WAS A GOOD DEAL.

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I LOOKED AT PIONEER,JVC,AND TOSHIBA, WHICH ALL SEEMED LIKE GOOD PRODUCTS, BUT DID NOT HAVE AS MUCH BANG FOR THE BUCK VALUE

Read DVD/VCD/CD/CDR/CDRW, Dolby Digital Decoder, excellent picture, S-Video Output, Component Output

Missing Jog Shuttle, Missing S-Video Cable from the box, Remote

I've always checkout audioreview.com before purchasing a product. I've just purchased the Hitachi 505U and now I want to contribute something back to this site.

Here is the review:

I've bought the unit for $490 Canadian dollar (including tax). This unit rocks when comes to compatibility. This unit support DVD/VCD/CD/CDR/CDRW. When I purchase my unit, I tested with some CD-R disc. The ones I've tested were from Maxell Gold, and some no name brand. The surface for these CD-R were green which suppose to give problem to most of the DVD players. But Hitachi reads everything. When I put it in, it detect that it is a VCD format, and start playing. It doesn't matter if it is DVD or VCD, the picture produced from this unit is fantastic. This unit also comes with Dolby Digital Decoder. I haven't really test the decoder yet, so I can't really comment it here. The only bad thing I can think of is the remote and the S-VHS Cable. The remote need some practice before you get used to it but overall the remote works flawlessly. As for the S-VHS Cable, when I open the box for this unit, I've noticed that it doesn't come with S-VHS Cable, but only the RCA Cable which was kind of disappointing.

Plays many different formats

Doesn't play all those formats well without a firmware upgrade

Just to reiterate what Brian said in the previous review, if you have this unit and you're having problems get the the firmware update. It works. Before I read Brian's review I didn't realize there was an update (and Hitachi Canada isn't volunteering that info) so I relegated the Hitachi to the kid's TV and bought the Pioneer (which is a best buy in it's price range). I applied the firmware update and so far the problems have ceased. I still prefer the Pioneer but the Hitachi is also good, albeit more expensive.

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Older RCA dvd, Pioneer 333

Bought it because it played MP3's. Plays anything I throw at it. VCD, MP3, CD, CDR, CDRW, DVD. Works great. You can put all your MP3's in sub directors and they are listed that way on the screen when you put the disc in. I can't tell the diff between a music CD and a 128 bit MP3.

I looked at others like th APEX and Samsung I think the other one was. But I heard they had glitches when playing some things, even DVD's. A friend owned the Hitachi and said it was flawless. I paid the extra and bought one and I'm not sorry I did. It is flawless. Still, I think it's more money than it's worth. Give it 6 months then buy one.

Paid $450 Cnd, plus came with a $30 mail in rebate.

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First DVD I've owned.

Plays everything perfectly with it's dual lasers: dvd-vcd-cd-cdr-cdrw. Great image quality. High price/performance ratio

Cheap remote and no jog shuttle.

After shopping around for some days, I was going to buy a Pioneer player. I never really cared about Hitachi before a salesman demonstrated this new 2000 model he just received a couple of days ago. I don't know how previous Hitachi players compare with others but this one impressed me, considering it's good price. I was sure it would be more expensive for what it gives you, I paid 450$ canadian plus taxes which is quite good for this quality. Something I needed was perfect cdr playback and you can be sure to get it with this model. It autodetects and starts playing any kind of media, has great image quality and comes with a good price. It's hard to ask for more! I heard the AC-3 decoder is not incredible but I'm using the digital out so I don't care. My only complain is the ugly remote and the fact thats it's grey. Giving you a cheap grey remote when everything is black is hard to understand, maybe they want it to match with your carpet... Considering the other players of this price range I give it a rating of 5/5.

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Toshiba, Pioneer, Zenith

Plays wide varity of formats

Not thouroughly tested prior to release, customers are the beta testers. Random intermitant audio & video skipping on all dual layered DVDs. I am totally dissatisified with the Hitachi COmpany as a whole. Sales person did not know anything about this players problems. This unit was manufactured in Tawian, therein lies the problem. THe Hitachi DVD player made in Japan (the one with the built in recorder) did not skip in the audio or video of any dual layered DVDs. Salesman & company email about firmware upgrade produced nothing. Returned this piece of junk and a sorry excuse for a dvd player it is. Junk Junk Junk, not worth 50 dollars. Hitachi has halted production of this unit due to the many problems this piece of junk is plauged with. Stay far away from this piece of damnation and save yourself the headaches and frustration of standin in the return line.

Junk, I hope Hitachi goes bankrupt, this is criminal that a company can sell untested equipment to the public. I will never ever buy any Hitachi anything ever.

I do not give this any rating, it should have a negative 10 star rating, due to the criminal infractions of this piece of junk!

I have developed DVD road rage over this piece of junk!

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Hitachi 305u (Worse than the 505u, skipping, pixelation loss, you name it does it)

Plays many formats..

Skipping, strange noise, no mp3names

Help me someone! I really need some help. My player skips on some movies (DVD), never on CD´s. And there are strange flippering on the image. I red something about "TheIronDuke" and something downloadable that fixed the skipping. I really need that and an explanation of what it does (the buys at the store i bought it at says that nothing like that is possible without picking it apart).
If anyone has answers to theese questions please mail me at zetter@hotmail.com
Tnx

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none

Like all the formats that this machine will play. Has good picture and sound quality. Looks good

Poor design on the remote. Will only hold one disk at a time.

Good DVD player to start with. I like the features that you get with this machine. This machine will play almost any format that you give it ( BIG PLUS!!!!). Good sound and picture quality. Could have better remote and should take more than one disk at a time.

I have it paired with a Pioneer 509s receiver, Sony 53" hi-scan TV, B&W 602sII speakers(front),
B&W DM303 speakers(rear), B&W CC6sII(center), and a Yamaha YST SW320 (10" sub).

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none

None

Pictures and sound.

Truly awful. Terribly blockiness on backgrounds. Green to red tinge on skin tones. Lip synching is miles out!
Hitachi UK very unhelpful. Can anyone help me?