Great video & audio

intermittent skips & freeze ups; very disappointing for the price paid; expected better quality from a Hitachi product

Would not recommend the purchase of this product

Similar Products Used:

Apex, Pioneer, Sony

Silver Casing, remote with buttons in intelligent places, MP3 Playback, good selection of outputs on the back, Linear PCM and Raw SPDIF selectable output, NTSC/PAL/PAL 60 switch

It's a little sensitive with older possibly degraded CD-R recordings, very sensitive to scratched DVDs, no backlight on remote

This was the first DVD player I purchased for myself but had been playing with others for quite sometime. The Hitachi won me over for the MP3 playback. All the other MP3 capable players are made by noname brands with crappy visual quality. The Hitachi actually has a resonable quality picture. It's not outstandning but using the S-Video connection on the back it seems quite good. The dark colours look especially good. The image isn't overly bright like some players and so the black actually looks black rather than grey.

I was disappointed to find that the player was a little sensitive to CD-R playback.. I have a few older CD-Rs that are probably burnt using lower quality discs. The Hitachi seems to have issues with these discs. I recommend you make sure you burn onto good quality discs if you plan to keep them for a long time and use them in your Hitachi player.

I would thoroughly recommend this player based on its wonderful price for quality ratio. This player does pretty much everything you need it to for a reasonable price. It's by no means an audiophile quality product but it will get you started.

And for those wondering about the MP3 playaback, Hitachi make no mention of it, even if you call them up and ask them about it. The guys in the shop didn't even know it had MP3 playback until I asked about it and brought in an MP3 CD. The next day, they had big signs on the unit stating 'MP3 Playback!'. As for the tracknames.... it does show tracknames but only the first 8 letters. But really, the fact that it even plays them is a bonus.

Make sure you get teh player multi-zoned to avoid the skipping issues. The latest multi-zone patch has a new menu that also allows selectable regions and selectable MacroVision.

I also run this player through a Pro-Logic setup and find the audio performance for speech a little lackiing. i think that basically watching 5.1 discs through Pro-Logic sucks anyway but it could be the player not downmixing to 2.0 very well. I will be replacing the receiver in the near future anyway so it doesn't phase me too much.

Happy hunting people.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Voxson (never owned it but a friend had one... sucked the big one, keep clear)

DTS Encoding, S-Video, and Component Hookup

Intermittent Skipping, No universal remote codes available for my Kenwood Home Theatre Remote, or my Toshiba TV Remote.

Hate to repeat words used by others however, I too have come into ownership of this machine as a result of purchasing a DV-250 and having it die 1 year and 1 month after the initial purchase (good thing for extended warranties). I too was told that it would be too expensive to repair, so I accepted a replacement in return.

The skipping varies, some DVD's play flawlessly while others skip numerous times. One thing is consistent though the DVD's that don't skip, repeatedly do not skip after multiple viewings, whereas the ones that do skip always skip after muliple viewings.

Is it possible that it is the manufacture of the DVD that is the cause of the problem or the multiplicity of information stored on the DVD that is the cause.

I have spoken to owners of other DVD players and they seem to experience similar problems.

Similar Products Used:

DV-250 (Hitachi)

Plays many formats. Display can be dimmed.

Hitachi service. Can't run analog out when digital bitstream is enabled. Takes to long to identify disk and start playing.

On the whole, this unit isn't too bad. Have had a few problems with rented DVD's. This unit is VERY sensitive to heat build up and I recommend supporting it with some sorbothane feet or some such to raise it off the shelf a little to allow better airflow. Plays MP3 but with only sequential access - no direct access with your remote. But in fairness trying to remember your favourite song numbers on a 150 song disc is a bit much. Had the Hitachi 250U previous to this and after 3 trips to repairsville with it not being fixed and a fourth trip looming I complained to Hitachi - but to no avail. It was the guy at Vision's who helped me by getting in touch with Hitachi's sales rep and getting authorization to exchange the 250u for the 505U. I won't by Hitachi again because of all the bullsh*t they put me through but I do have to say I really enjoy my Hitachi 32UX58B television. You would just think that when you spend $2K on a vendor's product they might be inclined to keep you happy by good service if something should go wrong. If you find this product used at what you consider a fair price it might not be such a bad deal then.

Similar Products Used:

Hitachi 250U - this is what I paid $540CDN for.

Picture and Sound Quality

Customer Service is atrocious.

I like the player - good picture, good sound, plays all formats. However, the Hitachi Customer Service is deplorable. I was told by a CSR that Hitachi knows that at least 6% of the DV-P5050U units are FACTORY DEFECTIVE - they won't play any of the extras and get jittery during play back. The remedy is a factory hardware/software upgrade. When I purchased this unit the salesman went out on a limb to say what a great unit it was - NEVER ONCE mentioned the possibility of a defect. When I sent it in for the service, it took them 3 days less than 2 MONTHS to perform this and get the player back to me. The nearest service depot is 3.5 hours away by car, I made the trip once on their assurances that the ROM card was back in Courtenay - well it was, but the Technician decided to take the day off rather than fix my player. I have talked to 1-800-HITACHI numerous times, emailed their contact us dept., tracked down the Canadian National Service Manager (he has NEVER gotten back to me with any info) all to no avail. They have not formally offered anything to compensate for any of this. So Caveat Emptor! I also own a Hitachi RPTV and shudder to think what will happen if this ever needs servicing. I will never ever ever buy a Hitachi product again and strongly advise anyone else from doing so - there are other products out there, manufactured by companies who care about their customers, seek them out.

cdr/w, mp3. It makes a great piece of electronics to disassemble and throw around.

Horrible skipping, sound. Very bad customer support.

Let me warn you about Hitachi DVD players and why this one got 1 star. After buying this player a year ago, I wrote a review on Audioreview giving it a great score. Too bad I only had it for a week back then.

I'm in the same situation as Patrick Murray, the unit is defective, it skips like hell. It was not bad at the beginning but it went worse every month. Hitachi called me and told me they would pay the repair, that I only had to send the player to the closest Hitachi repair shop.
So I meet the electronics guy there and he tells me about all those horrible Hitachi DVD players, a lot more than 6% are defective and not only the DVP505, they knew that right after the initial release and did not give a damn about it.

After 3 weeks of waiting for the authorization from Hitachi, the guys tells me that Hitachi will upgrade the laser unit but that I have to pay 30$, plus the shipping to Toronto (and I live far from there, it will cost nearly another 15-20$). And best of all they warn me that it might not fix anything, and they have no idea how long it would take to repair!!!

I paid 450$ for this piece of crap just when the player was released, what a big mistake.

Don't talk to me about Hitachi, they will stay on my black list forever.

Plays many formats!

Strange fastplaying here and there when playing VCDs!

Hi!
When i watch VCDs in on my hitachi the picture suddenly plays really fast for short moments here and there in the movie. The audio also gets out of sync here and there. This is really anoying and i have no idea what to do about it :( Has anyone here had any of there problems? If you had and fixed them please mail me and tell how!
Tnx!
/zetter

Like so many others, I got this DVD player because my 250U wasn't working. I got this one in November and so far it's great. I got no skipping, except sometime in the extra features, the sound and image is great, and it plays a lot of different format. Everything is well place at the back. It easy to unplug your cables by just reaching behind the unit with your hand. THe only bad thing about the remote control is it's shape. It should be all flat and not have a curve in the middle. Most of the time, I put it on a tiny surface and it just slides down and fells on the floor.

I really love this DVD player compare to the buggy DVP250U that I had before.

Similar Products Used:

Hitachi DVP250U

MP3 playback, SVCD support & CD-R & CD-RW media compatible

SKIPpING PROBLEM WITH DVD PLAYBACK, Audio downmix problem & lack of MP3 song name display

This is a follow-up post from my Nov 25 review. My Hitachi DVD player has finally developed the skipping problem that many have encountered. I have contacted Hitachi who refered me to one of their repair center in my area. As soon as I mentioned DV-P505U, they asked me if I have the skipping problem. Apparently, this is a very common problem with this model. The part is badly backordered and the repair will take a long wait time. I was also told that Hitachi may exchange for a new unit in some cases as the repair is a costly one for them. The downmix problem is also getting me more and more frustated as I have bought another DVD does have only AC3 5.1 audio. The downmixed audio sounds like missing the center channel vocals. I am planning to bring it to the shop early January after the holiday. I hope that they will fix all these problems for good and don't create a DTS timing problem. I am disgusted to the fact the Hitachi did not recall the units or at least fix all the ones that are still in inventory. Why getting customers to bring back one by one for repair. I am pretty sure that most angry customers will just return their units and go elsewhere. Until I get my unit fixed properly, I would NOT recommend you to buy this DVD player and wait until Hitachi has this fiasco really under control.

Tai

Plays everything like mp3, cdr, cdrw. Nice menu and easy to operate. Good sound and picture quality.

Im very satisfied with my new dvd player.