Great Picture, Magic focus, input ports, mobility.

Concentric lines visible from center of screen out to the edges, mostly just visible when viewing the sweet spot (directly dead center).

I just got this TV after reading all the great reviews on this site. The TV lives up to all the good press but my TV and six others my dealer has mentioned have concentric lines that go all the way out to the edge of the screen. These lines are mostly only visible when viewing the set from dead center. Imagine a bullseye but without the filler color and with a lot more lines.

I enjoyed the Super Bowl and several DVDs any way. The picture is fantastic (when you position yourself so as not to see the lines). I also built a Home Theater System using the following components:
Yamaha HTR 5250
JBL Speakers:
S-Center
S-36 Rear
S-38 Front
PB12 Subwoofer
Toshiba 1600 DVD (free with purchase of TV)

The sound quality is tremendous, "Saving Private Ryan" had the house shaking, you would of thought the tank was upstairs!

The problem with the lines in my set was a huge disappointment! After all the research, cancelling orders for two other TVs and ensuring this TV was delivered in the box and still have problems is very frustrating. The dealer says Hitachi admitted a thousand TVs have been sent out with this problem, the good news is it's only dirt on the screen caused by a suction cup that is used for handling the screens and can be cleaned (from the inside). I'll give you an update when the service work is completed.

Similar Products Used:

Sony, Samsung, Toshiba

good picture. excellent sound.

remote is poorly designed

I purchased this product last week for $2199 with a 5/yr
warranty. The picture is very clear and bright. I watched
Saving Private Ryan (DVD) a few days ago and the resolution
was so good you could see the pores on Tom Hanks face.
Highly recommended.

Picture quaility, Sound, ease of setup, 3 S-VIEDO connections, Magic Focus

Remote does not control my Hughes DSS receiver

The second that it was delivered and turned on I knew that we had made the correct choice. The picture is GREAT! and so is the sound, which is very important I don't have to run out right away to buy my AV reciver and speakers. The Magic Focus feature is wonderful and elimates the need for gun alignment buy a professional. The menus are easy to use and read. I have a Toshiba 6 head VCR, Toshibia DVD and Hughes DSS reciever connected to the unit and WOW! I will be adding a Yamaha AV Receiver and Inifinty speakers after Christmas I can hardly wait. I higly recommend this unit I just wish the remote would control more units.

Similar Products Used:

RCA, SONY, PROSCAN

Terrific image, digital autoconvergence,component video, onscreen setup, tuner does a good job cleaning up poor signals.

not hdtv ready, cheap remote

Just finished assembling my first home theatre with Onkyo receiver (the 676 model), Panasonic DVD A120, and NHT speakers all around (SuperOnes, SuperOne XUs, SuperCenter, SWP2Si sub). Auditioned a number of similarly price sets from Toshiba and Sony. Like everyone, I had to decide on the HDTV-ready route. Given that the Toshiba units offer this and are similarly priced, this made the decision very tough indeed. Ultimately, went the non-HDTV route because:

1) Only the Toshiba HDTV-ready units were in my price range.
2) Line doubler appears to do a good job at first but ultimately felt image sharpness was compromised to an unacceptable degree.
3) Lack of broadcast standard in Canada and at least 5 years before HDTV broadcasts widely available in my area.
4) I believe HDTV units will improve considerably and drop in price over the next several years.
5) Liked the 16:9 aspect ratio of the 40 inch Toshiba but ultimately the viewing area was too small. Don't like the way cable broadcasts are handled.
6) The Toshiba's convergence setup is poor compared to the Hitachi, which has 256 point autoconvergence and works like a charm.

I absolutely love the Hitachi. The image is truly "Super bright". From my viewing distance of around 10 feet, scan lines are not overly visible except on rolling credits. I also like the overall sharpness of the image. My understanding is that the projection electronics in the Hitachi are first rate. My wife liked the Sony but I felt the Hitachi did a better job.

One last thing I had to come to grips with was to go the progressive scan route with the Toshiba. With a progressive scan DVD, the image on the Toshiba was incredible. However, it did not warrant the additional cost of buying a progressive scan DVD player (C$1,400). In the future this is the way to go but since I already had the DVD player, decided to just go with the Hitachi.

I find it interesting that the alt.home-theater.misc newsgroup is very Toshiba-centric when it comes to RPTVs. The Hitachi is, I believe, a better overall product but does not seem to be as well represented in the (predominantly) US postings on the newsgroup. Maybe it's because the newsgroup mostly attracts "early adopters" who MUST have HDTV-ready and progressive scan capabilities. Regardless, I heartily recommend this set.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba TW40X81 and TN50X81, Sony KP-53V80

Fine Detailed Picture

Range of volume far greater than useful. All of useable volume in about 10% of availability. This is actually a strenght if you wanted the TV for a hall or stadium!

I am very frugal on what I spend money on, but I like to have high quality when I do. I wasn't even in the shopping
mode when I noticed this Hitachi at Sears. It is actually
as sharp or sharper than the Sony Wega's. I've never thought
it was possible to get this quality in a projection TV.
It was the floor model and the last 1999 model in the State,
so the price was marked down accordingly. I added on the
Sears 5 year service for $449.95 (afterall they had it running for maybe 4 months on the floor). I still feel that
for what I paid it is a good value, and I'm covered totally
for five years (and they come and clean it, with the included annual maintance service). I had to rearrange the livingroom furniture (and get rid of some unnessary stools) to be able to have the 10' minimum distance. You will defintely need to consider if your room is big enough for these big TV's! It set up easy and we am very happy with this big bugga!

Similar Products Used:

This is the only projection TV I ever felt worth purchasing.

Picture quality, 1000 LOR(lines of resolution), MagicFocus.

None so far. A little pricey, but you get what you pay for.

I had the Hitichi SBX53 delivered yesterday and hooked up the new Toshiba 6109c DVD/reciever with builtin DTS and Digital Dolby 5.1 decoders. Have the TV hooked up to standard cable and the picture was awesome, some stations looked a little better that others, but overall, nice picture. Put in the Matrix DVD and it blew me away with picture quality. I would highly recommend this projection TV. The remote was a little on the cheap side, but I did'nt buy it for the remote.

POOR SERVICE!

When I first received the unit it was outstanding. For about four months the TV was performing flawlessly. And then things turned ugly, real ugly! I purchased my SBX for Topps Appliance, (first mistake), with an extended warranty for $2200. I started to hear several little crackles or popping sounds coming from behind the TV. I thought it was something in the movie soundtrack, you know that surround sound can put sound all over the place, but it wasn't. So, several days go by and I hear a large POP and everything goes black. The TV is Dead! I start calling the service numbers in the back of the manual and I remember that I have an extended warranty with Topps, (did I say that was a mistake). Topps proceeds to tell me that I am not in their system for service and that I would have to call Hitachi directly. So I gave Hitachi a call.
Hitachi customer service was very pleasant on the phone and got me the number of a local authorized service center. They were there within a week, repaired the TV and I was up and running.
Two weeks later it happened again, unbelievable! The repair guy was beginning to know me by first name. He set up an appointment came in and did his thing, up and running.
One week later...DEAD! I called up Hitachi and gave them the business! They apologized repeatedly and said that they would extend my warranty for another year...nice consolation. I told them that this is unacceptable and I want the TV replaced or refunded. Hitachi stated that unless one of their technicians pronounces the unit dead they could not and would not replace the TV. Hitachi and my local service center have been in contact with each other for parts and technical assistance. It seems that my service center could not find the right part number to repair the TV. Once Hitachi got more involved at my request, my local service center got their act together. The service center had made several to order the part, but failed to follow-up on the order of the parts. So weeks go by and I keep calling.
Today 02/10/00 I received a call from my service center stating the the part would arrive tomorrow or Monday at the latest. At this time the TV is still dead…let’s hope for the best!

Similar Products Used:

Sony
Toshiba

Crisp clear brilliant picture quality. Easy setup with the MagicFocus feature. Built-in surround sound capabilities with a very good 60 watt center channel.

Remote control is VERY directional and lacks functionality. For example, it is not able to control my HITACHI DVD. What's up with that??

I must admit I purchased this TV on a whim with virtually no research. Yes it was a spontaneous stupid thing to do but boy did I luck out! After looking at the Toshiba, Panasonic and Sony products in another store we visited Krazy Kiley's. This model quite simply struck me as having the best quality picture of all, bar none. Yes I liked the Magic Focus feature and realized it had 60 watts of audio power but it was the amazing picture quality that sold me.

It wasn't 'till I got it home and started reading through the manual that I realized the surround sound capabilities. I purchased a pair of stand mounted Cinema Series Paradigm speakers for about $300 that simply hooked directly to the back of the TV for the rear channnel. I then connected my existing stereo amplifier to the built-in audio output RCA jacks and used my existing Klipsch Cornwalls as the front left and right speakers. This enables the TV volume to control the front left and right speakers in unison with all the other speakers. The TV itself, with 60 watts of audio power, makes a very adequate centre channel. Then I set the audio mode to Dolby Surround and adjusted the balance of the front, rear and center channels correctly. I admit this is only a Pro Logic system but there was no need to purchase ANY further equipment and the sound quality absolutely blew me away. It truly is a theatre type of experience with booming bass,crisp clear midrange & highs along with fantastic dynamic range. Now it is true that not everyone has a pair of Klipsch Cornwalls kicking around and they are a large part of this surround experience but many will have reasonably good speakers that will provide something very worthwhile.

It seems to me that movies need two things. A Large crisp clear picture and great quality sound you can feel. This TV certainly delivers both better than any analog TV I've seen. I LOVE IT!!!!

Digital TV's are currently cost prohibitive and it will be 5 years before Canada is fully broadcasting with these capabilities anyway. If price isn't an issue go for the $7,000 digital wide screen TV and a seperate $3,000 surround system. If you can't afford digital and/or don't want to wait, this TV is for you.

Outstanding Picture brightness & quality. Automatic convergence is super.

Has only 2 svideo jacks in rear; needs more.

Positively, absolutely the best and brightest picture of all large screen TV's. After seeing the quality of DVDs, I now want to upgrade my DISH network receiver to the best model, so I can get even higher quality from the dish.

The screen has extremely high detail with no granularity. Scan lines are almost invisible, unless you get right next to the screen. At the recommended 8-10 feet everything is nearly perfect.

This is a higher end projection TV ($1999 on sale - Feb 2000), but worth every penney! So much better than the mid and low end sets I have seen.

This is a wonderfull addition to our home entertainment.

Similar Products Used:

Upgrade from 12 year old Sony 27" console

Picture and Sound System

Screen Defect

This TV was great!!! Except for the circular transparent bullseye on it. It was very disappointing. Hard to spot but not what you want to see after spending 2Grand. Buy.com was out of the Tv for a duplicate order and agreed to take the defective Tv Back. Once they acknowledeged received the Set back it them mysteriously appeared again on their website! I would advise all not to purchase this model from buy.com. I have made a new order of the same tv from Xtremeshopper.com and hope they dont deliver another defective set. Its been about 7 business days and still not here from NJ to MD. Rexstores.com has the same set for the same price shipping included also. I hope this works out this time using the internet because I will save about $400. GOOD LUCK !!!