If you remove the protective screen from an Hitachi rptv your glare will be decreased cosiderably.
Before- the lamp near the couch shows thru when on
After- never. Allows you to eat in front of the tv with no reflection and you actually see your food.
For my tv the light ouput increased 16% with the protective screen removed according to the ISF calibrator..

Is that hard to do? What kind of screen is it?

just to update, just when I thought that my mind was made up to get the s series, my rep told me that he would sell me the x500 for $200 less to help pay for the purchase of a seperate tuner. That would make it $2300 for the x. So now I am back to considering the x. Another thing going for the s is that my wife actually saw it and really liked the way it looked. She said that she woudn't be opposed to me buying the x, but that she reallly liked the way the s looked. Any thoughts? I really need to make my decistion in the next few hours as I am sick of thinking about it and want to have my order placed today. Is the x really a better tv in a way that I would notice and appreciate?

Another thing is that we both really like the slim factor of the s series, and the main thing that I am worried about with the x is that I wouldn't like the way it looked. We are afraid that it is just going to look like a big box as opposed to the look of the s. For anyone that owns one or has seen it, do you think that it looks good? That is probably as big a factor or bigger in my decision as to which one to buy. Thanks.

Well, the 5xS715 is a few inches slimmer. It almost look like it has the form of a plasma screen when you view it from the front. That is an illusion, of course, as it really takes up much more bulk. Still, it is nicely designed to minimize the visual impact of its size. I am very satisfied with the picture quality for both HD and SH.

The x series sets the standard in picture quality...up at the top with the Mitsubishi Diamond.

Originally posted by NeedAName
Is that hard to do? What kind of screen is it?
It's not trivial, you have to partially disassemble the TV to do so.

I think It's just a piece of plastic.

Originally posted by NeedAName
Is that hard to do? What kind of screen is it?
Find a tweaks thread either here or at HTSPOT.
Yes it is tricky to remove the screen unless you are really good at that sort of stuff. If I didn't want to pay for a calibration I would ger an Hitachi repairmen to do it
But to me it is worth a couple of hundred to get it done. The difference is pretty dramatic.

I'll probably just close the blinds then :)

Well, I did it. Pulled the trigger on a 51S715! :cool:

Won't get it until Tuesday, but that'll give me the time I need to re-arrange the living room and install some new carpet. Can't wait!

What do you guys think about those clean power/ surge protectors from the Monster? I understand that it's a good idea to use one with HT equipment. The one I was looking at is about $80. Yea or nea?

For 80 bucks, get yourself a ups. It uses a battery to keep your tivo and cable box running, for short periods of time, during power outages as well as providing surge protection.

APC 350 Back-UPS from CompUSA (http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=282952&pfp=SEARCH)

I have a larger unit that protects more devices. So, pay attention to the number of outlets that use the battery backup function.

There is a much larger and thorough thread about the use of surge suppressors, ups and the like here:


Surge Suppressor & Conditioner Thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=277384)

7

Originally posted by NeedAName
The tuner is what allows you to view HD channels. Without it, you just get the regular cable stuff.


I do not think this is entirely accurate. My understanding is that an HD tuner is useful for pulling down OTA HD signals, and for cable HD if your cable provider doesn't encrypt them. Otherwise, beyond OTA, you'll need a STB that also acts as an HD tuner. So, if you use sat or cable for HD, the tuner is not useful except to also get OTA.

Originally posted by toothy mako
I do not think this is entirely accurate. My understanding is that an HD tuner is useful for pulling down OTA HD signals, and for cable HD if your cable provider doesn't encrypt them. Otherwise, beyond OTA, you'll need a STB that also acts as an HD tuner. So, if you use sat or cable for HD, the tuner is not useful except to also get OTA.

Ordinarily you would be correct here, but the 5xs715 (and many other new HD tv's) has the cable card feature that allows you to get all the cable channels you would get from HD stb from cable co. with exception of OnDemand & ppv. Of course you need to get Cablecard from cable co. but it does eliminate need of stb.
Satelite still needs stb & probably always will.


Sorry toothy, I somehow missed this part of your thread..

"and for cable HD if your cable provider doesn't encrypt them"

so yes you would be correct in your statement, however the cablecard does allow all the additional channels I mentioned.

:Originally posted by toothy mako
My understanding is that an HD tuner is useful for pulling down OTA HD signals, and for cable HD if your cable provider doesn't encrypt them. Otherwise, beyond OTA, you'll need a STB that also acts as an HD tuner. So, if you use sat or cable for HD, the tuner is not useful except to also get OTA.


I just got my 57S715 this morning - bought it yest, begged for del'y today to watch my Sox (I know they'll break my heart, but...). Said they'd be here 8AM, I was up at 6:30 like a kid on Christmas.

I'm a complete rube when it comes to all this, so grain of salt and all that, but...

I can confirm what Toothy Mako said regarding unencrypted cable HD signals.

if - IF - your cable co broadcasts LOCAL HD (or, I guess, any other HD programming) 'in the clear' , the Hitachi tuner can handle it. It is both ASTC and QAM compatable (I think I have that right?). I hooked my analog std cable service to the ANT input, went through the 'auto scan' procedure, and I'm getting my locals in HD. No STB required. TWC in NC (Durham) apparently also feeds some locals in digital 'in the clear'. I also get these.

So, I have several different versions of some of my local channels. Example: 5-1 = WRAL(ABC) digital, 1080i; 5-2 = WRAL 'NE' 480i (whatever the 'NE' means, I have no idea); 5-3 = WRAL SD 480i; 11-1 = ABC HD 720p. I'm assuming WRAL, but haven't seen a station ID yet - maybe just a nat'l network feed?? I have no idea, just guessing...and clueless. I just haven't seen a local commercial, which makes me think it's a nat'l feed.

A big factor in this set over the F510 was the tuner, and it's capability to accept the cable HD sgnals. I know TWC may decide to scramble their Local HD feeds in the future...but then I can always go CableCard...or get an antenna. I did confirm with TWC that they broadcast the local HD channels in the clear before I opted for the S715.

I posted a thread asking if I was crazy to get a big-screen TV with analog cable. If the first few hours are any indication, I can answer my own question now: Nope, definitely not crazy. SD from my analog cable looks pretty darn good, about on par with my old 4:3 Tosbiba 32" ...maybe even better. I was concerned because I'll be doing a fair amt of analog SD viewing (too cheap to pay for digital cable...but that may change: the digital PQ for those channels broadcast digitally 'in the clear' is certainly better, and it may prompte me to open my wallet). HD PQ is...wow.

Regarding glare: it's about what I expected. No worse than on my other TV, just a bigger screen. My room is pretty dark, lots of trees around my house. But the sun does shine in the windows in the morning. Even with the blinds closed, enough light comes through that if I look 'past' the picture, I can see the glare of those windows. But...maybe I'm just used to there being glare from my old TV, because I can also just 'tune it out'.

Hotizontal viewing angle seems good...but I have the set in a corner with a L-shaped couch set-up, so the horizontal angles are not extreme. Vertical viewing angle is tight. Just standing up results in a darkening of the pic, but it is stillok. I could still ave a WS party where folks are standing up and watching the game.

Again, I'm clueless when it comes to most of this - but learning from all the knowledgable and helpful folks on tis board. So, take whatever I say as the raw observatins of a novice...and don't even bother asking me about tweaks (...yet).

Thanks to all the knowledgabe posters for sharing their knowledge and experience. I'll contribute whatever I can.

Sorry, I do tend run on a bit...

Jake

So you didn't even need the cable card to get the HD signals?

That would seem (logically) to be a "fault" with TWC. Otherwise, whats the point of having a STB? Or maybe its a feature with this set?

Good to know though cause now when I do get mine (someday) I won't bother calling charter right away to switch to HD service.

NeedAName,
The tuner in the 5xS715 series takes the place of the STB including the task of digital tuner, HDTV tuner and also de-encrypting those transmissions that are encrypted. In the last case you need a "Cable Card" loaned, purchased or rented from your cable company to be inserted into the tv to unlock those channels requiring it. I believe that the FCC requires all cable companies to be prepared to supply this cable card as of this past summer.

The features that a Cable Card enabled HDTV cannot do have to do with those requiring two way communcations such as pay-per-view and interactive games.

NeedAName:

No - didn't need a STB to get my local HD channels. Things like ESPN HD, Discovery HD...no dice, but I knew that.

Yes, it's TWCs 'fault', but not an error/oversight on their part. They carry local HD signals 'in the clear', knowing full well that people like me can get local HD on their standard teir. It may even be mandated by the FCC (if a subscriber can get it OTA, the CC has to send it 'in the clear' just like SD OTA), but there's just as good a chance I'm full of crap on that. Those without a tuner would need a (an?) STB from TWC. For now anyway, most people it seems are not opting for a built-in tuner. It's a waste if you get digital cable, are a satelitte subscriber, etc. I could use the CableCard to get digital cable without a STB - but they'd still charge me a monthly fee ($1.00? $2.00?) and whatever the digital tier costs.

Should they encrypt the local HD signals, I'll just mount an antenna if I don't feel like forking over any more $ to TWC.

Jake

Arrrrgh.

Sorry smokester, didn't preview the thread before submitting, just my reply. It's all about me anyway, ya know?

Jake

Ok, now i understand. So i could in theory get the local HD stations, abc, cbs, nbc, (wb and upn? ) but not discovery without the cc. Correct?

I'd still get regular discovery, comedy, mtv and all that other stuff though right? without upgrading to digital cable and getting the CC?

I'd rather have the CC to free up the hdmi slot and to avoid the added space of an stb

Yup - anything encrypted/scrambled, you'd need a CC for; anything in the clear the tuner can handle.

For intsance, TWC where I am broadcasts Discovery HD in the clear, along with the local channels. I tune them in just fine. ESPN HD, no dice.

Jake

Originally posted by toothy mako
I do not think this is entirely accurate. My understanding is that an HD tuner is useful for pulling down OTA HD signals, and for cable HD if your cable provider doesn't encrypt them. Otherwise, beyond OTA, you'll need a STB that also acts as an HD tuner. So, if you use sat or cable for HD, the tuner is not useful except to also get OTA.
No it is very accurate and thus your information is not.

The S Series has a ATSC/QAM tuner just like a set top box. Not just a regular tuner.

So it can also tune in any digital and HD signal from the cable line. Of course most of the encrypted ones normally won't come in. (pay channels)

Like I stated earlier, I get 14 of the 21 available HD channels with the built in tuner. The 7 I do not get are all pay channels so that's no surprise.

The tuner does seem to be able to tune in a lot of digital pay channels though.

Yes it can pull in OTA HD channels as well. (It has 2 antennae inputs even)


To me the tuner was really just a very nice bonus. My main reason for getting the S series was the better optics and subsequent components. It was a very small premium over the F series and you'll never say to yourself; "damn I should have bought the cheaper optics" ;)

Try reading my whole post, it was only five lines long. I said "an HD tuner is useful for pulling down OTA HD signals, and for cable HD if your cable provider doesn't encrypt them" which is what you just said. Perhaps I should have included unencrypted non-HD digital in my post.

Fantastic, we all agree.

Thanks to others for also pointing out the advantage of the cablecard path.

The HDTV tuner in the 5xS715 will receive encrypted cable channels provided you contact your cable company and rent from them a cable card.

I am new to the whole HD world and am moving into a new house in the next couple of weeks. I have decided to purchase my first HDTV. I have narrowed my HDTV choices down to these two TV's. I understand that the biggest difference betweent hese two is the tuner. I am most likely going to go with a satellite provider and use the HD service, so the tuner is problably not needed (i do however like the idea of still having that tuner built in in case I decide not to go with satellite HD plan) I also do not care about the USB port for digital pictures or the cable card. So the main difference between these two for me is the 5 lens system over the 4. For anyone out there who owns either one of these or works with them. Is there that big of a difference between the 5 lens and 4 lens systems? Can you notice anything? this is my first HD experience and I want to get the best picture out there for the money. Is it worth it or is this a marketing of advertisement ploy? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

burman15,
I haven't see the exact comparison you want but did view a 51S500 (5 lenses) and 51F510 (4 lenses) at Circuit City with the same source. Frankly, I didn't see much difference between the two. Caveats for that experience are that they were fairly widely separated and the viewing environment (lighting, other customers in the way, standing at the wrong viewing height, etc.) were not the best. Also, I was somewhat inexperienced at the time and probably didn't know what to look for.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has really bad combing on red? When every anything is on TV with a solid red I get really bad interlacing artifacts.

Chefs shirt on south park, the food tv logo (when it's color), ect...

Originally posted by sotti
I'm just wondering if anyone else has really bad combing on red? When every anything is on TV with a solid red I get really bad interlacing artifacts.

Chefs shirt on south park, the food tv logo (when it's color), ect... What is the source component for you TV watching? It may be plagued by CUE.

I have the 57s715 with a Comcast cablecard installed. The problem I have is when I change channels from one hi-def channel to another hi-def channel I lose audio. In order for me to receive audio from the hi-def channel I must first go to an analog channel then change to a hi-def channel. I am on my second cablecard and it has the same problem. Does anyone know how to fix this problem?

jerton,
I have this problem intermittently. Sometime if I switch to or between hi def channel the sound won't come up. If I re-input the channel number then all is well. Note that if using the SPDIF output then the sound does come up on the external surround processor.

Go figure.

Does any know if the Center Channel Shelf SLF-10 is available yet for this set? If so, what is the weight max on it.

Thanks.

Originally posted by Marc Alexander
What is the source component for you TV watching? It may be plagued by CUE.

I'm watching either TV from the integrated tuner, with a cable card installed (HDTV doesn't really comb though).

Or from my HTPC connected with the HDMI cable running at 540p

Those of you who mentioned you are using an HTPC... what settings are you using in powerstrip?

In addition, did you write a custom .inf for your 51S715 within powerstrip?

I have GeForce Fx 5600 connected to my 51S715 via a DVI to HDMI cable and have a very tough time getting the setup right. Lots of overscan and trouble getting custom displays to show up. I know that the card is working well, because when I hook it up to Pcs and other (non-hd) tvs, the resolutions switch without a problem. Wondering if it is the .inf driver or maybe this tv just isn't great for HTPC ?

Originally posted by sotti
I'm watching either TV from the integrated tuner, with a cable card installed (HDTV doesn't really comb though).

Or from my HTPC connected with the HDMI cable running at 540p Try turning off movie/film mode

DCAM INFO - http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=465457

An odd thing is happening with our new Hitachi. When we pause Directv Tivo, after a couple of minutes the screen completely goes black. This happened tonight once. When we pressed Play the picture came back. I find nothing in the manual concerning this "feature".

The real problem is this is what happened to the unit we just returned to Sears, although in that case we could never get to get the picture to come back. Unplugged it for extended times. Turn it on, press menu, nothing appears.

We're concerned the same thing is about to happen again.

Anyone have this happen to them?

Patrick

Got a similar "bug", may be related......
When switching back from dvd player to cable, there is no picture; just the blank, black screen. Must input a channel selection; up, down, or "last"......
annoying "feature", but tolerable (so far....)

Seems like it might be some kind of screen saver built into the television. Have you tried looking for such a feature in the menus?

The only thing I see in the manual is a feature that cuts the contrast in half if the picture doesn't change for three minutes. This is aimed at video games. I don't see any user menu selection for setting or adjusting a feature like this.

Since my first set, which Sears promptly replaced to their credit, did exactly the same thing only two or three times and then refused to show a picture, menu screen or produce any sound, it makes me very concerned that the new set has now done it once.

I think it was related to a Tivo pause, so I'm going to bite the bullet and pause it today for several minutes and see if it is indeed a "feature", but hopefully this time it won't shoot itself in the head.

Well, I went ahead and put one of these on layaway at American TV today

I went to go and look at it again, but they were having one of the "family sale" thingy and the discount took it down to something like $2040 or thereabouts. With tax I'm paying $2157. I only had to put $10 down on it but i have to go back on payday to put $250 cause they want 10% or so to hold it.

No payment schedule, no time limit on paying it off, nothing.

So, I have a question regarding the extended warranties. Most of time time I don't bother cause the warranty ends up expiring long before something happens. I didn't get any details yet on what the warranty covers, but I'm wondering if its worth it on something this expensive?

As with all warranties and insurance, it is a risk-reward tradeoff. Only you can say whether it is worth it. However, neglecting your attitude towards the risk, you can be sure that in expected value terms it is not worth it. Even if there were a 10% chance of total failure after the first year and before the fifth, say, the warranty is only worth around $210. Probably, it is worth less. Probably its expected value is well below the price (it certainly won't be worth more).

So, you need to ask how much peace of mind is worth to you.

I didn't buy a warranty.

I picked mine up last Saturday (51") and I love it! Tremendous picture with either HD or progressive DVD, and a very good picture with SD stuff from D*. I'm thoroughly pleased with the set. I also bought a large outdoor antenna for OTA HD and I get about 7 good digital channels though I live 30-40 miles from the towers in Pittsburgh.

It was awesome watching the Steelers crush the Pats last Sunday in glorious 1080i HD! Hopefully they'll do the same to Philly today. :D Anyhow, I really love my 51S715 and am glad I bought it. After I bought it and before I picked it up I was having second thoughts about my decision but they promptly vanished after I set it up and watched Return of the King. Speaking of LOTR, anyone watching Fellowship of the Ring tonight (11-7) in HD on the WB? Should be cool, unless it's cropped to 16x9! :mad:

Overall, a great set and I'm glad I bought it. I would recommend it to anyone interested in a CRT RPTV.

I didn't get the extended warranty either, fwiw.

Heinz what issues did your second thoughts revolve around ?

Originally posted by bobbehr
Heinz what issues did your second thoughts revolve around ?

Well, will it look as good at home (better!), is it worth the money (Oh yeah!), should I have bought another technology (no, worse value to pic quality ratio in my book). Just the usual stuff you think about before a large purchase.

Well worth it, got to watch my Steelers crush Philly today in beautiful HD on their march to the Super Bowl! :D

Originally posted by HyPyke
I am now seeing red and blue blooms in the lower corners of the set. Red on the right, blue on the left. Usually this is during 2.35 material. I am also having this problem with my brand new Hitachi. Hy said he could not solve the problem and returned it. I checked the 117-point convergence screen and made a few minor adjustments, but there was nothing there to indicate such a problem.

The red on the right, blue on the left, is always there but is significantly noticable during letterboxed displays that have black bars at the top and bottom. The red appears in the black bar area that should have no activity, and varies in intensity based on what the picture is showing a few inches upper left from it. White in the picture in that areas makes the red "bloom"!

I have called for Sears service for next week, and suspect either a design defect or a lens alignment problem. If they can't completely remove it, back it goes to Sears. Other than that we totally love this set!

Patrick

Another question, is anyone by chance doing any gaming on this set? Preferably from an Xbox?

I was thinking of asking the sales guys if I could bring my xbox and soon to be released Halo2 in to "test', but they might get testy when I didn't leave for hours :)

I've played Xbox on mine several times.

PQ is outstanding over the HD component cables. (I didn't buy the Microsoft ones)

I have played a few racing games and Halo and they look absolutely fantastic.
Sound is fantastic too with the new Yamaha setup. (Still run my old "REAL" BOSE hardwood speakers as well!)



I have not done any "real" PC use beyond watching some Anime & shows over the S-VHS ouput of my current Radeon card.

PQ is definitely better then SD material.

Matter of fact I am building a new system tmrw so more in-depth viewing will come soon.

Great, have you tried Halo2 at all? Some people are reporting a cropping of the screen on 480p in normal and widescreen. 480I looks ok screen wise but is lacking in some detail. This isn't on this set as yet, but on several other big screens

I have red in the lower right corner on 4:3 material (visible in the black bars). I tried the 117 point comvergence and it doesn't get rid of the problem. Is there another solution to get rid of the red?

Originally posted by BigFoot48

The red on the right, blue on the left, is always there but is significantly noticable during letterboxed displays that have black bars at the top and bottom. The red appears in the black bar area that should have no activity, and varies in intensity based on what the picture is showing a few inches upper left from it. White in the picture in that areas makes the red "bloom"!

Patrick

I have watched a lots of 2.35:1 OAR movies and never had this problem on my set. Although, when viewing 4:3 OTA HD commercials with sidebars, there were sometimes discoloration at the edges of the black sidebars, but I think that is dued to the signal instead of the TV because it was so random.

Background:
Owner of a new 51S715 here, about 15 hours on the set. Image is less than impressive. I've ran through DVE, got the cont/bright/colors where they should be. All "enhancements" off, sharpness in low 30's. Did a 117-pt user convergence. Took a tour through SM and DCAM, but haven't made any changes there.

Problem:
OTA HDTV detail and clarity is severely lacking, as is DVD input via component from a Panny XP30, but colors look good. When doing a manual convergence, I notice a definite green halo around the lines. If I pull red and blue away, I see that green is severely defocussed, and more disturbingly, the lines jump/vibrate/twitch in a vertical direction. Red and blue are focussed nicely, and are stable.

I am capable of refocussing green, but am concerned about the "jumpy" green. Since it is the only color with this problem, I do not believe it is a suspect power supply (old Tripp-Light Isobar, surge but no filtering).

Before I start making major focus/DCAM/SM changes, I would like to address the problem with green. Does this sound like a hardware issue that I should take up with Hitachi, or is it possible that there is a DCAM setting that can tame this?

Thanks,

Matt

sounds like a hardware issue that you should take up with Hitachi

Originally posted by TexGuy
I have watched a lots of 2.35:1 OAR movies and never had this problem on my set. Although, when viewing 4:3 OTA HD commercials with sidebars, there were sometimes discoloration at the edges of the black sidebars, but I think that is dued to the signal instead of the TV because it was so random. These discolorations you guys are noticing on 2:35 and 4:3 programming are due to the TV...not the signal. It can be caused by poor convergence, focus, or even to high a contrast setting.

I have finally setup my home theater and am starting to reconfigure my philips pronto to control it all, and I have been unable to find discreet codes for the a or b antenna input on my 57s715. I had no trouble finding all of the other inputs. If anyone has these or could point me in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

btw, I searched extensively at remotecentral.com with no luck:(

Originally posted by BigFoot48
I am also having this problem with my brand new Hitachi. Hy said he could not solve the problem and returned it. I checked the 117-point convergence screen and made a few minor adjustments, but there was nothing there to indicate such a problem.

The red on the right, blue on the left, is always there but is significantly noticable during letterboxed displays that have black bars at the top and bottom. The red appears in the black bar area that should have no activity, and varies in intensity based on what the picture is showing a few inches upper left from it. White in the picture in that areas makes the red "bloom"!

I have called for Sears service for next week, and suspect either a design defect or a lens alignment problem. If they can't completely remove it, back it goes to Sears. Other than that we totally love this set!

Patrick The conclusion of this problem was that the Sears service guy came out and spent some time examining the set. He concluded the cooling fluid containers above the lens were not full and the resulting "gap" caused stray unfocused light areas. He said it could be repaired, with difficulty, but recommended returning it, which I did.

Two days later (today) Sears delivered our third Hitachi 57S715 (the first one just died). No similar color problems and the picture looks great, but if this one croaks it will be the last Hitachi in this decade!

Sears took very good care of us, and have really lived up to their "satisfaction guaranteed" slogan, at least for us.

Good to hear it. Hopefully the third time will be the charm.

Hello everyone, I just got my 57S715 this past weekend and I am loving it.
I am a newbie so I have a couple of questions (one for now)
I read through the manual and the threads here and found no posts about the Signal Meter.

I was trying to use this feature as described on page 52 of the owners manual however when I try to use it, it''s greyed out.
I have an Ant Hooked to ANT A and B is open. Is there something I need to do to enable this feature or does it require a special ant?

Thanks in advance.

It only shows signals for digital broadcasts, including SD and HD. You need to look up which channels are broadcast in your area and tune to them. You input their numbers like "4-1" or "32" (32 is converted to 4-1, for example, for mysterious TV purposes). A standard UHF antenna is all that is needed.

Look here for your local list: http://www.titantv.com
Look here for antenna info: http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx

You also need to go into Setup and tell it that Antenna A is the one the antenna is hooked up to.

Okay I will try this when I get home
thanks,

Originally posted by BigFoot48
It only shows signals for digital broadcasts, including SD and HD. You need to look up which channels are broadcast in your area and tune to them. You input their numbers like "4-1" or "32" (32 is converted to 4-1, for example, for mysterious TV purposes). A standard UHF antenna is all that is needed.

Look here for your local list: titantv.com
Look here for antenna info: antennaweb.org

You also need to go into Setup and tell it that Antenna A is the one the antenna is hooked up to.

Bigfoot48,

Okay I've done this and I am still not able to get the signal meter to be a selectable item.

any other ideas?

Thanks

Mustang, did you run the Auto Channel Scan? This seems to be mandatory to initialize the box.

Originally posted by BigFoot48
Mustang, did you run the Auto Channel Scan? This seems to be mandatory to initialize the box.

Okay,

I will try that tonight when I get home,

Thanks again,

Yupe that worked,

Thanks Bigfoot.

Well I have spent a great deal of time reading here in the forums and just looking around and have finally bought a Hitachi 57S715 and it’s being delivered on Saturday. Will look at the teaks a little harder but expect things to go fairly smooth when the system gets setup. I would expect to have some more serious questions once I have it and start playing with it, so I will try and not be to big of a pain (first big screen and don’t really have a clue).

Just got the 57s715 yesterday. I have basic Comcast cable service (no box) and was able to pull in the unencryped local HD channels with no problem.

PQ looks pretty good after a little bit of tweaking. Watched DVD movie (Samsung 241) and it looked awesome.

Question: How does one add channels as favorites? I didn't see any directions in the manual for using the "favorite" button on remote.

Samjc

Okay,

This is not good, I have only had my Hitachi for 2 weeks and all of the sudden the thing clicks off on me?!?!?!?! I still notice the blue power bottun is still lite, but there is no display or audio?!!??!. I tried to unplug and plug it back in but still not audio or display only the blue light. is this a common problem with this TV??

Originally posted by MustangX
Okay,

This is not good, I have only had my Hitachi for 2 weeks and all of the sudden the thing clicks off on me?!?!?!?! I still notice the blue power bottun is still lite, but there is no display or audio?!!??!. I tried to unplug and plug it back in but still not audio or display only the blue light. is this a common problem with this TV??

No it's not common. I had problems with my Hit. set about 2 weeks after I got it also(mine just didn't want to power on), had to have service done to it, didn't cost me anything but was annoyed with problem with new set like this. You don't say but is this problem on all inputs? Have you tried several inputs including cable direct to RF input on set? If it is on all inputs I'd say an exchange is in your future depending on where you got it from or at least some service.

MustangX, that exact same thing happened to us after 5 days. We sent it back to Sears and got another. Unfortunately that one had yet a different problem and we sent it back. Hitachi III has been working for a month now and we hope it makes it.

Something amiss in H quality control I think.

BTW, couldn't even bring up the internal menu display when ours refused to work, so it wasn't an external input issue!

Originally posted by jonwww
No it's not common. I had problems with my Hit. set about 2 weeks after I got it also(mine just didn't want to power on), had to have service done to it, didn't cost me anything but was annoyed with problem with new set like this. You don't say but is this problem on all inputs? Have you tried several inputs including cable direct to RF input on set? If it is on all inputs I'd say an exchange is in your future depending on where you got it from or at least some service.

Okay well I called sears and because I only had it for 2 weeks they are going to replace mine with another unit. Hopefully I wont have any more issues.

I can not get to any menu options no display at all.
I do hear several click noises and thats it.

Pray that I get a good one :(

Originally posted by BigFoot48
MustangX, that exact same thing happened to us after 5 days. We sent it back to Sears and got another. Unfortunately that one had yet a different problem and we sent it back. Hitachi III has been working for a month now and we hope it makes it.

Something amiss in H quality control I think.

BTW, couldn't even bring up the internal menu display when ours refused to work, so it wasn't an external input issue!

Sounds like we had the same problem did you hear a lot of clicking when turning your unit on and off when it was working?

There's some relay noise going on, and I think the problem you and I had was related to relays and power in some fashion.

All I can say is thank goodness for Sears! A no-hassle return and replacement for 30 or even 60 days is a real benefit in these days of one week waits for repairs.

We had our previous Hitachi RP for 11 years, and was very satisfied. This one has a great picture but the early problems are a little unsettling. I do think any further issues will show up within the one year warranty period.

There seems to be more problems with the 57" model. I've had absolutely no issues with my 51" I'm glad to report.

Anyone see or hear anything about the shelf that's supposed to be coming for this set?

Does this set come apart like the 57f510 I think it was?

The 57" does come apart, and even a wrench comes with it along with instructions to facilitate the decapitation.

Originally posted by BigFoot48
There's some relay noise going on, and I think the problem you and I had was related to relays and power in some fashion.

All I can say is thank goodness for Sears! A no-hassle return and replacement for 30 or even 60 days is a real benefit in these days of one week waits for repairs.

We had our previous Hitachi RP for 11 years, and was very satisfied. This one has a great picture but the early problems are a little unsettling. I do think any further issues will show up within the one year warranty period.

Okay Well Sears is stopping by tommorow from the hours of 3-5, everyone pray for me that I get a good one this time :D

Just Curious,

Does anyone know What is the latest version of the firmware buikd for the 57S715 is?

Well, our one month old S715 just croated. Went black with the blue ring of death blinking and blinking. Turning it off for a minute sometimes brings the picture back for a few seconds, then the screen blanks and the blinking starts again.

So, H-III is dead. We decided in consulting with Sears to get another. This will be H-IV, the fourth Hitachi 57S715 we've had in less than two months. I wanted to switch to a Mits or Pano but it was so painless to get another that we'll try one more time.

What a mess. Something is amiss with Hitachi.

Originally posted by BigFoot48
Well, our one month old S715 just croated. Went black with the blue ring of death blinking and blinking. Turning it off for a minute sometimes brings the picture back for a few seconds, then the screen blanks and the blinking starts again.

So, H-III is dead. We decided in consulting with Sears to get another. This will be H-IV, the fourth Hitachi 57S715 we've had in less than two months. I wanted to switch to a Mits or Pano but it was so painless to get another that we'll try one more time.

What a mess. Something is amiss with Hitachi.

Bigfoot,

I am sorry to hear this,
Unplug your unit for a couple minutes then plug it back in, check to see what firmware version you have and if the quick startup feature is enabled, if it is turn it off.

I found this post on a earlier thread

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=453715&perpage=20&highlight=57s715&pagenumber=2

"Finally fixed!!!
Well nearly a month & a half later the set is finally fixed (or at least it appears that way for now,, fingers crossed). Tech came out today & replaced signal board in set & it actually turns on how it's supposed to!!!! Wooohoooo!!! It seemed for a while as though it would never be fixed but in finally is. To any & all with the above problem check and/or replace the following in this order:

-make sure 'quick power on' is turned OFF
-check for firmware upgrade
-replace signal board (not a cheap part if out of warranty ~$400)

One of the above should take care of it, thank god for warranty work & I'm glad I spent the extra $300 on the extended one in case something like this happens again after the first year.

Hopefully this will end this chapter on this post for good.

Now I can finally sit back & enjoy my new TV.


__________________
Just my 2¢
Jon"

It's working again. The Quick Startup was turned off, so that possible fix is off the table. How do you check the firmware and what version should it be?

Bigfoot,

Go to Setup, upgrades (above the quick startup option)
on the top right corner should have the version

Mine is V0135.0000, but I am not sure if that is the most current, I just got this set on Saturday, I think this one (and I hope) that this one will be fine.
I dont hear the clicking (I guess people on the earlier thread discribed it as a "popping" sound) anymore. I sure have my fingers crossed, cuz I already missed 3 (home team) football games :(

Mustang, that's the same version I have. TV has now been on for two hours this morning with no problem, and ran a couple of hours last night after the "incident".

It appears a part is failing, perhaps a relay that kicks in the tubes when the five second warming up period is done. At this time, we're still scheduled for a replacement as we've had this set just 30 days. Sears in very accomodating in this, to their credit.

Bigfoot,

Just a thought,
have you checked your house for dirty power?

Hello everyone, After looking at all the high prices and subpar performance on all the new technologies. I have decided to go with old faithful and get projection I am looking at the 57s715 do any of you guys that got a great deal on it the tv. Is it possible to post your invoice or email it to me at the email below so I can take it in to Sears. Also does anyone have any thread links to tweaking and Calibration numbers for the set.

Thanks
Kevin

KevinKBC@AOL.com

Mustang, no, I have not checked the house power. The set is plugged into a modern surge protector.

I have numerous devices such as Directv Tivo, stereos, computers, appliances, etc. that have not had any problems that might be power, I believe. I think a modern TV should have sufficient electronics to handle "dirty power" or low or high power. If they don't and that can be demostrated, then time to move to a different manufacturer. I think it's their problem to handle a variety of power issues, not mine.

That's my opinion, but I could be wrong.

Still sticking with the S715 but visiting Sears today to consider alternatives.

Originally posted by BigFoot48
Mustang, no, I have not checked the house power. The set is plugged into a modern surge protector.

I have numerous devices such as Directv Tivo, stereos, computers, appliances, etc. that have not had any problems that might be power, I believe. I think a modern TV should have sufficient electronics to handle "dirty power" or low or high power. If they don't and that can be demostrated, then time to move to a different manufacturer. I think it's their problem to handle a variety of power issues, not mine.

That's my opinion, but I could be wrong.

Still sticking with the S715 but visiting Sears today to consider alternatives.

BF,

Any Good news yet?

Have set #4 and after 7 days it's still working! Picture is just terrific and I think we will have good luck with this one.

Sears has been great about our misfortune, btw.

Just hope I have it long enough to calibrate it this time! Stay tuned.

Good luck with set #4, BigFoot48. I hope you don't have any problems this time because it really is a great set. I've had my 51" for a little over two months now and had no problems. Calibrated with Avia about two weeks ago and the picture is stunning.

I just went down to American TV at lunch to check the warranty given all the problems I've been reading about.

Standard was one year, parts and labor only. If I had to have tech out, it was like $60 and if it had to be brought in, I had to haul it.

$119 though for three years for inhome, parts, service and labor. If it needed to be taken in and replaced, that covers it to.

I asked about this repeatedly just to make sure I understood correctly. It just seems like an incredibly good deal.

Originally posted by NeedAName
I just went down to American TV at lunch to check the warranty given all the problems I've been reading about.

Standard was one year, parts and labor only. If I had to have tech out, it was like $60 and if it had to be brought in, I had to haul it.

$119 though for three years for inhome, parts, service and labor. If it needed to be taken in and replaced, that covers it to.

I asked about this repeatedly just to make sure I understood correctly. It just seems like an incredibly good deal.

Get it in writing.

Also, I am not sure it is fair to say there are a lot of problem with this set. What strikes me is how little traffic this thread gets, which is likely a sign of happy customers. Obviously some have had some bad luck.

<knock on wood>

I have faith in Hitachi and this set, otherwise I wouldn't keep getting it! The problems I had, except for #2 which had low cooling fluid, could have been fixed with a service call but it was easier and faster to just replace them.

Hitachi is rated #1 in reliability by the readers of Consumer Reports.

Oh sure, I didn't mean that problems are rampant. I just wanted to be sure that if I ran into something like Bigfoot did where it needed someone to come out multiple times and replace the thing that i would be covered.

Beleive me, with my luck, if I hadn't checked on this, and wasn't now planning on getting the 3 year warranty, it would have happened to me and I would have had to pay for each and every service call, PLUS a uhaul to take the thing in PLUS people to help me move the thing. :)

Originally posted by BigFoot48
I have faith in Hitachi and this set, otherwise I wouldn't keep getting it! The problems I had, except for #2 which had low cooling fluid, could have been fixed with a service call but it was easier and faster to just replace them.

Hitachi is rated #1 in reliability by the readers of Consumer Reports.

Bigfoot,

Just Curious what is the firmware of your new unit, I am still trying to figure out what the newest is.

Good luck with #4
MY #2 Seems to be fine (knock on wood)
:)

Mustang, my firmware version is the same as yours (see #328). If this set lasts I plan to finally register with Hitachi and get on the list (if there is one) for future upgrades.

BTW, I did check the voltage coming out of the wall and it was at 121. Coming out of the surge suppressor it was the same.

Hello,

First post, hope I don't make too much a fool out of myself. Picked up a 57S715 less than a week ago and love it so far. I was hoping for some help with the service menu.

I had a Toshiba TP55G90 for over 6 years before this and got into tweaking it a bit, so I starting reading up on how to start just some basic tweaking on the Hitachi.

At this point I have gotten into the service menu and changed values in the ISF MODE submenu. I was looking around at the other submenus and did a couple things that I am probably just being paranoid about, but would love if anyone can let me know if I did something harmless or really bad.

The first is I went into the SERVICE submenu and got a blank screen with a think horizontal line across the middle. I did nothing more and hit exit. I read elsewhere in this or another post that doing so is not a problem, but I am just making sure.

The second is that I continued down the list looking into some other submenus until I got to AFC, which after hitting right-arrow did not go into more options but simply put a check in the box next to AFC. Hitting right or left arrow again did not remove the check. After exiting, powering down, and going back into service mode AFC was no longer checked. I am just worried since I don't know what it is or what it does.

Any help is appreciated and will likely help me sleep at night.

The only reason I bothered looking in other submenus, that I should know better to stay out of, was because I originally had trouble saving my ISF MODE changes. I know... it says press Select right on the screen. I must have been just adjusting the values then hitting down arrow to move on down the list rather than hitting Select to save each one.

Thanks!

Question about using a cable card with this set.

I think i read somewhere in the manual that when a cable card is inserted, auto channel scan is disabled. I just read in the reception thread for my area that 47-1 changed again and needs to be rescanned.

How would i do this is auto scan is disabled with the cablecard.

Originally posted by NeedAName
How would i do this is auto scan is disabled with the cablecard.

Acoording to the service manual, Antenna B is disabled when a cablecard is inserted not autoscan.

Rob.

On the bottom of page 51 of the manual is a note that says "when a cable card is installed Auto Channel Scan will not be available"

I don't know how cablecard works, but you could try removing it and then putting it back in. Maybe that resets it somehow...

Yeah, guess I'll have to ask them when i finally get it.

With my luck, I'd have to send it back for re-programming or some such. Otherwise, it doesn't make much sense. Charter here is encrypted, the card unlocks those HDTV channels. Therefore, without the card, no channels to unlock, so Autoscan still shouldn't pick it up. I think

Originally posted by NeedAName
On the bottom of page 51 of the manual is a note that says "when a cable card is installed Auto Channel Scan will not be available"

My original post was from the service manual, it only mentions Antenna B is not available, no mention of autoscan not being available. I just checked the owner's manual and you are correct is does say no Auto Channel Scan with a cablecard.

Maybe Hitachi needs to RTFM and get their manuals correct and to agree with each other :) .

Rob.

Frack! I noticed a scratch on my screen last night. I've only had this thing since August. I can't believe it. I'm so pathetic that I'll pay the $300 parts and labor to get it fixed ASAP too. Now I just have to track down the culprit...

I just learned about the 51S715 today. After doing some research, I came across a specification that has this unit at 540P. I've never heard of this before.
Can this unit output 720P?

Originally posted by Stunz
I just learned about the 51S715 today. After doing some research, I came across a specification that has this unit at 540P. I've never heard of this before.
Can this unit output 720P?

All input (1080i/720p/480p/480i) is scaled to 1080p, and then displayed at either 1080i or 540p (user selectable).

Rob.

My 57S715 is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow by Sears. The cabinet will need to be split during delivery to get into my basement. Are there any gotchas I should be wary of during delivery? Anything in particular I should pay attention to before I let the delivery guys leave?

I'm looking forward to getting it setup and finally seeing HDTV in my house for the first time in 16 months.

Eric

I had Sears deliver a 57s715 in February, they took it out of the box while still in the truck and used some sort of straps to help carry the television. Took no more than 10 minutes and they were finished. Only thing I was worried about was scratching the screen while moving since the box was off. It went in my living room so I didn't have to split the cabinet.

I believe they all come assembled and would need disassembly. I wrote Hitachi and they sent me a pdf with directions on how to split the cabinet, pm me if you would like the directions.

Hope everything goes well,
Brent

Originally posted by NeedAName
Question about using a cable card with this set.

I think i read somewhere in the manual that when a cable card is inserted, auto channel scan is disabled. I just read in the reception thread for my area that 47-1 changed again and needs to be rescanned.

How would i do this is auto scan is disabled with the cablecard.

The cable card automatically recieves your channels, whether analog, digital or HD. Should any new channels be added, the card will pick them up.

Your 47-1 is (I may be wrong) delivered by your OTA antenna and I think you can rescan on those inputs.

Good luck.

H

Originally posted by rvsixer
All input (1080i/720p/480p/480i) is scaled to 1080p, and then displayed at either 1080i or 540p (user selectable).

Rob.


If this is the case, then I might pass on the Hitachi. If it can not output at 720P, then I'd rather have a EDTV (480P) Plamsa or the comprable Sony CRT RP.

Thanks,
Rob

Originally posted by Stunz
If this is the case, then I might pass on the Hitachi. If it can not output at 720P, then I'd rather have a EDTV (480P) Plamsa or the comprable Sony CRT RP. FYI the Sony CRTRP doesn't output 720p either. Given you are apparently after an HD display per your 720p display requirement, the Hitachi/Sony 1080i HD output is MUCH more closely matched/superior to the very non-HD 480p display.

If you truly need a 720p display, you are limited to the current DLP/LCD/LCOS fixed pixel devices.

Are you sure you are not after a 720p input capability instead of output capability? Both the Hitachi and Sony can display 720p input (and both do a beautiful job at it).

Rob.

Well my new 57S715 is doa. Hit power button, blue light blinks 10 times and then a black screen. Nothing. I left it on for about 20 minutes like the delivery guys suggested, but no difference. Of course, by then they were gone.

On a side note the delivery guys had never split the cabinet to deliver it. This was "their first time doing this."...

We got a picture for about a minute, then they turned it off and nothing since then. Just black. Grrr....

Now I've got a service appointment with Sears for tomorrow so we'll see what they have to say then. What a PITA.

It's a great TV, so don't worry. I am watching NCAA hoops in HD right now, and it is awesome.

Unfortunately, there have been some QC issues reported in this thread. Just get a new set; Sears is great about that.

Well, the tech said its dead. So I've got another delivery scheduled for Sunday. This time I'm going to have them plug it in outside to see if I get a menu before going to the trouble of splitting the cabinet and bringing it inside. I'm anxious to see how this tv really works. Thanks for the encouragement.

Eric

I took delivery on a new 51s715 from Sears yesterday. It was an open box from the warehouse that had never been sold or used as a display, sold to me as new at a substantial discount. I am very satisfied with the picture quality. It replaces a 1992 50" hitachi ultravision set that is still going strong.

There are two issues however. My set suffers from the red blooming in the lower right hand corner that I have seen described here before. It is most apparent (and annoying)when watching 2.35:1 material with black letterboxing top and bottom. Running the automatic magic focus convergence adjustment does not eliminate it. This effect has been described by several people in this thread; it was mentioned by one person that a low coolant liquid level in one of the guns could cause this. To those who have seen this problem, will I have to swap this set for another? Have it repaired under warranty?

The other thing i noticed while standing right in front of the screen and looking down at it . There is a green circular halo that can be seen across the top third of the screen. The center of this circle would be about a foot and a half above the top of the tv. As you move away from the screen and squat/sit to place the set at eye level again this cannot be seen. I have a Polk LSIc center channel speaker atop the set, and at first i feared that this might be causing the distortion. This seems unlikely though, it is a shielded speaker and the effect is the same if i move the speaker away from the set. I am thinking that this is perhaps a harmless reflection of some sort off the protective screen. Anyone else notice this? It is not visible from any normal viewing angle.

Originally posted by BigFoot48
Have set #4 and after 7 days it's still working! Picture is just terrific and I think we will have good luck with this one.

Sears has been great about our misfortune, btw.

Just hope I have it long enough to calibrate it this time! Stay tuned. I noticed I never finished my saga of the Four Hitachis. Well, it turned out to be a tragedy. A few weeks after posting the above my fourth set failed in the OTA tuner section.

We returned it to Sears and got a Sony 57" RPCRT which is virtually identially in looks and performance to the Hitachi. (Except for the nifty blue light that the spouse misses.)

Going through four Hitachis that failed was a real nightmare. We were glad Sears stood behind them and replaced each when requested. Would I buy another Hitachi? Well, my previous RP lasted 10 years and I have a H tube set that is 15 years old, so I probably would.

However I suspect my next large TV will be a different technology so when I make that decision in ten years it'll probably be some Chinese company that's the top manufacturer.

You ever hear of the "dark cloud" hanging over your head?

I have never heard a story such as the one above. 4 bad TV's.......unbelieveable.

Wish you the best of luck with the new one.

H

It was unbelievable to us too! After the third I measured the voltage coming out of the wall and the surge protector, verfied grounding on everything, and hoped for the best. Unfortunately we had the same OTA tuner failure with #4 as we did with #3.

We suspect our house is on top of an Indian burial ground.

Well my second one wasn't even delivered. Damaged in the warehouse, now I need to wait for another one to come in. I hope I'm not getting BigFoot48s retreads. :-) Two weeks and counting since purchase and no working tv yet. At least Sears keeps trying.

Eric

Has anyone been able to locate a center channel shelf? I believe the product number was SLF10 ? If you have, please let me know where.

Also, if anyone has purchased a generic shelf they like please pass along that info as well.

thanks!

American TV in Madison wi had a center speaker on a shelf of their display model several months ago. When I asked the sales guy he said they had several in stock. Didn't inquire at the time about price as I still haven't finished paying of the set. (got laid off).

I put self stick velcro on the top front of the tv - and the lower front of my center channel... then I used 2 rubber feet place under the back of the center channel to tilt the speaker towards me (down).

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/OmniMount-Center-Channel-Speaker-Shelf-CCH1B-/sem/rpsm/oid/108951/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

This has been used by many members with sucess.

I just put the center channel under the TV in the center of the stand. Works fine.

H

great - thanks a lot guys.

I'm looking at either the Hitachi 57s715 or a 57h84 Tosh. I see on the specs of the Hitachi 57s715 says Virtual 1080p processor. What does this mean if the selectable output signal is only 540p/1080i?

Second, what brand and model number is the OTA tuner in the Hitachi 57s715? I assume I can use this with Dishnet Satellite?

Originally posted by LookingG
I'm looking at either the Hitachi 57s715 or a 57h84 Tosh. I see on the specs of the Hitachi 57s715 says Virtual 1080p processor. What does this mean if the selectable output signal is only 540p/1080i?

Second, what brand and model number is the OTA tuner in the Hitachi 57s715? I assume I can use this with Dishnet Satellite? Post #350 answers the first question. The OTA tuner is integrated into the set, and as such does not really have a seperate brand or model no. The integrated tuner is completely independent of any external devices you might hook up (such as a satellite STB).

Rob.

Ok, thanks. Seems kind of odd though to upconvert to 1080p then output to 1080i does it not? Sorry if this seems like a stupid question.

Right now I have the dishnet 811 HD STB. Will I still need the 811 or can I use the tuner in the Hitachi for ALL my channels both HD and SD?

Originally posted by LookingG
Ok, thanks. Seems kind of odd though to upconvert to 1080p then output to 1080i does it not? Sorry if this seems like a stupid question.

Right now I have the dishnet 811 HD STB. Will I still need the 811 or can I use the tuner in the Hitachi for ALL my channels both HD and SD? Not odd at all, digitally upconvert all signals to the highest resolution for processing, than downconvert to the highest resolution the display is capable of theoretically yields highest PQ (provided the scalars are good, no expert here but IMO the Hitachi is great).

The Hitachi tuner is not a DISH tuner, so will only tune OTA analog/digital channels. 811 will receive both OTA and DISH.

I have had a 57S715 for a couple of weeks and I have noticed something that concerns me. It seems that the HD feed that I am receiving from my antenna goes out of focus every now and then. I have only noticed this during the NCAA basketball games and I noticed it last night watching the Amazing Race. This doesn't mean that it isn't happening on other shows or channels, it just so happens that this has been most of my viewing on this TV. I would have to assume that this is a camera issue and not a TV, Tuner, or Antenna issue being that the feed is digital, but I just need some reassurance that the TV is okay. Unfortunately, there is no one else in my neighborhood watching HD and in particular from an antenna. Does anyone else see this problem?

Pulled the trigger Sat on a 51s715 and am loving it!

Got a noobie question. I have found the set up part of the menu where you can name the inputs(ie input 1 = DVD, input 3 = SAT) but when I press the input button on the remote they are still labelled input 1, input 2, etc. on the screen display. Aren't the names supposed to change after you select them in set up?

Am I missing something?

Finally, i'm getting my set delivered on Saturday. Its going to be sometime though before I can get it professionally calibrated, so I'm wondering which to use between Avia and DVE.

DVE is half the cost of Avia, but I'm having a hard time finding either one locally. Best Buy and Suncoast both say they have it on their site, but not in store so I'll have to order it. Want to make sure I get the "best" one

I ordered my 51S715 way back in August and got delivery in early September. At the same time I ordered a SLF-10 center shelf (and paid $40 for it). Checked in with Hitachi every few months, got the same story about not sure when/if production would resume/begin, and by January had pretty much given up. Last week I got a call from the store that my SLF-10 had arrived and indeed it had. I installed it last night. It's grey laminate over particle board, about 2/3 the width of the set. Basically, the shelf rests on the cabinet -- you take two screws out of the back cabinet and mount two brackets to which the shelf is then fastened. There is a wood strip along the back of the shelf that rests on the cabinet (velcro straps keep it from rattling) keeping it level. I had previously put together the white wire do-it-yourself shelf with fender washers and bolts described elsewhere on this thread, which also worked quite well, although it's a bit of a style statement. The SLF-10 blends pretty well. The only downside is that it says it is intended for a load of no more than 15 pounds. I'm not sure why the rating is so low -- it could handle a much heavier speaker, the main limitation is that it is sitting on the rear cabinet cover, which is of course plastic. Anyway, the SLF-10 does exist!

NABHDTVNOW,
Thanks for the info about the SLF-10. I gave up waiting and velcro'd my center speaker to top rim. Works like a charm for lo these past nine months. Course, the speaker only weights a few pounds.

bump!
(you know...inquiring minds!)

Originally posted by chrish217
Pulled the trigger Sat on a 51s715 and am loving it!

Got a noobie question. I have found the set up part of the menu where you can name the inputs(ie input 1 = DVD, input 3 = SAT) but when I press the input button on the remote they are still labelled input 1, input 2, etc. on the screen display. Aren't the names supposed to change after you select them in set up?

Am I missing something?

Originally posted by chrish217
bump!
(you know...inquiring minds!) Okay okay :p . Press the info button and you will see the relabeled inputs.

Rob (57S715).

Thanks, Rob.

I knew it had to be something simple...just didn't see it in the owner's manual...and I re-read that section 3 or 4 times.

Originally posted by rvsixer
Okay okay :p . Press the info button and you will see the relabeled inputs.

Rob (57S715).

So you are saying there is no way to change the labels on what comes up when you press the input button?

Right. When you hit the input button it wont change. It only adds the name you use when you hit the info button and it shows both in there. Mine shows for input 1 ypbr
stb
input 2 ypbr
dvd

Has anyone used the TV speakers as their center channel speaker? Did you have to put RCA jacks or banana plugs on your speaker wire to get them into the RCA jacks in the rear of the TV?

How does it sound? Does the TV remote volume control the volume of the center channel, or is it still controled by the receiver?

Has anyone used the TV speakers as their center channel speaker? Did you have to put RCA jacks or banana plugs on your speaker wire to get them into the RCA jacks in the rear of the TV? How does it sound? Does the TV remote volume control the volume of the center channel, or is it still controled by the receiver?You should use a matched L/R/C speaker set. The TV's built-in speakers sound like :( compared to any decent DD setup. RTFM for the rest.

Rob (57S715).

Not odd at all, digitally upconvert all signals to the highest resolution for processing, than downconvert to the highest resolution the display is capable of theoretically yields highest PQ (provided the scalars are good, no expert here but IMO the Hitachi is great).

The Hitachi tuner is not a DISH tuner, so will only tune OTA analog/digital channels. 811 will receive both OTA and DISH.

Is that right? I'm considering a 51S715 (if anyone knows of a current good B&M deal on one, please PM me) I assumed that the tuner on the XXs715 would take any input through the 1080p process . . . OTA, cable input, maybe DVD, etc. That's what I read post #350 to mean. I guess I don't understand the Virtual 1080p process that well.

Thanks in advance for any responses provided.

bump

bump again . . . I'm now scheduled to have one of these delivered at the end of the month, so I really would love to get an answer on this. Looking forward enjoying this set! Got a pretty decent deal IMO on it this past weekend.

I have had a 57S715 for a couple of weeks and I have noticed something that concerns me. It seems that the HD feed that I am receiving from my antenna goes out of focus every now and then. I have only noticed this during the NCAA basketball games and I noticed it last night watching the Amazing Race. This doesn't mean that it isn't happening on other shows or channels, it just so happens that this has been most of my viewing on this TV. I would have to assume that this is a camera issue and not a TV, Tuner, or Antenna issue being that the feed is digital, but I just need some reassurance that the TV is okay. Unfortunately, there is no one else in my neighborhood watching HD and in particular from an antenna. Does anyone else see this problem?


If you are truly talking about focus, your focus block may be internally shorting. Don't think the state of the art cameras and feedthru gear used at the studios are all going to be having intermittents, tho I have seen this on the Leno show many times, on their gear. And NOT on Conan, in NY, where Leno is shot in Burbank, both NBC. So I distrust the Burbank local gear and not the gear at NBC central, nor the gear in NY. If both Leno and Conan had this spurious, intermittent out spike of unfocusness, I would have to distrust whatever gear at NBC central handles both their shows.

If it is BLURRINESS that you are talking about, that could be convergence, in which case your converence system might be exhibiting signs of cold solder joints at your convg ICs.

If cold solder joints at ANY brand's convg ICs are remedied early on, they rarely need replacement, just resodering those joints is all it takes. If it goes on for awhile, tho, the ICs get overly stressed out and need replacement, because if stressed like that they only stay stable for awhile after the resoldering, then go out again. You can always try resoldering first in this case, then replacement if necessary.


Mr Bob

Finally, i'm getting my set delivered on Saturday. Its going to be sometime though before I can get it professionally calibrated, so I'm wondering which to use between Avia and DVE.

DVE is half the cost of Avia, but I'm having a hard time finding either one locally. Best Buy and Suncoast both say they have it on their site, but not in store so I'll have to order it. Want to make sure I get the "best" one


DVE is hard to navigate, but has all the right patterns, including accurate grayscale patterns. If you get AVIA, the color decoder patterns are better than DVE's, but AVIA's grayscale patterns are not completely correct, due to a defect in the mastering process. This has been addressed by Guy Kuo - the creator of most of the AVIA patterns - on many occasions.

If you want to use the simple to navigate AVIA, whose geometry patterns are excellent and completely accurate, avoid their grayscale patterns and get SVGHT, which is only about $20. Its grayscale patterns are right on, and it contains some of the AVIA patterns, since they are both put out by Ovation Software.

If you do get AVIA, be sure to turn on the Repeat Pattern feature, in the initial set of pattern sections to choose, down in the lower left corner. Otherwise you'll be having to go back over and over and over again, when it advances on you on its own to the next pattern.


Mr Bob

Over in this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=557009

I was asking about cleaning dust out of a 51S715. It occurred to me today that this may be the better thread to post in regarding how hard or easy it is for someone to periodically clean dust off any affected parts within this set.

Any responses are appreciated.

I was watching a Stephen Hawking's Universe dvd tonight and I notice it looked like there was a spyder on the right upper corner edge of the screen just under the protective shield. I thought it must have been on the lens when they shot the film, but no, not my luck. I pressed on the outside of the screen protective shield to see if it was alive and it appeared to move, or my pressing on the protective a time or two killed what may have been a trapped spyder.
Now it's not moving and I don't know how to get it out, does it require a service technician? any similar experiences?

I was watching a Stephen Hawking's Universe dvd tonight and I notice it looked like there was a spyder on the right upper corner edge of the screen just under the protective shield. I thought it must have been on the lens when they shot the film, but no, not my luck. I pressed on the outside of the screen protective shield to see if it was alive and it appeared to move, or my pressing on the protective a time or two killed what may have been a trapped spyder.
Now it's not moving and I don't know how to get it out, does it require a service technician? any similar experiences?


This is not an uncommon occurrence. I have had spiders in both of my last 2 RPTVs, one a Mit and the other a Panny. Mine were both on the inside of the optical cavity, tho, not trapped between layers.

The glarescreen can be removed, but it takes some care in so doing, or it can be disastrous. The clear acrylic layer is the third of 3, and the closest one to you. It is part of a 3 layer sandwich, all of which is held together in one stack on a Hitachi.

You have to be very handy to pull off getting in there, between those 2 particular layers, with no sweat. It starts with removing the entire screenframe...

As Clint would say, "Do you feel lucky?"

(Or at least handy...)


Mr Bob

how do you like this tv? I bought one a few weeks back for my new house and so far it seems to be a pretty good set. I have only been able to watch ota hd and standard ota, and it seems to do a excellent job with both. how much better will the picture get with a professional calibration? or a avia calibration? and also does it work well with a xbox?

works excellent with xbox :)

I'm getting mine delivered on the 13th, and I don't figure on hooking any console up to it . . . burn-in scares the bejeebies out of me, even if I get it properly calibrated.

I'm getting mine delivered on the 13th, and I don't figure on hooking any console up to it . . . burn-in scares the bejeebies out of me, even if I get it properly calibrated.


Fixed images are the primary cause of screenburn. Screenburn is defined as uneven phosphor aging, and this can be caused by stationary pix, PIP, MSNBC type logos, stock ticker tapes, side and top/bottom bars...

Many games these days do not use any fixed images - or grids, or borders etc. - and as long as they completely fill the screen and have no sidebars or letterbox bars, are perfectly OK to show on any phosphor based TV, be it RPTV or DV. Or plasma.

Fixed images are all that usually cause screenburn. Moving images that will properly exercise all parts of your screen(s) are OK.


Mr Bob

Even in cases where most of a game's image moves, or even where a game can be played in wide screen mode, the kinds of things I would be scared about most would be:

1. Targeting reticles (first person shooters)
2. Score boxes (sporting games)
3. Health meters (fighting games)
4. Quick-use action bars (RPGs)

So it's not the whole screen generally that I would be worried about, but rather the individual places on the screen that might be burned in from a static image, much like a station logo. Some people seem to think that with a properly calibrated set and by mixing up content it's not too dangerous a proposition. Still gives me the willies though.

No one has ever really answered an earlier question I had about how hard or easy it is to clean dust out of the sensitive places within the set.

No one has ever really answered an earlier question I had about how hard or easy it is to clean dust out of the sensitive places within the set.


There's 14 pages here. Rather not go thru them all looking for your post. Please repeat it and I'll take a stab at it.


Mr Bob

It's the last post on Page 13. Thanks much.

Hey there gang!

My first post here on this Forum. Let me start off by saying what a nice place this is!

I've been reading all the threads dealing with Hitachi as it seemed to be the TV to get as far as CRTs are concerned. I picked up my 51S715 on August 1st and couldn't wait to get it to the house.

After getting it all set up and a DVD Player fired up the picture was...
COMPLETELY underwhelming.

Just about everything I viewed looked like dog meat. I found information here on getting into the Service Menu and tweaking it up to reduce the ringing, make my Reds actually look more Red and my Greens look less like Limes AND how to reduce my overscan (more on this later).

I've spent the last week trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Everything that had lots of Red in it jumped like crazy...especially on "The Incredibles" so I started to search around for information.

I found some information last night that lead me to believe I was plagued by the dreaded CUE or ICP so I decided to move my JVC XV-N50 into the living room and put my even cheaper Phillips DV642 in here...guess what...that did the trick.

The picture is clean now and free of all that noise and jumping in the reds. I went back through both Avia and DVE just to tweak a few things and here I am...telling all of you thanks for this, and other, threads that made this decision easier (not to mention eventually finding the information that lead me to diagnose the problem).

I'm very nearly a happy camper now but as forewarned...fixing the slight overscan did a number on the Geometry so now I've got to try to read a bit more and get that straightened out.

I'll be hanging out here a bit and look forward to becoming more knowledgible than I am now:)!

Regards,
Paul

I seem to be in a bit of a quagmire with my new 51S715. Nothing seems to fit the screen properly. I know that standard cable is 4:3 and you have to tweak that a bit, but on the HD channels I think I'm seeing even HD programming (Insight cable) with black bars at the top and bottom in 16:9. It's even like that with DVDs, which I don't really understand at all--it was with Pitch Black when I watched it two nights ago. I feel like when my computer CRT monitor's picture is out of shape and I can just go into the monitor's controls and adjust it.

I'm a n00b, so any information or advice is much aprpeciated.

No one has ever really answered an earlier question I had about how hard or easy it is to clean dust out of the sensitive places within the set.


Here's a copy of what I posted over there at your link:


No ESP around will cover professional optics cleaning on the CRTs and mirrors of CRT based RPTVs.

This is something I pioneered many years ago as a calibrator - and many calibrators still don't get the importance of it - and expecting ANY repair servicer - warranty or otherwise - to know how to handle it would be like expecting ANY repair servicer to be able to fully and completely calibrate your set.

Ain't gonna happen.

There is a specific, correct, and SAFE way to do it, and very few know how. You can't just use a dust brush on CRT optics. You can the first year, and MAYBE the second year as well, if you're lucky. But from the third year on, the dust and gunk and gritty particulates are ON there, and it takes very special care to remove them safely, without scratching the plastic lenses and without making the internal lenses fog up if your cleaning solution penetrates the edges and gets down there.

I would NOT let any ESP tech touch my optics! Do not let that be the reason you get this ESP, if you decide to indeed do so. Have a pro do your optics cleaning.


Mr Bob

Ok...after quite a bit of reading, researching (and more researching), I've managed to get my venerable old One For All 8810 programmed for DCAM...I jumped in and started looking around in DCAM mode.

I did nothing major as I was tired and really only wanted to verify that I had all the necessary codes programmed properly on the 8810.

Now, here's a couple of questions:

1) when I'm trying to change the tuning modes by hitting the various button combinations 5 times, what should I see on screen denoting success? I remember trying to get into one of various tuning modes and the only thing that changed was the color of the prompt on screen. Not sure if I did whatever I needed to do correctly or not.

2) I've searched all over for this but either I've missed it, skipped over it or just didn't understand what I've read but what do I actually have to do to fix the geometry? I'm bowed a bit on the sides and have yet to find what actually changes that. Am I to readjust the overscan? Is there some combination on the remote that I've missed?

Again, sorry to ask what has probably been answered hundreds of times but I can't seem to find it on my own.

I seem to be in a bit of a quagmire with my new 51S715. Nothing seems to fit the screen properly. I know that standard cable is 4:3 and you have to tweak that a bit, but on the HD channels I think I'm seeing even HD programming (Insight cable) with black bars at the top and bottom in 16:9. It's even like that with DVDs, which I don't really understand at all--it was with Pitch Black when I watched it two nights ago. I feel like when my computer CRT monitor's picture is out of shape and I can just go into the monitor's controls and adjust it.

I'm a n00b, so any information or advice is much aprpeciated.

Not all HD played, esp. on the pay channels, is true HD.

Some is a 2.35:1 movie, being played in HD, which is 1.777777777:1, or 16x9. (Do the math)

If they are playing this cinerama-type of 2.35:1 movie in HD, they have 2 choices: to play it as the director intended - which will irrevocably involve t/b black bars - or trim off the sides and make the 2.35:1 movie into a 1.78:1 movie, in which case there will be no t/b black bars.

I have seen both done. I believe that Pitch Black is 2.35:1, because when my 65" Panny was new, I was very concerned about those black bars at top and bottom, while a great deal of the material was shot at a very stark too-bright light level, because of the planet's 2 suns. This caused me great concerns about screenburn on my brand new set.


Network/primetime TV that is "filmed" in HD will always be true 1.78:1, or 16x9. CSI, Alias, Desperate Housewives, Star Trek Enterprise, the last 3 episodes of Battlestar Galactica that aired on NBC a few Saturday nights ago - these were all shot in true HD, and took up the entire 16x9 screen with no black bars.

If yours is showing t/b black bars at all times, no matter what kind of movie you are watching, be it pay channels or DVD, there is something wrong.


To be sure, find a DVD movie where it is Widescreen, and make sure the widescreen it is IN, is 1.85:1 or 1.78:1. (They usually call it 1.85:1, even if it is actually 1.78:1.) If your DVD has a choice between Full Screen and Widescreen, be sure to select up the widescreen version. Starship Troopers is exactly 1.78:1, for example.

If there are still black bars on t/b, you have a problem. If not, you don't.


Mr Bob

Ok, people, riddle me this . . .

DVD player, RCA progressive scan, set at 480p, 16:9.
Desperado: 1.85--plays full screen
Akira: 1.78--plays full screen
Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars: Listed as "16:9 Widescreen Version"--plays full screen.

Right now I am watching CSI: Miami in HD on Insight cable, Bloomington Indiana, channel 760. 2" bar at the top, 2.25" bar at the bottom. Aspect on the TV listed at 16:9 standard. This should also be full screen, right?

I' m going to crosspost this to the Indianapolis area HDTV forum thread, see if it might be an issue with local cable, but any help form here would be greatly appreciated. If there is any additional information I can provide to make an accurate diagnosis, please let me know. Thanks in advance for any information or advice provided.

480p and 1080I have completely different memory sets in the Hitachis. You can be perfectly set up in one and not be in the other. They have to be independently set up.

More HD stations/programs? DVDP with 1080i OP, to check the HD with?

These would help pin it down.

I have calibrated many, many HD systems and have yet to find a cable or satellite system that is broadcasting HD wrong.

That said, VOOM had some channels that incorrectly show the bottom exposed, with black anywhere from half an inch to 3" thick at the bottom, and Dish now does the same thing on those same VOOM channels, which it now has/owns.

But that's an incorrect vertical placement issue. Not a size or blanking issue, which is when both top and bottom are involved.


Mr Bob

Thank you for the response. User RSlamD over in the forum thread for my viewing area, Indianapolis/Terre Haute/Lafayette, IN (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=186022&page=63&pp=30), has indicated that it might be my cable box.

RSlamD said:When I was in A/V sales in Bloomington (HH Gregg)I had multiple customers who had the Insight box and they (Insight) has done something to the signal and it appeared to be in a zoom mode going thru the box.

This would seem to be consistent at least with what I'm seeing. His recommendation is to try to get them to install through a cable card and get rid of the box, which unfortunately I believe would mean no on-demand movies and no DVR, which comes with the cable box. That's too bad, because the cable box makes it easy to record The Doodlebops for my 2-year-old daughter, which is her favorite show right now.

First, however, I am going to call them and see if perhaps they have a fix that would allow me to keep the box, if that is indeed the problem.

My Dish 811 box DOES have aspect ratio controld on the HD - it can lop off the sides, expand it, etc.

Maybe that's it, in your case.

There IS a selection that is always correct, tho, with true HD - at least on my box. I would think the same would be true of yours.


Mr Bob

Now, here's a couple of questions:

1) when I'm trying to change the tuning modes by hitting the various button combinations 5 times, what should I see on screen denoting success? I remember trying to get into one of various tuning modes and the only thing that changed was the color of the prompt on screen. Not sure if I did whatever I needed to do correctly or not.

2) I've searched all over for this but either I've missed it, skipped over it or just didn't understand what I've read but what do I actually have to do to fix the geometry? I'm bowed a bit on the sides and have yet to find what actually changes that. Am I to readjust the overscan? Is there some combination on the remote that I've missed?

Again, sorry to ask what has probably been answered hundreds of times but I can't seem to find it on my own.

- - Update - -

I seem to have figured out my own question(s) but after adjusting the geometry problem and the trying to save the settings with steps 16 through 21...I get the following message instead of the green dots at step 18:

Over Flow Error!
GH7

Not sure what I did wrong here as I followed the instructions to the letter. Any ideas? I don't mind trying a few things but I'm pretty well stumped at this point.

- - Update - -

I seem to have figured out my own question(s) but after adjusting the geometry problem and the trying to save the settings with steps 16 through 21...I get the following message instead of the green dots at step 18:

Over Flow Error!
GH7

Not sure what I did wrong here as I followed the instructions to the letter. Any ideas? I don't mind trying a few things but I'm pretty well stumped at this point.


Hits have always been kinda lame on size of memory allowed for memorization of the paradigm you're trying to set up. Every time you order it to memorize, if you have done a lot of changes it only will memorize so much, leaving you with lots of work to do over again until it finally gets it all. I usually have to make at least 3 passes, if not 5 or 6, before it actually keeps all my changes.

So you probably are pushing the FINE points a lot farther than they are supposed to be pushed. You have to let most of the work be done via the more coarse settings, and use the points for fine tune only. And resizing is best done via the Freeze button - possible under other names on other models, possibly even this one - whichever button it is that allows you to move complete lines rather than just points. (I THINK it's Freeze, I often have to feel these commands out once I am on location, and Hitachi loves to change them on you, with different models...)

That's where the hitting of the button 5 times comes in. Depending on which one you're hitting, it will go into a more coarse set of points or a more fine set of points.

Just be sure not to hit the sequence that starts you completely over from scratch, unless that is exactly what you REALLY want to do.

On the Philips, they very specifically direct you AWAY from hitting a certain command, I believe it is the DEFAULT command. Which would vaporize all settings and start you off from scratch.

Which you only want to do in the most dire of cases.


Mr Bob

Thank you all who provided assistance to this n00b.

The answer is that when the cable guy came to hook my stuff up, I only had 1 set of component cables, and 1 S-video cable. He put the component cables from the DVD player to the TV, and the S-video from the cable box to the TV. Something about using the S-video cable means that the HD signal isn't being sent properly, so when I switched the component cables from the DVD player to the cable box, poof! HD 16:9 properly takes up the whole screen, and (until I get off work today) I am stuck without progressive scan output on my DVD player, which also requires component cables.

This also plays to the advice I had gotten earlier about the Cable Card--using a Cable Card I assume would make moot the choice of cables and properly display the HD signal, but I'm happy I get to keep my box. My daughter, without ever having knowledge of this issue, will continue to enjoy DVR-taped episodes of The Doodlebops.

On the more unusual side, now that I am using component cables for the cable box, I seem to be limited to 4:3 expanded, 16:9 standard and 16:9 zoom. The other aspect options are unavailable unless I switch to the straight coaxial feed on Antenna B. No biggie.

Nothing short of component HU is capable of HD. Not composite, S, nor RF modulated ch. 3 or 4 - unless it is thru an HD tuner, from something specifically set up to send out the HD on that type of channel.

Component, RGB, DVI and HDMI have the capacity to carry HD. Nothing short of these will. HD will never appear on S video, it just doesn't have the capacity for it.


Mr Bob

I have the 51S715. Also bought the antenna but was wondering, is there that many OTA channel and is it worth it connecting the antenna??

Yes.

Almost all primetime comes in in HD now OTA, plus the Grammys, the Oscars, 24 on Fox, many of the great shows on the main networks, in my area Star Trek Enterprise on my local UPN channel...

I didn't have pay channels in HD for several years when I first got my year 2000 Panny 65" in 2001, and didn't miss it because of all the network shows I like, that are in HD OTA. Just made sure the place I lived had a clean shot at the tower in question.

And that was several years ago! There's even more great stuff out there now.

Add to that the satellites only offering whatever network they offer being the East Coast feed, meaning that it's 3 hours time different from the Pacific Coast, where I live...

Yes, I would if I were you. And you may need to put up a rotor as well, to be able to aim it at the different channels. Depends on your area.


Mr Bob

Thanks for the suggestion Mr. Bob. I actually thought that I had moved it too much but I had no idea about the memory allocation.

I'll give it a shot and post back to let you know.

- - Update - -

Checked out your suggestion and it worked like a charm. Magic Focus is back and now I don't have that annoying, slightly football shaped geometry problem.

The FREEZE (Pip Freeze) code for the 8810 is 201 just in case any of you need it.

Thanks for your help Mr. Bob.

:)

One last question then I'll leave all of you alone for awhile...

In one of these monsterous threads, someone posted a link to a setup template for properly adjusting the grids in DCAM mode.

If I remember correctly, there were model numbers associated with those grids but there was no listing for the XXS715 series. Is there/will there be one for this series or does it matter?

My set looks pretty good now but I'd really like to be sure once I get to play with it a bit more. I still want to do a manual focus as I haven't worked up the nerve to do that yet.

Again, I'd like to thank everyone who has posted previously in these "Hitachi" threads as they've really been educational!

I have the 51S715. Also bought the antenna but was wondering, is there that many OTA channel and is it worth it connecting the antenna??


If you want CBS in HD, you will need to connect to an antenna (that is if you are getting CBS out of Seattle owned by Emmis - and have comcast)

My set looks pretty good now but I'd really like to be sure once I get to play with it a bit more. I still want to do a manual focus as I haven't worked up the nerve to do that yet.


Here's the Cantilever Technique, which I wrote years ago, due to needing it on the green of my own 60" Mit and finding that normal optical focusing techniques left lots to be desired:


The Cantilever Technique is where the mechanical focus of an individual gun is checked/doublechecked by moving the screen in and out, towards and away from the mirror/center of the TV, rather than checking focus by moving the lens itself.

This can also be done on a FPTV if the center of the screen is movable, such as with a motorized descending flexible screen, unless it is attached tightly or the backside is unavailable to your hands, in which case you may only be able to move the screen inward and not outward. You may not be able to check a stiffened flat screen this way at all. In either case, DON'T USE YOUR FINGERS. We don't want fingergrease marks up there on your pristine, allwhite screen.

This allows for very minute amounts of alteration at the lenses IN BETWEEN the doublechecks.

With normal focusing techniques the lenses have to be moved quite a bit to see any change at all, at the fixed screen. In this scenario, the lenses stay fixed while the focus is being checked by moving the SCREEN instead. Then that lens moved as needed, then checked again.

Colors obviously need to be showing independently - isolated or separated - for these tests.

I find that the 50IRE AVIA Circlehatch grid has the finest lines to use for this purpose - literally - esp. when the vertical height has been widened temporarily, to stretch their scanlines even farther apart from each other.

Always mark the starting point on each lens - match both barrel and turret with the same fine, straight line - with a fine line from a Sharpie pen or white marker - like maybe White-out, aka Liquid Paper - before altering position. Start with 1/16" movements, winding up with super-tiny1/64" movements.


Observe which way you are rotating your lens barrel, each time. If the screen on an RPTV focusses better when you are pulling it OUT, then the barrel needs to come OUT just a little bit, usually by UNscrewing it, in a counterclockwise direction.

The OPPOSITE is true in FPTV scenarios. This is because OUT towards you is the opposite direction when there is a mirror involved and/or in a rear projection situation, vs. when there is not/when it is a front pj situation.

Bottom line, direction of movement of the lens towards or away FROM THE SCREEN determines which direction to go. When the focusing improves when pulling the screen AWAY from the lens, the lens should be brought farther away from the CRT face and thus closer to the screen.


The middle of your screen is perfectly focussed when moving the screen outward and inward causes the focus to go out exactly the same amount in each direction, coming back to perfect focus when at rest. When perfectly balanced while at rest in its regular viewing position, your optical focus can't get any tighter.

If the center is now in and yet one or another of the sides is still out, you'll have to look for and test for Scheimpflug error, which is also correctable. This is the actual angle of the CRT face vs. the screen itself, since none of these angles is EVER totally parallel, CRT face vs. viewscreen, on any kind of projection device.

Mr Bob

I finally took my rear projection hitachi50v715 apart to try to remove what I thought was a bug. Well it turns out that it's not a bug at all but appears to be some kind of small defect in the screen itself. When conditions are right (bright behind the spot) it looks like a small beetle maybe 1/4 the size of a ladybug or perhaps a large gnat. Don't know what to do about it(if anything). I took out the lightbox and dusted the bulb(airduster). Also gave the lens a few blasts as well. Whatever this is it is definately on the back layer of the screen and it is a... well pit is the only way to describe it and it's inside of 9 pixels (I'm guessing pixels when I get close to the screen I see a grid and it is those grid sections I'm counting). While I had the screen leaned out I took a fingernail to it very lightly thinking it was a stuck bug and thats how I know it is actually a pit. I have had the TV for less than a year and bought an extended warranty from HHGregg for 3 years.

I received the 51s715 today. I let the set warm up, ran magic focus, did the manual convergence, and calibrated using Avia. (Including the color decoder)
I played a few programs from DiscoveryHD and a recording of the "Tonight Show" I had on my HD-Tivo; and the picture just doesn't have that HD look my Panasonic 53x54 had. The picture is grainy and just not that sharp. It is definitely missing the HD pop I came to expect from the Panny.
I made sure that the tv is being fed a 1080i signal from the Tivo through the HDMI cable. Also tried the component output; it looked the same.

Anyone have any suggestions what I might try? Thanks.

I took out the lightbox and dusted the bulb(airduster). Also gave the lens a few blasts as well.


Sounds like a DLP, rather than the CRT RPTVs this thread is all about (sorry, could be wrong, don't know all the model numbers by heart)...



Whatever this is it is definately on the back layer of the screen and it is a... well pit is the only way to describe it and it's inside of 9 pixels (I'm guessing pixels when I get close to the screen I see a grid and it is those grid sections I'm counting). While I had the screen leaned out I took a fingernail to it very lightly thinking it was a stuck bug and thats how I know it is actually a pit. I have had the TV for less than a year and bought an extended warranty from HHGregg for 3 years.


This kind of deformity should be completely covered by warranty. You should be able to just show the warranty tech the problem and let him take it from there, never revealing that you've been inside. (After all, you didn't create this problem, there's no reason for invalidating your warranty. Just don't take any chances...) Let him do the opening up of it.

You need a brand new, unblemished fresnel in there. Their QC either didn't pick it up, or are hoping nobody on your end will notice...


Mr Bob

Thanks that's the first post that seemed to be knowledegeable in any way. I'll take your advice and call up HHGregg very soon.

By the way it's a RPLCD.

By the way it's a RPLCD.

I am glad you mentioned that. It was easy to get sidetracked with confusion, as this thread is all about the CRT RPTV version of the Hitachis. It's in the title -

But glad to help anyway! The projection optics are common to both, tho I see that the CRT type always use a lenticular for their frontmost optical correction screen, while the DLP type typically uses non-lenticular technology in the DLPs. Don't know about the LCD front screens yet, myself...

Whenever there is an impediment on the rearmost screen - the fresnel - on a CRT you will see different colors at the edge, depending on how far off the screen surface the impediment extends.

On a single lens system like yours, that would not be the case. No differing colors.


Mr Bob

Thanks for the additional info Bob. I was just looking around for some more information about my defect. Trying to find out if anyone had seen this kind of thing before and some people are less than kind about posting in a thread that doesn't quite fit the topic however there wasn't a thread related to the V715 serires that Hitachi makes so I decided to post on other Hitachi threads in the hope of finding out something more than I knew. It worked. Now I at least have an idea that this kind of defect should be under warranty and that I haven't really screwed up just because I opened my box. Doubt anyone could tell I was in there unless I told them and now I also know not to tell. Guess I just got used to cracking the caes on my computers and forgot how some companies frown upon that kind of non-conformist behavior. There is certainly no way a consumer could remove a few screws without messing something up? Sorry I rant a little.

Thanks again Bob it's nice to find someone helpful every now and then.

how hard is it to run though the avia and dve disk with this tv 57s715?. I have both arriving tomorrow and I looked at the service menu and I was like my oh my... it looks pretty tough. does anyone have a list of whats what? I saw a list earlier in this thread but it only had a few things on it.

There is certainly no way a consumer could remove a few screws without messing something up? Sorry I rant a little.

Can't blame the manufacturers too much. Mit alone lost something like half a mil on the early DIYers who broke in using codes learned on the net, and did severe damage while in there, which Mit warranty was then called upon to fix.



Thanks again Bob it's nice to find someone helpful every now and then.

No problem. Can't count the times I have learned something unexpected, just by being out there on these boards, fumbling around. Glad you could join us.


Mr Bob

how hard is it to run though the avia and dve disk with this tv 57s715?. I have both arriving tomorrow and I looked at the service menu and I was like my oh my... it looks pretty tough. does anyone have a list of whats what? I saw a list earlier in this thread but it only had a few things on it.

anyone?

anyone?


I do all my structure and colorations work with AVIA and all my grayscale work with VE. I find DVE to be insanely hard to work with.

AVIA's grayscale patterns are not accurate, VE's and DVE's and SVGHT's are accurate.

VE's geometry patterns are inaccurate. AVIA's geometry patterns are accurate, and SVGHT uses the same Ovation patterns as AVIA does, tho not as many, it is not nearly as comprehensive as AVIA is. I believe DVE's geometry patterns are accurate, tho I don't know if the percentages are exactly the same as AVIA's.

But to tell you how to use them would take an entire thread. Can't take that kind of time myself, but I am sure others here will. I will say the primary patterns I use on AVIA are the Letterbox Enhanced Circlehatch Grid pattern for 16x9 geometry and convergence, the blue color bars for color and tint, the resolution pattern for fine tuning the outside edges and the convergence, and the overscan pattern for setting the overscan to 4-4.5%.

Be sure to turn on the Repeat Pattern selection at the lower left corner of AVIA's second menu after you are in at the third selection of the master menu, the one that contains the calibration patterns. On the second menu once you have clicked on the Repeat feature down in that corner, you won't have to worry anymore that each pattern will advance on you after a little while of being up there, which can be very irritating when you are using a grid pattern for convergence, which takes a long time. Once Repeat is clicked, each pattern will stay until you tell it to do otherwise.

On VE, the grayscale pattern is invaluable for setting grayscale and brightness, and the Montage of Images is invaluable for setting color and tint when there is red push present and the blue isolation/filter test is then invalid. And for just looking over your work when you are done.

The opening sequence of DVE is stellar as an overall set of images, for testing out how your set works and looks. Other than that it is majorly hard to surf, and I don't use it other than for that and for its filters, which are some of the best.

Good luck -


Mr Bob

I'd like to ask a question, just maybe somma you guys give point me in a direction. I've owned a 57S715 for exactly 6 full days. I'm writing this at the beginning of day 7. It was a closeout floor model from Sears. Had the worst delivery service. My AM delivery window turned into a 8:45 PM delivery and I learned that the D truck had an accident and good had to be transferred to another D truck. Anyway, the unit arrived bumped and bruised and I'm noticing picture problems. Sears acknowledges, but have no more to swap. They've hinted that they are willing to work with a 710. But I've noticed that there are TWO other 710's on the street,... 710A and 710S. So that's three 710s,... how do they differ?

I'm not even sure whether Sears carries these models. I'm only aware that the 710 is a 4-element unit and the 715 is a 5-element (lens) unit. So my first suspicion is that I'd be loosing pic quality somehow. Yes? No? No sure about any other real or major differences, as their web site (Hitachi) offers no real product comparison page and the product descriptions seem to be regurgitated across the 710s.

Sears has also introduced the Toshiba 57HC85 and the Sony WS665 into the mix as possible swaps. Sooooooo, I guess my real question is: How does the 710 (s) stack up against the toshiba and/or Sony models? Is there a real downgrade from the 715 to the 710(s)?

I gotta let them know what I want to do either today (Monday) or tomorrow. Personally, I'm leaning towards the Sony simply because I'm feeling that it is an upgrade to the 715 and not a downgrade like I'm assuming the 710s are (mainly because of the 4-element vs 5-element spec). I've read in some other AVS threads that Toshibas are nice units, but the only unit (57HC85) that Sears offers doesn't have any SD or HD turners,... it's strictly a monitor.

I'm sittin' on a lot of fences over here, and begging for some words and insight to help tip me one way or another.

I do all my structure and colorations work with AVIA and all my grayscale work with VE. I find DVE to be insanely hard to work with.

AVIA's grayscale patterns are not accurate, VE's and DVE's and SVGHT's are accurate.

VE's geometry patterns are inaccurate. AVIA's geometry patterns are accurate, and SVGHT uses the same Ovation patterns as AVIA does, tho not as many, it is not nearly as comprehensive as AVIA is. I believe DVE's geometry patterns are accurate, tho I don't know if the percentages are exactly the same as AVIA's.

But to tell you how to use them would take an entire thread. Can't take that kind of time myself, but I am sure others here will. I will say the primary patterns I use on AVIA are the Letterbox Enhanced Circlehatch Grid pattern for 16x9 geometry and convergence, the blue color bars for color and tint, the resolution pattern for fine tuning the outside edges and the convergence, and the overscan pattern for setting the overscan to 4-4.5%.

Be sure to turn on the Repeat Pattern selection at the lower left corner of AVIA's second menu after you are in at the third selection of the master menu, the one that contains the calibration patterns. On the second menu once you have clicked on the Repeat feature down in that corner, you won't have to worry anymore that each pattern will advance on you after a little while of being up there, which can be very irritating when you are using a grid pattern for convergence, which takes a long time. Once Repeat is clicked, each pattern will stay until you tell it to do otherwise.

On VE, the grayscale pattern is invaluable for setting grayscale and brightness, and the Montage of Images is invaluable for setting color and tint when there is red push present and the blue isolation/filter test is then invalid. And for just looking over your work when you are done.

The opening sequence of DVE is stellar as an overall set of images, for testing out how your set works and looks. Other than that it is majorly hard to surf, and I don't use it other than for that and for its filters, which are some of the best.

Good luck -


Mr Bob

thanks for the help, but after seeing all of those patterns I realize this may be out of my league. any chance you will be in the louisiana area anytime soon? or know of a calibrator in the lafayette area? because I surely dont want to screw the tv up.

thanks for the help, but after seeing all of those patterns I realize this may be out of my league. any chance you will be in the louisiana area anytime soon? or know of a calibrator in the lafayette area? because I surely dont want to screw the tv up.


Part of my career as a professional calibrator is to be flown in to various places in the country to do my thing. I would love to fly in and totally tits out your set for you. You can do it alone, as was done when I was flown out to New Jersey for a second time earlier this year for a guy from Merck, or you can get together with other videophiles in your area and set up a calibration tour. Up to you.

There are very very few of us fullspectrum/fullscale calibrators around, esp. for CRT RPTVs, who know all the ins and outs of everything it takes to truly do the whole thing. Including the image structure - focusing (I wrote the Cantilever Technique), overscan reduction, optics cleaning, geometry and convergence - which most ISF trained agents know nothing about.

Along with all the ISF stuff, then also the color decoding realignment, which is another thing ISF agents are not trained in, at the ISF course. Hitachis have built-in red push just like the Mits's do, but are fully realignable to silky, supersmooth and linear color decoding, with no red push - and thus no blue/green diminish either. Fully faithful colors on everything, including incredible depth on things like peacock feathers.

Would love to see your neck of the woods!

Basically this is the best chance I get to travel and see the country, on calibration tours and/or private calibration jobs in other locales.


Mr Bob

Has anyone heard of any rumors suggesting a new S series? Was told by a Rex Sales Rep that the xxS825 was about to enter the market. Any truth? Anyone else hear anything similar?

According to him, the 825's will lose the 5-element lens (same guns) & the Virtual HD 1080P processing. He did say that there will be improvements in the screen,... glass instead of plastic (wow, that sounds scarey); and a new OSD.

Sure would like to hear what any of you may have heard!

On the Hitachi website they have a press release that talks about the s825 series and it looks like they actually changed the name from s825 to s715 because they have the same specs but do not mention the s715's. The press release is dated 5/27/2005 and Title is "Hitachi Introduces the Industry's Thinniest CRT Projection Televisions". It seems that I cant post a link until I post 5 times. :(

The press release is dated 5/27/2005 and Title is "Hitachi Introduces the Industry's Thinniest CRT Projection Televisions". It seems that I cant post a link until I post 5 times. :(
http://www.hitachi.us/Apps/hitachicom/content.jsp?page=PressReleases/details/Hitachi%20Introduces%20The%20Industrys%20Thinnest%20CRT%20Pr ojection%20Televisions.html&path=jsp/hitachi/aboutus/Press-Media/

I recently bought my 51S715 from uecweb (http://www.uecweb.com/index.php?p=catalog&parent=1&pg=1). you can read about all my adventure here http://forum.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?t=373820 ;)

Heres a pic,

http://mars.walagata.com/w/gobg/TESTING5.jpg

Has anyone tried to hook up a PC to the S715 and had success? I really want to give it a shot but I'm not sure if it's possible and I would absolutely HATE to buy the cable and have it not work.

My PC has the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (which at one time was a pretty sweet card) with DVI but as I'm still completely new at the whole DVI/HDMI thing...I haven't been able to find a solid yea or nea.

Paul, I know this isn't quite the info you are looking for but I use the component outs from a HTPC/ATI 9600 to drive my S715. It looks good enough that I haven't gone all the way to DVI.

The_smokester,

Component outs...did you have to buy a breakout box for component and if so, where did you come up with that breakout box? Also, did you have to jump through any major hoops to get a display that wasn't all whacked out by using Powerstrip or anything?

My goal is to move this PC near enough to the TV and/or upcoming equipment rack to make use of it's huge Hard Drive capacity and possibly record OTA HD (when and if I'm able to get that figured out). The 9800 I have seems to have a DVI output that would use a DVI-D cable as well as the DVI-I (?) but can it use either? If I use DVI-D (which seems to be the connection I'm supposed to use for the S715) will that work.

Just a little confused and trying to find out if it's just gonna be a "buy the cable and pray" or not.

Paul,
I use the ATI DVI-to-component adapter for HDTV into the component inputs of the s715.

While I have used it, the newer versions of Catalyst seem to render PowerStrip unnecessary.

I think the s715 can use the DVI directly but I have no experience with it.

...and where would one wishing to purchase that adapter look to purchase?

My room is nearly done and I have to tell you, this desk and monitor are really bothering me in here. It just seems to be out of place and I want to explore other options if possible.

I have a few Q's on the Color Management Menu. What exactly do the 'Gain' and 'Phase' controls do and what impact do they have? I've tried toying around with these adjustments, but I can not see any impact on the picture. What I'm tring to do is get some of the white=blue out of the 'Standard' Color Temperature setting. I like the 'Standard' setting because there doesn't seem to be an overall blue tint to the picture, but what should be white still seems to be on the blue side. As I understand it, the 'Black & White' temp setting should be reserved for viewing black & white shows, like old video on some of the history channels. Correct? So I don't wanna monkey in that setting. If all of my above assumptions are wrong, then WHEN is the appropriate time to adjust these settings (gain & phase)?

The default settings for the gain and phase settings are all set at 50, so it's very easy to get back to where the factory put 'em.

Paul,
I believe this is the item here:
http://www.censuspc.com/product.php?productid=612
although it seems outrageously priced. I haven't purchased from this vendor so don't know about them.

I bought mine from newegg here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814999903
although this item appears to be a substitute. I have the ATI manufactured adapter.

Smokester,

What do you actually do with your PC as it relates to the connection to your Hitachi? Is it for movie viewing or do you actually use the S715 while surfing the web as well?

Also...thanks for the links to those products.

Mr Bob,

Did I understand that I shouldn't wipe the dust off the protective screen for fear of scratching it? If so, what would you suggest to use to clean it. It's getting a bit dusty now :)

Alllllllllrighty, ye all of the magic answer box who have so helped me in the past:

51S715, Insight cable box DCT6412 III.

When I watch HD programming over the cable box, some of the commercials are 4:3, with the dreaded black bars.

I feel like an imbecile, but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to turn those bars grey. SD I watch exclusively 4:3 expanded so I'm not worried about SD 4:3, only the 4:3 content that appears during commercials while watching 16:9 HD programming.

Anyone? I greatly appreciate any information or advice.

Paul,
My main use for the HTPC is using the TheaterTek software to watch movies...Gives a really beautiful picture amazingly close to HDTV with standard DVDs. I sometimes (rarely) use it with Sage TV to record standard programing so my system is connected to the internet (for downloading the electronic programming guide) but the picture is not very good for regular surfing.

Just read that the 5XS825 Ultravision series has been cancelled, and Hitachi is relabeling the XXF710A's as 'Ultravision'. If this is true, the S715's are the last of the truly fine sets, and CRT based HDRPTV is now in Hospice care!

I just jumped on the last 57S715 available through UECWeb. For the price, this set seems like a winner. Can't wait to have it delivered. Would love to see some photos of fellow owner's sets in the home environment too, if any has 'em . . .

I just jumped on the last 57S715 available through UECWeb. For the price, this set seems like a winner. Can't wait to have it delivered. Would love to see some photos of fellow owner's sets in the home environment too, if any has 'em . . .

Good thinking, good move, & good luck with your new machine. I think you'll be more than pleased. Later today you should be getting e-mail with an order # and an on-line invoice. Be sure to go to the site and request order status and they'll shoot you a tracking #. Again, good luck Dutch!!

Try here Dutch Boy

http://forum.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?t=373820&page=1&pp=15

Alllllllllrighty, ye all of the magic answer box who have so helped me in the past:

51S715, Insight cable box DCT6412 III.

When I watch HD programming over the cable box, some of the commercials are 4:3, with the dreaded black bars.

I feel like an imbecile, but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to turn those bars grey. SD I watch exclusively 4:3 expanded so I'm not worried about SD 4:3, only the 4:3 content that appears during commercials while watching 16:9 HD programming.

Anyone? I greatly appreciate any information or advice.

Just thought I would follow up with a bump, in case it slipped by someone who might know the answer. Once again, thanks in advance to anyone with any ideas here.

Just thought I would follow up with a bump, in case it slipped by someone who might know the answer. Once again, thanks in advance to anyone with any ideas here.


That's because, seeing as how there are still very few HD commercials, the sidebars on 4x3 commercials on network HD programs are not sent out gray. They are sent out from the networks black. Grrrrrrrrrr...

What I do is turn to the NTSC/SD 480i equivalent channel at that point, which allows aspect ratio control, and stretch out the pic to fill the screen. I also turn down the contrast on that scanrate, as my Panny allows for user settings to be by the scanrate rather than by the input, as the Mits's do. Don't quite know how Hit works it -

Then when the commercial is thru, I hit the Recall button - flashback on other brands, quick view, etc - and it automatically goes back to my HD show, at the user settings it was on when it went to commercial in the first place.

That way my screen stays filled up 100% at all times. A little convoluted, to be sure, but works for me.


Mr Bob

I am having trouble with enabling the Auto Aspect feature since I switched from component to HDMI. I had no issues with component cables.

I have SD 480i signals use 4:3 Expanded and the TV always remembers that. When I switch to HD 720p or 1080i signals it always remembers that I set it to use 16:9 Standard. With Auto Aspect on, it also knows when a DVD is 4:3 or 16:9 and changes the aspect accordingly.

I recently switched to an HDMI cable and the Auto Aspect no longer works consistently. Very often when I switch from SD 480i signal to HD 720p or 1080i signal the aspect remains at 4:3 Expanded instead of switching to 16:9 Standard. I had to turn off Auto Aspect to force the TV to remember which aspect I last set for each resolution.

The problem is that with Auto Aspect off a DVD no longer uses the correct aspect and I have to manually change it. I like the Auto Aspect feature for this reason and am considering going back to Component just to avoid this problem.

An email and two calls to Hitachi did not really help. They pointed out what I already read in the manual that Auto Aspect is best used on the analog inputs and signals with VIDEO ID.

The software on my TV is V0135.0000. I'm using a SA 8300HD STB.

Has anyone else noticed or heard of this?

Thanks.

Sorry, I don't use the Auto Aspect feature at all. I probably could, but I don't. Maybe this will bump it up for someone else to answer.

I don't use the auto aspect either. I'ver never gotten it to work on anything (although I never tried very hard).

Well, I took the top off my 57S715 today and went to town with some black flocked paper (sorta like short velvet) from Edmund Optics. I covered nearly every inch that wasn't black with the paper. I used double sided 3M tape to stick it in the set. There are two large white labels inside the set. The area around the tubes is just bare galvanized metal that is rather reflective, and the inside of the upper housing is the same color as the outside of the back. There is bare particle board inside the set too. Now it's all covered.

The internal reflections in the set are greatly reduced. A black screen with a small amount of white on it now has a high resistance to washing out. I'm really happy with the big improvement in image quality. It looks more 3D and everything. Coupled with my new 6600GT I'm just thrilled with the image quality.

One word of warning to anyone taking off the top of the set. There are 4 screws that you must take out to take the top off, but the instructions for removing the top doesn't mention them. They have you take out all the other necessary screws, but not the 4 in the sunk in holes in the front.

Well, I took the top off my 57S715 today and went to town with some black flocked paper (sorta like short velvet) from Edmund Optics. I covered nearly every inch that wasn't black with the paper. I used double sided 3M tape to stick it in the set.

You're not worried after a while the tape will come loss do to the TV heat?

I've had my 51S715 for about 3 months and have noticed that it has started to make a loud "pop" noise - similar to electricity arcing. Sometimes it happens when turning the unit off. A couple of other times it does it during viewing and the picture will disappear and come back (all within 1 second). Does anybody know what is causing this and what the fix is? Power supply issue or something?

I would call in for warranty but since it happens infrequently and randomly, I don't want them to show up and say "we don't see anything wrong..."

how do these tvs look on gaming.

I've had my 51S715 for about 3 months and have noticed that it has started to make a loud "pop" noise - similar to electricity arcing. Sometimes it happens when turning the unit off. A couple of other times it does it during viewing and the picture will disappear and come back (all within 1 second). Does anybody know what is causing this and what the fix is? Power supply issue or something?

I would call in for warranty but since it happens infrequently and randomly, I don't want them to show up and say "we don't see anything wrong..."

That what warranties are for..

how do these tvs look on gaming.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5984812&&#post5984812

now... to lcd or not lcd, that is the question

You're not worried after a while the tape will come loss do to the TV heat?
No, not with the 3M adhesive I used. Besides, the best I can tell the top of the set doesn't get that warm.

how do these tvs look on gaming.
Well, what exactly do you mean? It doesn't have the motion hold artifact like an LCD does. However, you do have the potential for image burn in, so if you set your brightness and contrast like an idiot or play the same game 24/7 you might burn in the phosphors on static parts of the image.

i meant do games look as good as lcd on it

i meant do games look as good as lcd on it
Well that depends on your viewing enviroment. Under the right viewing conditions they will look better than an RP LCD. However, if you have a really bright room or some other conditions then no it will not look as good.

Is it normal for the hitachi 57f710s to make clicking noises when you turn it off? It's about 3 of them and almost sounds like a lightswitch going on and off real quickly.

I finally had my 51s715 calibrated professionally. I've owned it since August 2004. I had Gregg Lowen of LionAV stop by on his most recent trip out to California. He opened her up, installed Duvetyne lining, removed the glare screen and then went to work on her. I'd have to say it was worth every penny and I will have him back out to tune her up once a year. I think it may have been worth every penny just to get that glare screen off.

It took me a bit to get used to the brightness level. I think we're all programmed at the Best Buy to like the biggest and brightest display. Despite many of my HDTV shows being a bit "darker" than I'm used to, the colors are so natural now that it's worth it. Sometimes I think it's just the lighting on the show. Law and Order: SVU is a big culprit. When I popped a few DVD's in I didn't have an issue with the brightness at all. Movies look fantastic on my DVB-318 at 1080i (if only they were truly HD). I don't know if it's because of the source or because they spend so much more time, effort, and money lighting their sets properly.

I had read some reviews of Gregg's work online and decided to shoot him an e-mail. It just so happened that he was going to be in my neck of the woods within a week of my e-mail. He will be calibrating all of my sets in the future.

memphis, I just got my new hitachi. Just for the fun of it, can you tell me what your brightness and contrast are set at now? And did he put the glare screen behind or just remove altogether? I'm not so sure how long I can live with this screen or even if the removal process is the same for my newer tv vs. the old method I've seen posted on the forum. My old hitachi didn't even come with a glare screen...ah the good old days.

And did he put the glare screen behind or just remove altogether?


I never restack glarescreens to the rear anymore. They pick up so much trash because of their static cling, that you always wind up with so much **** in there between the screens that you have to take it all apart and do it all over again, sometimes more than once.

I just leave it offa there. Shim it if you want it shimmed, but don't think you need to restack it for shimming purposes. You don't.

It's just not worth it. And it can also cause increased internal reflections because of presenting a glossy surface to the mirror, rather than the fresnel's etched surface.


Mr Bob

how do these tvs look on gaming.


I highly recommend this thread, from Xbox Central.


http://forum.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?t=373820&page=1&pp=15


Mr Bob

All y'all taking the protective screen off, I envy you from a PQ standpoint. However, my 2 1/2-year-old has already put some nicks and scratches on the protective screen and I've got another one in the oven due early Feb. Some of us are stuck with it for the indefinite future . . .

And on that note, currently these nicks and scratches really aren't noticeable, at least to my layman's eyes (i'm sure to a videophile each one looks like the Grand Canyon). However, it is likely at some point within the next couple of years that the protective screen will get enough collective scratches and dings that it will be readily noticeable. In that case, what would be the best way to go about putting a new replacement protective screen on the television? Is it a do-it-yourself level job, or should I have someone come and install it? What is the difference in price between do-it-yourself and having it done by someone else? If do-it-yourself, where do you get the replacement screen? Are there better aftermarket ones to buy than just getting a factory replacement? Any information on this is much appreciated. Thanks.

All y'all taking the protective screen off, I envy you from a PQ standpoint. However, my 2 1/2-year-old has already put some nicks and scratches on the protective screen and I've got another one in the oven due early Feb. Some of us are stuck with it for the indefinite future . . .

And on that note, currently these nicks and scratches really aren't noticeable, at least to my layman's eyes (i'm sure to a videophile each one looks like the Grand Canyon). However, it is likely at some point within the next couple of years that the protective screen will get enough collective scratches and dings that it will be readily noticeable. In that case, what would be the best way to go about putting a new replacement protective screen on the television? Is it a do-it-yourself level job, or should I have someone come and install it? What is the difference in price between do-it-yourself and having it done by someone else? If do-it-yourself, where do you get the replacement screen? Are there better aftermarket ones to buy than just getting a factory replacement? Any information on this is much appreciated. Thanks.


The glarescreen is held in by screws. Any competent DIYer should be able to remove it fairly expeditiously.

Use linen gloves - or ultraclean hotpads, or cloth mittens, whatever - to handle all screens, as they are very sensitive to the oils in skin, and such oils sink in immediately to the lenticular layer and are almost impossible to remove without further scratching your screen.

DON'T restack the clear screen to the back of the stack just for shimming purposes. The static cling these things have gathers all sorts of bad stuff, and I have had to redo the restacking 3 times, to get it all out of there, once in. I just don't restack at all anymore. Shim some other way.

Some glarescreens have a purple anti-reflective coating on the front, same as that found on the inner surfaces of lens stacks in primo optics like telescopes and binocs. It takes down your light level a bit and changes your grayscale, but does not reflect anywhere nearly as much as a clear one, when you are in a highly lighted viewing area.

Best way to put up with having a necessary glarescreen on there is to keep the lighting in FRONT of the screen LOW. Backlight if possible, and shine on trying to read while you watch, and if your set faces a kitchen, keep those kitchen lights off when it comes to prime time.

If there's nothing to reflect back to you in front of the screen, there's no problem with having a glarescreen on there. You won't even notice it's there, in a totally darkened room.

Of course total darkening fatigues your eyes, hence backlighting. I prefer a golden tone, which makes dimmed halogen perfect, for me at least.

I have a clear screen from my 65" Panny that's free for the taking, if anyone wants to come and get it. I couldn't wait to get it off!

But then, I don't have kids.

:rolleyes:
Mr Bob

As far as recommending a DVD player to go with it, I highly recommend the DVB 318. It upconverts to 1080i, and Bill did some tests with some challenging DVD scenes and found that the 318 had no problems with these, and when he put up a AVIA test pattern he found that the 318 even did a better job than the s715 when scaling to 1080i. So for those of you wondering whether or not you should let your DVD player or the Hitachi do the scaling it kind of depends on how good of a player you have.
Can you please tell me which Avia test patterns Bill used to determine that the 318s upconversion is better than the Hitachi's? I'm very curious to know and would like to try the test myself.

Thanks

and would like to try the test myself.

Thanks


The true definition of Scientific Method...

:p

Mr Bob

Well dark sections of the screen looked blue to my eyes for starters. So I set about trying to quantify it.

Laugh if you want at my method, but I took several pictures of the TV with my Canon EOS 10D camera on a tripod set dead center to the screen from about 9-10 feet back. It was during late night with all the lights off so there was no other light to affect the measurements. I took pictures of a greyscale ramp (from white to black), and 20, 30, and 40IRE paterns.

I took the files from the camera ( CRW / Canon RAW files) and converted them to 16 bit per channel TIFF files and forced a 6500K color setting during the conversion. Then I can examine the RGB data in the file for the grey on the screen.

I realize my EOS 10D may not be as accurate as thousands of dollars worth of test equipment, but the numbers it puts out correlate with what what I see. After all, a camera is supposed to capture color and luma accurately. When the camera says I have a good D6500 balance to a grey, it looks very neutral to my eye.

Ultimately it may not get me exactly to D6500, but I should be able to get the color much more uniform at all IRE levels the with nothing.
I am very curious in your process and would like to see if I can re-produce it on my end. Can you please provide a step-by-step with more details on the process, e.g. what software you use to measure the RGB levels when forcing to 6500K, etc.

It would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Quick question for the other s715 owners . . . has anyone figured out what the Hitachi remote code is for controlling a DirecTV HD DVR?

Still loving every moment of my 57s715 by the way. It's a great set.

Does anyone have experience with optical from HDtivo to the newer hitachi CRT RPTV? I've already discovered the TV won't output audio to the monitor out from input 1, which is the HDMI (but it doesn't work thru composite on input 1 either), so i dont want to go out and buy an optical cable if the sound will only work through the TV. Receiver doesn't have optical so I was hoping if i hooked up optical to the TV that it may pass it on the tv's monitor out. I'm happy just to get stereo from the monitor out to the receiver.

I should be receiving mine any day now. I looked at a lot of TVs and researched a lot of technology before deciding on the 51S715. I had narrowed down my choice to either the Sony A10 or the Hitachi. I don't think gaming with a 360 will be as sharp on the Hitachi but from demoing other units everything else will look better.

I think it's pretty interesting that newer technology can't compare to a RP CRT. The black levels and horrible SDE/SSE on the A10 made up my mind.

The only way I could find this model was through a factory refurbished dealer. Are factory refurbished units often better calibrated than regular off the line models?

Does anyone have the Service Manual in pdf for this model?

I should be receiving mine any day now. I looked at a lot of TVs and researched a lot of technology before deciding on the 51S715. I had narrowed down my choice to either the Sony A10 or the Hitachi. I don't think gaming with a 360 will be as sharp on the Hitachi but from demoing other units everything else will look better.



Check out this Xbox thread, where they are totally dedicated to Hitachi CRT technology:

http://forum.teamxbox.com/showthread.php?p=6499422#post6499422

You'll find pix taken with 360 games on the screen of a Hitachi. And other nice things like the best refurb dealer around.

And verification of your thoughts here:


I think it's pretty interesting that newer technology can't compare to a RP CRT. The black levels and horrible SDE/SSE on the A10 made up my mind.



The only way I could find this model was through a factory refurbished dealer.

Again, research the thread above and find out about the refurber they use, which they have given universally great reviews on.



Are factory refurbished units often better calibrated than regular off the line models?



No. Just refurbed and lower priced and hopefully with just a wee number of hours, that's all.

Always check for screenburn upon unboxing your refurb! Run an all white screen on it.


Mr Bob

pm sent

anybody know if they've updated firmwares in the last year or so?

What do they fix?

In an exercise that combines the best of both futility and stupidity, I recorded the HDNet test patterns and vaulted into the service menu with the onlyadvice in my head being--don't mess with it unless you record the original setting first.

Strangely enough, pretty much everything looks good until you get to the last test pattern that includes overscan. Top/bottom with a little tweaking I can get equalized at about 2%, but the sides are messing with me a lot. If I shrink the horizontal size down until I get the black edges of the pattern, the edge of the picture itself stops at 8 on the right and 6 on the left, and the circles are cut off on the respective L/R edge.

I can see what the pattern is supposed to look like:

http://feldoncentral.2150.com/HDNet/large/TestPattern_01.jpg

But mine is cut off on the left and right sides as described above.

Any quick and dirty things to check? Am I immediately and instantaneously screwing up my set? When the pattern originally came up, the circle wasn't an exact circle, and it still isn't, but it isn't any farther off than it was originally so I wasn't going to worry about that too much.

Anyway, advice is greatly appreciated, as always :)

**Edit--Ok,as I try to get those right and left corners in, the top quarter only of the top left circle has a convergence problem, just right up in the corner. Instead of lying still in the quicksand, I will now attempt to flail wildly.

I have a s700 but there is something wrong and I don't know exactly what it is. The set seems to have uneven brightness, or color uniformity. For example on a white screen the left and right sides seem to be yellower, or warmer, or less bright (can't really tell) than the middle of the screen. Its not really noticeable but its there. I have been reading a lot about burn in, hot spots, internal reflections etc. Not quite sure what is going on here. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

In an exercise that combines the best of both futility and stupidity, I recorded the HDNet test patterns and vaulted into the service menu with the onlyadvice in my head being--don't mess with it unless you record the original setting first.

Strangely enough, pretty much everything looks good until you get to the last test pattern that includes overscan. Top/bottom with a little tweaking I can get equalized at about 2%, but the sides are messing with me a lot. If I shrink the horizontal size down until I get the black edges of the pattern, the edge of the picture itself stops at 8 on the right and 6 on the left, and the circles are cut off on the respective L/R edge.

I can see what the pattern is supposed to look like:

http://feldoncentral.2150.com/HDNet/large/TestPattern_01.jpg

But mine is cut off on the left and right sides as described above.

Any quick and dirty things to check? Am I immediately and instantaneously screwing up my set? When the pattern originally came up, the circle wasn't an exact circle, and it still isn't, but it isn't any farther off than it was originally so I wasn't going to worry about that too much.

Anyway, advice is greatly appreciated, as always :)

**Edit--Ok,as I try to get those right and left corners in, the top quarter only of the top left circle has a convergence problem, just right up in the corner. Instead of lying still in the quicksand, I will now attempt to flail wildly.


I have seen this pattern on several CRT displays, recorded by the owner's HDTivo, and I have yet to see all of it displayed, as in your link. My thinking is that it is not being displayed correctly at the satellite source.

I would definitely not believe it/trust it/use it for overscan.

Set your HD overscan to 1" for vertical/t/b, and 1.5" for sides on a 65" display, extrapolate for other sizes. To do so take in your width and height till you can see the edges at the midpoint of each edge, then let it out again - hopefully on a fixed image, as the constant panning on the HD travelogs gets old and frustrating real fast when you are trying to use it to successfully see your edges. Then redo your corners and everything in between, which will have been hosed by the overscan reduction.

You will find that after you do so you will then be able to see everything you could possibly see aside from ringing artifacts at the sides and possibly t/b also, but that this will still not match up correctly with the test pattern you're trying to use.

There is blanking going on at the satellite source, making that overscan pattern useless for overscan reduction.

It does however contain an excellent circle, which is VERY hard to find in HD test pattern generators. Greg Rogers of Accupel tells me that this is because the algorithm for circles in a pattern generator is just too huge to do in an affordable generator that is good for everything else. I HAVE seen circles being created in pattern generators, but these gens are frightfully expensive, and I agree that the added expense just to have a circle is clearly outgradient with the rest of the excellent patterns available in a unit like the awesome Accupel HDG 2000 or 3000.


Mr Bob

I have a s700 but there is something wrong and I don't know exactly what it is. The set seems to have uneven brightness, or color uniformity. For example on a white screen the left and right sides seem to be yellower, or warmer, or less bright (can't really tell) than the middle of the screen. Its not really noticeable but its there. I have been reading a lot about burn in, hot spots, internal reflections etc. Not quite sure what is going on here. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.


My 65" Panny does this also - not noticeable for most viewers, but catchable every time a white screen is up there, for us video neurotics...

Mine does not have any lenstriping, but many brands do. Poth Pioneer and Toshiba use a thin bar of metal under the lenses on red and blue, and nothing on the green. Mit typically does not use any lenstriping, but on some of their older models they had what looks like a halloween mask in there under the lenses on all 3 guns, the red and blue being a mirror image of each other, and the green being a completely different pattern in there altogether.

Lenstriping is usually done by DIYers outside the lens, but the manufacturers do it inside, between the lens and the CRT's coolant cover. On some older offbrands I have seen the outside of the lens carry plastic shielding on one side or other, but that was long ago.

Evidently the white field uniformity is not linear across the screen, but in most cases the manufacturer will not put any extra effort into shielding out the offending colors from the white, in each gun's case.


Mr Bob

hmmm maybe mine is more severe than yours because I can see the "discoloration" sometimes during normal viewing. Not often but enough to irritate me. It is more detectable on white or gray screens. Do any of you know any ISF calibrators in the Bellingham WA area?

Okay, clearly I *did* mess something up. When I try to run Magic Focus, I get through Red and I think into Green, then the Magic Focus graphics cut out, then there is a "4" in the bottom right corner of the screen, then it kicks out of Magic Focus totally.

Maybe I'll go back in and try to reset the settings, see if it works, but if somebody knows what's gone wrong I'd greatly appreciate a pointer. THanks bunches.

Perhaps you adjusted overscan to low. The HDNet overscan image is flawed. You should use Avia instead as adjusting HDNet to 4.5% will give you too much underscan. Maybe the Magic Focus doesn't work because their is too much underscan for it to operate properly.

Magic Focus is garbage. I ran Magic Focus after 15 minutes of manual convergence settings to see what it would do. It wiped out my settings and gave me horrible red and blue lines at the edges. Stick with manual convergence.

Strangely enough, that was great advice. I went back in, backed off everything a bit, and even though the overscan is probably a shade higher than I would prefer the overall quality of what is actually in the frame improved a good bit. Of course, that was after I fiddled some more and actually got Magic Focus to bail out on me *earlier* with a "5" code, but yes, after that I did the above and things are better. Probably mostly like they were before I started, but better.

That will probably hold me until I decide to spring for something like Avia and do some real, honest to goodness damage. Thanks all for the advice :)

hmmm maybe mine is more severe than yours because I can see the "discoloration" sometimes during normal viewing. Not often but enough to irritate me. It is more detectable on white or gray screens. Do any of you know any ISF calibrators in the Bellingham WA area?


I am planning a cal tour sometime in January for the Portland OR area. I charge $60/hr RT for ground travel, coming probably from my brother's home in SE Portland.

Where is Bellingham in relationship to Portland?

I don't know of anybody in your area who is capable of fullscale/fullservice calibrations that take the image STRUCTURE into account, which is critical to CRT RPTV calibrations and is over the heads of most ISF calibrators. I wrote the Cantilever Technique for optical focusing, pioneered optics cleaning in CRT RPTVs, and have had extensive experience with Hitachis, as well as Pioneers, Mits, Sonys, Pannys and Toshibas.

Anyone who has a CRT RPTV or DV, old or new, should contact me if you want to get in on it. Fixed pixel cals are also available. Older sets show the improvements due to calibration even more than new sets.


Mr Bob

Perhaps you adjusted overscan to low. The HDNet overscan image is flawed. You should use Avia instead as adjusting HDNet to 4.5% will give you too much underscan. Maybe the Magic Focus doesn't work because their is too much underscan for it to operate properly.

Magic Focus is garbage. I ran Magic Focus after 15 minutes of manual convergence settings to see what it would do. It wiped out my settings and gave me horrible red and blue lines at the edges. Stick with manual convergence.


Couldn't agree more, on all counts. There are sensors at strategic points around the perimeter of all RPTVs that have any kind of auto convergence, and if you set the overscan too low, these sensors don't get hit by the auto conv program's edge beams, resulting in an error message.

Yes, the HDNet grid is flawed, tho it does contain circles, which are valuable in setting up your geometry for HD. For overscan it is useless.

MF IS garbage, which can only be tamed by re-initializing it over and over and over again, every time you do convergence - which also has to be done over and over and over again before it will finally stick on all changes - on Hitachis.

Once that is finally done, if you have done it on a good incoming grid, like AVIA's for DVD or Accupel's for HD, you will finally be able to trust your MF.

Otherwise, don't count on it. Without proper repetitive passes, it is truly worthless if you are a videophile. It usually takes me at least 5 passes on both ops, before I am happy with the pic, and that is on the latest models. On the earlier models, where you can't use an incoming grid and have to settle for their too-hot, too-thick internally gen'd grid, I give up after 2 passes, since everything changes with every memorization process, including whatever precision I have been able to instill in it thus far.

Some people actually disco MF from their systems, at hardwire level.


;)


Mr Bob

Any idea how to adjust blanking on this model television?

Can I get OTA HD on the s715 or do I need a HD box to bring in HD feed from antannae?

It includes a tuner so you can get OTA HD.

Thanks CB. That is what I thought but today on the net one review said it was a monitor only and needed a hd box to get hd programming.

Bellingham is about 5-6 hrs away from Portland I think. You have to drive through Seattle too and it can take longer depending on the traffic. Yeah, I've calibrated to the best of my ability using Avia and I am pretty happy with the picture. Is there anything else I could try to do without putting my set at risk? Thanks.

Some new pics I took of my 51S715. :)

http://xs67.xs.to/pics/06060/3603.jpg

http://xs67.xs.to/pics/06060/list2.jpg

http://xs67.xs.to/pics/06060/360.jpg

http://xs67.xs.to/pics/06060/3602.jpg

http://xs67.xs.to/pics/06060/3604.jpg

http://xs67.xs.to/pics/06060/3605.jpg

http://xs67.xs.to/pics/06060/EVENING.jpg

http://xs67.xs.to/pics/06060/SIDE.jpg

Bellingham is about 5-6 hrs away from Portland I think. You have to drive through Seattle too and it can take longer depending on the traffic. Yeah, I've calibrated to the best of my ability using Avia and I am pretty happy with the picture. Is there anything else I could try to do without putting my set at risk? Thanks.


Seattle is 3 hours' drive from Portland, so Bellingham is 2-3 hours beyond that?

The WA State Police are "under my thumb" type people - polite and infinitely formal while they write you up anyway - and the have no compuctions about hiding behind overpass abutments to radar you, nor just beyond hills, so you can't see them before you go over the hill and their radar beams hit you.


I am going to be in Portland sometime soon.


Mr Bob

Once that is finally done, if you have done it on a good incoming grid, like AVIA's for DVD or Accupel's for HD, you will finally be able to trust your MF.

Otherwise, don't count on it. Without proper repetitive passes, it is truly worthless if you are a videophile. It usually takes me at least 5 passes on both ops, before I am happy with the pic, and that is on the latest models. On the earlier models, where you can't use an incoming grid and have to settle for their too-hot, too-thick internally gen'd grid, I give up after 2 passes, since everything changes with every memorization process, including whatever precision I have been able to instill in it thus far.

I've done this once but I used the DCAM process for the adjustments. Is that not the best way to go? Should I be using AVIA for this and if so...exactly how do I go about doing that?

I've done this once but I used the DCAM process for the adjustments. Is that not the best way to go? Should I be using AVIA for this and if so...exactly how do I go about doing that?


Everything I said was by using the DCAM process, that little blue button inside near the front of the left side of the mother board.

Scrolling the remote's Menu key is usually how to get the incoming image up there - I use the AVIA Widescreen Enhanced circlehatch grid - for the ultimate in precision in your converging.

If you need to know the entire process, others will have to assist you. One thing's for sure - they change the remote keys often on Hit's, and you may as well get the service manual if you wish to achieve liftoff on convergence on your Hitachi, just so you'll know which keys do what on your particular model.


Mr Bob