casscarr2002, I have noticed on my HDTV CRT RPTV that some programs on the high def channels are NOT high def, but upconverted signals. A TRUE high def program, like Fox football or many HDNET programs look fantastic. I turn on the HBOHD channel and if the movie is just upconverted, it looks mediocre at best. I wonder if this is what you are experiencing.

Originally posted by bclements3
Also, there's still like a 1-second delay when switching channels, so if our a "channel-surfer", it can be very frusterating. But I do like not having the extra component cluttering up my living room. Also, I find that I watch a lot more HD than I do SD because it just looks so good.
It looks like Hitachi already has hooks in there menus for a guide with the channel mgr and info options. I have not idea what the actual timeframe for this is though. Very few personnel at comcast even know what a cablecard is.
Hey, appreciate all the info. TW charges $7.95 for a set top box (Pace) and $1.75 for a cablecard. I absolutely hate paying cable one (1) penny more than I have to. Plus, I am with you on the clutter. Most of the Time Warner folks around here don't know what a cablecard is either. Wonder if there is any difference in picture between cablecard and set top box?

I bet there can be a significant difference in picture quality between a cable card and a box. I had the SA3250 HD box...beautiful picture on HD content. I 'upgraded' to an SA8000HD with PVR.....very soft picture with a greater degree of overscan. I much preferred the SA3250, but wanted PVR. I then upgraded to an SA8300HD with HDMI. Better picture than the SA8000, still not as good as the SA3250.

Originally posted by dsierra
Wonder if there is any difference in picture between cablecard and set top box?

Thats a good question. Logically, I would think the PQ would be better via the cable card because there is less connections thus less opportunity for signal degradation.

Get this:
I called Hitachi 3 x's now about the 50vx915. They told me to call the retailers on their web page, I did, no one sells it. The last time I called the guy told me they like to reserve the directors series for the mom and pop high end type stores. So I go through the yellow pages and call ALL of the mom and pop high end stores in Seattle area, again no one sells it. One of the stores call Hitachi and one guy tells them that the directors series is more for business/commercial retailers so he did not qualify. I tell the retailer , Sean, that they told me just the opposite and that they told me to call the mom and pop shops in the first place. Sean calls them back and finds that their are only 25 directors series retailers in the nation. He then tells them about the situation and low and behold he may be able to become the 26th retailer and then be able to sell me a set. I will find out tomorrow.

Basically the only differences I found between the vs and vx is:
IEEE 1394-2 inputs, deep-black anti-reflective sheild, second remote, discrete IR codes, Learning AV NET III, Ir outputs for av net III-whatever that is-any clue?

Here is the pdf for the 50vx915

All this talk about the 50vx915/60vx915 has got me curious. Are the differences really worth the price difference? Has anyone actually seen one and what is the glare level compared to the vs810?

I searched and searched and I was finallly able to find a picture here (scroll down to middle of page):

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_11_3/cedia-2004/show-report-cedia-2004-page-3.html

It also looks like at least one online-retailer has it for sale for a respectable price, $3999 for the 50vx915 or $4999 for the 60vx915:

http://www.barrettshometheater.com/question.cfm?threadid=604

3999? I thought it was only about a $200 difference. I can get the 50vs for 3k at a local retailer.

Originally posted by bclements3
All this talk about the 50vx915/60vx915 has got me curious. Are the differences really worth the price difference? Has anyone actually seen one and what is the glare level compared to the vs810?

$3999 for the 50vx915 or $4999 for the 60vx915:

http://www.barrettshometheater.com/question.cfm?threadid=604
I am going to look at the 915 Friday. The dealer wants the same price(s) as those quoted by the internet place. I saw last years model vx500(?) and the screen was darker on it than on the vs500(? regular model).

Originally posted by mattburk
3999? I thought it was only about a $200 difference. I can get the 50vs for 3k at a local retailer.

$3k really? What retailer/area? Man, I thought I got a good deal @ CC after haggling them down to $3449 for the 50vs810 :)

It was my local cc, On sale for 3200, said they would do it for 3k.
Seattle WA area.

Originally posted by bclements3
It also looks like at least one online-retailer has it for sale for a respectable price, $3999 for the 50vx915 or $4999 for the 60vx915:

http://www.barrettshometheater.com/question.cfm?threadid=604

Has anyone here dealt with Barrett's? Are they reputable?

correction, it was a store called tiger deals in Kirkland WA for 3099, I must have been thinking of the jvc dila I saw yesterday.

Just bought a 60vs810 at CC. They are picking up my Sony (where's the black level) 70XBR910 Friday in exchange. I would have bought the 70" but they don't know if or when they'll carry it. I'm going to try the CableCard. I'll let you guys know what I think.

I hate to report this but it's now been 4 days and I now have a pixel blown out on the 50VS810. It's fixed green colour and as of last night, I was noticing that green colours were over exagerated on DVD's.
Watching baseball of course they still looked great but.........
I have a call into my dealer already (as it's after hours) to see what I can do. I paid for the extra 3 year warranty by themselves as well, but....
As I'm not 100% sure, and for someone here to help me with my diagnosis, there is 1 pixel that is stuck green. I'll shut down everything and try again and replay the same movie just to see, but from what I understand, this pixel is farked. ANyone else have this happen? I have noticed the green exageration or whatever it is that some have also :(

Originally posted by mattburk
3999? I thought it was only about a $200 difference. I can get the 50vs for 3k at a local retailer.

WOW. You can buy the 810 for $1000 under MSRP. I think you better do it.

MSRP on the 50vs810 is $4K. MSRP on the 50vx915 is $4.5K

Best price I've seen on either is about $500 under MSRP.

I saw the 915 at Barretts on Monday. All I can say is it looked fantastic. Say goodbye to the glare problem. Very dark screen. I was impressed with the 810 I saw at CC, but the glare concerned me as I have a room with a lot of ambient light. The 915 is a big improvement in that regard. PQ looks great to me on both however. Price on the 915 was only 300 more than the 810 at CC. Only drawback for me is the d**m width of the thing. Side speakers (argh!!!!!) I am waiting on the Mitsu diamond series dlp due out in three weeks ( with built in HD pvr ) and will than make final choice.

Funny that you say that. I have a little crevice over my fire place that is 59.5" wide. I can fit the 50" Hitachi's fine, but I would love to put a 60" in there. The 60" hitachi is to wide by about 1".I ruled out the JVC dila-don't like the blacks, and I ruled out the Samsung's-don't like in general. I ruled out the Panasonic-I want a black case but it does rank up there. The only other one I considered was the Mitsubishi. I looked at the 525 and 725 series as the 62" is only 58.3" wide. That is cutting it close for my space. The screens that I saw were pretty reflective, and the top of the line mits seem expensive, you could just go buy a few pvrs for the price difference, or build a htpc. I just hope the pic will justify the cost. One thing that draws me to Hitachi is they seem to consistently do sd well. I read a post from a guy in the other mits forum who was pretty disappointed with how the mit's handled sd. Let me know what you find out though.

I think the msrp of the mits 825 is comparable to the hitachi 60" for these reasons. Barretts will have both after 825 is available. They indicated they can come off the 5995 msrp so I figure it will be about 700 or so more than the hitachi. (they have a good price on the 915's). For that you get 2 more inches, 120 gig HD pvr, and cable card, and connections on par with the 915. I have not seen a pvr that can record Hi def for under a grand, so that is why it seems like a good deal for the extra cash. Bigger and 6 or 7 inches narrower. It also promisses a better non glare screen than the 725, so we will see how the non glare qualities compare with the impressive 915 screen. I am not saying it is better, as of course the proof is in seeing the pq in person, not the spec sheet. IMHO I just think it is worth waiting for, and the one with the best pq will actually be the better deal (relatively speaking). I think both have outstanding features, and I am sure you can't really go wrong with either one.

Originally posted by BigTenBob
...(they have a good price on the 915's)
How good was it? LOL

I just received my Hitachi 6-VS810 today and the best way I can describe it is "WOW!!!!" I never knew TV could look soooo good! I've got it in my basement so ambient light is not an issue nor are there any distracting reflections as a result. One thing I noticed over the 50" model is that it comes set at the high temp setting by default whereas the 50VS810 uses a different setting. I guess they realized it was throwing the flesh tones off and changed the setting. I won't be able to get this puppy calibrated with my DVE DVD until next week but for now the only setting I had to change was the contrast (it was set to max out of the box).

I really lucked out because I was able to reserve it from a dealer on ebay (gear 4 less) and he commited to a delivered price of $4200 which is what I would have paid retail with tax for a 50VS810 at CC. I noticed that gear now has it listed on ebay for $4099 plus $299 S&H so I ended up getting it for a pretty decent price. I've seen where others may have gotten it for less but there aren't too many Hitachi dealers in MD that I was able to find that would giev any kind of a discount like that.

I have not seen a pvr that can record Hi def for under a grand,
You obviously haven't been checking ebay lately. I just picked up a HDTivo (model HR10-250) for $825 plus $25 S&H. I only paid $900 (only?) for my first one. The prices are slowly starting to creep down and the dealers that were once gouging people with higher than retail prices are now having to sell at a loss (boo hoo!).

You guys may remember a few posts back when I said I was having a Hitachi certified tech out to my house to have a look at my set to assess image quality - specifically SSE.

Well, the guy came out and I fired up a few clips with some light scenes. I also showed him the white screen. He saw the SSE and commented that he had seen the effect before and there wasn't a way of "adjusting" it out of the set. He proceeded to go into detail about the layers of the screen and how one of the layers is a film that is suprisingly thin and shiny, and that this was a by-product of that film.

He also commented that he had a plasma and repeated several times how nice my picture was.

So I guess the bottom line is SSE is here to stay until someone figures out how to produce a film that eliminates it. I'm supposed to report the results of the examination to my Hitachi customer satisfaction representative, so i'll let you guys know what the response is.

Enjoy your sets - cause we currently have the best looking rear projection unit available.

The price on the 60915 was 4990 without my trying any negotiation. I am sure it can be had for less. I will stick by my opinion that $700 more for an integrated HD pvr and 62" screen for the mits 825 is comparably a good deal to the hitachi 915. No offense to ebay, my wife is a power seller, but $850 for a hd pvr on auction does not compare to the $700 higher sales price of the mits for an integrated hd pvr on a bigger and narrower tv. (try a 30 day return policy on something from ebay, also, warranty issues anyone?) Once again though, if the PQ on the mits is not up to hitachi's 915 level, than the 915 is a no brainer. I look forward to a direct comparison in the next three weeks. By the way, the tivo hr10-250 is a direct tv unit. Not much use to us digital cable (cable card soon) customers. Try finding an hd pvr that is not tied to direct tv or dish net. I do not know of any, and I am sure the ones that come out will not be less than $700 at launch. If anyone knows of any hd pvr's that can record off a cable card signal or a cable set to box, let me know. I will need one if I go with the hitachi 915. Three more weeks......may the best PQ win!!

With ebay you have to know what you're buying and who you're buying from. DTV has a service policy that covers the repair or replacement of any DTV receiver or PVR for $7.99/month so it doesn't really matter where you buy your HDTivo if you opt for the coverage. It's like having a lifetime warranty as long as you pay for the coverage. Personally, I'd NEVER buy a TV with an integrated playback device of any kind (i.e., VCR, DVD, or PVR). They're usually far inferior to set top models and servicing them could be a major headache.

I'm betting your Mits with the PVR is not upgradeable and it doesn't have anywhere near the capability of a Tivo. I have yet to see any other PVR on the market that comes close to a Tivo with regards to recording season passes (FYI - I used to be a mod at a Tivo hacking forum and I've owned and upgraded almost every kind of Tivo, ReplayTV, and UltimateTV PVR). I've already upgraded two HDTivos with additional hard drives (dual 250-giggers) for more recording space. BTW, LG makes a standalone HD PVR that's not tied to either DTV or Dish. I don't recall the price but I believe it's in the $700-800 range or possibly a bit more. You'll find them at your local Best Buy.

I love this TV. In fact I started watching TV again when the set was delivered - about 3 weeks ago. Got it at CC for $750 under retail, plus 50% off monster DVI to HDMI cable.

I "upgraded" from a Toshiba HDTV RPTV 54H80 (4 year old model)
The picture is definitely better, and my old set was really good. The wife even agrees (whew)

Got it hooked up to my
Yamaha AVR (Component out to Hitachi vs810)
ReplayTV (S-video in from DirecTV) Component out to Yamaha
DirectTV (S-video to Replay Unit)
HTPC - ATI Radeon 9800 Pro All in Wonder (DVI out to monster HDMI to HDMI input 1 on Hitachi)

This set looks really good hooked up to DirectTV via the Replay unit.

DVDs look great. Question - what screen mode do you guys use to watch DVDs? 16:9 all look stretched.

The HTPC is great with Logitech Bluetooth wirelss keyboard and mouse. I was going to try component out, but the DVI to HDMI looks amazing - 1024 x 768 @ 85 Hz refresh! 1280 looks good too, but a little small to read from 12' away

Originally posted by Evoklan
DVDs look great. Question - what screen mode do you guys use to watch DVDs? 16:9 all look stretched.


Congrats on your purchase and welcome to the club, so to speak.


Not sure why your DVDs look stretched on 16x9 mode. it could be that you have not set your DVD to widescreen, which you may have to do in your DVD player's main menu.

I have a Denon 1600 DVD player. I set the DVD to widescreen/16:9 and I set my 810 Aspect to 16x9. For some movies (those in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, like Star Wars, LOTR, etc.), you will still have black bars on top/bottom, but you will see the movie as intended by the director. There shouldn't be ANY stretching

You could also switch the aspect to 16x9 zoom. You lose the black bars but the PQ suffers a bit and you lose some of the picture. This is roughly what you see (in terms of the zooming, not the PQ) when HBO broadcasts a movie in High Def.

OK...I went and did it. New 50" 915 to be delivered on Monday. This decision came after almost a year of research and I hope my quest for the best bang for the buck is over. For those who have not seen the 915, the screen is much darker and is removeable. I am not sure whether the 810 has a removeable screen or not. I plan to get a good night's sleep now that the deed is done. The dealer gave me a week to decide if I want to keep it, upgrade to a 60" or swap it for another brand. Hope this a keeper.

Wow ...there's been quite a few 60vs810 buys going on. Great!

Any news on where you can get the matching SPF 60 stand? My CC sells the stand for the 50vs810 but did not have the 60.

By the way, my CC did not have the gift card promotion when I purchased my 60 two weeks ago. However, I noticed they started it up again last night. When I asked for a $400 or $500 gift card for my recent purchase, I was told that because I was given a 15.3% MSRP discount at purchase, I wasn't eligble to receive one. The manager told me in essence that you only get the gift card if you pay the store's asking price. Does that ring true with anyone?

Originally posted by dsierra
OK...I went and did it. New 50" 915 to be delivered on Monday. This decision came after almost a year of research and I hope my quest for the best bang for the buck is over. For those who have not seen the 915, the screen is much darker and is removeable. I am not sure whether the 810 has a removeable screen or not. I plan to get a good night's sleep now that the deed is done. The dealer gave me a week to decide if I want to keep it, upgrade to a 60" or swap it for another brand. Hope this a keeper.


Congratulations dsierra on your purchase ..and for your postings. You were among the first to speak about the 915 on this thread and, in doing so, pointed those with glare concerns towards another solution. I'm sure you'll enjoy your purchase. Thanks again.

Hi all 810 owners,

Is it safe to say that most of you are relatively happy with their new 810? The reason I'm asking is I just purchased the 50v500a and have the weekend to decided - to keep it or return in exchange for the 810.

Any thoughts would be appreciated...

YAZ

IMHO, I'd take the 50V500A back and get an 810 ASAP. The 810 superceded the 500A and is a vast improvement. I hadn't actually seen the 500A until after I'd already seen the 50VS810 and the difference was immediately apparent. Colors were better, blacks were blacker, and the image was just plain better. Go to your nearest CC or other Hitachi dealer that carries the 810 and decide for yourself. After all, you're the one that's going to be living with it.

Evoklan, 16:9 will look stretched on non-anamorphic letterbox material. You have to use (if you have it) the Zoom (or zoom/pan or x/y scaling) feature on your DVD player/remote to get the picture to it's proper aspect ratio. However, anamorphic material should not look stretched and if it is it's probably because your DVD player is not setup properly.

What am I doing in this thread? I see rainbows on my new Panny DLP and I'm looking at alternatives. :) I've read so many threads my head hurts... So any other issue to look for aside from the glare?

Thanks captain you've just convinced me... the 500 is going back tomorrow. Curious though... any alternate stand ideas? The 810 stand is alittle pricey....

Cheers
Yaz

I got the Maxim Z-Line Designs 55" Stand (Z22-1S) for my set. It compliments the VS810 very nicely and retails for $329. The first time I saw it and the 810 was at Circuit City. They had the front of the set at the edge of the stand, and I initally thought it was a plasma. I fell in love with the tv and the stand immediately and the rest is history. And to think, a couple of weeks ago I was sure I would be buying the next wave of the Sony RPLCDs.

Originally posted by steampunk
I got the Maxim Z-Line Designs 55" Stand (Z22-1S) for my set. It compliments the VS810 very nicely and retails for $329. The first time I saw it and the 810 was at Circuit City.
Yeah, that is a nice stand, especially for the price. CC has the 810 on it here also. However, they have sold out of the stands and I haven't been able to find out when they will be available again. I have done an internet search but cannot find anybody else who sells them.

dsierra, Did you purchase your 915 at cc?

Originally posted by mattburk
dsierra, Did you purchase your 915 at cc?
No. They don't carry it. I would have bought the 810 from them but I got the 915 from a local independent store for about the same price ($38xx plus tax delivered and set up). CC is good to buy from but the $599 for the extended warranty sucks.

dsierra, is that firewire only for controlling other audio devices, or can you send audio out to a receiver that has firewire in?

Originally posted by mattburk
dsierra, is that firewire only for controlling other audio devices, or can you send audio out to a receiver that has firewire in?
I really don't know. I need to study up on that and some other stuff. Deciding to buy this set has been an exhausting experience. Once it is delivered, I will check stuff out and post what I come up with.

How well does the 50VS810 handle a fairly well lit room? We have a lot of windows in our family room and adjacent dining area, and despite having blinds, we get quite a bit of light in the room (drapes are out - don't ask!).

Michael

Are the bars black on the vx915 when 4x3 viewing?

Originally posted by Michael Mohrmann
How well does the 50VS810 handle a fairly well lit room? We have a lot of windows in our family room and adjacent dining area, and despite having blinds, we get quite a bit of light in the room (drapes are out - don't ask!).

Michael

Hi Michael -

Glare is noticable when watching SD content, but nearly invisible watching HD content. Even with SD, I only find the glare distracting when watching really dark scenes. Most day-time programming is quite tolerable - at least in my opinion.

Maybe some other 50vs810 owners can chime in here.

I believe that each region can carry what they want.....YES ? thanks-dan

Curious though... any alternate stand ideas? The 810 stand is alittle pricey....
I'd have to echo the other replies and say that the Z-Line Designs stand that CC sells is a great match for the 810. I bought one for my 60" model even though it says it's only for 50" sets and it still works fine. It does overhang the edges by about 4-5" on each end which is basically the width of the speaker panels so it doesn't really look out of place. The top shelf is rated for about 240 lbs but the 60VS810 only weighs about 135 lbs so it's got plently of support for the TV. The lower shelves are only rated for about 64 lbs each but they're only supported at the extreme edges. As long as you're not stacking components on top of each other on the lower two shelves you should be able to put all of your gear on it, assuming you don't have a CC showroom in your viewing area like I once did. CC also has a matching Z-Line Designs equipment rack that has four shelves if you'd rather place your audio and video gear at a more reasonable height. I think it sells for either $199 or $299, depending on which model you choose (they carry a couple of different ones).

How well does the 50VS810 handle a fairly well lit room? We have a lot of windows in our family room and adjacent dining area, and despite having blinds, we get quite a bit of light in the room (drapes are out - don't ask!).
You will definitely see some reflections during daylight hours. This is quite evident when you see this set in a showroom environment like CC. The 810 is best viewed in a low-light environment for this reason. Ironically, the display is bright enough to view with lots of ambient light but the reflectivity of the screen almost makes it mandatory that the ambient light be reduced to a minimum. I have overhead lights with dimmers that I turn way down and then supplement the room lighting with a lamp placed above and behind the display. This provides a comfortable lighting environment while reducing any glare to a non-intrusive level. Your best bet would be to see how the display looks with your existing arrangement and then consider getting darker blinds if there's still too much ambient light.

Has anyone seen the 70" 810 yet. I just got the 60" yesterday and I'm thinking 70" now.

Can someone please post pics of the 915?

I bought the 810 a couple of weeks ago and it's been working out great for me. Only annoyance is SSE at bright scenes and some glares if I have the windows opened during daytime. I know the 915 has a better anti-glare screen and am just not sure how much better.

Also, I assume the SSE is still there on the 915?

Well I did it! I returned my 50v500 for the 810, which will arrive tomorrow. Curious though minja what does SSE standard for?

Thank,
Yaz

SSE = Silk Screen Effect. There are quite a few posts on this subject. It's particularly noticeable on bright scenes. Looks like you are looking through a silk screen. Not to be confused with Screen Door Effect, which is not noticeable to me on the 810.

Originally posted by Minja
Can someone please post pics of the 915?

I bought the 810 a couple of weeks ago and it's been working out great for me. Only annoyance is SSE at bright scenes and some glares if I have the windows opened during daytime. I know the 915 has a better anti-glare screen and am just not sure how much better.

Also, I assume the SSE is still there on the 915?
I would have been happy to post pics of the 915 tomorrow after delivery. However, there is a fly in my pie. After making arrangements for delivery of my 915, I went to my local Time Warner cable outlet. Lo and behold, they have no HD converters nor do they have any cablecards. I then asked when they would be available and was told they were expecting them in Jan 2005. Ain't this a bitch? According to them, the demand for HD services has been higher than anticipated. Anyway, my salesman says he might have a connection at TW and I will be on the phone to Time Warner's administrative offices. Hopefully, something can be worked out so my Hitachi will be delivered soon.
The moral of this story is to get the HD box or cablecard in hand before getting your TV.

Originally posted by dsierra
I would have been happy to post pics of the 915 tomorrow after delivery. However, there is a fly in my pie. After making arrangements for delivery of my 915, I went to my local Time Warner cable outlet. Lo and behold, they have no HD converters nor do they have any cablecards. I then asked when they would be available and was told they were expecting them in Jan 2005. Ain't this a bitch? According to them, the demand for HD services has been higher than anticipated. Anyway, my salesman says he might have a connection at TW and I will be on the phone to Time Warner's administrative offices. Hopefully, something can be worked out so my Hitachi will be delivered soon.
The moral of this story is to get the HD box or cablecard in hand before getting your TV.

Is it possible for you to try an antenna for OTA HD using the internal tuner? If your local towers aren't too far a small antenna may work. That would be your best bet for HD until the cable upgrade. The other option is switching to satellite, but it may not be feasible for you (house vs. apartment, line of sight, etc).

Good luck.

Originally posted by gammadude
Is it possible for you to try an antenna for OTA HD using the internal tuner? If your local towers aren't too far a small antenna may work. That would be your best bet for HD until the cable upgrade. The other option is switching to satellite, but it may not be feasible for you (house vs. apartment, line of sight, etc).

Good luck.
Yes, I could try the antenna and it should work but the store really wants me to take it home and make a decision within a week on whether to keep it or upgrade to a 60". I really want to test it out thoroughly. I have looked into VOOM and may go that route. I wish I could talk to someone who has VOOM. Hopefully, the dealer can pull some strings and get me a box or cablecard. I know they have some of those stashed somewhere. In any event, I hope to get over this hump soon. I want my Hitachi!

(Moved from a dedicated thread..)

Hitachi VX915 worth 20% premium over vs810?
I'm pulling the trigger on a 60" VS810 or VX915 in the next couple of days. I saw these sets in the same room today and did notice a significant improvement in glare with the vx915 over the vs810.. but.. the difference in price would be about $900 more for the VX915 vs. the VS810. That comes to about a 20% increase in price for the VX915.

The questions I have are.

a. Is the difference in price proportional to the MSRP
b. Is it worth it.

Thanks for the help.

Michael

PS.. Since price posting is not allowed, would someone mind pm-ing me with the level of discount, either $$ or % they were able to get off of MSRP?

Thanks again

Although I have not seen the 915 series since there are NO DIRECTOR'S SERIES DEALERS IN WISCONSIN, I can't believe the price increase just to have a reasonable screen on it that doesn't act like a mirror. I say shame on Hitachi for putting out the 810 with such a reflective screen; shame on Hitachi for pricing the 915 for so much more; and shame on Hitachi for making it so damned hard to find the 915 series.

Sorry, I guess I'm a little bitter about the whole situation. Or maybe I'm just bitter that the TV I bought (JVC HD-61Z585) on September 6th probably isn't going to ship until sometime in November...

Originally posted by scmguru
(Moved from a dedicated thread..)

Hitachi VX915 worth 20% premium over vs810?
I'm pulling the trigger on a 60" VS810 or VX915 in the next couple of days. I saw these sets in the same room today and did notice a significant improvement in glare with the vx915 over the vs810.. but.. the difference in price would be about $900 more for the VX915 vs. the VS810. That comes to about a 20% increase in price for the VX915.

The questions I have are.

a. Is the difference in price proportional to the MSRP
b. Is it worth it.

Thanks for the help.

Michael

PS.. Since price posting is not allowed, would someone mind pm-ing me with the level of discount, either $$ or % they were able to get off of MSRP?

Thanks again
Check your pm. The following information is provided as a public service:

Best RPTV
Sony Electronics: SXRD 70-inch 1080p RPTV. This is Sony's version of LCOS, based on Sony's Silicon X-tal Reflective Display (SXRD) technology

introdUced about a year ago in the QUALIA 004 front projector. With the product, Sony jumped to the front of the pack, being the first to announce a 1080p LCOS-RPTV. SXRD microdisplays use a vertically aligned liquid crystal for a high device contrast ratio exceeding 3000:1 and optimal black level reproduction. An ultra-thin cell gap enables fast response times of less than 5 ms, avoiding any motion blur artifacts.

Expect to see this LCOS-RPTV in early 2005 with a price tag of less than $10K.


RPTV Runner-Up RPTV
Hitachi America Ltd.: Ultravision LCD-RPTV Cineform Director's Series VX915 RPTV. The Hitachi RPTVs feature a novel two-stage lens design, along with a special screen. This combination reduces the height of the picture above the table top, while also reducing the cabinet volume over 20% from Hitachi's previous model.
http://www.insightmedia.info/emailblasts/CEDIABestBuzz.htm

Reference page #14 of this thread for my first submission of this TV then read on.
I received my second 810 and it does not display the same green tinge that was barely noticeable on my previous 810 in the bottom L/R corners.
But I hate to report that yet again I have pixels stuck.
2 green pixels 2 inch's apart on the upper right side of the set.
I'm going to try once more for the store to replace it (they don't have a problem with this) but either way I will indefinately be keeping this set even if the new one again has 1 or 2 pixels stuck. This set is an absolute dream and I really don't want to take my $$ back to get any other LCD mocel, it would be like buying a mercedes then trading down to a Hyundai, this set is that good. (note: CRT's are too big and heavy for me and I need the TVstand for my component stacking, don't have enough room in the apartment for a seperate rack)
I will report back again in a few weeks when the 3rd set comes in. I certainly don't have the $$$ to upgrade to a 50" Plasma, which would be my only option for which I'm not sure that would really be an upgrade either way.

Hi,

I just pulled the trigger this morning - returned the 500 for the 810. Was wondering, does anyone have any suggestions for settings on this unit? At first glance I must say what a nice LCD however I'm somewhat concerned with awful reflection from the screen.

Yaz.

Originally posted by dsierra


Expect to see this LCOS-RPTV in early 2005 with a price tag of less than $10K.


[/URL] [/B]

I expect it on the order of $9999.

Originally posted by dsierra
Yes, I could try the antenna and it should work but the store really wants me to take it home and make a decision within a week on whether to keep it or upgrade to a 60". I really want to test it out thoroughly. I have looked into VOOM and may go that route. I wish I could talk to someone who has VOOM. Hopefully, the dealer can pull some strings and get me a box or cablecard. I know they have some of those stashed somewhere. In any event, I hope to get over this hump soon. I want my Hitachi!

I have VOOM if you have any questions.

Originally posted by YAZ
Hi,

I just pulled the trigger this morning - returned the 500 for the 810. Was wondering, does anyone have any suggestions for settings on this unit? At first glance I must say what a nice LCD however I'm somewhat concerned with awful reflection from the screen.

Yaz.

Congrats. Take a look at page 10 of this thread. I posted my settings, which are based on AVIA and which seem to be very close to settings that others have used. As I noted in my post, I bumped the contrast and brightness about 5-8% above what AVIA suggested. This seems to have helped reduce SSE effect, although I probably am just getting used to it. I've also since gone into the color decoder and dropped the green level to about 35%.

I still have a green push/bleed problem on my set, but hopefully the Hitachi tech coming Saturday can either fix it or I'll get a new set. If he recommends any changes to the settings, I'll post them here.

Squeaky wheel gets the grease. TW found a HD box for me. So, delivery of the 915 is now scheduled for Tuesday between 2-4. Yee Haw.

Gammadude said:
"I have VOOM if you have any questions."
My biggest question is whether or not you are happy with VOOM? And, if the pic quality is good, the number of HD channels is for real and not hype, and whether you would recommend it? Even though I got a box from TW, I am still considering VOOM.

I have been pretty happy with VOOM so far. There are some problems with the STB locking-up periodically when changing channels but there should be a STB w/DVR soon. I lease my STB so I am not committed to an expensive hardware purchase. There are 10 commercial free cinema channels that will be themed soon by genre (Pixel for kids, Kung-fu, etc.) There are also original content channels with auctions, fashion, music (plenty of HD PBS Soundstage concerts), and animation. All the premium channels are available in HD with ESPN, TNT, Discovery, Bravo (lots of repeats) also available. Most of the VOOM original channels tend to repeat programming but that should decrease as more content is added. The STB has a DVI out so a digital connection to the vx915 or vs810 should be possible via a DVI-HDMI cable. The SD content is good, but Food network and HGTV is missing (if you require). There is always debate over the PQ. I think it is fine but occasional pixellation is seen due to bandwidth limitations. Since you got a cable STB, try it and keep VOOM as an option if you're unhappy. Regardless of any issues with VOOM it is a strange feeling having more than 2-3 HD channels to surf through.

I am currently on the fence between the 60vs810 and the 60vx915. I am very interested in your impressions and pics (please post pics!!) of the 915. I have a CRT RPTV with terrible glare but it is a hard decision considering the price difference between the two models.

Have fun tomorrow.

Originally posted by gammadude
I have been pretty happy with VOOM so far. There are some problems with the STB locking-up periodically when changing channels but there should be a STB w/DVR soon. I lease my STB so I am not committed to an expensive hardware purchase. There are 10 commercial free cinema channels that will be themed soon by genre (Pixel for kids, Kung-fu, etc.) There are also original content channels with auctions, fashion, music (plenty of HD PBS Soundstage concerts), and animation. All the premium channels are available in HD with ESPN, TNT, Discovery, Bravo (lots of repeats) also available. Most of the VOOM original channels tend to repeat programming but that should decrease as more content is added. The STB has a DVI out so a digital connection to the vx915 or vs810 should be possible via a DVI-HDMI cable. The SD content is good, but Food network and HGTV is missing (if you require). There is always debate over the PQ. I think it is fine but occasional pixellation is seen due to bandwidth limitations. Since you got a cable STB, try it and keep VOOM as an option if you're unhappy. Regardless of any issues with VOOM it is a strange feeling having more than 2-3 HD channels to surf through.

I am currently on the fence between the 60vs810 and the 60vx915. I am very interested in your impressions and pics (please post pics!!) of the 915. I have a CRT RPTV with terrible glare but it is a hard decision considering the price difference between the two models.


Have fun tomorrow.

Hey Dude, thanks for the info. Regarding your fence sitting between the 60vs810 vs the 60vx915, let me say this. I paid $38xx for the 50vx915, and the dealer wants another $650 for the 60". Circuit City has the 60vs810 on their website for $46xx. Of course your dealer may not want to sell the 60vx915 to you for that but he can if wants to and still make money. Decisions, decisions. I will post pics and give my impressions as soon as possible. I will at least post something tomorrow evening.

Thanks again for the info.

It's in the house. Hooked up and looking good. This TV is killer. Haven't had much time to play yet. The screen is really good and dark but true test on reflections will come tomorrow. I am sitting 8' away from 50" and it looks great with an absolutely fantastic picture. Looks like a keeper.

Okay,

Hitachi says their LCD displays aren't for use as PC displays via the HDMI inputs.

But this thread (or a different one?) mentions that they can display an image from a computer (a powerbook).

But the question is: is it a 1:1 image direct to screen, or is it scaled/streched. I'd be interested to find out what resolutions seem to work from a computer.

At the moment, I'm really tempted to go for a 70VX915 (the VS series seems to have way too much glare problems (or is the lack-of-glare-screen on the VS series removable?).

But the Samsung DLPs have better PC/Mac input support. Of course, the samsungs don't have a 70" and their 60" is only the lower quality model (so far).

I have a question about the color adjustments within the 50VS810. Over the weekend we were auditioning the 50V500(?) and the dealer showed some menus that allowed you to adjust the colors. The first menu, the Color Decoding menu, allows you to adjust Red, Green and Blue levels plus the Tint scale. The second menu, the Color Management menu, allows you to adjust the Magenta, Yellow, Cyan, Red, Green and Blue levels.

Reading the 50VS810 Owner's manual, I noticed it has the same options. My question is this: Why is Red, Green, and Blue in two separate menus? It appears to be a redundancy to me, or is it?

Michael

I have updated my thread here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=4537309#post4537309) with a few sample clips of the problem that I have been experiencing.

Originally posted by ad10ad
I saw in your initial post that the problems seems to occur when there is a scene shift (i.e., dark to light). Can you give a few examples of movies/scenes that seemed to have triggered the sync problem?

Originally posted by dsierra
It's in the house. Hooked up and looking good. This TV is killer. Haven't had much time to play yet. The screen is really good and dark but true test on reflections will come tomorrow. I am sitting 8' away from 50" and it looks great with an absolutely fantastic picture. Looks like a keeper.

How is the reflection on the vx915 and how do you like the tv overall? Have you had any problems like zeagles?
Thanks
Matt

Originally posted by mattburk
How is the reflection on the vx915 and how do you like the tv overall? Have you had any problems like zeagles?
Thanks
Matt
Well, the TW HD box worked for one (1) day and it died. They are sending a guy out in the morning. He better bring a new box or there is gonna be fireworks. Needless to say, I am depressed. But back to the tv. I watched HD programming until 3 am that first day before the box died. The picture is absolutey spectacular. I have not played with the settings. DVDs look good, I watched Master & Commander and it was almost like being at the movies. I will be able to give more info when I get a new box. The biggest surprise is the sound. The best, by far, that I have ever heard from a TV. It is really good.

As for reflections, it has been cloudy until this afternoon. My TV faces south and there are two (2) large windows facing it and three (3) smaller windows on the east side. When the sun came out late, I opened the blinds and I could see a noticeable reflection from one of the windows. However, it pretty much disappeared when I played Nemo.

All in all, I am highly pleased with this TV. I still have some things to get right on the connections. I had to move my components to the new stand and I screwed something up as the TV was not playing through the receiver and the DVD had no sound unless through the receiver. I have a book for the TV, a book for the receiver, a book for the cable box, a book for the DVD and they all have different hook-ups for everything. But no sense in trying to hook the stuff up until I get the new box. Oh yeah, did I mention that there were gonna be fireworks if the TW guy doesn't get me a HD signal in the morning?

More later.

Hey dsierra,
congrats on your new TV,I also have just got the 50vx915 last Sat. As this is my first rptv,So there is a lot to learn but I tell ya the pic. is amazing.

I too have TW and getting my cablecard next sat. When I got my tv I was setting up the channels,It first went threw the analog channels then it starting to check for digital channels,it found 6 channels 2 of them were TNT,NBC both were in 1080i,16x9 and 5.1 sound.I don't know if this happend to anybody else,it seemed wierd as I only have basic cable.Any Input would be helpful,Thanks...........

JimWCB, the computer image is not scaled nor stretched as long as you output the proper resolution. I had to play with this a bit to get as close a match to the native resolution as possible, and it still spills beyond the screen a bit, but I hope to find a way to resolve that issue soon.

Originally posted by wupshaw
JimWCB, the computer image is not scaled nor stretched as long as you output the proper resolution. I had to play with this a bit to get as close a match to the native resolution as possible, and it still spills beyond the screen a bit, but I hope to find a way to resolve that issue soon.

wupshaw, do you have a VX915? 810? what size? also, are you pushing the PC Video through the HDMI port with a DVI-HDMI adapter? Using powerstrip around 1280x720?
Sorry for the flurry of questions but PC connectivity is a big one on my list of wishes for a new HDTV.

Thanks

Originally posted by Hoss 315
Hey dsierra,
congrats on your new TV,I also have just got the 50vx915 last Sat. As this is my first rptv,So there is a lot to learn but I tell ya the pic. is amazing.

I too have TW and getting my cablecard next sat. When I got my tv I was setting up the channels,It first went threw the analog channels then it starting to check for digital channels,it found 6 channels 2 of them were TNT,NBC both were in 1080i,16x9 and 5.1 sound.I don't know if this happend to anybody else,it seemed wierd as I only have basic cable.Any Input would be helpful,Thanks...........

I am curious about this as well. Hopefully someone will enlighten us.

Originally posted by Hoss 315
Hey dsierra,
congrats on your new TV,I also have just got the 50vx915 last Sat. As this is my first rptv,So there is a lot to learn but I tell ya the pic. is amazing.

I too have TW and getting my cablecard next sat. When I got my tv I was setting up the channels,It first went threw the analog channels then it starting to check for digital channels,it found 6 channels 2 of them were TNT,NBC both were in 1080i,16x9 and 5.1 sound.I don't know if this happend to anybody else,it seemed wierd as I only have basic cable.Any Input would be helpful,Thanks...........
Hey Hoss, congratualtions to you. This is also my first rptv. Do you have an antenna to get those digital channels? If so what kind do you have? By the way, I agree there is a lot to learn. TW here is claiming that they are having issues with the cablecards. Huh? They are the largest cable company in the country and they are having problems in Memphis? BS. I have read that Memphis is the best wired (fiber optical) city in the US. I know, hard to believe but Memphis spent a bundle on wiring this town. So it is hard to believe they are having issues unless $1.75 for the cablecard vs. $8.25 for a converter box is an issue. LOL!

TW guy is here right now. The old box worked for an hour this morning then froze. Well, he left. The good news is I have a working box. The bad news is that the box is Scientific Atlanta and is not as good as the Pace box. There is no provision for pass through. Plus, when I hit the guide or info button, I lose the picture. So I now have an outdated box with problems. TW is starting to really piss me off. I called in and requested to be put on a list for a new box.

Maybe I can at least get everything set up. More to come.

Originally posted by 71intheworks
wupshaw, do you have a VX915? 810? what size? also, are you pushing the PC Video through the HDMI port with a DVI-HDMI adapter? Using powerstrip around 1280x720?
Sorry for the flurry of questions but PC connectivity is a big one on my list of wishes for a new HDTV.

Thanks

I have a 50VS810.

I'm using an Apple Powerbook, which is one of the VERY few notebooks with DVI out. The video card is a ATI Radeon 9700, which allows me to set a seperate resolution for an external monitor. Its currently set for 1280x720, but there is still spillage. I'm using a DVI/HDMI cable.

To my knowledge, Powerstrip doesn't run on OSX. If anyone knows of a substitution, please enlighten me.

I posted some screenshots of iTunes and web browsing somewhere earlier in the forum.

*edit* - Here it is http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=4427789#post4427789

Wupshaw,

Try Switchres. Don't know if it's as powerful as Powerstrip, but it's supposed to accomplish some of the same things.

Here: http://www.madrau.com/html/SRX/About.html

Bob

Is 10 feet (viewing distance) too close for a 60VS810? CC has a 5 hour sale and I'm about to jump on it...

Originally posted by scmguru
Is 10 feet (viewing distance) too close for a 60VS810? CC has a 5 hour sale and I'm about to jump on it...
I am 8' from a 50". All is well. Go for it. If it is too big, you have 30 days to swap it for a 50".

Wow.. I did it.. ordered the 60" w/ stand.. both were/are 10% off at the CC website.. Can't wait!! Thanks for your help everyone. I wanted the VX915 but in the end.. couldn't justify the extra 700$ for a darker screen. I'll give this one a try.. if the glare is too bad, I'll return and the get vx.

Originally posted by dsierra
Hey Hoss, congratualtions to you. This is also my first rptv. Do you have an antenna to get those digital channels? If so what kind do you have? By the way, I agree there is a lot to learn. TW here is claiming that they are having issues with the cablecards. Huh? They are the largest cable company in the country and they are having problems in Memphis? BS. I have read that Memphis is the best wired (fiber optical) city in the US. I know, hard to believe but Memphis spent a bundle on wiring this town. So it is hard to believe they are having issues unless $1.75 for the cablecard vs. $8.25 for a converter box is an issue. LOL!

TW guy is here right now. The old box worked for an hour this morning then froze. Well, he left. The good news is I have a working box. The bad news is that the box is Scientific Atlanta and is not as good as the Pace box. There is no provision for pass through. Plus, when I hit the guide or info button, I lose the picture. So I now have an outdated box with problems. TW is starting to really piss me off. I called in and requested to be put on a list for a new box.

Maybe I can at least get everything set up. More to come.


No I have no antenna,in the tv's setup when you auto scan for the channels, it first goes threw the anolog chan. then it will pause for min. then it will start to scan for digital chann. it came up with 6 digital -TNT chann.#80-300 at 1080i,#80-4 was PBS at 480i,102 was CBS at 1080i,#445 was jewelry tv at 480i,#528 was disney at480i,#80-3 was PBS you at 480i,these were the only channel I got in digital.the 2 channels in 1080i were nice because they were in 16x9 and 5.1 sound.the others in 480i were in 4.3 and no 5.1 sound.No issues here with cable cards, only problem was i had to wait 3 weeks for TW to install it,good thing i called early

No I have no antenna,in the tv's setup when you auto scan for the channels, it first goes threw the anolog chan. then it will pause for min. then it will start to scan for digital chann. it came up with 6 digital -TNT chann.#80-300 at 1080i,#80-4 was PBS at 480i,102 was CBS at 1080i,#445 was jewelry tv at 480i,#528 was disney at480i,#80-3 was PBS you at 480i,these were the only channel I got in digital.the 2 channels in 1080i were nice because they were in 16x9 and 5.1 sound.the others in 480i were in 4.3 and no 5.1 sound.No issues here with cable cards, only problem was i had to wait 3 weeks for TW to install it,good thing i called early

Hey Hoss, do you have you cable going in on Ant A or Ant B? Because my cable goes in on Video 1 input. When I scan, I get nothing.

For all of you who bought your VS from CC.. if there is a problem or I need to swap for different size.. do they come and pick up old when they drop off new?

Originally posted by scmguru
For all of you who bought your VS from CC.. if there is a problem or I need to swap for different size.. do they come and pick up old when they drop off new?

I don't know if they would do this for a swap to a different size, but for a defect, they will (and in my case did) pick up the old set when they bring you the new set. Your 30-day return clock rests when you take delivery of the new set.

Originally posted by dsierra
No I have no antenna,in the tv's setup when you auto scan for the channels, it first goes threw the anolog chan. then it will pause for min. then it will start to scan for digital chann. it came up with 6 digital -TNT chann.#80-300 at 1080i,#80-4 was PBS at 480i,102 was CBS at 1080i,#445 was jewelry tv at 480i,#528 was disney at480i,#80-3 was PBS you at 480i,these were the only channel I got in digital.the 2 channels in 1080i were nice because they were in 16x9 and 5.1 sound.the others in 480i were in 4.3 and no 5.1 sound.No issues here with cable cards, only problem was i had to wait 3 weeks for TW to install it,good thing i called early

Hey Hoss, do you have you cable going in on Ant A or Ant B? Because my cable goes in on Video 1 input. When I scan, I get nothing.


I have my cable going to ant. A , then it will scan the channels also when it scans the digital channels it will tell you how many channels it found.it's at the top of the screen.but It won't tells you what #'s they are so you will have to flip threw them one at a time.I wrote them down as I found them. let me know how you make out.
See Ya

Originally posted by ad10ad
I don't know if they would do this for a swap to a different size, but for a defect, they will (and in my case did) pick up the old set when they bring you the new set. Your 30-day return clock rests when you take delivery of the new set.

Well, unfortunately I'm on set #3 (first one DOA, second one "green bleed"). Do you know if a clock "reset" for the 30-day policy is standard, or do you have to explicitly request it / negotiate for it?

Originally posted by Michael Mohrmann
I have a question about the color adjustments within the 50VS810. Over the weekend we were auditioning the 50V500(?) and the dealer showed some menus that allowed you to adjust the colors. The first menu, the Color Decoding menu, allows you to adjust Red, Green and Blue levels plus the Tint scale. The second menu, the Color Management menu, allows you to adjust the Magenta, Yellow, Cyan, Red, Green and Blue levels.

Reading the 50VS810 Owner's manual, I noticed it has the same options. My question is this: Why is Red, Green, and Blue in two separate menus? It appears to be a redundancy to me, or is it?
Does anyone have an answer to my question above? Or are the owners of Hitachi LCD RPTVs unsure (or unaware) of these features?

Michael

Originally posted by outis
Well, unfortunately I'm on set #3 (first one DOA, second one "green bleed"). Do you know if a clock "reset" for the 30-day policy is standard, or do you have to explicitly request it / negotiate for it?

Dunno, but I think its standard. If CC disputed that you couldn't return #2 because of a defect, you should take the position that you could have returned set # 1 and gotten your $$ back altogether, so you were actually doing them a favor by taking delivery of another set instead of returning it for your $$ back.

That said, the sales people at the CC near me have been excellent about returns/exchanges, & I would hope you wouldn't have an issue.

BTW, I'm supposed to have a tech coming out tomorrow to look at the green bleed issue. Any insight will be posted here.

" Reading the 50VS810 Owner's manual, I noticed it has the same options. My question is this: Why is Red, Green, and Blue in two separate menus? It appears to be a redundancy to me, or is it?"

"Does anyone have an answer to my question above? Or are the owners of Hitachi LCD RPTVs unsure (or unaware) of these features?"

The color controls aren't redundant. The Color Decoding menu allows you to enable the red, green, or blue "gun" individually. Changes made here can affect all colors. The Color Management menu allows adjustments to individual colors so you can fine-tune things.

Originally posted by Haidozo
The color controls aren't redundant. The Color Decoding menu allows you to enable the red, green, or blue "gun" individually. Changes made here can affect all colors. The Color Management menu allows adjustments to individual colors so you can fine-tune things.
I thought that is what the dealer said, but I didn't understand quite how that worked. When he brought up red in the Color Decoding menu, the whole screen looked like it had a sheet of red over the displayed video. When he entered the Color Management menu, the video remained normal, but you could adjust for red.

It would seem that adjusting for red on the Color Management would still invoke the red "gun" like in the Color Decoding menu unless this somehow occurs after the output of the "guns" (which doesn't make sense, but I could be wrong).

It seems like you would want to perform all of your color adjustments in the Color Management menu since you can readily see what the adjustments are doing to your video or test pattern. The only thing I see as a benefit of the Color Decoding menu is to be able to see the individual "gun" on a white background to look for imperfections or problems.

Michael

I pulled the trigger yesterday and "bought" the 50VS810. I need clarification on whether I am an
official member of the owners thread immediately or not until the frigging thing is paid off.

I am getting it delivered on Wednesday (long story) and want to get a UPS and a surge protector.

Any opinions on the Adcom ACE315 suppressor/conditioner?

Thanks for any info.

GREEN BLEED UPDATE:

Hitachi tech came out today. His initial "diagnosis" is that the problem is due to a faulty light engine or video board. He said that he's seen the problem with other LCDs (although this was the first 810 he's serviced), and it was "fixed" by replacing the light engine and/or video board.

He is calling Hitachi on Monday to discuss the issue with them, and to report that other owners have experienced a similar problem. He will most likely have new parts in 10 days. We'll see.

Does anyone know if CC will take a set back within the 30-day return period after its been serviced?

Originally posted by Michael Mohrmann

It seems like you would want to perform all of your color adjustments in the Color Management menu since you can readily see what the adjustments are doing to your video or test pattern. The only thing I see as a benefit of the Color Decoding menu is to be able to see the individual "gun" on a white background to look for imperfections or problems.

Michael

The thread below explains how to use the DVE test patterns w/ the Color Decoding menu to eliminate the need for the color filters provided w/ DVE.

David

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=314838&perpage=20&pagenumber=2

Originally posted by vasqued2
The thread below explains how to use the DVE test patterns w/ the Color Decoding menu to eliminate the need for the color filters provided w/ DVE.

David

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=314838&perpage=20&pagenumber=2
David,

Are you primarily talking about the following post?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3061405#post3061405

Michael

Originally posted by Michael Mohrmann
David,

Are you primarily talking about the following post?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=3061405#post3061405

Michael

That's the one.

David

Just received my 60VS810 from CC.. there is a smudge (looks like a bronzeish moire area( on the upper right side of the image/screen about 4" from the right border that only shows up when the image is dark or the TV is off.

AND there is HAIR or lint inside my light engine that shows up in my channel guide (any light screen). There are about 3-4 of them.. They each span about .5-1" square..

There's also dust between the outside panel and inside panel.

Lastly, there's one dead/dying red pixel around the area with the lint/hair.

Any ideas if there is a way to resolve these w/o an exchange? Could a tech clean the bulb or something?

Not a good start.. On the phone w/ CC now.

:confused:

Michael

PS.. And to add insult to injury.. the glass shelves on the hitachi stand are all scratched up from some metal pieces sliding across the glass flat pack.

Couldn't tolerate the glare any longer.
Got the new Sony although the PC is a little less than the 810.

DAN

I'm going to give my 810 a week or so re: Glare.. if I can't stand it.. I'll have to step up to the vx915..

Is it possible to adjust the picture size on this set? I've got a bit of vertical overscan.. I think that is what it is called. The bottom of my picture, logos, tickers etc seem to be missing about 2-3 rows of pixels. I had a panasonic plasma where I could shrink the vertical size one row at a time until it fit.. does the Hitachi have this?

There's a button on the remote for setting the picture size just above and to the left of the cursor buttons. It will allow you to toggle between 4:3 normal, 4:3 stretched, 4:3 zoom 1, 4:3 zoom 2, 16:9 normal, and 16:9 Zoom. I think the button is labeled Aspect but I'm not sure and the actual settings may not be exact. I'm writing this from memory but you should get the general idea of what it does.

Thanks but is there a way to fine tune this? The expanded mode stretrches too far and I loose some of the picture.

I have an update from the 2 Tech's that came out to view my #2 810. They saw the stuck green pixels as well, 1 is now visible from viewing distance during light scenes. The others (about 6) are viewable from 3 feet. They have been talking with Hitachi engineers and are getting back to me hopefully tonight. I will be exchanging this for a 3rd set after the discussions with the store owner the tech's and hitachi engineers is finished and suggestions are made to me. Maybe for all my troubles I will ask them to send me the Directors version.
I'll keep this thread updated with any news or any info from Hitachi.

Note: my first TV showed green bleed, I didn't notice it but the first tech who came out did....The second set shows no evidence of green bleed at all. Hit and miss with the green bleed I guess.

Originally posted by scmguru
Thanks but is there a way to fine tune this? The expanded mode stretrches too far and I loose some of the picture.


It's in the Aspect ratio setup as captain_video said,you will see
Vertical Position which will move the pic. up & down for those tickers & scores that get cut off when in expanded view.

Hoss,

Thanks.. that just moves the picture up and down.. Is there a way to shrink the picture vertically to resolve overscan? I'm at 7-12% vertically and about 6% horizontal.

TV #2 was delivered from CC today.. serial # was 1440 vs. 1476. This one has a large 3" scratch diagonally in the middle on the inside screen behind the clear panel.

It also has the same moire blur area about 1' above and 1' over to the right of center.

The keystone is messed up on this set.. the image on guide, and normal TV (w/ bars bows inward)

Lastly.. My building manager told me.. after the set was dropped off and after we found the inside scratch, that the delivery guys dropped the unit outside the building when they were carrying it.

I'm about to give up on this and go plasma.. I don't think RP is for me.

Spoke w/ the manager @ CC.. stated that I could return or exchange.

I'm SO glad I did not mail order this unit!

Since there are no bad pixels.. I'm almost thinking of having a Hitachi tech come out and replace the inner screen and fix the convergence problem. My question is, will there be dust/dirt inside the unit after he takes it apart and puts it back together?

These recent posts are scaring the Hell out of me, mine gets delivered tomorrow. :(

Originally posted by scmguru
TV #2 was delivered from CC today.. serial # was 1440 vs. 1476. This one has a large 3" scratch diagonally in the middle on the inside screen behind the clear panel.

It also has the same moire blur area about 1' above and 1' over to the right of center.

The keystone is messed up on this set.. the image on guide, and normal TV (w/ bars bows inward)

Lastly.. My building manager told me.. after the set was dropped off and after we found the inside scratch, that the delivery guys dropped the unit outside the building when they were carrying it.

I'm about to give up on this and go plasma.. I don't think RP is for me.

Spoke w/ the manager @ CC.. stated that I could return or exchange.

I'm SO glad I did not mail order this unit!

Since there are no bad pixels.. I'm almost thinking of having a Hitachi tech come out and replace the inner screen and fix the convergence problem. My question is, will there be dust/dirt inside the unit after he takes it apart and puts it back together?

Dude, the TV was DROPPED. It also shows exterior physical damage. Call CC and tell them to bring you another one. This is one fine TV. Give it a real chance. Good Luck.

Originally posted by Netranger
These recent posts are scaring the Hell out of me, mine gets delivered tomorrow. :(

I wouldn't get too worried about scmguru's experience; a dropped TV is a dropped TV; he should have CC come and replace it ASAP.

That said, there definately appears to be a bad "batch" or lot out there. I've gone through two with the green bleed problem. Others have not had this problem at all, and the sets I saw at CC and PCRichards do not have the problem. A # of people who post here have reported no problem.

Since I like the 810's PQ over every other RPTV out there (save the Kirk, but I'm not buying a new stand), so I'm going to give Hitachi/CC one more try. Should have a new set the first weekend in November.

Assuming you bought from CC and can return w/in 30 days, I'd say relax and (hopefully) enjoy your set.

Yeah.. Obviously it needs to be replaced. But the scratch on the inside panel did not happen because of the drop and it is making me question whether or not I want to be an early adopter of this set..

Both sets have had this odd horizontal moire in the upper right quadrant.. Does anyone else have this? I posted a photo w/ the TV off in my gallery

http://gallery.avsforum.com/showphoto.php?photo=10585&sort=1&cat=500&page=1

I'm a bit leery of this set being assembled in Tiajuana Mexico vs. Japan, China or even Indonesia. Franky, their QC sucks.. There is NO excuse for either of these units to have been shipped the way they were.

Both had obvious defects that should have been caught.. My Japanese made and assembled Panasonic plasma was flawless the 1st time.

I wonder if my SN# lower or higher than those w/o problems.

One last time and then I'm switching back to plasma..

Originally posted by scmguru
Hoss,

Thanks.. that just moves the picture up and down.. Is there a way to shrink the picture vertically to resolve overscan? I'm at 7-12% vertically and about 6% horizontal.


I haven't seen anything to shrink the pic. vertically
other than than the aspect ratio.

Originally posted by scmguru
Hoss,

Thanks.. that just moves the picture up and down.. Is there a way to shrink the picture vertically to resolve overscan? I'm at 7-12% vertically and about 6% horizontal.


scmguru,

I'm interested in this setting too. I have about 5% horizontal and 10% vertical overscan, so it'd be nice to be able to adjust that. I imagine this setting is in the service menu, which is certainly a completely different can of worms. Anyone ventured into getting access to the service menu or know anything about them in Hitachi tvs. I've seen tons of info about SMs of other tvs, but nothing about these Hitachis.

I found the service menu.. Hold down the input button on the side of the set and then power on. You'll see the SM come up.. There's a ton of options and though I can move up and down through them. I can't seem to select any.

Originally posted by scmguru
I found the service menu.. Hold down the input button on the side of the set and then power on. You'll see the SM come up.. There's a ton of options and though I can move up and down through them. I can't seem to select any.

Nice catch on the service menu - I'll have to take a look when I get some time. Although I highly doubt I'll be screwing with it.

Has anyone seen or bought the 70VS810.

Got my 50VS810 setup last night.

First the bad news: 1- stuck pixel, 4- pieces of black filaments between
the glass and the screen, 2- 6mm "smudges"on the screen, a green push
on the left side of the TV, the right side seems sharper than the left,
the tickers on the screen seem to be tilted so they are not parallel with the TV frame.

The good news: It is absolutely beautiful, looks a lot bigger than it did in the stores, my wife and kids love it.

Waiting for the store to open so I can see how they handle these issues,
but I think Hitachi would send the tech not the store.

Originally posted by Netranger
Got my 50VS810 setup last night.

First the bad news: 1- stuck pixel, 4- pieces of black filaments between
the glass and the screen, 2- 6mm "smudges"on the screen, a green push
on the left side of the TV, the right side seems sharper than the left,
the tickers on the screen seem to be tilted so they are not parallel with the TV frame.

The good news: It is absolutely beautiful, looks a lot bigger than it did in the stores, my wife and kids love it.

Waiting for the store to open so I can see how they handle these issues,
but I think Hitachi would send the tech not the store.

Where did you purchse the set? If it was CC, just have them send a new set.

we don't have CC in my province uphere in the Northland.
As a matter of fact our first Best Buy is under construction,
obviously it will be open befroe Christmas, but arent they
owned by the same group as Future Shop.

The store is sending their "ace" to see what he can do,
and if he can't get anywhere they will send the service company.

The pixel does not bother me a whole lot, the "smudges" do somewhat,
the "filaments" or hairs do bother me, but the green bleed bugs me.

I am little cynical in old age, I was thinking that the way all of these
TV's get returned, do they get refurbished and sent to Canada, I saw
a bunch of "refurbished" 50v500's last week for about $2,000.00 (Can)
less than I paid for mine. ( paid may not be the best word to use as
Visa Claus bought this for me)

I really, really, really want to keep this set.

Same problems I had..

1st set- lint issues, dust inside inner screen area, 1 dead pixel stuck red
2nd set- no dead pixels, large scratch on inside of screen 4" in center behind the protective panel.

I called service tech.. they said they cannot get the parts. So I called Hitachi and they will look into it.

CC offered a 3rd set.. I think Hitachi QC sucks on this set.

I really want to keep it.. at this point, I'm debating whether or not I want to go with another set. I may just get a 50" plasma instead of the 60" rp..

Originally posted by scmguru
Same problems I had..

1st set- lint issues, dust inside inner screen area, 1 dead pixel stuck red
2nd set- no dead pixels, large scratch on inside of screen 4" in center behind the protective panel.

I called service tech.. they said they cannot get the parts. So I called Hitachi and they will look into it.

CC offered a 3rd set.. I think Hitachi QC sucks on this set.

I really want to keep it.. at this point, I'm debating whether or not I want to go with another set. I may just get a 50" plasma instead of the 60" rp..

For what its worth, I'm in a similar position:

1st Set: one intermittently stuck pixel & a filament, niether of which bothered me since I could only see them within 4 feet of the screen; green bleed caused me to arrange for a new set, and while waiting, the video processor seemed to malfunction totally;

2nd Set: one intermittently stuck pixel & a 2 filaments, niether of which bother me; green bleed is present; authorized tech came out last weekend and said the light engine needs to be replaced; scheduled set # 3 from CC to come on 11/6

I'm not totally giving up because the 810 PQ is still impressive to me & I've seen 810s without the green bleed/push; BUT, if the 3rd set has green bleed, I'm probably switching to the Panasonic DLP.

What did your tv do when the processor started malfunctioning? My tv seems to be pixelating a lot when it wasn't before.

Originally posted by scmguru
What did your tv do when the processor started malfunctioning? My tv seems to be pixelating a lot when it wasn't before.

On non-progressive signals, there would be a complete absence of red (or green, I can't remember, but I posted about it here last month) in the signal, almost as if I had unplugged one of the component cables.

I think your pixelation problem could be due to a drop in signal strength from cable, or over compression if you have directv; I used to get very heavy pixelation on the network feeds with directv. If youre seeing it on DVD, that's an entirely different issue altogether.

One more thing on this TV, my wife absolutely loves it, must be the female version of an erection, cause I am tired this morning:)

I got my 50vs810 on Tuesday and absolutely love it. I have not seen any of the issues mentioned here so far other than SSE and I think I can get used to that. I watched WS Game 4 last night in 720p...awesome! :)

Can't wait for MNF next week!

Hi Folks;

I've been reading & monitoring this thread (as well as others in the AVS forum) trying to acquaint myself with pluses/minuses related to the 810 and now the 915 series Hitachi LCD.

I've set my sights on the 50" 915 ( 7'- 10' viewing distance in room w/windows) primarily for DVD viewing, sports games and occasional sd (until 2006). From this thread and other gear review information, I'm also planning to purchase a Denon DVD player (2900?, 2910?, Marantz?, HK?). Sounds like the connection should be via DVI OUT to HDMI IN using Monster DVI/DHMI cables. Also sounds like an extended warranty plan (4 years) for this unit would be a good idea.

I'd appreciate your collective insights/guidance regarding other issues & considerations for instance;
- what tweaking should be performed as part of set-up, who should perform this tweaking and what programs do you all recommend to use

- recommendations for a good solid mid-price range receiver and surround speakers,

- should I purchase from a big box (CC) retailer, smaller box (Cambridge Soundworks), internet?

- what price point should I shoot for the the 50" 915, the DVD player, warranty plan, receiver, surround speakers (best to negotiate separately or as a package?)

- other things I need to know?

Thanks in advance!

hadleyfarm, I would like to add to this thread that my buddies 50VS810 still has had no problems. He has not(nor have i)seen any of the green bleed or other screen issues(dirt lint etc.) or the DVD issue that was mentioned in this thread. Set-up with any of the usual discs DVE, VE, Avia etc. And any other tips found on this thread. As far as Monster goes, almost all of my cables are higher end Monster cables in my system, but that was more for looks and color matching as some of my connection cables are visible. RAM is a sponsor(advertiser?) on this forum and make a very good cable and are much cheaper than Monster. They have a link at the top of every page here at AVS. My buddy also purchased the Athena speaker package at BB. It sounds great . 5.1 speakers(front L&R, center and surrounds plus a sub) for right around a grand. It also comes with your choice of receiver(Yamaha or Sony). He chose the Yamaha and it's awesome, especially for the price. I have pics in the gallery of his set-up showing the Hitachi, stand and front 3 Athenas plus audio gear.Click the gallery tab at the top of this post to view.
As far as the DVD player he's using, it is a progressive scan Yamaha (non upconverting 480p) via component cables and it looks great.

Originally posted by hadleyfarm

- what tweaking should be performed as part of set-up, who should perform this tweaking and what programs do you all recommend to use

Do the tweaking yourself with Avia or Video Essentials; otherwise expect to spend several hundred dollars for a pro to do it.

- recommendations for a good solid mid-price range receiver and surround speakers
Give the guys at AV123 (http://www.**********) a call or take a look at their website. They make top-notch speaker systems like the Rocket series or ELT's that would probably fit your budget. They are also a authorized Denon dealer and could help you with a DVD player and receiver (far below retail).

- should I purchase from a big box (CC) retailer, smaller box (Cambridge Soundworks), internet?
By direct from the Internet...

- what price point should I shoot for the the 50" 915, the DVD player, warranty plan, receiver, surround speakers (best to negotiate separately or as a package?)

Don't buy the audio HT gear locally...you will get a much better deal and better gear on-line from AV123 (or others) on a complete package. Get the TV locally so you can return it easily if something is wrong with it.

Sounds like the connection should be via DVI OUT to HDMI IN

No, HDMI OUT to HDMI IN. The DVI conversion seems to be crushing a lot of colors/details.

using Monster DVI/DHMI cables

Please stay away from "Monster". They are a terrible company with 100+ pending lawsuits (they are suing everyone using the "monster" name - not just audio companies - ex. they are suing the Discovery channel's Monster Garage and Monster House).

I'm new to this forum, but have been following numerous threads that lead to the delivery of my new 60vs810 and LG DVD. The PQ is great even from 9' @480 and fantastic at 1080. Unfortunately after the 3rd day there was a stuck blue pixel and I also suffer from sync problems on DVD (component) during scenes with extremely bright flashes where the screen either momentarily display diagonal lines or the input source appears in the right hand corner. I had the tech guys out today and they will be addressing the issues asap. There currently is a thread regarding the sync problem of which the owner reported his 3rd set delivered and w/o resolution to the problem. At the end of the day, he reported that this did not happen using HDMI or DVI inputs, but I'm still waiting for my cable to verify this. The VS 810 is great and I would really hate to return it.
I will post any additional information on how they resolve this problem

Kramer's response #375 to my previous post recommends HDMI out to HDMI in (DVI compression issue) - I've learned of one DENON 3905? DVD player that has HDMI OUT and is a little pricey are there other solid DVD players with HDMI out?

Is HDMI the way to go? What about recommendations for a compatable receiver?

Thanks!

Originally posted by hadleyfarm
Kramer's response #375 to my previous post recommends HDMI out to HDMI in (DVI compression issue) - I've learned of one DENON 3905? DVD player that has HDMI OUT and is a little pricey are there other solid DVD players with HDMI out?

Is HDMI the way to go? What about recommendations for a compatable receiver?

Thanks!
I am checking out the Panasonic S97S. Under $300. However, I have yet to see one on the shelves.

I have just received a 60" VS810. I exchanged my original choice (JVC HD-ILA) for the Hitachi (long story for another post). I have noticed that in semi dark scenes the picture flickers or flashes. It almost looks like watching a scene in candlelight. It can be distracting.

I have a Denon DVD-3910 connected via HDMI.

Has anyone solved this problem?

I would like to revisit the shared HDMI/component inputs on the 810 and 915 series Hitachis. It appears that you can connect both to each input ("Input 1" and "Input 2"), but that if the HDMI is active, it take precedence. Is that still correct?

I wonder about the usefulness of having both HDMI and component connected to the same input. For instance, each input can be calibrated with their own video settings, but which input do you calibrate to, the HDMI or the component? Also, what happens with the upscaling parameter? It is suppose to work for HDMI sources, but not component (or composite or S-Video). Is it just ignored if the input source is not HDMI?

Thanks,

Michael

I have read a few QC issues with the Hitachi. I have noted the following:

Hitachi LCD RPTV: Made is Mexico
Panasonic LCD RPTV: Made in Japan
Sony LCD RPTV: Made in USA

I checked a few model sizes of each brand and the pattern was consistent. Does it make a difference? You decide.

Rich B.

Rich B. - what pattern have you identified as consistent? Did your review include the Hit 915 series as well - are they assembled in Mexico?

Originally posted by hadleyfarm
Rich B. - what pattern have you identified as consistent? Did your review include the Hit 915 series as well - are they assembled in Mexico?
Yes, the 915 is assembled in Mexico. So what? I have owned my 50VX915 for almost two (2) weeks and I am 100% satisfied. Blows both Sony and Pansonic away. Not even close. Drop dead killer looks to boot.

dsierra -

somewhere in Rich B's statement is a point I believe he may have been inferring that I was hoping he would elaborate on. I'm off to get a full intensive introduction of the Hit 915 from the folks at Cambridge Soundworks.

BTW, what components are you using (DVD player, reciever, speakers)?

Originally posted by hadleyfarm
dsierra -

somewhere in Rich B's statement is a point I believe he may have been inferring that I was hoping he would elaborate on. I'm off to get a full intensive introduction of the Hit 915 from the folks at Cambridge Soundworks.

BTW, what components are you using (DVD player, reciever, speakers)?
I have a Bose surround system, Onkyo 601 receiver and a cheap Pansonic DVD player. Have fun at Cambridge. Don't forget your checkbook or credit card. This TV is, IMHO, the best for the money.

Originally posted by Rich B
I have read a few QC issues with the Hitachi. I have noted the following:

Hitachi LCD RPTV: Made is Mexico
Panasonic LCD RPTV: Made in Japan
Sony LCD RPTV: Made in USA

I checked a few model sizes of each brand and the pattern was consistent. Does it make a difference? You decide.

Rich B.


I had my 50vx915 for a little over two weeks now with
no issues so far. And I'm very happy with the set.

As far as does it make a difference, I hope not!!!
I guess time will tell (keeping my fingers crossed)

The point I was making is the following. I have been following electronics for the past ten years. It has been my personal experience that items made in Japan tend to last longer / are better built. If I had to choose from the above three (on that basis alone) I would make Mexico last on my preference list. For one reason only - experience in building higher end electronics.

t's just an opinion, I know that some people feel the same, but knowadays with all the outsourcing that is going on out there, this is becomiing less relevant. I do not doubt that people have purchased Mexican made TV's and they are great and QC is on the money - my belief is that the odds you get a "bad one" are greater because of it. But heck what do I know, Mitsu's $20K 82" DLP RPTV also comes from Mexico. So there. My opinion is based on years of observations from various HT forums.

I know that I did observe the following: when DVD players first hit the market the majority were built in Japan and many of those "old Faithfuls" are still in use today. Once the format went mass market, we have players built all over and most of them are quasi-disposable.

Hang out on the Plasma forum and you will also notice people also ask where they are made. That's all.

Rich B.

I know on the computer monitor side Hitachi has always been known for having the highest quality manufacturing facilities. I have heard that through numerous sources. I heard that for their TVs too.

solid DVD players with HDMI out?

Denon actually has 3 models available (only 1 is expensive). Sony 1, Samsung 3, Zenith 1, Onkyo 1 (expensive). Panny 1 (soon), Yamaha 1 (soon), ....

Read up over in the DVD Player section.


HDMI switching is not yet available on any *inexpensive* players, which is why Hitachi's offering of TWO inputs is such a great thing. You can use a HDMI tuner and an HDMI DVD player.

Received my 3rd set yesterday. So far, so good. No lint in the light engine, no dead pixels that I can tell. There may be a bit of green push on the left lower edge of the image.. but I won't know until i hit w/ avia.

mc

Originally posted by scmguru
Received my 3rd set yesterday. So far, so good. No lint in the light engine, no dead pixels that I can tell. There may be a bit of green push on the left lower edge of the image.. but I won't know until i hit w/ avia.

mc

I had the store where I bought my TV come out and calibrate it.
As far as I am concerned the green push, same as yours in the lower
left hand quadrant, is still there.

The Hitachi authorized service center is phoning me back.

Get this the service guy that calibrated my TV said and I quote
"LCD's don't suffer from dead pixels."

I am also on unit #3 (#1 DOA, #2 bad green bleed), and notice slight green bleed on lower left quadrant of unit #3. I expect to call Hitachi service within the next day or so, as it now looks like there's others out there who've called in with this problem as well.

I was able to isolate the problem to other than the connection cables, as I've set the "input" mode to "usb camera" (can't remember the exact input name as I'm at work now), which displays a gray background generated from within the set, and the slight green bleed is evident there.

sounds like this is a common problem with others, so hopefully a call into Hitachi service won't get a "never heard of this one before" response.

I called Hitachi customer service on my 2nd TV and explained that there was a scratch on the inner screen (behind the protective front screen) and he said "Well.. it didn't leave the factory that way".

To this I answered..

a. It was there when the screen was assembled.
b. Someone took the set apart AFTER it left the factory, scratched the screen and then put it all back together perfect.. but left the scratch.

Which is more likely? No response from the customer service rep.

I had my set replaced. I figure if Hitachi wants me to RTV the item.. so be it.

:|

Has anyone tested the 810 with an upscaling DVD player yet (via HDMI)? I am considering the new Faroudja FLI2301 based Panasonic S975 which exhibits macroblocking on some sets. The new Denon DVD players (1910) exhibit this problem too. Anyone have this type of DVD player yet and seen this problem on the 810? Thanks.

Originally posted by mwgordon
Has anyone tested the 810 with an upscaling DVD player yet (via HDMI)? I am considering the new Faroudja FLI2301 based Panasonic S975 which exhibits macroblocking on some sets. The new Denon DVD players (1910) exhibit this problem too. Anyone have this type of DVD player yet and seen this problem on the 810? Thanks.


mwgordon,

I currently have the S975 on order from onecall and should be receiving it next week assuming onecall actually receives the number of units they are expecting from Panny. I'll definitely look for MB on my 50vs810 and post my findings here.

Originally posted by azran
I currently have the S975 on order from onecall and should be receiving it next week assuming onecall actually receives the number of units they are expecting from Panny. I'll definitely look for MB on my 50vs810 and post my findings here.

Thanks! I have been following the Panny S975 and Sony NS975V threads and these seem to be the two top contenders. I really think the Panny is the better of the two, but if the macroblocking is bad on my 810, I guess I will have to go with the Sony.

I had a problem with blotches or smudges on my 810. You could see them on the screen wipe. My dealer is the only one in town and he can not give me a complete return policy, but he did alow me to take a second 810 home and we agreed that I would select the best pic and return the other.
Here is the interesting thing. I moved each tv back and forth too check the pic differences and I found out that the blotches had disappeared on my first set.
I now think it was the moving that caused the screen to twist enough so that the screen seperated enough that there was no more touching.
My recomendation for those that have gray blotches on a screen wipe get some help and lift the set of of it's stand a few times.
Due to the Hitachi stand it was difficult to get both hands under it so our procedure was one hand under the set and one hand against the top to keep it fron tilting when we lifted it, this caused a slight twisting pressure against the top. This did the trick for us hope it helps others.
Henry

The tech that was at my house yesterday told me there are 3 screens
counting the protective cover or what the one my kids can touch is called.

This is interesting.

Originally posted by Netranger
The tech that was at my house yesterday told me there are 3 screens
counting the protective cover or what the one my kids can touch is called.

This is interesting.


Did he have any insight on the green push issue?

Also, although slightly off topic, what did he (or the prior tech) do to calibrate the set? Were there any service menu settings he adjusted?

The Authorized tech told me it was a screen problem not the light engine.
he is looking into getting a new screen assembly.

The "tech" from the store that calibrated my set used the Video Essentials.

After I told this guy about the dead pixel, and he said to me
"LCD's don't suffer from dead pixels." I would not have let him into the service menu anyway. He just made some changes in the video menu.

Hey I have the settings in my pocket here they are.

Day/Night - Night
Contrast - 70
Brightness - 43
Color - 31
Tint - 4 Green
Sharpness - 3%
Color Temp - High
Black Enhance - Off
Contrast mode - Auto

Originally posted by Netranger


Day/Night - Night
Contrast - 70
Brightness - 43
Color - 31
Tint - 4 Green
Sharpness - 3%
Color Temp - High
Black Enhance - Off
Contrast mode - Auto

Thanks for the settings. The contrast and color are very different from what I had with AVIA (I had black enhance on medium and wound up with lower contrast & higher brightness). I'll give them a try.

So are they swaping out the screen?

I have not heard back form the Authorized Repair Depot.

If I have not heard by tomorrow I am calling him.

I am gonna try the moving tip that Henry Ferris mentioned,
and see if that helps with a couple of blotches I have.

Netranger-

No reply for me either. Hey, if you get a chance, and want to try something, remove the lamp from your TV and look at the first large lens (about 4") in front of it.

Mine has a smudge or something about the size of the tip of a pencil. I tried to clean it using the microfiber cloth, but the contaminant is on the opposite side of the lens, tech says it is so close to the light source that it would make no real difference and wouldn't cause the blobs..

Update: Just called my repair guy.. Hitachi says 3-4 business days for the inner screen. He expects it Tues or Wed..

Originally posted by Netranger
I have not heard back form the Authorized Repair Depot.

If I have not heard by tomorrow I am calling him.

I am gonna try the moving tip that Henry Ferris mentioned,
and see if that helps with a couple of blotches I have.

I'm interested to hear how this developing green bleed fix goes - please keep us up to date. I'm thinking that I'll probably have to make a similar service call at some point. I'll use you as a guinea pig for the time being to see if yours gets fixed ;) I'm on my 3rd unit and all have had the green bleed to some extent. My current unit has the least effect of the 3, but it's still noticeable especially when viewing images consisting of several shades of gray.

As for the blotches, I have noticed these also on at least 2 of my 3 units but they have all gone away once the TV has been on for ~20 minutes. I can only see them when certain colors are displayed on the screen and over time the blotches get smaller and eventually disappear. Although I haven't noticed these lately, they were coming back after the unit cooled down again. I'll look for them again the next time I fire up the TV. I presume that this has something to do with screens touching each other when cool, but separate when the unit heats up. This problem is eerily similar to one that many Samsung HLP buyers were reporting a while back. Some reported that they could get rid of the problem by rubbing the screen with a cloth. Unfortunately, this won't help us one bit since we have the protective screen in the way.

Sorry to change subjects, but I have a burning question about my 60vs810:

I'm really confused trying to use the TV as the center channel with my surround sound system. My Onkyo receiver has one pre-amp center channel out that is connected (single RCA to single RCA plug) to the TV. When I have it plugged into the audio plug for Input 1, the TV works as a center for shows through Cox cable, but it doesn't work for my DVD player if I switch the set to Input 2 via remote control. If I plug the RCA plug into Input 2, then the TV works as a center for my DVD movies, but now switching to Input 1 with the remote, the TV no longer works as a center for shows on Cox cable.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

P.S. Thanks to all of the great posts by everyone here (and lots and lots of shopping), I went ahead and purchased a 60vs810. Just for the record, I have not had any problems with green bleed or screen blobs. Now I want to upgrade to Voom!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jon Komar
[B]Sorry to change subjects, but I have a burning question about my 60vs810:

...... If I plug the RCA plug into Input 2, then the TV works as a center for my DVD movies, but now switching to Input 1 with the remote, the TV no longer works as a center for shows on Cox cable.

Any suggestions?


Jon Komar,
Since the signal passed from your receiver to the TV center channel connection is on a mono RCA cable, why not buy a Y-splitter that has one RCA female end to two RCA male ends (I've got a cheapo one sitting here that I got from radio shack). Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong, but this should basically create two mono signals in two RCA cables. One could be connected to Input 1 and the other to Input 2, but would provide the same information to both inputs.

Originally posted by Michael Mohrmann
I would like to revisit the shared HDMI/component inputs on the 810 and 915 series Hitachis. It appears that you can connect both to each input ("Input 1" and "Input 2"), but that if the HDMI is active, it take precedence. Is that still correct?

I wonder about the usefulness of having both HDMI and component connected to the same input. For instance, each input can be calibrated with their own video settings, but which input do you calibrate to, the HDMI or the component? Also, what happens with the upscaling parameter? It is suppose to work for HDMI sources, but not component (or composite or S-Video). Is it just ignored if the input source is not HDMI?
Okay, since I have succeeded in playing "Stump the band", I'll ask a different question. According to Hitachi's manual, the software in their LCD RPTVs is upgradeable. Does anyone believe it is possible for Hitachi to have a portion of their software rewritten to allow for the HDMI and component video inputs to be separate source inputs in the menus rather than tied together?

BTW, I would still like to hear owner's opinions with regards to my original questions.

Michael

If the HDMI input is receiving a signal it will be primary. I doubt they would write a software program just for you, but it doesn't hurt to call customer service and ask, maybe a tech could tell you a way around it.
If you do have more than two HD sources, you may have to run your components through the receiver, and just calibrate one input for your HDMI and the other for component.

Overall are you happy with this tv? Any problems that are not fixable?

I have had my 60” VS810 for a little over a week now. Overall I am happy with the TV. It handles SD, HD and DVDs well. There are two strikes against the TV. The first is its reflective screen. I am handling that with window treatments. The second is the black level enhancement causes the video to flicker on dark scenes. This problem goes away when I turned off the black level enhancement for the input I am watching. I hope there will be an upgrade that addresses this problem.

Originally posted by mattburk
Overall are you happy with this tv? Any problems that are not fixable?
We don't own a Hitachi LCD RPTV at this time. This was something that I was researching.

Originally posted by mattburk
If the HDMI input is receiving a signal it will be primary. I doubt they would write a software program just for you, but it doesn't hurt to call customer service and ask, maybe a tech could tell you a way around it.
LOL! I wasn't asking them to do it for me, but for every Hitachi LCD RPTV owner. I am certain many owners would be happy to have two HDMI inputs AND two component video inputs separate from each other on their 810 and 915 series LCD RPTVs. Hitachi may be able to do it if the HDMI sensing is done in the software. If it is accomplished via hardware detection, then chances are it couldn't be done.

Originally posted by mattburk
If you do have more than two HD sources, you may have to run your components through the receiver, and just calibrate one input for your HDMI and the other for component.
I currently don't pass video signals through our A/V processor (Anthem AVM-20) and I don't intend to. The ability to calibrate your TV to each individual input source (Sat/Cable, DVD, DVR, DTivo, XBOX, etc.) is a big plus. Using a video switcher (whether standalone or via an A/V receiver/processor) just negates that benefit.

Michael

LOL, well I think when you tell them who you are, they may write one just for you. jk
It would be nice to have 4 separate inputs.
Are there any other TV's that are coming out soon that you are considering.
From the ones I have looked at the Hitachi is still the best but those issues would be a concern to me also.

Originally posted by mattburk
Are there any other TV's that are coming out soon that you are considering.
We have auditioned a lot of TVs, and while some of them would be fine to own, we have our list down to 2, the Hitachi 50vx915 LCD RPTV and the Panasonic TH-50PHD7UY plasma TV. Both would run us about $5000 plus extended warranty, but they are night and day from each other. Just trying to decide which features are most important to us.

Michael

I have narrowed my 8 month search to RPTVs and am now focused on the Hit 50" or 60" 915 Director's Series (don't think I'll be able to afford Sony new LCOS model for at least a few (3) years!). I'd be interested in your sharing your final selection considerations with us (Hit LCD vs Pany Plasma).

Also, I'd be interested in knowing what DVD folks are planning to pair their Hitachi with (I've been reading that the right DVD should have HDMI OUT.

Just as an FYI.. CircuitCity in Long Beach CA on Bellflower put one of my bad 60vs810 sets back on the floor as an open box.. Don't buy it.. The SN ends in 1340.

It is quite unfortunate they'd put a defective set back on the floor at a discount for someone else to buy. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by scmguru
Just as an FYI.. CircuitCity in Long Beach CA on Bellflower put one of my bad 60vs810 sets back on the floor as an open box.. Don't buy it.. The SN ends in 1340.

Did they fix it at least???? I think the CC in Wayne NJ did the same with my first set. Didn't get the serial # to be sure.

BTW, the green bleed problem was still there.

Last Saturday I took the plunge and purchased the 50VS810 from CC. I got an excellent deal and also paid the expensive $599 for their 4 year warranty which includes the bulb.

The picture quality of this set is astounding all the way from SD to HDTV. We watch a lot of SD and coming from a 4x3 53" Sony I was worried about seeing a lot of wide faces, but the 4x3 expanded mode works very well even though it slightly clips the top and bottom of the picture which you can easily adjust for this by moving the whole picture up or down. Only problem with this adjustment is that it is not retained and you have to re-adjust every time you turn the tv back on. Sitting 12 feet away I could sometimes swear that I was watching an HD picture from my non-HD Dish network.

The video adjustments on the set are also very extensive and each input retains its own adjustments. I also went into the service mode by pressing the input and power button at the same time as described in a previous post, and found a wealth of tweaks many of which I did not understand. Just beware, contrary to what was mentioned previously, you can change the values with the remote control of just about everything.

Playing Xbox games on component is also breathtaking. I just purchased an HDMI to DVI adapter and will be hooking up my PC this weekend.

Now for the bad news. I did not see one single flaw with this set until I started watching a black and white picture at which time the very left bottom part of the screen showed a very slight greenish tint. I changed to photo input mode without anything connected and noticed the same problem. It was a very minor detail and was not very noticable but now that I knew it was there, every time I watched something in black and white I could see this area getting slightly greenish on a white background. For some reason I cannot see the problem with a color picture even . I went to the CC store and looked at their display model and it did not have the problem. I talked to the store manager and he offered to exchange the unit.

The second unit which was delivered the next day had the same problem but slightly worse. It was two serial numbers away from the one I had. I could not keep my original any more because the delivery guys managed to scratch the screen when they put it back in the truck.

I am starting to wonder if this is some kind of adjustment. I called Hitachi and they gave me the number of a local service center. I called the service center and they said that they will have to take the TV away and if it needs a part it would take a week or two to get the unit back. I decided to have CC service the unit under the extended warranty. They will be coming out next week. Maybe by then CC will have a new shipment in and I can get it exchanged again.

Both the wife and I love this television except for this little annoyance. I do not want to discourage anyone from purchasing this TV because it is an excellent unit in all other aspects and even if this annoyance cannot be resolved I will still keep the set.

I'm wondering if anybody here has a cablecard with there hitachi?
I'm having a problem getting TW to get the card to work.The TV keeps saying (IVAILD CABLECARD OR POD CERTIF. call your cable operater)
Now TW called me saying I need firmware from hitachi.That there is nothing wrong with there stuff,so I call hitachi,talk to a tech and he tells me there is no firmware for cablecard issues.Any help with this issue would
be great,
Thanks

BTW I have a 50vx915 TV with a SA cablecard which i'll be using as a
paint scraper,if this isn't resolved soon.

ad,

No way they could have fixed it in the last few days.. (They took it back on Sunday I believe). I returned 2 sets.. magically, they now have 2 on the floor, but when I purchased, there were none. One was a demo model (not for sale), the other was for sale at quite a discount.

I was actually there doing my 2nd pricematch w/ CC.com.. got a total of 240 back since I bought on the 22nd.

Does anyone here have any tilt issues w/ their image? When I've got a stock ticker up, the right side is lower than the left. Not a lot, but the tech pointed it out.. Said per Hitachi there was no adjustment

Originally posted by scmguru
Does anyone here have any tilt issues w/ their image? When I've got a stock ticker up, the right side is lower than the left. Not a lot, but the tech pointed it out.. Said per Hitachi there was no adjustment


scmguru,

This was one of the problems with my 2nd 50vs810. I never found a fix for it, even in the service menu. Anybody else think the "service menu" we've found by holding the input button and powering on is actually not the full service menu? There certainly has to be a rotation setting somewhere.

Set # 3 arrived today from Circuit City. I think the third time's a charm in my case. I've had the set running for about an hour:

1) THERE APPEARS TO BE NO GREEN BLEED WHATSOEVER. I've looked at the grey bars, the white screen wipe, and so far NO GREEN!

2) I appear to have none of the other problems reported (not that I did with my other sets). There is no tilt issue. Also, I do not have the video switching problem w/ DVD's and bright to dark scenes (although again, I never did before).

The set was manufactured in October; my last two were August, I think. The serial # ends in 10045.

I also noticed the video settings seem to be different out of the box. Its still in torch mode (day setting, 100% contrast, 100% brightness), but color temp is High, black enhancement is high, and contrast was dynamic, I think. It seems that Hitachi updated their software/settings since the previous batch.

Oh, BTW, the picture quality remains stunning.

Has anyone(other than the last poster) gotten a 50vs810 that actually works right? I'm leaning towards a purchase of one of these but they sound like a nightmare, despite the great picture.

I'm wondering the same thing.. 3 sets.. all have problems.. SN 1318, 1340 and my latest one.

On my 3rd set.. I thought I was going nuts until the tech confirmed what I was seeing (the blobs) were in face there. He even had me send the pictures to him so Hiachi corporate techs could look at them. It was determined, only an inner screen replacement would resolve this issue.

I've had plasmas for 3 years now, no problems at all like these. This is my 1st forray into the world of RPTV and I'm thinking it may not be for me.

I want to keep the TV but... I want my screen to be perfect. I've seen few perfect sets, but not many. The closest I got to perfect was the 2nd set with the 3" scratch across the inner screen. There was no blob or lint in the light path. I'm sure the store manager thinks Im nuts by now.. but I do have photographic proof..and all I want is a Tv with no screen problems. I'm at the end of my rope with this now..A new screen is showing up next week from Hitachi to replace old screen, I hope it works out..

Originally posted by hardl33
Has anyone(other than the last poster) gotten a 50vs810 that actually works right? I'm leaning towards a purchase of one of these but they sound like a nightmare, despite the great picture.

Yes, mine works fine, the first time. I bought it from H.H. Gregg a couple of weeks ago and could not be happier with it. The only thing I have seen that has been reported here is the "candlelight effect" on black enhancement. The effect is very minor and doesn't happen all the time anyway.

I've posted here on this thread a few times that my buddies 50VS810 has had no issues at all. He loves it and all though he is no videophile(allthough that's starting to change) , i've been over there to check and see if any of the issues that have been brought up here exist on his set. They don't. It looks great, and i'm a CRT RPTV owner. Keep in mind that most people that post in this type of thread are here to solve problems that they have with there sets. The ones that don't are enjoying their's.

Originally posted by hardl33
Has anyone(other than the last poster) gotten a 50vs810 that actually works right? I'm leaning towards a purchase of one of these but they sound like a nightmare, despite the great picture.

Mine has worked fine for the 3 weeks I've had it.

Originally posted by hardl33
Has anyone(other than the last poster) gotten a 50vs810 that actually works right? I'm leaning towards a purchase of one of these but they sound like a nightmare, despite the great picture.


Well considering not all of the people who have bought this TV are
certified computer geeks I would yes. From I have seen and read on
here there are about 15 of these TV's that have the green bleed/push.

Plus take into account that most of are super-critical considering we spent
around $5,000 (can) on this TV and we want/demand perfection.

My wife and a few other people who I have had over have never even
seen the green in the left hand corner, I prefer to let people see or not
see it on their own. So far it is me, my 14 year old son, and the tech that
has seen it. It is not blatant but it is there.

I am still very happy with this set, I did not want to get a DLP, and I am not
impressed with the Sony LCD's, and I think the Hitachi is better than the
Panasonic LCD.

My buddy from work who bought the Panasonic PT60DL54 and an LG 40" LCD
(this is the same guy who drives a BMW 540i) was lamenting the lack of aspect settings
on his DLP compared to his LCD. He does not have any High Definition programming he will tell
you he likes the picture on his 40"LCD better than his 60" DLP but that is not a fair comparison.

A friend of mine also has the Panasonic PT60DL54 without any HDTV service and most of us
are underwhelmed by the picture he gets as well.

Out of the 75 channels or so we get (5 HDTV) of the remaining 70, 10 are virtually unwatchable.

In my opinion it is very important to get the picture quality out of the non-HDTV channels,
and I think the 50VS810 does a good job, can't wait unitl I get my Motorola DCT-6412 dual HDTV
tuner- PVR which from what I am told will do a much better job on the SD channels


T-minus 1:40 until HDTV NFL football. WOO HOO!

I just bought a 50vs810 yesterday and I really like it.
My first impression
1. DVD looks pretty good. When I have turned off all the light off, it really feels like in the movie theater.
(I am only use s video and hope I wlll get better picture once I
update my DVD player to denon 1910)

2. Standard cable channel looks much better than I thought. Out of more than 70 channels I have , I think only one is really bad, others are similar
to my sony 24 inch CRT and several are even better. (I am only using
the 4:3 extend mode)

3. I haven't tried HDTV yet but will do so once I have my cable company in the next few days.

The only think I hope this TV can improve is reflection. My house is very open and light is coming from several places. With dark scene, you can see the reflection if you pay attention to it. (My wife don't think
it is a issue for her but I do notice it)

As for fan noise, I think I didn't hear it even I turn the volume all the way down. I guess the TV might not play long enough and I will check it again tonight.

One question I have is
when I play DVD using 16:9 standard mode (using s-video), the top and bottom part of the screen is black, Should it take up the whole screen instead of just the middle of the screen? I thought that is how 16:9 native mode works.

thanks
chong

Originally posted by cqxiao
One question I have is
when I play DVD using 16:9 standard mode (using s-video), the top and bottom part of the screen is black, Should it take up the whole screen instead of just the middle of the screen? I thought that is how 16:9 native mode works.

thanks
chong

It depends on the aspect ratio of the movie. Movies that are shot 2.35/1 will still show bars while 1.85/1 will not. Check the DVD box for the listed aspect ratio.

Originally posted by cqxiao

One question I have is
when I play DVD using 16:9 standard mode (using s-video), the top and bottom part of the screen is black, Should it take up the whole screen instead of just the middle of the screen? I thought that is how 16:9 native mode works.

thanks
chong

Check out the following:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=332900

Hi, ad10ad

Thanks a lot for the answer. That is just what I am looking for.

chong

I was wondering if anyone has had a chance to compare the Hitachi vs810 version LCDs to the Sony xs955 LCDs? The reason I ask is that I have seen the Hitachi 50vs810 up against the Sony 60xs955 and thought that the Sony presented a better "white" than the Hitachi. Try as I might, I couldn't produce a vibrant white on the Hitachi 50vs810 without washing out part of the colors.

Am I overlooking a setting in the 50vs810 that would help out? I tried the various settings, such as brightness, color, sharpness, etc., but to no avail. When we auditioned the 60vx915, the colors seemed more vibrant than on the 50vs810. Are the Hitachi 810 and 915 series LCDs really that different, or is this primarily a setup issue?

Michael

Hey there,

Bought the 50vs810 3 weeks ago and are experiencing picture blobs on the screen wipe & black scenes & candle flicker when the black enhancement is set to high. (dvd) My SN is 1740 manufactured in August. If that has anything to do with it?

I guess my question is what's the general consensus on what I should do? - besides the obvious and call the service tech.

When it comes right down to it I really like want this set to work out but I am very concerned about the quality /picture issues when you lay out that kind of cash.

Thanks in advance 810 owners...

Yaz

Whew. Finally got my DSL service back up. Anyway - just wanted to chime in on the quality of the set. Mine is still flawless after 2 months. Sorry to hear about some people's issues - hang in there and hopefully you'll get the probs worked out.

All,

Believe it or not this is normal with LCD RP's. I have the 50v500a model and if i enable blach enh. I to get a slight flicker on dark screens. Something to do with the processing, all the LCD's RP get this including the Sony. According to my research the only way to get rid of it is...turning off Black enh.

Originally posted by hardl33
Has anyone(other than the last poster) gotten a 50vs810 that actually works right? I'm leaning towards a purchase of one of these but they sound like a nightmare, despite the great picture.

I've had mine for a month and haven't had any of the quality control problems others have experienced -- no green bleed, no blobs, no misconvergence, no problems switching from bright to dark scenes. I keep black enhancement off (I watch TV mainly at night) so haven't noticed any problems there. Bought it at CC, and seem to have gotten a good one on the first try.

All in all it's a great set. Reflections may be an issue, depending on your viewing environment, and SSE is there although I don't really notice it anymore. I have an DVI-HDMI cable coming tomorrow and am going to try to hook up my computer, to test the set's suitability as an HTPC.

The one thing I would suggest is, given that there have been some quality control issues, buy from a brick and mortar rather than online, at least for now. If you do have problems you shouldn't have to go through the hassle of having a tech come out or losing the set to a repair shop, much better to just exchange it for a more recently built set.

MattD

Originally posted by Dreamking47


The one thing I would suggest is, given that there have been some quality control issues, buy from a brick and mortar rather than online, at least for now. If you do have problems you shouldn't have to go through the hassle of having a tech come out or losing the set to a repair shop, much better to just exchange it for a more recently built set.

MattD

I echo what DK47 says. If you're sold on the picture quality, but scared of the QC issues, go with a brick and morter place. Most CCs will negotiate a pretty reasonable deal off of MSRP. I know that places like CC get bashed for their poor setups and less-than-knowledgable sales staffs, but the 30-day return policy is pretty sweet. I'm on my third (and hopefully last 810), and CC couldn't have been better about the exchanges. All it took was a phone call.

I also agree about the CC return policy. It's excellent. So far they're the only store I would buy any big video purchase because of the security that you won't get stuck with a bad purchase.

I'm just wondering what DVD players people are using with there Hitachi's? After taking the hit from buying the 60" i'm now in the market for a DVD player. Heard good things about the Denon 2910 via HDMI, any thoughts on that player or other players would be great from fellow VS800 users.

Originally posted by stratman22
I'm just wondering what DVD players people are using with there Hitachi's? After taking the hit from buying the 60" i'm now in the market for a DVD player. Heard good things about the Denon 2910 via HDMI, any thoughts on that player or other players would be great from fellow VS800 users.

I'm using Denon's 1910 - great player.

Take a look at the Panasonic DVD-S97S. It's Panasonic's latest DVD player with HDMI and upscaling. The biggest downside is Macroblocking (MB) which the Denon 1910 also exhibits. I am waiting to hear from someone who has a 810 and the Panny. Here is a good thread on it here at AVS:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=463025

Wupshaw, can you see any MB with the 1910 and 810 combo?

Originally posted by scmguru
I found the service menu.. Hold down the input button on the side of the set and then power on. You'll see the SM come up.. There's a ton of options and though I can move up and down through them. I can't seem to select any.
Has anyone investigated the Service Menu in the Hitachi vs810 any further? Has anyone determined whether Hitachi will sell just anyone (non-tech) the service manual to the Hitachi LCDs? The long threads about using the SM in the Sony LCDs has us leaning oh so slightly towards the Sonys, but we (wife, kid, me) feel that the Hitachi vs810/vx915 LCDs have better colors than the Sony xs955 LCDs except for white. It is possible that it might be a calibration issue, but it would be nice to know that some SM adjustments might help here.

Michael

I haven't been here for a few weeks but I thought I'd chime in and post my thoughts on the 60VS810. I bought it on-line from a vendor for about the same price as the retail cost of the 50VS810 with local sales tax. The price included curbside shipping but the driver was kind enough to carry the box from the curb to my garage on his handtruck. I managed to muscle this thing to my basement steps and get it into the basement and set it up by myself. It really wasn't all that heavy but mostly just bulky and surprisinly easy to maeuver. Someone mentioned that they had a difficult time lifting this set in an earlier post. I'm surprised because there are handholds molded into the rear of the set that make it extremely easy to get a good grasp on the unit and pick it up while supporting the top front edge of the set with your other hand.

I haven't had a chance to calibrate the set with my copy of Digital Video Essentials yet so the settings are just roughly set using some of the values posted here. I have noticed a greenish hue to certain flesh tones but it's probably due more to the set not being calibrated than anything else. It's not limited to any particular area of the screen as others have reported.

My video sources are two HDTivos with the HD channel package from DTV and OTA antennas that get me all of the local HD channels from both Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. The picture quality is no less than stunning, especially on outdoor scenes that are fully sunlit. One thing I have noticed that seems to be a factor of the screen cover is that highly reflective objects like shiny cars and polished football helmets are really shiny and make it seem like you're looking through a picture window. When I was looking at the 50" model in the CC showroom I couldn't help but notice that all of the other RPTVs made these types of images look flat and dull by comparison. The shiny spandex pants on football players were more vivid than anything I've ever seen before. All other sets made them look like they were manufactured of non-reflective dull fabric.

The more I watch this set the more I am in complete awe of how good High-Def can really be. Even standard def broadcasts from DTV look better than they ever did previously. The 720P output from my Sony DVD player looks lightyears better than I've seen from it before. I can't wait to get this thing calibrated because I can't imagine the picture actually improving over what I have now, except maybe for the slight tint adjustment to tweak the fleshtones.

I was hoping to get some confirmation from the vs810 (and vx915) owners about the color setup within their Hitachi LCD RPTVs. I have been assuming that the Color Decoder and Color Management menus were adjustable for each separate source input, but after auditioning some more this afternoon and rereading the owner's manuals, I don't think that is the case.

It appears that the Color Decoder options (Red, Green, Color, Tint) are specified by the Color Temperature option, which can be set to High, Medium, Standard, and Black/White. Each source input can have its own Color Temperature option from one of the four above, but each Color Temperature option has one set of Color Decoder parameters. Is that correct?

The Color Management options (Gain and Phase for Red, Green, Blue, Magenta, Yellow, Cyan) appear to be global for all inputs and all Color Temperatures. Is that correct? If so, then this feature is not as flexible as I first thought.

Michael

Michael,
Just modified some settings in the color management and color decoding for video 2 and the modifications seemed to take effect for all video sources. You are correct in your assessment with regards to these adjustments.

The following adjustments are source dependant:
- Picture Mode
- Contrast
- Brightness
- Color
- Tint
- Sharpness
- Color Temperature
- Black Enhancement
- Contrast Mode

Peter

Originally posted by phussary
Michael,
Just modified some settings in the color management and color decoding for video 2 and the modifications seemed to take effect for all video sources. You are correct in your assessment with regards to these adjustments.

The following adjustments are source dependant:
- Picture Mode
- Contrast
- Brightness
- Color
- Tint
- Sharpness
- Color Temperature
- Black Enhancement
- Contrast Mode

Peter
Peter,

Thanks for the confirmation. While not as flexible as I would hope, there are ways around it. To be honest, having four "temperature" modes, especially in light of the day/night option, seems to be overkill. I would prefer to calibrate a source, then leave it alone. In that sense, you could calibrate each separate "temperature" for up to 4 separate sources. Then, if you want to adjust for a given movie or show, use the Color Management option to override the calibrated colors.

Michael

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mwgordon
[B]Take a look at the Panasonic DVD-S97S. It's Panasonic's latest DVD player with HDMI and upscaling. The biggest downside is Macroblocking (MB) which the Denon 1910 also exhibits. I am waiting to hear from someone who has a 810 and the Panny. Here is a good thread on it here at AVS...

mwgordon,

Well, I received the Panny S97 upscaling player a couple of days ago, but wanted to wait until I had had a chance to take a good look at it before reporting here. My overall impression is that the combination of the vs810 and the s97 is an excellent one! The s97 over HDMI makes some DVDs basically look like they are in HD and the color accuracy and vibrance are exceptional. I just put in SW Episode II a few hours ago thinking that I'd just check out a couple of scenes to report about here, but I couldn't bear to turn it off until it was over. I should say, though, that while it's true that this player makes well made DVDs like Episode II shine, it's also true that poorly made DVDs still look pretty crappy. I wasn't aware of the fact that there was such a large range in the quality of DVDs, some look downright poor.

Now to macroblocking - yes, this DVD player exhibits MB at 480p, 720p, and 1080i over HDMI. I only tested 480p over HDMI because I don't own component cables as strange as that is. Is the MB a big deal - I would say no, but that is in the eye of the beholder. Although MB is noticeable in spots if you are looking for it, I didn't feel that it took away from the experience much at all. Would I prefer that it never happened, of course, but I would definitely purchase this DVD player again if I was going to do it all over. I tried to take a couple of pictures of this to post here, but it's very difficult to see the MB in the pictures - sorry. All in all, I expected the MB problem to be a much bigger distraction that it actually is based on all the discussions of MB in these threads.

One other thing, I've tested 480p, 720p, and 1080i to try and find the best resolution to use, but my overall feeling is that they all look pretty much the same on this TV. I obviously thought 720p would be best, but I never experienced any sort of wow factor when changing between resolutions. I think the scaler in the vs810 matches the performance of the s97 pretty well, so changing the resolution coming over in the digital feed doesn't affect the final product very much. I've left it at 720p simply cause it seems like the right thing to do. Let me know if anybody wants me to check out anything else about this player/tv combo and I'll try to accomodate the best I can!

Originally posted by Michael Mohrmann
Has anyone investigated the Service Menu in the Hitachi vs810 any further? Has anyone determined whether Hitachi will sell just anyone (non-tech) the service manual to the Hitachi LCDs? The long threads about using the SM in the Sony LCDs has us leaning oh so slightly towards the Sonys, but we (wife, kid, me) feel that the Hitachi vs810/vx915 LCDs have better colors than the Sony xs955 LCDs except for white. It is possible that it might be a calibration issue, but it would be nice to know that some SM adjustments might help here.

Michael
Michael,
I've looked around in the SM a bit more recently and I have to say that it's alot larger than I once thought. Some of the menu items on certain screens lead to loads of other items in subsequent screens which lead to items in subsequent screens and so on. There are a ton of items which would definitely take a service manual to figure out. The most daring I got was to adjust the Vert. and Horiz. positioning to center everything up.

Any problems with 480i on the hitachi?

Originally posted by azran
Michael,
I've looked around in the SM a bit more recently and I have to say that it's alot larger than I once thought. Some of the menu items on certain screens lead to loads of other items in subsequent screens which lead to items in subsequent screens and so on. There are a ton of items which would definitely take a service manual to figure out. The most daring I got was to adjust the Vert. and Horiz. positioning to center everything up.


Azran

How do you access the SM?

I posted this to the "50VS810 Problem" thread created by Zeage. Anyone with a HK AVR7000 may be interested.

Re: Re: Re: Samples
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Zeagle
[B]My issue still has not been resolved. Supposedly Hitachi has a fix, but the re-engineered part has not been manufactured yet and as a result is not available. At least that is what the engineers out at Hitachi have been telling me.


Zeagle

I am greatful that I stumbled upon this thread. I purchased the 50VS810 the beginning of October and have seen what seems to be a derivative of your issue with Component 480p and 720p sources.

My line-up includes:
HK AVR7000
HK DVD22
Comcast HD Cable Box
Hitachi 50VS810

The DVD and Cable Box are component fed through the AVR to the 50VS810. The Cable Box is set to output 720p and the HK DVD22 is a 480p.

With Cable HD programming that has abrupt scene changes (typical on CSI, Without a Trace, ColdCase, etc) I regularly see temporary (1/8 sec)loss of picture and a blue/white horizontal interference pattern that looks like a lightening bolt.

I see the same on DVDs with abrupt scene changes. Additionally though on DVDs where there is abrupt changes to a high contrast all white scene - the flash associated with lightening or flash bulbs - the above stated interference pattern and loss of picture occurs with the occasional complete loss of synch as you noted. The Lion King 1 1/2, Scene 14, where the Hyenas attack will cause loss of synch every time.

When I remove the AVR and direct connect the sources to the component inputs to the 50VS810 - the Cable Box issue is eliminated. On DVD programming I never loose synch but continue to get the horizontal interfernce on abrupt scene changes. This leaves me to believe that the issue is more severe on 480p sources than 720p sources.

I believe I am seeing a less severe version of what you see that is exacerbated by the AVR. After contacting HK, they identified an IC upgrade to eliminate component signal degredation in the AVR7000 and the AVR is currently in the shop. However, the 50VS810 is still misbehaving under a direct connected DVD.

Would you share the Hitachi case number, the part in question or the name of the technician you have contacted. I would like to make this issue known to the local CC store manager here and the CC service center. Referencing such information might make this easier.

Originally posted by rbeaumon
Azran

How do you access the SM?
rbeaumon,

The SM access method was originally posted by scmguru a few posts back:

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by scmguru
I found the service menu.. Hold down the input button on the side of the set and then power on. You'll see the SM come up.. There's a ton of options.....
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just purchased the 60VS810 and had it delivered last Wednesday. It has been a headache trying to buy a big screen. I have had to send back 2 of the Toshiba DLP sets (screen was scratched and vertical lines on the screen on the first one. Sent the second one back because of the lag in action scenes), and 2 JVC HD-ila sets (first one had the green haze with blotches and dirt on the screen. The second had very bad screen tilt and about the same on the screen as the first one).

This said, I got the Hitachi and found a few dead pixels. So what right? Well I have a tech coming to fix that this morning when I notice a hair on the left side of the screen and what looks like something spilled across just about the entire bottom of my screen. Is it just me or for $4000 should I expect a good quality made product? I do love this set, but I am starting to wish I would have kept my 55 Mits.

Originally posted by azran
Michael,
I've looked around in the SM a bit more recently and I have to say that it's alot larger than I once thought. Some of the menu items on certain screens lead to loads of other items in subsequent screens which lead to items in subsequent screens and so on. There are a ton of items which would definitely take a service manual to figure out. The most daring I got was to adjust the Vert. and Horiz. positioning to center everything up.
I wonder if Hitachi would sell their Service Manual to just anyone. I would imagine that I might have to prove that I am a "qualified" service tech, so I have my doubts. I don't think I would want to guess at what the options are in the SM without the manual.

Thanks for the input that the SM can be reached. I have some hesitations right now going with the 50vs810 or 50vx915, and I am not even sure that going into the SM would help alleviate those concerns (green bleed, non-vibrant whites compared to Sony xs955 LCD, etc.).

Michael

americasteam,

Sounds like the same problem I had with my sets.

Set 1- hair/lint in the light engine
Set 2- Scratch across inner screen
Set 3-Watermark looking blobs across the bottom of the screen.

Set 3 is going to have the internal screen replaced (any day now I hear).. If it isn't totally resolved by the 22nd of Nov.. back it goes.

My sets have had serial #s ending with 13xx w/ a September build. What is your set? I'm wondering if these problems are a result of a bad batch?

azran,

Did you find anything for keystone adjustment?

I saw the post above about sudden screen changes causing funny things to happen on our VS810s.. I'll add to this.

When I watch CSI Miami via HD, it seems as though when station switches between commerical time and the show itself, there is about a 1/8 of a second black screen with a white horizontal line or 2 in the middle and a popping noise.

I have a SA8000HD converter hooked directly to the TV via a component input. I just got a cablecard so I'm going to try and see if this changes the behavior any while watching the show.

Originally posted by mattburk
Any problems with 480i on the hitachi?
Much as I have my own complaints about the 50vs810, it does seem to handle 480i signals pretty well. Case in point, I went to CC where they had the 50v500 and the 50vs810 in the same sitting area. Both TVs were playing the same movie, Star Wars I. After adjusting both TVs my wife and I thought that the 50vs810 had better color and detail than the 50v500.

A few minutes later talking with the salesperson, I found out that the 50v500 was connected to the DVD player via component video (480p) and the 50vs810 was connected via composite video (480i), which is usually worse than S-Video and definitely worse than component video. Yet, the TV looked quite good connected via composite.

This doesn't completely answer your question, especially if you were interested in non-HD cable or sat dish playback. But I thought that the 50vs810 did a pretty good job upscaling the 480i input to 720p.

Michael

scmguru

I also have a set with a September build. The hair I can't even see it unless I am right up on the screen and looking for it. The blotches are really not noticeable unless I lower my viewing angle and there are light colors on the screen.

The tech didn't make it today, but I am going to see what he can do about the screen. You said that they are going to come and replace the inner screen for you. Has Hitachi authorized this or are you going through the place you bought it?

I am using my extended warranty to have HH Gregg look at it and see what they will do about it first. If no luck then I will go through Hitachi to get it fixed. I called them this morning and they said the screen has a 30 day warranty. The only downside is that I called my nearest service center and it will take at least 5 weeks to get it serviced in home. OUCH! Please keep us posted on your screen repair.

Originally posted by scmguru
azran,

Did you find anything for keystone adjustment?
scmguru,
No, unfortunately I didn't notice anything that looked like a keystone adjustment. The only ones I recognized were the horiz. and vert. position adjustments, which were labelled something simple like h position and v position. I'll look again and see if I see anything like keystone.

Originally posted by azran
scmguru,
No, unfortunately I didn't notice anything that looked like a keystone adjustment. The only ones I recognized were the horiz. and vert. position adjustments, which were labelled something simple like h position and v position. I'll look again and see if I see anything like keystone.

-----

azran / scmguru:

I noted my set was offset horizontally ~ 3/4" to the right. To adjust the horizontal center via the SM --- what did you use as a source. I find that 4x3 HD broadcasts (ESPN HD) with transmitted side panels and a 480i 4x3 broadcast seem to be differently centered by the set. Thoughts?

rbeaumon

Originally posted by wupshaw
JimWCB, the computer image is not scaled nor stretched as long as you output the proper resolution. I had to play with this a bit to get as close a match to the native resolution as possible, and it still spills beyond the screen a bit, but I hope to find a way to resolve that issue soon.

wupshaw, have you been able to get a computer display to exactly fit the screen? Has anyone else been successful in hooking up a computer to the HDMI input? This is the last issue to resolve before I take the plunge.

Originally posted by rbeaumon
-----

azran / scmguru:

I noted my set was offset horizontally ~ 3/4" to the right. To adjust the horizontal center via the SM --- what did you use as a source. I find that 4x3 HD broadcasts (ESPN HD) with transmitted side panels and a 480i 4x3 broadcast seem to be differently centered by the set. Thoughts?

rbeaumon
rbeaumon,
I used DVE via my HDMI DVD player (Panny DVD-S97) to adjust my horizontal center. Now that I think about that, though, if the DVD player is pixel cropping, I could have adjusted the picture inappropriately I suppose. That shouldn't be more than a few pixels off, though. Any thoughts? I think the Avia calibration disk has a pattern for judging pixel cropping, but I don't have Avia so someone else can chime in on that.

I've also noticed in the SM that there is a setting called "TESTPAT", which has a ton of test patterns to judge adjustment. I just checked out some of them to see what it was all about - there is everything from screens just showing a particular primary color to to others showing grids of particular colors (which would be useful for checking horiz adjustment) to gray scales to others. After about 45 different screens, I wasn't seeing anything new so I went back to the original setting. You can get to those by entering the SM, press the down arrow until you get into the ADJUST MODE screen, go down to the LCD DRIVE item, press the right arrow to enter that screen, and TESTPAT is the first option. Pressing the right arrow will cycle through the different test patterns.

As for needing different adjustments for HD vs. SD, that sounds like the SD tuner or the HD tuner is off. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but there are separate tuners for SD and HD material, right? There has to be independent settings for each such as horizontal adjustments, but I don't know where those might be. Also, when you are in the TESTPAT section of the SM, you can change inputs sending info to the TV. I'm not sure what your equipment is like, but what I would do is the following:

Select an analog station with ANT A and an HD channel showing a different program using HDMI 1.
Then when in the TESTPAT screen, select one of the grid patterns.
Press the input button and see if the grid pattern changes as you cycle through SD and HD stations "behind the scenes".

You won't be able to see the station that you are tuned into, but you'll be able to hear it. My grid pattern didn't change when I changed inputs, but I haven't noticed one of my tuners being off either. This certainly might not work because I don't know that the test pattern has anything to do with which tuner is selected. Give it a try and see if your test patterns change. This might tell you if one of the tuners is off.

Alternatively, if you are using a set top box, maybe one of its tuners is outputting a shifted image. Can you adjust horizontal output through it? What equipment do you have?

One more idea, if you have an upconverting DVD player, you could independently send the TV a 480i, 480p, 720p, or 1080i image. By displaying the overscan test pattern in Digital Video Essentials, you could see how a 480i signal differs from a 720p or others. That might be more useful and wouldn't require you to be in the SM where things might get screwed up. However, you might not have an upscaling player, so this might not be possible. And if the DVD player is pixel cropping, you won't get an absolutely perfect idea about what is going on. You should easily be able to see a difference if you are 3/4'' off, though.

america,

The screen repair is via Hitachi authorized service center. I have the exact same problem w/ the screen as you indicate.

Does anyone else have this problem? What is your manufacture month/year?

The screen warranty is only 30 days? Is that the inner screen or outer protective layer? If the INNER screen warranty is only 30 days.. that's rediculous!

michael

Originally posted by scmguru
america,

The screen repair is via Hitachi authorized service center. I have the exact same problem w/ the screen as you indicate.

Does anyone else have this problem? What is your manufacture month/year?

The screen warranty is only 30 days? Is that the inner screen or outer protective layer? If the INNER screen warranty is only 30 days.. that's rediculous!

michael
scmguru,
Which part of the problem do you have? Hair/lint on screen or blotches? I also have the blotches on the screen, but only when the TV is first turned on. They fade and eventually disappear after about 30 min or so. Anyone else have the blotches disappear?

I also have the green bleed/push on two areas of the screen. As I've posted here before, I've had 3 units and all have had this to some extent. My current unit has it, but it's very minor. Strangely, its towards the right side of the screen, but not in the corner. It looks like the tint isn't adjusted properly in that part of the screen more than anything else. So far I've adjusted the tint about 5 toward the red and descreased the green color in the color decoding section to 48%. This has reduced the effect substantially, but it's still there. I've also got this effect in the bottom left corner. Both are not very bad at all, but I notice them. The wife can't see them, but that's another story.

One other thing, how is everyone making color/tint/brightness/etc. adjustments for their cable connections? I know some people have reported that HDNet runs the SMPTE (sp?) color pattern sometimes, but Comcast doesn't carry HDNet. Anyone found anything else for color adjustment?

About a month ago I thought I was sold on the vx915 series from Hitachi.
The New Sony's XF and XS were not out yet....at least on the floor.

I spent a couple hours yesterday deciding on Furniture, and going nuts between the Hit 60Vx915 and the Sony 60WF955. Wife was with me, so I was concentrating on Furniture. The pure cosmetics of the Hitachi done me in. A Perfect fit in a wall unit, filling all four corners sitting on a 65 inch console. Yesterday, they had a concert on, and the scenes were all pretty dark.

So, today I went back to put down a deposit. Curious, I went over to look at the Set. NFL game was on. I noted the sky was Green, not blue, like on all the other sets in the store. I had salesman get remote and we tried real hard to get the green out....NADA. The 50VX915 was a little better, but not much; and it looked dark to me on the football game. Even the step down Hitachi's looked more natural.

Meanwhile, the Sony XF and XS TV's just "Jumped out at me".

So, I backed out on the Hitachi and got the Sony. The Green Screen and having read about several of you going thru 3 sets just scared me off. I saved some bucks too.

I really wanted that TV to work for me, but just could not do it with the risk of PQ.

By the way, in all my searches, even tho I bought the Sony LCD, I think the Samsung 63 series DLP has the best pic. I never see rainbows. But...the chassis of the Samsungs really is a turn off to me.

scmguru,

I explained to the tech about my issue with the stains on the inner screen. He told me that the screen had a 30 day warranty on it. I took it like it was the inner screen. I don't know though. I am going to call them back tomorrow if I get a chance and see if I can get them to fix it. If I have to wait 5 weeks to get it repaired then I will just have to wait. I can't see it unless I lower my viewing angle.

These tvs have run my life for the last month and I am getting tired of it. I just want to enjoy it. Just as long as it gets fixed I am ok with it. I don't want to send it back for another set because of the other issues people are having with green bleed and tilt. My PQ is good. My screen just needs to be replaced.

Originally posted by mikmax1
So, today I went back to put down a deposit. Curious, I went over to look at the Set. NFL game was on. I noted the sky was Green, not blue, like on all the other sets in the store. I had salesman get remote and we tried real hard to get the green out....NADA. The 50VX915 was a little better, but not much; and it looked dark to me on the football game. Even the step down Hitachi's looked more natural.

Sounds like the blue component cable was lose. Happened to me once watching a baseball game. Turns out my cat got behind my set and loosened one of the wires.

azran,

1st tv- hair/lint
3rd tv (current) blotches.

I was watching this evening and they're really bad tonight.. quite odd.

america-

My problem is, my viewing angle (sitting up on my couch) is perfect for seeing the blotches. Picture quality other than thas is great. I'll keep my fingers crossed on the inner screen AND I'm definitely going with an extended warranty if I keep it.

Originally posted by ad10ad
Sounds like the blue component cable was lose. Happened to me once watching a baseball game. Turns out my cat got behind my set and loosened one of the wires.
I was wondering about that, but he did say that both the 60vx915 and the 50vx915 exhibited a similar problem with too much green. It is possible that the distribution module sending the signals to all of the TVs in the store may be having a problem. But this sounds exactly like the problem we have experienced with the 60vx915.

Our first day auditioning the 60vx915 with a DVD and it looked quite good. We came back a week later to find the 60vx915 on a new stand and a horrible green problem. Salespeople in the store insist that the cabling is fine, yet the rest of the TVs in the room didn't exhibit this problem. Even when a DVD player was attached via component cables directly to the 60vx915, the greenish cast still was there.

We were leaning towards the 50vx915 at that time, even with the extra cost over the 50vs810, but now my wife and I are hesitant towards the Hitachi LCDs in general.

Michael

Update: More spots are showing up.. Now I've got a spotting/blob pattern on the lower right hand side of the screen as well.

I've attached a picture. My TV is on the Hitachi stand which is on about a 6" elevated platform. I can plainly see these at eye level from our couch 11' away.

Funny thing is.. if I stand in front of the TV or stand up in front of my couch.. they are not really as visible.

This is just so bizarre..

:confused:

Every once in a while I have to come back to this thread and see whats going on, see what problems people are having. Same ol stuff!

So I have to chime in and let all those people in the market for a new tv and we're wowed by this set when they first saw it at the store that this tv kicks. All these post are about the bad, some of the problems are just inexcusable but you don't hear all the happy costumers out there, which i am one of. I can't stress enough if your at a store and the only TV that is giving you a green sky is this one go to a different store! That thing shouldn't even be out on the floor! This tv is amazing, i still go back and check out other tv's and i'm still waiting to see one that even comes close to this one. All these problems people are having are manufacturing defects, you return it and get a new one. It's a pain and shouldn't be this hard but you're going to run into problems with any of these new technologies. I've had mine for two months and haven't seen any greenish problems, hair spots, blobs, dead pixels, green skies, etc........obviously it's not perfect but it is as close we're going to get.

So all you people in the market, just remember this thread is we're people tend to state problems and get help then brag about this awesome tv.

I'd love to not have problems. I just want Hitachi to get me one w/o all these issues. I spent 4k on this set and the ones I have received were a mess. I had a 3500 Panasonic plasma that has been flawless.

Outside of that, I'll agree, the picture is spectacular, if it wasn't I wouldn't even deal with this mess and I'd get another TV. It's ALMOST good enough to make me forget about the problems I'm having.

I'll say it again. I REALLY want this to work out. I just want to see if my situation is unique (and I should try again) or if I should give up.

My wife and I like the vs810 and we are on our 4th unit within the last 2 weeks. They all seem to have this green problem, the first 3 were manufacured in September and the fourth, delivered today, was manufactured in October 2004.

I have to admit that Circuit City has been excellent in their efforts in trying to resolve the issue, I am starting to feel bad making them go through all the hastles of free delivery etc... for what seems to be a Hitachi problem. All 4 tvs have had a greenish color at the bottom left moving up 2/3 of the screen and also on the right hand side of the screen though not as bad. The greenish color is visible when the background color is either white or grey. Other than that the tv is excellent.

I had a CC tech look at my second set and he concluded it was dirt on the sealed light engine. Two sets later I seem to think it is either some kind of mechnical adjustment or a manufacuring defect with the screen. I have tried tweaking all the LCD adjustments in the SM but nothing seems to help.

I am getting another tech to take a look at this fourth unit, and if he has no suggestions I am still going to keep it. You just get used to these type of things and it is not as bad as it really sounds, especially after I fired up my 4 year old 53" Sony and was able to compare the pictures side by side.

Originally posted by scmguru
azran,

1st tv- hair/lint
3rd tv (current) blotches.

I was watching this evening and they're really bad tonight.. quite odd.
scmguru,
So your blotches are permanent in the sense that they don't fade over time and eventually disappear? I've had the blotches on at least 2 of the 3 units I've had, but they go away after ~30 min on both of them. Otherwise, this would be really annoying.

Also, have you adjusted the color for your cable connection by basically copying the settings assigned by a calibration disk on your DVD player? Thanks.

Originally posted by scmguru
azran,

1st tv- hair/lint
3rd tv (current) blotches.

I was watching this evening and they're really bad tonight.. quite odd.

Is it possible that they're temperature dependent? It's getting cooler out these days (at least in my part of the country) so you may be seeing them more if they are affected by temperature. It would also suggest that they'd go away as the TV warms up.

There was an issue like this on the Samsung thread. Sounded like layers of the screen touching each other with changes in temperature. Not sure if they ever got it resolved, but it doesn't show up on the board as much lately so presumably they did. Might want to look into that if it's similar.

DC

I just turned on the set and I see no blotches ( maybe a very faint outline of one).. I'll see if I can figure out how long it takes them to show up.

Looks like about 1:30-2 hours..

Originally posted by mhfnet
wupshaw, have you been able to get a computer display to exactly fit the screen? Has anyone else been successful in hooking up a computer to the HDMI input? This is the last issue to resolve before I take the plunge.

Not yet - I haven't really been trying much though - been distracted by Halo 2 :D

Anyways - if I get it working properly, I'll let you know.

Halo2 + 60VS810= Unbelievable gaming experience.. Not only is Halo2 probably one of the best games ever.. on a 60 inch set.. it's even better.

Wupshaw, when you have your xbox connected to your vs810, are you using component? If so, does it list the resolution (when you hit info on the remote) as 480i?

Originally posted by scmguru
Update: More spots are showing up.. Now I've got a spotting/blob pattern on the lower right hand side of the screen as well.

I've attached a picture. My TV is on the Hitachi stand which is on about a 6" elevated platform. I can plainly see these at eye level from our couch 11' away.

Funny thing is.. if I stand in front of the TV or stand up in front of my couch.. they are not really as visible.

This is just so bizarre..

:confused:

Just saw your latest pictures, this is on the lower right?

My problem is with the lower left, I talked to the service companyyesterday and the girl told me they were waiting for prices from Hitachi at which point I said, and that affects me how? ITS brand new and under warranty, if I have not heard back, I will be using my letter-writing skills and will post a copy on here.

I see your post about HALO2. The bad news is my wife has taken away
our oldest's Xbox until after Christmas because of his marks.
This happened last Monday, and he got his Halo2 on Tuesday (only because he pre-bought it)
I do want to see it as well.

Originally posted by scmguru
I just turned on the set and I see no blotches ( maybe a very faint outline of one).. I'll see if I can figure out how long it takes them to show up.

Looks like about 1:30-2 hours..
scmguru,
This is strange - your blotches show up over time and mine go away over time. What happens with everyone else's blotches, if you get any?

Originally posted by scmguru
Halo2 + 60VS810= Unbelievable gaming experience.. Not only is Halo2 probably one of the best games ever.. on a 60 inch set.. it's even better.

Wupshaw, when you have your xbox connected to your vs810, are you using component? If so, does it list the resolution (when you hit info on the remote) as 480i?

I am and it comes up as 480p once the game starts (but not in the control panel for the xbox). You need to go into the control panel and make sure you set your x-box for widescreen and enable 480p.

All I can say is
X-box, 50vs810 (even with the water stain problem I have with set #3), Halo2, dolby 5.1 with an SVS sub...OHMY.

AD

BTW, Wupshaw & Scmguru, anytime you guys want to play online, send me an invite. GT: MisterSark (picked after I watched season 2 of alias in the course of a single week).

Netranger-

It started on the lower left (initial post w/ picture) and now it is both left and right side (2nd post w/ picture) and occaisionally at the bottom in the lower middle in a straightish line of 3-4 blobs.

One thing I am VERY concerned about is the Hitachi warranty states there is only 30 day warranty on the screen.

I've spoken with Hitachi customer relations (one step above the support #).. We'll see where it goes..

I am still waiting for the part ordered 11/3 to arrive at the service center..

The November 22nd return date is approaching.. This sucks..

Originally posted by azran
scmguru,
This is strange - your blotches show up over time and mine go away over time. What happens with everyone else's blotches, if you get any?

I noticed them with set # 3 after a few days, although they may have been there all along...I just didn't watch much TV the first few days I had the new set. I eventually put the screen wipe on to see if I had any green bleed with set #3 (I didn't), and I noticed the blotches.

They are there when I turn the set on, and take at least 1-1.5 hours to go away. Its pretty distracting. Also, there seem to be more now than when I first noticed them. It looks like condensation on the lense or lamp or something. Very odd.

I think someone here posted that they shook their set and they went away. I'll see if I can find the post. I also think some Samsung DLP owners reported a similar problem.

I'll try to post a picture tomorrow.

I was wondering if anyone has found a source for the VS810 replacement lamps. I'd like to pick up a spare for my 60-incher just to have it on hand for that eventual replacement. The Hitachi website lists a replacement for the 50VS810 but none of the other VS810 or VX915 series of LCD RPTVs. Here's the link:

http://hitachi.smartermall.com/searchresults.asp?search_id=13

Hitachi's price is $239.00 plus S&H.

CaptainVideo,

I believe they are the same lamp (per my tech). He could be wrong but I'd call hitachi and check

Regards,

Michael

Bye everyone.. I've given up. After waiting for parts for 2 weeks, I missed the repair guy because he couldn't find our name on the front board.. even though it is there. He told me now he'll have to come back later next week.

That was it.. I'm done. I shouldn't have to spend this much time mucking around with a TV. So, back it goes for good on Saturday. I'll be sad to see it go, but I'll keep lurking around and maybe in a couple of months.. Hitachi will get these issues ironed out.

Its too bad.. the picture (other than the blobs) was fabulous..

Originally posted by scmguru
Bye everyone.. I've given up. After waiting for parts for 2 weeks, I missed the repair guy because he couldn't find our name on the front board.. even though it is there. He told me now he'll have to come back later next week.

That was it.. I'm done. I shouldn't have to spend this much time mucking around with a TV. So, back it goes for good on Saturday. I'll be sad to see it go, but I'll keep lurking around and maybe in a couple of months.. Hitachi will get these issues ironed out.

Its too bad.. the picture (other than the blobs) was fabulous..
I am sorry to hear about your frustrations. But after experiencing some of the problems reported on AVS with the vs810 and vx915 in the stores, I would say that I completely agree with your assessment about the Hitachi LCDs.

While I find most LCD RPTVs lacking with regards to black and shadow detail, the vs810 and the vx915 actually do a pretty good job. If it weren't for the QC issues, I think our family would opt for one of the Hitachi LCDs. The vs810 and the vs915 are probably the only RPTVs that my family can agree on.

Michael

Mine is going back to. I called HH Gregg to see what I should do about the blobs. Should they send me another tv or should someone come out and look at it. While on the phone with a salesman I overheard someone tell him I should make like a tree and leave. I even asked the salesman if that is what was said. He laughed and said yes. Well, that is what I did. Then the manager tries to call me a lier. I just come and get the tv. The funny thing is I came in the next day and the blobs are gone. Been gone for 2 days now. I am like wtf?!?

I guess I will either go to CC 60 miles away and get another VS810 or I will run to my local BB and maybe pic up the Sony 60xs955 or try the JVC again. I don't know. I do like the Hitachi, but I can get the Sony for alot less I think. Decisions, decisions.

Really feel bad for those having problems. I have had my 50VX915 for a little over 3 weeks and not one problem. Knock on wood. This set just knocks me out. I played with Avia a little but really haven't strayed far from the factory settings. The biggest disappointment is the lack of HD. I will probably jump to Voom after Christmas.

I'm so sorry scmguru, i've read all about your problems and this just isn't fair! As much as I love my TV and have great luck with mine I commend you for staying with it this long. It just goes to show how good this TV can be if people are willing to endure that much trouble to get it to work.
I believe this is the best RP out there, i guess if you aren't lucky enough to find one it's just not worth it. I think this is a great example for people not to buy this or any new technology on the Internet. I bought mine from C.C. and they were amazing. I've always been a BB person but after this purchase i've switched.
I hope Hitachi can figured out these QC problems cause they have an absolute winner in my book otherwise. Good luck with your Sony!

Ditto the previous 2 posts. I have had my 50vs810 for about a month now with no problems...its a great set.

Hey all,
First time posting, but been reading this forum forever. I finally pulled the trigger on a 50vx915. I just wanted to get some idea if I should have gotten more of a discount, or if what I paid is about right. With tax and delivery, I paid a little under 1k off the MSRP.

Should I berate my bargaining skills?

The only reason I want a VX915 over the VS810 is because the of reduce glare of the screen protector. There is a major premium ($800 on a 60") to upgrade to a VX915 so I investigated the cost of having the screen protector replaced on a VX810 with one from a VX915. The Hitachi Service Center didn't have a price yet on a VX915 screen protector but the one on a VS810 is $529. It is expensive because the screen protector is an integral part of case frame surrounding the screen which has to be replaced as a unit. I can only assume that the VX915 is only going to be even more expensive. The service center also wants about another $150 labor to come out to replace it. All in all it is not worth it.

Another interesting tidbit is that I asked the Service Center person to check if there have been any service problem notices on the VS810 or VX915 units and he said there was nothing posted. This tells me that Hitachi has not yet acknowledge that there is a widespread problem with the issues like the green hue and screen blob that people have been posting.

Have had my vs810 for 2 weeks now. No major problems, maybe we got a better shipment up here in Canada. Picture is great and wife is a convert. I bought the 50" after telling her that I would get nothing bigger than a 42". Only complaints are the glare and the SSE but I can live with both. HD broadcasts are awesome.
Anybody notice that to get closed captions the close caption choice should be set to "close caption off"

Originally posted by mhfnet
The only reason I want a VX915 over the VS810 is because the of reduce glare of the screen protector.
Having auditioned a vx915 half dozen times and the vs810 more times than I care to remember, I don't think that the vx915 screen is night and day better than the vs810 screen. Both are reflective to some degree, with the vx915 screen being a little less greenish compared to the vs810 screen.

Michael

Originally posted by Michael Mohrmann
Having auditioned a vx915 half dozen times and the vs810 more times than I care to remember, I don't think that the vx915 screen is night and day better than the vs810 screen. Both are reflective to some degree, with the vx915 screen being a little less greenish compared to the vs810 screen.

Michael


Michael,

I agree, the screens may not be night and day better,but the vx915 screen is less reflective which made me get the 50vx915 over the 50vs810.Also the upgrade to the 50vx915 was $300.00 from a local dealer.For me the extra's you get was worth the extra $'s.I think it wasn't a bad price at $38xx.Since this is my first RPTV I'm a newbie but learning,this site is great and helped me out alot,glad I found it.


Also it's too bad that people are having problems with there TV,
when you spend this much money on a TV one would think it should
be flawless,or at least close too it.

Originally posted by Hydersaab
Hey all,
First time posting, but been reading this forum forever. I finally pulled the trigger on a 50vx915. I just wanted to get some idea if I should have gotten more of a discount, or if what I paid is about right. With tax and delivery, I paid a little under 1k off the MSRP.

Should I berate my bargaining skills?

No, I think you did great. Where do you live?
Matt

well wish me luck, my first set is going back today on acccount of green bleed in bottom corners mostly on the left.it may not be as prodominant as some of the other sets I've seen here. It is faint but now that I know its there its all I see. Hopefully my next set is better as I love the tv. I will post the oucome of this second set. Bye for now.