Any comments on Hitachi 57SWX20B? - Page 2  

16x9 normal or standard is best for anamophic DVD's

the 16x9 zoom serves to chop off the small amount of black bars atop and on bottom when watching extremly wide filmed movies even wider than 16x9 (1.78:1).

Of coarse you know though... Those black bars are good for you.

I use 16X9 normal and 4:3 normal only.... You can keep the rest. I am a "true aspect ratio" type of guy. I don't like anything stretched or chopped.

Oops forgot...

ALL MODEL HITACHI'S HAVE A DVI INPUT...!

It appears all 20B series TV's other than the GWX have 1 DVI/HDCP input.

Now I'm confused, which is not rare :)

Let's use Toshiba as a comparison:
Anamorphic DVD = Full, What is full on the Hitachi? 16:9 Zoom?
Non-anamorpic WS programming = TW2, Which would be what on Hitachi?
16:9 Standard
4:3 programming = TW1, I think this is 4:3 Expanded for Hitachi.

Does this make sense?

Thanks

OK, I am also confused, but differently! Also not a rarity. Could somebody post the different models from top to bottom (or bottom to top) with some idea of pricing differences and features differences? Just pick a size, we can extrapolate from that (however 57" would be nice since that's what I'm looking at :))

Thanks.

I don't think they went that far. I read both reviews and the reviewer stated that the Elite was one of two sets (he didn't mention the other, although I think he was referring to the Loewe Aconda) that he would consider the "King of the Hill".

The reviewer stated that the Elite was near perfect in the image tests and as a result had a very impressive image. He also stated that its capability with regular cable was "very good and better than most, if not all, of the competition." Which is what you would expect considering Pioneer's line doubler.

Conclusion... and I quote, "While the 520HD commands a high price, you do, in most respects get what you pay for. Looks, build quality, line doubler, resolution, blacks, grayscale tracking, and conveniences are all at the very top of what's available in a 7 inch tube RPTV... in addition, Pioneer's factory set up is probably as good as I've seen in a RPTV."

The Hitachi reviewed needed significant adjustments OTB but ended up being very nice according to the other review. Hitachi replied that they have improved the settings OTB after the review.

If I had the money, it would be spent on an Elite... if not, it would be on a Hitachi or non-elite Pioneer (if I watched mostly cable or satelite as the non-elite Pioneer has the same line doubler as the Elite).

squigly1 Why do you keep saying the GWX has no DVI? Here is a link to Hitachi's site that says it does. What is you source of info?


http://www.hitachi.ca/dig_med/con/di...Z52O3YS4D.html

Ok,

about the stretch modes..

16X9 normal is the old "full" mode. It does not zoom, crop, or stretch anything beyond the normal 16X9 anamorphic specs.

It is what should be used to watch DVD's, with the dvd player set to 16X9 display output.

Some DVD's that are older and do not support anamorphic 16X9 outputs, the 16X9 Zoom mode can be used to fill the screen more apropriately.

ALso, for very wide movies, the 16X9 mode can chop off the small bars on top and bottom. (like 2.35:1)

I would recomend using the 16X9 normal or standard mode for DVD viewing.

hitachi will come out with a new apple quick time video that has better explanation of the new modes, like the old ones had on thier web site.

here's the old link:
http://www.hitachi.com/tv/discover/t...ch_ad_05.shtml

Not that helpful since the info has changed. Update to new models should be soon.

I thought that they were indeed talking about the SWX Hitachi.

The Lowe Aconda is a 38" Tube, so I doubt they were talking about that when the topic was projection tv's.

Also, in the same issue the SWX was given the "Best Buy award" in the middle upper price tier for projection tv's.

TPV magazine is pretty honest and thorough with thier tests and reviews, so that alone says alot for the Hitachi.

Here is a quote from TPV for the Hitachi:

"How Does It Look?

This set is a sleeper. While it didn’t get off to a good start, it finished like a champ, thoroughly trouncing my tweaked Toshiba TW56, which itself is no slouch and has quite a cult following. High definition (particularly off-the-air) nearly always looks good, but on the Hitachi, it looks outstanding. Even off-the-air (non-HD but upconverted by the station) DTV commercials occasionally looked as good as the best DVDs. Satellite through the S-video inputs was also surprisingly good. With other than 1080i sources, you can select either 1080i or 540p in the user menu. I always preferred 540p, though differences between it and 1080i were best seen in test pat-terns. Switching on BLACK EXPANSION then increasing the BRIGHTNESS control a tad made Shrek look better by increasing apparent contrast. You may or may not like the effect. I generally used 18–20 on the CONTRAST control (slightly higher on high def). I ran some DVD playback tests comparing progressive scan vs. inter-laced mode. Progressive was often not significantly better (although color and black levels changed). Even artifacts in the opening scenes of Star Trek Insurrection (panning across the roofs of buildings) weren ’t improved by switching the DVD player to progressive. This indicates an excellent line doubler — far better than the first-generation Toshiba. DVD after DVD impressed me. Overall, the Hitachi 53SWX12B is an impressive looking set. It’s one of the two best I’ve seen so far. Beautifully saturated colors, excellent dark grays and blacks, razor-sharp focus, and high undistorted light output are all standouts. Highly recommended— once calibrated, that is. "

Donm, You are correct and I have actually started a new thread with info I have received straight from Hitachi Canda.

For reference, this is the link I followed. Nowhere does it mention DVI
http://www.hitachi.com/tv/browse/pro...57gwx20b.shtml

The review you posted above was for the SWX12B, I thought we were talking about the new 57SWX20B, which was suppose to be a huge improvement over last year's model. Do you have the link to the review of the new model?

Nope

It's only been out a few weeks.

Takes time for them to get the model, review it, and get it to print.

That was a good basis for the PQ of the Hitachi SWX though, and, yes, in my opinion the new models are better than the old ones in many ways.

I have an old model (61SWX10B) and still love it though...

It has been calibrated to 6500K (more needed with last years model, mine was one of the first off the line and the out of box quality was no where near what the new ones I have seen have)

The geometry was also of out of the box, which we completly rebuilt (Thanks BOB L, any one looking for and ISF job in western MA I recomend Highly!) and adjusted overscan to about 3-4%, centered screen and re-initialized the magic focus. Made a big difference. Colors are excellent! Geometry is perfect too! Highly recomended.

I just saw a 51SWX20b at the local CC. Last year as I would shop for RPTV's I would compare each for 5 - 10 mins before I could detect the differences. They didn't have it turned on when I walked in, so I asked them to fire it up. A Panasonic was on one side and a new JVC on the other and one RPTV away was a new Sony 600. Once it came on, it was immediately apparent that the Hitachi was head & shoulders above the others. While the Sony was the closest, even while standing in front of it the Hitachi looked better from an angle. This was with HDTV input. The CC Rep agreed and said they had been selling at a very high rate. I expect I'll be getting a 57 inch version in the next few months.

I had the exact same eperience. Not just better, but as you said, "head and shoulders above"

Colors, focus, stand out brightness and light output, convergence, geometry, all near flawless for and out of the box projection tv. It was definitly head and shoulders above my old Hitachi in terms of out of box picture too.

Take a look again at the bottom of the inputs/outputs section. I think it was omitted on some pages before and have now been added. Seems they all have DVI.

Chris

Anyone know how to tweak/adjust the stretch modes on these? I loved last years 'smooth-wide'(I thought Hitachis stretches were clearly the best out there), but this years '4:3 expanded' doesn't seem to be as nearly good (more distortion at edges).

TIA,
Chris

One of the stretch modes is supposed to be the same spec as last years "smooth wide" I do not notice any differences.

I don't like anything stretched or chopped off though.... I tend not to use them.

I like that you can make the grey bars black in the user menu now, last years models (mine) I have to do it in the service menu under the "FLEX CONTROL"

I swear, it wasn't there when I was on the phone with Hitachi. Even the person on the phone saw that it wasn't there. I guess they added it after I alerted them.

Bottom line, all 20B 16:9 tv's have DVI.

Mfusik:
Not overly concerned about burn in?

Went to try and check one of th SWX models out but of course, Circuit City was remodeling and had removed all of their TVs and Audio King and Sears dont carry them :/

Was ready to pull the trigger on the new Sammy DLP but concerns about NTSC signals and availability have scared me a bit.

You're not loosing you're mind squigly1, it was not there before.

Just goes to show, do not trust everything you read, you must see it, touch it, then you can beleive it.

Don

Does anyone know if Circuit City or Sears is going to be carrying the Hitachi TWX line? They have SWX sets on the floor, but I'm interested to compare the TWX screen to an SWX model.

I can confirm that CC will carry the XWX line...

It looks like it is going to have "VirtualHD 2" (2cnd generation) which is improved upon from the current line and system.

I can't wait!!

Mfusick, what is "VirtualHD2"? The spec. sheet at Hitachi doesn't say anything about it

http://www.hitachi.com/tv/browse/pro...5xwx20b.shtml#

Am I missing something or do you have some inside information?

I'm really trying to decide between these two sets so I wish they would hurry up and get here.

Audio has always been more important to me and I thought that was bad. Video has a "newest greatest" every three minutes:)

Ken

FWIW, comparing the spec sheets on the SWX and TWX lines, the only difference I can detect is the upgraded "deep black anti-reflective shield" on the TWX versus the "Anti-reflective high-contrast shield" on the SWX.

The XWX will be an new Chassis with integrated tuner ect....
I believe it will have VirtualHD2.

We'll have to wait and see if I'm right. (I think I am)

I know many magazine reviews and editors lurk these forums, anyone planning on reviewing the new Hitachi SWX20B in an upcomming issue?

or better yet, the XWX model?