Hitachi VS810 Owner's Thread - Page 6

Nice pix Wupshaw.

Switching topics, Has anyone tried adjusting their settings to try to minimize the SSE? I spent some time tonight and found I was able to reduce the SSE somewhat by raising the brightness and contrast a little bit.

I upped the contrast to 48% and the brightness to 56% (I initially thought lowering the brightness would help, but raising it actually seemed better). Black enhancement at High helped a bit more, but I found the Picture too dark at that point, so I left it at medium.

I found if I raised contrast and brightness even more, it would help SSE further, but with PQ being sacrificed.

I know Maxim5 was trying similar tweaking. Does anyone have any similar experiences?

I have the same experience. Reducing brightness makes SSE more prominent to me, but increasing helps a little. I also found that SSE less prominent when my eyes are below middle of the screen, at the level of the bottom screen edge. And this is not because of the brightness decrease, I do compensate for this. Still I see some SSE

I also noticed some green tint in the low corners of the screen...

Thanks. Why do you prefer the darker screen of the 915? Does it minimize SSE? Does CC carry the 915s? Finally, could you share with me your opinion on the cable card insert? I've read in this forum that cable cards are currently not "two way" or "interactive" (I have Comcast ). Thanks!!

The darker screen minimizes glare more. I have not seen the 915 yet but the Hitachi dealer has and said that it significantly reduced glare which is important to me because I have 5 windows in the room where the tv will go. On top of that, it looks killer. I don't know if the darker screen will have any effect on SSE. The cable card is kool but you will lose the program guide if you have cable. I don't know how it will effect satellite tv. I have time warner and the cable card costs $1.75 per month instead of $7.95 for the set top box. The upside of having a cable card slot is that future cards will be interactive. The firewire connections are a big deal because of the ease of connecting to other equipment that have firewire (eliminates a bunch of wires). CC will not carry the 915, only select Hitachi dealers will.

How long will it take for the 60" 915 to hit the market?

The Director's series is available through Cambridge Soundworks in the Boston/Southern NH area according to Hitachi.

I asked them a two part question; where is the Director's series available in my area and when is the 915 being released. The response above is all I got. I guess it is 1 question per form. I will ask them about availability today.

Just called C.C and my 60" VS810 just got in today! I'm having it delievered on Monday(out of town this weekend.) I'll be sure to post my first impressions and hopefully some pictures early next week. It's killing me to leave it but i thought people should know that the tv is hitting stores now.

Here is Hitachi's response re: the vx915...

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Thank you for visiting the Hitachi website and for your inquiry.

That television was slated for release in September, so it should be available shortly.

If you need any other assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.
------------------------------

That's vague. I will have to talk to my local dealer to get an exact date. Nice to know the 60" vs810 is out. I would like to see the vx915 before deciding on a 60" vs810. Can't wait to hear your impressions of the 60" 810 stratman22!

Is the VX915 even on Hitachi's web page? I couldn't find it; only the 810s and the 715s. Did I miss something? I would think if it was supposed to be out last month, it'd be on the web.

The models don't appear on Hitachi's LCD page yet (I don't know why). I found out about them from a press release describing the Cineform line show this summer and from reading the board. There is a reference to the Director's series in the deep black screen animation inside the technology advantage section of the Hitachi LCD page.

Here is the section of the press release from 6/04:
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ULTRAVISION DIGITAL CINEFORM DIRECTOR'S SERIES VX915

Adding Hitachi's new Learning AV NET III, simple remote, Deep-Black Anti-Reflective Shield and dual IEEE 1394 interfaces, the Director's Series VX915 CineForm sets also feature a High Gloss Black with Black Trim cabinet in 50-inch, 60-inch and 70-inch screen sizes.
Shipping in Q3, the 50VX915 and 60VX915 will retail for $ 4,699.99 and $5,499.99 respectively. The 70VX915 ships in Q4 retailing for $7,999.99.
------------------------------

It is quite a jump in price from the 810 to the 915 so I would like to see the 915 before deciding.

Agree. Look forward to seeing what you find out re vx915 availability/release. Also congrats Stratman22 on your purchase. Looking forward to your review of the 60vs810. Meanwhile, I'll see what I can find out in my area re the avail of the 60" 810s and 915s. Must admit that Hitachi is making it far too difficult to get information about exactly where/when these things can be viewed/purchased. They don't appear to be as marketing oriented as some of their competitors. Thats too bad.

I found that odd also. However, the manaul did show up for download a couple of weeks ago.

Billb

Can you post the link? Couldn't find it

Here's the link to the owner's manual page. Enter the model number in the pop-up to get to the download. It is about 6 MB.

http://hitachi.us/tv/resource/prodsu...nmanuals.shtml

Thanks for the link.

I now have a problem with my 810 that I can't figure out (about to call Hitachi).

I have had my 810 for 3 weeks. Today a new problem reared its head. When the TV is showing a 480i signal, there is only very faint red color. Its as if the component cable is loose, but it isnt.

If I switch to a 480p, 720p, or 1080i signal, the picture is fine. The problem was replicated with my DVD player and cable box. With SD cable channels, problem occurs; with HD--picture is fine. With my DVD, normal 480p is fine; if I switch off progressive scan, problem occurs.
Since this just occurred after 3 weeks, I can't imagine something is all of a sudden set wrong.

Any suggestions? If I can get any insight from Hitachi, I'll post it here.

I was planning on exchanging the set anyway tomorrow, in light of the green push/bleed I posted about earlier.

The local Hitachi dealer here quoted me less than $4K for the 50" 915. CC has the 810 for $38xx. Of course, CC sometimes has those gift cards things.

Well....nevermind what I said about 60vs810 availability. Purchased one from CC this evening. Considered waiting to see 60vx915...but quite frankly, not comfortable spending any more money. When you add the cost of the set, plus the 4 year warranty, stand, etc. it adds up! BTW, my CC didn't have the model SPF60 Hitachi stand that goes with it. Anybody know of another source? The set is sched for delivery next weekend. Will provide feedback to the forum.

In case no one has seen it yet: Hitachi Director's Series - initial impressions

I finally took the plunge last night after vacillating between the 50vs810 and the Mits WD-52725. Picked up the 50vs810 at the local CC and thought a very good deal on it. To make a long story short, after negotiating with the store manager, I got the unit for about $750 off MSRP.

Initial reaction to the set is excellent. Granted, I haven't done any adjustment to the set other than turning down contrast from the out-of-the-box of 100%.

- HD via OTA rabbit ear was great. Nemo on DVD was out of this world!

- Xbox (Star Wars Battlefront and ESPN NFL2K5) was really nice. No lag or motion artifacts.

- Photo input from Canon S400 was slow in painting the screen.

- DirecTV Tivo (SD) was much better than I had expected (although I had low expectations). This was probably the most pleasant surprise for me. Better SD than I had seen in the stores for any set (LCD or DLP).

I have the AVIA disc and will do a calibration after the bulb has some time to burn in. Right now, I notice a slight green/yellow push to the picture and I hope I can calibrate it out.

Blacks are black on this set. It really is very nice and I don't feel it needs to improve at all. Without calibration, I feel that there is some loss of details in dark scenes however.

As far as SSE goes, I do notice it in bright scenes at my normal viewing distance of about 10 ft. However, after just a few minutes of watching, I completely forgot about it and had to think about looking for it at the end of the DVD session. I think SSE shouldn't be a problem long term for my viewing. Screen door effect is non-existent beyond a couple of feet.

Overall, the set is just absolutely beautiful. Definitely a very high Wife Acceptance/Approval Factor! We are looking for stands today as the set is sitting on the floor right now.

I will post more reviews and pictures in the near future.

There is no need to let the bulb burn in on these or any other bulb driven set. so go ahead and do it now.
Before you start, plug in these settings to get you close so you don't have to make gigantic adjustments. I copied a PM from someone here that i replied to. I won't mention names but he was a big help and can come forward if he wants to , to say it was him. He calibrated with Avia and i calibrated my buddies with DVE. The settings were almost identical between the two.

WOW! I was over there till 9:00 PM. The set is amazing! Your settings were very close to what i ended up with using DVE. DVE has some patterns that show aspect ratios of 1.78, 1.85 etc. They show a circle in the center of the screen and some cross hatch patterns in small boxes along with some small print letters (words actually, just can't remeber what they say) this is really usefull when setting the sharpness control. At the 63% setting you used, these patterns showed to much sharpness. I dropped the sharpness all the way down to 0% and the text was perfectly clear and all the Jaggies disappeared from the cicle and cross hatch pattern. I set it up in Daytime mode, Natural color mode, Sharpness 0,Color temp-high,contr+brt are within 3% of your settings(forgot to write them down) colr was at 40% and i did have to adjust the tint but i can't remeber which way i had to go. I'm heading back over there later today to check it all again. I'm not familiar with AVIA as i have never used it before. DVE comes with a color filter to look through when setting colors. On sharpness,
Set it all the way down to 0%, find a pattern on AVIA with some small text or intricate patterns, then bump it up until it starts introducing false edges, ringins etc. then back off til they disappear. Hope this helps. I'll try to let you know where my tint setting ended up when i head back over. GREAT SET, and the black levels are very acceptible.

By the way, contrast was around 50% and brightness was around 47%. Tint was skewed a couple of notches towards red, as best i can recall. Hope this helps you out and enjoy your set!

I would almost buy this set today, but I don't like the reflections from the glass screen.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the 915. But I'm worried it will be out of my price range...

Packfan, I know how you feel. But this might perk you up. The local Hitachi dealer quoted me a price on the 50" 915 that was ~$700 less than MSRP and that was ~$200 more than price of the 50" 810 at CC. For $200, it is a no brainer for me. I don't know what size you are looking for but here are the MSRPs from the Hitachi site.

"The 50VS810 and 60VS810 ship in Q3 and will retail for $3,999.99 and $4,699.99, respectively. The
70VS810 ships in Q4 retailing for $6,999.99.

ULTRAVISION DIGITAL CINEFORM DIRECTOR'S SERIES VX915
Adding Hitachi's new Learning AV NET III, simple remote, Deep-Black Anti-Reflective Shield and dual IEEE
1394 interfaces, the Director's Series VX915 CineForm sets also feature a High Gloss Black with Black Trim
cabinet in 50-inch, 60-inch and 70-inch screen sizes.

Shipping in Q3, the 50VX915 and 60VX915 will retail for $ 4,699.99 and $5,499.99 respectively. The
70VX915 ships in Q4 retailing for $7,999.99."

By the way is Mike McKenzie still with the Packers? He was a great player for Memphis.

Well, if the 60VX915 can be had somewhere below $4500, I might consider it. If it is higher than that, I can't see doing it, unfortunately...

McKenzie is still with the team, but is "injured". There is speculation that he is overstating his injury so that he can stick it to the team and still get a paycheck...

I wonder where in Milwaukee (and when) I'll be able to see a 915...

pittdog1, thanks for the settings. I will give it a shot as a starting point.

My local Director Series dealer expects 3 60vs915s in their warehouse in a couple of weeks and nine the first week of November. He said it is most likely to be considered a special order item. The set is going to be sold at MSRP, $5,499, ouch! Negotiating down from MSRP may be difficult with this dealer, especially if they consider it a special order product. The vs810 is looking like a viable option based on price. Given the small number of differences between the two sets, the price jump from the 810 to 915 is steep.

Call 1-800-HITACHI to get name of dealer close to you that sells the Director's Series.

Owners of the VS810:

How are reflections on this set if you have windows opposite the TV?

I just called and there is nowhere in Wisconsin that carries the Directors Series...