Hitachi VS810 Owner's Thread - Page 15

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..

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.

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

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

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.

Check out the following:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=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

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.

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

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.

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/showt...hreadid=463025

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

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

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!

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?

Azran

How do you access the SM?