Official Hitachi Plasma HDTV Thread - HDT52, HDT51, HDS52, HDF52 ... - Page 5

I am really confused.In seattle here and am told by video only that the hitachi rep told them the new 55hds52 were just being built and to not expect stock till november.Some of the post indicate the set is out.Can someone here verify the current status of this set.Thanks

I've seen the 55hdx62 in a store, so I would be surprised if the S model wasn't also available. I know the 42" S is - I saw it at CC.

I have talked to both video only and circuit city here and the set is still not available.I have been unable to see one on display.Can you to tell me were you have seen the set.Thanks

I have the 55HDT52 on preorder with VO in Portland. They've also told me that they just had an all hands meeting with Hitachi and was told as late as mid November. He said something about delays with the glass or something. I asked him, why are the F and S series hitting the streets then. Different glass? He had no answer. Now if the X is on the street, something is fishy. Supposedly VO is one of the biggest Hitachi dealers in the US (according to VO anyway). I don't know why the delay. I've also noticed that they still didn't have their shipment of the SXRD's yet either (last time I checked. Which was about a week ago.) I honestly believe they don't get the same respect as some of these other companies, even though they move lots of volume. Frustrated.

Question for owners of the 42HDT51. If you have seen the new 42HDS52, and/or the 42HDT52, I am wondering how you think the 42HDT51 compares in picture quality to these new sets?

The store where you saw the 55HDX62...was it mounted on the wall or sitting on a stand? I'm still trying to locate the stand for the new 55" models but I'm getting the same runaround you guys are getting about the TV. Except I already have my 55HDS52, got it from CC almost 2 weeks ago.

I talked to circuit city today and they just got one mounted for display and have a few in stock.I will try to go look tommorow.

The CC in Elk Grove/Laguna had the S model in both sizes - I saw them yesterday and talked to the salesman. I also saw the X model last week at a store here in Sacto.

Let's see . . . the 55 was on a stand on top of a bookcase right across from the register. I don't recall if it was a Hitachi stand or another type.

Thanks anwyays, I decided to just wall mount it. After repeated calls to Hitachi all they could tell me was that the status of the stand was "To Be Determined". That's nice. Normally it makes sense to release the stand at the same time as the TV so that you can actually use it.

Trackman:

At what store in Sacto did you see the 55HDX62?

Thanks,

JHellow

Any comments on the 42HDM12?

http://www.hitachi.us/tv/browse/plas.../42hdm12.shtml

Rumor has it that it will be available at a large retailer on Black Friday for a nice price.

The Home Theater Company - great place!

I saw the 55hds52 today and was a little disappointed.The blacks on this display were not as good as the othere sets on the wall.It looked a little out of focus.I am hoping it was just there feed or maybe just this set.Another store will have there display up next week so i think i will hold off a little more and wait to see.

looked at the HDS42 at CC. it looked pretty nice. it was directly below the panasonic 50U and looked basically the same. throw in the 2 HDMI and we have a winner.

If there's one unwavering aspect of in-store displays it's pretty much their comical levels of inconsistancy.... until you get a display home, plug it into your sources with your cables and tweak it for a bit, you can only guess at how well it can really perform... So take advantage of those 30 day CC return policies....

This is the one thing that makes me extremely leary of Video Only. Their return policy is in-store-credit only. Which is why I have never bought a tv from them. As of now I do have the 55HDT52 on pre-order with them. I *plan* to try and demo my tv in-store as good as I can before taking it home.

does it have a pc input?

thanks

ball3r - good point about VO's return policy, I guess the upside is that they also stock Panny, Samsung and a few others and will beat CC on price. So you could get a Panny from CC, a Hitachi from VO then compare, if you prefer the panny, return the CC one, exchange the Hitachi at VO for.... Allright, this is just way too complicated ... I think you have to work hard to find a "bad" plasma these days and in 6 months there'll be newer, cheaper, blackier updates to whatever you get anyway, so shrug it off and don't let the next man's deeper black levels or faster reponse times spoil your enjoyment of whichever you end up with....

I agree be very cautious when buying stuff from Video Only. They have good prices when dealing with them on the initial purchase, but I got burned on there return policy. I bought a demo Hitachi 55HDT51 as they were out of stock of new units. I got a good discount off the demo but it had a nice dent when it was delivered. They offered to trade it for a new unit, but charged me near full price and no one pays full price at Video Only, at least on the initial purchase. When the new unit arrived I found some irritating PQ problems, namely severe banding and overscan. By this time I really was fed up with Hitachi (and Hitachi's customer support) and really wanted to trade it in for a Panasonic but Video Only only carries the 50PX50, however I really needed the 50PX500 for the computer input, which they don't carry. Needless to say I am "stuck" with the 55HDT51 as Hitachi says the issues I am seeing are "normal", which is totally absurd since banding was only a mild issue on the demo unit I brought home or the units I saw on display at Video Only. My only hope is that the banding problem may improve with an ISF calibration, which I would have done anyway.

Lessons learned, buy from Video Only only if you are absolutely sure you want that model and secondly, don't expect good customer support from Hitachi, unless your plasma has pretty much failed.

This is the one reason I believe I am willing to take the chance with them. They also have the SXRD, and will be selling the new JVC 1080p's as well. I was actually only considering these two tv's before running into the Hitachi. That calms my fears somewhat. I was just out there and the Manager was on the phone with Hitachi. They told him the T series are shipping this week. So hopefully next week sometime my tv should be there.

You couldn't exchange the 2nd Hitachi at VO as it was faulty ? I 'd have told 'em to bugger off and get me a working one. What about recourse via your credit cards ?

By the time I went through all this run around, the VO 30 day exchange policy was over and I was left with dealing with Hitachi as a warranty issue. Hitachi views the banding on there plasmas as "normal" no matter how bad it is. I sent Hitachi tech support these pictures and they consider this normal, are they kidding me? Imagine seeing these images on a 55" plasma rather than a computer monitor.

http://gallery.avsforum.com/showphot...g/ppuser/12035
http://gallery.avsforum.com/showphot...g/ppuser/12035
http://gallery.avsforum.com/showphot...g/ppuser/12035

Two are high quality broadcast HD via the HDMI input and the third is a gray scale ramp pattern from the AVIA calibration DVD on my HTPC via the RGB input. I could take shots like this over and over. I've never see banding like this on a Panasonic or Pioneer plasma. I am starting to think only way you are going to get Hitachi to fix something is if unwatchable.

whoa ! that sky shot sucks arse ! sorry man, that's really lame of Hitachi. Everything else I'd heard about them re customer service has been good, but that would def give me pause for thought... maybe the old "undetectable-once-it's-dried" spritz through the vent holes with a water spray would make it unwatchable enough for them to take it back...(disclaimer: I in no way, shape or form endorse or encourage the above actions however well it might work)

Do any of you guys know which stores will be selling the directors series sets.InSeattle and have not found anyone.

If you fancy a day trip and not paying sales tax, you can give Chelsea Audio, here in Portland, a call...they had a nice selection of the Directors in stock

I was in CC last weekend and saw the 55HDS52 next to the Panny 50PX50. I must admit that I was not impressed with the 42HDS52s black levels when I saw it next to the 42" Panny, but the 55 looked very nice. Black levels looked very good next to the Panny. Overall picture quality was very good on both sets.

Oh yeah, the CC salesguys were really helpful, when I asked to see the remotes for the Hitachi and Panny, they did not know where they were and obviously did not want anyone messing with their sets. Besides, they were set up just like they are out of the box and we all know how great the "out of the box factory setup" is. Oh well, don't know how they really compare on a level playing field, but I felt a lot better about the 55" Hitachi than I did about th 42". The picture on the 42" was very good, but the blacks were no comparison to the Panny.

I'm very interested what a pro here has their 42HDT52 set up or calibrated to. There are a few different postings here and they all vary widely. I wonder what someone who is truely trained would have and how that differs from using some calibration dvd. Can someone answer that?

Here are the three different settings I've found here:

Settings: (Based on using Avia)
Contrast 85% (might be very high 38?)
Brightness 51%
Color 46%
Tint: about 45% of full scale
Sharpness: 35%
Color Temp: Medium
Black Enhancement: Middle
Contrast Mode: Normal
----------------
contrast: 100%
brightness: 45%
colour 40%
sharpness 20%
contrast mode normal
colour temp standard
black enhance high.
----------------
Contrast 45%
Brightness 48%
Color 46%
Tint: centered
Sharpness: 39%
Color Temp: Medium
Black Enhancement: high
Contrast Mode: Normal
Noise red: off
movie mode: on

Thanks asiparks.Thats a real good idea when you consider our high tax rate.Did you think they looked better then the the s or t model? I have read some post that the directors sets had a better picture.

Iasm-Sorry, it looked really good, it's quite dark in the store and they're a fairly high end store so I guess they take the time to set them up properly, but without an S or T to compare it to I couldn't honestly tell you if it's a bit better or a lot better if better at all. But again, it looked great to my eyes....I'll pm you with the # and some other info.....
Alternapop- different eyes, different rooms, different sources...my DVD player is a bit rubbish too. I think bobbart used a setup disk, I keep fiddling with mine, I use the night/day presets for, funnily enough, night and day viewing and a/b comparisons. My day settings are brighter/more contrasty than my night settings