Hitachi 51F59 Refund??

Sorry to hear it. And sorry you had to deal w/Sears service !


Guessing your set never looked like this:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&#post10102886

or this:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&#post10030225

But, a look-see at these shots posted by Otto Man and BFJ 96 show that F59's (or the F710 in BFJ's case) can and do look sweet!

Maybe get your $$ back from Sears and get one @ CC/BB?wherever. Not gonna get big screen, awesome-looking HDTV at such a low price with any other type of TV.

Good luck with Sears. Give 'em hell, if you have to!

Both are HD sources.

As far as few channels----what do you primarily watch? As far as network TV is concerned, virtually all primetime TV (75% of what gets watched in the US) is in HD.

ANd who's asking $20 a month for HD? I get HD from Comcast and the service AND the HD-DVR run me a bit less than that per month on top of digital service (although cable is more $$ that either sat. provider, I have found that both HD and SD via Comcast just looks better than satellite--despite the sat companies' claims).

HD I get in my area theu Comcast:

ABC
NBC
FOX
CW
CBS
PBS
Discovery Channel
ESPN
ESPN2
INHD (Comcast version of HDNet)
FSN-West
VS/GolfHD
Universal HD
TNT
MHD (MTV)
HBO West HD (Does require me subscribing to HBO)

plus, all region-appropriate home NBA games (in my case, Sacramento Kings)

And we're getting National Geographic HD and a couple more HD stations sometime this summer.

Plus, cable gives me OnDemand programming. Comcast Fresno currently has hundred of hours of HD OnDemand programming that is FREE (including some CBS primetime dramas--CSI and JERICHO in HD). Also, HD PPV movies. And content changes monthly.

Wouldn't say there's a "lack" of HD programming these days. And there's more coming in '07 alone.

As far as Sears techs, well....it's a crapshoot as far as expertise or lack thereof. And the real "crap" part is that Sears customers' hands are tied when it comes to electronics service. Lame that they have this "deal" with manufacturers regarding warranty service--whether you bought a Sears EW or not.

Chris could you post a picture of what your picture looks like? It could just be the source you are feeding the TV.

I took my pictures at night, completely dark room. No flash on the camera. I paused the picture with either my PVR or the TV pause button, there was no difference between the two. I did get a purple-ish band in some pictures, generated by the camera. I took 40 pics in total and 21 made it on to my web site.

Looking at your pics, this is just a guess by the way, I'd say that the sharpness is set too high as is the contrast. The picture is grainy and washed out. This could also be because the pictures were taken with a lot of ambient light in the room maybe?

What does a DVD look like on your set? Take a picture of a DVD freeze frame and post it up for us too please. That way we can see if it's the source feed or not.

By the way, an SD signal looks almost as nice on my set. If you'd like a reference I can take a few SD pictures and post them up as well.

Contrast 56---this is too high,try 38-41
brightness 53---this is my setting also
Color 60---try 43-51
tint a click or 2 on red side
sharpness 51---mine is at 40
color temp standard
Black enhancement off
edge enhancement off
auto color on---turn off
noise reduction off
auto movie on

in set up i have
set virtual hd to 540p---set to 1080i

not sure the problem is your having, but your settings seem pretty high on everything. try contrast around 40 to 30%, color down to atleast 50%, sharpness is up to you ,but i like mine around 25% everything else looks pretty good. remember that sd picture will not look as good as hd on this or any hdtv that is big. someone might be able to help if you could describe the problem your having. here are a couple of blu ray pics from my 57f59

Chris my settings for my HITACHI are:

Contrast: 40
Brightness: 45
Color: 65
Tint: 3 clicks to the left(RED)
Sharpness: 50
Color Temp: Standard
All Enhancements: OFF.


Mine you my TV has been professionally calibrated via DVE by an ISF Tech. 1 thing you need to do is definitely lower your Contrast & Brightness. Your Color is OK. Also if your not willing to do some minor Service Menu Tweaks, I suggest doing some Magic Focus Tweaks.

1st INITIATE Magic Focus & allow the TV to that. After the TV does a Magic Focus, then do a 9 point convergence focus. When in the 9 point setting, hit the select button. The cursor will change 3 colors every time you hit the SELECT button on the Remote Control(Red, Blue & White) the goal here is to make sure each color line is even with the white line in the (Cross Pattern) shown. 1st do RED,then do BLUE. To move the cross-lines use the directional buttons around the SELECT Button. To move from 1 cross-hair to another use the # 2,4,6,8 button on the remote to move to each cross hair.

It's another way for the owner to get a better picture from their set, without shelling-out big-bucks

Here's the thread. Give it a look. If needed ask questions. Many owners use this thread

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...2&page=1&pp=10

If you're not willing to get decent sources or adjust the set, suggest you sell it and get a nice 27" Samsung slimfit SDTV. From the pix you posted I don't see anything wrong other than poor sources (stretched SD dishnet) and lousy adjustments, coupled with a crap dvd player.

Sounds more like you need to adjust the focus on the 3 guns first. Do the mechanical, then the electronic. Go to the F59 Tweaks thread for more information.

It's not hard to do at all. Plus, it's a waste of time to perform DCAM before you set the focus.

Chris, this puts only the remote into DCAM mode. The easiest way to set up the DCAM convergence screen is via the little blue button on a circuit board inside the set itself.

When the next tech comes out, tell him you want the set focused properly. As long as they have the manual, they should be able to do it. They need to bring out the screen jig as well, and perform the DCAM adjustments after the focus.

Chris,

There are many service manual paramenters that either don't need changing from their factory settings or should be changed.

Others which effect things like grayscale, for example, are best left to pros with the right calibration equipment.

There are some, however, that are easy for the new DIY-er to do for improving overall PQ.

Check out this post from the F59 Tweaks thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&&#post9521684

Lee Bailey posted a .pdf file of the "F59 DIY Guide", assembled and edited by several F59 owners that breaks down the most common service menu adjustments/convergence adjustments F59 users here have performed themselves. Very useful thing to print up and have around.

Lee also posted a link to both the Hitachi DCAM Pocket Guide (issued to service techs in 2003). Doesn't cover the F59 models-which came out in '06--but does have some useful DCAM adjustment tips you might find useful. This same post also has a link to an online source for the F59 service manual. Highly recommended if you are going to do any serious tweaking yourself.

Also, if you are going to be running any HDMI gear into your set check out this post:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&&#post9668868

I posted this back in Feb of this year after a got ahold of the actual service bulletin Hitachi issued to it's authorized service centers. It has the instructions for the oft-mentioned "HDMI fix" discussed on the various F59 threads. These sets came from the factory not always getting along with various HDMI sources. This service level software fix (done in the service menu) addresses the most major HDMI bugs the F59s generally have OOB. One thing it does not fix is the occasional horzontal image shift that can occur with HDMI. However, Hitachi is working on a similar solution for this, and I expect the first person to get ahold of it to post in on the Tweaks thread.

In fact the F59 Tweaks thread is the best location here for tips and what not for these sets. Lots of input from both F59 users and from calibration expert Robert Jones (aka Mr Bob).

First off, NEVER adjust SM parameters without at least knowing roughly what you are adjusting and why.

Also most important to write down the original settings before changing them. That way you can always return them to their original values if you di not like the results.

And I reiterate----if you are going to do any SM level tweaking, get the service manual. The last section of it has ALL SM paramters listed as well as their factory default settings.

Someone else should back me up here before attempting it, but the FACT RESET function from the service menu should reset the SM parameters back to OOB settings.

Purchasing the service manual from Lee Bailey's previously-mentioned source and utilizing the service menu parameter list would be a much less expensive solution!

I'll even make it easy for you, my friend.

http://www.servicemanuals.net/result...6&model=51F59A

Hit this link. Should take you directly to ServiceManuals.net's pre-searched page to order the F59 manual (lists as the 51F59A, but this covers ALL F59 models). The service manual is a downloadable .pdf that you can dump to a CD-ROM and/or print out. Will set you back about 16 bucks. A bargain.

The service manual, DIY Guide and the HDMI fix should be enough for you to get you a great picture.

If you spring for a professional calibration, things can only get better.