[saltydawg]

I know that Fujitsu and Hitachi are in the same family of companies. Does anyone know if the new Hitachi ALIS plasmas are essentially the same as the new Fujitsu ALIS plasmas? A Hitachi would be cheaper to buy because of Fujitsu's strict pricing policies. My suspicion would be that the Hitachi and Fujitsu would use the same panels. I don't know about the internal scaler however. Has anyone been able to compare these units side by side?


Rich

 

[divvy]

As you know, the glass (as long as it is same generation - which it should be for latest models as theirs' is a joint venture) is the same which means color reproduction, brightness, contrast and black levels should be the same (anyone who says that the glass has little bearing on PQ does not know how plasmas work). As you have identified, the difference will be in the internal scalers. The Fujitsu AVM is very highly regarded but it seems that the latest Hitatchis seem to fair well (in reviews at least - I have not seen one) also. Again, you have identified the key way to find out but, infortunately I can't help you there.

Hmmm, not sure how helpful that was.

 

[oferlaor]

divvy,


That's not necessarily true. The fact that the glass is the same may also cause contrast and black levels (and more importantly banding) to be different.


It's also the driving electronics that could be different.


The PQ should be similar, but definitely not identical.

 

[divvy]

Quote:

Originally posted by oferlaor That's not necessarily true. The fact that the glass is the same may also cause contrast and black levels (and more importantly banding) to be different.

Sorry Ofer, not sure what you mean by this. Did you mean that the fact that the glass is the same does not necessarily mean that the contrast and black levels will be the same [due to other reasons such as driving electronics] ?

Quote:

It's also the driving electronics that could be different. The PQ should be similar, but definitely not identical.

I should explain myself better. I am thinking of a thread where someone mentioned (or inferred) that the glass in plasma was as important to PQ as was the lens on RPTVs. I.e. it had little to do with PQ.


With the contrast ratios (both quoted and measured) on the 50" pannys and Fujitsus and the quoted levels on the 42" pannys and Fuji (dangit I'm going to use our old established way of shorterning Fujitsu whether it is a different company or not and no matter what the newbies tell us) I am assuming of course that the driving electronics are an integral and essential part of the glass. Not in manufacturing but in being behind why some glass assemblies are much bettter than others in certain areas and it is for these reasons that other manufacturers buy that whole glass and driving electronics assembly.


Hence, when we talk about Fuji using Panny glass, for example, we are actually talking about the glass and the driving electronics that use the gradual and pre discharge state build up that allows for complete turning off of the cell that leads to the best blacks. I.e. it would be foolish to buy just the glass without the driving electronics hence nobody does so we do not need to separate it ourselves in our discussions. Phew!

 

[Addicted Help!!]

I am helping a friend get a plasma right now that isn't really into it like I am, and while I got a RPTV last December, I shoped the Plasma's bigtime, and the 3 I came down to were:


Pioneer Elite 43

Hitachi- 42 inch

Fujitsu 42


I found that Hitachi does use Fujitsu's display and some of the technology is shared, but the analog looks better on the Hitachi and there are several features on the RPTV from Hitachi that are the same on the plasma, while other features on the Fujitsu are not present on the Hitachi, so I have to disagree that they are just identical. For example the Hitachi does 540p, and 1080i on virtual HD, and does it on both types, where the Fujitsu doesn't. They both look very good though, and both are better then the Pioneer Elite something fierce on analog with teh PE plasma looking even worse in that regard then their RPTV's.


I haven't been able to get Hitachi to draw the line on which is shared and which is just theirs, but when I looked at the Fujitsu the 50 inch was 9k and the Hitachi is 7k for the 42, so while the Fujitus is only 2k more for the 50, I wonder if that is really more expensive then the Hitachi like I saw here? If it is just 2 grand more for 8 more inches, then I would just go for the Fujitsu, but my friend has a space limitation that won't allow it. There is a big difference between a 42 and a 50 inch.

 

[saltydawg]

All of the above is great information. As with all things audio/visual, a direct firsthand side by side comparison of the two units would be the best way to assess them. I agree that the MSRP between Hitachi and Fujitsu is comparable, but the street price is better for the Hitachi models.


What also seems curious to me is that on this forun, the ALIS displays are generally not as well thought of as non-ALIS displays. However, everyone seems to have a love affair with the Fujitsu products. I don't know if this love affair is based on present day reality or if it is based on the fact that in the early days of plasma, the Fujitsu's were clearly the best.


Rich

 

[David Richardson]

Having worked with both, the Hitachi is no where near the quality of the Fujitsu. I've installed many-a-plasmas and working with a Hitachi yesterday I was very disappointed with the picture for what the person paid for it.



Dave

 

[Maximus330I]

Ive seen the hitachi 42in at my local circuit city and it looked like crap. Not sure if it was well calibrated or out of adjustment, but I saw lots of grainy pics.