Hitachi 57UWX20B and DirecTV

Greetings


You will see the picture as it really looks ... no hiding behind interlacing images to make them "appear sharper" ...


Take a 250,000 pixel image and increase the image area by 4 to 5 times and spread that same 250,000 pixels across the larger canvas ...


No magic here.


Regards

I have a Hitachi 51UWX20b and Directtv with the standard digital receiver and the signal looks pretty good. I plan on coughing up the $800 bucks on a HD/TIVO receiver if DirectTV comes out with the HD package that I hear about that is suppose to include all the HD channels including ESPN-HD and Discovery-HD later this year (the HD package will cost and additional fee per month). I am in the process of making a few tweeks to reduce the red push issue that is so prevalent in the Hitachi's. I currently sit about 8' to 10' from the TV. If you go with the 57" you probably do not want to sit any closer that 10' from the TV. It was a step up from my 32" Phillips and at $1800 (CC sale) the price was under my budget. I contemplated getting the 57SWX20B but then I thought I would just get the HD receiver and the 3-LNB HD Satellite for the additional $800 difference in cost. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply!!


So let me ask this questions? Since HDTV broadcast are not that prevalent yet, how do you get a great (O.K., nice) picture with a large screen TV without breaking the bank.


Do I wait another 5 years until HDTV is the common medium? Do I just buy a SDTV (not really an option in my opinion)? Or do I go smaller, in the 48-52" range. Go back to analog cable? Yuk!!


I guess another option would be to get an outdoor antenna to pull in OTA digital stations. However, there are only about 5-6 I can get in my area.


Thanks,

Pat

There are no HD sets that have better analog than an analog set, and in my experience with looking at Hitachi , Mitsubishi and Pioneer Elite, Hitachi has great analog and the other 2 were absolutely horrible, but since you made that statement, I have to stop you in your trax and say you are in fantasy land if you think any HD set is going to look as good in analog as an analog set, not to mention that even an analog 57 inch wouldn't look as good in analog as a 27 inch, because it is blowing up the flaws by 400 percent even with the same picture quality.


All that said, after a few days you will never think about analog quality again and everytime you see any other brand you will be oh so glad you went Hitachi. I also found all the Sony RPTV's to be substantially lower in quality in both HD and analog, but they were better in analog than the Mitsubishi and Pioneer Elite.


I would seriously consider a SWX over a UWX for the simply reason that it looks twice as good in HD, and one has their brand new top of the line lenses, a much better screen, and better chip and the cost difference is like only 500 bucks or so. If you don't see it than buy the UXW, but it isn't a subtle difference between the 2 sets. I can't attest for the analog on the UWX because I haven't seen it, so take all my comments based on a SWX and XWX interchangeably.


You are going to reallly laugh when you look at other brands in analog and then the Hitachi, and trying to compare a digital set doing great analog and spectacular HD, to the criteria of how it does analog to an analog only set 1/4th it's size.


I have always used Dish network because when i bought it many years ago it was much higher quality than DSS. I thought tht DSS had caught up and than I had an ISF tech come over and look at my set and he said that where he lives he tried DSS and digital cable and digital cable just blew it away and tht DSS looked really bad. I found this odd because I get my HD through cable, but also have my dish, and the dish looks so much better than the non HD digital cable, I never watch anything but HD on my cable. I showed him mine side by side and full screen, the he agreed the dish looked great and much better than the cable, but he said again that the DSS looked much worse than even the cable. This tells me that DSS is stil substantially lower in standard than dish network and you may want to also consider that in your purchasing decision.


Good luck and I am switching from the 65xwx to the 57swx next week and I can hardly wait.

Sorry, but I sort of have to disagree with the last post. NOT because I have anything against the SWX series but for the reasons. The SWX is not twice as good as the UWX. The ONLY REAL advantage the SWX has over the UWX is the anti-glare screen. As far as picture quality goes, once you get it calibrated properly, (SOMETHING YOU CAN DO YOURSELF QUITE EASILY), you can get a UWX, SWX, and TWX to all look just as good as each other. This has even been stated by some of the best calibrators.


I have the UWX and think it's great. There isn't ONE thing that you, the user, can't do with it that you NEED a calibrator for. YES THAT INCLUDE GREYSCALE ADJUSTMENTS. Right now if you can get a 57UWX20, that is about the BEST bang for the buck out ther. Been seeing some for around $2300. The SWX DOES have the better wide neck lens', anti-glare screen, and better AV options. But like I said, once calibrated properly, the UWX can stand toe to toe with the SWX. If you have a very bright room, the anti-glare screen might be nice. Other than that, go for the UWX.


I also have DirecTv and think it looks great. Obviously it's not as good as DVD or HDTV, but it's still really good. Even the guy who calibrated my UWX, (Probably one, if NOT the BEST Hitachi calibrator in the country), mentioned how good DirecTv looked. That was even before he played with the set. He's always had cable so didn't know. When he saw mine he could only think that if people's DirecTv looked bad it must be because they don't have their TV's set or calibrated properly. After all, all DirecTv customers are getting EXACTLY the same signal. (Minus any minor signal variance like leaves or weather). Definately not like different cable companies.


Bottom line..... Get the 57UWX20B!!!! Get AVIA and increase the TV's picture quality 100% in 30 minutes. Then get ahold of the Hitachi calibration tweaks and either do it yourself, or wait and arrange a calibration from one of the pro's. Finally, enjoy the set. Great picture, total control of everything possible, great price....(PM Me if you need more info on the tweaks)..... Later...... Mike.....

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They don't look close to the same but the UWX is still a good set. As far as DSS, I stated I thought they were similar, but as I stated a 3rd party calibrator, who had recently had DSS and digital cable rated digital cable much better, and than saw my dish and same digital cable and said my dish looked much better than the cable, and the DSS looked worse the the cable. The disparity between my dish and digital cable is a huge difference, so if the DSS is even more than that, than it is a huge difference. Do you have any actuarial basis like this for your opinion there, or are you just saying you like your DSS?


I am glad you love what you have, and maybe twice is hyperbole, but it is alot better, and when both are probably calibrated, if you are saying that the UWX gets that much better, but for some reason the the SWX doesn't, than that doesn't make sense to me, but I guess possible. It isn't just the screen cover though, as the UWX also doesn't have the .52 lenticular pitch on the actual screen either, so another difference that can't be changed by calibration. I think that would broaden the gap as properly calibration should further increase total detail, which should make greater pitch more of a factor. I did go see some people with DSS after I heard this from the ISF and did see more compression and no personally agree with the assessment, but that is just my opinion.


I don't see the harm in sharing my opinion and sharing why I have that if it just gets a non owner to check both options, where your opinion seems more like just pick DSS and dont' bother, which could possibly cost him the best solution, and just checking both out, does not do that.


Lastly, I do agree with your for the money it is the best, but I also feel that for the difference, the SWX is worth it, unless you are at your budget already. I would like to know that when I displayed exactly how i drew my conclusion on the DSS versus Dish, you are questioning that on the basis of you just like yours. Neither are bad ways, but it seems that dish is just better, and so by looking at both of them, and then him deciding based on his opinion, what does that hurt?

Well comparing digital cable and DirecTv is Apples and Oranges. Mainly because DirecTv is the same no matter where you are. Cable depends on everything from the company, to the cable plant in your city, to the cable in your neighborhood and house. Cable can look excellent in one house and terrible on the other side of town. Directv and Dish pretty much are the same no matter where you are. Yes to your answer though. I have compared my DirecTv to our local ATT cable. The DirecTv was better. They don't provide HDTV on the cable so that wasn't checked.


I think it's great that we share our opinions. I don't take anything away from you or anyone else who contrinutes their experiences. The only thing I was dis-agreeing with really was the difference between the UWX and the SWX. I do guess however that differences are a matter of perspective. You said there was ONLY a $500 difference between the 2. I however see $500 as a WHOLE LOT OF MONEY. I also was saying that while the SWX has the wide-neck lens (Designed with wide screen in mind), I contend that that alone doesn't make it any better than the UWX. The UWX lens' are tried and true. I also believe based on looking at a number of UWX and SWX that when properly calibrated there isn't a real noticable difference between the 2. Except for the possible glare. In which case you could always buy the GWX. (UWX with the screen of the SWX). Either way after calibration there definately isn't a $500 difference between them. (IN my opinion). This isn't just my opinion, but of many owners and some of the best calibrators.


If the anti-glare screen and AV options were important to me than I would probably go for the TWX instead of the SWX. It runs about the same price but has some nicer features. I'm not sure if it's a coincidence or if maybe it's the (better) newer wide-neck lens', but the SWX sure seems to have a lot more complaints posted on the forums than the UWX. Also according to our local Circuit City, there appears to have been more problems with the SWX than the UWX. Although there were a LOT more UWX sold than the SWX.


Finally, according to a Hitachi rep, (Doesn't mean it's law or anything), but one of the main reasons for replacing the UWX and the GWX with the new F500 and G500 was to create a larger gap in price and quality. Apparently the UWX and SWX had a big price difference but NOT a big quality difference. NOT as many SWX were sold as expected. People were quite satisfied with the UWX. The F500 is supposedly a cheaper model (Priced the same as the uwx however) and provides a larger gap in quality to the SWX. This will promote more sales of the SWX/TWX sets. Like I said, just because a Hitachi sales rep said it doesn't make it gospel... Later... Mike...

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My main question was why you didn't seem to want him to check out dish, when all I said was my experience and so he may want to compare them, and I dind't see anything about that. As far as gaps and Hitachi, through having a defective set I have dealt with Hitachi more than I wish I had to, but there are several other reasons, that wouldn't likely be the case yet, like the SWX came out nationally in Octoboer and that is way too little time, 5 month before the new G500's came out to make a new production run based on data that if they decided the day it came out, was only 5 months later, and I would imagine that the 65's in many places in the SWx and XWX looked horrible like mine, and so they wouldn't sell well relative to many other models and brands, and that would have nothing to do with any one of the them more than another, in my opinion. If the 500 isn't worth it to you , I can understand that, but they do look much different before calibration, and I haven't seen a UWX after. I would imagine that both would get that much better and the gap would maintain, but I haven't seen a UWX done. It sounds like he should look at both and both dish services and just decide, which both of us have facilitated communicating. I also hate all cable other than HD, but the cable company makes you buy digital cable packages to get the 6 HD channels, and that is the only reason that I have it. Now that dish has locals in HD, I am probably going to pure dish again very soon. They have 2 less movie channels, but in reality it is just Showtime and HBO East and West, so the same channels on 3 hour delay.


When I looked at the UXW I thought it was nice for the money, but not a set I would have bought and when I saw the SWX and XWX I thought wow, and it ultimately beat out the Mitsubishi and Pioneer Elite, but I was planning on a max spending that included them both, and so the 500 was not an issue, if I saw better performance for me. I would like to hear your take on that facts of when released and how little time to get statistics on the G500, because I don't see how that was enough time to get many stats. The new sets also came out 2 months later than advertised, so the XWX's only got here just around Thanksgiving and our local retailers thought it hurt their X-mas push so much they put the XWX 57 down to 3399 for 2 weeks around the holliday, which is 1100 off. I posted that here and many got money back and took advantage of that. I do agree about the TWX and that is why I listed it, but it is 200 more suggested retail, and in many cities there are no dealers, which is the case in my city of 4 million. I wanted that model when I was moving to the 57 inch model and was very suprised to find that fact out.

1st let's clear up something. I have NOTHING against EchoStar (Dish Network). I don't even mind looking out my window and seeing their Monster Dishes transmitting the signal up to the satellites here in Cheyenne. (Their Up-Link station is next door to me... LITERALLY). Personally I think Dish and DirecTv are equal. They each have some advantages and some pitfalls. I would choose EITHER over Cable. Unless you were in an area that offered GREAT cable. Satellite TV rules...


Concerning the UWX/SWX issue. It is a matter of opinion, and that is GREAT. No arguments here. Everyone should have an opinion. Doesn't make either one of us right or wrong. It is my opinion that no matter what you see in the showroom it is NOT a real picture of what the set will look like when you get it home and calibrated.


I am fortunate to have seen both sets after calibration. Not calibrated by the same person unfortunately. The test equipment and software used for greyscale doesn't know what TV you have. Once the caibration was over with, both sets were great. And all I said was that except for the glare on the UWX, they both had great picture quality.


IS THE SWX a superior TV???? Obviously YES!!!! Is the SWX worth the extra $500, once the tv is properly calibrated???? Not neccessarily!!! That is all I'm saying. I was fortunate to have mine calibrated by the best. Maybe that is why mine looks better than some SWX I've seen. Probably if the person who calibrated mine also calibrated my friend's SWX then the SWX would be better. According to my calibrator, once they are properly calibrated they are very close to each other. The main differences between them then becomes the features such as the Anti-glare screen, the AV options, cabinet, etc...


Just so you know, I am not rationalizing my set and calibration based on the cost of a calibration. I can state my opinions totally unbiased because the man who calibrated my set did it for free. No cost to me other than gas mileage and some dinner. And considering most people in the Hitachi world consider him one of the recognised authorities when it comes to Hitachi, I will take his opinion that Picture Quality wise the UWX and SWX look extremely close once properly calibrate.... later.... Mike....