Hitachi RPTVs - Look good, but are they?
Posted by Leo Vildosola [IP: 192.197.118.239] on December 09, 1998 at 22:19:05:
In Reply to: Hitachi RPTVs - Look good, but are they? posted by Ron Hipwell on December 09, 1998 at 18:11:03:
: I'm new to the RPTV world and have been auditioning sets at some of the local electronics stores. I'm most drawn to the Hitachi 50UX78B and I understand the 50SBX78B is even more advanced.: Have any of you ISF types had experience with these sets and if so what are your impressions. : Thanks in advance for all your input! : Ron I had a chance to calibrate the Hitachi 50SBX78B a couple of weeks ago. Here are some comments about the set from an ISF calibration point of view: Cons:
- The service menu is in one word useless. The only adjustments in the service menu that can be used are those for performing some minor overscan adjustments. All other items like sub-contrast and the like cannot be used as the menu stays on all the time producing a high contrast. Because of the nature of the service menu, even adjustments for color temperature cannot be used. If there was a way to remove the menu while performing adjustments it would be superb. Nothing about this in the service manual. (OK, enough complaining ;-)).
- Color decoder pushes red more than other sets I have calibrated. It is a bit more difficult to tame compared to other sets I had a chance to calibrate. There are some adjustments in the service mode that help calibrate the color decoder but I did not notice them affect the settings by much. This is unfortunate, as I was under the impression it would be like some Sony sets. I found that I needed to get better reds but the setting could not go any lower.
- Although I physically disabled SVM, the result was not as drastic as other sets like ProScan or Sony. It still made the picture better.
- The set comes from the factory quite blue and blooming quite a bit. Contrast is set so high. The default was 100%! Color temperature really needs to be done and that blooming must be removed. Light output before calibration was at 24 ftL! Compare it the calibrated 7 ftL. What this means is that this set was in "torch mode".
- Gray scale out of the box was not the best I have seen. It ranged from 5500 K to 9100 K.
- All adjustments for color temperature were done through pots inside the set. From my perspective it was a bit of a disappointment since they had all the necessary adjustments in the service menu. If one could only make the service menu disappear while adjusting the values. :-( Pros:
- Magic Focus is a great feature, but in order for it to work at its best you have to properly converge manually and store the new settings.
- Service mode convergence is one of the best with which I have worked. One can perform the digital convergence and store the results. Then, all the user has to do is press the Magic Focus button and convergence is automatically performed. This, IMHO, is a great feature.
- Peak white level is more than enough at about 7 ftL. The picture is nice and bright.
- Gray scale came out quite nicely. It ranged from low 6400 K to 6900 K. Quite good considering some sets I worked on. May be able to make it track better if the service mode adjustments were useful. ;-)
- DVD picture after calibration was good but I could still detect some video noise, specially with diagonal lines. It was still pleasing. All in all it is a good set once calibrated. It is not the kind of set I could live with out of the box. I would get a major tan! Another set I would recommend you look at is the Toshiba TP50H60 or TP50H95. I prefer the picture post calibration of this set over the Hitachi. It may be that I find it smoother and more pleasing with less video noise. Regards, Leo
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