500 notes: Hitachi L37V01U 1080p comments?

[Bilbob]

Lo all...
Looking at upgrading to a larger 1080p set...
Anyone got any comments on this set? I know it's cheap, but is it a bargain, or a clear-the-crap-out price?

Cheers!!

[dangerousdavros]

I am also interested in the Hitachi L37V01U. Any comments or reviews would be great.

Can't find anything useful on the web.

£499 seems a great price for a 1080p 37", but is it cheap and nasty or a great bargain?

Cheers

[turboDean]

I'd also be interested in peoples views on this, is the contrast ratio 800:1 a miss print?? as it seems very low.

[Saddle Tramp]

amazon says that contrast is 800:1
seems low to me after looking at tvs with 10,000:1 +

[dangerousdavros]

Originally Posted by turboDean

... is the contrast ratio 800:1 a miss print??

According to Hitachi, it would seem not.

Which seems very strange!

Does anyone own this tv?

[turboDean]

Originally Posted by dangerousdavros

According to Hitachi, it would seem not.

Which seems very strange!

Does anyone own this tv?

There must be 2 different methods of measuring contrast ratio, on this other Hitachi model:
http://www.hitachidigitalmedia.com/p...g=69&proid=590

It list Contrast Ratio as 900:1 and Dynamic Contrast Ratio as 8000:1

[villan1413]

Most tvs list their dynamic contrast ratio to make it sound better (e.g the samsung r87 has 8000:1 dynamic but not in dynamic it is only 900:1) 800:1 isnt incredible but its not dreadful

[dangerousdavros]

Originally Posted by villan1413

Most tvs list their dynamic contrast ratio to make it sound better (e.g the samsung r87 has 8000:1 dynamic but not in dynamic it is only 900:1) 800:1 isnt incredible but its not dreadful

That would explain it, cheers villan. Makes a bit more sense.

Still would be interested to hear views on the set itself, looking at the other specs etc. Are Hitachi any good?

Sorry only just started to look into HD tvs as my old 32" CRT is beginning to die

I don't want to miss out if this is the bargain I think it might be. Altho judging by the number of responses it doesn't sound to popular!

[mirdragon]

I actually bought one of these yesterday, and am impressed with the quality of it.

comes with full remote, batteries, wall brackets (basic), pc vga lead, phono to mini-lead.

set everything up, connected sky box (scart), xbox (scart) and htpc (hdmi) to it. No modifications to brightness etc as picture is perfect.

my htpc automatically detected it was a 37" TFT, and on reconfiguring vista mce to say changed from 28" crt to tft, it auto detected it was full 1080p and asked if wanted to use this output.

in all my initial thoughts are that this is a good lcd for the price, and you're not gonna find many with full hd 1080p under £500.

Well worth the money - also took out the £50 panel protection for 5 years - most other places would charge you £140 for 3 years - but unlike others RS usually swap the product or give you a refund if equipment goes faulty.

regards
mirdragon

[rossbardon]

Hi,

I also brought one of these. Pretty much as a gamble as there are no reviews. I'd been researching into LCD's for months waiting for the sales. At the end of the day even great TV's seem to not be problem free, and this TV is the same (problems to come), however this is a 1080p for £499.90! Get the warrenty and it truely is a bargin without breaking the bank!

Positives:

* Great HD picture on blue ray discs, DVD and PS3 cannot pick a fault really
* SD average, becomes limited with large colourful scenes, football for example is not brilliant but definately watchable

Negatives:

* The odd bit of colour is "grainy" probably due to the lower contrast but again this is being picky, if I were to just watch without trying to find these problems I probably wouldn't notice!

Unlike mirdragon I think it is worth tweaking the factory settings (mirdragon - put the settings on the cinema mode default and then lower the contrast to about 45 and turn on film mode, surly thats even better now?)

I am sticking with this TV, I wanted a good HD performer for PS3, PC link up and for DVD's. That is what you get. While SD isn't perfect (and never really is with LCD's?) I am happy to stick with because of the price.

Hope that helps you guys!

[Omar78]

Out of stock at the Birmingham banch.. they flew out apparently.. sales guy said more stock due next wednesday..

[mirdragon]

Originally Posted by rossbardon

Hi,
Unlike mirdragon I think it is worth tweaking the factory settings (mirdragon - put the settings on the cinema mode default and then lower the contrast to about 45 and turn on film mode, surly thats even better now?)

cheers for info - got it all setup by about 10.30pm after re-arranging all my components, etc last night so only had quick bash about with it

will have a proper mess with it tonight - my room is dark anyway as not much light comes into it (usually need light on even during the day)

1 thing not tested is audio through hdmi lead, as have dedicated HD soundcard with optical out straight to my av amp.

[modd1uk]

Just cought this thread, i was looking at this as im after a TV for under £500, sounds to me like its perfect for what i want to do, + i was originally willing to pay this for a 32", this is 37" and full HD what more can i ask for !. Richer sounds for £549 with the 5 year protection tomorrow ? somebody reasure me that this isn't going to dissapoint me with it not being an LG/Samsung and il go buy one tomorrow

Can anybody confirm other connections apart from 2x HDMI, 2x Scart, VGA, Component, SVideo, IE sound ?

[palmman50k]

I went to RS Watford to have a look at this set today as it seems like such a bargain.
They had one in the window showing a menu screen from a DVD via composite (which looked rubbish...). I asked if they had any hooked up to a HD source and they said the 42" was based on the same panel, so I looked at their 'wall' of LCDs with the same 1080i HD feed from a PC streamer. Picture looked ok, but there was a 40" Samsung (also 1080p) that to me looked like it had the best picture (with real 'pop'). In comparison, the Hitachi seemed a bit soft focus, with detail, but not really sharp definition (unlike the Samsung). I spoke to one of the guys there to ask if they had tweaked the sets for the best picture and he said 'no', so I asked if I could use the remote to try and tweak, but he said they didn't have it to hand. He also commented that he thought no amount of tweaking would improve the picture, which he described as 'a bit washed out'.
However, it is still such an amazing bargain for a 1080p 37" set...
They didn't have any in stock until next Tuesday, so I'm hoping some more people who have bought them will comment here about them (can't find anything anywhere else...)
If you do have one, please post regarding the sets 'definition' with HD material. Can you tweak it to improve the picture so things look really sharp and in focus? If so, what are the 'best' setttings?
I want the set for my kids 'play room' where they will be sitting about 7-8ft away from the screen. Is this too near (wife is worried it will be bad for their eyes...)? I want it for my PS3 & Toshiba HD-DVD (feet in both camps).

Cheers.

[mirdragon]

1 phono out for amp
2 phono in from source

currently i have no hd content, but will be hopefully getting some soon

i changed some of the settings which make it look a lot better

as for sitting 7 to 8 ft away, you are too close really for a screen of this size

you will need to be further back, remember the closer you are to an lcd of this size you are bound to get pixelation.

as for the display and quality of it, i found it's just as good as the 37" lcd's you buy from currys or comet, of which you will be paying approx £200-£300 more, and another £140 just for a 3 year warranty