[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!!

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 +

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

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

[palmman50k]

Hi mirdragon,

Originally Posted by mirdragon

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.

I understand that being near might show up pixels on the screen, but from the point of view of 'ruining' my kids eyes, do you think it is too big/near?

Thanks.

[mirdragon]

Originally Posted by palmman50k

I understand that being near might show up pixels on the screen, but from the point of view of 'ruining' my kids eyes, do you think it is too big/near?

yes definitely - i used to have a 28" crt and could sit about 5ft away from tv to play xbox, dreamcast, etc - now on the 37" lcd, i have to sit further back otherwise it will hurt eyes - i'm actually quite lucky as my room is 17ft long, so have plenty of room to move back and know some people won't be able to do this.

my advice is if going to get one, go to a store to actually see it in operation 1st, that way you'll have a better idea of what it may look like in your room

[shekboninov]

I also bought one of these yesterday. Its my first hdtv and overall im very happy with it. I have been playing the 360 from a distance of about 7ft and its fine. Although my eyes were baked at a young age from playing my C64 on a tiny black and white set!
Anyone know of any good and cheap calibration tools? I feel like it could use a bit of tweaking picture wise. I have to comment also that the sound coming out of the built in speakers isn't bad at all.

[dougmonkey]

my brother was looking at getting one of these tv's and went into RS Guildford to pick one up and the guy in the shop told him to avoid it as the SD picture is rubbish on it, and then tried to sell him an LG 37LC46 at £550 as he said it was a far superior picture. Was the guy in the shop right or ws he just thinking of making a bigger sale?

If this tv is good i will let my brother know and tell him to get it, if it isn't so great in SD i think he will go for a Samsung LE37R87BDX fro digitaldirect.co.uk or is that a mistake too?

[shekboninov]

Originally Posted by dougmonkey

my brother was looking at getting one of these tv's and went into RS Guildford to pick one up and the guy in the shop told him to avoid it as the SD picture is rubbish on it, and then tried to sell him an LG 37LC46 at £550 as he said it was a far superior picture. Was the guy in the shop right or ws he just thinking of making a bigger sale?

If this tv is good i will let my brother know and tell him to get it, if it isn't so great in SD i think he will go for a Samsung LE37R87BDX fro digitaldirect.co.uk or is that a mistake too?

Depends if he wants 1080p i guess. The assistant at RS in Leeds told me the company is losing £45 for everyone of these they sell, so maybe he was being shady. ALL 1080p sets look cack for SD, at least the ones i looked at. This Hitachi is no better, but no worse either.
Oh and i found these http://www.jakeludington.com/hdtv/20...on_slides.html not able to change all the settings on this tv, but you can improve the quality considerably. Enjoy.

[johnny-17]

What's all this 'hurting your eyes stuff' guys?. Is is similar to 'going faster than 30mph - makes you go blind'
I sit close to a 43" screen and the effect with games is amazing. (I do of course have total control of both contrast and brightness). :smashin
Cinemas never seem to have caused too many eyesight problems over the years - keep an eye on screen sizes over the next few years and you will see things changing for 'bigger is better'

[palmman50k]

Originally Posted by johnny-17

What's all this 'hurting your eyes stuff' guys?.

My wife is concerned for my kids (eyes) as they sit and watch normal TV for a while each day (unlike going to the cinema where they sit near the back & only go once in a while).
I'm probably going to force the issue, as I REALLY want Full HD & can't stretch to anything more expensive, even though it would be better quality. Unless someone knows of a 32" Full HD LCD

[Secret Vampire]

Hi,

I was thinking about getting one of these, but have so far been thwarted by other people getting there first, fingers crossed I'll get one next time RS Birmingham has a delivery.

Anyway, with regards to eyesight (and bear in mind that I am not an optician) what I remember of science lessons is that eye damage is caused by sitting too close, the size of the screen shouldn't matter. What happens is that by focusing for too long on a near object your eyes begin to deform slightly, over time this leads to longsightedness. I would think that 7 feet would be OK, it's usually only a problem for people that spend long lengths of time in front of a computer, or doing a lot of close work.

I would guess though, that sitting too close to a large screen might cause some eye pain from trying to see more than your field of view would normally fit.

[wyrdness]

I bought one of these yesterday. It seems pretty good, it seems to have a minor fault. When using the built-in DTT (Freeview) receiver or a progressive scan signal via component, every couple of seconds the picture shakes up and down by 1 pixel. The picture is rock steady with an interlaced signal on component, s-video and composite. It's also fine with a progressive VGA signal from a PC. If I switch my DVD player or Wii between progressive and interlaced the problem only occurs on progressive.

I haven't been able to test with HDMI, as I don't have the right cable at the moment, but I suspect that this problem only affects analogue signals.

Does anyone else with one of these TVs have the same problem? It's easiest to see when displaying a menu on screen, as the menu shakes up and down.

There's also a lot of ghosting on the text of the Freeview EPG, which is surprising. You normally only see ghosting with a poor quality analogue signal.

I'm not sure whether to take this back to Richer Sounds. It would be useful to know whether this is a common problem or if it's just my TV.

[mirdragon]

i have no problems with the menus shaking or ghosting

i have my pc connected via hdmi-hdmi and that is fine also

[wyrdness]

Originally Posted by mirdragon

i have no problems with the menus shaking or ghosting

i have my pc connected via hdmi-hdmi and that is fine also

Thanks for that. I'd thought that it was just shaking with progressive scan sources, but I've just discovered that it also shakes with a s-video signal from my DVD player.

So I have:

Built-in freeview: Shakes
Wii & DVD Component Progressive: Shakes
Wii & DVD Component interlaced: Steady
Wii Composite: Steady
Laptop VGA: Steady
Laptop & camcorder s-video: Steady
DVD Player s-video: Shakes

It looks like a timing issue to me. I think that I'll have to take it back. Hopefully they won't be out of stock and will be able to replace it.

[ICTHUS]

I purchased this a week ago from Richersounds and I must say it is great. Out of the box the picture was average, but have changing just a few settings I have a great picture now. The picture from teh analogue tuner was not very good, but analogue is bad anyway as they are turning down teh transmitters power to get ready for digital switch over.

Connected a widescreen laptop and played some HD sample videos and they look fantastic. The picture is clear and crisp, there is not motion blur (just watched a 720p copy if the Transformers movie) and the colours are vibrant and clear.

The in-built digital tuner is very good and I have both Virgin Cable and SKY+ boxes and connected with a new good quality shielded Scart cable the pictures are fantastic. Saw it working from a Blue ray player also and it looks even better.

I have just ordered a Virgin Cable V+ HD cable box and that will show the screen at its best in full HD.

So for £499 this is a fantastic deal. I would highly recommend it, so long as you buy some good quality shielded scart cables to go with it.

[majorwedgy]

I can confirm that there is a 32" 1080p set out there, Tesco were selling one for £499 made by Hitachi. Was very tempted to buy one myself as the image quality is in a different league versus my Digimate 32" TV.

[shekboninov]

Originally Posted by majorwedgy

I can confirm that there is a 32" 1080p set out there, Tesco were selling one for £499 made by Hitachi. Was very tempted to buy one myself as the image quality is in a different league versus my Digimate 32" TV.

You are mistaken my friend. Yes 32"1080p LCD do exist [pointless as they are], however the hitachi models are around double the price you mentioned. I wouldn't be shocked if it was actually the 37" that we all bought from RS mislabeled or mistakenly identified by yourself. If it was there for £499 you should be ashamed for not buying it on the spot.

[OptimusPrime]

Great price on this TV now

http://www.richersounds.co.uk/showpr...d=HITA-L37V01U

Are they any good?