Hitachi 42 400e or 42PMD5000?

J

jamster

Guest
Hi Folks, am new to this forum and the whole world of plasma tv.

Decided last week I needed to move to a plasma tv and have ordered a 42PMD5000 from Richer Sounds which will be arriving tmrw. The guy giving me the technical chat mentioned it was much better in every way than the 400e. I've now read up a good bit about the two models and am struggling to understand why the 5000 is so much better. The specifications read very similar ie contrast ration and resoloution are the same? Can anyone point out the main differences or offer opinions? It's 300 pounds more than the 400e so i'd expect it to be a good bit better.

Thanks,

Jamster :)
 
AFAIK, the brightness is slightly different on the 5000. 1100 cmd/m2 instead of 1000 on the 400e. Also, the 42PD5000 is the same as the 500E available at tvandvideodirect.com for £2399. Also, the 5000 (and 500e for that matter provided the optional video card is installed which it usually is) has a DVI port. The 5000 and 500e is also a fanless design. The 400e had some issues with a noisy fan although I think a work around was found but needs a Hitachi engineer to modify. And finally, the 5000 uses the H3 chipset rather than the H2 chipset. Whatever that means.
 
cheers hutch. am going to compare the two side by side at RS tmrw. They dont seem to know much about the products they sell!

Wouldnt price match on the 500e you were talking about either because it's an internet deal and not covered by a 1 year Hitachi warranty? Think I smell something!

To be honest though I couldnt be bothered sending it back through the post etc if something went wrong.

Cheers,

Jamster
 
Are you saying that RS wouldn't price match on the 500e? And then also suggesting that tvandvideodirect.com don't have the 1 year hitachi warranty?

Weird. I can see RS not price matching cause its an internet deal. And that RS doesn't sell the 500e! But, although I have never talked to tvandvideodirect.com, they would offer the hitachi warranty as it is offered by hitachi and not tvandvideodirect.com.
 
correct and correct. He agreed both models were the same and he also mentioned grey goods or something.

hold on!

That was richer sounds technical genuis boy on the phone. Here's the deal.

The 5000 has 1028x1028 resoloution for wathchin TV where as the 400e has 852X480. The 400e can also display 1024x1024 if you have a PC input but not for TV. He also mentioned the 500e and said they are not the same. the 5000 is a european model and has better spec than the 500e. He mentioned scarts and composite input thingys etc that the 400e didnt have and that basically the picture difference when set up correctly was night and days between the two models. Oh and they both have x2 fans to cool them. Said it looks much better than the 400e as well.

Jamster


PS anyone know which wall bracket I need to get for it?
 
Well, I am not sure I believe the RS guys advice. AFAIK, the Hitachi 42PMA400E is exactly the same screen as the Hitachi 42PD3000 except that the 400e doesn't have a tuner or speakers. There are many people on this forum that use the 400e as a tv cause they didn't need the tuner (ie they have sky, sky+, or freeview) and also have a home cinema setup so don't need the speakers.

As for the resolution of the 400e, that is sort of true. PAL only displays at 720x576, so the 400e scaler scales the picture to 1024x1024. I am also quite sure that the 500e is not a grey import. And again, AFAIK the 500e is the commercial model vs. the 5000 which is a consumer model. But both are identical except the 400e/500e are silver and the 5000 is a charcoal grey. The 500e is definitely fanless! Many sites advertise this. Check out www.nexnix.co.uk. Understood to be quite a reputable dealer on these forums. They also have the 5000 and sell the 500e. They sell the 5000 for the same price as RS. I would talk to them to ease any doubts you have. Also, search the forums for the 500e, 400e, and 5000. A guy on these forums has the 500e and he will basically confirm most of what I am saying. I could be wrong about the resolution ie the scaling idea.
 
Well, I am not sure I believe the RS guys advice. AFAIK, the Hitachi 42PMA400E is exactly the same screen as the Hitachi 42PD3000 except that the 400e doesn't have a tuner or speakers. There are many people on this forum that use the 400e as a tv cause they didn't need the tuner (ie they have sky, sky+, or freeview) and also have a home cinema setup so don't need the speakers.

As for the resolution of the 400e, that is sort of true. PAL only displays at 720x576, so the 400e scaler scales the picture to 1024x1024. I am also quite sure that the 500e is not a grey import. And again, AFAIK the 500e is the commercial model vs. the 5000 which is a consumer model. But both are identical except the 400e/500e are silver and the 5000 is a charcoal grey. The 500e is definitely fanless! Many sites advertise this. Check out www.nexnix.co.uk. Understood to be quite a reputable dealer on these forums. They also have the 5000 and sell the 500e. They sell the 5000 for the same price as RS. I would talk to them to ease any doubts you have. Also, search the forums for the 500e, 400e, and 5000. A guy on these forums has the 500e and he will basically confirm most of what I am saying. I could be wrong about the resolution ie the scaling idea.
 
Well, I am not sure I believe the RS guys advice. AFAIK, the Hitachi 42PMA400E is exactly the same screen as the Hitachi 42PD3000 except that the 400e doesn't have a tuner or speakers. There are many people on this forum that use the 400e as a tv cause they didn't need the tuner (ie they have sky, sky+, or freeview) and also have a home cinema setup so don't need the speakers.

As for the resolution of the 400e, that is sort of true. PAL only displays at 720x576, so the 400e scaler scales the picture to 1024x1024. I am also quite sure that the 500e is not a grey import. And again, AFAIK the 500e is the commercial model vs. the 5000 which is a consumer model. But both are identical except the 400e/500e are silver and the 5000 is a charcoal grey. The 500e is definitely fanless! Many sites advertise this. Check out www.nexnix.co.uk. Understood to be quite a reputable dealer on these forums. They also have the 5000 and sell the 500e. They sell the 5000 for the same price as RS. I would talk to them to ease any doubts you have. Also, search the forums for the 500e, 400e, and 5000. A guy on these forums has the 500e and he will basically confirm most of what I am saying. I could be wrong about the resolution ie the scaling idea.
 
:hiya: Mrs Brethy here, just a quick note to say that we have the 42pd5000 from RS and are very happy with it. We have ordered the Hitachi wall bracket £99.99 from Argos, at the moment the plasma is stood up in the polystyrene holders from the box and it has been working perfectly, will probably be better when it gets on the wall though:D
 
hmmmm, I'm sure I read the argos brackets didnt fit the 5000 model??????

maybe I just dreamt it!

can yo confirm it defo fits Mr Brethy? After all the RS one is 150 quid which leaves 50 quid for beer! Yummy!:D
 
We've been told by Argos that it will be delivered on Thursday, so we'll let you know how we get on. There is an earlier thread about this bracket and I think that the general consensus was that it does fit, but we'll let you know for definate.
 
Originally posted by jamster
correct and correct. He agreed both models were the same and he also mentioned grey goods or something.

hold on!

That was richer sounds technical genuis boy on the phone. Here's the deal.

The 5000 has 1028x1028 resoloution for wathchin TV where as the 400e has 852X480. The 400e can also display 1024x1024 if you have a PC input but not for TV. He also mentioned the 500e and said they are not the same. the 5000 is a european model and has better spec than the 500e. He mentioned scarts and composite input thingys etc that the 400e didnt have and that basically the picture difference when set up correctly was night and days between the two models. Oh and they both have x2 fans to cool them. Said it looks much better than the 400e as well.

Jamster


PS anyone know which wall bracket I need to get for it?

What a load of B*LL***S!

The 5000, 500E, 3000 and 400E all have the same ALiS screen. 1024 x 1024. Everything is scaled to that whether watching VHS video, SKY, DVD or PC.

The new Hitachi models do have a different image chip I believe and also have a slightly brighter display (not that that matters much as for domestic use the brightness is turned now anyway). NIGHT abd DAY, give over....I'm afraid as usual the people who work selling these things are underpaid and is you pay peanuts you know what you get!!

Ok there are good suppliers and they know their stuff, I bet they get paid better too. I'm not knocking RS as I bought mine from there, however they don't know their ass from their elbow!

Rant over :)
 
RS are a great supplier of competitively and sometimes below priced goods, and if you get lucky you might find an enthusiast there who really does know their business, problem is you have to know the answers to know whether they do to!!!!
As to the 500E not being a the same as the 5000......tosh!!!

Its merely the commercial version of the 5000, different cosmetics.

As to picture quality between the two, I would like to think so but I would be suprised if you could tell much if any differences at all.

Best regards David
 
Originally posted by MR2Harvey
What a load of B*LL***S!

The 5000, 500E, 3000 and 400E all have the same ALiS screen. 1024 x 1024. Everything is scaled to that whether watching VHS video, SKY, DVD or PC.

The new Hitachi models do have a different image chip I believe and also have a slightly brighter display (not that that matters much as for domestic use the brightness is turned now anyway). NIGHT abd DAY, give over....I'm afraid as usual the people who work selling these things are underpaid and is you pay peanuts you know what you get!!

Ok there are good suppliers and they know their stuff, I bet they get paid better too. I'm not knocking RS as I bought mine from there, however they don't know their ass from their elbow!

Rant over :)

OK so based on that I'm assuming the 5000 is not worth the extra 300 pounds ie the 400e is only 2199???? Why would anyone buy this if it has the same performance???
 
Maybe you want the DVI and are willing to pay £200 extra if you buy the 500e from tvandvideodirect.com. Or pay £300 for the DVI and the new charcoal grey of the 5000.
 
The 500E comes with the video board all in the price, this adds all the conections required for home cinema use over and above the 400E including scart, 2x component, "S" input, composite, DVI and std VGA 15HD.
Also it is a fanless device so no problems with fan noise.

All this alone I would think, and I did think was worth the extra!

best regards David
 
I'd go for the new model for the inputs, just don't expect much difference in PQ, it's already (400e) very good!

DVI is an all digital video interface that some PC graphics cards and newer DVD players have. Should give a better picture all things being equal as it does not need to convert in analog, cutting out the loss that gives.
 

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