Considering the gazillion times the very same question about HDTV vs Hitachi/ALiS is posted every 2 threads (even one's on a totally different subject matter), I would think a good ole Sticky to cover it - once and for all - would be neat. Or?
dbrad, this is not directed to you btw (just in case you'd think so), there's been hundreds (
literally) of posts asking the same basic questions, therefore my "suggestion"...
BTW - the "HD Ready" label requires a display to have "
at least 720 physical lines in Wide aspect ratio". The Hitachi's have 1024 physical lines. Ok, they're lit alternatively (every 17ms) but the "HD Ready" label doesn't require simultaneous activation of the display lines.
OTOH the 720p50 is an absolute requirement for the label, which the Hitachi's do not support. But neither do lots of other plasma displays in its price range. Beside, it's unclear at this stage how critical the lack of support for 720p50 will actually be, esp. if yr display has a DVI-HDCP or HDMi i/p and does support 1080i50.
BTW again, just found this news on the upcoming new gen Hitachi panels, the
PD7200 series:
http://www.homecinemachoice.com/cgi-bin/shownews.php?id=7480
should be out in April, fully "HD Ready" they say
, black bezel, 68 billion colours (vs millions on the PD5200), HDMi input (none on PD5200) AND DVi-HDCP, 3 Scart's (vs 1 on the PD5200), etc...