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Hitachi Ultravision 50" Class 1080p Flat-Panel Plasma HDTV Review

Glad I did it...so far.

"Well, I've never bought a TV without first viewing it in action...but this model is (apparently) so new that there were no display units out. Heck, this website didn't even show it in stock at my BB. I took a chance and went over there to see if maybe they had one on display, but there was only one in stock! I took it as a sign and bought it on the spot and am so far glad that I did. I've watched about 6 hours of just television on it and so far it looks great. I was watching history channel in SD and my girlfriend thought that Verizon added it in HD! Maybe its due to the HD VI video processor? I dont know, but whatever they did...they did it right. What I gather from the description on here is that it upscales. I could be wrong, but at least thats the way I read it.



I was looking at the Samsung 850 series 120Hz LCD panels and this looks just as good at significantly less money. Though, it may draw a little more power (570 max and 388 average according to the manual). I didnt check the specs on the LCD, but I'm pretty sure they dont draw that much. Theres are also power saving adjustments if you wish to save power, but I think they affect the visual performance a little.

The only minor gripes were that when I first turned the TV on there was a loud buzzing sound. I was startled at first, then dismayed...but the TV came on fine. The manual states this is normal and it has since all but dissappeared. I guess it just needed to break in a little bit...so dont be startled if you get it home and it does the same thing.



It also says in the manual that noise reduction may cause "blocking", which it does in some instances. I turned it off and haven't noticed it since.

Also, the sound is a little weak compared to the hitachi plasma (42hds52) it replaced. It is acceptable for television watching after tweaking the settings a little, but a sound setup is absolutely required for any serious movie watching or the like.



I also cant find specs for brightness and contrast ratio ANYWHERE...not even in the manual. Its not a big deal, but I'd just like to know. Even still, picture quality makes up for lack of "numbers" which are measured differently from company to company anyway.



Sorry for the novel, but I wanted to address some of the things I was looking for in my research on this model that I couldn't find. I'll update if any other issues present themselves, but am so far extreeeemly happy with it."