I have owned this televison model 53SDX01B nearly 8 years. Purchased 06/19/2001 today is 03/24/2009. From my research this has 3 CRT based rear projection tubes. I must say it has performed admirably. The picture quality has held up to high definition emulation the same throughout the years.

Progressive scan DVD and HD programming look incredible; Cable and VCR look ok;(use S-video input for digital cable if you can)

Hitachi RPTV's are so good....this makes me want to go and get a 65" widescreen TV.

Bought this tv in March 2001 for $4100 Can. Had it ISF calibrated. LOVE IT!!! Cable reception is acceptable. DVD's look absolutely stunning with my Sony 9000ES. Haven't tried HDTV yet.....until last week. Got my hands on a HDTV digital cable box through my cable company and was expected to be blown away. My first HDTV channel was PBS out of Detroit. The picture was beautiful. Next day was Lord of the Rings (Fellowship of the Ring) in HDTV. In my honest opinion I thought it was just a bit better than my 9000ES. There was one more show I wanted to check out...the Super Bowl in HDTV. HOLY COW!!!!!! What a difference...the picture clarity was stunning. I could count individual blades of grass on the field. When the camera zoomed in on the opening kickoff, I could make out peoples faces in the background. HD programming and on this tv is simply outstanding. Good work Hitachi. (Only bad thing is that this makes me want to go and get a 65" Hitachi widescreeen tv.) This was my first RPTV and won't be my last...Hitachi all the way.

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Two Sony 27" trinitron tv's.

Built in audio features (60 watts). Awesome picture -n- picture that allows you to scan channels. Ultra Bright picture is almost too bright. Ease of operation.

Not all of the buttons illuminate on the remote control. No big deal though.

I brought this system home at halftime of the Ohio State - Michigan game. I was able to have it unboxed and setup before the start of the second half. This TV has the best picture of any projection TV I have ever seen. The Ultra Bright picture is so clear and the color quality is fantastic. It has so many freatures that it is hard to remember them all.

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RCA 50"-Not even close in quality but it was 6 years old!

brightest, most vivid color. 2 component inputs

progressive scan circuitry makes picture look soft and mushy or "digitized" with weaker DTV signal feeds. CBS for example.

For the money, this is it unless you pop for another 2 grand to get the standard bearer Pioneer Elite.
I scrutinized all of the digital big hitters: the standard Pioneers, the Mitsus, Toshibas & Sonys. The Sony actually looked quite good with DVD but with DTV broadcast, they really lost credibility. I had the advantage of viewing the Mitsu, Sony and Hitachi side by side which made the choice easy. It really blew the others away with it's aforementioned bright and vibrant picture.
With the dish, you will get some stations that look downright dissapointing (though to a much lesser degree than the other sets) which shows the limitation of the present non HDTV dish signal. With a DVD, you will truly be amazed. With HDTV, you'll be in heaven. I bought this set because it is $ for $ the best you can buy right now & it gives me the best upside when HDTV becomes more prevalent. The People at Hitachi are available 24/7 if you have any questions either before or after the sale. I questioned them about some of the repair issues I read about here and
they put my mind at ease. The set looked great right out of the box even before I fine tuned it. A solid buy.

Similar Products Used:

pioneer

picture brightness, color & clarity unparalleled

almost too many setting options

this is by far and away the best tv out there in hdtv format. i am not a fan of 16:9 widescreen sets.so i wanted a big full sized screen. this set sat next to Sony,Panasonic, RCA, Toshiba and there was absolutely no comparison. dvd picture is stunning, and hdtv picture even better.brightness and color quality, clarity light years above the competition.i have not had it long enough to know truly if i will experience any problems.

Picture clarity, just the best image around

Remote is confusing, PIP (whole picture goes black with every channel change)

Great picture, DVD images are stunning, best HDTV, I've compared with Toshiba, Sony, Panasonic and Samsung.

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None

picture clarity, brightness,color

remote

I researched big screens for about 3 weeks and found the Hitachi 53SDX01B to have the best overall picture. The color brightness and the picture clarity were second to none. I compared to every other big screen out there and there was no comparision. Three months later my opion is still the same. Bought it at Circut City for $3,300.00 and couple weeks later noticed Sears had it on sale for $2,900.00, so Circut City refunded me the difference. If you are looking for a big screen look no further. Trust me I did all the leg work for you.

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panisonic 31 inch

HDTV Ready, Progressive Scan

Only One Component Video Input

I have been very pleased by the picture quality of this set since it came out of the box. The picture quality of DVD's using my Toshiba 5109 progressive scan player is theater quality. Using the Video Essentials DVD, I adjusted the picture again after the first year and saw a slight improvement. For the features, this is one great TV, especially at the price I paid. I purchased this TV at Sears for 2999.00 after they price matched Consumer Direct. Within 30 days, CD dropped price to 2600.00 and Sears met it(plus Sears had 1 year no payments or interest). Hard to beat!! Comparing to the Sony and Mistubishi models, I felt this had more features for a lower price. I watched the Toshiba theater wide 16x9 TV, but decided the picture quality was slightly better on the Hitachi and the 4:3 format was going to be around for a while. This TV will more than suffice until I switch to a 16x9 when HD becomes the standard.

My only concern is the fact that it has just one component video input which will make it harder to add an HDTV box while still using my DVD player.

Overall, very good product for the money.

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Sony, Toshiba, Mitsubishi

auto digital convergence
remote and menu are easy to use
picture is crystal clear with good source(DVD/DSS)
decent sound system(though I don't use it)
overall nice looking set

only two rear inputs(choice of component, s-video, composite)
The number of inputs is a real problem for me because I run component from my dvd and s-video from my a/v receiver so I have no inputs open. If and when I upgrade to HDTV I have no component open. I could run my DVD with s-video or buy a new receiver(which I don't want to do). This would work but I would not be able to upgrade to a progressive scan dvd player.

The real trick here is to have a a/v receiver that switches component. However then you will be limited to component and s-video and can use no composite

I originally purchased the 53FDX01B and was disappointed. The 53FDX had a bad picture out of the box and looked terrible with cable TV. It also has only a single point manual convergence in the center of the screen that was visibly off on the sides and bottom. After some thought I figure I could not pay $2400 and live with this set so I went back to CC and upgraded to the 53SDX01B.

The 53SDX is clearly a better set and has auto digital convergence that works perfectly. I adjusted the settings with AVIA and that made a good difference, however the set could still benefit from an ISF calibration.

DVDs looked great and digital cable looked better with this set than the 53FDX but I was still not happy. Last week I cancelled digital cable and had dish network installed. WOW what a difference....satellite TV is soooo much better! The movie channels are absolutley crystal clear and I am getting a better picture now than I thought was possible. This set is amazing! The only thing I am missing now is an HDTV receiver, which I will probably buy, and a progressive scan DVD player, that I am not sure is worth the extra money.

Similar Products Used:

53FDX01B
Sony 53HS10

Picture clarity, Brihtness.

Remote.

I had been looking at projection TV's for about 3 months, and started to lean towards purchasing the Sony KP-53HS10.
After comparing the pictures of the two TV's, I had to go with the Hitachi, because of picture quality. I ended of purchasing an open, what a steal, this is one sweet Projection TV.