Price Paid:  $1800.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
For the most part, this has been an outstanding set. Picure quality is great.

But I have had the same "blackout" problem that a few of the other reviewers have experienced. It only occurs during DVD playback through the component video inputs. Unfortunately, I blamed it on my DVD player and just lived with the problem for a while. It didn't occur on most discs. I purchased a new Denon DVD player last week and low and behold, the problem didn't go away. I tried calling Hitachi Customer Support, but they claim they have never heard of the problem.

If anyone can offer any information, please e-mail me direct at culp4684@aol.com.

Strengths:
Great picture.

Weaknesses:
Progressive Scan bug. No help from Hitachi Customer Support.

Similar Products Used:
Sony, Panansonic.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Help! Has anyone had a problem with not being able to adjust the blue convergence? It is way off center and when I select it, it won't let me adjust it. I have a large blue shadow on everything in the picture. Any idea how much to get it fixed...warranty has expired. Thanks

Price Paid:  $1800.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
I have had the Hitachi 43FDX01B HD-ready TV for about a year now. The picture is nothing short of amazing. It is clear and bright, with vivid colors -- it has a real 3-dimensional quality to it. I have a progressive scan DVD player going into the TV via the component inputs, which allows me to take full advantage of the set's 16:9 "squeeze" mode. The clarity of DVDs still astonishes me. Some people have mentioned having problems such as the TV turning itself off at random times. I have not experienced this or any of the other problems that some people reported.

However, there is one "bug" with the TV that I ought to point out. It is not just a bug in my set, but with every 43FDX01B tv (although I understand that the newer models do NOT have this bug - Hitachi fixed the problem). On to the bug....

When I first bought the progressive scan DVD player, the TV would NOT work properly when the DVD player was in progressive mode -- the screen would often go black for few seconds or not work at all. If I turned off the progressive feature, it worked perfectly......but switch on the progressive and all hell broke loose. Thankfully, this is a known problem to Hitachi, and they released a bulletin that TV technicians have access to. I called Hitachi's 1-800 number and told them about the problem. Given that I called them just before my one year manufacturer's warranty was up, they offered to pay for the repair. I, however, used my Circuit City warranty because they were able to send someone out sooner. The tech fixed the problem according to the Hitachi bulletin, and the set works perfectly now.

I must admit that I was very annoyed when I first discovered that there was a bug. Apparently, the frequency of the progressive signal was incompatible with the TV. But once the new parts were put in, the problem was completely fixed.

Don't worry about the repair. The parts that need replacing are absolutely tiny -- they are little diodes that fit into one of the circuit boards. They just swap out 4 old ones for 4 new ones. Truly no big deal, it took less than 1 hour. The tech does not need to mess with your picture, light guns, or anything major. It is a very basic fix, which put me at ease.

Anyways, I am very pleased with the set and would recommend it to anyone. I couldn't be happier.

Strengths:
Amazing picture, very sleek design, has a 16:9 mode, DVDs look incredible, even cable and VHS look very good

Weaknesses:
Progressive scan bug

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
The TV is slim, nicely set up. But, the convergence changes by itself overnight and I can get rid of some blue fuzziness in the left hand corner.

Strengths:
The picture is bright. On good channels its clear, but Bell Expressview here in Canada filters its US feeds so on a number of channels the resolution highlights the flaws.

Weaknesses:
I liked the picture on the Sony better and in fact the Hitachi is going back.

Similar Products Used:
1992 Hitachi 46 UltraVision ... one fine set that gave me (10) years before the bulbs went.

Price Paid:  $1265.00 from Circuit City Hook up

Summary:
This is a review for the 10B model. This TV is wonderful, good color balance, a warm picture, extremely bright (you can watch the superbowl in your backyard! How many proj tvs can you do that with?) I did have a frew problems with the TV shutting off randomly, but it seemed to be a trend when my sound system (2 sunfire subs) was putting a hurting on my house's electric system. Once I plugged the TV into the same power conditioner/surge protector that the rest of my equipment was on, it hasn't shut off since. Also, changing channels really sucks unless you have satellite/digi cable or an external tuner. It takes like 2 seconds to go from channel 2 to channel 3. From what I understand it's due to the combo digital/analog tuner and conversion process. Other than that, it's a great TV.

Strengths:
Great picture

Weaknesses:
Gritty/Artifaccy Screen (supposedly designed this way to be scratch free), bright as hell red (on) light, tendency to shut off if not conditioned.

Similar Products Used:
Panasonic 51 hdtv, Hitachi 43 inch wide screen hdtv