Price Paid:  $2700.00 from Shermans

Summary:
I stated below that I'd post again when I got my set calibrated and I did. I must say that my biggest regret is not having done this earlier. This set pre and post calibration is night and day. The horrible red push is gone and replaced by beautiful crimsons and every variation imaginable. Gone are the "green" gray levels as well. My set was light years off the ideal 6500K of each IRE level. All color temps were above 10,000 with many above 20,000. The ISF tech said that he had never seen a set so out-of-whack. Needless to say I just bought myself a new TV for $275. If you own this set or any of the other GWX, SWX, TWX, UWX or XWX sets, get a calibration from an ISF technician, you won't regret it. This set now puts out near black-hole blacks and the colors are now creamy and delicious to the eyes. Once calibrated this has got to be one of the best RPTVs I've ever seen.

Strengths:
Amazing black levels from a RPTV. Color saturation and detail is amazing after calibration. One of the best sets in it's price range.

Weaknesses:
Cost. And some slight lens flare on dark background with white objects, this is to be expected from a RPTV though. Massive weight for a 51" and it doesn't come in half.

Similar Products Used:
Other Hitachi models, Sony, Toshiba, Mitsubishi

Price Paid:  $2199.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
Bought this set in March and OoB the pictures were very good once calibrated with Avia DVD. After about 150 hours, had professional calibration done. Geometry was just very slightly off in lower left corner. Calibrator did a fantastic job, fixing the red push and lime green problem and dialing in grayscale. This TV now has jaw-dropping performance. Digital cable looks remarkable, DVDs are spectacular and HD looks breathtaking!! After researching RPTV's for several months, I feel I could not have made a better purchasing decision! Some folks have complained about the stretch modes, but I never even notice anymore (I use 4:3 expanded) If you need a great calibration at an affordable price, contact me!

Strengths:
Out-of-box picture quality (post torch mode). Tweakability.

Weaknesses:
Reflections on screen. Unless you absolutely need it, I highly recommend removing the glarescreen (do not restack!) No firewire connection.

Similar Products Used:
Looked at Sony, Toshiba and Mitsubishi. This unit replaced a 1992 vintage 52" Mitsubishi RPTV.

Price Paid:  $2550.00 from cc

Summary:
out of the box, picture on digital cable did not look very good, contrast, brightness jacked way up. waitng for hdtv cable converter to arrive. and-did notice the now infamous "red push." sure it looks better with dvd, but i watch other programs more often than movies - news, sports, etc. think i will get an expensive isf calibration because i can't seem to get the picture to look the way i want it to. 3 stars before calibration

Strengths:
sleek look. wheels!!! easy to move, protective screen

Weaknesses:
picture out of the box needs a lot of adjustment, the monkeys CC uses for delivery don't wash their hands, smudges all over the tv

Similar Products Used:
looked at sony and mitsubishi

Price Paid:  $2200.00 from John D. Marcella and

Summary:
I have been the happy owner of this set the 51swx20b for about a week now. My tv arrived from the store with perfect geometry and convergence . The black level retention in dark to light scenes is the best I have ever seen . standard analog cable looks ok but its not great digital cable dvds and of course hi def look amazing .This tv took alot of research to buy considering the units high price and the fact that I didnt want to suffer from buyers remorse . I read all of the glowing reveiws from stereophile guide to home theater and the perfect vision magazine and then most of the user reviews here and other places on the net . Then I went out to see the hitachi against the competition. It was no contest the hitachi has the best HD picture bar none . I was originally going to buy the sony wv series but alas sony has some serious quality control issues as of late lots of (flickering) sets . Oh well though I got the better tv . a few quick adjutments to the user controls with video essentials and I am in hog heaven . A full ISF calibration will be coming soon . If you live in the albany ny capital district area go to marcellas in schenectady to buy this tv they are excellent there and they beat the lowest price I could get at circuit city and sears and rex by about 550 dollars . GO there and ask for steve tell him that Ray sent you ..

Strengths:
excellent geometry, focus and convergence right out of the box . nice looking teleivision.

Weaknesses:
VERY HEAVY. and analog cable looks like you would expect it to.

Similar Products Used:
Sony kp43t75 (in the bedroom) Jvc d series 36 inch tv . toshiba 19 inch

Price Paid:  $2399.00 from Circuit City

Summary:
We got this TV as a Christmas present for each other. I had considered the Sony 51" widescreen as I've been a loyal Sony consumer for years now. But after seeing the Hitachi, the Sony looked very weak. Too bad Sony doesn't make higher end 51" HDTVs, or they might have got my business again. The TV is very well built and is a breeze to set up. DVI, Component and S-video in all look better than one would expect. There is a red push, but that seems to be an industry standard these days. I have yet to see a TV that is not calibrated with a rather strong red push lately. It's easily fixed with a rather expensive ISF calibration. I swear, ISF and the TV industry must be in cahoots. However, since red push is standard across brands, I will not rate this TV lower for it. I found the remote to be very good for a TV remote. Although I use a rather expensive touch screen system for my HT, I did use the Hitachi remote for a short while and liked it. The sound is, well, TV sound. It was average, and I found nothing to complain about. The majority of people like me wont use it, and will run all their sound through a sound processor/amp or AV receiver. All in all, I have no complaints for this TV and am very impressed with the clarity and uniform brightness of the screen. I do, however, have a rather strong complaint for the entire industry and it's refusal to calibrate TVs to the NTSC standard, opting instead to introduce significant red push. But I guess this makes it look better on the show room floor. For the price, one would be hard pressed to beat this unit. However, If I had wanted to spend double, I would have bought the Samsung 50" rear projection DLP HDTV monitor. :) But that's not a fair comparison.

Strengths:
Picture clarity, ease of set up, color (once calibrated), options.

Weaknesses:
None except a complaint against the industry for not properly calibrating TVs.