bri guy

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $1800.00 from circuit city

Summary:
This tv is wonderful!!,granted i see people say they have had some problems but have you bought a new car lately, same thing, there are lemons everywhere. If you buy a tv over line you deserve what you get! Did you see the picture before hand or ask questions, did you know the pain staking process of warranty work, did you ask if it was refurbished?If not you again deserve what you get. This tv is by far one of the best projection screen pictures there is, and with the proper connections such as component cables, thick speaker wire,a decent home theatre system( personal tastes apply) Progressive scan dvd or better,and for ultimate possible picture, a hdtv receiver from provider such as cable or a dish.( you can see the fleas on a bears back!!) Then get on the web, type your model number and phrase like set up and adjust your settings to what people or proffesionals found was best. It seems like alot to do but it truly makes a differance and makes the money you have spent on the tv worth while, its not just take the tv out of a box and plug it in and expect the best. And yes sometimes you do recieve a lemon but with a repitable dealer the problem is less of a head ache! So dont bash the set on the web because your mad, if you didnt do things the right way and for the guy who bought it for 400 dollars, you should have expected that for the price!!

Strengths:
Great picture,magic focus, Features such as cine and theatre settings, easy to use remote, durable lens protector(with proper care) 2 component jacks,and numerous analog, great picture with proper signal.

Weaknesses:
No digital input

Similar Products Used:
sony,sharp

Price Paid:  $2300.00 from Cuircut City

Summary:
Great TV.

Strengths:
Picture

Weaknesses:
none

Similar Products Used:
RCA, Zenith

Price Paid:  $1850.00 from cg electronics

Summary:
This is a follow up to my 8/200 review below. In one word....HORRIBLE. The tv worked fine for one year and the day after the NBA finals 2000 it died. Luckily VAC corp worked me to get it fixed and Sears(contracted by VAC) came out to fix it THREE TIMES. Each time it would work for one day and break again. I even got a new circuit board and it died while the service guy was here adjusting the screen. The circuit board was orded from Hitachi in August and Sears did not receive it from them until the beginning of November. I even called Hitachi customer service thinking that IT COULD'NT TAKE THAT LONG, but they backed up what Sears had told me. So for the better part of THREE months I had a 53 inch black box in my LR. Luckily I have a 31 inch backup. I noticed previous writings about cg electronics and cannot definitely say that they knew their product was prone to malfunction. I even called them in between repairs and they said that there were no common problems reflected in the refurbished 53 inch Hitachi tvs. In the end Vac corp(the only company I can say I was pleased with here) got fed up with Sears incompetence and just paid me the cost of the TV, but I had to eat the warranty even though it had 2 years remaining. I am selling the big black box to a repair shop down the street for 100$ which will make up for part of the warranty cost. All in all I had investigated heavily concerning projection screen tvs and for the first year I was very happy but in the end you get what you pay for.

Strengths:
Picture was beautiful.

Weaknesses:
Time to get replacement parts. Broken three times in 6 months.

Price Paid:  $2700.00 from cg Electronics

Summary:
I did a lot of research on the kind of TV I wanted and I decided that I could not go wrong with Hitachi. I bought the 60 inch model. I still do not regret the decision to buy this MODEL. It is a good TV in my opinion, incredible picture with no visible lines, really good sound, and has all the possible inputs/outputs you would want. It works well even in a bright room and is absolutely amazing for home theatre experience at night - my only mistake was buying it refurbished from CG electronics, and I want to warn everyone that it is a RISK to buy a refurbished TV from them, because you may get one with massive problems. Yes, you MAY end up happy with a TV that works great if you are lucky enough to get one like that. But my case was disasterous. The TV arrived and did NOT work right off the bat. That was just the beginning of it. Even though they have a 7 day replacement policy they adamantly refused to consider that option and insisted that I take it to a repair shop, saying that something minor was probably wrong with it and it probably happened during shipping. After many hours of bitter conversations over the phone I gave in and sent it to the repair shop, believing them. That was a mistake. The TV was there for two weeks and returned back to me apparently fixed. It worked for one whole week and then started having problems again. CG once again insisted I take it to the shop, promising to send all brand new parts needed for it for the repair. It ended up going to the shop again. It was fixed - once again temporarily. It worked fine for 2-3 weeks. At which point the 30 day warrantly with Hitachi was over as well as any time period for returning it to CG. We have become very used to wheeling this gigantic TV in and out of the house every month. It is covered under a third party warranty, so we don't pay for the repair, we just have to take it in to the shop and live without it 3 weeks at a time. It is being taken in for the 6th time now. I HATE that TV if only because of the emotional damage associated with it. As soon as it is humanly possible to buy a brand new one and throw this one as far away as possible, we will do so. CG electronics made their money and couldn't give a hoot now - they just had to wait out their 30 days and intimidate us into keeping that TV. If you do buy from them and you are lucky enough to find any problems within that 7 day window DO NOT keep the TV. INSIST on returning it. And my best advice is just go buy it new from a dealer nearby that will replace it if it has problems.

Strengths:
Its probably a great TV if you buy it new and from a good dealer

Weaknesses:
Its a lemon if you skimp and buy it refurbished from CG Electronics

Price Paid:  $400.00 from Gibson Sound & Vision

Summary:
That's right, I've been living the Hitachi Hell for a year and a half now, and it just got a lot worse today after talking to the Hitachi service rep. I made the mistake of buying both a 53SDX89B and the DVD player DV-P250U together (in order to save money) in September '99. There are issues with both, but this is about the 53SDX89B. Check out the DVD section, DV-P250U, for the full story on it after reading this.

I can't print the service problems in this column but, needless to say, like other owners of this set, I to have the "Barber Pole" twirling away on the right side of the screen and yes, after a year and a half, I still can't get them to fix it. Once it is fixed, (and runs like the unit in the store), it will have a great picture. Until then…

Really, words can not express how disappointed I am with Hitachi. I understand they are at the mercy of the stores, but maybe they should at least follow up with customers who call their 1-800 number to see if they have been serviced. And after my phone call today about my DVD DV-P250U player, I am left totally stunned!

If you do buy this unit, keep in mind there is only one set component inputs. If you want your DVD and HDTV on component, well, you will have a lot of plugging and unplugging to do.

Strengths:
Fantastic Picture, less the Barber Pole

Weaknesses:
Twirling Barber Pole that won't go away