Price Paid:  $3500.00 from Valley TV, El Monte

Summary:
I have been very pleased with this Hitachi projection TV, 61SWX12B, which I have owned for 11 months now. The pictures quality has been superb. All DVD movies are excellent. DIRECTV proraming quality is surprsing clear for a projection TV. I had done extensive research before purchasing this unit. At that time, Hitachi SWX series was the only line of TVs that have built-in Dolby Digital decoder; you need a sub-woofer and two rear speakers to take advantage of the feature. The unit appearance is elegance, yet practical. It's tall, has thick compress wood enclosure for heat absorption and sound retention. Its front RCA inputs allow easy camcorder or second VCR hook-up. It has 2 component inputs and both Coax and Optical inputs for HDTV decoder and DVD. I was surprised to have reached a tech support rep. on the weekend to ask a simple question. My unit needed callibration after 6 months. It appeared that callibration is neccessary for most Hitachi SWX units. The call for calibration was easy. A local tech rep came over and did it in less than an hour. Unfortunately, the SWX12B line is discontinued. My cousin got lucky and bought one of the last few units yesterday. As they say, all good things must come to an end. I definitely recommend the 61SWX12B unit over the new SWX20B which lacks the elegance look, has thinner board enclosure and no Dolby digital feature. The new one is simply a square black plastic box with projection TV features.

Strengths:
Clear picture with Dolby digital surround sound. Two components inputs, coax and Optical inputs. Well-built unit with thick compressed wood enclosure. Tall unit avoids the need for a stand or a base. All front buttons and inputs are enclosed which minimize children's curiousity.

Weaknesses:
The need for Hitachi techician's callibration is somewhat undesireable. Information for calibration should be available for self-service.

Similar Products Used:
SONY XBR projection TV(friend's) and Mitsubish Diamond series 65 and Platinum 55(uncle's and cousin's).