Built-in decoder, good price, few neat features

Touchy remote, skipping on some DVD's

Overall, not a terribly bad product. My local store on base had it on sale for $299, and it seemed like a solid player, so I bought it. Immediately I liked some of the little features, like being able to dim the front panel, change certain settings, etc. It had all the outputs I wanted, except that I didn't need the onboard Dolby Digital decoder.
Very soon after setting it up, though, I tried out my new Avia Guide to Home Theater DVD to configure and test my new setup. At two different parts of the DVD, if I tried to access a particular menu item the DVD player would freak out, flash all sorts of stuff on the display, and then shut down. I thought I might have problems with the DVD, and went on. But then on my Matrix DVD I encountered skipping in the video several times, mostly during the fast-paced action scenes like the Kung-Fu sparring between Neo and Morpheus. I went back to my store and tried both DVD's on other players and found them to work fine. Traded in the Hitachi for the JVC 501BK, which just so happened to also be on sale for the same price, everything works fine.
Bottom line, if you're looking for a cheap player on which to not play hi-end DVD's, this will give you the most bang for your buck, especially with the decoder if you need it. If not, I'd recommend something else. 2.5 stars

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JVC 501

See my 250E review....

See my 250E review....

I a bit puzzled by the poor reviews that the 250U is getting compared to the 250E. Is this really the same player that's sold in Europe? It was rewarded Best Chioce of 2000 by WHAT HIFI?
The picture quality is great, even better than from newer models like the 505, sound also, it plays CD-R and CD-RW (KODAK also!), it plays music CD:s wonderfully, and it can easily be upgraded with a new Firmware that you can download here: http://www.theironduke.plus.com/HitachiSyndicate/

I can see that a lot of the cons shouldn't even be blamed on the player, for example the "thump it makes when recognizing DD 5.1 discs". Must be the Recivers DD decoder since the player only sends the DD and DTS signal to an external decoder. This player has been a huge success for Hitachi and maybe that explains the quality problems with soldering and so on...?
Hristos:What.are.you.talking.about?

A feature rich player. CDR/RW. Auto shut off.

No back light for remote. Doesn't work properly - ever!

I have had nothing but grief since buying this piece of garbage. I own other Hitachi products and have been happy with them but this is the last one! My DVD is in for service for the third time. It took two trips to service to fix the initial tracking problem. When it came back the tracking was fixed but the S-video output was way overdriven so that any bright scenes were washed out in white. The shop didn't believe me at first. Do yourself a favour and consider buying other than Hitachi as they have been a bit of a bear to deal with.

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None

Multiple formats for price

Has to be ugliest remote. Had to exchange because motor went out on first unit, then firmware had to be upgraded on second unit.

By now, bugs as firmware should be fixed. However, Hitachi's crap always breaks down. My Cd was not ejecting due to poor soldering.

Features

Remote, crappy design

I've had the unit for only a few months now and I can't believe the problems I've had with it. Actually this is the third unit since the first two had motor and video problems. This unit has the firm ware upgrade and I still see problems with certain movies ( private ryan has video glitches for all of chapter 17 ). I think Hitachi is really behind with this unit. At least Sony has fixed their lip sync problems. The problems I've had can't be fixed with firm ware. I took it back and picked up a Sony 530 and haven't seen a single problem.

O, ya and Mikey it sounds like your the idiot. Did you even read the Home Theatre article? I read the HT review and their article was based on features. I agree totally with what they had to say on this unit's features, but they did not use it long enough to see all the engineering problems this machine has. I'd like to send HT the 3 machines I've had and then we'll see what they think of this unit.

This unit has alot of features so its not a complete loss so it does deserve 3 stars for value, but after 3 units I can't give any higher a rating then 1 star for overall rating.

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Sony 530

Great picture and price

No backlighting on the remote

This is a great player for the price. "RS" is some kind of idiot I take it. If he quotes the guidelines for "one time" posts...so why is he doing the opposite? Who died and made him the DVD player God? "Home Theater" Feb. 2000 issue seems to contradict him on several areas concerning the Hitachi DVP-250U. That article appears to be lot more "unbiased" than the post from "RS". Please read the article and then the positive and negative reviews. Make a common sense decision and not one base it on someones emotional plea.
Great player! I ordered the Sony 7700 for my Home theater setup but the Hitachi is great for the everything else.

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Pioneer, sony

Value, component video, dual laser pick-up, built in DD
decoder, CD,CDRW,CDV play back, etc, etc, etc.

none

The Matrix is no longer a match for the 'new' DV-P250U!
Not a glitch in sight!, the reproduction is smooth and
seamless, and access times seem quicker as well. The
appearent picture detail has improved as well (from
excellent to stellar!). The detail is so incredible that
I even considered using the players' picture sharpness
control to reduce the overall picture sharpness to a more
'film like' presentation, but, I like the details, that's
why I bought the RP (Hitachi 50SX6P), I settled on 'sharp'.

At this point I'm using the optical connection, an external
DD decoder and the S-video output. The additional features
like 'last', where the player remembers that disc and where
you left-off (even if the disc is removed), single button
surround selection and the intelligent index, not to
mention the dual laser pick-up make this player a keeper
in my book. I never minded the remote, and as I use the
Marantz RC2000 MkII it is a none issue.

I can't wait until I can hook this baby up to a good front
projector through something like a iScan from DVDO, with
the lights off and the smell of fresh popcorn in the air,
I'll easily suspend reality for a while and follow the
rabbit to see how deep the hole really goes!!!

It will be many years before I move up from this machine.

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Toshiba 2107, Toshiba PC DVD c/w Hollywood Plus
RCA 5220

Basically everything

None

My wife actually spotted this player in the base exchange and purchased it for me as a father's day gift. After she bought it, she looked on the net for some product reviews and was pretty disgusted at what she read. She really thought she was getting a good deal.

Well, she gave it to me anyway and the first thing I did was to take it into the Hitachi service center in Mainz because the serial number was included in the list of duds. They accomplished the firmware update in 10 minutes while I waited. I took it back home and put on the Matrix.

It played flawlessly. I could've have been more happy with this unit. Great sound and a brilliant picture.

Needless to say, I've just bought a new Denon DVD-1500 for $165. However, after reading the reviews on the Denon, I'm a little concerned for it's performance now as well. If the EPROM replacement works in the Denon, I'll have two excellent DVD players. I'll post a Denon review after a while.

As for the Hitachi 250, if you can get your hands on one, have the firmware update done, you'll have an excellent player!

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First DVD, none used previously

Plays VCD, CDR/W

Doesn't play many movies, Matrix

Very upset with Hitachi. They can't fix the unit to play all movies. Matrix is fixed but many movies have issues. Can't play Dinosaurs, many DTS movies have sync problems.

OK as a CD player, the stereo sound quality is pretty good.

Sucks for DVDs, no surround outputs work.

Hooked it up to DD/DTS receiver using coaxial digital output. The Hitachi displayed "Dolby Digital" but the receiver automatically selected Pro-Logic. I then tried using 5.1 channel analog outputs to some integrated amps. No sound. Next I connected 5.1 channel Hitachi outputs to 5.1 channel receiver inputs. Again no sound out. As far as I am concerned Hitachi sold me a CD player and called it a DVD player with DD/DTS decoders that don't work. This is what you get with corporations that love money and hate people.

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Nothing in my life as crappy as this.