Hitachi 53SWX01W Rear Projection

Hitachi 53SWX01W Rear Projection 

DESCRIPTION

16:9 Wide Screen Aspect Ratio 1080i HDTV Capability

USER REVIEWS

Showing 1-10 of 22  
[Jan 10, 2004]
Jeff
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Picture quality and sound. Majic focus is ok, but had the tech make manual adjustments.

Weakness:

Slow in changing channels.

First projection tv was a Mitshubishi 47" was very unhappy and exchanged for the Hitachi 53SWX. The whites are brighter and blacks are better than the Mits. Great tv, picture is perfect with DVD's and very good on the antenna for normal broadcasts. Only drawback changing channels is slower than a tube tv. The sound is exceptional for normal viewing. But use a Dolby surround systems for DVD. Have had no problems and Sears did the yearly service for no extra cost, but I did buy the 5 year warranty.

Similar Products Used:

Mitsubishi 47".

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
4
[Jan 06, 2004]
kevin
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

high quality picture and sound

Weakness:

none to speak of at this time

great picture, great built in surround sound, cant say anything bad about tv.

Similar Products Used:

sony

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
2
[Aug 27, 2002]
Frederick Johnson
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

It was great when it worked.

Weakness:

Lousy customer service. Warranty is not worth the paper its printed on. Even the HH Gregg extended warranty would not hold any weight if you ran into this issue. Bottom line, you're taking a gamble if you buy this product.

I purchased this unit in Nov. 2001 and initially, the quality was excellent. Until the power board failed. That was in April. It took approximately 3 weeks to get it replaced and operational. Now, the board has failed again and all I'm getting from HH Gregg and Hitachi is excuses and grief. Apparently, Hitachi is waiting on the part from who knows where, and HH Gregg is a complete waste of a another phone call. Finally, I was told just today that a decision would be made to get me another TV in 48 hours. We;ll see. These companies think its no big deal for consumers to drop a couple of grand on this type of product and if it doesn't work, so be it? Hitachi knows there's a problem with this unit and won't step up and deal with it. Typical...

Similar Products Used:

Sony

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
1
[Jul 10, 2002]
chaparra
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Great picture when working

Weakness:

Hitachi customer service their "certified repair company"

For the first 6 months the TV was great. Then all the tv started losing its focus. I had it fixed 3 times in home then they finally took it in for repair. When they brought it back the picture was as bad as ever. The repair company said it was within Hitachi "specs" and there was nothing wrong with the picture. They treated me like I was a crazy person. So I called Hitachi and they sided with the repair company. Hitachi and the repair company kept saying that it is within the "specs". Thinking I really was crazy I called a another repair company and had them come out and look at my tv. Alex from Alex Audio and Video in Hopkins, MN had my tv up and running in a matter of a couple of hours. The picture is better then when I bought it new. I still have a issue with a glare when watching movies in the dark. Hopefully Hitachi will look in to this issue this time and help me out.

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
1
[Jun 21, 2002]
Michael Bertaut
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

SMOOTH WIDE MODE, SMOOTH WIDE MODE, SMOOTH WIDE MODE! Picture brightness and clarity, even on non-HDTV is sharp and clear.

Weakness:

Aahhh, nothing I can't live with. Maybe a few more buttons on the remote that light up. Maybe a backup chip on the clock. That's about it.

I've waited a long time for this...and I'm certainly not been disappointed. This tv has a glorious picture, I was a bit concerned at first how I would adjust to 16:9, as we move freely from basic cable, to a broadcast antenna, to a Hi-Fi VCR, to my PS DVD player. In short, I needed a Swiss Army Knife TV, and you don't think of a 16:9 projection HDTV as being that sort of cat. But it is. The one feature that makes it all worthile is "Smooth Wide". None of the smoothing modes I've seen on any 16:9 work as well as the one on this Hitachi. You have to look really hard at the edges of the screen, and wait for something to move in or out of frame to see any distortions at all. It's been nothing but wonderful. I heard quality concerns,(mine is 6 months old now and has been VERY well behaved) bought a 5 year warranty from the dealer, who is a big regional player who's been around for years, and has a good rep for CS. The remote is big, yeah, I wish more of the buttons were backlit, but it's no big deal. My only real complaint is the clock has no memory, so every time the power blinks I have to reset the thing. I figured most video appliances were past that by now. I looked at everything available, and to get something close, I was gonna have to shell out at least another $2k. With no SMOOTH WIDE. Tons of inputs, well chosen outputs, easy switching through the remote, each input remembers it's own video and mode settings, which is VERY helpful if you switch around a lot like we do. I'm pleased.

Similar Products Used:

Multiple RCA, Sony, Toshiba sets owned by friends and family. All paid more, and got less picture quality and features.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
[May 19, 2002]
Mike
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

For $2-3k this tv is awesome. It is super bright and has almost every feature anyone could need. Lots of lenses and convergence pts, automatic convergence adjustments (Magic Focus). Hitachi makes 70% of all projection tv lenses, and uses the highest quality ones in its top of the line SWX series. Quality build.

Weakness:

Previously noted lense rings, progressive scan input is questionable, it is not very attractive (like I really care), remote is too long (so don''t use it unless you don''t have a better universal).

This review is for the 53SWX10B. I got this TV after admiring it for a few months displayed on the floor of the store, as it had the best picture out of any tv we carried. I am pretty impressed with the quality, however from day one I have been able to see what appears to be lense rings right in the very center of the screen on white backgrounds, I can also notice a less visible lense type ring on the right side with white backgrounds. I will call service while still under warranty and get them to adjust this, as it really is not a big deal, however should not be there. One other thing I have noticed is that with my Pioneer Elite dvd player, on progressive scan output only, I sometimes will see heavy line resolution on the right side of the screen. I have tried many things to fix this, but still on progressive I get flicker/lines resolving on the right side of the screen. I suppose this could be my dvd player, but it''s not likely. I have only regular cable, so as for tv broadcast I won''t even go into the details and beneifts of HighDef. :-)

Similar Products Used:

I work for a Major consumer electronics retailer, I tested every tv we sell from $15k down to the lower end and settled for this tv for 99% of a 15k tv performace at lower than 1/5 the price.

OVERALL
RATING
4
VALUE
RATING
5
[Feb 28, 2002]
jmmesch
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Great picture (when working right), flexible video/audio settings and inputs, and moves easily when need to rewire something.

Weakness:

Cannot get good customer service, and complaints to Hitachi fall on deaf ears.

I acquired this TV October 12, 2001. From then until December 29, 2001, it was beautiful and had great sound. Then over New Year''s, its convergence became progressively worse until it cannot converge at all. It''s been two months and the first repair attempt with replacment parts for the covergence did not work. Now we are waiting for a new convergence board.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer RPTV 1992 model, repaired in tuner only in ten years!

OVERALL
RATING
2
VALUE
RATING
1
[Feb 17, 2002]
trapoza
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Bright picture ! Great remote control ! Excellent menus .. Easy to Roll Magic focus is excellent.. Like having a movie in your livingroom

Weakness:

1 sec pause Black screen when channel switching .. Drives me nuts ! but doesn''t matter when using cable box or Satellite box .. Audio a little less robust than I anticipated but still OK .. Tru audio buffs will still want to purchase a seperate surround sound system.

This Review is actually for the 53SWX12B but I couldn''t find a listing for it so I decided to choose the next best thing. I think it wasn''t listed yet because it is too new .. It is the next model of the 53SWX. I LOVE MY TV !

Similar Products Used:

None but I researched well.

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
4
[Jan 30, 2002]
Roy
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Great Picture, when it works

Weakness:

failed digital board, failed audio system

I had this TV less that 3 months when the picture simply went blank. Since that time (30 days and counting) it has been in the shop. Finally, 4 days ago, Hitachi got a new board sent to the shop (apparently there is a back order on these,) and while testing the TV for picture quality the sound system start breaking up. After talking to Hitachi again the repair shop discovered that there is an on going problem with the sound system as well on this model!

I've asked Hitachi to replace the set but their statement was that they only replaced sets that were "non-repairable".

OVERALL
RATING
1
VALUE
RATING
1
[May 09, 2001]
JEnnifer volkers
Audio Enthusiast

Strength:

Great TV. Auto convergence (Magic Focus), 6 element lens system compared to 5 in other brands, No Red push,Decent NTSC picture, Great audio system, AUTOLINK feature

Weakness:

None noticed so far

Great TV. Simply blows away the competition. Does autoconvergence by press of a button. No need to waste time doing it manually.

6element lens system provides greater clarity and detail.

Best value for the money.

Suggestion for buyers: Make sure the delivery guys open the box inside the house and not on the drive way. If the drag the TV all the way it can impact the sound system and cause audio problems.

If you wat to win over your wife buy this TV!!!!!!!

Similar Products Used:

SONY XBR, MITS 55907

OVERALL
RATING
5
VALUE
RATING
5
Showing 1-10 of 22  

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