Hitachi 50VX915 or Sony KDF55XS955?

[d1c1ple]

Hi all,

I'm trying to decide between these 2 models; actually I have not seen the Hitachi set yet; looked at the cheaper 50VS810 but too much glare, supposedly the Director Series has anti-glare sheild. Anyone own either of these? Looking for reviews. Also still debating about JVC D-ILA sets, the 585; only thing with these is no built in tuner that I can tell. Anyone seen the Panasonic PT50-LCX64? I'm gonna try and find one of these to see as well; Supposed to be PC Compatible should I decide to hook one up or get a media center edition versus a Tivo.

Thanks for any feedback on the sets listed above.

[junior77blue]

I have the 60VS810...this monitor needs to be in a room in which you have light control. The screen on the front is to help the LCD give better blacks, and this it does. But however at the expense of potential glare. With lights off and total blackness in the room is where it shines. Even the high end Sony XBR's have the reflective shield.

I directly compared the older series 510? to the 810 series, but did not have a chance to view the directors line up. The 810 had much better black levels as opposed to the 'greys' of the 510 series. Granted, its still not perfect but pretty good for the technology. To me seemed better or as good as the Sony XBR 60".

After talking to Hitachi tech support, the added cost of the directors series didn't seem to be justified. I suggest giving them a call if you have a specific question, they are quite knowlegeable.

Have you tried looking at the Samsung's that are on the pedestal? Their high end line for DLP with the latest and greates chip. If it weren't for having a fixed pedestal I would have given that a serious look.

Can't really comment on the other monitors.

The latest LCD mitusubishi has recieved good reviews as well. However, the ones I have seen didn't impress me...but could have easily been the signal.

[d1c1ple]

Thanks for the feedback. I was originally interested in Samsung DLP, but looked at a regular SD signal and it is just aweful. I'm new to HD and still think a lot of viewing will be done on regular Digital Cable signal; however I'm gonna try and get as many HD channels I can via Cable/Satellite perhaps and Over the Air. My wife really hated the Hitachi 50VS810 because of the sheild. We looked at it at Circuit City; Totally way too many lights and not represntative of what PQ would look like at home. I may go that route and return it if PQ is not what I expect at home.

[junior77blue]

I'm not sure where you plan on placing this monitor, but i would agree with your wife if you plan on placing it in a traditional living room with light comming from everywhere. In an enclosed room with limited light comming it, it works great.

One of the features that really 'forced' me to purchae the hitachi was the fact there's very little height from the screen to the bottom of the monitor. I have a fairly high A/V rack system (~32") and I wanted to keep the monitor as low to the viewing position as posible. Almost all the other monitors that I looked at had an large distance between the base and the screen.

Hmmm....SD signal being awful? Was it being stretched to fit the 16x9?

I'll be honest, ever since I got this I tend to only watch HDTV and DVD. And when I do watch SD, I watch it in 4:3 format.

Supposedly, the hitachi upconverts everything to 1080i...therefore according to hitachi tech support you do not have to have a progressive scan DVD player...as then you will be upconverting twice. I've been playing around with this fact, and its been hard to see which is better...

[goldear]

Junior:

"If it weren't for having a fixed pedestal I would have given that a serious look"
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I wasn't thrilled with the permanent pedestal look on the HLPxx85 either...but I was under the impression (from a salesman) that you could get the same technology (HD2+), without the pedestal, in the HLPxx74w line. Is this correct or is he wrong?