Hitachi 53FDX01B

Ok, so if the 43FDX01B is not a good choice for
16:9 then what do people suggest? My primary
desire is to be able to watch widescreen DVD
at full resolution and reasonable size, secondary
is good quality 4:3 for cable. HD capability would
be nice but it isn't crucial - there isn't that
much HD content around here and by the time there
is the price of hdtv sets will have dropped a lot and
a new set will be a possibility at that point.

The 43FDX was good both from a price point of
view and size constraints of the wall into which
it will be embedded.

David,

I called Hitachi before I bought the set and they told me about the Pioneer
compatibility issue. I just curious about the HDTV recorder. I don't know
what the product is but I had the same  problem with my HDTV cable box when
it was connected. Found out that the box was putting out an RGB signal, made
everything red. They changed the box settings to component and everything
was fine. Just a thought, I don't know if to has anything to do with what
you have.

Robert,

Thanks. I have a call into a JVC engineer about this and I'll ask if there
is an internal adustment along those lines.

"Robert Hartline, Jr." wrote in message

In article ,
  "John Golitsis" wrote:

do.

I have tried it both ways and find a much more satisfactory picture
sending it 480p anamorphic rather than 480p 4:3. I see many more
jaggies and stuff (Panny A110 player) than the other way.

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

I can believe that.  The TVs algorithm for decimating the picture probably
creates this look.  There is probably a small loss in detail, but a
'smoother' looking picture.  Sony DVD players 'smooth' the image as well,
while most of the others trade off 'jaggies' for detail.

Don't believe them.  The sneaky bugger is right that the set isn't
really switching to an 810i mode, it is still doing 1080i but the
effective 16x9 picture area is only 810 of those lines.  The rest are
still there but "wasted" by the gray bars.

Nevertheless, the SDX (not the FDX) do have a much sharper than average
picture.  I didn't like the cool whitepoint (blueish picture) even on
the "warm" setting.  And convergence was poor on the several demo
models I saw (and I think it is not as convenient to fix as other sets).

Stefan

In article ,
  "Robert Hartline,  Jr." wrote:



Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

In article ,
  "John Golitsis" wrote:

Shouldn't also look better because its working with a 1000 line picture
rather than a 480 line one (in the DVD)?

Or am I confusing these two? I really don't understand how the 480p
lines from the DVD player become 1000 lines on the display.

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

My two cents...I like this TV a lot too...however, I'm returning it because
its component inputs are not compatible with the progressive mode of the
Pioneer DV-37 (video drop outs on DVD menus and rapid dark to light scene
changes - switching the Pioneer to 480i causes no problems) nor with the JVC
WVHS analog HDTV recorder (picture is red only, blue and green subtracted
out)...the standards are just not there yet.

I think I'll try the Mits WT46807. With two 480p/1080i component and one
rgbvh component inputs, who knows, maybe some of this equipment will
interoperate, but I'm not optimistic. Additionally full convergence  setting
for the Mits is thru the remote and not hidden inside the TV like the
43FDX01B

In article , rchar @bellsouth.net
says...

Too true.... :(

Thanks for the comments on the 43FDX01B - is there anything you don't
like about the set?

In article ,
jgolit @nbtelectronics.com says...

Ok, well maybe I'm not understanding this correctly. If it
has 1080 scan lines and the DVD is feeding it in widescreen
mode then it gets the full resolution of the dvd by only
displaying 500 lines out of the 1080... so you would get
bars across the top and bottom. Then whatever height
those 500 scan lines are determines how wide the raster
is displayed in order to keep widescreen format ratios.
Is that not the case?

With 1080i HDTV material, the set will convert the image to 810i and display
gray bars top and bottom.  For DVD's, when the TV is set to '16:9' mode, a
480-line anamorphic image will be converted to a 360-line image with gray
bars on the top and bottom.

The thing is, if you set your DVD player to '4:3' in it's menus and set the
TV to 'normal' mode, the DVD player will automatically convert that 480 line
image to 360 lines *in the digital domain* and you'd get *black* bars at the
top and bottom.  Therefore, I maintain that there is absolutely no advantage
to this sets 16:9 mode for watching DVDs.  I have no problem with the way it
handles HDTV material though - it's a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

When I spoke with Hitachi I asked about the he 810i thing and the guy was
adamant that it does not do that. Anyway, as to dislikes, nothing big that I
can think of. On our old set, you could assign the inputs to channel
numbers, so you could go right to an specific input by entering the channel
number. On this set, you have to cycle through the inputs. It's just what we
were used to. Some folks don't care for the top and bottom gray bars in 1080
mode, they don't bother me. They're about the same color as the case. It
would be nice if it had one more set of inputs on the back. The remote is a
decent multi-use remote. Much better than some others that I've seen. You
can program the set to auto switch on and tune to inputs when it sees a
signal show up on the input. Honestly, I think it's a really good set for
the money. Sure, you can spend more, and all of the brands have their own
fans and foes, but so far so good. We tried the Sony KP43T75 first and  just
weren't happy. I took it back and for $300 more, there's was just no
comparison.

Don't get me wrong, I do think it's a great set, but this deceptive '16:9'
mode bothers me!

"Robert Hartline, Jr." wrote in message

It 'pretends' to deliver the full resolution of 'anamorphic' DVDs by
offering a '16:9' mode, but it does not.  There is no way the set would be
able to display gray bars to the top and bottom of the 4:3 frame if they
changed the vertical deflection to squeeze the height.  Therefore, the TV
'decimates' the anamorphic image to a standard letterbox.

In my opinion, you're better off leaving this function to the DVD player and
not using the 16:9 mode at all.

In article <8t47rp$6h @nnrp1.deja.com>, samhain1 @hotmail.com
says...

Perhaps my phrasing could have been better. By full resolution
I meant displaying all the scan lines the dvd is capable of
delivering in widescreen as opposed to the reduced set it will
normally display on a 4:3 TV. Does it appear to be giving you
500 lines of actual image in 16:9 mode or just the 350 you
would get on a regular tv with the dvd showing widescreen?

I have the 43FDX01B and am very happy with it. I have read more than one
post about "if it has gray bars,it can't...", so I called Hitachi tech
support. They said that it does 1080i and the fact that it projects the gray
bars has nothing to do with it. Maybe I'm misundertanding the issue, but
that's what they said. Anyway, the 1080 mode looks great, no matter how they
get there and the picture quality is why I bought it. I wanted a great
picture, no scan lines, and didn't want to increase the national debt.

Anyway, just my two cents, although if I was in Canada it would only be
about a cent and half or so.

Regards to all...

Rob

Toshiba's 43H70 and 43HX70 should start shipping next week.  These sets
would be considered direct competition to the Hitachi.  Might be worth a
look.

If it has gray bars like my 53SDX89b than it does not use the full
resolution. In my 53, it uses around 810 of the 1000 lines for the 16x9
image

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

In article <39ecf44a$ @news2.one.net>, w @one.net says...

I was considering buying one of the 43FDX sets this weekend. How do you
like yours? The choice for me is that or a smaller tube set like the
WEGA 32" HDTC model.

I asked the salesman about displaying widescreen DVD and he claimed
the 43FDX would display all the 500 (?) scan lines in 16:9 mode just
like with the WEGA vertical compression, rather than the reduced
raster on a normal 4:3 tv - does it seem that way to you?

In article ,
  "Dave Kibbee" wrote:
problem.

Dave, I just noticed exactly the same problem in a store I was demoing
the set in.  Maybe it's some sort of incompatibility with the Pioneer?
The salesman said the Pioneer was defective.  Anyway, maybe you can
take it back and get a Toshiba 5109 or 6200 for a good price.  They are
better progressive scan players - the Pioneer 434 doesn't do 3/2
pulldown when it de-interlaces.


Set your player to 4:3 and set the TV to 4:3.  As I said in my previous
post, I'm not convinced the FDX is using all scan lines for 16:9 anyway
(the way Sony does).


Me too!  I saw the SDX on HTDV and it was AWESOME.

Stefan

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

I have the 43FDX, and Hitachi tech support confirmed that the Pioneer 434 is
NOT compatible with this TV's inputs.

To avoid sidebars, I have the DVD player and the Sat receiver (RCADTC100)
set to 4:3 - I get no sidebars.

Dave:

I'm no authority but I've read a lot of posts on this topic recently for
the Hitachi and I don't recall anyone having a solution to the gray
bars. I think someone conjected that they were designed to
minimize screen burn-in when viewing 16:9 material (that is,
compared to black bars). Do a search here on your TV model here
and you'll find one or more discussions on this topic.

Cheers,

Brian
b @pacificrim.net

Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.