Hitachi 32UX01S TV

My wife and I recently bought this television as a replacement for a 26? RCA model. Our top priority was to find a television that fit into our wall unit and gave us the maximum viewing area possible. This TV certainly fits the bill but it has a lot more going for it than that.

We bought the TV at Brandsmart in Florida for $750.00 with tax. Getting it home was quite a trick because it weighs about 100 pounds and it didn?t fit in the car. We had to strap it into the trunk with the door open and ride 40 miles very slowly.

Upon arrival, we unpacked everything and installation was very simple. All you have to do is plug in the cable and power and install the batteries on the remote control. After you power on the unit, you have to setup the channels. This is made easier for you because Hitachi has an automatic program search feature in the menu (very useful).

The picture quality from regular cable is great but obviously, it?s not going to be as great as that from a DVD or S Video. The nice thing about this TV is all the inputs it gives you for hooking up 1) Cable TV converter box, 2) Satellite receiver or second antennae, 3) VCR #1 and 4) DVD player or VCR #2. All at the same time. In addition, it allows you to output directly to your stereo amplifier system. I?d hate to see the person who had all these things hooked up at the same time but it?s nice to know you can do it if you want.

The inputs from the VHS and DVD are both high resolution to provide the maximum onscreen quality. Since I plugged in directly from my VCR to Antennae ?A? I am not using all the features above.

However, the one feature I am using a lot is the picture in picture (PIP). Most other TV?s I?ve seen require you to use your VCR for one picture and the TV tuner for the other. Not Hitachi. This TV has two tuners built in. That means that you can use only one source and still get PIP features. If you haven?t used PIP, you can?t really appreciate how great it is. It allows you to watch one program and keep an eye on another. This is really handy in two situations. The first is when you want to keep track of some sports scores or games but you aren?t really interested in the game. The second is when you don?t want to sit through the commercials but don?t like flipping back and forth between stations. In that case you merely keep your desired program in the PIP window and watch another program until your desired program comes back. You can also use it to surf other stations without annoying your wife too much.

This TV also has extensive parental controls that allow you to select 1) the channels, 2) the times, and 3) the movie and TV ratings the TV will show. I am not a parent so I don?t use these things but some of you parents out there may find that useful.

Also, I should mention that this TV has great sound. Of course, it is better if you pipe it through your home stereo but even without that, it sounds good and you can adjust the treble and base separately.

Overall, I like the TV but there are some downsides. The first problem is that the ugly gray case stands out a bit too much in my wall unit. I would prefer a black case that would match my audio components and blend in better. The second problem is the length of time it takes to change channels. This TV seams to take longer than any other I?ve seen to change channels. It can get annoying when you want to channel surf. The last problem I have is that it doesn?t have an onscreen TV guide. This is not a big problem because my VCR has one but I hate turning on the VCR just to watch TV.

Otherwise for the quality and features it has, I highly recommend it.