Hitachi 53UWX10B 53 in. TV

NOTE: THIS IS ACTUALLY A REVIEW FOR THE ( HITACHI 53UDX10B) WHICH IS THE 4:3 RATIO SCREEN IN THE EXACT SAME LINE AS THE 53UWX10B.

First off I will tell you that I am not necessarily a "Die Hard" Hitachi fan. As a matter of fact I am really quite open to giving any manufacturer my hard earned money, so long as they meet at least a majority of my discriminating criteria. I personally am not always concerned with "Name Brand" or to be more specific the corresponding product with the particular name brand. For example: "Toyota" = Great cars that seem to run forever (although I only buy Japanese cars, and loved all my Toyotas). On the other hand, if a particular manufacturer simply has the corner on the market, I will of course investigate their product first and at least use their level of success to determine the surrogate product I actually buy.
NOW, with all that being said about my general researching and buying practices, let's proceed.
I have long awaited the day I could sit down and enjoy my very own "Big Screen" TV. Like most Audio/Videophiles I have tried every new level of technology for myself (in most cases actually owning the equipment) and in the remaining small minority I have at least heavily investigated it and passed (can anyone say LASER DISK ?). Recently after owning a slew of other televisions which progressively were getting bigger and bigger, I started considering finally getting the coveted Big Screen Projection TV. Now I know that there are almost infinite levels of quality, features, and even options when big viewing is concerned. For the sake of space and money limitations we will exclude the Front Projection and Plasma/ LCD solutions from the equation. I am here to focus on conventional Rear projection Big Screens which is the largest purchase demographic for Monitors above the standard direct beam CRT format of traditional TV?s. I searched and searched and came up with many that might fit the bill for me. Next comes the narrowing down...
Now as you may know, in 2006 HDTV will become the communications standard for public broadcasting signal which will the leave the current Analog format to the history books. You may also be aware that a majority of DVD's are in wide screen format. With the consideration of these two issues I went out searching for my new toy. Now when choosing a new TV as it stands right now, don't worry about the HDTV thing too much. There will be converter boxes made to bring even the oldest TV?s into the mix, but HDTV "ready" can't hurt right? As far as DVD's go, if you are not a big DVD fan yet, don't worry YOU WILL BE. All kidding aside, really DVD is so affordable now, and the sound and picture quality is an experience, especially with this TV. Now I chose to shop for 4:3 as opposed to the 16:9 (wide screen) format because although I love my DVD's I really spend 80% of my time watching cable and maybe some VHS which both are typically in the traditional 4:3 format, otherwise a 16:9 TV will either have to stretch the image OR put bars at the end of the screen edges to bring the picture to the correct format (there a couple of other compensations that 16:9 TV?s make but the effect is either the same or even degrades the viewing pleasure like "fill" and "zoom" modes).
So now I had decided. I am getting a 4:3 big screen with a set of features in mind and HDTV ready would be nice too. I looked at Sony, RCA, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, and the rest. Now Panasonic makes some Bad A** TV?s but I was not ready for the price tag. The same goes for Mitsubishi. Sony rated well, but I had little issues here and there with price to features, or the "feel" if the remote etc... Finally I was getting down to the nitty gritty, when I mentioned my shopping to my dad. He in turn told my uncle (Who is a National Hitachi Rep) and my uncle made me a deal I could not refuse. Now I know you are thinking, "His uncle hooked him up. Of course he will be biased". NO! I refuse that accusation and that is the purpose of my passive disclaimers in the pretense of this review. In fact this TV is worth every last penny even at the highest retail I have seen for it. I ended up choosing the Hitachi 53UDX10B and I am a happy man for it, honestly.
Now for the features.
The Picture is even corner-to-corner and the image looks completely free of distortion or focus issues. The screen is bright and the controls for all the picture qualities are strong and effective. I have read some reviews stating the picture was "VERY bright" and in some cases "could not be adjusted" to a comfortable level for a select few. To avoid discrediting these opinions, I will simply say that I believe the picture is BEAUTIFUL and could be adjusted (in my opinion) in a multitude of levels for anyone?s viewing preferences. There are actual embedded presets for things like "Sports, Movies, News, Music" which all automatically adjust the screen, AND sound to accommodate the "optimum" viewing for these genres of programming. The sound is very good out of the bass reflex enclosed front speakers, but for true cinema surround a separate system connected to it's RCA level outputs would be preferable. As a side note. There is only fixed output not variable, but the external system will more than compensate for this, and you can turn off the TV?s internal speakers within the extremely powerful yet easy-to-use user interface menu, which brings us to the remote. Now I have a killer fully programmable 10 device remote, but I like the Hitachi remote so much I just keep it on the coffee table next to my green glowing powerhouse of a universal. Hitachi's remote is backlit on all of the common functionality buttons like #'s and selected devices, but they do not light up unless you press an easy to locate "light" button on the face of the remote. This may sound bad, but really it saves your batteries and IF you really need the light at times, the activation button is on the Very top, farthest right corner of the remote. Honestly though you could actually program the remote where all of your favorite channels are in an easy to navigate on screen catalog which is activated by the quality thumb stick on the remote. As a matter of fact the only real issue is memorizing the feel of the "Picture in Picture buttons". The PIP is dual tuned on this TV and you can move the Super Hi res window to four corners of the screen with the thumb stick. You can flip flop the PIP and the actual channel, change only the main channel OR only the PIP channel, and you can do a "PIP Surf" which blocks the main channel to the left and cycles a frame from each channel in a scrolling fashion on the right with the # of each channel superimposed on each block (very cool feature that I may not be describing in a fashion to fully express it's cool-osity, Check it out in the store). Now I will say that one ACTUAL downer that I have read in reviews and can verify myself is that there is an unusually long pause between channel switching (3 sec, maybe?) but this is like complaining about a wrinkled 1-dollar bill after collecting your lottery winnings. My uncle says that the base of the T.V. had been shortened from the previous year to accommodate the stacking of two within the shipping trucks. This turns out to be an esthetic and functional benefit. The T.V. actually looks bigger than a 53" because of it's shorter base, and functionally, it is easier to maneuver (out of the box) and puts the TV at the perfect viewing angle in the sitting position. The cabinet is sturdy and visually pleasing and although I have also seen some minor references to the protective glass over the entire screen can seem "overly reflective" in daytime viewing, it is really not more that the typical tube TV. It is just the sheer size and the absolute FLAT nature of the surface that may produce this encounter on a noticeable level. Probably no more than other Projections with a quality screen protector. Just turn the blinds a bit and the "problem" is solved.
Overall the 53UDX10B is absolutely Fantastic, with a slew of features and the honest feel of its apparent quality. Well worth the money, but what am I talking about? This TV is a great deal price wise anyway!
Oh, Did I mention 1080i, virtual surround, channel editing, naming, input naming, integrated wiring diagrams customized with a short questionnaire in the menu section, auto focus convergence on the fly, auto Component input power on and off, converter box co-axial pass through, one button on the fly aspect ratio adjustment, auto sub titles with a 2 stage mute feature, sleep timers, program on and off timers, password protected channel lock out, Front A/V and S-video input, all on casters? I am sure I have forgotten some things. Check it out, then Buy it, then thank your good sense to research on line.