Hitachi 57SWX20B 57 in. TV
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- Aspect Ratio: 16:9 4:3 Enhanced 14:9
- Weight: 265 lb.
- Screen Size: 57 inch
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Why You Should Buy this Hitachi TV
Pros
The BEST picture quality, plenty of inputs and outputs, great sound, good looking cabinet.
Cons
Poorly designed manual and that is the only downfall.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Excellent picture quality, great sound without Home Theater, Easy to use remotes(2 of them), Easy on-screen menu. Confusing Manual. Overall an excellent choice in 57" HDTV projection TV's.
Where did I buy the TV and why/how I chose this one
I was considering buying a big screen TV for a while and drove sales persons at Sears crazy for two weeks. I narrowed down my choices to this one the Sony V600 model. I compared them side by side at Sears (I had the sales person move both TV's next to each other!) and Hitachi was clearly the winner. Every type of signal including HDTV was compared and Hitachi was the clear winner in picture clarity and picture depth. The sound quality wasn't tested since sears doesn't have sound component connected.
First Impressions upon delivery
When I received it, the picture did not seem as good as it did on the showroom floor, but the delivery person helped me make adjustments and connections and the picture was terrific, even on analog cable! I then put Spider Man DVD in my Samsung progressive scan DVD player and I was BLOWN AWAY by the picture quality. The image was extremely clear and sharp. I setup the sound to be virtual surround setting and wow! it was almost like I had a home theater system. This was in a room size 15X20 ft.
The TV comes with two! remote controls. One is a full featured universal type remote and other one is a small non-universal remote. The small remote only has basic functions like channel changing, volume etc. It does not have source selection buttons either. The TV comes with two IR cables that you can use to control your DVD player or other equipment directly from the TV. Hitachi calls this technology, "AVNet". I haven't used this, so I cannot say how it works. I will update this review once I figure out how to use this feature.
It also has 6 different wide modes that do a great job of converting 4:3 cable images to the 16:9 screen without badly chopping off the sides or making people fat(better than the Sony which killed the images).
The Connections on the back and front
The TV has the following connections:
A/V inputs:- 1 front and 3 rear.
HD Component inputs:- 2 rear.
S-video inputs:- 1 front and 2 rear.
Monitor out in the back (can be used to connect another display source).
Var. Audio out (used for connecting Home theater system).
2 RF inputs for cable connections.
1 DVI input for connecting HDTV receivers and/or future DVD players.
As you can see these connections are more than enough to connect all of your equipment.
Some Shortcomings
The biggest shortcoming is the manual. It is very cumbersome to use and is haphazardly put together by non-native English speakers. In comparison, the Sony manual is very easy to use. Here is an example: The Hitachi manual only has one Huge [read: confusing] connection diagram while the Sony manual has divided the connections in several scenarios like scenario 1: how to connect only a VCR and CATV antenna, Scenario 2: How to connect a CATV box, VCR, and DVD player.
I like Sony's approach in describing connections divided into several scenarios, one of which is bound to be very close to your setup. On the other hand Hitachi stuffed everything into a one page picture and left it at that.
One minor annoyance over Sony is that the Sony has hidden front A/V inputs on the bottom left of the TV. This way you don't have cables hanging from the middle of the TV. Hitachi has front inputs right in the middle of the TV, but this only a design issue not a big problem.
Conclusion
Other than the shortcomings above, this is an excellent choice for a HDTV capable projection TV. The picture quality is the best I have seen yet and yes, I have compared it with all the major 57" projection TV's available today. The TV looks good cosmetically and sound quality is awesome even without a Home theater system. Overall I am VERY HAPPY with this TV. I have had it for a week now and I love it more everyday. Definitely check this TV out when you go TV hunting.
I was considering buying a big screen TV for a while and drove sales persons at Sears crazy for two weeks. I narrowed down my choices to this one the Sony V600 model. I compared them side by side at Sears (I had the sales person move both TV's next to each other!) and Hitachi was clearly the winner. Every type of signal including HDTV was compared and Hitachi was the clear winner in picture clarity and picture depth. The sound quality wasn't tested since sears doesn't have sound component connected.
First Impressions upon delivery
When I received it, the picture did not seem as good as it did on the showroom floor, but the delivery person helped me make adjustments and connections and the picture was terrific, even on analog cable! I then put Spider Man DVD in my Samsung progressive scan DVD player and I was BLOWN AWAY by the picture quality. The image was extremely clear and sharp. I setup the sound to be virtual surround setting and wow! it was almost like I had a home theater system. This was in a room size 15X20 ft.
The TV comes with two! remote controls. One is a full featured universal type remote and other one is a small non-universal remote. The small remote only has basic functions like channel changing, volume etc. It does not have source selection buttons either. The TV comes with two IR cables that you can use to control your DVD player or other equipment directly from the TV. Hitachi calls this technology, "AVNet". I haven't used this, so I cannot say how it works. I will update this review once I figure out how to use this feature.
It also has 6 different wide modes that do a great job of converting 4:3 cable images to the 16:9 screen without badly chopping off the sides or making people fat(better than the Sony which killed the images).
The Connections on the back and front
The TV has the following connections:
A/V inputs:- 1 front and 3 rear.
HD Component inputs:- 2 rear.
S-video inputs:- 1 front and 2 rear.
Monitor out in the back (can be used to connect another display source).
Var. Audio out (used for connecting Home theater system).
2 RF inputs for cable connections.
1 DVI input for connecting HDTV receivers and/or future DVD players.
As you can see these connections are more than enough to connect all of your equipment.
Some Shortcomings
The biggest shortcoming is the manual. It is very cumbersome to use and is haphazardly put together by non-native English speakers. In comparison, the Sony manual is very easy to use. Here is an example: The Hitachi manual only has one Huge [read: confusing] connection diagram while the Sony manual has divided the connections in several scenarios like scenario 1: how to connect only a VCR and CATV antenna, Scenario 2: How to connect a CATV box, VCR, and DVD player.
I like Sony's approach in describing connections divided into several scenarios, one of which is bound to be very close to your setup. On the other hand Hitachi stuffed everything into a one page picture and left it at that.
One minor annoyance over Sony is that the Sony has hidden front A/V inputs on the bottom left of the TV. This way you don't have cables hanging from the middle of the TV. Hitachi has front inputs right in the middle of the TV, but this only a design issue not a big problem.
Conclusion
Other than the shortcomings above, this is an excellent choice for a HDTV capable projection TV. The picture quality is the best I have seen yet and yes, I have compared it with all the major 57" projection TV's available today. The TV looks good cosmetically and sound quality is awesome even without a Home theater system. Overall I am VERY HAPPY with this TV. I have had it for a week now and I love it more everyday. Definitely check this TV out when you go TV hunting.
