Hitachi LCD TV: any experiences?

[Stu_Rock]

Tonight I saw a Hitachi LED LCD TV for sale at a local store. Does anyone here have any experience with LCD TVs from this brand?

The model I saw was an LE32H405. It looked pretty good to me, but I don't have any experience with LCD TVs, so I don't have a good eye for them. The few reviews of other Hitachi TV models that I found online seem pretty favorable. Back in the 90s, Hitachi was a pretty respectable brand.

I've been watching OTA digital TV since 2003, but always at 480i. I was thinking it might be nice to get at least 720p in my living room.

 

[GrtArtiste]

I also remember Hitachi being a good TV in the 90s, but haven't even seen any of their LCDs on the shelf. I would ask..how much are you planning to spend and are you sure that 32 inches is the size you need? Knowing that the Hitachi is in the $350 range, some careful shopping and another $150 might yield a larger screen plus other benefits. Do you plan to continue watching OTA? Will you be watching DVDs? Is sports programming important to you?

I have 2 Samsung LCDs which are both 2010 models, a 46 in 1080p and a 32 in 720p. I am very happy with them and have yet to see anything at any price point that is noticeably better. Most of my channels are still in 480i ( I have only analog-not digital cable) and the picture quality on those is only satisfactory. But on the HD channels that I see via the QAM tuner, the difference is stunning.

 

[greenjp]

The television industry had a very interesting decade. A must-have product (flat screen HDTVs) emerged, sales exploded, and yet no one is making money at it anymore. There was an over-investment in LCD factories, prices plunged, and profits disappeared. As this was happening companies including Hitachi, Toshiba, Sony (yes, Sony), and a few others stopped actually making televisions. They purchase the major components from other companies (Panasonic, Samsung, LG, any of several Chinese OEMs), do the styling and UI design, and sell them under their own brands.

That's not to say you shouldn't get a Hitachi. If you like it and the price is right, go for it. It's made by somebody else who might also be making sets for themselves or other brands (ever notice that Best Buy's "Insignia" brand are mostly Samsung and LGs?)

jeff

 

[renegade_987]

No experience with that particular brand, but I have had a 40" toshiba for about a year and it still looks new. I've seen Hitachi in stores that look good, but I dont know how long they last.

 

[Bluestream]

I agree with Jeff, TV's today are just commodities, I would just buy what you like and that meets your needs for today. Five years from now it will just be put out with the garbage as there will be some other technology that is newer/better

I regret buying a lot of quality electronic in the past as the life span is so short (Cassette players, VCR's, Laser Disc, DVD players) Today its just worhtless junk.

 

[tomcat27]

I have a 55" Hitachi plasma that is 5 years old. Very nice. I would recommend the brand.

 

[GrtArtiste]

Originally Posted By: greenjp
The television industry had a very interesting decade. A must-have product (flat screen HDTVs) emerged, sales exploded, and yet no one is making money at it anymore. There was an over-investment in LCD factories, prices plunged, and profits disappeared. As this was happening companies including Hitachi, Toshiba, Sony (yes, Sony), and a few others stopped actually making televisions. They purchase the major components from other companies (Panasonic, Samsung, LG, any of several Chinese OEMs), do the styling and UI design, and sell them under their own brands.

That's not to say you shouldn't get a Hitachi. If you like it and the price is right, go for it. It's made by somebody else who might also be making sets for themselves or other brands (ever notice that Best Buy's "Insignia" brand are mostly Samsung and LGs?)

jeff


I recently read a post which claimed that there are now only 5 companies (LG and Samsung among them) that actually made the PANELS and that these 5 supplied panels to all. Also, it was said that these companies kept the highest quality panels for their own brands and sold off the "seconds" to the others. True or not, I don't know...but something to think about.

 

[greenjp]

Originally Posted By: GrtArtiste
I recently read a post which claimed that there are now only 5 companies (LG and Samsung among them) that actually made the PANELS and that these 5 supplied panels to all. Also, it was said that these companies kept the highest quality panels for their own brands and sold off the "seconds" to the others. True or not, I don't know...but something to think about.

This is mostly correct. Panasonic, LG, Samsung, Sharp, and a handful of Chinese companies produce the panels (ie the screens themselves) which they then use to make their own sets or sell to other companies such as Vizio, Toshiba, Hitachi, Sony, the various store brands, and the no-name and faux legacy brands like Dynex, Polaroid, Westinghouse, etc. FWIW only Panasonic, LG, and Samsung still produce plasma screens.

I do not believe they keep the best for themselves and give "seconds" to others. More accurately is that as a contract manufacturer for someone else they build to spec - ie, the panels Sony orders for their high end XBR or whatever TVs will not be the same that Insignia orders for their loss-leaders. Different quality level in the sense of performance but I highly doubt there's actually anything "wrong" with the cheaper ones. They're being made on the same multi-billion dollar production lines.

jeff

 

[dishdude]

Plus I don't think the panel ever fails, it is generally the boards inside mainly due to poor solder joints and component failures in the power supplies.

The Hitachi was probably made by another manufacturer and has the Hitachi name slapped on it. I haven't seen a Hitachi TV in years, so they probably licensed use of their name.

 

[97tbird]

Service/parts would be harder to obtain than the 'major' brands.

I would go with Panasonic/Samsung/Toshiba for LCDs.

 

[Papa Bear]

Originally Posted By: Stu_Rock
Tonight I saw a Hitachi LED LCD TV for sale at a local store. Does anyone here have any experience with LCD TVs from this brand?



As a retired elecronics tech I would recommend visiting your local Hitachi authorized service depot and talk to the tech(s)

 

[GrtArtiste]

The last experience I had with an "authorized service depot" was when a "repairman" (working for an outfit servicing several manufacturers) was sent from almost 40 miles away to "check out" a malfunctioning Samsung plasma tv (not mine). The only thing he did was to converse via cellphone with someone in a location unknown who directed him to check this & that with the end result being that the "Y-main board" was at fault plus assorted other problems. It ended up that the tv was replaced with another model. Didn't fill me with confidence that anybody was interested in diagnosing anything, let alone fixing something.

 

[Stu_Rock]

Some good comments; thanks, guys. I have no idea who assembled the TV for them, but it looks like Hitachi is still its own brand, rather than licensed faux legacy (great phrase, Jeff).

I'm pretty sure 32 in is the right size. Look at my location and you can infer that I have a small living room. We watch mostly scripted TV programs in the evenings. Currently I have a 21 in Sony Trinitron that would get moved into the bedroom (which would displace a 13 in TV to the office, which would displace another 13 in TV to my workshop, which I'm really excited about).

One absolute must-have for my application is an analog audio out, so that it's compatible with our audio distribution system (we use digital audio if we're staying put in the living room). I really like the Panasonic TVs, but they omit the analog audio output.

 

[Bluestream]

Originally Posted By: 97tbird
Service/parts would be harder to obtain than the 'major' brands.

I would go with Panasonic/Samsung/Toshiba for LCDs.


Hummm, last time I saw a TV repairman was 1968...

Its covered by warranty, then after that in the unlikely event something should break, you buy a new one..

 

[91344George]

Originally Posted By: Bluestream
]

Hummm, last time I saw a TV repairman was 1968...

Its covered by warranty, then after that in the unlikely event something should break, you buy a new one..

It is true that technology today becomes obsolete pretty fast compared to three decades or more ago, yet the throw away mentality of today is so darn wasteful, and yes a TV from today will likely be perfectly usable 5 years from now probably even 10 years from now because there are no plans on the horizon for change the boradcasting OTA format or the resolution on it.

 

[Bluestream]

Originally Posted By: 91344George

It is true that technology today becomes obsolete pretty fast compared to three decades or more ago, yet the throw away mentality of today is so darn wasteful, and yes a TV from today will likely be perfectly usable 5 years from now probably even 10 years from now because there are no plans on the horizon for change the boradcasting OTA format or the resolution on it.


True, no new broadcast format on the horizon, but there will be something else come along....3D, new screen pixel design, new video inputs, who knows...we don't keep things to last 20 years like back in the day...

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
Plus I don't think the panel ever fails, it is generally the boards inside mainly due to poor solder joints and component failures in the power supplies.

The Hitachi was probably made by another manufacturer and has the Hitachi name slapped on it. I haven't seen a Hitachi TV in years, so they probably licensed use of their name.


This.

I have a 32" Polaroid that costed me $1100 back in 2006 (cheap by the standard then) that failed after 3 years due to some power supply issue.

Polaroid declared bankruptcy (actually the company who bought the Polaroid brand for TV back then from the original Polaroid) and the new owner is trying to do it all over again.

The same goes for Westinghouse, Insignia, Element, etc. Be very careful about low quality parts that kill it before the panel dies.

 

[Stu_Rock]

I decided to get the TV. It seems pretty good. The picture quality seems competitive with all the major brands; the viewing angle is pretty good. The TV's user interface is nice. It runs cool, but I haven't yet measured its power consumption.

It takes several seconds to boot up, which is a little annoying. Analog channels (I have whole-house CCTV channels) lack the warmth that they have on CRTs, but the image is stable.

Surprisingly, the TV does not have a program guide, but it is capable of showing the PSIP data for the current program. That's fine, because we rarely use the EPGs on our ATSC tuners.

I'm sure Hitachi contracted out the assembly, but the company is still the same Hitachi that always used to be around. It's not a licensed brand.

The 32 inch size is about as large as I would be comfortable having in my living room. The big selling point of this set is that it has all the AV connections that I need for my setup (1 composite input, 1 component input, 2 HDMI inputs, digital audio output, and analog audio output). My 1986 Trinitron is RF-only, and I had several RF modulators running to feed all the video signals. The modulators are retired CATV units that take a lot of power, so my power usage will decrease substantially with the new set (I modified them to have power switches, but I would get in "trouble" if I shut them off).

 

[Stu_Rock]

Update after a couple weeks. This is a very nice TV. At most, it draws 55 W, which I believe places it toward the low end of power consumption.

The only annoyance that I've found is that there are no discrete power-on or power-off infrared remote control codes.

For the price, I definitely recommend it.

 

[Quest]

Originally Posted By: Bluestream
Originally Posted By: 97tbird
Service/parts would be harder to obtain than the 'major' brands.

I would go with Panasonic/Samsung/Toshiba for LCDs.


Hummm, last time I saw a TV repairman was 1968...

Its covered by warranty, then after that in the unlikely event something should break, you buy a new one..

LOL! I never call on a TV repairman all these years...

(*drum roll plse*)

For I am the repairman!

Most of the obervations by various posters are indeed correct. Most TVs have been made disposible in a sense that (a) due to compactness (some appealing factor at play here), they have to sacrifice component reliability by size reduction/compromised reliability); (b) TV has very low profit margin these days, and many major brands incl. SamSung, etc. cut corners to the bone (and with that comes typical complaints about them seldom lasts more than 3.5yrs(nominal)...yadda..yadda..yadda..)

just like computer LCD monitors: they fail far sooner than even 1/3 of the service life of the LCD backlight, so if someone can fix it, there's still 2/3 of the service life left, with all other component reliability factors being equal.

My 2c's worth.

Q.