JandG Posted January 29, 2006 Share Posted January 29, 2006 My Hitachi got turned on yesterday! Very very exciting! I've got it on the natural setting, with contrast reduced to 0. Will keep it on this setting for the tennis/cricket. I would even turn it down lower. More like -5 Colour -20 Brightness -8 Sharpness -2 Try it and you will get used to it. I like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I am not a duck Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 Just tried to set one of these up for a customer using internal analogue tuner (no digital signal yet). Try as I could, was unable to set channel names against the correct channel, or delete unused channels. No problem getting to the respective menu, but is there a button that has to be pressed to confirm selections once made? I RTFM but was none the wiser. Could be the panel menu logic is counter to mine, but was nearly ready to chuck the remote through the window Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbwhi0 Posted January 31, 2006 Share Posted January 31, 2006 Just tried to set one of these up for a customer using internal analogue tuner (no digital signal yet). Try as I could, was unable to set channel names against the correct channel, or delete unused channels. No problem getting to the respective menu, but is there a button that has to be pressed to confirm selections once made? I RTFM but was none the wiser. Could be the panel menu logic is counter to mine, but was nearly ready to chuck the remote through the window MARCJ - Please refer to page 22 of the manual. Make sure you are in TV mode (ie. watching a free to air TV channel) then select Menu button on remote. Scroll down to SETUP then MANUAL TUNING. Page 22 of the manual describes what changes you can then make to the programed channels - this includes Naming, skipping and a few others. It is best to change the Position via SETUP | SORT - page 23 of manual. In future if all else fails I find approaching the nearest 10 year old works most of the time...kids seem to know this stuff!!! Cheers, Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest macpac Posted February 2, 2006 Share Posted February 2, 2006 Firstly long time reader but first time post, have had my 8800 for a few weeks now and am very happy with it but was just wondering if anyone has been able to get the mpg feature to work from an SD card. Have tried serveral files and can see an image still at the start of the file but cannot get it to play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sorcyone Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Warning : Do not buy the Hotchip ODT-4000HD. With the DVI to HDMI on the Hitachi the picture is not compatible at 1080i, and buggy at 720p (requires resolution cycling). I have confirmed this on 2 separate STBs and Hitachis. At 1080i the picture gets a purple wash and shakes. At 720p on some channels (esp ABC and SBS) the picture can shake, or miss every other frame. Cycling the resolution resolves this. Unfortunately it happens on every channel change. Component and VGA is OK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astormsau Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Warning : Do not buy the Hotchip ODT-4000HD. With the DVI to HDMI on the Hitachi the picture is not compatible at 1080i, and buggy at 720p (requires resolution cycling). I have confirmed this on 2 separate STBs and Hitachis. At 1080i the picture gets a purple wash and shakes. At 720p on some channels (esp ABC and SBS) the picture can shake, or miss every other frame. Cycling the resolution resolves this. Unfortunately it happens on every channel change. Component and VGA is OK. Is this fault of STB or the hitachi plasma? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msbc Posted February 3, 2006 Share Posted February 3, 2006 Is this fault of STB or the hitachi plasma? If it was the Hitachi it would do the same thing with any STB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sorcyone Posted February 6, 2006 Share Posted February 6, 2006 Is this fault of STB or the hitachi plasma? It can't be proven either way. The hotchip has caused a lot of compatibility problems for ppl but I haven't seen any reports of problems with the Hitachi so I put my money on the STB being the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHOBiA Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 I picked up my Hitachi 8800 yesterday and it looks great using the SH-Dt510 HD STB and a Zensonic Z500 PS. Got the TV for $3250 from JBhifi Whitfords City in Perth. Awesome service and price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astormsau Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 I picked up my Hitachi 8800 yesterday and it looks great using the SH-Dt510 HD STB and a Zensonic Z500 PS. Got the TV for $3250 from JBhifi Whitfords City in Perth. Awesome service and price. Glad you are happy with it, i got mine on sunday for 3500 on 24mnths interest free. Still using DGTech 2000A HD STB, thinking about an upgrade soon altho most ppl seem to have more trouble than its worth with HDMI connected STB's, everying ok with the Pioneer box? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHOBiA Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 Visually I haven't had any problems but I'm a newb so it might not be working right. I have it plugged in via HDMI so will it run at it's best when viewing a HD channel or do I need to do something with the Tv ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tolly Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 I picked up my Hitachi 8800 yesterday and it looks great using the SH-Dt510 HD STB and a Zensonic Z500 PS. Got the TV for $3250 from JBhifi Whitfords City in Perth. Awesome service and price. G'day all, after much reading through these forums i took the plunge today and picked up the 42pd8800ta today - i paid $3700 inc the extended 5 year warranty from jb hifi in osbourne park (Perth) and i am over the moon! Thanks to everyone who has posted in this thread for their feedback... Regards J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo Razza Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 Hellooo Ordered my Hitachi today, was told I would get it by the end of Feb. Paid 4k neat for the TV and extended warranty. Considering I'm not in the city and I got this price locally I'm fairly happy. I'm curious how the scaling works with the resolution being 1024 x 1024. Does this mean that a 1080i signal would be scaled to 1024, and therefore the difference is minimal? Does the scaling crop 56 lines to scale 1080i to 1024 or is it something else. And does this resolution play 720p without downscaling being that it has 1024 vertical lines? Has anybody seen a true 1080i or 720p image and how does it compare to the 1024 x 1024 resoltion. What I'm getting at is are we all going to be kicking ourselves in a years time when you can purchase TV's that do true 1080i or 720p images for the same price or is the 1024 resolution that close to the real thing that we won't notice the difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter D Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 The model they had two years ago cropped 1080 to 1024. I assume the current model does the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helldiver Posted February 15, 2006 Share Posted February 15, 2006 The model they had two years ago cropped 1080 to 1024. I assume the current model does the same. Peter, you are precisely right. The 8800 model crops 1080 lines to 1024 (and retains 16:9 aspect ratio), which is clearly discernable when using an HTPC outputting 1920 x 1080 in the video card's "native" (non-scaling) driver mode. Jimbo, A 1080i image, e.g. through 9HD, looks pretty good to me. I haven't seen 720p broadcast (that I can be absolutely sure was 720p) yet, but 1280 x 720p from an HTPC also scales reasonably well to 1024 x 1024 (though text will always suffer from imperfect alignment when scaled by less than a factor of 2 and this is visible on the display). You should be aware that 1080i HD broadcast is not 1920 x 1080. Horizontal resolution is 1440 pixels, so horizontal scaling will occur anyway. There's plenty of information available in other forum threads on broadcast formats. (It's a whole other argument about horizontal scaling, where and to what quality that scaling occurs, channel bandwidth used and limitations of the MPEG2 codec in the Australian DVB-T system). Although 1920 x 1080 LCDs are just starting to appear (they look very expensive to me), the 1080 line resolution is, IMHO, pointless, since TV's have always "overscanned" typically by about 5%, meaning that 5% of the picture falls outside the visible screen. This feature removed minor distortion at the edges of the picture inherent in the analogue broadcast/display system. TV program makers do not put any action or screen text in that outer 5% (often 10%) for that reason. That is, there's nothing to see out there. Cropping 1080 lines to 1024 is equivalent to about 5% overscan (vertically). Blu-ray and HD-DVD may make 1920 x 1080 worthwhile, but I intend to wait and see. My 2 cents' worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo Razza Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 Sorry for being so daft, but I just want to clarify. Will it will basically just exclude 56 lines from the image and not have to scale the resolution? Thefore creating an image just as good as a genuine 1080i image, just with a few missing lines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helldiver Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 Sorry for being so daft, but I just want to clarify.Will it will basically just exclude 56 lines from the image and not have to scale the resolution? Thefore creating an image just as good as a genuine 1080i image, just with a few missing lines? Yes, 56 lines are not displayed (and the equivalent horizontal pixels also are not displayed so as to retain 16:9 aspect ratio). The inner 1024 lines are mapped line-for-line to the 1024 lines of the Hitachi display. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DruiD Posted February 23, 2006 Share Posted February 23, 2006 Hi, After a recent failure of my LG Plasma I have a large credit at a JB Store. I can purchase a new Hitachi 8800 Plasma and a Pionner VSX-AX2AV HDMI Switching amp for roughly the same price as a new Pioneer 43", both situations will cost me a $200-300 $$$ ontop of my available credit. I currently have a Pioneer VSX-811-s AMP which i am very happy with, but due to the various different components, with the LG I had to go back to cabling the componets direct to the Plasma and selecting the input source on the remote. Obviously without getting the HDMI switching AMP, I am still going to need to do that with the Hitachi panel. My question is, is the Pioneer Plasma really worth the extra $$$ or is it much better value to upgrade my AMP to a HDMI etc and get the Hitachi Panel. I use the spare DVI\HDMI input on my LG for PC Gaming, so the Hitachi would suit with the spare HDMI - if I cannot use an spare AUX HDMI port on the new AMP. How "good" is the 5 year extended warantee of JB HiFi. Does it compare with the Pioneer warantee? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astormsau Posted February 23, 2006 Share Posted February 23, 2006 Hi,After a recent failure of my LG Plasma I have a large credit at a JB Store. I can purchase a new Hitachi 8800 Plasma and a Pionner VSX-AX2AV HDMI Switching amp for roughly the same price as a new Pioneer 43", both situations will cost me a $200-300 $$$ ontop of my available credit. I currently have a Pioneer VSX-811-s AMP which i am very happy with, but due to the various different components, with the LG I had to go back to cabling the componets direct to the Plasma and selecting the input source on the remote. Obviously without getting the HDMI switching AMP, I am still going to need to do that with the Hitachi panel. My question is, is the Pioneer Plasma really worth the extra $$$ or is it much better value to upgrade my AMP to a HDMI etc and get the Hitachi Panel. I use the spare DVI\HDMI input on my LG for PC Gaming, so the Hitachi would suit with the spare HDMI - if I cannot use an spare AUX HDMI port on the new AMP. How "good" is the 5 year extended warantee of JB HiFi. Does it compare with the Pioneer warantee? Hitachi is a great panel. I cant see the value in going to the Pioneer. I use the 8800 with my PC and it is just great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonno_P Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 Hi All, Picked up my 8800 yesterday and I am very happy. Got it from JB East Keilor Vic ($3300) this was the best price i could find going around local stores. Currently hooked into my HD STB (KAON) the 1080i signal is great. Not 100 percent sure with the screen settings yet. I have lowered the contrast and colour slightly to prevent any issues with screen burn etc.. Cheers, JP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DruiD Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 Hitachi is a great panel. I cant see the value in going to the Pioneer. I use the 8800 with my PC and it is just great. I was in the same boat, I finally went with the Hitachi as I will have use of the extra features over the Pana500A. I am very happy with it, currently running HDMI. My new Pioneer VSX-AX2AV-S (which converts all my Video inputs DVI (STB), Component (DVD), VCR (Composite) and PC (DVI) to a single HDMI input to the Hitachi. The 8800 has only been on for about 30 mins so far and with no calibration it still looks pretty good. A good friend will calibrate it professionally in a few weeks and I reckon then it will just be outstanding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gambit1503560442 Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 I have been looking at getting this plasma & getting a stb later on. I spoke to a salesman on saturday & he said it isn't worth getting the tv if you don't get a stb with it. How true is this & does anyone have any recomendations for a stb? He said he can do a deal ($4000 for the plamsa ext wty & stb) on a Hotchip stb (not sure on model) but I read that some people have had problems with this stb & plasma. Great site so far. I still new to all this stuff. Cheers Nathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamblor Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 Got my 42" Hitachi on Saturday after waiting a month for stock to be delivered...and have to say the wait was worth it...simply amazing picture using settings from various forum members (although i prefer the normal colour temperature over the warm). ps2 through component cables runs great. the Hitachi looks great even turned off. paid 3150 for the panel from David Jones and 300 for LG HDSTB (great box too BTW) could not be happier with the panel... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Two Hats Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 Did David Jones include any of their extended warrant/interest free deal with that price? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamblor Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 nope...the expensive extended warranty was $500 and ruined my price advantage but i simply trust their aftersales service more than the other box shifters...friends have had DJ's do the manufacturer berating themselves to replace panels... i just price matched with JB Hifi to get my price and it was clear they don't read the forums...their $3999 including ext warranty sticker price they thought was cheap... oh, and i paid cash...couldn't say what they are doing re: interest free periods etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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