I am so confused witch set is better. Guys at cc pushing hitachi . Mayby thay have biger profit on it?
RobW
Unregistered guest
Posted on
There have been a lot of minor but very annoying problems with the Sony LCD's (just check thru this forum a little!) Maybe they're tired of all the work and phone calls involved in servicing them.
I was in CC yesterday and they have open box sale of the 42we610 for 2199.00. I asked the saleperson and he said that they have about 4-5 returns in the back storage. He said people return them because of lamp issue. He did recommend me the hitachi 50v500.
Anonymous
Posted on
Dan My local CC was also pushing the Hitachi. From reading the forums and feedback, it appears there are not too many complaints with the Hitachi. One guy made note how the Hitachi looked better, I have to disagree on that, the Sony in my opinion, looks much better. The Sony's base is only 41" of the total length of the 54 1/4" wide set. The Hitachi's base is the entire unit and may not look good unless you buy thee Hitachi stand (overpriced crap in my opinion). Also if you look at the Hitachi's speakers, you can see the outlines through the flimsy grill, not so with the Sony. Picture looks about the same to me on both sets. I'm sure the Hitachi is a good set, but just doesn't meet my likings. I bet CC has many broken Sony LCD sets, as do other retailers due to the lamp problem. It appears they have identified the problem as either a bad resistor shorting out the lamps, or the lamp and socket being composed of dissimilar metals causing some sort of oxidation. I'm really not sure of which of the two mentioned symptoms are causing the problem but hope they have a permanent fix for it. Although the Sony has a 1 year warranty on the set, I believe the lamp only has a 90 day warranty. Can any current owners verify that?
Anonymous
Posted on
CC PUSHING RPTV HITACHI OVER SONY F500 OVER WS510
Anonymous
Posted on
"CC PUSHING RPTV HITACHI OVER SONY F500 OVER WS510"
HUH, WHAT ARE YOO TRYING TO SAY?
anonymously yours
Unregistered guest
Posted on
hold off on both and wait for a set which displays at 1080p resolution. those salespeople at circuit city aren't telling you much of what you need to know.
Anonymous
Posted on
Last month, my local CC was pushing the Sony GWIII and swayed me away from Hitachi LCD. One of the reasons was the PQ was better on Sony, the flimsy grill on the speakers & front panel cover for inputs on Hitachi had problems.
Which is better? Sony or Hitachi, Ford or Chevy, ATT or Cingular???
which sets will display at 1080p and when will they be available?
Anonymous
Posted on
Neither sets are 1080p capable! Still if you don't have any programing to take advantage of 1080p - then what? They haven't even begun to exploit 720p & 1020i programming....
Maybe we should wait for WM9 HD - with or without an internet connection?
GregM
Unregistered guest
Posted on
There's no need to wait for 1080P, toshiba already makes a 1080p LCOS for the low low price of $9000.
No,no,no, don't walk, run to your nearest electronic specialist
GregM
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Oh by the way Hitachi vs. Sony.
1.Hitachi is more profitable, but then again so is a $500 CRT if only a few come back defective.
2.Hitachi will only look better if you adjust right.
3.Hitachi displays native 720p resolution, Sony's have to scale because they added 68 lines of unneccessary resolution to impress TV ignorant consumers with big numbers.
4.Hitachi's stand is overpriced, buy a generic one.(It also looks good on Sony's 60" stand, I'm sure that'll save you a buck.)
5.Hitachi's grill is flismy. I told them to spend more money on the grill and less for the bulbs, but they just wouldn't listen to me.
It also has the advantage of making the pixels smaller so u'll have less screen door effect
GregM
Unregistered guest
Posted on
1080i HD yes, but 720p HD no. And I'd prefer to have at least one native signal. Plus I'm sure Hitachi's 1080P processing chip makes up for it as well does an excellent job with any non-native signal(DVD/SD). I will give you the screen door effect, though sitting from a proper distance it's unnoticable. Also we're talking 68 extra lines, move your couch a 1/4 inch back
Yes but sony's scaling is pretty good so it pretty much makes up for not having a native scan rate, also screendoor effects people differently ,u r correct on the 720p.
Anonymous
Posted on
As a former sales associate at Circuit City for over 8 years, maybe I can give you a little biased insight on how they operate. Almost exactly one year ago, CC eliminated commission-based pay, and fired over 3,900 loyal employees in one single day, without warning. These employees were handed severance checks, and told to leave the property. Even 20+ year, loyal Circuit City "veterans" were sent packing. In the months leading up to "D Day", thousands more were pushed out the door for any number of trumped up reasons, in order to pare down the number they would eventually have to pay severance to. The CEO made an announcement to the press that the jobs were being eliminated in order to "improve customer service". Do you think that you will be better served by an 18 to 21 year old, that CC pays little more than minimum wage? They've used the same screwball reasoning for the closing of most of their repair facilities, nationwide, as well as for eliminating many thousands more of Americans jobs by closing down their stateside technical help lines. These jobs were farmed out to India, if you can believe that. When you get it all hooked up, and it doesn't work, do you think a voice from half way around the world represents "improved customer service"? All it represents is CHEAPER customer service for Circuit City, period.They've recently unloaded their credit card business, taking an 800 million dollar loss in the process. They had a hard time finding a buyer, as their credit card business was loaded with bad debt. When I was there, there were 2 things we were forced to hammer on the customer to get, "extended service", and a Circuit City credit card. If you had ID, and were breathing, you could get a CC credit card. Circuit City is a miss-managed company in desperate trouble, that dumped on thousands of loyal, American workers, and sent many of their jobs off shore. Check their stock performance over the last couple years. Mark my words, in the end, Circuit City and its top management will be the Enron of the retail sales business. That little rant aside, Circuit City has always had a "special arrangement" with Hitachi. When they paid commission on sales, Hitachi always paid the most, and Sonys paid the least, even less than some TVs that would be considered "bargain basement" sets. The reasons are that Circuit City pays a very low price for Hitachi TVs, and marks them up a ton, and Sony sets cost more to buy from Sony, and since Sonys are sold by just about EVERY retailer, competition keeps the markup very low. My advice is if you decide on Hitachi, then haggle price with a manager, preferably the store manager. His bonus is based on margin and store sales numbers, while the minimum wage kid showing you the TV won't really care if you buy or not. Sunday, at the end of the day, is the best time to deal. Sundays are short days, usually lower volume, and the first day of the "sales week". Store managers are forever checking their "sales numbers", and will do most anything to add big sales(especially big screens) to the day's final sales tab. Saturday night, near closing time, is good, too, as it adds to the store manager's weekly final sales figures. My final tip is to avoid the "extended service" like the plague. I'm sure CC still pays commision on service plan sales, and this will be your "junior salesbody's" only chance to make money over and above his hourly rate, as well as being a condition of keeping his job, so he will hammer on you incessantly to buy the service contract, even to the point of causing you to walk on the sale. He will promise you the world, often misrepresenting what is actually covered by the plan, and yet, if you ACTUALLY DO need service, CC will fight you tooth and nail to avoid honoring the contract. If you do receive service, it will be by people of CC's choosing, and depending on where you live, may very well NOT be by CC's "factory trained technicians". All this for a contract price that can amount to 25% to almost 50% of the purchase price of the product. Some "bargain", eh? One last thing, if your sales associate tells you that the service contract includes a yearly, "check up and cleaning", and that a big screen TV needs this kind of "service", demand to see the store manager, and have the sales associate repeat what he just told you in his boss's presence. The service contract(and it IS a contract) does NOT cover any such service, and your set doesn't need any such "yearly service". I would like all who read this to understand that while I'm not happy with Circuit City's treatment of thousands of loyal American employees nationwide, and me personally, my opinions are honest, and are meant only to help those who DO decide to do business with them.
Good luck to you, and peace to everybody.
notccfan
Unregistered guest
Posted on
I have to concur....while I purchased my Hitachi 53" HD from CC a couple years back I had a problems with the Satallite set-up for HD. To make a long story short, CC cuatomer service is horrible and they don't stand behind there policies, so it's buyer beware.....I have 1,000s of dollars in CC on speakers, receivers and TV and needless to say I have not purchesed anything from them anymore.....
PanFan
Unregistered guest
Posted on
Anonymous,
That was beautiful! CC here in MI. was sued for false advertising.
Get up on Sunday to go get a advertised item only to find it was not it stock. Every time!
Price matching after you bought is nearly impossible.
I thank god I never bought anything of real value from them.
Anonymous
Posted on
still i do not know what is better brand sony or hitachi in rptv ?
Anonymous
Posted on
Hi, I'm the poster who is the former Circuit City sales associate from a few posts ago. It's hard to say which brand is "better", as they both make good product. Unless there is some unresolved performance or defect issue with a particular product, I would be reluctant to make my choice based exclusively on the advice of a sales associate, user, or forum poster. Even repair technicians can be misinformed. Here's an example. Back in the mid 90's, CC was pushing ProScan, an RCA product. They DID have a pretty picture, paid great, and were an easy sale. One of my ProScan customers called one day to read me the riot act. After owning her set for two months, she needed service. ONE OF CC's VERY OWN SERVICE TECHNICIANS told this woman that ProScans were all junk, that's all they ever worked on. He said that Panasonic was a far better set, as he hardly ever had to work on them. The simple fact was, at that time, CC was selling about one hundred ProScan TVs to every three Panasonics sold. Simple math explains why the technician saw mostly ProScan sets, and hardly ever worked on Panasonic. Understand that no one wants to believe that the odds of buying a product that breaks down prematurely fell upon THEM, the natural instinct is to blame the seller, or the maker of the product of complete malfeasance. Even after over eight years of A/V sales, I myself, am guilty of making the same assumptions. The fact is, that the defect and failure rate of electronic products today is miniscule. Just protect youself from power surges and spikes, and the odds are that you will enjoy your purchase for a long time. As far as selecting between the two brands, I would recommend comparing a few key attributes and features. Number one is picture. You know what you like. Play with the set. That's why CC velcros the remote to the side of the set. Displayed under goofy, fluorescent lighting, most of the sets will have the contrast control maxed out, not how you would have it adjusted at home. Tone it down, as well as the sharpness, brightness, and color intensity adjustments. Color balance does not have to be set "dead in the middle". Adjust it while observing flesh tones. Too much green, and people look "jaundiced". To much red, and they look "sunburned". Next, I would check out the aspect-ratio adjustments. On a wide screen TV, you can usually blow up, or "zoom up" a 4:3 picture, stretch the picture, and with Hitachi and Sony, a combination of both. Sony calls this combo mode, "Wide-Zoom". Compare these combo modes, as you will be using them a lot for quite a while. Observe what they do to the faces you see on screen. I hate to see stretched, "moon faced" characters. Switch to a sporting event, and observe where the score icons wind up. Are they readable, or pushed completely off screen? Make sure the set has all the A/V connections you need. If you're not using surround sound equipment, listen to the set. Check out the remote. What all can it run? Do you like the operation, or the "feel" of it? It's the one and only part of the set you're likely to actually handle. I know that a side-by-side comparson of these two brands is hard to do at CC. All items are displayed according to a "plan-a-gram", dictated by the head office. Circuit City pushes Hitachi for the reasons I mentioned in my post before, and do not want these competing sets to appear as "competing". They will usually be displayed at opposite ends of the department. I sincerely hope this helps. When it comes down to it, the choice can only be your own. I purchased a Sony 51-inch wide screen HD monitor about twenty months ago, before I left Circuit City. At the time, I thought it was the best choice for me. We were selling the set for $2500 at the time, and I paid about $1800 for it. If I had chosen the equivalent Hitachi, I would have paid just over $1500. I now consult, design, and install home theater systems exclusively for a living, an off-shoot from the "side jobs" I picked up as a salesman for CC. I'm also a degree'd electronics technician. I get to see a wide variety of product. One of my current projects involves a new Hitachi 50-inch LCD RPTV. I went to a local retailer to check out the jack-pak and physical dimensions of the set. The picture that I saw on the set was incredible, better than my three gun Sony, but at almost double what I paid for my TV. It's a balancing act, my friend, between your eyes, and your wallet... Good luck, Amigo.