View Full Version : sony vs. hitachi
bwhuang
02-01-2004, 11:42 AM
Sorry I posted same on Hitachi forum as well.
Hello,
I need to decide today to buy Sony:KP-51WS510 or Hitachi:51s500. And just hard to decide. Could somebody give me immediate suggestion? I read some negative comments on Hitachi set from this forum and heard the sony set can not accept 720p?
I read from Cnet review about the sony set:
"It displays HDTV at 1080i resolution when connected to an external tuner. With standard programming, you get a choice of 480p or 960i."
About Hitachi:
"two broadband component-video inputs that take 480i, 480p, 540p, 720p, and 1080i signals. "
Looks like Hitach is better?
Any opinion is appreciated.
speaking from personal experience, if you ever need SERVICE, it can be a nightmare.......
whichever you end up buying, be SURE to get the extended warranty - it is well worth the cost.......
obviously, I prefer the Sony
Tom :smokin:
To be real honest if you are making your whole purchase around the point of 720p then you might want to think about the fact that only one broadcaster is using 720p right now. Almost all of them use 1080i, even is the SONY does not display 720p it up converts it to 1080i. So again its not a great point. I think they are both nice tv's, but I would take superior picture quality reliability and service of SONY. Thats just my opinion.......
spaceman_spiff
02-04-2004, 05:22 PM
Originally posted by mech
reliability and service of SONY. Thats not quite true, if you do a search on this forum you will find they have not been quite reliable in the past.
Check these threads.
http://www.hdtvoice.com/voice/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2790
http://www.hdtvoice.com/voice/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2206&highlight=Sony+Flicker
I dont want to sound negative about Sony, but this is something a new buyer needs to be aware of.
those posts were from 2002...........take a look at a Sony LCD that are out in 2004 and see what you think........ :) :smokin:
spaceman_spiff
02-04-2004, 10:08 PM
This thread is not about LCD RPTV but CRT RPTV. Thats why I thought I would mention those threads. And there are some recent posts in the threads.
As I mentioned earlier I dont have anything against Sony.
summerfun
02-04-2004, 11:19 PM
I have owned both and have been very happy with both.
Although I am talking about LCD projection and not CRT RPTV.
Scott5626
02-05-2004, 12:05 AM
I know Hitachi makes almost all if not all of their components and housing. Im not sure that Sony can say that, Hitachi makes CRT's for Toshiba and other brands. I have owned both as well but I think it depends on the model and the best deal you can get for the price.:smokin: P.S. Threads from 2002 where you looking at Register Dates?
spaceist:
Don't you think that some of the problems are due to the fact that SONY is a way bigger brand with about 5X more tv's sold? Thats like saying Mac's are better then PC's because many of the problems aren't as documented because only 7% of the population uses them. I would also mention that Sony owners are some the most educated people I have ever seen when it comes to information, experience and know how. As I have posted this site before, I have yet to see any other TV manufacturer have as much wealth of knowledge than SONY. Please look at this site and you will see what I am talking about.
agoraquest (http://www.agoraquest.com)
I have yet to see anything come close to the information this site has on SONY.
Also to the other guy who mentioned that the first post was 2002, maybe he needed time to save up money! LOL
spaceman_spiff
02-05-2004, 06:28 PM
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, I think I should be entitled to mine.
I beg to differ to your opinions mech.
SONY is a way bigger brand I agree to some extent.
Sony owners are some the most educated people I have ever seen Well, your knowledge is limited like every human and probably limited to Sony owners. So I beg to differ again. There are many non Sony owners who are more knowlegdeable.
I have yet to see any other TV manufacturer have as much wealth of knowledge than SONY This I completely disagree. If you think that SONY pioneered HDTVs, I think thats incorrect.
Read these threads:
http://www.hdtvoice.com/voice/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4534&highlight=Bell+Lab%2A
http://www.bell-labs.com/about/history/presidents/netravali.html There is so much research that people can do before they make statements like that.
Is Sony better than any other brand, I dont think so. They are just like any other company with ups and downs.
They have had so many losses and layoffs in the recent past.
Look at this http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040128/ap_on_bi_ge/earns_sony_2
They have had problems, like this one http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040126/tc_afp/japan_technology_sony_040126124125 and of course the CRT RPTV problems.
Not in the recent past the only profitable segment or product was Playstation and its movie making business. Its electonics segment has been consistantly incurring losses. Its HDTV segment did not make a huge change in that loss.
As part of a restructuring effort, Sony is in the process of shedding some 12% of its workforce, or 20,000 employees.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/variety/20040129/va_ne_al/sans_spidey_1
Excerpt from the link above:
Sony's electronics division boosted revenues by a scant 0.4% in the last quarter to $14 billion, thanks to strong demand for its cell phones and DVD recorders.
0.4% is too little to be mentioned. But Sony will recover and become a profit making corp.
I dont want to go on and on, but this gives an idea of what I mean. You can do tons and tons of research like this and be a educated consumer. To some extent I think I am.
And people think Sony is the best. If they were the best, they wont make any losses, all their products will sell like hot cakes. Certainly they are not the best at everything. They can better at some products, but to claim that they are better than anyone in everything is gross ignorance. I buy some Sony products that appeal to me. But I am not blinded by the brand name before making a decision, I definitely will act like a educated consumer and do my homework and research. I will compare brands, performance, features, reliability etc.
In my eyes Sony spends lot of money in marketing and asthetics, people who buy Sony pay a premium for that. Just the name Sony means to me added hype to the actual performance. So I wont be disillusioned by that. I will go for performance etc rather than name and aesthetics.
Sorry to everyone for the rant. Thank you.
and all bwhuang was trying to do was decide on the Hitachi or the Sony....
:whistle:
Scott5626
02-05-2004, 10:48 PM
Please exuse my ignorance I dont have my 811 yet otherwise I would know the answer to this Question, Does the 811 need both the S-video and component or DVI, for HDTV and SD or can you just hook component and have both formats displayed through that.:rolleyes:
sillygoose
02-06-2004, 07:39 AM
Originally posted by mech
To be real honest if you are making your whole purchase around the point of 720p then you might want to think about the fact that only one broadcaster is using 720p right now.
That is not true both ABC and ESPN use 720p and I think that FOX is going to as well when they turn on HD in the fall.
