AKAI PT5598HDI @ Sam's Club

[TechRulesGA]

Anyone know about this 55" HDTV set being sold for under $1300 at Sam's? It is said to have integrated tuners for HDTV, so it is a real bargain. It also is 16:9 and has a DVI port.

THANKS

[jcanale]

I called AKAI and they said it was the latest model and had no other option than the previous years model except for the addition of the DVI port. They also told me where I can get it serviced. I called the places and confirmed, but they were reluctant to give me any info on the reliability verses picture quality. All they would say is they haven't seen many of them.

This raises another question. Who owns these? There is not one damn review on this set. Why? This makes me reluctant. I cant believe a company which has been in business since WWII has no American customers. I'm rarely the pioneer purchaser. I think I'm gonna hold off for now, but may actually end up buying it if I can get a legitiment review.

Anybody????????????

[mech]

Here is a quick answer for you and it's not meant to be rude by any means. After the research you have done, and past brand recognition. Does this brand yell quality? There's a reason the price is low!

[kevinw]

Yes it is a bargain. It is also an unknown quantity. So few people have one and if they do they more than likely are not HD enthusiasts like most people here. Is price an issue? Then try the Sears outlet at Discover Mills or Uecweb.com , at least you will have name brand products to look at.

Originally Posted by TechRulesGA

Anyone know about this 55" HDTV set being sold for under $1300 at Sam's? It is said to have integrated tuners for HDTV, so it is a real bargain. It also is 16:9 and has a DVI port.

THANKS

[mobius97]

Originally Posted by mech

Here is a quick answer for you and it's not meant to be rude by any means. After the research you have done, and past brand recognition. Does this brand yell quality? There's a reason the price is low!

Whats so bad about the quality. Is Samsung bad quality in your opinion too. I posted this somewhere else too. Samsung and Akai are the same...the sets are even manufactured in the same factory. They are in a joint venture with some other companies Under Videocon...look it up you will see what I mean. The only difference is Akai carries a cheaper price tag and a diferent badge than the Samsung twin. So before you are so quick to reply and not meaning to be rude you should do some research before making these types of claims.... unless you think samsung is crap too.... . At the same time I must note too. I have a Akia hd set the only diference is the samsung twin comes with DVI inout while mine did not.

[spaceman_spiff]

Make sure the set has DVI with HDCP. Without HDCP, its almost useless.

[jcanale]

Hey guy you the man. I just called AKAI and talked to a very cool technical support person and she confirmed that the TV's are made alongside Samsungs. Note this is something there not supposed to talk about, but I'm glad this tech confided with me.

To answer another post. The HDI is this years model (2004) which is identical to last years model except for the addtion of the DVI port. Last years model the HD can still get HDTV with component cabling.

Well guys pioneer or not I'm off to Sams this weekend and buying this set. Look for personal views/questions to come.

Thanks to everyone who shared

[diamatron]

I am watching for a review of this set. Like you said, Price too good to be true?

[Teewinot]

I bought this set this weekend and took it home and hooked it up using cheap component (red, blue, green) cables I bought for $15.00 at the local WM to hook up the DVD and I am really happy with the whole setup. I have analog cable and my picture is better than my neighbor who recently bought a DLP 61" and he has digital cable. The sound on this set is better than his also. I do not have a surround sound unit but don't think I will need it with this unit. I looked at all types of units, LCD, DLP, Plasma, but couldn't justify the price difference when compared to this unit. It also has a built in tuner that picks up over the air local HD broadcasts and they are excellent.

[diamatron]

How far away are you from your OTA HDTV Towers?

[Teewinot]

I am between 11 and 19 miles from the three main local channels. I am using a Terk tv-5 and I get 4 hdtv capable channels and 3 other channels clear as you can imagine. I do live on a very high hill however and have a clear line of site in the direction all the transmission comes from. I can receive all the digital channels without on the Terk tv-5 without turning the amplification below it's lowest setting so I may be in a unique spot. Have nothing to compare it to since most of my neighbors with big screens don't have a tuner yet. I don't even know if my tuner that came in this set will pick up cable or satellite hdtv. Does anyone know?

[varaonaid]

Hello,

I'm no expert on TV's or HD but I've been browsing around researching affordable HD sets and came across the Akai @ Sam's. I too heard some time ago that Akai and Samsung were the same sets only rebadged. We've even owned an Akai pure flat screen standard tv and my husband and I have been extremely happy with it.

I found the AKAI PT5598HDI on their website but wanted more specs. After the reading the posts here reconfirming that Samsung/Akai partnership, I thought I'd check on the Samsung site for the twin model. I believe I have in the archived models. The promo photo is even identical on the two sites. I've included them below if any one is interested in checking them out for themselves.

http://www.akaiusa.com/pt5598hdi.htm
http://www.samsungusa.com/cgi-bin/na...Specifications

Hope that helps someone on their quest for that elusive perfect television.

[varaonaid]

Also just found the product brochure for the twin Samsung unit:

http://www.samsungusa.com/SamsungUSA...22/hcn5529.pdf

[craigmri]

Does the AKAI PT5598HDI offer 720p when playing DVD's like its Samsung brother? I plan on picking up one of these sets at Sams tomorrow morning!

The Akai website doesnt offer much for specs.

Craig

[diamatron]

And, Does the DVI have the copywrite preotection HCDM or somethinglike that. I notice all "brand Name" TV have HDMI inputs now.

[craigmri]

Was extremely excited to purchase this Akai PT5598HDI at Sams. I felt I was getting a tremendous value.

Brought the set home and set it up. It looked really good sitting in my living room. Once I started viewing the TV attached to Non-HD Direct TV signal I went through the auto and manual convergence functions to get everything the best it could get. I couldnt help but feel the image just looked a little blurry and nit as crisp. I didnt expect HD quality but did expect it to look better.

The bizarre thing was when I would pull up the PIP with the same channel displayed the PIP image was alot clearer. I suspected cause it was a smaller compressed image so I changed the PIP size so it was half screen. The PIP half of the screen looked good were the main image side looked a little blurry. I figured I had a tuner issue of some type. I called Akai and after 6 hours getting bounced back and forth from Akai to Direct TV Akai gave me the number of their local service outfit. I called and they said if they find something wrong they would have to take my set to their shop for repair. This after owning the set for 24 hours I decided it wasnt worth the trouble and I simply returned it. Sams didnt have any more so I decided to continue shopping.

In the end it turns out that although it was alot of work getting the set to and from the store I did get to spend alot of time learning things I like and dont like.

At this point I have my choices narrowed to Hitachi, Sony and Panasonic.

Craig

[summerfun]

Originally Posted by craigmri

I couldnt help but feel the image just looked a little blurry and nit as crisp. I didnt expect HD quality but did expect it to look better.

You are experiencing what every new HDTV owner experience. SD programs on an HDTV sets don't look very good. In fact, your old TV set looks much better than your new HDTV for SD programs.

This happens for two reasons. One, the higher definition of the new set was not designed to display SD very well. It will do it, but that was not its design. Secondly, most of the time your new HDTV is a larger screen than your old TV set. It will take the imperfections of and SD signal and blow them up even larger. The PIP looks better because of the smaller size.

Some people have better luck sending the SD signal from the STB to the HDTV through s-video. It may help the SD channels look a little better. Of course your HD channels still must go through the component inputs.

Although you may be watching some SD programs still today, I would buy the set that gives you the best HD PQ. That is the point of purchasing and HD set and will be most of what you watch now and in the future.

[Teewinot]

I copied the info below from another forum and did the tweaking last night to my Akai PT5598HDI. Mine was well focused when I went to the convergence screen. I did correct a few areas around the edge. It is good to know you can fine tune the convergence if you need to however. I am sorry Craig had a problem with his set. I guess I just lucked up and got a great one.

There is a MUCH better convergence mode. go HERE to view a pdf guide that is mostly correct. Except the tv has to be turned on when you hit mute 1 8 3 to get the menu. Also to save your settings you press and hold enter until cursor flashes. and sleep moves grid to right (do not do this though). Also the number 6 does not do half steps like the guide says. Other than that the guide is perfect. T.V. looks MUCH better after a good manual convergeance adjustment.

I also changed some options in the system menu. However I HIGHLY recommend NOT doing this without doing a lot of research first and writing down everything. If you feel like risking ruining your t.v. you can open this menu by turning off the t.v. then hitting mute 1 8 2 then power to turn t.v. on.

[Teewinot]

I'm sorry, the Here should have connected you to http://www.ssns.net/HTStuff/Samsungtips.pdf in that last thread.

[gwheeler]

I bought one this weekend, and I'm very happy with it.

BTW, the complete model number is PT5598HDIX. I don't know if the X is significant or not.

At the moment I have it connected to plain (analog) cable TV, and I use the component connection for my DVD recorder/player. We watched Haunted Mansion on DVD on Saturday night, and it was great! Excellent picture, good sound. Analog cable programs are, as expected, not so excellent -- just big. I don't see that as a problem. The F1 race from Indianapolis looked just fine.

There are a couple of features that I miss. It has no way to label the channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, etc.) like some of my other equipment. The clock auto-set feature requires a digital broadcast; it won't set itself from an analog channel like others I have.

OTOH, there is an unexpected find: it has a built-in program guide. That also requires a digital broadcast, which I don't have yet, so I don't know the details of how it works. Has anybody else used it?

Future enhancements include an antenna to receive local digital broadcasts, and a proper sound system to decode the digital audio.

Gerry