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Overall I would highly recommend this TV. I did a lot of comparison shopping (actually bought it at a local store) for both price and features and this Hitachi won. I actually bought a Panasonic Plasma and returned it because the picture was so poor, it appeared to be designed solely for HD while this Hitachi does well with any signal.
One of the primary reasons I bought another Hitachi is that it has built-in Up-Conversion. What this means is that it can take a conventional signal (non-HD) and will convert it to a higher resolution. We have a 65" Hitachi projection TV and the picture is outstanding. This one is even better.
Another advantage to this model is that it has the QAM Tuner which allows you to receive Cable HD channels that are not encrypted. Our Cable company broadcasts both the regular local channels and the HD version of those channels but it requires a QAM tuner. On this tv the HD pictures are absolutely outstanding. They are so good, I almost think it is a painting or hard picture.
The only thing I wish it had was an easily programmable Favorites function. But then nobody else does either. Some time ago, I had a cable box that had a Favorites function that worked simply buy hitting two buttons and you delete by hitting two buttons. No menus, just quick setting. I occasionally like to watch 2-4 programs simultaneously but with just the Last function that makes it difficult.


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Contrary to the listing ("Hitachi UT32V502 32-Inch 1080p 120Hz UltraThin 1.5-inch Deep LCD HDTV with Matching Table Stand") this is a 768p display, not 1080p. See the Hitachi website for more information. I nearly bought this TV -- if I had, I'd be fit to kill now. This is a serious offense against the consumer, whether it was deliberate or a mistake.

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This is my first HDTV and I am very pleased with it. The picture quality is outstanding. Here are some of my comments, in no particular order....

First, as I write this (9/3/2008) Amazon's description of the item is incorrect. They list it as a 720p receiver. It is actually 1080i. Verified at Hitachi's web site, where you can download a PDF specification sheet, also the owner's manual states it is 1080i.

The owner's manual leaves a lot to be desired. Descriptions of some of the features ("E-Save" for example) are inadequately covered, or not at all.

There is only one S-Video input, and that is on the side of the set, not the back.

The component video inputs on the back will also accept composite video... a GOOD thing!

You can rename each input source from predefined choices, like PVR, DVD, etc. It would be nice to be able to create your own names (like "TiVo" for example).

Setup was very easy. I connected the set to cable, and the built-in tuner found all the analog and digital channels available, and quite a few that had no programming on them (requiring a few minutes of editing of the channel list). Nitpick: you cannot add channels to the channel list manually. You must let the set scan for channels, then mark the ones you want to skip over.

The set's tuner is NOT CableCARD equipped.

Overall, I would recommend this set highly. It has a lot of inputs, including 3 HDMI inputs, a great tuner, lots of features and amazing picture quality.

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Contrary to the listing ("Hitachi UT32V502 32-Inch 1080p 120Hz UltraThin 1.5-inch Deep LCD HDTV with Matching Table Stand") this is a 768p display, not 1080p. See the Hitachi website for more information. I nearly bought this TV -- if I had, I'd be fit to kill now. This is a serious offense against the consumer, whether it was deliberate or a mistake.

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Yue Zhang, I am not sure if you will read this review. But in any case, a general note about sound. This TV comes with so called "Perfect sound" set to on. I didn't know about that for a while. Out of the box the sound was VERY low. One day I thought it is not possible for a unit this good to have such a lousy sound. Then I found the "Perfect Sound" under the Setup-Audio, turned it off, and voila, I got great sound! Hope it helps folks who didn't thinker with Audio properties of this TV.
As a more general note, I have the unit for more than a year, and I like it very much. Even though it is not true HD (1080P), the picture is great. Also, I leave in Austin area, and when it is on Air, it picks up 4-5 over the air HD channels with impeccable quality.


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Yue Zhang, I am not sure if you will read this review. But in any case, a general note about sound. This TV comes with so called "Perfect sound" set to on. I didn't know about that for a while. Out of the box the sound was VERY low. One day I thought it is not possible for a unit this good to have such a lousy sound. Then I found the "Perfect Sound" under the Setup-Audio, turned it off, and voila, I got great sound! Hope it helps folks who didn't thinker with Audio properties of this TV.
As a more general note, I have the unit for more than a year, and I like it very much. Even though it is not true HD (1080P), the picture is great. Also, I leave in Austin area, and when it is on Air, it picks up 4-5 over the air HD channels with impeccable quality.


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Yue Zhang, I am not sure if you will read this review. But in any case, a general note about sound. This TV comes with so called "Perfect sound" set to on. I didn't know about that for a while. Out of the box the sound was VERY low. One day I thought it is not possible for a unit this good to have such a lousy sound. Then I found the "Perfect Sound" under the Setup-Audio, turned it off, and voila, I got great sound! Hope it helps folks who didn't thinker with Audio properties of this TV.
As a more general note, I have the unit for more than a year, and I like it very much. Even though it is not true HD (1080P), the picture is great. Also, I leave in Austin area, and when it is on Air, it picks up 4-5 over the air HD channels with impeccable quality.


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Paid just over $1,000 from amazon delivered. Comparable 50" 720p offerings from Samsung and Panasonic are typically going for more than this. This is my second Hitachi plasma, I paid $6,000 for a 42" when I was living in Japan 4 years ago; it's still going strong, no burn issues and a truely superb picture so I had no reservations going that way again.

Pro's
+good connectivity set off to the side (this is important because with a tv this size it's difficult to reach around to the middle of the back)
+good colour, good blacks, excellent picture
+sleek looks, bezel is a glossy piano black, speakers are well hidden and manual controls are on the side out of eyeshot
+price, 1080i for the price of a 720p, falling between two stools makes for a bargain imo.
+ir window is off to the left side so doesn't get blocked by my centre speaker

Con's
-stand doesn't swivel, not an issue for me as it's (eventually) going on the wall
-it's heavy, probably no more so than any other, but please bear this in mind when deciding on placement.

Delivery
I've read various comments about the shipping agents amazon used to send this - Pilot. Amazon's systems don't link with Pilot's in the same way that UPS does so the amazon updates are almost useless, Pilot itself then sub contracts out the local delivery to a third agent - this all seems a little low tech and inefficient when compared to UPS/Fedex. The upside though is that while this is less than seamless if you do end up calling Pilot you will talk to real people who are extremely friendly and happy to help. The delivery guy they used was superb and didn't have his hand out for a tip either...

The human touch is, again imo, important with regard to the delivery of this product because unlike most of the UPS deliveries you can't just dump this outside the garage door....

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After reading a recommendation from Consumer Reports, I shopped this unit around and purchased it off the internet for $2,000 (freight incl.) and am very happy with the quality of the picture- although as with most high-tech electronics; my lack of understanding of all of the ways to connect to your cable box, DVD recorder, surround-sound, etc. made set-up a very confusing and time-consuming ordeal. If you are not an audio-video technophile, you may want to consider hiring a professional to come in and do it right.

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