Hitachi Televisions
Hitachi brings quality and affordability to market
Hitachi is one of Japan's most venerable players in the consumer electronics business. They started out as a tube manufacturer back in the 50s and soon after started making picture tubes. By the 1960s, Hitachi had its own electronics product lines, including TVs with their own picture tubes. A bit of history in manufacturing TV speaks well of their products, and many competitors only dream of Hitachi's experience and knowledge in this industry. As consumers, we benefit from a true ground-up manufacturer who makes the parts that go into TVs with their name. Hitachi has made a name for itself in the last decade as makers of some of the most reliable and high-quality TVs in the industry. A top name in Consumer Reports lists of most-reliable TVs, Hitachi consistently shows up less at the repair shop than other manufacturers.
As a corporation, Hitachi has a surprising number of global and environmental initiatives as the company tries to brand itself as environmentally friendly. Much of this might be seen as marketing hype when you see terms bandied about in their literature about eco-mind management, sustainable business models and their own social citizen reports. Still, we have to applaud them for trying; some of their initiatives will have some value, such as Hitachi's self-imposed ban on lead solder in their parts. Reducing the use of lead can only be a good thing.
Hitachi's CRT rear-projection TVs are well designed and surprisingly thin for a CRT rear projector. Hitachi makes a top model 51" rear-projection CRT television fitting into a package less than two feet thick, an amazing feat. Hitachi has an array of flat-panel plasma and LCD monitors as well as LCD and CRT projection choices. Their focus on variety ranges from their high-end Cineform line to their mainstream equipment made to higher standards than most of the competition.
Even Hitachi's moderately priced 3-chip LCD rear projectors with their own proprietary processing are comparable to any on the market today. Don't be confused by proprietary processes such as their Virtual HD1080P. No, the set is not a true 1080P and the process makes it seem a bit deceiving. But for all of Hitachi's research and development they've learned to push the technological limitations of the display types they develop. Hitachi's Cineform line is their premium brand, with more emphasis on the inner workings, better lenses, more filters and better LCD processors. But are Cineforms worth the extra cash? That's for you decide if you take a look, but most people have come to the conclusion that Hitachi has done such a good job on their regular LCD rear projectors there is no need to step up to the premium models.
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