March 5th, 2008Review : Hitachi P50X01A (50-inch plasma)
It has been close to months since its first launch and not anything has come close to the Hitachi P50X01A’s hostile pricing. Though its official sell price is investment fast at US$3,749.34, this rare made-in-Japan plasma TV can be purchased for as low as S$4,599 (US$3,025.66) from major Singapore electronics seller. Is this a real bargain of a life or a take with strings emotionally involved.
Meeting next to a Pioneer LX Kuro, the P50X01A is obviously taller, though it also significantly narrower, too. Part of the surplus “fats” comes from a cosmetic matt-black plastic rim which runs along the corners, while bottom-mounted stereo loudspeakers add up to its already ballooning height. Sandwiched between these is a matching grille-looking flap hide the front A/V inputs and TV controls, a rather old-school yet functional approach hardly appreciated nowadays? This, together with the silky piano frame and clutter-free front, gives the set a no-nonsense appeal.
Sideways from the new facade, Hitachi has retained two signature designs common among its past flagship plasmas. First of all, you will get a wide-angle mechanical swivel function via remote, implemented on a rather huge stand for enhanced stability. If you’re a little short of space, wall-mounting kit is also obtainable for S$199 (US$130.92), excluding installation. Then there is the well-known rigid-yet-lightweight metal support, tolerably perforated to complement the twin silent inner cooling fans. To top it off, a generous rider of plastic clips is included to offer basic cable management to tidily tuck the cores from prying eyes.
It’s clearly ridiculous to wait for remote button back lighting from a cost standpoint, although the bundled wand was spot-on for the essentials. Video switching between various sources is a snap, thanks to a suite of devoted input buttons. That’s exclusive of a multi functional DVD/settop box control, well-matched with over 20 brands, complete with supplementary playback keys. The layout of these buttons, including a five-way circular dial, is well-thought-out, which further facilitates one-hand operation. Their tactile feedback, joint with an ergonomic grip, reduces hand fatigue for long-drawn-out usage.
Having said that, it’s the rudimentary software menu that truly shines in this subdivision. It may lack eye-catching graphics of modern TVs but this is more than offset by a rich selection of planned A/V configurations under three (Dynamic/Natural/Cinema) video presets. Among them are three independent noise reduction functions to clean up the pictures, Spyder TV Pro-friendly white balance cuts and gains, and frame-rate conversion options. There is just one minor flaw. You will have to frequently toggle the direction-finding button to work your way about the menu instead of simply holding down the key.
Features
Those who know their Hitachi plasmas will probably be familiar with its Alternate Lighting of Surfaces (ALiS) technology. First developed as a cost-effective alternative for displaying 1080i interlaced signals, this was recently refined to meet growing demand for future-proofed full-HD resolution. The P50X01A is one of its pilot offerings to ship into Asia with such new-gen panels, pixel-to-pixel compatible with Blu-ray software. Though its rated 10,000:1 dynamic contrast may pale against the pricey Kuros, its neck-to-neck with the Panasonic PY700 Viera which sell for a thousand more.
To comprehend the full potential of this flagship series, the company is complementing the panel with its stepped-up Picture Master Full HD video processor and a Movie Frame Rate Converter (MFRC) function. A proprietary implementation of the common movie-to-video frame rate conversion (3:2 pulldown), MFRC is promising smoother motion reproduction for film-based happy and broadcast. This employs a special algorithm to generate intermittent frames rather than rely on the conventional approach of simple duplication which may show the way to onscreen jerkiness. Hitachi has all the basics covered, including three 1080p24-ready HDMIs.
Connectivity-wise, there are three HDMI 1.3 terminals at your disposal. One of these all-digital ports is conveniently located in front for hassle-free one-cable playback from HD-enabled camcorders and laptops. Videophones will also be delighted with their extensive 1080p signal support, capable of accepting standard 50/60Hz as well as film-centric 24Hz taste. Rounding up the hi-def video inputs are dual sets of analog component-video sockets. These are, however, 1080i-rated only, which is dated by today’s standard but perfect for TV broadcast setup boxes.
Performance
Getting the P50X01A Spyder calibrated and up to speed was a walk in the park with an already appropriately tuned Cinema video preset. For the record, we had the review unit set up with our reference Pioneer DV-S969AVi DVD player and PlayStation 3 via superiority Monster HDMI cables. Throughout the weeks-long estimate, we had little issue with burn-in marks despite long hours of gaming, though flicker was a recurring problem best suppressed by fiddling with the menu’s film and panel modes. Screen mirror image was another challenge and basic space lighting control is highly optional.
Under our constructive Lab environment, we were able to gather rather good results from TV broadcasts characterized by clear visuals and extremely low noise floor. This strong showing was extended to Avia test patterns with perfect gray scale and color decoding. Nonetheless, it was a DVD rendition of X-Men 2 which exhibited a main weakness. Blacks were more grayish than we would have predictable from plasma and this had a obvious impact on shadow detail. The latter was fortunately within acceptable limit, compensated by sharp and jaggie-free 480p video up scaling.
Playing back the reference-grade Disney Cars brought out the best in this Hitachi. We were delighted by the soaked colors but felt the animation could have been sharper (more on this later). The same went for depth which lacked the addictive 3D-like pop delivered by the premium Pioneer Kuro. If you have qualms about the infamous ALiS flicker, going 24 frames-per-second (1080p24) did wonders for stability during our extensive testing. Moving on, it was the stringent HD-HQV which cried foul as usual, flagging potential resolution loss in linked film and video benchmarks.
For motion reproduction, we fired up Ridge Racer 7 and had an enjoyable time on the luscious big screen. Panning shots with eye-candy background were rendered smoothly. That said, some flickering was visible at times, particularly for static graphics, even with Game mode busy. We also picked up a haloing result on complementary details affecting sharpness, a consequence of internal reflection from the panel’s outer glass overlay. Even more unacceptable was its lackluster PC text quality. Not only was it softer due to heavy scaling at 1,280 x 1,024 resolution, mild color banding and strong flickers were recurring problems even after swapping laptops.
Seem on the brighter side, the onboard speakers managed to belt out some serious loud tunes and had little difficulty reaching reference level at half power. We did feel that treble could need a bit more extension. Likewise for the average stereo imaging and less-than-spatial surround effects. The Hitachi P50X01A is a commendable effort from the staunch plasma supporter, mainly from affordability and feature set standpoint. However, it can be a tough sell when it comes to picture quality. There is obviously room for perfection for the black level as well as universal image loyalty.
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