Punchy pics, Thin audio... (Hitachi C24W511TN)

Member Name: Cleudo

Product:	Hitachi C24W511TN
Date:	07/12/01 (194 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Vibrant pictures, flexible channel setup, Attractive model

Disadvantages: Audio a bit lacking, Case a bit insubstantial

Bought this TV from Empiredirect last month and have been playing with it since.

First impressions:

The TV was very quick to set up - most models these days are plug and play anyway, so no surprises there... Just plug in an aerial and follow the prompts when you switch it on for the first time.

The setup procedure takes around 5 minutes, after which you should have a standard channel lineup. Customisation is relatively easy if you want to swap channels around or add extra ones.

The two scarts are very useful - I used one for ITV Digital, and one for my VHS. The nice feature of this TV is that you can assign a channel number to each of the scart sockets... so, I have channel 6 as my ITV Digital box (AV1 in RGB mode) and channel 7 for my VHS (AV2 in composite PAL)

Picture quality is extremely impressive - although you may want to back off the contrast and colour a little - it does look a little too punchy out of the box.

Audio is much trumpeted on the blurb for this set, but I dont really rate it. Bass is non existant and overall sounds thin and toppy - no surprise from such a small cabinet really. I haven't tried adding the optional surround amp/speakers to it, but suspect I would be disappointed. (Maybe I'm spoiled by my yamaha surround setup in the other room!)

The remote isn't as bad as reviews would have you believe - buttons are accessible enough and logically set out. Annoyingly though, it'll only control a Hitachi VCR - no excuse for that these days at all... the VCR should have a library or at least auto-learn from your existing VCR remote.

Minor gripes:

It annoys me that the teletext on this set only has the standard 4 page memory - pathetic! Memory is so cheap these days that there's absolutely no excuse for a tv not to have a 500 page memory... black marks there...

Build quality isn't too bad, the cabinet is a nice light gold colour (ch
ampagne they call it) and looks very attractive either on a table or on the supplied stand. The power switch feels a bit insubstantial and plasticky - only time will tell if this is going to be a problem however...

I had a minor panic when it was three days old and the toddler wandered up with the front panel flap in his hand! Again - a bit cheap and unsubstantial - you push the panel in to unlock it and access the front panel controls (why can't these be on the top edge of the set for goodness sakes?!), but can then quite easily pull it free from the tv...

Overall:

I bought this as a second set for the family room, and as a second set I have no hestitation in recommending it - the pics from it are very impressive. Soundwise, it's ok for a 24" set, but certainly not a 'cinema experience'.

With a decent external amp and speakers it could be a good first set, but perhaps there are better deals out there...

Summary: