Questions on an older HD-TV. 540p?

Mojoed

Diamond Member
Jul 20, 2004
4,473
1
81
A co-worker is selling his Hitachi Ultrascan 51S500 for $200.

http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-Hitachi-51S500

The 540p/1080i resolution (especially the 540p) is messing me up.

What happens when a 720p signal is fed to it?
What happens when a 1080p signal is fed to it? Does the 1080p signal get converted to 1080i? Will Blu-Ray's even display properly on this thing? If so, will the lack of 1080p/720p on this set kill/affect the picture while watching Blu-Rays?

I just don't want to waste $200 if it's gonna look like a mess on 720p/1080p content.
It looks great btw displaying a 1080i HD signal.

Any insight would be appreciated. Co-worker wants to know by tomorrow if I'm gonna buy this thing.
 

sivart

Golden Member
Oct 20, 2000
1,786
0
0
Seems like this is a 1080i RPTV.
http://gdgt.com/hitachi/51s500/specs/

Maybe 540p is an overseas (non-US) broadcast signal? The TV will probably not accept a 1080p signal (I.e. Blu-ray), but rather you will need to set it to output 1080i...just my guess.

If you friend has it hooked up, why not tune to ABC/ESPN to see what 720p will look like. I watch all of my Blu-rays at 720p (720p projector) and they look great....this on a 100" screen from 13 feet away.

I'd be more concerned how many hours -- in relation to it's expected life -- are on the bulb and how much they cost to replace. If they are over $300 and it has a lot of hours, probably not worth it.
 

zerocool84

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
36,041
472
126
I have a CRT HDTV. My PS3 plays my Blu-rays/games at 1080i. From what I have read, 540p is half of 1080i but I don't know too much about that. My tv only does 480p/1080i so I can't speak from experience, just from what I've read.
 

BarkingGhostar

Diamond Member
Nov 20, 2009
8,409
1,617
136
A co-worker is selling his Hitachi Ultrascan 51S500 for $200.

http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-Hitachi-51S500

The 540p/1080i resolution (especially the 540p) is messing me up.

What happens when a 720p signal is fed to it?
What happens when a 1080p signal is fed to it? Does the 1080p signal get converted to 1080i? Will Blu-Ray's even display properly on this thing? If so, will the lack of 1080p/720p on this set kill/affect the picture while watching Blu-Rays?

I just don't want to waste $200 if it's gonna look like a mess on 720p/1080p content.
It looks great btw displaying a 1080i HD signal.

Any insight would be appreciated. Co-worker wants to know by tomorrow if I'm gonna buy this thing.
ATSC 16:9 1920x1080i (i for interlaced) has approximately the same video bandwidth as 540P (same aspect). When comparing to, say, 720P you might find a lot of the earlier HTDV's incapable is displaying 720P because 720P requires more video bandwidth than a 540P set can provide.
 

kalrith

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2005
6,628
7
81
Seems like this is a 1080i RPTV.
http://gdgt.com/hitachi/51s500/specs/I'd be more concerned how many hours -- in relation to it's expected life -- are on the bulb and how much they cost to replace. If they are over $300 and it has a lot of hours, probably not worth it.

This is the important thing. You might be able to look online (try avsforum) for how to enter the service menu and check for hours. If it's a newer bulb and replacements aren't too expensive, then it might be a good catch.

If HD at 1080i looks good, then BD at 1080i should look even better. I'd be concerned with what it does with the 720p signal for some TV channels (ABC/ESPN, most notably) and PS3/XBOX360 games if those will be played on the TV.