Hitachi is definitely hot when it comes to looks. But not as hot as
Philips, though; eye-catching nevertheless. This one here, the
Hitachi L42SP04 42” LCD TV is definitely one such hotties, why it even has a red line along the bottom edge of the frame making in even hotter in appearance. The black bezel looks smooth and elegant with sharp angles and sparkly corners. Moving on to the feature set without dwelling more on the looks, the L42SP04 has a 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution and a surprisingly low dynamic contrast ratio of 5000:1. So you're not all that surprised when when the on-screen brightness and contrast don't impress you very much.
The
Hitachi L42SP04 HD Ready LCD TV has a decent connectivity face, with 4 HDMIs, a USB Input, 2 SCART Sockets and a CI socket for pay channels to mention a few. The TV has integrated Digital Television, which is probably its highlight. We plugged in a Blu-Ray player in one of the HDMI slots and tried watching a couple of British classics and I must say that this
LCD TV handled motion very well. Horse chases were engrossing to watch, the momentum and the clouds of dust at the galloping hoofs were delivered with amazing clarity on screen, making the 100 Hz Technology FRC technology proud.
But the shouts of the gunslingers, the neighs of the horses along with the maddening gun shots that give more life and a sense of reality to the scene somehow had a lacklustre rendition. And black levels, though appealing, didn't carry on after long spans of viewing. Colours were appealing though; reds and yellows didn't look in the least bit tawdry. This telly however costs much more than other 42 inchers from the likes of LG and Toshiba; had it been low-priced, the Hitachi L42SP04 would have been highly recommended by us.
