Hitachi HTD-K 170

Advantages: Good tone quality, looks, reliability and functions
Disadvantages: no cassette player facility

...I wanted a portable CD player for my home-office desk, because I found that playing CDs on my computer whilst I was working seemed to use up memory and sometimes caused my computer to crash. I wanted one with a decent tone, but one that would not take up too much room on my desk. My birthday was coming up (last year), so that answered my wife's question of what to get me for a present. Off we went to Comets. When we arrived there were many CD players that would have suited me for around the £20 mark, but my wife pointed to the Hitachi CX68 saying how good looking it was with it's round, blue-lit window on the front that indicated radio stations or CD information, depending on what was being played. I noticed that it also played MP3s, and that I thought, would be great if I wanted to download music from the internet. I've never... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Connectivity options, HD ready, Styling, Price, Picture
Disadvantages: Setup

...is viewing angle, brightness and speed of response. Each of these problems is improved upon with each generation of LCD display; viewing angle is now at around 170 degrees which means you will only be unable to see the image if you re near horixontal to the screen, while brightness and response times re now getting to the point where they are hardly issues at all. So on the face of it, LCD is the preferred technology - it offers the benefits of a flat screen, typically with lower power consumption and none of the worries relating to "Sky" logos burning into the top right corner of your screen. Unfortunately, the manufacturing process for LCDs is more expensive and, typically a large LCD screen will cost somewhere near twice as much as the same sized Plasma screen. There are no surprises then that we bought a Plasma. And, as you will have... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Good looks, easy to use menu, great picture
Disadvantages: haven't found any yet

...This is great piece of kit and is a worthwhile addition to any home cinema setup. The look of the panel is very smart with its integrated speakers and blackish finish. This would be classed as a middle of the road plasma. Not cheap, but not overly expensive. I think it gives a good balance of cost and quality without breaking the bank. It has loads of great features on the easy to use menu system and enough connectors to keep an army of technophiles happy. The picture quality is fantastic but dont expect that as a given. As with any 'sensative' technology format you need to make sure you have the right combination of contectors, source signal, picture setup etc. Get it right and the Hitachi will provide hours of endless picture (and sound) satisfaction.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful