I've lived with full 1080p-rez TVs for a few months now, and it was clear that the Hitachi didn't deliver as crisp a picture as I'm used to seeing. Still, this set's high-def detail was very good (and if you sit more than 7 or 8 feet away from the set - a not impractical distance for a TV this size - the benefits of a 1080p screen start to diminish). For example, in a Volver scene where Sole (Lola Dueñas) enters a deceased aunt's home for the funeral, I could clearly make out the cracked texture of old paint on the door behind her. The set also did a good job of displaying shadow detail: When Sole sits among the black-clad mourners at the post-funeral gathering, I could see variations in tone and the fine folds and creases in their dresses. In especially dark scenes, however, such as one where Raimunda (Penélope Cruz) buries a freezer containing her husband's corpse, the TV's somewhat limited black depth gave the picture a two-dimensional appearance.

For a plasma model, the Hitachi held up surprisingly well for daytime viewing, with the screen both retaining its contrast and reflecting back only a limited amount of room light. It also did a good job upconverting standard-definition DVDs and TV programs, which looked relatively clean and detailed. But when watching scenes with fog or mist, I did note a fair degree of false contouring - an artifact that shows up as coarse bands of color in shadowy images. And diagonal lines in high-def pictures sometimes had a jagged look, although instances of this artifact were few and far between.

BOTTOM LINE The Hitachi P50T501 50-inch plasma HDTV is a good option for anyone seeking a big screen that won't break the bank. This TV's many convenience features - including a swiveling stand and front-panel HDMI and memory-card inputs, not to mention an ability to retain picture contrast in well-lit rooms - give it broad appeal. And its picture, while lacking both the sharpness of true 1080p sets and the deep blacks of the best plasmas I've tested, is fairly impressive overall for a $2,400 set. You could spend more on a 50-inch flat TV. But after checking out the P50T501, you may not have to.

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