BT-LH80WU - Keep or not to Keep that is the question.

Spotlight Media

Spotlight Media

Well-known member
I have purchased a Panasonic BT-LH80WU 8" LCD monitor for the HPX300 and the 170 that I have. I ordered it from a reputable company (that a lot of us here have purchased from) and it was part of a larger order. They were able to give me special pricing for it ($1775) as Panasonic ordered them for an event but never opened or used them so they discounted as "second inventory".

However upon receiving the monitor and looking it over, I turned it on and found the hourmeter to be at 539 hours. The package was sealed and the monitor looked brand new but that seemed to be a lot of hours. And it was sold to me as brand new.

I know that this is a great monitor and at what I believe to be a very good price, but the bottom line is that it was used so I am trying to figure out if I should keep it or send it back. I don't want to cut off my nose to spite my face but I also don't want to foolishly keep something if it's not in good interest to keep.

Anyone who has used this monitor have any advice for me? I have been going back and forth on this in my mind so I thought I would pull on your coat tails for some feedback.

Cheers
 
Tough one .. but .. considering these are about 2.2 to 2.5k new .. 1775 is
a pretty good deal (and i assume that's got the SDI option on it). Even the
refurbs are 2k to 2.1k

And it's only 539 hours out of the 10,000 hours Panny recommends before you
do a backlite and panel change.

It's a good monitor and I think you got a fair price. If you gotta have new stock,
then be prepared to kick in $500 +

jeff
 
There's definitely something wrong here. If the dealer represented the monitor as A-stock, then the product was misrepresented. They or Pansonic owe you an exchange monitor for the same price. If it was B-stock, then dealer is still on the hook for misrepresentation, but Panasonic is not.

As far as the monitor itself goes, at its regular price there are better options. The BT-LH80 does not have a looping SDI input, no DVI, no field firmware upgradeability, no vectorscope, etc.

Flanders Scientific offers a 7" monitor, as does TV Logic that have a lot more features for the same or less money. Better scopes, markers, more inputs and outputs.

Downside of the TV Logic is a shiny screen, downside of the Flanders Scientific is ruggedness not the same as Panasonic potentially. Panasonic is too heavy for an onboard monitor with an HPX170.

I have an LH80 and TV Logic LVM-071W and prefer the latter for image quality, user interface, features, lower weight, higher resolution scopes, looping HD SDI is important when working with a camera with only one HD SDI output and using two monitors.

The Flanders Scientific lists for $2K and looks great with even more features than the $2.5K
TV Logic. although its focus in red sucks.

Make sure your warranty is the same as for a new model if represented as A-stock. Something isn't right, unless the dealer made it clear that the unit was B-stock. It could have been an Olympics B-stock unit, there are a lot of those floating around right now.
 
actually, the BT-LH80 does have wave/vector - since you have one, jeff, i'm assuming you just mis-typed. either way, you offer some good comparisons.

as for the 80 - call videoscope in miami (www.videoscopeusa.com) as they're having an olympic b-stock sale on the 80 as well as many other panasonic items.

yesterday, i picked up my second 80 from them for $1500. it has 10 hours on it. as of yesterday, they have 24 left.

as to the original poster, there is no way i would have kept that monitor with 539 hours on it. something wasn't right in that deal.

i have no affiliation with videoscope other than being a satisfied customer.
 
FlacaProductions said:
actually, the BT-LH80 does have wave/vector - since you have one, jeff, i'm assuming you just mis-typed. either way, you offer some good comparisons.
Click to expand...

My 2008 era BT-LH80 does not have a vectorscope. My LH80 only has a luminance waveform. Flanders and TV Logic offer side by side scopes, RGB parade, translucent background for TV Logic, Flanders has columns, histogram, false color, 4-pixel comparison measurement, audio meters vertically or horizontally, the latter with db readouts, both brands have markers in any color, many aspect ratios, pixel to pixel in any area of the raster, embedded audio, embedded time code display and more.

LH80 at $1500(albeit used) is a good deal, at $2K or more new, not so good. Angle of view is very narrow, lumens not so good.
 
If the monitor works for you, keep it but let them know they mis-represented it's condition and leverage a lower price and get some money back. If not, return it. 539 hours on it is not an oversight- ;-{ .
 
ah - jeff, i spoke too soon. the 80s have the waveform - NOT the vector - you're right. and i agree with the $1500 price point. for my (mostly ENG) work, it's been a workhorse.

i agree with hotchkiss - 539 hours a big mistake or someone trying to pull a fast one.
 
Thank you all-They are exchanging it for another one. They have opened the box and turned this one on and it shows 0 hours so it looks like we are good to go.
Again, this is a reputable company in MD (hint) and they were just as surprised as I was to find time on the monitor as it was sealed and looks brand spanking new.
 
That's good news! 500+ hours is like a year of use for normal production usage.
The dealer is very reputable, I've had nothing but good experiences with them.
Glad it worked out.
 
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