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 April 1, 2006Moore’s Law Strikes the Projector Market: The Mitsubishi HC3000 DLP Projector
As most of you know, the numbers 720 and 1080 refer to the number of horizontal lines a TV can display: the more lines, the greater the vertical resolution. In the case of digital projectors, there is also a vertical resolution number to consider. There is the 1280x720 chipset, which yields 921,600 individual pixels; or the 1920x1080, which yields 2,073,600 pixels, 225% more than the 720-line chip. This increase in pixel density is of vital importance if you sit close enough to the screen to see the individual pixels; otherwise, it’s not important. If you live in a place where you can get a pure digital signal unadulterated by a cable company, then the type of TV you watch most often should help you decide what type of projector you need. If you stick mostly to sports-rich Fox, ABC, and ESPN, all of which broadcast in 720p, then a 1280x720 chip can throw a direct, unscaled signal. If you mostly watch other HD channels, then a 1920x1080 chip will work better for you, because you’ll be able to see those signals in their raw form. And if you’re one of those lucky ones who crave sports, doesn’t have a pixel problem, and/or wants to save a lot of dough, have I got a deal for you. Until recently, Mitsubishi didn’t make front projectors for the home-theater market. Instead, they produced big-box rear projectors for the home and front projectors for the business sector. Eventually, it occurred to them that they might try to get a piece of the home front-projector market. But instead of following their normal marketing plan and aiming for the Lexus set, they brought us a user-friendly projector jammed with the latest technology and gave it a rock-bottom price of $2495 USD. Lucky us. The Mitsubishi HC3000 has a 1280x768 chipset, which allows it to display a standard 768-line computer signal without having to scale it, and still display the more common 1280x720 video signal without scaling. The HC3000 is also one of the new generation of DLPs that can create the black levels of a properly tuned CRT; in other words, it has a contrast ratio of around 4000:1. The secret of achieving such a dramatic dynamic range is the use of a motorized dynamic lens iris aperture and, to make sure things don’t get too dark, TI’s BrilliantColor technology -- a sort of dynamic-range expander that boosts the midtone brightness in a very natural manner while leaving blacks nice and inky. The result is a rich picture that, only a few years ago, could be achieved only with a $20,000+ CRT. Did I mention that the HC3000 costs only $2495? Still, such a low price means there are a few tradeoffs. First, finding a good place to set up the HC3000 can be a little confusing. If you have a perfectly formed 16:9 screen that’s masked around the edges, then those pesky extra 48 pixels (768 minus 720) won’t be a problem. Otherwise, unless you’re watching a 15:9 image (nonexistent, as far as I know), you’ll have some white screen showing. Whether or not that is a problem is a question you’ll have to answer, but the HC3000 is not alone in this. Every new DLP that uses the 1280x768 chip has the same issue. Second, the difference in height between the center of the lens and the bottom of the screen is fixed. There is no adjustment. If you have a 100" screen, the center of the lens must be mounted 16.5" below the bottom of the screen (or the top of the screen, if you mount the HC3000 on the ceiling). The only other solution is to tilt the back of the projector and use the keystone adjustment to correct the picture -- never a good idea. Also, the HC3000’s 1.2x zoom lens doesn’t give you much leeway for placement; for a 100" screen, the HC3000 can be placed from 11’ 11" to 14’ 6" away. There’s a good deal of light spill from the HC3000’s front and sides. I used it as a rear projector and never found light spill to be an issue. But if the HC3000 is going to be in your line of sight, between you and the screen, you’ll want to mask that light. After I’d set it up, the HC3000 required several adjustments to get the picture right. If you don’t know what you’re doing in terms of setting the light and color values, you should hire an ISF-certified setup person -- even on a low-priced projector. It will be worth it. I assume I wasn’t the first reviewer my sample had seen. Usually, if a projector comes fresh from the factory, all its settings are at their midpoints, but whoever had my HC3000 before me has a very different room and screen; I had to reset nearly everything.
It was worth the trouble. Fresh from the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show, where nearly every exhibitor used Boz Scaggs’ Greatest Hits Live DVD as a demo disc, I cued up the HD version from the HDNet Movies channel and watched it on the calibrated HC3000. The gilding and carved figures of the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco came through in almost 3-D detail. The reds and golds of the auditorium looked rich and worn; skin looked real, hairs were separate. Best of all, the HC3000 gave me a close-up perspective on Scaggs’ art. Watching him sing from up close demonstrated to me that his effortless sound is really based on skill, talent, and artistry. And isn’t that what we really want from our home-theater equipment -- to get us closer to the performance? The Olympics (bo-ring) looked properly wintry, with exacting detail in the participants’ colorful uniforms. At least the camerawork brought some minor sense of excitement. The NBA on TNT-HD looked sweaty, strong, and hard-fought. Probably the best-looking thing I watched was the Rose Bowl. Quarterback Vince Young’s last-minute touchdown run looked so beautiful. Sorry, Trojan fans, maybe next year. Meanwhile, here in Austin, we’re celebrating. Films looked gorgeous through the HC3000. Detail was good enough to tell when HBO had sadly botched an HD broadcast of Titanic with a fuzzy, Rembrandt-like picture. HDNet Movies, which generally does a better job with films, offered Winged Migration, a terrific-looking film shot by some of the most courageous and patient photographers on earth. It was a revelation in HD. So was that classic of American cinema, Caddyshack. Chevy Chase’s pants reminded me of a friend’s sly aside when he first saw a golfer’s checked slacks: "Nice pants. Who shot the sofa?" The best thing about the Mitsubishi HC3000 was that it was so good, I quit reviewing it and just enjoyed it. Yes, there are a few quirks to getting it all perfect, but look at the price. I’ve worked harder to set up projectors that didn’t look as good and cost four times as much. Take a little of the money you save and hire some help in setting it up. Then any issue I’ve raised evaporates. The HC3000 is a great accomplishment: rich, beautiful colors, a bright picture with amazing contrast, and a price near the bottom of the market. It all adds up to a stunning bargain. …Wes Marshall Mitsubishi HC3000 DLP Projector Mitsubishi Electric E-mail: tsupport@mdea.mea.com
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Gordon
Moore, the founder of Intel, said in 1965 that the processing power of microprocessors
doubles about every 18 months, especially relative to cost or size. This has since become
known as Moore’s Law, and what it means in 2006 is that this is a nice time to be a
consumer of high-definition video displays. With the onslaught of 1080-line
progressive-scan sets from the likes of Sony and Optoma hitting the market at under
$10,000, the prices of the 720p projectors that we all loved just a few months ago are
dropping rapidly. As I write this in mid-March, you can get a very-good-quality 720p
projector from Mitsubishi or Optoma, with Texas Instruments’ Dark Chip and
BrilliantColor technologies, for less than $2500. 
