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The full review on one of our 2009 Award-winners, the Mitsubishi HC6500, using LCD panel technology for fine full 1080p movie magic.
Mitsubishi continues to enhance its full high-definition projectors, at the same time lowering the cost with each new generation. This Mitsubishi HC6500 backs up three full-HD LCD panels with an enhanced dynamic iris and top quality video processing.
EQUIPMENT
The most obvious change from earlier Mitsubishi full HD projectors is in its appearance. In short, its lines have become more free-flowing as the projector has expanded in both size and weight. The control keys on its top are now hidden under a clip-down flap, while a sweep of the casing gives some visual relief from the connection panel at the rear, especially if the projector is ceiling-mounted.
The basic operational principles remain the same, though. The HC6500 uses three LCD panels to form a full high-definition picture. For this model Mitsubishi has omitted any mention of the specific LCD technology it has used — simply calling it a “next-generation inorganic liquid crystal panel”. It says that these panels have roughly ten times the life of “conventional organic film panels”.
Otherwise, the specifications are very similar to the HC6000 projector, which was selling in Australia last year for a price 50% higher than that of this projector. Value in projectors really is increasing that rapidly!
The 160W lamp makes for fairly economical running — even more economical if the low output setting is chosen. In addition to saving 30W or so of power, this extends the rated lamp life from 2000 hours to 5000.
The automatic iris has been boosted to operate on a per-frame basis (that is, as fast as one sixtieth of a second), and the dynamic contrast ratio is rated at 15,000-to-1. The basic optical package and geometry appear similar to earlier models. The projector still comes equipped with both horizontal and vertical lens shift, so there is considerable flexibility in placement. The zoom range is a moderately wide 1.6-to-1. This zoom, the lens shift and the focus are all motorised, and can be adjusted using the remote control. These power controls allow both a fast and a step-by-step adjustment, so it’s easy to precisely tune all these settings. After you’ve completed all this, you can ‘lock’ the settings within the menu so that they aren’t accidentally changed.
For a 100-inch (2.54 metre) 16:9 screen, the projector needs to be at a range of between 3.1 and 5.0 metres.
The unit has the usual inputs, with two HDMI ones. It can be integrated into a control system via RS-232C and has a trigger output.
PERFORMANCE
We have mildly criticised a couple of Mitsubishi projectors in the past for their strange ceiling mounting points. All three of these were at or behind the projector’s centre of mass, so some ceiling mounts had a tendency to droop forward over time, lowering the height of the projected picture. With the cabinet redesign Mitsubishi has retained three mounting points, but these are all placed near the extremities of the projector, making for easy mounting.
Thanks to the motorised optics and the sensible design of the controls, installation was very quick and easy with this projector. The projector, just like the last Mitsubishi unit I reviewed, came with a default of ‘97%’ for the ‘Over Scan’ setting under the ‘Signal’ menu. Change this to ‘100%’ and you implement 1:1 pixel mapping for 1080 signals. This needs to be changed for each different signal standard, so you can leave a touch of overscan on for, say, 576i and 576p if raggedy edges on DVDs or SDTV broadcasts bother you.
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