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The HT Guys HDTV and Home Theater Podcast #251 - Mitsubishi 73" DLP In-Store Impression
By The HT Guys
Braden Russell and Ara Derderian
Posted on February 18, 2008
Category: General Interest
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Today we go through an article published in Sound and Vision Magazine entitled M-Card: Possible Its a guide that will help you obtain and use the new Multi Stream Cable Card.

Braden has been contemplating a new screen for his home theater, and the 73" DLP from Mitsubishi would fit quite nicely. So just like any good audio video enthusiasts would do on the weekend, he packed up the kids and spent some quality time at Best Buy and Magnolia to check it out.

Mitsubishi 73" DLP In-Store Impression
Models: WD-73733  and WD-73833
Best Buy carries two versions of the set, the 73733 and the upscale, Diamond series 73833. You can find the 733 online for around $2450 and the 833 will set you back about a thousand dollars more at $3550.

Of course both sets are quite similar in terms of specs, and, in fact, nearly identical in terms of picture quality, but we'll get to that later. They're both 1080p, support HDMI 1.3, use the Mitsubishi exclusive 6-color light engine and proprietary TurboLight180 lamp system, ant they both have the Plush1080p® processing. Other than a fancier cabinet with a slight blue glow to it, the main reason for stepping up to the Diamond series is Mitsubishi's Smooth120Hz processor that helps to minimize motion blur in fast moving action scenes. You'll also get PIP, the DarkDetailer dynamic iris system, some extra processing you'll want to turn off like PerfectTint and SharpEdge, and an extra HDMI input on the front of the set.

At first glance, these are both great televisions. The colors are vibrant, the black levels are pretty good and the detail is nice and crisp, just like you'd expect from a Mitsubishi DLP. Considering how Ara raves about his 65" Mitsubishi, Braden had the family all set to be stunned by the amazing quality of these 73" monsters. While they did look very, very good, it wasn't quite the jaw dropping experience he was hoping for. Of course the sets weren't anywhere close to calibrated, but even after tweaking them, they just didn't seem to be as good as they should have been. We looked at HDTV, a high definition loop, a Blu-ray movie and a standard DVD. The Blu-ray movie should have been pristine, but is wasn't. There was the occasional mosquito noise or artifacting in the very detailed content that should have been crystal clear.

To be fair, odds are a lot of the picture quality issues could probably have been solved with a good, slow calibration. But we've seen really good sets fall apart when you try to go too big. Hopefully that isn't the case with these big boys. Our next plan of attack is to request one from Mitsubishi, but as you can imagine, the logistics can be a bit tricky. But we have to reserve final judgement until viewing the TVs properly calibrated. The remote works fine, but you'll use a universal anyways, and the menu system is passable, but you don't usually spend a Saturday scrolling through the menus on your TV. It' picture quality that really matters.

Overall the 733 is an incredible value at $2450 for a massive 73" screen. It's almost to hard to pass up, assuming the mosquito noise can be calibrated away. The 833 actually did benefit quite a bit from the DarkDetailer an had truer blacks. The Smooth120Hz processor probably also helped, but that wasn't as obvious. Of course the set was a little better, but whether or not it was $1000 better is a decision better left to you.

Posted by The HT Guys, February 18, 2008 09:19 AM

Reader Commentary

See Forum Topic: HDTV and Home Theater Podcast #251 - Mitsubishi 73" DLP In-Store Impression (2 replies)
Feb 19, 9:52am
A year ago I paid $2600 for a Sony A603000 I think the model is, it's 60" anyway and it's great. But 73" for $2400 is jaw dropping! On calibration: I really just gave up as probably most will. 1. No ISF guy anywhere near central Virginia, I mean NOBOD
Feb 19, 11:14am
and from what I read even the HD DVD and Blu-Rays (have neither) are certainly not all calibrated to one standard Hmm... not one single problem in my ISF calibrated system. Just awesome HD!
Showing only excerpts from 2 out of 3, Read More

More from The HT Guys

About The HT Guys

The HT Guys, Ara Derderian and Braden Russell, are Engineers who formerly worked for the Advanced Digital Systems Group (ADSG) of Sony Pictures Entertainment. ADSG was the R&D unit of the sound department producing products for movie theaters and movie studios.

Two of the products they worked on include the DCP-1000 and DADR-5000. The DCP is a digital cinema processor used in movie theaters around the world. The DADR-5000 is a disk-based audio dubber used on Hollywood sound stages.

ADSG was awarded a Technical Academy Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2000 for the development of the DADR-5000. Ara holds three patents for his development work in Digital Cinema and Digital Audio Recording.

Every week they put together a podcast about High Definition TV and Home Theater. Each episode brings news from the A/V world, helpful product reviews and insights and help in demystifying and simplifying HDTV and home theater.