Hi,

Couldn't find any other threads on this projector.

Can anyone tell the differences between this model and the HC5000?

How different is it price-wise?

I still can't post URLs, but it's on their official projector site.

Oded S.

I would like more info also... here is a link

http://www.mitsubishi-hometheater.com/hc4900.asp (http://)

Supposedly MSRP will be $2995, same price point as the Optoma HD80's Optoma-endorsed street price (Does MSRP on the Optoma differ from street? I think they just used street in the press release).

I too am interested in this one, I'm curious to see how the pricing and bang-for-the-buck factor ends up shaking out between these two budget 1080 PJ's. Without having seen them I'd lean towards the DLP if the prices are the same, but who knows which will really be the better projector. I'm just remembering when the HD70 came out and Optoma had that nice little price war with Mits and the HD1000 -- Here's hoping for round 2 of that...

Anyway, projectorcentral has the news release on this, as well as some of the specs -- 3LCD, claimed 7500:1 contrast and 1000 lumens, etc.

I read through the manual and this seems to be an HC5000 without the Reon processing. At this price point, I would probably take this over the Panny or Epson since it is quieter and probably as sharp or sharper. I wouldn't read too much into the contrast specs since they all use the same panels and similar wattage bulb. After tweaking, I would bet all of these would come out about the same. The Optoma HD80 is probably also a good choice as long as rainbows and placement aren't an issue. It wouldn't work for me, so I had to go LCD. I don't think you could go wrong with either at this price.

I don't see anything refreshing in this HC4900 release.

The HC5000 streets today for ~$3300. Instead of introducing the HC4900, why haven't they slashed another $300 from the HC5000 ?

I can only hope that in future months, Mitsubishi will continue the tradition of lower street prices than MSRP, and so maybe in 6 months we'll see this projector around $2000. This will be interesting.

One thing I don't like about the HC4900, is the fact they've reduced on/off contrast to 7500:1 (from 10,000:1). I can only hope they purposely ruined some of the Iris performance (to justify the existance of the HC5000), and didn't mess with the C2fine panel itself.

One thing I don't like about the HC4900, is the fact they've reduced on/off contrast to 7500:1 (from 10,000:1). I can only hope they purposely ruined some of the Iris performance (to justify the existance of the HC5000), and didn't mess with the C2fine panel itself.
I highly doubt they did anything different with the panels, and actually driving the iris may turn out to be a good thing. The Mits HC5000 was criticized by some for having too visible of a brightness pumping from the aggressive iris. If they toned it down a bit, it could very well present a more pleasing picture even though the specs would be a bit lower. Just a thought...
-Matt

I hope you are correct. I think the only one who could answer this question is Cine4home, once he gets this projector.

Take a look at this:

"The HC4900 is designed with three C2Fine™ inorganic LCD panels that are more durable and provide a more color-consistent, even-toned image than previous generation LCD panels. A protective filter is added to the LCD block housing to help reduce dust and particles landing on the LCD panels, producing cleaner images. "

This is from the press release on PJC. Notice the "protective filter" on the 4900. I am willing to bet this is a HC5000 minus the HQV but tweaked to eliminate the dust issue. If this is the case and they also improved the iris integration (even though lowering the overall contrast) this should be a winner.

Another LCD from Mit. ???

I thought most of the people are waiting for them to release an entry-level single panel 1080P DLP one, which is a step up from HC3100. Because the last time I saw a 3100 n 5000 side by side, the 3100 beat it every way possible, except on resolution.

I'm waiting for a 1080P version of the HD1000. I want the same throw dimensions and brightness.

What is a HC3100, Projector Central doesn't list it at all?

Another LCD from Mit. ???

I thought most of the people are waiting for them to release an entry-level single panel 1080P DLP one, which is a step up from HC3100. Because the last time I saw a 3100 n 5000 side by side, the 3100 beat it every way possible, except on resolution.

The move from 720p to 1080p for DLPs, is not as important as the move from 720p to 1080p for LCDs.

720p LCDs suffer from screen door effect (except the Panasonic ones), and suffer from low native contrast ratio. 1080p LCDs offer a solution for both these problems. This is the main selling point for 1080p LCDs, not the pixel increase per se.

720p DLPs (especially Darkchip3) do NOT suffer from either SDE nor low contrast, so the move to 1080p gives the sole advantage of increased pixel count, which isn't that attractive, as so many down-to-earth reviews have shown.

Can't agree more with you. Plus, the 1080P DC3 chip maybe very expensive at this stage.

The Mits reps at Infocomm didn't hold out much hope for a DLP 1080p unit in the near future. It was interesting that they just introduced a 16x9 LCD business projector with about the same specs as their WD2000 DLP 16x9 model, so, I wouldn't discount the idea of them offering both an LCD and DLP 1080p HT projector at some point.

Just conjecture on my part.

Jonathan

If it is true, then it will make the 3100 more sought-after, especially if you like Mit. product.

However, Optoma is introducing their new 1080P DC3 dlp at $3000, n Mit. shouldn't be that much more if they decide to do it.

I don't see anything refreshing in this HC4900 release.

The HC5000 streets today for ~$3300. Instead of introducing the HC4900, why haven't they slashed another $300 from the HC5000 ?

I can only hope that in future months, Mitsubishi will continue the tradition of lower street prices than MSRP, and so maybe in 6 months we'll see this projector around $2000. This will be interesting.

One thing I don't like about the HC4900, is the fact they've reduced on/off contrast to 7500:1 (from 10,000:1). I can only hope they purposely ruined some of the Iris performance (to justify the existance of the HC5000), and didn't mess with the C2fine panel itself.

I have the Mits HC3000U and very happy with it...I dont see myself upgrading 1080p until they are $1,999 or less...so maybe Spring 2008?

Another LCD from Mit. ???

I thought most of the people are waiting for them to release an entry-level single panel 1080P DLP one, which is a step up from HC3100. Because the last time I saw a 3100 n 5000 side by side, the 3100 beat it every way possible, except on resolution.

I just saw the 3100 and the 5000 side by side, Iand I thought the resolution and supposedly "razor sharp" image of the 5000 was going to wow me, since I'm picky about detail. It didn't. It was exactly like what you said. The hc3100 looked better in almost every way. Even when i got up and stood at about 1.3x screen width i still prefered the 3100 image, even when it was starting to lose some resolution detail. Maybe if i could have spend a couple hourse fiddling with the 5000 i could have gotten it to look sharper.. but for some reason it just looked much softer, even with the extra resolution (all 1080p content). I thought the optics of the hc5000 was supposed to be really good and sharp? Maybe it was a panel convergence issue. At any rate, I bought the 3100 instead and saved a few hundred bucks.

I'll give the hc5000 or 4900 another chance if they come down further in price.. I was really wanting the resolution to make a big difference. Looking forward to the HCXXXX 1080p dlp.

I thought they don't sell the 3100 in U.S..

I remembered the 5000 was pretty sharp too as compared to 3100, maybe it is the convergence issue as you said for LCD units. However, the tale of the tape is CONTRAST, in which the 3100 is much ahead.

I live in Taiwan, where they sell the both the hc3100 and the hc1100. The contrast was definitely WAY better on the HC3100.

I just couldnt get the 5000 to look sharp.. it must have been convergence... a bad unit. i even tried adjusting the vertical lens shift in case the lens was distorting it..

on a side note i might have to return the hc3100 because it makes an annoying whining sound at 5x colorwheel speed. (and i see too many rainbows at 4x)

You may have a bad unit since my 3100 sits on a shelf 3 ft. above me n the noise level is low. Don't even notice it once the movie starts. I am also running it at 5x speed to avoid rainbow..

ah.. i have mine a foot below and 3 feet behind my head.. i think it comes directly out of those front fan ports.. i might have to put it up high and upside down like you... but i think i'll take it back anyway since i still see rainbows at 5x. I can't really justify the price difference between this one and the HC1100 since my room has a lot of reflections and i wont see the contrast difference much anyway.

ah.. i have mine a foot below and 3 feet behind my head.. i think it comes directly out of those front fan ports.. i might have to put it up high and upside down like you... but i think i'll take it back anyway since i still see rainbows at 5x. I can't really justify the price difference between this one and the HC1100 since my room has a lot of reflections and i wont see the contrast difference much anyway.

I don't understand, one the one hand you say you are annoyed by the HC3100's rainbows and for this reason have to turn it back, but on the other hand intend to replace it with the HC1100, which is a 4X DLP ?, what's the point ?

I don't understand, one the one hand you say you are annoyed by the HC3100's rainbows and for this reason have to turn it back, but on the other hand intend to replace it with the HC1100, which is a 4X DLP ?, what's the point ?

Heh, you're right. I guess it doesnt look like it makes much sense. However, I didn't say i was annoyed with the HC3100's 5x rainbows, I just said i could still see them. They don't annoy me per se, I can just try not to see them. There actually isnt too much of a diffeence for me between the 4x and the 5x. The effect is still visible, just sped up a bit...

With 5x, I still have to train my eyes not to notice them in the same way i would for 4x, so there isnt too much of a gain there for me. moreover, i would probably run the 3100 at 4x just because of that annoying 5x whine it has. I guess good quality DLP units with higher colorwheel rpm's really need to be big and heavy like the sharp, marantz, yamaha, etc..

So in reality I think i should either step down to the 1100 which is about 450 dollars cheaper and has a comparable image. Then i wouldnt be complaning about rainbow-training my eyes or high pitched noises or the tough-to-rear-shelf-mount offset or anything else because it would be a "budget projector"...

Why not go with a 720p lcd, you ask? I know there would be no rainbows and much better placement options, etc.. But I'd rather train my eyes to dlp and have that pop and sparkle of the higher ansi contrast.. and i just love the razor sharp, stable pixels of the single chip. The only lcd i would go for right now would be a low-budget 1080p that was actually sharp (not like the hc5000 that i saw which HAD to have been a defective unit because softness is not a quality that any of the many hc5000 reviews have talked about)

According to the Mitsubishi web site, the HC5000 accommodates 1024p/24 but the HC4900 doesn't. Being able to process film transfers at the native projection rate is an important advantage for many, since it offers a way of eliminating 3:2 pull down judder.

This is probably a more important omission than deliberately dumbing down the contrast ratio. Does the Mits marketing group think they're going to sell more projectors by giving consumers less?

According to the Mitsubishi web site, the HC5000 accommodates 1024p/24 but the HC4900 doesn't. Being able to process film transfers at the native projection rate is an important advantage for many, since it offers a way of eliminating 3:2 pull down judder.

This is probably a more important omission than deliberately dumbing down the contrast ratio. Does the Mits marketing group think they're going to sell more projectors by giving consumers less?

I totally agree. It would make much more sense for them to release an HC5100. People will get all the benefits of the current model at a lower price and others will buy the new and improved version. However if they manage to make the HC4900 under 2000 street price by dumbing it down, Who cares? it can't be too much worse than the HC5000. From the initial impressions over in the HD80 thread, it looks like it might be just as good as the HD81.

According to the Mitsubishi web site, the HC5000 accommodates 1024p/24 but the HC4900 doesn't. Being able to process film transfers at the native projection rate is an important advantage for many, since it offers a way of eliminating 3:2 pull down judder.

This is probably a more important omission than deliberately dumbing down the contrast ratio. Does the Mits marketing group think they're going to sell more projectors by giving consumers less?

Hmmm... as the HC4900 seems to be pretty much the same unit as the HC5000 minus the Reon (and with a strangely lower CR), I think there is still hope that it will accept 24p.

FWIW the data sheet for the HC5000 on the Mits website also only mentions 1080p50/60, but we know from owners that it definitely accepts 24p.

I am in Tokyo now n just saw the Hc5000 for sale at about US$2,200 n the store said the new model will be released around Sept..

Info from Nicolas Charbonnier (techvideoblog.com)

Mitsubishi-Electric decided to remove the upscaling mechanism in the HC4900 to make it the worlds cheapest 3LCD based 1080p projector to be released at below $2000. So if you have got a DVD player and set-top-box that already upscales decently to 1080p, you wouldn’t need to have a built-in upscaler in the projector even though Mitsubishi-Electric’s upscaler called HQV shows impressive video when I saw a demonstration last year of a Star Wars DVD which looked nearly as good as the HDDVD version when upscaled. (http://techvideoblog.com/ifa/mitsubishi-electric-projectors/)

Hmmm... as the HC4900 seems to be pretty much the same unit as the HC5000 minus the Reon (and with a strangely lower CR), I think there is still hope that it will accept 24p.

FWIW the data sheet for the HC5000 on the Mits website also only mentions 1080p50/60, but we know from owners that it definitely accepts 24p.

hello

is it confirmed HC4900 accept 24P?

So, it seems Mit. is more interested in starting a price war, rather than bringing out new n better models for their fans.

So, it seems Mit. is more interested in starting a price war, rather than bringing out new n better models for their fans.

HC6000 is a totaly different projector then the HC5000, if you look at the picture they produce...and not the spec sheet.

I have seen them side by side and the HC6000 absolutely all over 5000 in every aspect. I did not like HC5000, but this new one is the one to beat and I don't think Epson and Panasonic is going to beat it D7 or not, it is that good.

I actually rank the HC6000 really close to the Infocus IN82 (seen them side by side).

The HC4900 is a good one to and I would take it ANY day over HC3100.

/Chuck

The HC5000 can be had for another grand below your "street" quote. Too bad, but i do not care cuz i'm keeping mine.

And yes, the Reon VX shines with SD material, such as 480i component from my Escient server.

The only thing i will get though is microfiber filter off the HC6000 to replace my 3M Filtrette chickenwire backed cutout currently nestling in lieu of the foamie discretely covered by a black panty hose over the grille, kinky huh?

Is mit hc4900 available only in the U.S. ? Because the distributor here in the Philippines said that they don't have that model here or cannot be available . :)

http://www.projectorcentral.com/mitsubishi_hc4900_home_theater.htm