Official Mitsubishi HC1600 Owners Thread - Page 3

I tried Art's settings, they look good, I'm just wondering if I can push any more out of this thing. I really wish I could get some better blacks, but for $600 I can't complain.

Where are Art's settings?

This is an in depth review of the HC1600. Check under HC1600 Calibration for Art's recommended settings.
http://www.projectorreviews.com/mits...erformance.php

I haven't purchased DVE or Avia II yet, so I am just using these for the time being. His settings are for Standard lamp mode. I am choosing to use low lamp for battery life, so I noticed I had to put a little extra red in the picture.

Having the projector upside-down on the top of my bookcase turned out to be no problem at all. I have to tilt the front end up a little bit anyway, so none of the power or menu buttons are touching the surface.

Alignment was such a breeze! I was forever fidgeting with the InFocus 4805. It must be that the HC1600's lens is in the center of the unit because I spent maybe two minutes before I got the image perfectly centered on my screen.

I punched in the projectorreviews settings and was very pleased. I ran it through DVE and made just one small change, lowering Color to -2. Now the image is spectacular. Though I'm not sure what level to have Sharpness set at. Any opinions?

I have been trying my sharpness between 0 and -5. I didn't like it at any number above 0. I haven't decided on the exact setting yet.

Just curious...what type of screen are you using? How large is the screen? How far back is your projector?

hey hey im new to this whole projector deal but im gonna order the HC1600 thursday from best buy and im curious why you decided to put ur projector upside down on the shelf.. cuz im gonna have to put it on a shelf as well cuz its going in my basement and i have some duct work above where it'll be sitting.. anyway any words of advice and stuff would be great thanks

I can't say I remember what kind of screen I have. I want to say DaLite, but I'm not sure. It was around $100-150 at the time (early 2005). The 16:9 image is 7' diagonal. We sit about 11' from the screen and the projector is maybe 12' away.

To answer the other question, when your projector is located at or above the top of the screen, the image must be inverted, so the projector itself has to be upside down. If you want the projector to be right-side up, it needs to be at or below the bottom of the screen. I think from 11' away, the projector should be either 18" above or below the screen if you don't want to deal with the keystone settings.

hey thanks... so then how high do you have your shelf? cuz that sounds like about the size of screen and everything that i'd be shooting for.. also if i put the projector further back does that 18" increase or decrease?

Not sure how high the shelf is. I would guess 8'. Obviously at that height I must make some concessions in the keystone department. The width of my picture at the top of the screen is maybe an inch or two wider on each side than the width of the picture at the bottom of the screen. I think I'm pretty anal about these things and I can tell you this doesn't bother me.

I would imagine the farther away from the screen you put the projector, the 18" will increase.

alright cool... i'll just buy it and figure it out when i get it... i kinda plan on doing a whole DIY thing... making my own screen and stuff cuz im prolly going to get laid off soon and will have time to make a screen and all that...

Thinking about buying one of these on Amazon and was inquiring about whether people have purchased through them on here. If so have they had any problems in which they wanted a rebate yet could not get an exchange.

What are some other accesories you bought for the HC1600 and if you have watched any black and white films on it. (How did they look)

I bought mine from Amazon a few months ago with no problems.They shipped it quick & I have received both the $100 mail in rebate & the free bulb.I couldn't be happier for what I paid.

Do they still offer the $100 rebate and bulb deal? if so I may just roll with this, how does it compare with the DT-510 minus the iris?

I have had my hc1600 for about 3 weeks shooting on a white wall in an all white room with some light control issues and am very happy with the pj. I do see some rainbow effect, but this is my first pj and for the money, its not an issue YET. I have decided to do a screen and go the wilsonart laminate route but dont know which route to go as far as DW, FG or Platinum. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Have one of these coming in the mail off of amazon. What screens have you been using for the hc. I am trying to figure what is the best DIY type of screen i am also able to paint the wall if anyone has experience with that.

I'm building one of these DIY WilsonArt laminate screens with the D354 matte white. I'm throwing it onto a brown/grey wall and it already looks pretty good right now so I have high hopes...

How long have you been working on it?

What is the price range?

If I had bought a Panny AE-3000, as I had originally intended, I probably would have bought a Blu-ray player by now, so I could experience the full rapture of 1080. However instead of $2,300 for the Panny, I spent $671 for the Mitsu 1600. As I wrote in an earlier posting, this decision reaffirmed to me my conviction that I am a genius. I'm glad that that's settled.

However my DVD player went on the fritz shortly thereafter. For my next stroke of genius I bought an essentailly brand new Phillips DVD player (original box, manuals, mint condition, etc.) on Craig's List for $20. It is a peach. It has a up-convert mode and HDMI. The NetFlix DVDs I watch look super.

My question is: given how little I have become used to spending on my video equipment, will I get much bang for my buck in a Blu-ray player?

Is there anyone with real viewing experience of DVD vs. Blu-ray on a Mitsu 1600? Please spare me your well reasoned speculations if you don't have this experience and equipment. I know that 1080 images must be rescaled. What I would be grateful to learn is how much difference that makes from someone who has taken the trouble to compare a DVD and a Blu-ray which have the same content.

I'm not sure why you didn't buy BD to start with. The HD spec calls for 720p, 1080i and 1080p. Sure most BDs are 1080p, but the 1600 can either down convert 1080p to 720p(which is what the 1600 is) or you can set the player to output 720p. Either way my HC1500 which is virtually the same as the HC1600 is a HUGE improvement playing BD versus DVD. It's a night and day difference.

720p projectors are terrific with BD. You've been missing out on a lot of picture quality. Once you play BD on the 1600 you'll kick yourself for sticking with DVD.

Legairre responded back to my question with an appropriate answer. It's enough to restore my faith in mankind. Thanks.

I guess I'll be buying a Blu-ray player sooner rather than later. One issue that had given me pause was BD content. I did a quick count on my NetFlix queue and only 5 of my top 15 are available in Blu-ray.

Hi All,

I'm looking to buy an HC1600. I'm wondering where I should purchase from. I live in Canada and would like to purchase from a company that delivers north of the border.

Please let me know what you think.

Paul

Not long ago I got an Oppo BDP-83 Universal player to pair with my Mits HC1500 (a pj similar to the 1600). This player has an excellent scaler (Anchor Bay's VRS Processing), and I was blown away by how much better my DVD collection looked. My previous DVD player had a scaler, but it only scaled to 1080, and I could not choose to scale to the pj's native 720 resolution. I'm not big on double dipping but I do own "The Fifth Element" on both DVD and BD. The BD's picture is better than the DVD's, but I find that the difference between well scaled DVD and poorly scaled DVD, to be greater then the difference between well scaled DVD and BR. YMMV

Well - ordering, procrastination, etc...took me about 2 weeks to get everything together...5 x 10 laminate from HD, Black velvet from syfabrics, and just some misc wood/screws that I had laying around ran me about $120...actually I haven't put it together as I've been slow about it...I just screwed the laminate to the wall and let my 3 young children rub their greasy little fingers on it...nice thing about laminate is you just wipe it off

I got HC1600 last friday. I need some help in setting it up.

My HTPC is connected to SD TV with S-Video. I connected HC1600 to VGA. It works fine in the clone mode with SD TV at 800x600. I watch TV during day time or for routine TV shows. Projector is mainly for watching DVDs (stored on the hard disk of HTPC).

SD TV playback is acceptable. However, widescreen DVD playback is less than desired. It does not fill the screen and uses about half the screen.

How do I know what type of signal projector is getting?
Is it possible to send content to projector as 720p?
How do I make the projector use the entire screen for DVD playback. I use PowerDVD to play DVDs.

Moreover, with ATI 8.5, I am not able to set it to 1280x720. I get 1080x768. Does VGA cable make ATI catalyst think that PC is connected to a monitor and not to a TV or Projector. So, it does not give TV resolution options.

I also, tried to run it in Crossfire mode from the onboard VGA on the mobo, but same situation.

ATI Catalyst Monitor properties list its maximum resolution as 1920x1080. Is it possible that somehow projector is set at 1920x1080 and I have to change the settings in the projector.

To see what signal the projector is receiving just hit menu on the remote. The incoming signal is displayed at the top right of the menu. The projector can't be set to 1920x1080 because it's max resolution is 1280x720 so it would take anything above 1280x720 and down convert it to 1280x720.

This thread being the official thread for hc1600 and all, are there any screen shots someone can post? I am thinking about purchasing this projector but need to know how the quality is compared to the dt510 and the x9.

thanks!

megaman81, your best bet would be to check out Art's review at projectorreviews - the link is in above post #63. If the X9 and dt510 aren't mentioned in the comparisons, I think there's some comparisons in his X9 writeup.

So I order a HC1600 last Friday via Ama$on.

I'm upgrading from a X1, which has served me faithfully for the last 6 years.

This was actually my second choice - my first choice was the X9, but TD sold out again. I was going to bide a little longer and wait for more to come in, but while I was waiting, I asked my wife and daughter which they would prefer - longer lamp life, or quieter fan. They both didn't hesitate in saying that they preferred a quieter fan. Those of you familiar with the X1 know that it was a love/hate relationship - we loved the Faroudja deinterlacer for those 480i vids, and also the PixelWorks (wow, whatever happened to that company - how times change!) scaler for 480p/720p/1080i vids. Yes, as the years went by, we quietly bore the wounds digitally inflicted upon us by our AVS brethren (and sisters) regarding the shortcomings of SVGA PJs. I will still to this day defend the X1 though. I have compared it to 720p and 1080p tvs, and I still say it had a smoother picture (although this is not to say it had a brighter, or better rez picture).

So that brings me to my final decision to order a HC1600 last Friday. Not exactly the smoothest of transactions. First I went through Ama$on. I ordered in the morning, and when I later checked the status in the afternoon, my transaction was on hold. I cancelled the order, pissed that I didn't get any notifications.

Next, I ordered through New$gg. Got the transaction put on hold again, but at least I received a timely email notification.

So I called my bank, and first spoke with an "offshore" customer serv rep. I patiently went through the positive I.D. process, then was told that I was being transferred to another number, which turned out to be the fraud unit for my bank. After another bout of positive I.D. Q&A, I explained my dilemma. It turns out the agent lent me a sympathetic ear - he was also a repeat customer of New$gg, and he cleared my account for the transaction (it had some SW flag the account due to abnormal activity). He then offered to wait while I tried the transaction again at the website. While we were waiting, he admitted that he currently had a 42" 1080p set, and I tried to sway him to the world of PJs, but to no avail. Transaction went through, and card was charged for sale. Went to sleep that night happier.

Saturday checked my emails to find a notification that billing and shipping addresses didn't match (also phone numbers), and to get that straightened out first. Back on the phone with my bank. Had to change my mailing address temporarily to my shipping address, then after I receive shipment I can change mailing address back to residence address. Yes, this will mean that my bank statements go to my work...

Nothing until Monday morning. Finally at around 5pm I get the confirmation email from New$gg that transaction was going through. Finally! Now I'm just following the tracking number progress. From LA to South SF, and now it's been "intransit" to Menlo Park since 9:15pm? Huh?

Well, got to log in some real work now, before the supes come in...

Got the PJ yesterday morning - man, was that the longest workday ever, waiting for my shift to end! Got it home and immediately realized hmmm, I need a new ceiling mount! Any budget-minded suggestions? In the meantime, I'm contemplating getting a couple of bungee cords and...

First impressions: Set it up for table top config temporarily, since I was so anxious to make sure it works after it's long voyage. Ran component cables from Moto 6412 box, set the stb to 720p output, with 4:3 mode set to none. Room is a multipurpose family room, with room darkening sliding vinyl panels (from IKEA) covering a glass sliding door. There is some ambient light leakage, which reflects sideways onto a Model B Dalite HCMW screen. Also, the dining room is adjacent the family room, with the screen positioned on the far wall facing the dining room. Room is a work-in-progress still (I've been saying that for years!), but at least there has been some active dialogue and agreement with my sig other, and there is WAF and plans to move forward with HT renovations (darker walls, dark velvet curtains surrounding screen, more room darkening drapes, etc.).

I had bought a HDMI cable, but now realize that my STB only has DVI output. Can someone confirm that I will need a DVI (Male) --> HDMI (Female) adapter?

Fire it up. Notice something is missing, but I can't put my thumb on it just yet. It will come to me though. The last channel on the STB was Disney (SD version). Not bad, but there's that ugly low rez picture, all blown up in it's glory on the the big screen. Sorta viewable. Go through the menus and start config per Art's settings. Boy, is this puppy bright, even on low mode, even with a decent amount of light hitting the screen from the side! Switch to A&E HD, just in time to see Dog & Co dig some presumed scumbag outta the trash he was hiding under. Not bad at all, except for the irritating fact that it's stretched - WT heck? Oh, must be that irritating issue with certain stations using the wrong AR that I read about somewhere...Other HD stations seemed all right, just beautiful, definitely watchable.

Started shaking my head, blinking several times in rapid succession, panned my eyes wildly (glad my daughter didn't turn around just then, she would have ran for the exit!), but didn't see jack squat for RBE. Note that I would occasionally see RBE with my X1, and that was tolerable, so I'm happy now!

And then it hits me what I was missing. I turned to my daughter and said, "Listen, do you hear anything?" She gave me a funny look, which I took to mean that I could continue my rant or whatever it was I was going to say, and I finished my thought - "...I can't hear the projector!" As mentioned previously, I had an X1, which did in fact have the increasingly irritating buzz saw sound.

Got settled into my recliner, was starting to gell out and was building up the inclination to grab a brewski, when my cellphone rang and my wife said "Are you ready? I'll meet you at the school..." I was sternly reminded about my daughter's graduation dance and included family photo op that was to commence in roughly half an hour. Eval to continue after ceiling mount and purchase of some much-needed accessories.

Not quite pure heaven so far, but a pretty good experience so far!

So, I bought a HC1500 about a year ago. Since these projectors are so very similar, I'll go ahead and put my long term opinion comments here.

Overall I'm very satisfied. The image quality is great, and with some thin but dark ikea curtains the brightness is more than enough even on sunny days. I use it with a 360 for games and a ps3 for games, bluray and dvd.

Bluray is a very clear jump in detail, enough that if you're an avid netflix (or similar) user I think you'd find it worth getting. I haven't done a direct side by side comparison, but my impression is that the difference between 720p and 1080p is noticeable but slight, whereas the difference between 480p and 720p is much bigger. Between this projector and getting my sound dialed in, watching movies at home is now better image and sound than going to the local theaters (Regal). Honestly that surprised me.

If I try to be as critical as possible, there are a few things that while I find acceptable, could be improved on: I see a little bit of rainbow at times. Not enough to be objectionable to me, but worth mentioning for people who are readily annoyed by it. There's a bit of stray light from the projector from the right side venting that is noticeable if your room is darkened, but not enough to really wash out the screen badly. The fan / wheel sound is not objectionable to me, but could be improved another -10dB or so to be totally silent in quiet passages.

I'm using a universal wall/angle/ceiling mount from amazon. It was a little finicky to set up due to it's design, but has worked great since then. It was ideal for me since my rental house has tall ceilings, precluding ceiling mounting.

I'm using a dalite model-b screen in high contrast white. Unfortunately, I have wrinkles that simply will not go away despite considerable effort to straighten the bottom bar as well as using blue tac etc. These wrinkles are particularly noticeable in panning shots. I cannot recommend this screen. Spend more for tensioning. The material is good and does seem to offer a bit more contrast, but I will eventually replace it with a home built acoustically transparent screen.

I'm sitting about 10' from a 92". I would not go bigger at this room size.

I ordered from Amazon, no issues.

Overall, again, I am very happy, and for the price paid, I think these new cheap 720p dlp projectors are great values.