Official 2011 Mitsubishi Laservue L75-A94 Owner's Thread - Page 22

If you want a low glare screen, the LaserVue is not for you. It's like a mirror and demands a low light environment to avoid reflections. Mine is in a fairly dark basement with backlighting and the picture is excellent. But I would not even consider for a bright room. You would be very frustrated.

That's not to say the laservue doesn't have that crap anyway. Yes, there is a de-judder and de-blurrer. They are on by default and can be turned higher. You can get all the SOE you want.

Edit: Be sure to check the return policy as well. The boxes are a bit crap. Shipping damage is quite common.

We bought from a major electronics store that price matched the cheapest online price. Returns cost nothing and were hassle free. Some online places will charge you shipping both ways and maybe even a restock fee.

I too am now looking at an L75-A94. Here is my dilemma: I was in a major SF bay area electronics store actually looking at an L75-A94 right beside a 73840. The laserview was almost exactly 2.5X the cost of the 73840!

Is is that much better? I could not tell in the store, as the two sets were calibrated very differently. The 73840 actually looked a bit sharper, and definitely had sharper white text boarders. The L75-A94 had much higher color saturation and brightness. It was probably in a "torch" mode for display. The problem is that while the colors themselves were gorgeous, it looked somewhat unnatural, and way off what a new panny plasma can do. It also appeared that there was considerable light bloom around white text on a black background. Is this just due to the brightness being set too high?

The 73840 actually looked more natural and sharper, and at the price they were quoting I was seriously thinking about abandoning my plans for the laserview. Can anyone tell me that the price premium for the laserview is justified once it is calibrated? Will the sharpness get better at an appropriate brightness level, possibly due to less internal reflection?

Most important of all, is there any place in the SF bay area to see a reasonably calibrated L75-A94?

I would love to see some posts to jkavitsy's above question!

I'm also wondering if getting an 82" lamp Mitsubishi is just as good (picture quality) as getting the 73" Lazervue....????

Once calibrated they are about the same.,
LV advantage: no bulb changes, good black level
Disadvantage: price

The LaserVue also has no color wheel to fail or age.

I'm also pretty sure that the LaserVue is capable of a brighter image without washing out like the standard bulbs.
If you can get your hands on the clearance L75-A94's they are a good deal with little difference from the A96. (Although they aren't as good a deal as they were a few months ago.)

ADV1 or 2 calibrated yields 20-22 Foot Lamberts peak white luminance. This is plenty for a light controlled room. You can get more output from other some other modes but lose color accuracy in the process.

As Buzzard points you would be dead wrong about the light output. The 2011 and 2012 lamp sets make much more light. Even the 92 will make way more light than 22 ft lamberts calibrated 30ish for the 92, 35+ on the 80 or maybe more with the clear screen.. and 40 plus ft lamberts on the 73". They make a lot of light. Back in the day I had a 65 hp with a 150 watt lamp and it made 52 ft lamberts with a UMR calibration. The 2009 big sets were dim, the laservues are dim if the color set accurate. You might be able to use those crazy wide gamut color modes with a Lumagen VP doing a 125 point dD LUT and maintain the light ouput on the LaserVue but I don't know. Just going to start my learning curve with the Lumagen on my 92840. Got software update ChromaPure yesterday and flashed Lumagen XS today. If I have time tongith I will give it a go in Bright mode and see if it can tame it. I don't need the extra light I would like the extra saturation in Blue. I don't really get why Mits could not have gotten the full 709 gamut in Natural or ADV modes without the wacky gamma curves the Wide/Torch mode force on you.

Just to give you an example my 92" with a 200 hour lamp in Natural or ADV running 50 contrast is about 31 ft lamberts. At 2000 hours I chose to replace it because it was down to 22-23 ft lamberts. I had run the set with the lamp on bright those 2000 hours. I am now just using standard mode. You crank them up and they get trickier to adjust without clipping.

I'll be back in FL in a week and a half and will be testing both the Lumagen with a 125 point 3D LUT and a ee/SpectraCal ColorBox with much higher numbers. I'll be sure and report whether or not these calibration modes are worth it for the A94.

@gtgray- I'm pretty sure I made no claims about how many ft lamberts either set outputs. I DID say that many people have mentioned that pushing the brightness on a standard Mits will wash the colors out, and in my experience the LaserVue does not seem to suffer from this.

I'm not talking proper brightness levels or color accuracy (which IS skewed (but can be minimized) in the Bright, Brilliant, etc. modes).

Some people like a blindingly bright LCD like TV or have little control over how much light is in their TV room.
I say to these people, the LaserVue does not seem to wash out the colors no matter how bright you push it.

The question was differences between the laser light engine versus bulb and color wheel. Nothing more.

And I still consider the lack of a color wheel to shift colors with age or fail a major benefit of the LaserVue.

DoctorM, if you are referring to the "Brightness" control, it has nothing to do with how bright the screen is. That is the control used to set black level and that is all it is used for. Perhaps I missed something earlier.

You pays your money and you takes your chances. Almost by definition calibrated rear projecttion DLPPs are going to look very similar. The lamp sets will make more light calibrated. They will yhough decrease ouptut during the lifetime of the lamp. The LaserVue at more than twice the price is well pricey...annectdotally they also haven't demonstrated any above average reliability and at the very least seem to be very fragile to ship. I like the sleekness and low temp, low energy cunsumption... other than form factor, you don't get much extra for all the extra buck. They are simply pricey.

As far as fragile to ship, I think the failing is the packaging and not the TVs. The cardboard is pretty thin considering, and not a lot of foam or padding to protect it.

Unless handled like a carton of eggs, the boxes tend to crumple, and the few foam supports fall out exposing the TV during transport.

Are the standard Mitsubishi's actually packed better?

I saw no such issues in two deliveries.

Some people had 4 or 5 damaged or defective deliveries. Look back through the threads.

Tell me how that would affect my statement.

Is that LaserVue #5 in terms of an addition to your equipment stable, or in terms of "the previous 4 broke" ? I have a 60" Mitsubishi DLP right now and was looking at the 75" A96 LaserVue as an upgrade, but if you've burned through 5 units already, that doesn't bode well as an upgrade for me...maybe I should look at the 73" DLP instead

IIRC, the first 4 had various damage from shipping issues.

Well that's not as bad as 4 defective models then

#1 had some minor image problems with muddy colors and slightly blurry images.
#2 and #3 arrived with severe box damage and support foam sticking out of the bottom.
#4 had either mirror or screen flaws that looked like large brighter streaks on the image. There was also a dirty smudge inside the screen the size of a finger.

#5 is the A96. The only flaw I've identified is a shimmering line that appears occasionally at the top if the picture when something is panning up or down.
I've seen this flaw on the A94 and someone on the LaserVue Owner's thread has been able to reproduce it on 2 other LaserVues.
My money says this is something most people don't see but are on all sets. Probably a design or (hopefully) software problem.

Customer service is worthless. Pray you don't need to use it. They couldn't be more useless if they were in India and didn't speak English.
I've had multiple phone calls, multiple times calls not returned, no ability to reach the person supposedly 'working' on my case lots of aggravation, lots of stupid conversations with untrained ignorant people, and zero satisfaction regarding any of the above issues.

I got the A96 in mid September and called them on the sparkly line thing... I'm still waiting to hear back from them again.
The issue isn't a deal breaker considering the artifacts found in most other TVs, but at the price it shouldn't exist.

If you're willing to give it a go, I'd suggest you avoid the A94.
Btw, I can't prove it, but I believe the A96 has a better upscaler than the A94.
Edited by DoctorM - 11/10/12 at 10:17pm

I used to have a WS 73 Diamond with 3 9inch guns and it was great, but the screen was like the a94 and the 96, shine, could see my sofa and so on during the day and at night the light on my night table was visible on the screen.
I do have an A91 and I love the screen, no shine. I will not give my A91 for none of yours. sharp, bright and mit. just gave me a brand new Light Engine..... Love it....

I currently have a WD-65737 which is from 2009 and was starting to look at selling this to move to an LED-LCD TV. Of course as always I get sucked into the DLP pricing than discover this whole new magical laser DLP L75-A94. My current screen is matte which I swore I'd never get away from cause of the reflections but I'm reading such good stuff about this unit can I survive the reflections (since most of the larger LED's have a reflective surface)? I don't have a lot of light control so I don't to make a mistake getting this guy!

Sorry everyone, I'm finally getting around to updating my sordid story. The 2nd A94 arrived from Paul's TV after a week or two wait (later in December, 2011) and had also broken completely through the base of the box. It had no visible problems upon first powering it up, so I signed for it and sent the delivery man (just one again) on his merry way. After a few weeks of not watching it much because it was the holiday season, I finally got back into the swing of viewing some Blu Ray goodness. However, I began to notice some peculiarities with the set.

There seems to be a strange distortion centering down the middle-left of the screen. 'Distortion' meaning 'magnifying glass'-like warping in that section. As Doctor M describes it, if a shot were panning over a crowd, it would seem like the crowd was doing the wave; up/down as it pans. It is accompanied by a dark patch over that area that is about a foot in length. There are also lens flares being projected onto the screen at all times. If the picture is dark, the flares are glaring, as if there were dust on a camera lens.

I initially called Mitsubishi's 'concierge hotline' in January of 2012, just outside of my Paul's TV 30-day repair/replacement guarantee. What an enormous mistake on my part. I'm still kicking myself. Actually, I just kick my wallet around on the floor. I am now at the hand of Mitsubishi's service and their 1-year warranty.

The concierge line is a comPLETE joke. There are only a handful of guys and gals working there, as I get the same 3 or 4 repeatedly each time I call. We've become like cranky neighbors who try our best to put up with one another while nothing gets done about the out-of-reach tree branch that hangs over the property line. Well, I'm posting this precisely 1 year after ordering the L75-A94 and nothing has been done on Mitsubishi's part to repair or replace the television beyond sending techs to look at the TV. Had a $600 TV set had the same issues, I would probably just swallow the dough, but this thing cost me about 1/4 of my frickin' car!

Mitsubishi puts the blame off onto Paul's TV, Paul's TV is out of the equation, but is gracious enough to try and contact Mitsu about the issue. Mitsu contacts a repair place in Kansas City called Overland TV. They send a tech out in early May (yes, it takes that long after the first time I called (January) to get someone out here) and he sees my issues and says 'welp, not sure what I'm going to be able to do about it. I'll call Mitsu and see what they say.' the trail went cold after that for months, I got busy at work, and nothing ever came of the Overland TV visit. I called again a few months later and Mitsu then said 'Yes, we're going to send someone to remove and repair your TV.' But instead, they sent a NEW tech from a NEW repair place to get a second opinion. He was from Fairway TV. The extremely pleasant, but equally as elderly, gentleman named Joe arrived ALONE with a 3ft dolly to take my TV. He took one look at it and said "welp. no sense in me taking this. i'm just going to call Mitsu and see what we can do about it. And no, it's NOT because I don't think I can get it into my truck by myself." This was incredibly peculiar. He promptly went back to Fairway TV and told them there was no issue that he could see. Mitsu takes this delightful info and runs with it. "The tech said there was no issue that he could see," they now get to tell me over the phone.

I tracked down the original receipt left by Overland TV back in May and called them up. Turns out there's only 2 guys working there, and the younger of the two remembers me and my problem even though it has now been about 9 months. The lady on the phone tries to get rid of me as quickly as possible stating 'you just need to keep on Mitsubishi'............. I tell her, 'believe me, ma'am, I AM. I CALL THEM DAILY,' but she is not concerned. "We did what we could." She said they looked at the TV but there's nothing further they could have done with it. I guess I'm cursed by living in a midwest city who has 2 Mitsu repair places and neither of them is interested in hauling an 80 lb television back to their place where they cannot repair it and will probably not be paid for the haul. I'm between a rock and a hard place.

I will continue to call and request repairs, but do not anticipate receiving any assistance from either Mitsu or the two repair places in town. What I have deduced from all of this is that the TV has known defects, as I've seen repeated examples of my exact issues in this very thread, ESPECIALLY FROM DOCTOR M but Mitsu will do everything in their power to keep you me from getting a replacement or repair (or loaner for that matter, as every single person on the concierge line pretends to know nothing about the service, even though it's NUMBER 3 on their list of LaserVue Club perks). As Doctor M states, DO NOT purchase this television if you want decent support or bank on getting a 100% flawless set for your thousands of dollars. You are completely rolling the dice.

I will return with any updates.

Thanks, all.

darf_nader - Sorry to hear about your experience. I just snail mailed a DVD to them today to help them look at the shimmering line issue.
It's been reproduced on 4 different Laservues (only 2 of which were mine) so if they really care to look, they'll probably find it.

I previously emailed the video, but Mits alternately told me they had no technical department with Laservues for testing(?), no ability to burn a DVD, and no idea what a ZIP file is.
Hopefully, with my 3 page letter and a DVD, they'll take a look at it. It's either a design flaw or a software bug.

It's not a deal breaker, but shouldn't exist in TVs of this supposed caliber.
And, oh yeah, their tech service is staffed by chimps. There was a nice lady who knew what she was doing (a manager). She was closing in on helping us, but is now no longer with Mits.

I hope you can work something out with them.

Heh, they tried to send me a tech from 2-3 hours away. When we asked them about the guy they were originally going to send from the next county, they said they wouldn't send someone who failed to help the problem the first time. Except he was never sent the first time! And it was a different issue... on a different TV!

Hey, it's pretty basic, but have you checked your 'format' setting (button on the remote). I found by default even full screen HD content is set to 'stretch' by default instead of 'standard'. It causes an effect similar to some of what you're describing.
Edited by DoctorM - 11/25/12 at 10:56pm

Posting a few pics to illustrate the flecks of light and distortion problems (It's difficult to capture the wave distortion accurately, one would have to see it to gather how obnoxious it is.)

The flecks in the upper-right are really easy to see because my exposure was a little long. In reality they are about half this bright, but still consistently glaring like you have a smudge on your glasses.

Found that the opening of Tron does the best job of showing the waving screen. Follow the grid lines (or painted street lanes in the 2nd overhead shot) down the center from right to left and you'll find that just to the left of the middle there is a bump about 1/10th the width of the screen. It's facing upward. I will post another few images with Photoshop highlights.

Little Photoshop enhancing to help you guys see my, according to Mitsu, "imaginary" problems better.

I have seen the shimmering line across the top/bottom of the screen, if that is still your issue. It was created on my Tele back in May when the tech 'hacked' the LaserVue menu system and moved the screen so far up that it eventually flipped over and came back down, causing a gathering and reflection of the image. He simply squished the geometry back down a little and it went away. If you would like to msg me, I could send you a printout of his instructions on how to get into the manual geometry adjustments on the LaserVue. Granted, I only have A-94 instructions, but they should be relatively similar.

When I first got the A94's, the original firmware had the ability to adjust the V and H of the screen from the advanced calibration page. That disappeared with the firmware update and was never present in the A96.
Wishing it was back now.

Wow-just read Mitsubishi is leaving the consumer TV business! The story came out on Monday - the same day my L75-A94 Laservue arrived from Walt's TV!

Does this mean replacement parts will be scarce? Yikes!