I also picked up this projector from Costco but I had a slightly difference experience. I upgraded from Epson 3010 so that's my reference.
1. 2D:
- Picture quality: Stunning. Sharp. Beautiful colors. I feel like I'm addicted to its colors now, so beautiful.
- Auto Iris: non-audible at all. I can only assure that Auto Iris is working when I see brightness level changing from bright to dark scene and vice versa. I have auto iris seeting on #2. Maybe I'm lucky to have a good unit. This is a significant improvement vs my previous Epson 3010 of which auto iris noise was pretty annoying.
- Fan: barely audible in Low mode, a little more noisy in Standard mode. I'd say in Standard mode it's as noisy as the Epson 3010 in Low lamp mode.
- Brightness: I was a little alarmed when I first watched a movie in Low lamp mode. It's too dim. I thought to myself: this is the deal breaker and ready to return the unit. However, after a few days, the image got brighter, I believe. Or it could be that I got used to it. Anyway, now I feel brightness level (at low lamp mode) is just right for me, very comfortable, better than the Epson 3010 which was a little too bright so my eyes feel tired after watching a bright movie for a while. By the way, I'm watching both of them in a dark hometheater room so those who plan to use it in the living room may find Low lamp mode not bright enough.
- Black level: said to be the weakest point of this projector in most of the online reviews. I found it to be better than the Epson 3010 so I'm happy.
2. 3D:
- Set up, kind of, hassle: you have to plug in the IR 3D receiver before you can watch 3D, not a big deal, but still more work than most of other projectors that have this built-in. However, it's also provide placement flexibility so I guess it could provide better signal quality if you're having difficulty with it.
- Good thing is turning on 3D IR signal won't disable all other remote controls like the Epson 3010 did.
- I watched through the whole Avatar and did not find any issue.
- Glass comfort: if anything, I'd say the Mits glasses are more comfortable than the Epson 3010 glasses. They provide a few nose adapters (or whatever they call it) so the glasses fit better.
Potential issue: there's a dark(er) area at the bottom left corner, but it's only visible when the image completely greys out, like when you change setting or scene change within a movie. For me, it's not affecting image quality but it could be a defect. Could other owners tell me if you expereince the same thing?
Final words: I'm happy with this purchase. I find it a great value at Costco price. I was planning to upgrade to Epson 5020 but it's not widely available yet. So while waiting, I stumbled upon this Mits and now its a keeper. I guess the Epson 5020 would still be a better performer but the differences do not justify $1000 difference for my needs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
otay 
I picked up this projector with 2 pairs of glasses from Costco and have had it running for about 10 days (34 hours lamp time). Here's my brain dump:
- I upgraded from a Panasonic AX200U. My screen is a Da-lite 100" Cinema Contour HC. Receiver is new Sony STR-DN1030 and source is new Sony BDP-S590. Had to move the projector mount as the HC7800 has no horizontal lens shift. This was a mini project in itself.
- Auto Iris is definitely audible. In the prime theater seat, the projector is about 2 feet above my head. The noise is a disappointment for sure, but it hasn't been too annoying so far, as most of the movies we've watched were action oriented and kinda loud. Did watch Sherlock Holmes where I considered turning it off, but haven't yet.
- Fan is very quiet in Low Lamp mode, not so much in Standard Lamp mode.
- 2D picture is, well, stunning. If you're looking for a reference disk, Tintin looks (& sounds) amazing.
- 3D picture is OK. I have Brilliant Color turned on and lamp mode set to Standard when watching 3D. Nitro28 is right, the Mitsu glasses are weird...heavy, awkward and uncomfortable.
- I also bought 2 pair of large Xpand X104 glasses. Had to set the projector to reverse sync to get them to work. Unfortunately, this renders the Mitsu glasses useless. But I'm mostly OK with that, because the X104 are so much more comfortable, have larger lens area and (I think) affect the brightness slightly less than the Mitsu. I used the Xpand PC utility to set up the first pair of glasses: updated the glasses firmware and set what I thought was the correct sync setting in the drop-down which was "Samsung/Mitsubishi". This didn't work, so I let the glasses discover the correct setting themselves (procedure in the manual). This did work and the setting is now "LG".
- I have watched significant portions of Tintin and Brave in 3D and have seen no blue ghosting effect. I even paused the disc several times and walked up to the screen...still looked good. I was also surprised that the Xpand glasses stay in sync when walking around my 21' x 14' theater.
- Can't find any firmware version anywhere. Even hooked it up to my network and tried the Mitsu Projectorview utility.
- I like the Xpand X104 glasses enough that I ordered 2 more pair. Found a seller on Amazon that had medium sized white for about half of what i paid for the first 2. Only negative thing I've found is that the USB port cover has fallen off one pair and disappeared already.
Final thought: I've yet to watch 3d for more than 30 minutes or so. My 8 year old daughter and a friend watched Tintin all the way through in 3D (with the Xpand glasses). They then wanted to watch another movie, but my daughter said that although she liked the 3D, she wanted to watch the next movie in 2D because her "eyes hurt". This could be many things, of course. I'll report back after I've watched more 3D, but so far...I think I still prefer 2D.
Hope this helps!
