MITSUBISHI HC8000 - Page 2

Trying to decide between Mitsubishi HC7900D, JVC RS46, and the Panasonic AE8000. Can't wait for a review of this one! I'm leaning towards DLP. Anyone know if this MIts will light up a 125" Cinemascope in ECO mode with full lighting control from between 11-27 ft?

HC7900DW review
http://www.projectorreviews.com/mitsubishi/hc7900dw/index.php

I don't know what to say.
It is quite disappointing to see professional reviewer isn't interested in most-awaited 3D DLP projector, he doesn't even have an idea that HC8000D is a DLP, not LCoS.
Edited by Ilya Volk - 11/27/12 at 8:20am

Do not buy 7900, its a weaker version of HC8000D, lacks two additional irises and a spare lamp, and doesn't support Mitsubishi high-speed glasses. And the price difference is not too high.

I've read some reviews from people on japanese forum, they said 7900 looks (in 2D) worse than 7800.

Thanks for the heads up. The problem with the HC800D is it's not currently available to the public from what I know. I also have no Mitsubishi dealers in my area.

Cobb28, AVScience sells it, https://shop.avscience.com/crm.asp?action=contactus

Regardless it is an outstanding review. I've always enjoyed Art's reviews and this is a great one as well. While the HC7900DW is not as perfect as the HC8000, it is available and appears to still be an outstanding unit!

Newegg is advertising the HC7900DW at about $2K. Unless you can find a dealer willing to offer a considerable discount on the HC8000, then there's a greater than $1K difference between the HC7900 and HC8000 models, especially since a local dealer will also have to add state and local sales tax.

Has anyone seen the elusive HC5 Frankenstein? I have a noob thread for advice if either the Sony HW 30/50es or mitsubishi HC5 if it really exists and not a figment of my imagination. Anyone have one? Bueller? Bueller?

Chris Matney
Just go for it. HC5 should be a tremendous projector. Sony has ~5000:1 native contrast, Mitsubishi has >20000:1 native contrast.
Mitsubishi must have bad karma. Everyone is talking of how their projectors should be great but nobody's buying them waiting for reviews.

But the mitsubishi uses Sony panels lol.

So they say. Even if it is so the implementation is different. Mitsubishi HC9000D has 20000-30000:1 native contrast (without iris).
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=ru&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ixbt.com%2Fdvd%2Fmitsubishi-hc9000d.shtml&act=url
Sony HW30 is 30000:1 only with the help of dynamic iris: http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=ru&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ixbt.com%2Fdvd%2Fsony-vpl-hw30es.shtml&act=url

ok so Art is about to put up his review of the HC8000 ... should be interesting
I have ordered this projector so I should have it in a week or so . I will be putting up my thoughts on it when i get a chance to check it out. I will be able to report back on a few things such as


How does it compare to the HC7800, esp in regards to contrast, image sharpness and punch, and if they have fixed the very noticeable dynamic iris
How does 3D perform (im getting the new mitsi glasses) with respect to brightness, eye soreness, etc... and how it compares to the hc7800 with 3D
How good will the black level be... will be interesting to see how it compares to the JVCs etc which i am also accustomed to ..

Thanks! Very much appreciated. Can't wait.

http://www.projectorreviews.com/mitsubishi/hc8000d/index.php ... Projectorreviews.com new review of the HC8000 ..
- 6X colour wheel at 24fps is excellent for rainbow sensitive people
- he says the hc8000 has a better lens than the 7900 (i dont know about this.. i thought it just had an extra iris)
- only recommends it for screens up to 100"
- 3d is excellent but only for screens up to 100"
- better blacks and better out of the box colour than the 7900
- Better shadow detail than the optoma 8300, epson 5020, and sony hw50 (one of the best available.)
- Near perfect greyscale tracking (apparently one of the best projectors ever reviewed by Art)
-"Sharpness is a real strength of the HC8000D projector"

Im still waiting for my HC8000 to arrive, and I have a 100" screen in a blacked out room. Ill see if i disagree with Art on anything. Ill also be keen to see if the visible iris has been fixed from the "old" 7800...

Like "old' version, the RC5 seems to be an inferior version of sony's same kind of products..

I suggest you do some study before making such statements. If anything, Mitsubishi HC9000/HC5 is superior to Sony HW30/50 because it is based on panels which VW90/95 use. It has full glass optics (Sony HW30/50 use plastic) and actually beats Sony VW95 in contrast department. Also HC9000 has one of the highest measured ANSI of all LCoS projectors - 450:1. Now let's wait for Coderguy to read this and make a statement about redundancy of ANSI measurements.

Only after buying my first projector I realized that blown highlight are so much more obvious, important and annoying than crushed blacks.
And there is so much talk about "shadow details" in reviews and almost no mention about highlights detail. This is strange to me.

Really, all these "professional reviews" are not very useful. Same texts copied again and again with some editing. So much photos, but all of a very low resolution, like it's still 2005.

Measurements is the only useful information.

Personally I don't even bother reading reviews on this site. It is so much oriented at presenting any projector in good light. His picture comparisons aren't helpful one bit and sometimes can be misleading. Reading these reviews now I can only assume two things: either he doesn't test projectors he reviews good enough, making up some stuff in the process, or he's bound by manufacturers / distributors / resellers.

The only thing ,that i'm missing is mentioning the dynamic iris.Still dont know how it works,how loud it is,how detectable.This is a neuralgical point of me..Still waiting for personal experiences,if anyone has ,would be appreaciated!

Yeh ill let you know when I get delivery of projector on Monday.. I just had a look at Art's summary page and one of the Good points of the projector is "Dynamic iris very smooth" ..
This could be a nice projector by the looks of it if you have a 100" screen or smaller.. cant wait to get it! ... ill let you guys know how it compares to HC7800, JVC X7 TW9000 (Three projectors that i have fresh in my mind at the moment)

Please do!

Great !!
Still waiting. I have only a 90" screen so would be nice for me. I' m thinking to get one if...

Ok I have the HC8000 here and set up. Its very nice. Everything I had hoped it would be. I liked the HC7800 but was holding back on it because of the 8000's better blacks and hopefully fixed IRIS.

The IRIS is definitely nice and smooth now. I dont notice it operating compared to the 7800. Even on the AUTO3 setting it seems smooth. (on this setting it actually completely clamps shut on a fade to black scene resulting in perfect black). I think I prefer AUTO1 as the best setting for the IRIS.
It is very sharp. I would say the same as the 7800 though. Not sure how it compares to the BENQ W7000 or similar, but it is significantly sharper than my old Epson TW9000 (5010).
Colours are excellent on the default cinema mode. Ill calibrate it later but for now its more than watchable. I like them more than the TW9000 THX mode colours!
Contrast Is excellent. On bright scenes it seems to have more contrast than the Epson does. On dark scenes although still excellent, its not quite as good as the Epson (surprisingly close though )
Overall its a lovely picture though. It is much better than my ST50 Plasma except for the blacks. Its just got a natural sharpness and a depth to the picture that makes it seem almost 3D where the plasma seems a bit flat and lifeless in comparison.

I do like good blacks having owned an HD550 and TW9000 in the past, so this has blacks that are close enough for me to those two projectors. with all other aspects of the picture being better.

I have the the lamp on low and the secondary iris set to HIGH CONTRAST, which results in the lowest brightness. I have a 100" screen with around 1.2 gain and its more than bright enough. Ill try some 3D later.

gbickle, cool! Thanks for the report. Some close-up photos depicting sharpness would be great (test chart or simple white text on black background). How's sharpness uniformity?
It would be terrific if you could measure input lag.

Here's 7800 sharpness/fringing:

Edited by Elix - 2/11/13 at 5:34am

Art measured the hc7900 at 34ms lag.. and assumes that the hc8000 would be the same. the uniformity seems pretty good as the edges of the screen are still sharp with text. I would assume it would be very similar to the hc7800 though. Ill have a close look at a friends 7800 to compare to mine but I think it will be the same.

ill take some photos of that same pattern tomorrow.. around the center the pattern seems pretty perfect... but the ones in the edges have a bit of fringing.. ill check friends 7800, but i suspect its identical.
Was that photo you posted around the center or the edges?.. I think in the center the hc8000 is a bit better, and around the edges a bit worse.. hard to say though when comparing to a photo and in person

I don't know for certain if it was shot in the center or near the edges. But you described it really well.
You should see a really dark movie and post your impressions.

I have had a good look at some dark scenes. After getting used to a an ST50 plasma it doesnt have the those blacks, but they are very respectable. It does a great job at rendering all the details in the dark. I dont have a problem with the level of the black. But if you are after JVC / plasma blacks then this doesnt compete. Its not far off the TW9000 though and during bright scenes the blacks actually look darker than than the Epson did.

If you had been used to from a lot of DLPS or you would be most impressed with the blacks. They are good blacks. Good enough that someone used to an ST50 plasma doesnt have a problem with them.

Its an HC7800 with a very nice dynamic iris and better blacks. That's what I was hoping it would be after being impressed with the HC7800's picture.

Good news!!Congrat for your new PJ!! I'm just a little bit disappointed about black levels,although you compared to the best modells.But i can believe those blaks could be ok.I don't have a batcave ,so it might be as good as,or similar to me like an Epson.
What about the rainbow??It is said that ,there is an option for 6X speed to avoid that effect. Have u tried it?Conclusions?
Edited by Morphling - 2/12/13 at 9:02am

Yes I tried the 6X colour wheel setting (it is only available when source is 24hz). I dont see rainbows on the 4X setting so I have set it to 4X. I tried the 6x setting and didnt see any noticeable difference.

The blacks are what I was expecting. They dont have the deep punch that the JVC's have but they are still good for a DLP. Im used to panasonic ST50 plasma blacks so the fact that the HC8000 satisfies me for black level is pretty impressive. But yes if you are looking for WOW blacks then you are going to have to go JVC... Sony HW50 and Epson 5020 would also be a bit better than the HC8000.