Official Mitsubishi LT-46131 & LT-46231 (46" 1080p LCD) Owner / Discussion Thread - Page 2

My dealer/authorized seller said the warranty is 1 year. Of course you can extend that for a fee. He told me that because only authorized dealers can sell the Diamond series (46231), that they are typically the ones that do the service. In my area, they would come to my house to repair.

Very interested in the LT-46231...does anyone have experience with this set and an Xbox 360?

(Thanks to everyone for their great research and comments - this is my first post, but I've spent hours reading the threads on the Sharp, Sony, Samsung, and Mitsubishi 46" 1080p displays. Have been living in Australia for 3 years, going back to the US next month...and feel like a kid in a candy store with all the progress in TV tech )

I am going to buy the Mitsubishi. I have seen it enough next to the XBR3 after they have both been calibrated correctly and really dialed in, and the 46231 is just as sharp, crisp, and clear as the highly touted Sony, and it has way more features. Before I buy the 46", does anyone know if Mitsubishi plans to release a 52" (or a 52231)? I saw Sharp's at Best Buy and it was only $500 more for the upgrade in size from the 46". To go from a 46" to a 52" in the Sony is a couple grand difference.

I'm very interested in this TV as well but I can't find it in my local stores.
I want to buy online but not sure if Mitsubishi will honor warranty if I buy from un authorized dealer.
I tried to call Mitsubishi to get more info but no luck.
Also, I can't find the 231 anywhere. Where do you guys see them?
I went to CC, BB and Magnolia and non had it.

They are typically at specialized retailers. I'm in Fort Wayne, IN and Classic Stereo has them here. I have also seen them at Fry's in Indianapolis among the larger stores. Where are you located? I think Ovations and HH Gregg are carriers as well. Some places that carry the 46131 can order the 46231.

You can also go on Mitsubishi's website and check for authorized dealers. It should bring up a list with who is a "Diamond" carrier....the 46231 is a Diamond series, so you'd need to find that type of dealer.

I had a chance to see samsung, toshiba, mitsubishi and sony xbr2 and 3 - ll every good pics on a quality discovery HD feed, but the sonys are in class by themselves - qualitatively different and better picture - sharp, detailed, realistsic - for those who are lookign for film like pix (I guess this is analogous to those who prefer the realistic "distoriton" of tubes) they might demure; and the sonys are more expensive..in any event, the xbr2s esp last years models are priced to sell- don't purchase any other 1080p LCD panel until you have seen and convinced yourself that sonys aren't worth the extra $$ - this is a big purchase IMO

I'm as big a sony fan as there is, and once I saw the Mitsubishi tuned in and calibrated, it actually had a better picture than the XBR3 tuned. The contrast was tighter, the there wasn't as much motion blur, blacks were just as inky and deep. The prices were very similar and the Mitsu has firewire connections to plug in a hard drive, digital camcorder, etc. for recording and playback, as well as multi-format split screen to watch 2 sources at the same time.....both items the Sony lacks. The firewire missing on the Sony really surprises me especially with Sony's new HD Camcorders coming out. I would agree that out of the box with no adjustments, the Sony looks better, but after both are calibrated and fine tuned, the pictures are almost exact with the Mitsu just beating the Sony out. The one thing I do not like about the Mitsu in comparison to the XBR3 is the stand. I just like the rectangular base of the Sony better than the oval swiveling base of the Mitsu LT-46231....but that is very minor.

too bad that we can't get the calibrated settings on this board since there are few who bought this set. This is one issue that kinda scares me. Not much feedback from people here on the forum, sales people or Mitsubishi sales.

Thinking about getting this set over the XBR-2. I just love how mitsu always has their tv's future proofed. I remember my first tv back in 1989 had s-video inputs, and its still running today. My sony xbr tube is now having problems....while the mitsu is still kickin.

I want this as my pc monitor, to play 360/ps3, and of course hd tv. I was wondering if the dvi input is capable of taking 1080p feeds from my hd video card? Is dvi a better input than the VGA of the XBR2? Does the Mitsu have overscan problems with pc's like I've heard the XBR-2s have? Also after it is calibrated, is there any detail loss (like one of the posters of this thread mentioned). I am a photographer, and would use this as my monitor to air brush pictures. Please help if you can.

1080p over the DVI

Not having a Spider or other calibration tool I can not speak as to the color accuracy but I can say that the detail over the DVI is spectacular. My video card (ATI Radeon Mobility 9700) will output 1920x1080 60hz over the DVI. It looks stunning on my 46131 with no overscan. As to color I was able to use the controls to dial in the color bars with a blue filter very easily. But without a real calibration tool I can't say if it is up to true desktop publishing standards of accurate color reproduction.

Having had the set for 3 weeks now I am more than pleased. The only serious, and not very, flaw is the apparent lack of discrete IR codes. I say apparent because I have yet to get anyone in the know to give me a definite yes or no. This would more than likely indicate no but I have seen components before with no documented discrete codes that never the less turn out to have them. While this may be a big deal to some that want to run macros off their home theater remote for me it's not real big problem.

The only other small problems are:

Lack of VGA input. Not an issue for me but it could be something that others want.

Sound quality of the onboard speakers (acceptable for the nightly news but lacking for dramas, music videos, etc..) but I never use them anyway.

Third AV input and controls are on the front center and I would prefer side. I would like to have mounted my center channel speaker tight to the front of the set but have had to mount it above.

While the POP flexibility is tops in its class there is a break in the audio, very brief, when making POP adjustments. For instance when resizing the two pictures the screen goes blank for about one second as does the audio. However when you simply switch the audio from on picture to the other there is no screen blanking and the audio switch is near instant.

On the issue of black levels I think the Sony has "blacker" blacks but the smoothness and detail of the dark areas on the 46131 are great. Besides, I've never understood the fascination with CRT BLACK blacks. So long as they appear black and not dark grey RELATIVE to the rest of the picture I'm happy. I've noticed every time I go to the cinema that the velvet curtains are always much blacker then the blacks on the screen.

On the plus side the Mitsu is overwhelming. Suffice to say if I haven't said something negative about an aspect of this TV then that aspect is superb. Inputs galore, beautiful picture, easy to use, etc...

One other plus I found by accident. I do not subscribe to digital cable and was assuming I would pick up HD broadcasts only over the air (which the TV does very well). When I connected my cable to the second RF input I was surprised and pleased to see the TV find and tune in HD digital feeds for all the local brodcasts stations plus Discovery HD Theater. It also found the digital, but not HD, feeds for all the local stations plus a another dozen channels such as current.tv, ESPN, TNT and others.

That's it for now. If anyone has other questions I'll do my best to answer them. I haven't been very active in this thread but since I've decided this set is definitely a keeper I'll be checking in regularly.

The text is more than readable it's crisp.

Videos can look great but it depends on the source. Some DivX encodes I've watched really met the home theater standards and looked like something off Discovery HD Theater. But most of the stuff I feed the set from my computer is lacking in quality and like over-the-air 480i the flaws really show up.

As I explained in my previous post the blacks can never be really black on this or any other LCD TV but I find them to be acceptable. Again, for me it is more important that the blacks look black and not grey in relation to the other colors on the screen and that they have detail, are not muddy, etc...

As to using a VGA output to drive the TV, given the price of VGA to DVI or VGA to Component converters I think you would be best off investing in a new video card with DVI output. I am also sure that the quality of the VGA signal will never equal what I see feeding this thing a 1920x1080 signal from the DVI port.

Will the LT-46131 do the following:
1. 1920x1080/1080p over DVI-A without overscan?
2. 1920x1080/1080p over DVI-D without overscan?
3. 1920x1080/1080p over HDMI without overscan?

According to the owner's manual the specs on the DVI-I input are as follows:

VGA-XGA, 1280 x 720 Analog
VGA-SXGA, 1280 x 720, 1920 x 1080 Digital

For the HDMI it states:

4801, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p

I would assume from the above that 1080p is not available via DVI-A.

Using DVI-D, I can tell I don't see any overscan at 1080p.

As to HDMI, I don't know.

For those that might be wondering about the different flavors of DVI mentioned above:

DVI-A - analog only
DVI-D - digital only
DVI-I - analog & digital

The 46131 has DVI-I

After some careful examination using some test pattern software I want to amend my comments about overscan in 1080p mode. While there is no overscan it does appear that the display is 1 or 2 rows of pixels shy of a visible full 1920x1080. I had to get off the couch and get about 2 feet away to notice. Just looking at a normal desktop I don't think I ever would have noticed. I imagine that the edges of the display are masked but I'm not sure.

Any banding issues with the LT-46131?

I'm a sales manager at Circuit City, so I pretty much stare at TV's all day long. I must agree with you guys that the Sony XBR2 does look better out of the box, but once you calibrate the Mitsubishi it is in a class all by itself. The image quality of the Mitsu is uttertly breath-taking. I picked one up last week upgrading from a Vizio P50HDM, which is a great plasma for the price, but it is NO WHERE NEAR the quality of the Mitsubishi. I can email my picture settings to anyone that is interested, I believe that I have it fine tuned to perfection. Paired with the Toshiba HD-XA1 I am in HD heaven. I'll be getting the 1080P HD-DVD player soon, so that should be even better. Kudos to Mitsubishi for making a great set.

seattlite, I thought you bought an XBR2? Didn't work out?


ron

I saw a 46131 last night in Circuit City...it was playing a HD-DVD and it had the best PQ I've seen since I started shopping. Regrettably, I can't go with a 46"er, and don't want to sacrifice size to go with the 37". So, back to the drawing board, darn it!

Maybe the reason there is so little discussion on these sets is because they are performing great and people don't come to a forum to search for answers to probems if they have none!

One word......CLOUDS! Looking at other options.

Richard

For some reason the Mitsu 46" looks better than the 37". Go figure. Stay tuned, I'm going to post my settings when I get home tonight.

Interesting you say that because I was at Circuit City and they had it side by side and I thought the same thing. I adjusted them to the same subjective settings and the 46" looked better. Do both panels share the same processors?

Ok folks, here's my settings. With the help of my Mitsubishi rep, and a few of my assocates here is what we came up with.

In-Home Settings (In a mildly lit room):
Picture Mode: Brilliant
Color Temperature: High (low adds too much yellow into the picture)
Sharpness: 40
Brightness: 30
Contrast: 40
Tint: 31
Backlight: 60 (Good for shadow detail)
Color: 33
Noise Reduction: Low (Especially with a good feed)
In the perfect color menu adjust blue to 25. Blue's are a bit too prominent on the Mitsubishi out of the box.

In-Store settings: (In-store settings are different because Circuit City Stores are extremely well lit). Insist that they plug the Mitsubishi up to their dedicated Mitsubishi feed or even their dedicated Sony feed (it takes them about 5 minutes, but it's worth the wait). These feeds are 1080p and will show you what your tv is made of. We are usually very accommodating if this is what the customer requests.

Picture Mode: Brilliant
Color Temperature: High
Sharpness: 40
Brightness: 33
Contrast: 55
Tint: 31
Backlight: 60
Color: 34
Noise Reduction: Low
In the perfect color menu adjust blue to 25.

Please use these settings if demoing in a store!!!!

Myself, 6 product specialists, & a Mitsubishi rep confirmed that these where the best that we could come up with for this television. With did a side by side comparision with the Sony KDL46XBR2, both being fed by Sony's 1080P fed and 6 out of 8 favored the Mitsubishi. In my opinion the colors were more vivid on the Mitsu and flesh tones looked more natural on the Mitsu as well.

I hope this is helpful. Again, this TV is awesome, I am SO happy with my purchase. I am a Mitsubishi fan for life. Or atleast until something better comes along

THANKS! Off to CC tomorrow!

Sales manager?
Hope you don't mind if I PM you about the price?

Speaking of which, have you personally noticed any kind of defects with your new Sony & Sharp store displays?

Seattlite, Let me know what you find.

Sorry I can't talk about pricing.

I did spend alot of time looking at the Mitsu, Sony, Samsung and the Sharp. The Samsung has a problem with fast moving objects, although it has an excellent response time, motion jaggies are still present. The Sharp has a problem with it's black levels and color saturation; It just looks washed out compared to the other sets. The Sony is an excellent TV, it looks the best of all the televisions out of the box, but once calibrated I give a slight nod the Mitsu. Frankly, I would buy whichever one is cheaper out of the Sony and Mitsu. Besides the Mitsubishi has firewire

No matter what the Sony will always sell more than the Mitsubishi, simply because it's a SONY. If you're buying one to impress your friends buy the Sony XBR2, if you're buying one to impress your eyes, buy the Mitsubishi.

Great, thanks for the settings. I just picked my 46231 up last night and was hoping for someone to post their settings. I love this TV and bought it over the Sony as well. I got a surprise yesterday as I hooked up my basic cable (no box) and the TV pulled HD channels through beautifully...no charge at all!!

Hey, the best things in life are free

The 46" has a 25% wider color spectrum than the 37" according to the mitsu web site.