Mitsu 5000 arrives to a former Sony CRT Projector owner!

The back story: After building a dedicated home theater in my basement based on a Sony D50Q CRT projector and 92" Stewart Studiotek 130 screen in 1997, I moved from my house about a year ago to a town house with no basement.

I'm now building a "stealth" theater based on a 103" Vutec pull-down screen and the Mitsu 5000 projector, which will sit on a shelf on my back wall, about 15 feet from the screen. My viewing distance is 14 feet. Basically, my living room is now doubling as a home theater. I have some light control, but most of my viewing will be at night.

I'll be picking up the projector tomorrow, and will install the screen on Sunday. I'll post impressions and general thoughts next week.

So far I have seen the Pearl and the Mitsu 5000, as well as some newer 720P projectors. I chose to go 1080p as I have severe problems with SDE, and there basically is none with the 2 projectors I have seen so far.

Later,
Brian

Can't go wrong with Sony hi-end video displays!

How did the screen work out for you?

Were there any wrinkles or imperfections that affected your picture?

Thanks,
Brian

wildfire99: After comparing the two I chose the Mitsu over the Pearl for the following reasons:

1) slightly sharper, more detailed picture
2) lower ambient noise (this really bugs me)
3) $1000 less
4) smaller physical footprint

Before this thread gets into a "whose 1080p projector is better" argument, the Sony projected an excellent picture, certainly beating my old Sony D50Q at less than half the price. Folks who choose the Sony will not be disappointed!

New flash: As of 5 PM Elvis is in the building. Alas, two days of holiday parties are upon me. Sunday night I should be able to start unpacking everything.

Later,
Brian

Sunday late PM update:

Right off the bat I had problems with the installation since the front housing of the Vutec screen has a noticable dent on it, so I decided not to hang the screen.

Just for grins I decided to turn on the projector and play with it a bit. I wasn't really expecting to gleam much information about the Mitsu.

To my surprise, I was able to use my back wall which is painted flat white as a 103" diagonal screen. I don't have a DVI to HDMI cable yet, so my only video source is a Sony upconverting HDMI DVD player.

I used The Incredibles DVD. All tweaking was done by eyesight and some information from the ProjectorReviews article.

Overall impressions and discoveries (given the extreme setup limitations listed above):

1) The throw distance is about 5% more flexible than listed, at 97% overscan. For example, according to their calculator the shortest distance possible to get a 90 inch wide picture is 16.9 feet. I was able to get the same picture at 17.5 feet. That's good news for me, as i would like to go down to a 92" diagonal screen at 15.5 feet. Originally the calculator gave me 15 feet, which would make the screen stick out a bit too far.

2) Zero SDE effect. I doubt there are 10 people in the world more sensitive than me with this. With 1080p, LCD doubters like me can stop worrying!

3) I spent over a half hour with the various Dynamic Iris settings, as this seems to be a point of contention in this forum. I ended up with setting 2, and as much as I tried to see the feature at work, it was completly seamless and very effective.

4) Black levels and contrast. Plenty good for me (your mileage may vary)

5) Although the low lamp setting was bright, I really preferred the high lamp setting, especially when combined with Cinema mode. I though the picture lacked punch in the low lamp setting.

6) Overall, I got a very good to excellent picture of the Mitsu with standard def DVD and limited tweaking with no screen. I can't wait to get a new screen and really tweak this.

Once I get my Comcast STB hooked up later this week I'll post my impressions with true HD signals.

Brian

Keep in mind, since everyone's visual acuity is different, your mileage on the Dynamic Iris may vary!

Also keep in mind, this reviewer has been told that he sees SDE when it's not even there!

Early this evening I hooked up my two-year old Comcast HD-DVR to the Mitsu. I'm having occasional sync problems with the DVI to HDMI output, but the best HD (ESPN) looks quite nice. Once I'm fully setup the picture should be outstanding.

BTW: I'm trying to find out how to enter the service menu to check the software Rev.
There was a tip in another thread but the lower menu options do not match. (Features --> Menu Position --> AutoPostion) There is no autoposition in my menu choices)

Later,
Brian

Thanks!

BTW: I seem to have software version 2.00 - Not sure if that is a problem or not...

Thanks! I don't see any banding (I am aware of the issue) and I'm definitately not looking for it!

I spent a considerable amount of time last night playing with the Dynamic Iris, as between commercials of Monday Night Football I was beginning to see its effects.

I constructed an experiment to see if a setting change helped. I recorded a minute of commericals on my Comcast HD-DVR where I could see this effect.

I watched the loop first on my regular RPTV to make sure the effect was not in the video itself. It was not. I then replayed the loop several times using each DI setting until I was satisfied that I understood the results. The results were:

DI Setting 1 - Very Slight noticable effect
DI Setting 2 - Quite noticable effect
DI Setting 3 - No noticable effect
DI setting Off - No effect of course, but contrast ratio dropped considerably.

What I plan to do tonight is to compare DI settings 1 and 3 on a movie with dark to light transition scenes, so I can see what the actual differences are and which setting I prefer.

Bottom line though, I am continued to be impressed with this projector, even though I have no screen yet or calibration work done!

Brian

Nice tip. I though that DI3 gave me the best results after DI2, but this seems to confirm it.

I think it may also be the last nail in the coffin of the argument against the Mitsu 5000 as far as the noticable movement of this feature IMHO

One other interesting note: I talked to a Mitsu projector technician who confirmed that for U.S. models firmware version 2.00 is the latest available.

Apparently European models have slightly different firmware with different Rev numbers.

Toe: I would use the word "virtually" invisible. I can't see it working, and unless I was actually looking for it I would probably never know it was there working in the background.

That does not mean some young eagle-eye couldn't spot it, but as far as I'm concerned the dreaded "Don't consider the Mitsu 5000 because of Dynamic Iris" issue is over!

Further update:

THe new Vutec screen is on order, but I decided to spend a little bit of time tweaking my setup anyway.

I recorded the Monday Leno show (with Jimmy Carter) and watched it after my minor tweaks. During some closeups I was seeing the best HDTV picture I've ever seen. Although sizes of things were too large (due to the 103" picture size), the Mitsu 5000 with the right video sources can break the "open window" barrier, which I have rarely ever seen after watching HDTV for almost 10 years.

Folks, this thing rocks!

More in a few days after the screen arrives and I can complete final setup and calibration.

P.S. Dumb question - what is the different between the Video Essentials DVD (which I have) and the Digital Video Essentials DVD (which I don't)?

Brian

bobpaule: As far as firmware is concerned, I'm repeating verbatum what the Mitsu tech told me. They can't be wrong! I'm wondering what serial number goes with the firmware 3.0 rev. You can PM me if you like.

As far as the G70 and G90, I love seeing hardcore CRT projector owners still out there! I don't know about the G70, but I saw several G90's in action and the overall picture for the Mitsu about 95% of a G90, with about 10% of the hassles.

Believe me I was a hard-core CRT believer, but this new crop of 1080p projectors has made a believer out of me!

I have it set to the factory default of 97%. I'm interested as to why this setting would make any difference.

However, I'm always looking for a tweak!

Please advise,
Brian