So I purchased the HC1600 due to the phenomenal deals going on right now. I am upgrading from a 5 year old X1. Didn't worry about rainbow because my X had a 2x wheel also and they were not an issue. Love the picture on the 1600--very sharp and beautiful--but I can't blink without rainbows. Watched Deathrace on bluray, a rather dark movie, and about every 30 seconds I was seeing them. I was never sensitive before, saw them the first few days with the x1 but nothing that took away from the experience. They say roughly 5% of people see them, but everyone I have watch it (about six different people) all see them so I know it's not just me. It is so bad it actually takes away from what you are doing. Now we count rainbows. It's almost a game. Needless to say it is going back. I managed to snag one of the clearanced hd71's from CC. Hope it is better. I tried changing every setting imaginable (not new to projectors, fairly tech inclined) but nothing helps. Why would mitsubushi knowingly make such an unwatchable p.o.s.? Is it defective?
Dumping the HC1600
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So what kind of deal did you get? That has the 2X wheel. The HC1500 has the 4X wheel. Less rainbows. $619 to your door.
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Is that for a new 1500? That's a great deal, I paid $200 more than that in November.
To the OP...
I saw rainbows initially with my X1 but eventually I stopped seeing them.
Maybe the same will happen with your 1600.
Is that for a new 1500? That's a great deal, I paid $200 more than that in November.
To the OP...
I saw rainbows initially with my X1 but eventually I stopped seeing them.
Maybe the same will happen with your 1600.
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"Why would mitsubushi knowingly make such an unwatchable p.o.s.?"
I have been wondering the same thing for a day and a half now
I just got mine yesterday. Yes, the RBE is very strong on the HC1600, and no doubt more prevalent than the old X1 - Holy cow, is it. I'm not sure what to do with this thing right now because there does not seem to any LCD deals out there, and I need a new projector now... ouch. I am now playing with the contrast to see if I can lesson it a bit. But, I' kind of want it out of here... What were those guys thinking - is right.
I have been wondering the same thing for a day and a half now
I just got mine yesterday. Yes, the RBE is very strong on the HC1600, and no doubt more prevalent than the old X1 - Holy cow, is it. I'm not sure what to do with this thing right now because there does not seem to any LCD deals out there, and I need a new projector now... ouch. I am now playing with the contrast to see if I can lesson it a bit. But, I' kind of want it out of here... What were those guys thinking - is right.
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Glad I went with the 1500...
No RBE here
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No RBE here
Hearing all this, I think I'll leave the 1600 in the box and hang onto my HD1000U (as a spare) and just use the 2 bulbs with the HC1600 deal and then sell the proj itself cheap when one of the bulbs starts to dim.
Guess it will work out pretty good. I should be able to get $250 for my HC1600 w/1500 hrs on bulb on ebay. So then that would put me paying $200 per replacement bulb.
Also I still have my HC1500 (actually currently using). In fact I cranked the BC up to 10 on low lamp mode and really like the picture on Fallout3 (360). It really brought the punch out and saves 50% lamp life.
I'm anxious to hear from other AVS members who bought the 1600 and see if RBE is consistent with everyone.
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Guess it will work out pretty good. I should be able to get $250 for my HC1600 w/1500 hrs on bulb on ebay. So then that would put me paying $200 per replacement bulb.
Also I still have my HC1500 (actually currently using). In fact I cranked the BC up to 10 on low lamp mode and really like the picture on Fallout3 (360). It really brought the punch out and saves 50% lamp life.
I'm anxious to hear from other AVS members who bought the 1600 and see if RBE is consistent with everyone.
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My brother has the HD1000U. He's got 300 hours on it. Everytime I go to his place, I can't watch it. Yes, it's 4x but I see rainbows all over. Chances are, if you see RBE constantly on 2x, you likely will on 4x even if it is reduced.
I don't think it has anything to do with seeing rainbows on 2 or 4x. The common thread here seems to be that people normally not having issues with color separation for some reason see it quite a bit on this particular model. We all understand how dlp works and a small percentage of people see it. But this thing seems to be extra heavy on the RBE.
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Been using the HC1600 for 3 months now. Seen a few rainbows the first week, but now I never see them. None of my guests ever see them either.
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The HC1600 is a lot brighter than the X1 - calibrate your brightness and contrast and you should see much fewer rainbows. Most people who buy the HC1500/HC1600 tend to run it too bright when they first get it. That's a great way to get rainbows.
I decided that with all the Rainbow reports and the rebate company going out of business and I cannot check my rebate status online, my 1600 is going back also. I'll stick with the 1500 and just buy a Lamp when the time comes.
Guess it's time to look towards 1080p.
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Guess it's time to look towards 1080p.
As reconlabtech says brightness is a major contributing factor to rainbows.
The brighter the light source the faster your eye-brain processes the information - the more likely you are to seperate out the colors.
The HC1600 color wheel unlike the HC1500 has a yellow segment boosting brightness of midtones by upto 50% and probably a larger white(clear) segment than the HC1500, boosting brightness even more when Brilliant Color is used. Combined with a colorwheel refreshing the colors half as fast as the HC1500, it is bound to have alot more people seeing rainbows. It looks like it was designed to compete with ambient lighting in livingrooms rather than in a dedicated home cinema room.
If you keep the projector try turning the lamp to low mode and Brilliant Color down - off, then calibrating brightness and contrast using THX on any THX certified film this may help a little.
The easiest way to reduce brightness - rainbows with out lowering contrast is to use a ND2 filter (halfs brightness, perceived as 20% drop due to eye-brain compensating.)
Lamps dim with age, which maybe one of the reasons people say they get used to - nolonger see rainbows.
As reconlabtech says brightness is a major contributing factor to rainbows.
The brighter the light source the faster your eye-brain processes the information - the more likely you are to seperate out the colors.
The HC1600 color wheel unlike the HC1500 has a yellow segment boosting brightness of midtones by upto 50% and probably a larger white(clear) segment than the HC1500, boosting brightness even more when Brilliant Color is used. Combined with a colorwheel refreshing the colors half as fast as the HC1500, it is bound to have alot more people seeing rainbows. It looks like it was designed to compete with ambient lighting in livingrooms rather than in a dedicated home cinema room.
If you keep the projector try turning the lamp to low mode and Brilliant Color down - off, then calibrating brightness and contrast using THX on any THX certified film this may help a little.
The easiest way to reduce brightness - rainbows with out lowering contrast is to use a ND2 filter (halfs brightness, perceived as 20% drop due to eye-brain compensating.)
Lamps dim with age, which maybe one of the reasons people say they get used to - nolonger see rainbows.
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By the time you reduce the brightness enough to reduce the RBE in a meaningful way, the picture will be even crappier.
Again, even on its brightest setting, this PJ is not brighter than other PJ that report their lumen in calibrated value.
Without "Brilliant Color", the HC1600 can barely push 500 lumen in high power mode and 400 lumen in low power mode.
Even if you could manage to reduce the RBE by 50%, it will still be crappy to those sensitive to it.
All that said, one thing you can do to reduce the RBE is to reduce your projected screen size (50" or below).
I say, save your money and buy a good 480p PJ if you don't want to spend more on something with a higher res.
Again, even on its brightest setting, this PJ is not brighter than other PJ that report their lumen in calibrated value.
Without "Brilliant Color", the HC1600 can barely push 500 lumen in high power mode and 400 lumen in low power mode.
Even if you could manage to reduce the RBE by 50%, it will still be crappy to those sensitive to it.
All that said, one thing you can do to reduce the RBE is to reduce your projected screen size (50" or below).
I say, save your money and buy a good 480p PJ if you don't want to spend more on something with a higher res.
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Properly calibrated, most Home Theater PJs push somewhere between 300 and 600 lumens so I'm not sure why you think 400 or 500 is bad.
The HD1000, HC1500, and HC1600 all produce a very nice image. For those who are very sensitive to RBE, your only recourse is a non-dlp PJ.
Properly calibrated, most Home Theater PJs push somewhere between 300 and 600 lumens so I'm not sure why you think 400 or 500 is bad.
The HD1000, HC1500, and HC1600 all produce a very nice image. For those who are very sensitive to RBE, your only recourse is a non-dlp PJ.
How bright do you want it to go in a dedicated home cinema room, when calibrated with low lamp mode, no brilliant color?
500 Lumens is enough to produce 13.9ft lamberts on a 8ft by 4.5ft screen, and 400 Lumens will give you 11.1ft lamberts. For dark room viewing around 12ft lamberts is generally recommended.
By the way did you get those figures from the projectorcentral review. I own a projector they have reviewed and would rely on their figures even less than the manufactures. Personally I would take the manufactures "best case" uncalibrated color, brilliant color 10, high lamp mode and half it for aproximate calibrated, no brilliant color, low lamp mode. Which gives around 850 Lumens. This would give 23.6ft lamberts on a 8ft x 4.5ft screen, just over the maximum recommended 20ft lamberts for darkroom viewing. This is bright and likely to cause RBE with a 2xspeed color wheel. A ND2 filter would tame this to 11.8ft lamberts.
The manufacture claims 1700 Lumens (high lamp mode with brilliant color at 10) which on a 8ft x 4.5ft screen would be 47ft lamberts, which is brighter than a typical crt tv (around 35ft lamberts).
Reducing screen size will make RBE worse not better as it will increase brightness.
How bright do you want it to go in a dedicated home cinema room, when calibrated with low lamp mode, no brilliant color?
500 Lumens is enough to produce 13.9ft lamberts on a 8ft by 4.5ft screen, and 400 Lumens will give you 11.1ft lamberts. For dark room viewing around 12ft lamberts is generally recommended.
By the way did you get those figures from the projectorcentral review. I own a projector they have reviewed and would rely on their figures even less than the manufactures. Personally I would take the manufactures "best case" uncalibrated color, brilliant color 10, high lamp mode and half it for aproximate calibrated, no brilliant color, low lamp mode. Which gives around 850 Lumens. This would give 23.6ft lamberts on a 8ft x 4.5ft screen, just over the maximum recommended 20ft lamberts for darkroom viewing. This is bright and likely to cause RBE with a 2xspeed color wheel. A ND2 filter would tame this to 11.8ft lamberts.
The manufacture claims 1700 Lumens (high lamp mode with brilliant color at 10) which on a 8ft x 4.5ft screen would be 47ft lamberts, which is brighter than a typical crt tv (around 35ft lamberts).
Reducing screen size will make RBE worse not better as it will increase brightness.
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