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Mitsubishi HC5500 Turn over for more‌
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78 Mitsubishi HC5500 ➜ £1,200 approx ➜ http://vis.mitsubishielectric.co.uk
Connections include two HDMIs and a 12V trigger
Home Cinema Choice April 2009
Reviews 79
1080p action for 120,000p It may be no style icon, but Chris Jenkins finds value in Mitsubishi’s Full HD budget LCD projector
M
itsubishi’s HC5500 Full HD LCD home cinema projector replaces the HC4900, and at around £1,200 seems like a reasonable entry into the burgeoning Full HD budget market. But competition here is gaining speed, so does the 5500 have anything to offer when put up against rivals from the likes of Epson and Optoma? Certainly it won’t win you over with its style. Square and dumpy, it looks more like a piece of heating equipment than part of a high-tech entertainment system. Still, it’s light and compact, and shouldn’t present any installation problems for those who want to ceiling-mount. The 5500 is built around the highly-regarded Silicon Optix HQV chip, designed to get the best out of HD sources and to enhance SD material. Quoted brightness is 1200 ANSI lumens, and the automatic iris function is claimed to achieve a contrast ratio of 14,000:1, as well as improving sharpness. The sideaccess lamp replacement system should make it easier to replace the bulb even when the unit is ceilingmounted. Lamp life is a claimed 5000 hours, and operating noise is impressively low at just 19dB. Focus and zoom functions are powered from the remote or the projector’s on-body controls, and the Installation menu features a keystone correction as well as various power, image orientation and trigger functions. Anamorphic lenses are supported with two image modes.
Sight beyond sight I auditioned the 5500 with a wide variety of sources on a 100in screen, starting with a Panasonic DMP-BD35 playing Second Sight’s Blu-ray disc
of the sublime Baraka. The highlydetailed close-ups of faces, sweeping landscapes and busy city scenes make this wordless environmental odyssey a superb test-disc – and the HC5500 didn’t falter in any way. With the lamp setting on ‘high’ (despite running in a blacked-out room), I noted decent brightness levels, strong, steady blacks, a satisfying and realistic colour range, and no noticeable grain. LCD
panel structure was practically invisible unless you stuck your nose against the screen, and, of course, being an LCD design, there is none of the maddening rainbow effect seen on single-chip DLP devices. With SD material, including a DTS demo DVD and Freeview via a Relook tuner, the Mitsubishi did what it could to reduce noise and MPEG artefacts, for the most part successfully, though there was some suspicion of edge noise on the upscaled images. Fast-moving sports footage was handled well. If the model had a higher price point, I might have felt the need to be more picky, For example, its blacks are okay without being outstanding and the shadow detail is a little flat, which affects the perceived depth of the image. However I feel you will have to pay significantly more money to find significantly better performance. Overall I think this model delivers enough wow to make big-screen gaming a thrill and movie-watching a genuine event. Which I guess is kind of the point. In essence, I don’t think buyers will be disappointed with the 5500, but I’d be tempted to spend a few hundred pounds more so that you can really dazzle those retinas
AV/CV
➜ Specifications
HD Ready: yes up to x 1080p24 HDMI: yes 2 HDMI inputs Component: yes 1 input PC input: yes D-Sub Resolution: 1920 x 1080 Brightness (claimed): 1,200 ANSI Lumens Contrast ratio (claimed): 14,000:1 Dimensions: 334(w) x 125(h) x 352(d)mm Weight: 5.6kg Features: HQV image processing, 19dB noise output, keystone correction, power zoom and focus, adjustable iris, 5000 hour lamp life
Product: A Full HD projector at a remarkably affordable price Position: Mitsubishi’s replacement for the HC4900, designed specifically for home entertainment Peers: BenQ W9000; Epson EMP TW1000
➜ Tech Labs
A
Pre-calibration colour temperature with the Cinema setting was excellent at 6,573K (Point A), requiring only slight manual adjustment for a perfect 6,500K result Before calibration Colour temperature: 6,573K RGB: 111/96/111 Luminance: 17,144fL Contrast ratio: 5,561:1 After calibration Colour temperature: 6,500(user) RGB: 100/100/100 Luminance: 13,051fL Contrast ratio: 5,348:1
Verdict Mitsubishi HC5500 £1,200 Approx Price check: www.techradar.com/502901 Highs: Decent colour and detail performance; very quiet operation Lows: Some limitations to contrast and colour; plasticky construction Performance: Design: Features:
Overall: April 2009 Home Cinema Choice