Product Survey: Video Projectors : Mitsubishi HC4900
4. Mitsubishi HC4900
The mid-range Mitsubishi HC4900 is a tri-LCD Full HD projector. The little brother of the HC6000, this model has the same design but with a black body. While the two resemble each other, performance of the new arrival is a step below. This makes sense because the HC4900 is almost half the price of the HC6000.
On the back, connectivity is almost identical to the HC6000 except for the replacement of the second HDMI input with an HDCP compatible DVI. Lens shift (positioning of the image on the wall), zoom and focus are all motorized and function at two speeds. First, there are finer incremental adjustments and then with prolonged pressure on the button you get full speed control. This system is very practical for focusing, as we can get very close to the image and modify sharpness with the remote for optimum results. Like on its big brother, the lens shift is very good in the vertical but weak in the horizontal axis. Zoom from 3 meters allows varying the diagonal size of the projection zone from 1.5 meters to a max of 2.44 meters. Note that the manufacturer claims the lamp life will last 5000 hours in economy mode.
Inferior design. What about image quality?
Unfortunately, the problems here are even bigger. The first weakness is the projector's shallow blacks. This results in washed out dark portions. It’s all the more bothersome because this isn’t remedied by the dynamic iris. In practice, the iris is supposed to dynamically change the position to reduce lamp brightness (see box in the test of the PT-AX200) and accentuate the depth of black in darker images. With the HC4900, the iris suffers from a delay (in all three modes offered). The reduction in brightness can be seen in real time and it negatively affects the image.
However, sharpness is excellent and uniform-- particularly with HD 720p and 1080p sources, and an extraordinary rescaling of 480p sources (even if it’s not as refined as that of the PT-AE2000U).
| Mitsubishi HC4900 | |
|---|---|
| Pluses | Minuses |
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The results of the HC4900 are hurt by blacks that aren't deep enough, a dynamic iris that can't be used, and minimal connectivity. Otherwise, sharpness is excellent with HD sources and the brightness level is good.
- HC4900 LCD Projector...
"...For example, when these mirrors rapidly reflect red and yellow, you will see green..."
This mirrors reflect white light. The color wheel is the device which lets the right color component pass in synch with the DMD.
For example: the DMD is reflecting the blue channel of the image but this is white light coming from the lamp, so the color wheel is letting only the blue part of the spectrum. The same with red and blue.
There are also DLP projectors that use three dmd's with three colored light sources( red green and blue) so no need for a color wheel. A frame being displayed with all color information on the screen at once. This means you can obtain 3 times the frame rate at a broader color depth with no rainbow effect.
Besides being technically wrong as pointed out by bboysil, don't you mean red and green will create yellow? Red and yellow (which isn't a primary color of additive light) makes orange!
http:\\diyprojectorkits.com
I am a member there, and am going to build my own 1080P projector this summer. 40 *THOUSAND* hours of life per bulb. Commercial projectors are for amateurs...
COMPARISON CHARTS PLEASE
Either use standard Or metric but don't mix them both. Inches and ounces in one place, meters in another. Seeing how this is tomsguide/us I would assume standard US measurements, but at least be consistant. Even better, translate the articles or make a simple conversion program.
Wow, this article is a mess. Seems like it was written by half a dozen people and connected in random order. No format consistancy between products. Some mention power consumpsion, some price, some show screen shots, size, weight, etc.
COMPARISON CHARTS PLEASE
I'm guessing that's why no charts, no product has the same info.
OK, I swear this is my last comment:
I couldn't figure out why they were using a condom for size comparison. Turns out it is a Euro coin! How about using something recognizable by the majority it of people reading this article.
Why is this site generating such poor quality articles these days (look at the equally useless webcam article)? What is this Digital Versus? Some copy and paste bot?
I read the Panasonic review then gave up. Doesn't anyone bother proof-reading:
"The fans this shape can relax"
"I ended up forcing the it manually"
"The image below" - it's not below
"When uscaling"
And how useless is the zoom option to see the two(!) Star Ratings?
LOL!@! At first I thought that coin was a condom!!
A very wordy review. This needs metrics to compare each model if this is going to prove of any use.
Nic topic coverage. Bit weird as I have just persuaded the wife that our front room would make a great home entertainment room.
First purchase required.... Projector. Think I'll pop down to my local Sony shop and see for myself just what they are like. The reviews here have done nothing more than give me a starting point. Nothing that allows me to proactively compare the products.
I have the same prob, Firmware update doesn't help me use AC charger while projecting..HELP PLS!!
now my aiptek pocket cinema is dead.i've upgraded the firmware, now it won't turn on...pls help...