Mitsubishi LaserVue L65-A90: First Tech Review of LASER HDTV-HD GURU Exclusive
Greg Tarr,
October 23, 2008
13 min read
Key To Photos Top to Bottom: L65-A90 (front); L65-A90 (angle); Spectral Output LaserVue L65-A90; Spectral Output Samsung LCD LN-46A860;
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Overview
Laser illuminated HDTV has arrived, in the form of a 10†deep 65†display. It represents Mitsubishi’s effort to capture the top rung of home theater enthusiasts. For $7000 retail price, the L65-A90’s will treat you to a level of performance that exceeds any display I have tested to date in terms color gamut, brightness and low power consumption. In addition, its black levels were as deep as the darkest display previously reviewed. Complimenting the TV’s black level is its ability to resolve dark detail and not bury it (into black) as some other displays do.
Overall the L65A90 rates in the stratosphere of top displays, specifically the Pioneer Kuro Elite plasmas, the LED backlit Samsung 950 LCDs and the 65†Panasonic Premiere TH-65VX100.
Mitsubishi has announced it will sell additional models in the future, including a 73†in 2009. Lasers have been demonstrated by other companies for use in LCD flat panels and front projectors and while Mitsubishi remains hush-hush regarding other future products, after seeing the L65-A90, I have no doubt that we will be seeing a line of LaserVue HDTVs in the not to distant future.
Design
The L65-A90 is housed in an attractive high gloss black plastic cabinet, with a very thin (about ½ â€Â) bezel encompassing the top, left and right side of its 65†screen. The bottom contains the left right speakers, electronics and optics. The screen is a sandwich made up of at least four layers of material (Mitsubishi would not specify the exact number). They include a Fresnel lens specially designed to achieve the L65-A90’s 10.05-inch depth, a lenticular layer, a glass layer (it adds to screen rigidity) and a very effective anti-reflective top layer with a matte finish. The closed mouths at Mitsubishi wouldn’t reveal the details on how they shrunk the depth of the 65†projector, however previous Mitsubishi thin design commercial rear projectors used a convex mirror along with the special cut Fresnel lens to accomplish the reduction. The set’s dimensions are 57.7 inches wide by 38 inches high by 10.05 inches deep. The weight is 136.4 pounds. There is an optional wall bracket available ($199) that adds about 2″ to the depth.
The LA65-A90 uses a Texas Instruments .65†Dark Chip 4 DLP (Digital Light Processor) as the microdisplay imager. As with all 1080p DLP rear projectors, the chip uses a pixel shifting technique to produce 1920 x 1080 pixel frame every 1/60 of a second. The red, blue and green lasers each fire sequentially 28 times the frame rate (according to a Mitsubishi spokesperson), resulting in freedom from color breakup (often called rainbows), that can be seen by some viewers using conventional DLPs with projection lamps and spinning color wheels.
The remote control is similar the ones Mitsubishi supplies with it other HDTVs, except the backlight is blue rather than red. It’s a simple, straightforward affair with a “hot†button for Video settings (as well as a dedicated audio setting button).
The easy to use on-screen graphic user interface is carried over from the previous year’s Mitsubishi HDTVs. My only gripe, the menu expires in 5 seconds, an insufficient amount of time to compare different video settings.
Features
There are three picture modes called “Naturalâ€Â, “Bright†and “Brilliantâ€Â. The “Natural†picture mode employs a color space that is close to the HDTV broadcast standard called Rec. 709, while the†Brilliant†mode expands the color points beyond 709 to the widest color space I have ever measured. A special algorithm converts HDTV content to Mitsubishi’s expanded color gamut. The “Bright†mode falls somewhere in-between Natural and Brilliant in its color range. The color point data for “Natural†and Brilliant are listed in the performance section below as well as a graphic above that compares the color gamut of the LaserVue TV in “Brilliant†mode against the showroom modes of Samsung’s LN-46A650 and LN46A860 and Panasonics TH-46PZ850U. There is also a “Game†picture mode, used with the Mitsubishi’s PC input and was not tested.
The L65-A90 has a 120 Hz display mode option Mitsubishi calls “Smooth 120â€Â. Engaging the circuit significantly improves motion resolution (more on this later). There are two other picture enhancement modes. “SharpEdge†adds edge enhancement, but also creates a white halo around sharp edges. The other picture control called “Deep Field Imager†analyzes the image and dynamically enhances black levels in portions of the screen to provide strong detail.
There are six aspect ratios for standard definition signals: Standard, (some other set makers call it Full); Expand (linear Zoom) Zoom (recommended for 2:35 anamorphic DVDs) Stretch (often called Just by other set makers, it stretches the image progressively from center) Stretch Plus (Similar to Stretch it distorts the image less that Stretch but crops more of the top and bottom) and Narrow (4:3). When viewing HD images the aspect ratio choices are Standard, Wide Expand and Zoom (for window box images with black bars on all four sides).
The L65-A90 incorporates Mitsubishi’s Perfect Color and Perfect Tint adjustments. Using both controls allowed the taming of exaggerated reds called “Red Push†lowering the intensity of red its proper proportion to the other primary and secondary colors.
Connectivity
The L65-90 has all its inputs jacks mounted on the rear side panel (see photo). They include two antenna jacks, four HDMI 1.3 jacks, one 15 pin sub D connector for a PC, one component video input, one composite input, and one component video input. The L65-A90 accepts 480i/p; 720p; 1080i and 1080p (24p or 60p). It also accepts a number of computer formats including VGA, WVGA, XGA and SXVGA. There is also a digital audio output a jack for a 3D sync emitter (for viewing PC 3D games with 3D glasses, which were not tested).
Performance Tests
I performed all tests and evaluations at Mitsubishi’s US headquarters in California. User controls were adjusted in the “Natural†and “Brilliant†modes. Geometry tests revealed Mitsubishi (like other shallow depth projection TV makers) uses electronic geometry correction to eliminate screen distortions such as keystone errors. This requires an overscan of about 2.5%.
Placing a crosshatch pattern on-screen revealed a very slight bowing of horizontal lines in the center about 25% from the bottom of the screen. A Mitsubishi spokesperson said this was correctable using built-in adjustments performed by a technician and future production will fix this minor issue.
The white lines of the crosshatch test pattern were uniformly crisp from edge to edge with no color fringing. Since lasers are very narrow wavelength devices, (see photo) the optics can not cause color fringing (chromatic aberrations), according to a Mitsubishi representative.
Next, an evaluation of a full screen “white field†called 100 IRE Raster pattern. This test revealed a slight non-uniformity and brighter screen center; however, neither effect was noticeable in any source material viewed, including scenes with a solid blue sky. There was no speckle (sparkles causes by lasers reflecting off the screens flat surface) a breakthrough considering all other laser displays seen in the past (including earlier Mitsubishi prototypes) had speckle issues.
Off-axis viewing confirmed an acceptable viewing angle of around 130 degrees horizontal with a gradual drop off in brightness as one moves from center. There was no color shift seen as one moves off center. The viewing angle compares favorably to many LCD flat panels and is far better than any of the LED backlit LCDs observed to date. Plasma is still is the king in uniform horizontal off-axis viewing. Vertical viewing brightness drops off considerably as one shifts above or below center, this is similar to many LCD flat panels, once again, plasma is the best performer in this category.
Image brightness was nothing short of amazing. The maximum brightness on-center using 100 IRE full raster with the Deep Field Imager (DFI) activated produced a 110.88-foot lamberts, shutting off the DFI circuit dropped it down to 93.75 ftl. To compare, the brightest LCDs (in uncalibrated showroom mode) LCDs typically about 70 ftl while most fall in the 40-50 ftl range. After Calibration, most LCD displays drop down to 20-30 ft lamberts in order to provide the deepest black levels (the LCD’s backlights are turned down). The L65-A90 produced 66.1 ft lamberts in the post calibration, using the “Brilliant†mode. This extremely high brightness level allows excellent viewing and contrast in rooms with intensely high ambient light levels (think of the levels found in supermarkets or during daylight in homes with huge picture windows and no window treatment). In “Natural†mode, after optimizing the user control settings, 100IRE brightness came in at 50.2 ft lamberts.
The L65-A90’s black level was far below the ambient light levels of the room used for testing. With lights out, a 0 IRE black screen was jet black. Observing bright white credits on the screen center revealed a very dim glow at the bottom center of the screen, however, this was the only circumstance where this phenomena was observed.
Color Temperature
There are “High†and “Low†color temperature settings. In “High†mode, the reading was 11,199 K, making white and grays too blue. The “Low†setting was very close to the industry standard of 6500K with reading of 6518K (x.3115, y.3394) @ 20 IRE (dark gray) and 6570 K (x. 3110, y.3347). There are service mode adjustments of gray scale (also called white balance) however; the readings were so close to perfect I do not believe a calibration would yield a noticeable improvement.
Color Gamut
(Photo-Color Gamut List NTSC, Mitsubishi L65-A90-“Brilliant” mode, Samsung LN-46A650 “Dynamic” mode, Samsung LN-46A860 “Dynamic” mode, Panasonic TH-46PZ850 “Vivid” mode)
Color reproduction by the LaserVue in its “Brilliant†mode was unlike any other display device previously tested. Reds are so intense and crimson they’re indescribable. Ditto for yellows, purples and other colors and hues. You really need to see the LA65-A90 to appreciate it (more on color later). The “Natural†mode constricted the color gamut to approximate the Rec. 709 HDTV standard. For the “techies†the x.y. coordinate readings were as follows ‘Brilliant†and Natural modes, for reference, the coordinates of the Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI) and Rec. 709 standards are also listed
Brilliant Red x.7159 y.2833
DCI. Red x.680 y.320
Natural Red x.6790 y.3088
Rec. 709 Red x .640 y.330
Brilliant Green x.1725 y.7943
DCI Green x .265 y.690
Natural Green x.2920 y.6798
Rec. 709 Green x .300 y.600
Brilliant Blue x.1622 y.0129
DCI Blue x.150 y.0600
Natural Blue x.1628 y.0508
Rec. 709  Blue x.150 y.0600
Signal Processing
Silicon Optix HQV standard DVD and high definition Blu-ray test discs were utilized to evaluate the L65-A90’s signal processing. `The SD test results were excellent, except for the jaggies tests and two of the minor film cadence tests (used occasionally with animation). The HD test patterns provided similar results, passing all tests but the 3:2 and jaggies tests. The findings are as follows:
SD HQV Tests   Test Score/Maximum Possible Score
Color Bar      10/10
Jaggies Pattern 1   3/5
Jaggies Pattern 2   1/5
Flag Jaggies      0/10
Picture Detail      8/10 (Sharp Edge “Offâ€Â)
10/10 (Sharp Edge ‘Onâ€Â)
Noise Reduction (NR)   5/10 (Low Setting)
8/10 (Med. Setting)
10/10 (High Setting)
Motion Adaptive NR   5/10 (Low Setting)
8/10 (Med. Setting)
10/10 (High Setting)
3:2 Detection       10/10
Film Cadence   2:2   5/5 Pass
2:2:2:4         5/5 Pass
3:2:3:2:2      0/5 Fail
5:5         5/5 Pass
6:4         5/5 Pass
8:7         0/5 Fail
3:2:2:4         5/5 Pass
Mixed Film/Video   10/10 (Horizontal Text Crawl)
Mixed Film/Video   5/10 (Vertical Text Crawl)
High Definition Tests
HD Noise Reduction    15/25 (Low Setting)
20/25 (Med. Setting)
25/25 (High Setting)
1080i Deinterlace    20/20 Pass
Jaggies         5/20
3:2 Detection      0/25 Fail
Film Res. Stadium   10/10 Pass
Static and Motion Resolution
There is a 120 Hz mode called “Smooth 120†that is designed to reduce motion blur. The results were similar to the readings of most top scoring 60 Hz and 120 Hz LCD conventional fluorescent back lit (CCFL) flat panels with 1080 lines Static Resolution; 610 lines in 120 Hz mode and 320 lines resolution in 60 Hz mode.
Power Consumption
Simply stated the Laser TV is the “greenest†display measured to date. It consumed between 93 to 96 watts depending on source material. With its 65†screen power and 94 watt average power consumption, usage is only .052 watts per square inch. LCD and Plasma flat panels typically use 3-4 times (or more) power. (Photo of power consumption meter reading of 92.88 watts)
Viewing Tests
Images from Blu-ray movies and television programs were the sources used for the evaluation. Alien vs. Predator (AVP) Requiem is my favorite for checking out low-level detail. The results were excellent. AVP has some of the darkest segments of any recent movies viewed. The L65-A90’s ability to create deep black while maintaining the surface features of the “Alien†were quite impressive. A number of other displays would bury parts of the “Alien†into the background, while the Mitsubishi kept them separate and distinct.
Disney’s Sleeping Beauty recent Blu-ray release was a masterpiece. The digital restoration is defect free and extremely impressive. In the “Natural†mode, the colors were solid and vibrant. In the “Brilliant†mode, they practically popped of the screen! I highly recommend Sleeping Beauty to readers for its incredible non-computer age animation art.
Casino Royale’s opening color scene (it begins as a flashback in black and white) provided an excellent test bed for motion detail, contrast, flesh tones and color reproduction. During the crane portion, I noted the bright intensity of the yellow construction worker’s safety vests, the deep azure sky behind Daniel Craig and the amazing range of brightness this display was capable of reproducing. It was at the end of a 12-hour testing evaluation session and the high brightness of the display provided an incredible punch and contrast even though all the test room’s ceiling lights were on.
Overall, the expanded color gamut of the “Brilliant†mode provided a more satisfying viewing experience than the Rec.709 constricted color of the “Natural†mode setting. Some of my colleagues dispute assertions as to why a wider color range is better, however, with the L65-A90’s ability to choose either setting (Natural and Brilliant), you too can compare color reproduction and draw your own conclusions.
To wrap up, the L-65A90 has its place among the best HDTVs in the market today. Price wise, it is comparable or less than competing size flat screen displays such as the 65†Panasonic Premiere. The HD Guru awards the Mitsubishi L65A90 its highest ♥♥♥♥ rating.
Copyright ©2008 Gary Merson/HD Guru® All rights reserved. HD GURU is a registered trademark. The content and photos within may not be distributed electronically or copied mechanically without specific written permission.
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Re the Mitsubishi LaserVue: I had a similar experience to that mentioned in TrevEB’s post from March.
I bought one of the first sets available last fall through a highly reputable dealer. It worked beautifully for about three weeks, then suddenly started shutting itself down after being on for only a few minutes. I thought maybe it was some sort of sleep timer that I didn’t know about. The Mitsu techs have no in-home service capability on the set because of the lasers, but there is a diagnostic tool in the form of the way some lights flash when the set is turned on. And they were able to know from the Morse-code like sequence flashed out by my set that the problem was fatal.
Weeks later another a replacement set arrived, and I noticed rather quickly into routine viewing that there was a strange and annoying glow that extended up in a semi-circular arc from the bottom edge through about the lower third of the screen. It was completely unnoticable during a regular full screen image of a daylight scene, but in any sort of extreme letterboxed production intended to have black bands at the top and bottom or anything with dark/nighttime scenes it was very noticable. I compared it to headlights on a screen at a drive-in movie. I e-mailed Mitsu screengrabs of the problem from a high-def camcorder. They acknowledged it as an aberation and sent another replacement set, assuring me it had been checked out by the California techs. It arrived damaged at the facility in Delaware, which declined to accept it. So Mitsu shipped out a fourth set which techs dutifully set up and turned on. They were about to leave, when I pointed out it had a similar glow problem which they immediately acknowledged and noted on the paperwork. Mitsu then offered, and I accepted, a full refund. So after about a nine-month experience with LaserVue I’m now waiting for better luck with a Panasonic Plasma.
The bottom line for me is that two out of three LaserVues that I used in my living room had a very annoying glow that prevented the set from showing a black image. It would morph from black to gray depending on which part of the screen was involved. To me it was unacceptable.
The person I dealt with at Mitsubishi was extremely courteous and apologetic but the techs were never able to explain the problem to me or explain why it could not be corrected. They did at least acknowledge that it existed.
For others interested in the set, it might be something worth checking out. (I did not notice the problem on the first copy of the set I had. It’s problem, as I said, was simply that it wouldn’t play more than three minutes at a time.)
Thanks, regards and happy viewing. Larry
I was hoping to see a specification on picture processing time. I play video games a lot, and on fast-paced action and fighting games, not to mention rhythm games, a few milliseconds of lag can be killer. I read the review twice, but can’t seem to find what the A/V lagtime is. Does anybody know?
“With lights out, a 0 IRE black screen was jet black.”
I own a floor model Laservue. Actually it’s my 2nd. The first one had what I believed was a fault in that the screen had a dull white blur at the bottom center with a secondary dot of light off to the left. Mits. claimed that this was perfectly normal. I had it swapped anyway for another floor model Laservue. The problem was exactly the same. This light source definitely interferes with dark scenes from programs such as Lost, and movies like 3:10 to Yuma, (Apache attack) With no video source, the screen is definitely not jet black. Contrast and brightness can be turned down to zero and the light remains.
So what is the deal. Are floor models just severely punished by being on all day?
Read old comments
I think that it is worth every penny. Take a look and compare any tv its size…
http://laservue-hdtv.blogspot.com
esto lo invente yo, pero…
What happened to the $2500 to $3000 price that was talked about when it was first introduced at the electronics show. I was told that this was Mitsu’s last hooraah with respect to the TV industry and maybe consumer electronics, that there were others that were attempting to do the same thing but decided to go LCD/Plasma and Mitsu was hanging it’s hat on this and was going to make it very affordable in an attempt to make there mark and due to the actual costs to produce being very low. I even bought a diamond 65 as a temp. waiting for the laser, which took 6 to 10 months longer to release than it was supposed to. Nice job waiting for a full blown recession to release a 7k TV. No wonder these companies are all going under!
DO NOT FEED THE DAMN GREED
All they did was change the light engine
I’m supposed to pay a $4000 premium
BITE ME MITSUBISHI
Hi Folks,
I really believe that this tv is going to be the very best in the hdtv industry. I think laservue laser tv’s are a marvelous development in hdtv technology that will continue to see even more progress, especially in the 3d gamers’ department.I think that the price will come down naturally over time because of competition and you will also see others trying to copy it.Hence the price will level out. You can wait to get it then. For those of us who think its worth it to get the best products now, and we have the money to do so, then its a great buy. I think it is very compatible price wise with other tvs of its size.I am putting out more info about the details of the laservue L65 A90 for you to look at and enjoy for comparison.
You can see it here:
http://laservue-hdtv.blogspot.com
Hope you find what you are looking for..
Thanks.
Peace,
David
I won’t be rushing out to buy one of these.
I have a 18 month old Mitsubishi Diamond series DLP TV that has been nothing but trouble. It’s had to be repaired several times. It’s on its 3rd bulb, which I’m not counting in the repair count. The picture went out AGAIN two days ago. I’m currently watching a 25 year old 26″ CRT TV while I decide whether or not to repair this pig again. Right now I think the total cost of this TV works out to over $300 a month with no end in sight and it’s time to cut my losses and take a chainsaw to it.
Mitsubishi support is slow, unresponsive, and was downright rude in one instance. Mitusbishi is slow at shipping replacement parts to repair shops and they gouge on the prices. Before you buy any Mitusbishi DLP product, talk to a shop that repairs them and get the real scoop on their reliability. The (claimed) higher reliability of the laser light engine isn’t going to be much of a plus if other components in the TV are failing frequently.
It’s interesting that Mr Merson did not say anything about speckle. The cost issues might arise when the consumer base will go from 2K to 4K and above, wondering even whether and EPIC 617 image (28K) might even be achievable by NECSEL. Also the Blu-Ray titles selected were not deep-color, despite the HDMI 1.3, and no HDR evaluation was made when some CMOS can achieve 110db.
As far as speckle is concerned, it is mentioned in the review as follows “There was no speckle (sparkles causes by lasers reflecting off the screens flat surface) a breakthrough considering all other laser displays seen in the past (including earlier Mitsubishi prototypes) had speckle issues.”
Mitsubishi will not reveal its source for its lasers, however, Novalux does not claim to make the lasers within the display, so the capabilities of its lasers is not relevant.ÂÂ
regarding Deep-color, nor movie studio has utilized it to date nor any announced any intention to include it within their respective Blu-ray releases.
HD GURU
I WORKED FOR THE BIGGEST LASER COMPANY IN THE WORLD AND SAD TO SAY THIS BABY DOES NOT DESERVE EVEN HALF ITS PRICE. I HAVE READ MANY NEGATIVE COMMENTS REGARDING THIS REAR PROJECTION LASER TV AND I AM WITH THEM. SOME CALLED THIS MODEL ” INSANE “, ” SPITFULL “, AND ” OVERPRICED “. IT IS A LOT EASIER TO CONVERT BULB BASED DLP TVS TO LASER BASED DLP. ANY GAINS THAT WILL RESULT SHOULD NOT BE PAID VERY DEARLY BY THE CONSUMERS WHEN THE TECHNOLOGY ONLY INVOLVES CONVERSION OR MODIFICATION OF EXISTING TECHNOLOGY. PERHAPS SED, FED AND OLED TVS MAY JUSTIFY ASTRONOMICAL PRICE, BUT FOR THIS LASER TV N O W A Y!!!!!!!!!
G R E E D IS THE DRIVING FORCE OF OUR ECONOMIC MESS. DO NOT DESPAIR MY FELLOW CONSUMERS. WE HAVE THE ANTIDOTE FOR OVERPRICED PRODUCTS —- DO NOT PATRONIZE THEM. LOOK WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OIL PRICES WHEN THE WORLD REDUCED ENERGY DEMAND.
A historical note. In the summer of 1970 at Expo 70 in Osaka Japan, I saw my first laser projection television in the Hitachi Pavillion. The 9 ft. by 12 ft. interlaced 525 line NTSC image was made possible by optically scanning three laser beams with rotating vertical and horizontal prisms. It took three full-time engineers to keep it working. I immediately thought that laser TV was the future. Not exactly. It took 38 more years to for Mitsubishi to commercialize laser projection TV for home use!
TV is overpriced! Its another first generation TV from mits and their first generation DLP tv’s have been nightmares. There other generation of DLP tv’s have also had numerous problems. They have 2 current lawsuits against them and treat their customers like crap.
http://forums.cnet.com/5208-7596_102-0.html?forumID=60&threadID=257865&start=0&tag=forum-w;forums06
Go the the above on cnet and you will find out that they have numerous problems with DLP’s tv’s.
LCD still takes a significant hit in picture quality from off angle viewing. And some of the most advanced panels (LED backed) are some of the worst in this respect. A few minutes in Best Buy or Circuit City will show this…
Wobulation? Sure, would prefer a full resolution chip, but in and of itself — who cares? CRT updates what – a single pixel at a time?
I hope rear projection DLP survives in some fashion as the price/performance is incredible at this point. And also the ecological benefit. I can’t spend $7,000 on a TV though…
Gary,
Can you say more about how you measured the viewing angle? Was this by eyesight or with a meter of some sort? And did you define that to be angle at which intensity was down by what Percentage? It strikes me that this might be a subjective spec.
From Gary’s Laser Spectrum, I caninfer that the wavelegths are as follows:
Red: 632 nm
Green:532nm
Blue :442nm
I used Gary’s Chromaticity values for the Green, along with CIE Chromaticity Tables to get the Green wavelength directly. Then I measured the distance in inches between the 380nm marker and the Green line on a printed version to infer ~113nm per inch conversion factor. With this an more distance measurements the Red and Blue were determined. Enjoy
I miss Chad. Could someone notify him that the G man is ragging on Pioneer again?
Great review again!
YES YOU CAN TURN OUT THE bLUE LIGHT BELOW THE tv..
The owner’s manual says to use bright during the day, natural at night, and brilliant under bright light.
Brilliant looks so good, why not use it all the time??
Wonderful picture, thanks for the realistic review.
This is the greenest TV? If you look into the Samsung LED TV’s you will see that a calibrated TV draws ~89 watts. Also, why weren’t these TVs compared in this article at all? Just curious..
It would be cool and put them over the top if they would make an 80 inch or 90 inch Laservue. Mitsubishi used to make the biggest sets in the 1990’s, I think they would sell. You Listening Mitsubishi!!!???
I have been following this technology for some time and I think if it is further refined it has the potential to be the next major display technology. Remember plasma and LCD have had many years of R&D and the first iterations were vastly inferior to todays sets. If laser tv is as good or even nearly as good as current high end plasmas and LCDs it should be vastly superior after a few more years of development.
Gary,
What are the actual nanometers for each color red green and blue laser?
Still cant find out what retailers are going to carry it, other than online sites. Anyone know were to buy it in S. Florida?
Excellent review. Sounds like a nice set. Call me when the price gets to $3500 and I might actually be interested.
I cannot understand why this beautiful tv doesn’t have an option for 1:1 pixelmapping/ no overscan.
This also means that this tv doesn’t have the recuirements for hdready 1080p!
I pre-ordered this TV in Florida and now was called by the store rep to tell me the store is going bankrupt. So now i need to find some place new that knows something about this set, especially when its available to purchase. Anyone know when we can “walk in” and buy it?
What an incredible and detailed review! I’ve been waiting for someone to get their hands on a LaserVue and test it. Thanks for the doing so much to provide everyone with all the info one could ask for! I think I have to have one! Query. Pioneer Elite Kuro PRO-151FD, Sony XBR8 55″, or the LaserVue? I’ve been waiting forever for all three to be available. Which would you go with? Thanks and God Bless!
Joshua 24:15
Thanks Gary for the in depth Laservue review. Appreciated the section on bright room performance.
I bought Mitsubishi’s DLP WD-65000 when it was introduced 7 or 8 years ago and have been very pleased, Great image and never a lamp replacement.
Looks like it’s time to reinvest in Mitsubishi Heavy Equipment.
All Best,
Harris
Hello,
I’m from France. I would like to know if we’ll see, one day, this tv in Europe and more precisely in France.
I’ve heard that there were compatibility issues, so could you tell me more about this tv.
Thank you
Fred
Will laser technology be used in front projectors? replacing bulbs are expensive!
Uhhmm…does anybody know how many hours these things are supposed to last???
Steve,
What LCD panels are you looking at? That certainly can not be said for premium brands like Sony XBR series or Sharp Aquos or Samsung or Mitsu or JVC or LG and the list goes on. Now if you compare lower tier models with bargan basement prices, maybe. I walk in to my favorite audio/video salon, one that is set professionaly,every set is ISF calibrated. They have private listening/viewing rooms set up like a home. You make an appointment to audition a set and you have privacy. I can see the difference on a first generation Sharp Aquos 65 inch model from 2005. Now their 3rd and fourth generation models, I can walk extreme axis and not see dropoff like on the 2005 model which was still good. This set is rated at 176 horizontal and vertical. The Sony XBR’s slightly better at 178 H & V. I do these same test in the same room with plasmas and see no improvements when comparing to top tier LCD’s
Any idea when the 73″ version will be available and how much more it will cost?
brilliant review!
With regard to many LCD TVs, viewing angles remain poor compared to plasma. This can be confirmed by a quick stop at a store and remains a big plus for plasma.
(And I actually find the way rear projectors lose PQ at an angle, much less objectionable…)
It would be nice to see how the 3D Ready feature on the LaserVue compares to Mitsubishi’s other 3D Ready televisions. After teaming up with NVIDIA, they are on the forefront of bringing 3D content to the home. Hopefully, once they ramp up production and these models become more available we will find out more.
How does this TV compare to Runco’s HDTV? Also if “money was not an impediment” what is the best HDTV in the market now?
Thanks.
Rob
For what it is worth Bob, the top picture doesn’t show the lights on…
I have noticed that this TV has two big blue lights right below the bottom of the screen and slightly off center on both sides. Does anyone know if these can be shut off?
Thank you Gary for this test. Looks like a breakthrough product to me.
Up to this point I have dismissed rear projection, but this one may be an exception. What troubles me is the overscan issue without the ability to correct it? The hint of viewable distortion, albiet the way of old rear projection. The larger then life colors that others have said about it. I will reserve judgement on this one until I see it. And lastly the reduced viewing angles as we all know about rear projection
Once again, Gary, you misquote viewing angle representations of LCD TV.
The viewing angle issue of LCD was FIXED 5 years ago. Today in all modern designs their is an insignificant difference in viewing angles between LCD and Plasma. Using the above tested viewing angles for the laserview and saying that is comparable to LCD? Hardly. Today top LCD brands are rated at 176 to 178 vertically and horizontally. I know what you will say Gary… manufactures blown up specs; but the truth of the matter is I have lived with LCD. I have also viewed LCD in many locations and homes. LCD viewing angle issue is dead with respect to reputable brands.
If the Laserview looks as good as sounds, despite the bulk of 10 inches and afore mention concerns, I could this one a try.
The “DarkChip4” DMD referred in the article as using a “pixel shifting technique”, is that a variant of the (in)famous “wobulated” 1080x960p DMD chip that RPTVs used a few years ago ?
Are all DLP-based RPTVs currently available for sale still employing “wobulated” chips ?
This is another in depth review. It’s amazing to see someone with such a commitment to giving people insightful information on products with the technical merit that you do.
Thanks, and please keep up the great work.
Learn more about TV lamps at http://www.tvlamps.biz
Home theater is not just video alone!
In future reviews, please plug a PC in and tell us if the display can be configured so that it doesn’t cut off the windows task bar.
The L65-A90 has a “Standard” aspect ratio for computer signasl (VGA, WVGA,XGA,WXGA and SXGA) that shrinks the image so the entire frame is “underscanned”
HD GURUÂÂ
edit: Ok, so off-axis viewing is acceptable. So, it’s not all that great compared to plasma…
This is pretty exciting. I’d really like to know how the angle view performs. I have always hated rear projection because of the issues watching them unless you are directly in front of the screen and 10 feet back. What is this one like?
Let’s see the side profile shot. All these off angle images are trying to make it look like a flat panel, when clearly it isn’t.
WOW Great review! L-65A90 has its place among the best HDTVs in the market today, this are great news. Can Laser TV compete against OLED?
Laser TV Infos:
http://www.oled-display.info
Is this TV missing a setting that eliminates overscan? I know that the current bulb-based DLPs from Mits don’t have a dot-for-dot type setting. It would be really disappointing if this set is missing that also.