Vote MitsiBushi
Nov 07 '00
The First Generation
7 years ago we were looking for a new family TV since our trusty Ferguson, which had served us well, was on its last legs. After what seemed like an eternity of reading old ‘Which?’ consumer magazines and trouncing around electronic stores, we settled on a Mitsubishi model. A sleek grey 28-incher, it had a crystal clear picture and was competitively priced. In addition, we also purchased a Mitsubishi video player.
Mitsubishi themselves offered a decent priced 3-year Guarantee on the picture tube ($70), so we decided to purchase that as well.
When the shop finally delivered the set, we had to send it back straight away. Not because it didn't work - heck, we hadn't even switched it on - no, it was the fact that the TV had several scratches on the front panel. However, the next set delivered arrived in pristine condition, and setting it up was a simple task due to the well-designed control and basic level manual.
There were a couple of issues though. I found the design of the scart sockets on the back of the TV to be a bit constrained. Inserting a lead proved quite difficult. On one occasion I broke a 20 quid scart lead (the pin snapped) due to the insertion force I had to apply. Another problem, which we thought existed, was that the seemed to be switching itself off randomly. This went on for a few days, but after one call to the technical support, they immediately guessed what the problem was - on changing channels we had been inadvertently pressing the 'sleep' button, thus programming the set to automatically switch itself off after 99 minutes or so. I think this was a bad design, and I can imagine it caused quite a few family annoyances.
7 years since that purchase, my parents have the Mitsubishi sitting in the family room, it still looks as good as ever, sounds as great as you can expect from a non-stereo set, and it hasn't broken down yet.
The Second Generation
Since our first Mitsubishi had proven such a great purchase, 3 years ago whilst attending College I decided to purchase a new TV/Video, and knowing the overall quality of the original Mitsubishi, I decided (having consulted Which magazine once more) to go for a Nicam 21-incher. On a tight budget, I waited for the inevitable sales and snapped up the TV and video for just under £400.
The first few weeks of use confirmed that it was an excellent TV; the picture appeared pristine, the Nicam stereo wonderful, it even had S-video, a Headphone socket and an extra 3-way AV output inside the front cover; useful items which our original Mitsubishi never had. Also, the newer types of remote control were far superior in design.
However, I soon began to notice a problem. I was watching a forgettable space movie (Rick Moranis was in it - Spaceballs I think.) and noticed a streaking effect on the stars. I initially dismissed it as a dodgy Reception or film problem, but over the next few days, on certain dark/light scenes it became apparent that the picture wasn't as great as I first thought. The harmonic streaking affects situations where you had light on large dark areas and the bleeding across the screen was noticeable. From talking to the repairman he had mentioned how quite a few Mitsubishi models at that time were displaying this effect, but I wonder if there was any coincidence with the companies imminent shutting down of their Scottish production factory and maybe quite a few Friday afternoon sets. The repairman couldn’t fix the problem on the spot, but we eventually managed to get the set back with the problem fixed, although it is still slightly noticeable, but nothing to worry about anymore.
Summary
From my experience I would say that Mitsubishi generally make great TV’s, but one thing I would advise potential purchasers to look out for is that problem of nasty streaking. Next time you buy a TV, make sure you get them to play a dark/light contrasted scene in the showroom, and get them to turn the contrast/brightness up to see if any streaking occurs.
In terms of ease of use, reliability and (without streaking) picture and sound, I rate Mitsubishi TV’s highly.
Another factor I would recommend is to examine the details of the guarantees on offer, both from the dealer and the Manufacturer. Sometimes the dealer conditions are vague whereas the manufacturer may only cover certain parts of the TV in the extended guarantee. For instance, if you excessively view wide-screen DVD’s on a standard shaped TV, over time problems may occur that the manufacturer might cite as ‘non-conformance of usage’.
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Epinions.com ID:
robertopaul
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