Okay, Why Did You Do It...
I have been very reluctant to get into the whole High Definition thing. I still think that the technology is developing and prices will soon drop dramatically along with the cost of programming. But boys will be boys and when I started to see the price of these sets dropping I had to start investigating further. I have had Mitsubishi Electrics products before and have never had a problem with any of them. So it was time to start researching and see what others thought of the technology and the picture, obviously...

What Did Other People Think...
Strange, when I searched customer reviews for this product the ratings were either five star or one star and nothing in between. Most people loved the picture quality, the styling but the people who didn't like the set complained of several items. Firstly they complained that the fan was very loud. Secondly, the quality of the sound was poor. Thirdly, the set was supposed to have a tendency to overheat. Fourthly, the lag during warmup annoyed. And lastly some complained of the lamps not lasting long enough. I love the internet so I hit many message boards as well and generally the feeling was that in earlier models these were issues but generally the set is very stable now.

What Appealed To You...
Well, apart from the brand recognition, the picture when I viewed it in stores was very clear. This is a projection TV offering full 1080p and uses DLP technology. For a projection set the footprint is very small, around 17 inches deep and weighing in at just over 70 lbs. I really like the very thin frame around the outside of the screen and the 65 inch screen gives an amazing 'at the movies' or 'on the field' feel to everything that you watch. The set has three HDMI interfaces and autodetects everything that you plug in. There are also two composite feeds and two standard RCA type connections available. Setting up my Directv HD DVR took seconds and the picture on HD channels is stunning. Normal programming still looks good but once you have watched anything in HD you find yourself gravitating back to HD channels, just for the picture quality. The remote control was very intuitive to use and made it a snap to switch between inputs and also between outputs. I like that you can control whether audio is going to through the television speakers or to another audio device from the remote. The front flip panel is also very useful. The front exposes finer picture controls and an additional set of composite and standard RCA type plugs. There is also a USB port where you can attach your jump-drive and the set will load pictures in a slide show for you. It is rather slow loading but does work. It worked with a standard and a U3 type jump drive.

What About The Problems...
In the month that I have had this TV I can honestly say that all of the problems commonly described are so minor as to not even be a factor. I get no hum. The sound system is not great, but I run it through my normal system anyway and it is very easy to switch between audio feeds through the remote. I have experienced no overheating. The delay before the screen comes on is about 5 seconds, for a projection system that seems reasonable to me, but perhaps I am not quite so desperate for instant gratification? After only a month I have had no problems with the lamp life either, although at around $350 a shot I can understand why that could become an issue, although they are warrantied for the first year (I think).

So What Do You Think...
I think it is great, I love to cook and now we can have a family movie night in the den, I can be cooking in the kitchen and not miss a thing. We are having a lot more family movie nights and the children love to hook up the Xbox and Playstation. When the Nintendo Wii was attached, the whole experience was taken to another level. Just using the basic Sports games that come as standard with the Wii and playing everything from bowling to baseball was great fun. You definitely feel like you are down at the local lanes or out on the diamond. We only have a DVD that upconverts to 1080p, but the picture quality is still great. Until there is some standard on high definition DVD's I just can't bring myself to commit to one format or the other. Too much like Betamax and VHS for my liking.

Anything Else About Switching To HD...
Well yes. Firstly we needed to get an HD receiver for Directv. We opted for the DVR which is only leased and cost an additional $199. The dish that we had was not compatible with getting HD and Directv replaced that and installed it for free. We also had a 16 multi-switch that also was not compatible with the 5 LNB satellite dish required to receive HD broadcasts so that also had to replaced. After all that was installed you still had to subscribe to an additional HD package. We were lucky, the process from start to finish was only a couple of days, but you can see there is more to it and more expense than just the set. Just do the research ahead of time is my only warning.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 1799