The Mitsubishi 73411 is a Monster!
Written: Nov 15 '02 (Updated Mar 05 '03)
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Pros: Large screen size with excellent quality and color!
Cons: Getting use to the stretched sized so it will fit the whole screen!
The Bottom Line: If you have the room for this beauty, I recommend it for your Home Theater!
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| surferdude7's Full Review: Mitsubishi WS-73411 73 in. TV |
The Mitsubishi 73411 is a 73-inch measured diagonally Widescreen (16x9) TV with an incredible picture. The total size of the TV is 66 and 1/8 inches tall, 66 and 1/8 inches wide, 29 and 5/8 inches deep and weighs 380 pounds. The TV came in a total of 4 pieces that they put together for us when it was delivered. Basically it is just two pieces after you put together the top screen part then you have the lower part of the TV that is the base with the enclosed speakers.
My wife and I have had a 60-inch Hitachi in the regular sizes of 4x3 for five years now and have loved it very much. There is nothing wrong with our old TV, we have been looking at 65 inch Widescreen TVs for about a year now and when we came across the Mitsubishi 73411 we knew is was meant for us.
There are so many formats on the market today and one thing for sure is Digital TV and High Definition TV with Widescreen is what the future seems to hold.
~~~ The Screen Sizes ~~~
Your everyday TV set is considered a 4x3 TV meaning for every 4 inches the screen is horizontal then it is 3 inches vertically. So that puts the Widescreen at (16x9) for every 16 inches the screen is horizontal then it is 9 inches vertically.
The Widescreen has become popular due to the DVD movies be played like the theaters intended you to watch them without having to cut the side of the film to fit a 4x3 TV.
Other Confusing Formats
Widescreen is known as 16x9 by most but 16x9 really is considered Anamorphic. Anamorphic DVD movies usually have a 1.78:1 or 1.85:1 aspect ratios. Some DVDs have an anamorphic aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and this TV is made for it also.
One more format is Letterbox, this is where the movie is shown in a 4x3 mode with the top and bottom of the screen blackened out so the whole film can be viewed on a 4x3 TV.
~~~ The Mitsubishi 73411 ~~~
It is an all black cabinet with a 73-inch screen with two full range 6 inch – 10 watt speakers built inside.
The TV uses the standard 480i (interlaced), you can use the 480p (progressive) with a progressive DVD player and with a HDTV receiver you can view 1080i. This is a digital TV that is HD (High Definition) upgradeable with an HDTV tuner.
Display Formats
Mitsubishi recommends only using the 4x3 Narrow with the gray lines one each side for no more than 15% of the time to keep the side bars from burning into the screen. So this means getting use to viewing normal television at a not so natural way so it will fill the screen full. Narrow is not recommended in the 16x9 viewing.
The default mode is Standard recommended for the 16x9 mode and not the 4x3 mode. Though you can view it in the 4x3 mode and it fills the screen but it is a little distorted.
Then you have the Expanded mode that enlarges the picture cropping the sides to fit the screen.
The Zoom mode enlarges the picture cropping the sides, top and bottom of the picture.
The Stretched mode is recommended for the 4x3 format that stretches it to properly fit the screen.
I will tell you this at first the view looks out of proportion no matter what format you use but it doesn’t take long to get use to the new picture filling the whole screen.
All five of the formats can be changed quickly with the touch of a button on the remote.
The V-Chip
Like all TVs today they are required to have the V-Chip for parental control of what can be seen by the young ones, so the Mitsubishi 73411 has the built-in V-Chip.
You can put in a four-digit pass code to keep anyone from making any changes. My personal use with no children at home any more was just to leave it alone and it will show all ratings.
The Mitsubishi 4 Home Theater IR Control
This is a feature made to work with a digital surround sound A/V receiver.
The manual is very instructive on to how to hook up all your components like a VCR, DVD player, A/V receiver and more so that receiver will change inputs to match the high resolutions and proper surround sound.
~~~ The Remote ~~~
The remote is pretty nice with the only drawback being some of the buttons are small but I guess I will get use to them.
It is a programmable remote that has a sliding switch on the top of the remote for programming in a cable box or satellite receiver, a VCR, a DVD player and Audio for programming in your audio receiver. Some of the buttons work differently depending where the switch is set on and the functions it needs for it.
The layout of the remote is nice and easy to get use to after a couple of days of use. To the left side of the remote is one little button that is easy to find in the dark by feeling for it, this button illuminates some of the main functions of the remote when pressed.
The remote uses two AAA batteries included.
~~~ The Manual ~~~
The included manual is a very descriptive and easy to understand manual from making all of your connections to using the TV and remote.
There are plenty of drawings, diagrams and pictures to help you, a very nice manual!
~~~ Inputs & Outputs ~~~
The Mitsubishi 73411 has enough inputs for most anything you need. First of all in the front you can open a panel and there are 3 RCA jacks one for video and the other two for speakers, plus an S-video connection. This is an ideal place for camcorder connections.
In the back you have a monitor out which consists of three RCA connections one for video and the other two for left & Right speakers. This connection is handy to connect to your receiver so that you can run the sound from the TV to the receiver.
Then in the back you have Input 1 & 2, each input has Three RCA jacks like above plus an S-Video connection.
Now for the best video connection there are Component 1 & 2 that takes three special Component wires that are color-coded for easy connections. There are also two RCA connections for audio left & right.
There is a place for connecting a HDTV tuner with Component connections, Horizontal Sync, Vertical Sync and audio left & right connections.
~~~ PIP and POP ~~~
The PIP (Picture inside Picture) feature is really nice with this set. You can have a second smaller picture pop up in the screen of a different channel and move it around if you wish. Now my favorite is when you split the screens identically in half with a different channel on each side. The volume only works on one side at a time but you can switch back and forth with the remote.
The POP (Picture outside Picture) gives you two choices of showing your main picture over ¾ of the screen and 3 windows will pop up on the other ¼ of the screen changing channels continually so you can see what is on all available channels. The other choice does about the same thing but the main picture is about ½ the screen and the other ½ of the screen has 9 pop screens showing. With the remote you can change the main screen to any of the pop screens.
~~~ Cons ~~~
The main con for the TV is getting use to the picture being stretched to fit the screen.
The price is another factor!
Here is something I didn’t need since I use a digital A/V receiver for my sound but someone else may have use of it and that is there are no exterior speaker connections. They should include speaker connections for two rear speakers to be added on plus one center speaker and a subwoofer output. With the two built in the TV you could have a 5.1 sound system. Also needed would be a digital input so you can connect a DVD player that has a 5.1 decoder built-in it, this way a receiver wouldn’t be necessary. Though a receiver is much nicer for an all Home Theater System.
~~~ Overall ~~~
This is one beautiful Widescreen TV with an exceptional beautiful picture.
The picture quality from my satellite dish and my DVD player are excellent, I cannot say they same for my cable service. I have the basic cable service so I can get my local channels since they are not available on the satellite dish for now. I did get a Samsung HDTV tuner with the TV made for picking up local broadcasts, now I need to get the right antenna and if all works well my local cable will be history. We have 5 local channels now broadcasting in HDTV (3 are PBS stations) and more starting next month and in January. With getting the local stations in HDTV it should produce a picture made for a Widescreen TV that will not be distorted.
Whether to buy this TV or a similar one depends on what you want and if you would be happy with the settings. My most important use for the TV is to view movies from my DVD player. A progressive DVD player is the way to go, I have a cheaper RCA brand DVD player hooked up using the Component connections and it produces a such a beautiful picture that I cannot see buying a progressive DVD player for now. My wife loves the movies also but while I am here on the computer reading, writing and rating reviews, she is watching the TV. So my question to my wife was, would you be happy with the stretched look that it produces? Her answer was yes and I have to agree with her. When you first turn on the TV you will see the 4x3 stretched to a 16x9 and it does look out of proportion, but within 5 to 10 minutes of viewing you will forget about it and enjoy the large view.
If the only thing you are going to watch were regular TV then I wouldn’t recommend this Widescreen or any other. Now if you love movies the way they were meant to be seen, then I highly recommend the Mitsubishi 73411. I don’t know the official date but the salesman told me by 2006 all TV sets have to be High Definition, so get ready now or wait? My wife and decided to go for it now and love it!
~~~ My Home Theater System! ~~~
The Mitsubishi 73411 is the perfect TV for a Home Theater System and I also got a Samsung HDTV tuner. To go with the system I purchased the Harman Kardon AVR 325 - 7.1 receiver and a new JBL 250 watt powered subwoofer. I had and am using 5 - 120 watt JBL satellite speakers, the RCA DVD player, an RCA Satellite dish, a Magnavox VHS player and a 200 CD JVC player.
Future plans are to add two more satellite speakers for a 7.1 sound experience and to add a digital TV antenna to receive HDTV signals.
Thank You for reading my review!
This is the DVD player I added to my TV! The Mitsubishi DD-6030
This is the HDTV Tuner I added to my TV! The Samsung SIR-T151 HDTV Terrestrial Receiver
My new 7.1 Receiver for the Surround Sound for the TV.The Harman Kardon AVR 325
Here are some of my other TV reviews!
Mitsubishi VS-60111 60" HD-Upgradeable Projection Television
Samsung LTM 1775W 17 in. TV
Samsung TSL 3095WHF Tantus 30 in. TV
Pioneer 64" Projection HDTV SD-643HD5
Panasonic CT 27SX31 TAU 27 in. TV
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 4500
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surferdude7
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