Bringing the movie theater home: Mitsubishi WS-65819
Written: Jan 26 '02 (Updated Sep 30 '02)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Sound: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
|
|
| Picture Quality: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
|
|
|
Pros: Great picture with DVD and HD programming; lots of helpful online info; upgradeable
Cons: Old analog signals look bad, some tweaks are complicated, possible burn in with 4:3 images
The Bottom Line: Stunning picture when viewing HD or DVD source material. It will completely change your home theater experience! However, this TV is not for everyone.
|
|
|
| pipet's Full Review: Mitsubishi WS-65819 TV |
This review is about a very big TV. It's the kind of TV that, upon entering your home, people say things such as,
"OMG, it's a monster!"
"That's so big it's almost garish!"
"How much does that weigh?"
"I want one!"
"You have to have the SuperBowl party now!"
_____________________________________________________________
Since my husband and I've been together, he's been hankering for a big screen TV. Unlike many wives, I like electronics quite a bit myself, so I never objected to his hankering. In October 2001, we finally had the resources to let my husband turn his "hankering" into "I have it."
Soon we were at Tweeter, looking at high-definition Mitsubishi big screen TVs. My husband wanted to go with Mitsubishi - mostly based upon their reputation (they have the largest market share of rear projection big screen TVs) and their upgradeability promise. My sister and brother-in-law also bought a Mitsubishi Platinum Plus model (65817) last year and are very happy with it, so we also had a trusted personal recommendation. Initially we looked at 55" models, but once my husband realized that he could have "10 more inches for only $500?" well, what guy can pass up 10 inches for $500? We now have 65" of viewing real estate.
Size
At about 59" wide and 61.75" tall (by my measurements), this is something that dominates whatever room you stick it in. This is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on your perspective, but it is something to consider before making a purchase. Since the screen is so large, you also need to make sure your room will allow you to sit at least 10 feet away from the TV, not because the picture is bad up close, but because there's just too much to take in if you're up close. There are smaller versions (46", 55") of essentially the same model if you know it just won't fit.
Appearance
If you like the looks of sleek black electronic items, the Mits 65819 is right up your alley. Its solid black scratch resistant screen sits on top of black, fabric covered speakers. The TV cabinet comes apart in 2 pieces (top TV screen part & bottom speaker cabinet area) to help move it into your home if you have skinny doorways or tight stairways. The cabinet has wheels so that it's relatively easy to move it for those times when you need to change a connection or to clean behind and underneath it.
Picture
DVDs
Most likely, if you are considering a TV like this, you already know the joy of DVD ownership, but you probably haven't experienced DVDs the way this TV allows you to! This picture is BIG and the quality is great, especially when paired with a progressive scan DVD player, and it's absolutely wonderful for watching movies at home. Specials effects and beautiful scenery shots always are great on a big screen, and now we don't have to shell out big bucks to have an evening at the movies (and we don't have to put up with people talking on their cell phones in the theater). The Mits 65819 has a 16:9 aspect ratio (i.e. widescreen), so many DVDs fill up the entire screen. Some movies are filmed in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, and with these movies you will still see black letterbox bars on top and on bottom, but these bars are much, much smaller than if you had a comparable 4:3 aspect (standard) TV, and they, at least to me, do not detract from the viewing experience at all.
The Mits does have a 3:2 compensation for viewing DVDs if you don't have a progressive player. To understand more about 3:2, this web page talks not only about the technical details of 3:2 pulldown, but also gives images so you can see why it matters:
http://www.avdeals.com/classroom/Proscanexplained.htm.
Generally, people prefer to generate a progressive image from their DVD player rather than use their TV.
HDTV
When watching high definition (HD) television, the picture will just blow you away. Seriously, it is so crystal clear. True HD programming has higher resolution than even DVD with progressive scan, and that already looks wonderful. People often say that HDTV is like looking out a window, and that's no exaggeration. This model is only HD ready, which means that it does not come with an integrated HDTV decoder, so in order to watch HDTV, you will need to have a separate set top box (STB) that allows for HD decoding, and there must be HD programming available to you. See below for more details on what's available in HD and how to get it.
Standard TV: Ugly in = ugly out
For watching digital television, the picture quality ranges from very good to sub par. The quality is extremely dependent on how you receive your signal and the quality of your signal. If you are tuned in to digital signals with an antenna, the picture quality is very good, assuming you receive adequate reception. If you receive a digital signal through a cable or satellite provider, the picture quality can be variable between channels, ranging from very good to poor. In general, providers devote plenty of bandwidth to premium movie channels, but in doing so they have to reduce the amount of bandwidth devoted to some other channels. If the Mitsubishi receives a low quality signal, you can tell. We have a standard 27" TV to compare picture quality with, and for the most part, everything looks fine on it. On a 65" TV, the picture is so big that a sub par signal is immediately and unpleasantly evident. Analog signals received with an antenna look acceptable, but in general, analog signals received through a cable provider leave one quite unsatisfied.
VCR and other low quality signals
We rarely use our VCR and don't even have it hooked up to the Mitsubishi, but based upon the resolution of a standard VHS VCR, I wouldn't expect too much. If you have an S-VHS and a good quality source, recordings are likely to be acceptable-to-good, but for playback of non-S-VHS tapes (the VHS standard), I wouldn't expect a significant improvement. If you record lots of television shows for viewing later there are now HD capable VCRs. We did check out video CD (VCD) quality, and it ranges from not so hot to acceptable. This TV begs for high quality signals; otherwise, you may not be happy with it.
Aspect ratios: look at those hips!
Most standard TV shows are broadcast in a 4:3 aspect ratio (I have seen a few letterbox presentations on PBS, and there is a limited availability of standard digital TV 16:9 presentations on FOX). Since the Mits is a widescreen TV with a 16:9 aspect ratio, a 4:3 picture doesn't fill up the entire screen. You can watch 4:3 programming with gray letterboxing on the sides, zoom in to the picture with the loss of some image at the top and bottom, or stretch the picture to fill up your TV. If you receive a digital signal using a HD decoder box, you may not be able to format the picture, and if this is the case, black letterboxing will show up on each side. Some people really, really hate the letterboxing, and it does essentially reduce your TV to a 52-53" size, but the other options aren't a perfect solution. The zoom mode tends to cut off the tops of heads, and if you are watching a news show, the bottom text that is often displayed is cut off as well. The Mits has 2 stretch modes: one in which the entire image is stretched horizontally to fit the screen, and another mode where just the leftmost and rightmost edges are stretched to fill the screen. If you stretch out the entire image, you end up looking at people with gigantic hips/backsides, which can be comical (especially when viewing anorexic looking actresses), but also distracting. It should also be noted that you don't want to view any home videos of yourself in this mode as it will add more than a few inches to your own backside! The other stretch mode sometimes works well when most of the action takes place at the center of the screen, but the distortion is quite obvious at the sides if there is much detail there.
One reason that filling up the screen is an issue is that if you view black letterboxing for prolonged periods, you can eventually end up with burn-in, leaving permanent lines where the letterboxing occurs. If the vast majority (Mits recommends 85% or more) of your viewing time is spent on pictures that fill up the entire screen, you aren't likely to experience burn-in. Anecdotally, you probably need to spend quite a bit more time than 15% watching black letterboxed images to have a problem, but the risk is there. The gray letterboxing is a compromise solution in that the sides of the TV do get some use, but not as much as if the screen was filled with a moving image. Some people find the gray letterbox mode to be very distracting. The stretching and zoom modes do allow you to use the entire screen, but at an obvious image cost. For some shows you may not care if there is a loss of picture or distortion of picture, but sometimes these modes take away from the viewing experience significantly.
How much 4:3 programming you watch is something you should seriously consider before purchasing any rear projection 16:9 TV or a regular picture tube 16:9 TV. If you view mostly 4:3 programming, and if you will be bothered by distorted or cropped images, perhaps you ought to wait before purchasing a widescreen TV. If you watch lots of DVDs or HD programming with just moderate amounts of 4:3 shows, or if you don't mind the gray letterbox or stretched/zoomed modes for some shows, then the Mitsubishi can offer you an enjoyable viewing experience.
Viewing angle
On thing that regular picture tube televisions have over rear projection TVs is a good picture, even at sharper viewing angles. On a rear projection TV, as you move to the sides of the TV, the picture gets darker and duller. On our Mits 65819, I think the picture is great even out to about a 30 degree angle, but once you start moving beyond that, you start seeing a difference. Once you move out to about a 60 degree position, there is a definite and very noticeable loss in picture, and at 70-80 degrees, it is hardly viewable. If the room where you'll put your TV is small and you plan on having seating to the side, just be aware that the picture may not be much to look at from those side seats.
Sound
Sometimes I wonder why speakers are even included on a TV like this, since most people purchasing this TV will already have or soon get a home theater speaker system. However, in case you need to listen to shows through the TV's two 6" speakers, the sound they produce is pretty nice for TV speakers. They don't have any "tinny" sound that plague many TV speakers, but they certainly aren't any substitute for a home theater set-up.
Connections
This baby has more connections that most people will ever need. It has 2 antenna/analog cable inputs for non-digital TV sources. It has 3 component inputs, once of which is reserved for a digital TV decoder or satellite box, and 2 other component inputs for devices such as DVD, HD VCR, etc. It also allows for the connection of 4 other devices using RGB inputs or an S-Video input. One of these inputs is located on the front of the TV so you can easily connect a game console, video camera, etc. The multitude of component connections is great since many of today's audio receivers don't have quite the video bandwidth capabilities for HD sources (even if they do have component connections), and you may want to connect the video output of such high bandwidth sources directly to the TV rather than connecting them to your audio receiver and experiencing a small bandwidth reduction. Using component connections vs. S video or RGB makes a HUGE difference in picture quality and detail. Although people may debate all day about whether you need a certain brand of cable or not, switching to component video connections makes a very noticeable difference, even to those who aren't true videophiles!
Ease of Use
For basic tasks such as changing channels and changing inputs, this TV is pretty easy to use. The remote has a side-button that lights up the most important buttons, and it can control a host of other basic functions for other devices if you set it up to do so. An onscreen menu guides you through most tasks, and if you can program your VCR or set up your DVD player, you'll probably not be too overwhelmed by the menu options on this TV.
To properly set up your Mits 65819, you definitely need to purchase/rent/borrow either AVIA Guide to Home Theater or Digital Video Essentials (once it's available). These DVDs will help you properly adjust the contrast, brightness, and color of your TV, as well as help you set up your home theater sound system. The Mits, as with most other TVs, comes with the contrast set at 100%, which helps the TV look good in the showroom, but definitely is not the optimal setting for prolonged viewing, and may even lead to faster burn-in and other problems.
Although you may be quite happy about how your Mits looks the day you bring it home or have it delivered, if you have videophile tendencies, or you just want to get the most stunning picture possible, many other tweaks can be done to the Mits 65819. The best source online for Mitsubishi owners is http://www.hometheaterspot.com/. Here you will find a forum dedicated just to Mitsubishi, and you can find out answers to most any question you have as well as tweaks ranging from simple to frighteningly complicated. Don't be alarmed to hear that your TV has red push and all sorts of imperfections. Many TVs are afflicted by some imperfections, and in the case of red push, this "imperfection" is built-in because the manufacturer believes it is desired by the general TV viewing audience. Before getting scared about Mitsubishi, check out the other manufacturer forums and you will hear all about ghosting problems, green tint, etc.
Other Mitsubishi widescreen models
For Mitsubishi rear projection HD-ready TVs, there are basically 3 models you will regularly see in stores who carry Mitsubishi: Platinum, Platinum Plus, and Diamond (there is actually another model but it makes these look inexpensive). All are pretty much "high end," but the Platinum model is the lowest model out of the three. The price differential between the 65809 Platinum and 65819 Platinum Plus models is negligible (around $200): slightly nicer speakers (like this is important), and slightly better lens focusing (offers a very, very modest improvement). The 65869 Platinum Plus model (currently retails for $4999, about $1500 more than the 65819) offers NetCommand (adds an IEEE 1394 connection and allows for onscreen control of other AV equipment) and an integrated HD decoder. The 65909 Diamond model is even more expensive, and it has noticeably improved lens system (greater color clarity), an integrated HD decoder, and NetCommand. You can get the Mitsubishi TVs cheaper online, but some people aren't comfortable doing so in case there is a problem. The Diamond model 65908 may be found at some places now for significantly reduced pricing since the 65909 model has recently come out to replace it.
Comparison shopping tip for HD-ready widescreen TVs
If you are shopping for a HD-ready rear projection TV, please make your store salesperson show you how different source material looks on the TVs, and compare the same source material on each TV. When we initially got to the store, some TVs were displaying what apparently was a lower resolution source, some were playing DVD output from a non-progressive scan player, and in a separate room a TV was playing a HD source. If you don't control for source quality, the TV displaying the best source feed will look the best, and you really won't get a good feel for what TV looks best to you! Additionally, you need to see them feed in some sub par source so you will know what it looks like and you won't be in for a shock when you take your widescreen TV home. I would also recommend checking out the above mentioned http://www.hometheaterspot.com/. You can read through the forums to see why people selected one model over another, find out current prices people are paying, etc.
Recommendations:
Before getting a widescreen (16:9) HD ready TV, in my opinion, you need to primarily watch DVDs or you plan on receiving HD signals. HD makes Mits 65819 shine. Yes, it is possible to get an even better picture with other HD capable TVs, but in order to see a really improved HD picture, you will have to spend significantly more money. This TV already costs quite a bundle, and if your budget allows for this but not much more, I think you'll be very happy with your purchase. My husband and I both have really enjoyed our Mits 65819, and for those who can swing the price and understand the limitations, I highly recommend it.
Mitsubishi Upgradeability Promise
From http://www.mitsubishi-tv.com:
"We will engineer and manufacture the upgrades necessary so the television you purchase today can be made compatible with near-future advances in digital television and digital interconnectivity. Specifically, we promise that you will be able to have your television upgraded, at a reasonable cost, to include an off-air HDTV tuner, a cable TV tuner (for unscrambled programming), an IEEE 1394 (FireWire) connection, HAVi system control, and 5C copy protection."
Note: Basically, they promise to help you have at a reasonable cost what the models with NetCommand have. Estimates are that the upgradeability module will cost less than $1000.
Hidden costs
If you don't already have these, this TV will make you wish you did! Watch out for these possibly hidden costs for you:
Home Theater receiver and at least a 5.1 speaker setup
HD decoder box
Progressive scan DVD player
___________________________________________________
More info on HDTV
Radioguy's epinion on "What is HDTV?"
http://www.epinions.com/content_1641521284
My tips on getting HD programming:
You can use websites like www.titantv.com to see what digital and HD broadcasts are in your area. Some cable companies are starting to offer the local HD feed in certain localities, and if they do, they will often rent out a HD decoder box for a nominal monthly fee (probably an excellent option if it is available to you). Just a warning: HDTV has a higher resolution than standard digital TV, and sometimes cable reps will not have a clue and tell you they are the same. You can also get HD reception if you purchase your own STB (and install an antenna if needed) for over-the-air reception. Additionally, DirecTV and Dish offer a couple of HD channels each if you have a decoder (many decoders are also satellite dish receivers). Typically, STB prices can range from $300-$800.
We currently subscribe to DirecTV (look for deals with free installation, etc.), and through them we can watch HDNet, a channel devoted exclusively to HD programming, and HBO-HD. We also installed a UHF-only rooftop antenna (only $19.99 from Radio Shack) to help us receive local digital and HD programming (local channels through DirecTV were absolutely horrible). In our case we only needed a UHF antenna because none of the DTV broadcasts are on the VHF range, and fortunately in our area, there is a decent amount of HD programming available (each locality is different, but I often hear people saying there isn't anything available, and that may simply not be true in your area). Our local PBS has a dedicated HD channel, and CBS and ABC have most of their prime-time shows in HD (reality/news shows are typically not HD). NBC is slacking and only offers Crossing Jordon and Jay Leno in HD, although there are rumors that maybe this Fall NBC will have more offerings.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 3499
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
pipet
|
 - Top 1000 |
|
Location: San Diego, CA
Reviews written: 17
Trusted by: 35 members
About Me:
A baby, school, and a new house; lots to write about but no time.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.