Mitsubishi HC4900 LCD Projector

Extraordinary 1080p image for a modest price

Strengths: Image, lamp life and silent operation.

Weaknesses: Blacks and lack of keystone.

Summary: It outperforms my best expectations.

It is almost absolutely silent. The image is crystal clear, vibrant in color, and the blacks are black. The image is perfect, I never see a delay in the image or fault in the clarity.

What I would call it's only fault is that it doesn't come with keystone correction. So for a perfectly even, rectangular image you have to mount the projector completely level. The projector does have lens shift feature which allows you to move the image from the left, right, up or down. So even if you have it completely even with you ceiling you can still have an eye level image.

The universal mounting bracket I got for the unit had four handles to attach to the projector, however the HC4900 has only three screw holes for mounting brackets. It however is very stable.

For the price, I am very satisfied with my purchase.

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1080p project becoming affordable

Strengths: This is one of the lowest cost 1080p projectors in the market today. The most attractive features are the quiet fan and long life bulb in eco mode.

Weaknesses: Relatively low contrast and brightness are its weakest points. The menu text font is too small.

Summary: High resolution projectors have come a long way since several years ago. A projector like this one would costs many times when 1080p was an exotic breed. The bulb cost is still too high, even though this one lasts up to 5000 hours. The video quality is clean and the color dispersion is fairly even. When comparing to an LCD TV, this projector lacks color intensity, even in a totally dark room. Unless you must have a huge screen, a conventional TV is still the way to go, especially if you don't have much HD content.

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Fantastic Image Quality If You Get a Good One

Strengths: Powered Zoom/Lens Shift/Focus, Sharpness, Resolution, Quiet, Bulb Life

Weaknesses: Contrast, Convergence on some units

Summary: The Mitsubishi HC4900 is a superb front projector for the money, assuming you get a good one. I had to send the first one back because of convergence issues that made text fuzzy looking when the lens shift was used to any degree. The image quality on the replacement is nothing short of mind boggling.

You will be hard pressed to find a sharper projector out there for any money... This means you'll really want to feed it 1080p sources to appreciate what it has to offer, as regular DVDs simply can't do it justice. The contrast is probably the only weak point, but I think this quibble is overstated by many reviewers. The punch of the colors and auto-iris make for completely watchable dark scenes, not incredible, but not lacking either.

The powered Zoom/Lens Shift/Focus make for a wonderful addition in usability. Quite an impressive addition for a projector that is sold for such a value price. Noise level? You'll need good ears to even hear it on low lamp mode, which is more than bright enough for any proper home theater room. The big bonus with the low lamp mode is 5000 hours before you have to change the bulb. That makes for a cost effective projector and one that will ultimately get used more often guilt free.

There has never been a better time to own a front projector. On my screen (~120 inches) 1080p resolution really makes a difference. The fact that this technology has dropped in price so rapidly makes for some fantastic opportunities. So if you're on the fence, hop off, the time has come to grab your popcorn and enjoy perfection in your own personal theater.

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