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SubscribeMitsubishi is planning to unveil a new mid-priced 3D 1080p home theater projector at CEDIA on Sept 8. This all new DLP-based projector will be rated at 1600 lumens, 30,000:1 full on/off, and 700:1 ANSI contrast. The MAP price will be $3,495.
We've had an advance look at the HC7800D, enough to pass along some initial impressions but not enough to do a full review. Two items stand out as particularly remarkable. First, the 3D image is as clean as we've yet seen. Cross talk is reduced to somewhere between negligible and completely invisible depending on how good your eyes are, and the bizarre motion artifacts that plagued many of the first generation 3D machines are gone entirely. The rapid rowing sequence in The Ultimate Wave: Tahiti looked even tighter than it did on the Panasonic AE7000, which itself is a major step in performance beyond earlier 3D projectors.
Second, the 2D to 3D conversion is remarkable. This is the first time we've seen 2D to 3D conversion that was worth the bother. Normally that conversion provides just enough increase in depth perspective to be noticeable but not enough to be impressive. As is true of all 2D to 3D conversions, the depth remains entirely behind the plane of the screen. But on the HC7800D, so much depth perspective is achieved that it begins to resemble authentic 3D rather than a conversion. We'd need to spend more time exercising it before making any final assessment, but from what we saw, this may be the first implementation of 2D to 3D conversion that I would actually use in my own theater.
If you are going to CEDIA and you are interested in 3D projection, we would suggest that you not miss the HC7800D in the Mitsubishi booth. We won't be able to get extended stick time with a review sample until after CEDIA, but we are anxious to set it up against the Panasonic AE7000 and the new units from Epson and Optoma. From what we have seen so far, the HC7800D could give the competition a serious run for the money. It is expected to ship in late November. We will have a full review of the HC7800D posted here in late September.
