Mitsubishi HC5000 vs Panasonic AE1000 vs Sony Pearl vs JVC DILA? (1 Viewer)

[Chris PC]

.

 

[ppltd]

I have just ordered the PT-1000u Panny to replace my 900u. I have been told they should have it in around Thanksgiving. Can't wait to see what my BD and HD players will look like hooked up to it.

 

[Chris PC]

Very cool. Let us know how you like it

 

[Tim Glover]

Yep....cool indeed. Give us a review and screenshots!

 

[Chris PC]

Well, the general comments I am hearing so far sum up like this:

1) The Mitsubishi is by far the sharpest of the 1080p lcd/lcos pj's and has better blacks and contrast than the 720p projectors but is not really very bright. Contrast and blacks not as good as Pearl.
2) The Pearl has better blacks and contrast than Mitsubishi but isn't quite as sharp and can tend to have colour uniformity issues on some units, in addition to the bright corners on black screens. Again, not terribly bright.
3) The Panasonic is the softest looking projector of the bunch. Panasonic, why are you using smooth screen with 1080p?

The Mitsubishi isn't necessarily less bright when compared to the other projectors here. I don't really know. I would need to see one of these in my setup in order to know how I felt about blacks, contrast and sharpness. I still cannot justify the $2000-$3000 cost of upgrading to any of these projectors and DLP is still not an option for me.

 

[Paul_Scott]

here's a little follow-up.

I got a second Pearl in from a different vendor (AVS). Interesting variences between the two units
1st Unit
-poor color uniformity
-no light spill
-minor misconvergence
Second Unit
-better uniformity
-light spill visible out the bottom of the unit and along the perimeter of the screen
-minor misconvergence (might be a bit better in this respect than the first unit)

While I dislike seeing the light spill with this second unit, I will gladly take it over the color dis-uniformity of the first one. I hesitate to say this one is perfect, as I think I can sense a little disuniformity creeping in, but the nature of it is different from the first unit where it was visibly magenta on one side and visibly lime on the other. This second one may be skewing towards lime on the opposite side, but if it is, its very subtle and the rest of the area is neutral. Bottom line is B&W content is OK to watch now. I don't know how or even if this will degrade over time, so I have to factor that in before my 30 days with it runs out. If I had complete faith that the unit would operate at this same level for the next 3 or 4 years, I would not hesitate to keep it.
Unfortunately, I don't see any other pj out there that I would feel any more comfortable with. The JVC looks to be the next big thing, but its going to be a good $2000 more than the Pearl at least. Too rich for my blood.
Also, the AVS price on this was much cheaper than I was expecting. Being in NY, the sales tax doesn't help, but even with it, you could still get a decent screen-or even an HD DVD player for what some are asking for list price.
or, to put it another way- I was considering buying the BenQ 8720 720p pj in August, but I canceled that order. The Pearl was only a few hundred $ more than that one.

I would say to anyone that is discounting the Pearl based on reports of misconvergence/color uniformity/ non sharpness (I totally don't get this complaint at all)/etc- all you have to do is order the thing from an e-tailer with a good return policy. Crutchfield, the vendor I ordered the first one from, even pays return shipping (!?!). so far they've been very cool in processing the return- I'll see how long it actually takes to get credit once I send it back. Even at full list price, the Pearl looks like a significant bang-for-the-buck value. Unless this thing develops a lot of QC issues in the long term, I can't see anyone not being satisfied with it.

BTW- I've also read about the Panny appearing soft. I know from the criticisms of the Pearl in this respect that I can't see at all what people are talking about with this (on the contrary I already think it is ruthlessly revealing of poor sources- I don't think I would appreciate it being any sharper than it is) so it's possible that in reality, and without a different pj right next to it to compare, that softness will not be an issue. I'm sure it will work out fine, and you are going to very much appreciate 1080p.

 

[Tim Glover]

Good review Paul.

While a really soft image can be bad, I actually prefer a smooth image. Easier on the eyes-especially on big front projector screens. Granted, I've not seen either the Pearl or the new Panny...but the Panasonics I've owned always possessed a very film like quality.

 

[Paul_Scott]

ok- here's a kicker for ya.
AVS just got the pricing in on the JVC- the one that knocked everyone out at CEDIA, and that many thought looked much better than the Pearl. The price is very, VERY close to what they are charging for the Pearl. I was flabbergasted when I heard what the price was on the JVC.

Also, last night was the first I'd sat down and actually watched a B&W movie on the new unit. There is definitely an area of discoloration on this unit too. It is better than the first unit, but its still not 100%. If i had to grade them i would say the first unit was about 40% in this aspect, and this one is closer to 70%
For the price, I've been thinking I can live with it, but now hearing what the JVC is going to be going for I'm having serious second thoughts.

the Pearl still has a lot of things going for it, and several things over the JVC for my set-up, but the JVC also has a few things over the Pearl- so its going to be a tough decision.

 

[Tim Glover]

Hey Paul, eventhough the price on the Pearl is great considering it's a 1080p unit....the fact that it has those discoloration issues are unacceptable! $5 k or a bit less should be damn near perfect.

Let us know what you do...

 

[Dan J]

Paul, have you seen the reviews for the Mitsubishi 5000BL? If not, there's one at projectorcentral.com and one at projectorreviews.com. I'm wondering if you have considered it? PJcentral gave it 5 stars v. 3.5 for the Pearl.

Dan

 

[Todd smith]

Hi Paul. I just spoke with Jason at AVS about the JVC and WOW! This is a no brainer over the Pearl for what AVS is selling for IMO. What exactly do you think the Pearl has over the JVC? I dont see any significant advantage to the Pearl compared to the JVC.

 

[Todd smith]

Unless someone values MORE sharpness above all else, I would not take the 5000 over the Pearl. The Pearl is still a sharp PJ, it is just not as sharp as the 5000. It is a bit different look than LCD, and IMO it does not lack sharpness at all. Go see one for yourself in a good deadicated room if possible. The Pearl has 3x the contrast of the 5000, better black level, better shadow detail, brighter. The one big negative of the 5000 from various reports, including Jason Turks review at avscience.com is a noticable DI. Jason called it "distracting" even. I believe this is Mits first attempt at a DI, which makes sense from some of the reports. Just some thoughts......

 

[Paul_Scott]

Yeah, to be honest I can't see a reason to take the Pearl over the JVC either- except that the Pearl is here now and the JVC requires a 2 month wait- maybe longer. and a few things like noise level are still up in the air, TBD, etc.
But for the price (which ends today- 11/22) it seems like a no brainer.
I'm in for the pre-buy as well, but I'm still torn over whether to keep the Pearl in the mean time. If I did end up selling it later, I would be taking quite a loss on it- I could justfiy maybe $1K as the cost of 'renting' it for two months, but any more than that is going to be a tough pill to swallow. The more I think about the JVC, the more I think it will work a lot better, as it has horizontal shift which means I could probably reclaim my sweet spot, even with the pj mounted on a cart. oh well. This is going to be the last pj I buy for many, many years (at least until lasers are used as cheap light sources) so maybe I can rationalize it that way.

Tim asked for screenshots earlier. I'm not really good with them, but I was taking some this morning and this one didn't come out too bad.
enjoy
http://img128.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_361lo.jpg