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Henry Hollander

My tech contact at Mitsubishi had no brightness measurements handy when I asked him about this, but he thinks the LaserVue is comparable and perhaps a bit brighter than a similarly sized lamp-based RPTV. Also, the LaserVue might well appear brighter because of its more saturated colors. However, all of Mitsubishi's conventionally illuminated sets use the same lamp, so as the screen size increases, the brightness decreases. Thus, the 75-inch LaserVue is undoubtedly brighter than the 82-inch lamp-based model.

On the other hand, the LaserVue comes in only one size—75 inches—and it lists for $6000, whereas the top-end WD-82838 lists for $4200. If you want really big, there's the newly announced 92-inch WD-92840 (profiled here), which will list for "under $6000." Of course, it will be less bright than the 82-incher, but I suspect it will still be fairly bright, especially compared with just about any reasonably priced front projector.

You're right that large flat panels can be outrageously expensive, but there are a few exceptions. For example, the 65-inch Vizio XVT3D650SV lists for $3700. (Tom Norton reviewed this set and thought the 2D performance was pretty good, though 3D had some problems; see the review in the June 2011 issue of Home Theater.) And Sharp just announced it's shipping the 70-inch LC-70LE732U for $3800; see my profile here. Still, these are smaller than 75 inches, so if you want a screen at least that big at a reasonable price for a room with lots of ambient light, you have no other choice than a large Mitsubishi RPTV.

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