Audio Video News

Last week Mitsubishi launched its 2006-2007 line of big screen televisions. The broad lineup consists of no fewer than fifteen models using a variety of technologies, including DLP rear projectors and LCDs in both flat panel and rear projection configurations.

Yet, perhaps the most interesting news was Mitsubishi's efforts to develop lasers as an illumination source for DLP PTVs. Before you get too excited, such sets are in the early stages of development and aren't expected to turn up in commercial products until late 2007. But a functioning prototype was shown, with the guts of the mechanism located in a large box below the screen (these components had yet to be miniaturized enough to fit into a shallow rear projection television.)

The image was bright—perhaps too bright, as noise and other artifacts were plainly visible. And the color still needs work (all the models at the show, not just the laser prototype, were set up for colors that were far too bright and oversaturated.) But there's over a year left before the commercial launch to work out these kinks. Mitsubishi is clearly high on this technology for its future big screen sets.

Back in the real world, all fifteen soon to be released new models were on display. These include four flat panel LCD sets in 37- and 46-inch sizes. All of them are 1080p designs ranging in price from $3299 to $5199. There were also two LCD PTVs; these were the only new Mitsubishi 720p displays.

All new Mitsu DLP RPTVs sport 1920x1080 resolution. Note that these still use Texas Instruments' wobulated 960x1080 DMDs, not the 1920x1080 native chips we expect to see in front projectors before the end of the year.

The DLP rear projection sets range in size from 52- to 73-inches (diagonal), including 57- and 65-inch sizes that are new for Mitsubishi. The sets offer a slew of trademarked features like TurboLight (indicating the lamp wattage, also claimed to better focus the light for greater brightness), Plush1080p (Mitsu's scaling engine), Tru1080p (conversion of 1080i and 720p to the 1080p display resolution, without downconversion in the case of the former), Dark Detailer (a dynamic iris for deeper blacks), and much more. According to Mitsubishi, the new sets will accept 1080p sources via HDMI directly.

The most interesting new feature is Mitsubishi's 6-Primary Color System. In addition to the usual red, green, and blue primaries, the new light engine used in the 6-Primary system also generates yellow, cyan, and magenta. The color wheel has segments for each of these colors, though the red, green, and blue segments are larger than those for the secondaries. (Yellow, cyan, and magenta are traditionally referred to as secondary colors, making the 6-Primary name a technical misnomer.) The process is said to produce a brighter overall picture with brighter colors.

Since the input source material carries only red, green, and blue information, the rest must be derived from these three primary colors in any display at some point in the processing chain after the signal arrives in the set. The traditional method of doing this is to rely on mixing of the three primaries at the final display stage—the color wheel in a single-chip DLP, filters in an LCD or LCoS, or phosphors in CRTs and plasmas. Mitsubishi's technique is to generate the secondary colors separately before the actual display elements and then route them to the final display stage where they are extracted by the new filters on the color wheel.

I am a bit dubious about the possible benefits of such color manipulation. And I also wonder about the obsession of all manufacturers for trumpeting ever-greater brightness each year from rear projection displays that are already too bright to begin with.

I'm willing to be proven wrong; we hope to review one of the new sets upon release, though we will probably wait until the Diamond series—Mitsubishi's flagship line—comes out in August and September.

Other new Mitsubishi DLP models are scheduled to appear beginning in June with the 57-inch WD-57731. Important note: the two new 73-inch models do not have the 6-Primary color system. This suggests that they are revised models from last year's line and not completely new sets.

On another front, during the Q&A session Mitsubishi reps commented that Mitsubishi would not introduce a high-definition disc player any time soon. They would not commit to any specific format, but prototype Mitsubishi Blu-ray players have been seen at various trade shows in the past year and a half.

For another take on the show, check out Michael Fremer's blog.