I recently purchased a Mitsubishi WD-62725 DLP micro-display and after 2 months of research, would like to share what I have found and hopefully address some questions and issues.
About picture quality: Stores and manufacturers routinely set the brightness, contrast, and color temperature settings to the to make the picture look impressively bright and colors vibrant. As you critique the picture quality, you may find that colors may look bright but the details often will be washed out and the colors are not realistic and look "cartoon" like. Ask yourself, "is that how the colors look in real life?" Ask the sales person to put all the picture settings to normal before evaluating the picture quality. Mitsubishi has their factory setting for contrast on maximum. With all settings flat, I have found Mitsubishi DLPs to have one of the best pictures for color reproduction and detail when compared to the other brands. The picture quality on the Sony 60 inch XBR is excellent picture for a LCD projection television but the price and features gave the Mitsubishi the edge. Leaving the brightness settings on high for long periods of time will reduce the life of the bulbs.
About the Shield: It seems that the major difference between the 725 and 525 series is the anti-reflective coating on the shield. The shield on the 725 is much improved but does not totally eliminate the reflections. The shield serves as a filter, a screen protector, and it gives the picture a 3-D effect. If you remove the shield, you risk mechanical damage to the screen and when dust or spills get on the matte surface of the screen, it will be difficult to clean. The reflections on the screen are not any more than the CRT televisions. For me, the picture quality outweighs the little glare I get on the screen.
About the Firmware and Green glow: My 62725 came with the newer firmware, version V26.004.03. Fortunately, I have yet to experience any "lockups" or skewed pictures. Some owners have complained about a green glow around objects and this may be software related. I encountered this phenomenon once and solved the problem by going to the individual color adjustments on the "perfect color" menu (TV Menu>Set up>Color Balance>Perfect Color) and selected the green adjustment. If the color bar does not change saturation when you move the slider, you probably found the problem. Go back and hit the reset button a few times until you can get the green color bar to change saturation when the slider is adjusted. This worked for me and I hope it solves the problem for the other readers. Remember, every "device" has its own custom video settings so you must go through this procedure for every device you have, i.e. DVD, Antenna 1, VCR, etc.
I don't have any comments for the Cable Card. I use the good ol' roof antenna from Radio Shack and get excellent off-the-air HDTV picture quality. Monday Night Football is a football fan's dream on this unit.
Well I did it! I just ordered the new Mitsubishi WD-62825 from a large Mits dealer in New Jersey (Sammans Electronics) and will be receiving white glove delivery/set up next week. I paid $5784 (no sales tax) total which included all of the following new in the box items: TV ($4785), Mits MB62825 black stand($350), white glove shipping ($250), and 5 year extended warranty ($399). The dealer guarantees my satisfaction with the product with a 30 free replacement guarantee. Comcast is scheduled to install my cable card. Question: Will I need to buy any special cables to hook up the tv to my receiver or progressive scan dvd player? I can't wait for Monday night and all the Thanksgiving football games!
In order to see the menu from your A/V Receiver on your TV, you will need a "S-video" cable to go from the Monitor Out from your receiver to an unused input on the TV. When you get your TV, look in your Owner's Guide under "Connecting: Helpful Hints" for the details on how to configure your TV so you can see the on-screen menus.
If you want to listen to the football games through your receiver, you will need a coaxial digital audio cable to go from the "Digital Audio" from the TV to the digital input on the receiver.
The current manufacturers are now using digital outputs on its televisions. The DVI (digital video interface) came out a while ago and only carries video information. The HDMI is the newest connecter and carries both digital and digital audio information. With component cables, the digital information from the DVD is converted to analog by the player and then gets converted back to digital by the TV. With the conversion process, you loose some information and quality. The new Mitsubishi's TVs will have the HDMI interface as well as the analog connections; component video, audio, and S-video.
Now, with that being said, to answer the question of what cable you need to hook up your DVD player, this mainly depends on your DVD player. Ideally, HDMI to HDMI connections would be the absolute best. However, only high-end DVD players currently come with HDMI connections. Currently, a lot of good quality DVD players in the medium price range come with DVI connections. I went this route and used a HDMI to DVI adapter cable along with an optical cable to carry the digital surround sound information. If you are going to get a new DVD player, I would highly consider getting a unit with the Froudja DCDi progressive scan chip. I purchased the Denon 910 DVD player and the picture is truly awesome, especially when viewing newer movies that start out as digital.
The more conventional method to connect your DVD player uses the component video cables to supply the analog picture information and then an optical cable to carry the surround sound. If you use your receiver as a hub, you may need two sets of component cables. The owner's manual has good illustrations and Monster Cable puts out a pamphlet that has a lot of good information (check out the major retailers). Good luck with the cable card, it sounds like a lot of people are having trouble with the cards.
MC Dog
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Correction, it is a Denon 1910 DVD player.
Anonymous
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any ideas on the LG flatrons projection tv. i check it out and found the contrast to be great..
MC Dog: Thanks for the excellent and most informative post. The set and cable card are scheduled for delivery Tuesday afternoon. I may have some additional questions there after!
I have had my 62725 for a month. Decided against the cable card because I would lose the on screen guide and PPV movies via adelphia cable. Adelphia had DVI out on the STB but not active yet. So my setup had the STB connected via Component cable and Coax audio to receiver. Also bought Toshiba 5970 DVD player which upconverts 480p DVD to 1080i. Have that hooked into TV via HDMI and Optical audio to the receiver.
tnbubba
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rob, i'm looking at the 5970. could you give some feedback on it. i've read good and bad reviews just like on everything else. thanks
For me the two biggest selling points on this unit were the upconversion via HDMI and slim profile. I did get the Mits stand, which doesnt have all that much room, so I barely fit in receiver, Cable STB and 5970 DVD. With that in mind the choices were 2 - the Samsung 941 and the 5970. I had read bad reviews about the 841 (DVI model)freezing up etc..(941 is just coming out) and the Toshiba is $100 less. PQ is super on the 3 movies viewed thus far, controls are easy...
miked171
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Does anyone know how tall the matching base is for the Mits TV either the MB62825 or 62725
Just received my WD-62825, matching stand and cable card last night. To answer your stand question, the MB-62825 stand height is 15 inches, just perfect for eye level viewing with this set. I am one lucky guy, everything went according to plan. Delivery, set up and even the cable card instal worked flawlessly. The picture quality on this set right out of the box is UNBELIEVABLE! If your only viewing experience(like mine) is seeing HD at BB, CC, Tweeter etc. then you haven't seen this set or HD capabilities due to signal splitting/deteriorization/enviornment. The picture is very close to 3D! The fan noise is noticable within 3 feet of the set, and from my viewing position of 15 feet, no problemo. So far, I cannot identify any stuck pixels or green glow, or dirt under the glass...maybe we got a good one. My only dissapointment is the shield is a bit more reflective than I care for. But in fairness, the tv sits opposite a 30 foot long wall of two story windows facing due west. Guess I'm going to have light reducing window film installed. One last comment, the cable card gives me chanel id, but I have lost the program guide. Am I doing something wrong, or is this the feature that Mits removed until the software update becomes available next year?
miked171
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Thanks for the info on the stand. I hear the program guide feature is do with the software upgrade.
62525 Audio sync problem. I purchased this unit in september. Had the first service call last month to adjust the picture on the screen which involved taking front and back covers off. I had the audio problem at that time as well and I was told I would have to contact Mits to get the firmware upgrade to fix the problem myself. The person at Mits told me it would be a waste of time and would not send it to me! Next service call scheduled for next week. Has anyone had the same problem with the audio sync??
FX2FLY
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Any comments on the PVR of the 825 would be greatly appreciated. I currently have the 725 but am within the 30 days and am thinking of upgrading to the 825. Do you have a channel guide?
Does the Mitsu switch from Widescreen to stretch when the source changes? if I am watching a DVD and then go to non HD 4:3 content, what happens?
Okbrewer
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Well, had my first problem with my month old 62725 on Wednesday evening. Turned it on and got sound but no picture and then the steady red 'lamp' indicator light came on! I turned it off and the red light remained. I waited several minutes and tried to turn the tv on again, but no luck. Called the dealer on Thursday to see about getting a new lamp and he said to press the reset button first to see if that solved the problem. Sure enough, pushed reset, then turned the thing on and got picture and sound. Anyone else had this happen?
Sonja
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I received my 62825 on thursday. I bought the bell'o 2601 stand and it is gorgeous. It has so much room. I have my huge vr boston center channel on the middle shelf and all of my components on the bottom shelf with the exception of the play station on the middle. anyhow, I haven't had any problems with the picture of the tv. The only problem I have had is the connection of components. It needs one more input of rca's for a vcr and playstation. I solved it by ordering a component playstation cable. The other thing that is annoying is that the TV is preset to certain inputs on the back of the TV and you can't change them even though they say you can. I found that the manual is kinda confusing. and you can only adjust the 6 colors no contrast or anything. The other thing I am debating is getting the hd direct tv box, but right now it is $349 and i can't bring myself to spend that right now. I know it will make a huge diff in picture quality. THe dvd picture was amazing. I have the sony dvpns700p. I was expecting better picture on reg sat. but it is only 480i and i am comparing it to my 36" xbr sony and the pic is way better. but how can you compare a tube to a rear projection.
Bottom line, i went with the Mits over other brands because of the reputation and the picture and features.
The contrast, brightness, color, tint, etc are accessable via the "video" button on the remote. It will retain the settings for each device which is a nice feature.
I'm not sure what you mean by the "TV is preset to certain inputs on the back of the TV and you can't change them even though they say you can." All the device setings (input, name, device type can be changed through TV Menu / NetCommand. It took me a while to get it figured out. But after playing with it, I was able to set things up the way I wanted them.
Mike.
PM
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FX2FLY,
I just returned the 825 and am getting the 725. I experienced problems with both the audio and video when the pause feature was enabled. It didn't matter whether I was watching live or recorded/paused TV, as long as the feature was enabled I experienced glitches (for the lack of a better technical term) that were consistent.
Mitsu was going to send a service rep out, but by that point I realized I really didn't care much for the PVR in general. Maybe that's b/c I've owned a PVR for several years now and am used to the functionality/user friendliness of that unit. I found this one quite frustrating, however.
So, I decided to downgrade to the 725 and go with a cable box from comcast with an integrated Motorola DVR.
Randy S
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PM,
Do you know if you can record HD from a Directv HD box? Also, how else is a cable box better than the Mitsu DVR? I just had the 825 delivered Tuesday and am finding it extremely difficult in learning how to use the DVR. The documentation is not very good.
I recently purchased the Mitsubishi 62725. Color programs look great, but I am disappointed with black and white films. The color temperature doesn't appear to be uniform across the entire picture. On the high setting, the color temperature is silver/blue (as it should be) only on the upper portion of the picture. The lower half leans towards a sepia/yellowish appearance. Even the medium and low settings have this uneven temperature problem. A great deal of the films I buy are in black and white, so this is a major distraction for me. I've been in contact with an ISF trained technician (who's also talking with someone at Mitsubishi about it) but I'm afraid I'll be told that there's nothing that can be done about it. Has anyone experienced this problem?? Is this a trait of DLP?
Rob F.
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I am about to purchase a 52525 and then buy the anti-glare screen from Mits for approximately $222. My savings in cost of buying the 52525 over the 52725 is approximately $700 (minus $222 that I'll spend for the anti-glare screen). I'm told that other than cosmetics, this is the only difference between these two sets. Am I missing something, or does this make sense?
I havejust bought the Mitsubishi 52725 and have the green tint on most devices, Cable, VCR and DVD. I have turned the green down to nearly off, and still it is there. I have also noticed on the DVD that faces seem to distort. Not sure if it is the TV or the DVD player. Anybody else had any problems like this?
MY 52725 is 3 weeks old and have some problems, noisy fan, cable card not working properly. Cablevision installed 5 cards and cannot get the tv to display the code# to program. Installer spent hours to resolve but couldn't. Also I do not have channel guide with card and changing channels with card takes forever, long delay between channel surfing. Cable gave me HD box and I have both card and box. Also I cannot get dvd to work component one is from cable box, I put dvd on component 2 and attempted to change the netcommand/setup but no luck. I even switched the cable box comp1 w/ dvd comp2 still no luck dvd will not work. At this point I am thinking about changing to samsung unit. Any suggestions?
paudemge
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Well, John Rocco, I am having a green tint problem with my 52725, but don't have any of the problems you listed, but I don't have a cable card, i have the HD/DVR box. John Pammant here are settings that I got from AVS Forum and they work pretty good:
Magenta 53 Red 43 Yellow 43 Green 35 Cayan 31 Blue 44
Sharpness - 0 (i have this set at 31) Color - 31 Tint - 31 (i use 28) Brightness - 45 Contrast - 41 DefinEdge Off Video Noise - Reduction Color Temperature - Low