Mitsubishi XD221U Projector - Performance

Posted on February 19, 2010 by Art Feierman

Mitsubishi XD221U Projector - Performance

XD221U Projector - Brightness

The Mitsubishi XD221U with a rated 2300 lumens of brightness really performed well in a variety of ambient light conditions. Even with a very large window (7’x5’) open during the day the image was still bright enough to work on spreadsheets and view photographs. The contrast drops a bit, but if you have the projector in a conference room with windows it will still perform well if you decide to keep the shades open. The true lumen output I recorded was 2060 lumens. It’s not uncommon for projectors to produce less lumens than stated by the manufacturer, but the XD221U performed well within the common discrepancies you can expect from any projector. When I put the projector into low lamp mode brightness descreased about 30 percent. I found that the image was still very bright and vibrant even using low lamp mode.

There are other features in the menu that can enhance the image and a few examples are below. The XD221U comes with a few color enhancement settings. They are Standard Mode, Theater, User, Auto, and Presentation. I could see very little difference in Auto mode, but Theater Mode and Presentation Mode clearly effect the image. Theater mode appears to drop the brightness down a bit, so not a good setting for PowerPoint presentations, but if you plan to watch a DVD, I would recommend using this mode to get a little better contrast. If you really want a bright image then Presentation Mode will definitely provide it. There is a decrease in visible contrast and so I would use it only if you find it enhances the particular images you plan to show. Overall, I felt standard mode was the best for most situations.