Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector Calibration and Settings

We calibrate each home theater that is reviewed. The Mitsubishi HC3800 is no exception, except that the unit we had is an early engineering sample. The full production projectors, recently started shipping (Nov '09), and we received one and recalibrated. As of November 30, all the settings info has been updated to reflect the proper numbers for a normal, full production, Mitsubishi HC3800 projector.

It is a pretty standard calibration, there's always more that can be done by some of the "hi-end" calibrators. Our calibrations, including the Mitsubishi HC3800, are normally limited to a grayscale calibration, along with brightness, contrast, color saturation, etc.

9/29/09 - Art Feierman

C o n t e n t s

Mitsubishi HC3800 Color Temperature

Pre calibration, these are the color temperatures over the grayscale range:

Color Temp over IRE Range, Cinema Gamma, Medium color temp, BC on:

30 IRE – 6513
50 IRE – 6652
80 IRE – 6649
100 IRE – 6556

Mike notes: For not being calibrated, RGB balance is quite good throughout IRE range

Because the HC3800 doesn't have presets that work the same as most other projectors - with different gammas and color temps, as separate controls, here are two more charts that should provide some clarity (or confusion). You can see how the Gamma affects different color temp settings, and vice versa:

Lumen Output for various Gamma modes at 100 IRE, color temp on Medium:

Auto= 948 @ 6611
Cinema= 968 @ 6590, 726 @ 6238 w/BC off
Video= 953 @ 6617
Sports= 1142 @ 6352, 880 @ 6154 w/BC off

Lumen Output at various Color Temps at 100 IRE, Gamma on Auto:

Medium= 948 @ 6611
High Brightness= 1091 @ 6143, 1142 @ 6148 on Sports gamma
Cool= 655 @ 8942
Warm= 843 @ 5342

Below you'll find final color temp measurements, post calibration.

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Mitsubishi HC3800 Basic Settings

In addition to calibrating Red Green and Blue for a correct grayscale balance (6500K), there are a number of other settings that come into play. Typically Contrast and Brightness (white balance and black balance), need to be done first. Color saturation and gamma also need adjustment.

Contrast= (0), 0 for all except Sports, which is -4
Brightness= (0) 13 for all
Gamma= Auto
Color Temp= Medium (default for Auto gamma)
Lamp Mode= Standard (unless noted otherwise)
Brilliant Color (BC) = On (unless noted otherwise)
All other settings at default

Settings for measurements (default values are in parenthesis):

All other settings at default (untouched).

Mitsubishi HC3800 Post Calibration Grayscale: Cinema Gamma, Color Temp based on Medium, and Brilliant Color on:

Calibrated color temps, 20 – 100 IRE: The first set was from our calibration of the engineering sample. The one below it, from the full production HC3800. In other words, the second set is pretty much what you can expect. You will notice it is a tighter set of numbers than the original sample, and that's why I'm showing both:

Engineering Sample:

20 IRE = 6547K
30 IRE = 6456K (dark gray)
40 IRE = 6573K
50 IRE = 6553K (medium gray)
60 IRE = 6566K
70 IRE = 6508K
80 IRE = 6537K (light gray)
90 IRE = 6734K
100 IRE = 6565K (white)

Production HC3800 Projector:

20 IRE = 6393K
30 IRE = 6402K
40 IRE = 6506K
50 IRE = 6527K
60 IRE = 6490K
70 IRE = 6546K
80 IRE = 6513K
90 IRE = 6454K
100 IRE = 6604K

Overall, the first set was very good, and the full production projector has even a better, rather excellent set of numbers. Good color! Note, the original sample had a spike in color temp at 90 ire, which matched with the spike in gamma (see below). While minor, that's just the type of thing, one would hope that would get improved going from a sample unit to a production projector. With the full production projector, however the spike is effectively gone.

Gamma: With the standard production HC3800 using the 2.2 gamma delivers a slightly higher 2.3 gamma. There's plenty of control for dropping it slightly.

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RGB Settings

To get the color temp settings above, the following adjustments were made to Contrast and Brightness. (Settings shown are only for the full production projector.)

Contrast:

R = -3
G = 0
B = -11

Brightness:

R = 3
G = 0
B = 0

Lumens measured: 965 (lamp on full, zoom at mid-point)

Brightest Modes:

You can't start with High Brightness as a default for a custom color temp. Sports mode at the moment (sample unit) is very green - over the top. For a brightest mode, the best we could come up with on this unit was combining the High Brightness color temp with the Cinema gamma (or possibly video) gamma. That gave us our 1083 lumens, which still isn't much more than our best mode at 965 lumens.

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