Mitsubishi HC6000 Home Theater Projector Review: Overview

9-26-2007 - Art Feierman

Mitsubishi HC6000
Image Quality
General Performance
Warranty
Summary, Pros, Cons

Check out how the Mitsubishi HC6000 fared in our comparison report.

Mitsubishi HC6000 Projector Highlights:

• Typical of LCD home theater projectors, the HC6000 offers excellent placement flexibility
• Black level performance is the best we've seen yet, from an LCD HT projector
• Zoom, focus, lens shift, all motorized
• Super quiet
• Auto iris works beautifully, not noticeable under normal viewing conditions
• A serious challenger to DLP projectors including the Optoma HD81, in terms of overall picture quality - Most Impressive!
• Average in terms of brightness - 1000 lumens (just like the HC5000 it replaces)
• Under $5000 selling price

The HC6000 is the first of the new 1080p projectors to arrive, post CEDIA. Last year, the HC5000 was also the first. In the case of the HC6000, it means that I won't be able to compare it against the other new models that will be arriving over the next 6 or 8 weeks, which is both sad, and unfortunate. At least this time, I can relate the HC6000 to the last batch of 1080p projectors, like the Panasonic PT-AE1000U, the Epson Home Cinema 1080, the Optoma HD81, and of course the Mitsubishi HC5000 and HC4900.The Epson and Panasonic will shortly be replaced by those two companies' "2nd generation" projectors, which we will assume also are improved over "last year's" projectors.

Now for the good news. The HC6000 produces better, darker blacks, than the older HC5000. In fact a key statement in this review might be:

The HC6000's black levels and shadow detail performance is significantly improved over the HC5000, and definitely seems comparable to today's DLP projectors!

That's a significant statement, and from extensively watching this pre-production sample (this was the projector shown at CEDIA, I'm told), I was extremely impressed with performance in these areas. I often went back and forth (some delay, watching the same content on the HC6000 and my JVC, all on my Firehawk screen. As many know, the JVC's black levels are widely regarded as the best of 1080p projectors currently shipping. Going back and forth, I never felt the HC6000 was significantly inferior in this regard. A pleasant surprise!

Unfortunately I had use of the this HC6000 for less than a week before I had to ship it to the next reviewer. One more day, and I could have set it up side by side, with the new InFocus IN82 (1080p), that arrived minutes before the HC6000 shipped out. I already have requested a production unit for a quick update, once they are shipping.

Mitsubishi HC6000 Projector: Basic Specs

MAP (Minimum Advertised Price): $3995
Technology: 3LCD
Native Resolution: 1080p (1980x1080)
Brightness: 1000 lumens
Contrast: 13,000:1
Zoom Lens ratio: 1.6:1
Lens shift: motorized vertical and horizontal
Lamp life: 2000 hours full power, 5000 hours low power
Weight: 12.5 lbs. (5.6kg)
Warranty: 2 Years Parts and Labor

Full specifiactions available here.

Review continues below this advertisement.

Mitsubishi HC6000 Home Theater Projector: Physical Tour

This section is basically a re-run of the physical tours of the HC5000 and HC4900. Almost nothing has changed. In fact, looking at all the physical aspects of the HC6000, the only thing that has changed, is that the HC6000 has two HDMI inputs (both HDMI 1.3 compatible - a very good thing), whereas the HC5000 had one HDMI (not 1.3 compatible - nothing was a year ago), and one DVI input.

So, even there, the net is that all three have two digital inputs, although definitely updated on the HC6000.

Here's a quick tour, starting at the front.

Start with an off center mounted lens, that seems recessed, as the projector extends out at that point to cover the lens. Also in the front, is an infra-red sensor for the remote control.

Drop down feet are on the bottom front, far left and far right.

Moving to the top of the HC6000, is a full control panel. There are no lens controls anywhere for focus, zoom or lens shift, because the HC6000 is fully motorized. Full control of the lens functions is on the remote, and can be accessed from the control panel. One very nice improvment, is that these lens functions now have two speeds, making it much easier to get a perfect focus, perfectly fill the screen, and adjust the lens shift minutely.

As to the rest of the HC6000 control panel, a large power button (one push for on, two for off), sits to the right of two indicator lights (status and power). Next in a diamond configuration (typical) are the four arrow keys for navigating the menus. The Menu button itself is below the left arrow button.

The left arrow button toggles between digital sources when the menus are not being used, and the right arrow, does the same for video sources. The top arrow doubles as an auto setup for computer signals. Above the right arrow button, is a button to activate lens shift, and the last button is below the right arrow, and toggles between zoom and focus. That pretty much covers everything on top.

Moving to the back of the projector, you'll find the input panel. As mentioned, there are two HDMI 1.3 inputs. In addtion, there is a computer input (analog, with a standard HD15 connector - that can alternately be used for a component video source.) A second component video input consists of the traditional three RCA jacks color coded Red, Green, and Blue. What's left? There is the usual two "low res" video inputs - S-video, and composite, as well as an RS-232 port for computer command and control. Lastly there is a single 12 volt trigger for controlling properly equipped motorized screens.

That's it for our tour. Time to get serious, and that means image quality.

As mentioned, the HC6000 was, in terms of image quality, a pleasant surprise. Read on!

Mitsubishi HC6000
Image Quality
General Performance
Warranty
Summary, Pros, Cons