Mitsubishi HC3800 – Projector Screens Posted on September 1, 2009 By Art Feierman 1. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector Review - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector Review - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector Overview2. Mitsubishi HC3800 Special Features - HC3800 Lamp Life - Zoom Lens3. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector – Physical Tour - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector - Appearance - HC3800 Control Panel - Input/Output - HC3800 Menus4. Mitsubishi HC3800 Remote Control5. Mitsubishi HC3800 Lens Throw - Lens Shift - Anamorphic Lens6. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector – Image Quality - Mitsubishi HC3800 Out of the Box Picture Quality - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector - Flesh Tones7. Mitsubishi HC3800 Black Levels & Shadow Detail8. Mitsubishi HC3800 Black Levels & Shadow Detail9. Mitsubishi HC3800 Black Levels & Shadow Detail 210. Mitsubishi HC3800 Black Levels & Shadow Detail 311. Mitsubishi HC3800 Black Levels & Shadow Detail 412. Shadow Detail Performance13. Shadow Detail Performance 214. Shadow Detail Performance 315. Mitsubishi HC3800 – Overall Color & Picture Quality16. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector: Performance, HDTV and Sports - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector: Bottom Line on HDTV Sports17. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector – Performance - Mitsubishi HC3800 Brightness - Lumen Output for various Gamma modes at 100 IRE, color temp on Medium: - Lumen Output at various Color Temps at 100 IRE, Gamma on Auto - Pre-calibration18. Mitsubishi HC3800 Sharpness19. Mitsubishi HC3800 Sharpness 220. Mitsubishi HC3800: Bottom Line Sharpness - Light Leakage - Image Noise - Audible Noise21. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector Calibration and Settings - Mitsubishi HC3800 Color Temperature - Lumen Output at various Color Temps at 100 IRE, Gamma on Auto: - Mitsubishi HC3800 Basic Settings22. Mitsubishi HC3800 Post Calibration Grayscale - Engineering Sample - Production HC3800 Projector - RGB Settings - Brightest Modes23. Mitsubishi HC3800 – Projector Screens - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector Screen Recommendations24. Mitsubishi HC3800 – Competitors - HC3800 vs. Epson Home Cinema 8100 and Home Cinema 8500UB - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. Mitsubishi HC5500, HC6800 - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. Sanyo PLV-Z70025. Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. BenQ W6000 - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. Sharp XV-Z15000 - HC3800 vs. Optoma HD2026. Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. BenQ W1000 - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. Panasonic PT-AE300027. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector – Warranty28. Mitsubishi HC3800 – Review Summary - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector - The Bottom Line29. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector – The Bottom Line 2 - The Very Bottom Line on the HC3800 projector30. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector: Pros, Cons, and Typical Capabilities - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector: Pros - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector: Cons - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector: Typical Capabilities31. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector Specifications Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector Screen RecommendationsThree factors come into play, as primary considerations of a good screen matchup for the Mitsubishi HC3800. The first of course is that the Mitsubishi HC3800 is a very bright projector in its best mode. This allows the flexibility to go with a high contrast gray surfaced screen, without worrying about giving up lumens. The second factor has to be the black level performance of the projector. While for a low cost 1080p projector the black levels are pretty good, they certainly could be a good bit better. Afterall, that’s one key reason why most projectors cost more than the HC3800. A common way to lower the level of blacks so that areas like the letterboxing are darker and less obtrusive. The final factor is your room. A high contrast gray screen will help reject side ambient light. Assuming you can deal with the narrower ideal seating area of a high contrast gray screen, it should be the choice for movie watchers. It may help with side ambient light, and will lower black levels, (and brightness), but you should have plenty of lumens. I should mention other than movie viewing. While the HC3800 is very bright, in “best”, it’s not much brighter in brightest mode. Still, with over 1100 lumens it should still be a good combo with an HC gray, figuring that you won’t want to be watching sports and most general HDTV and TV in a fully darkened room. If your intentional lighting is on the sides, the screen will help deal with that All this is not to say that a good white surface screen shouldn’t be considered, but, I favor helping the black levels out a bit, and also, since this is a fairly entry level priced projector, and a bright one, it should find itself in a lot of family rooms, bonus rooms and the like, where things aren’t as well controlled as in a dedicated theater. I’ve been able to watch movies on my high contrast gray Firehawk G3, filling all 128″ diagonal of the screen, and the images was nice and bright. For my sports viewing, I would have liked more lumens for the ambient light levels I prefer, but I solved that by just reducing the image size to about 110″ diagonal and that gave me a small extra boost in brightness that made it work for me. Yes, I could have filled the 128 inches, but preferred the extra brightness. 1. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector Review - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector Review - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector Overview2. Mitsubishi HC3800 Special Features - HC3800 Lamp Life - Zoom Lens3. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector – Physical Tour - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector - Appearance - HC3800 Control Panel - Input/Output - HC3800 Menus4. Mitsubishi HC3800 Remote Control5. Mitsubishi HC3800 Lens Throw - Lens Shift - Anamorphic Lens6. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector – Image Quality - Mitsubishi HC3800 Out of the Box Picture Quality - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector - Flesh Tones7. Mitsubishi HC3800 Black Levels & Shadow Detail8. Mitsubishi HC3800 Black Levels & Shadow Detail9. Mitsubishi HC3800 Black Levels & Shadow Detail 210. Mitsubishi HC3800 Black Levels & Shadow Detail 311. Mitsubishi HC3800 Black Levels & Shadow Detail 412. Shadow Detail Performance13. Shadow Detail Performance 214. Shadow Detail Performance 315. Mitsubishi HC3800 – Overall Color & Picture Quality16. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector: Performance, HDTV and Sports - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector: Bottom Line on HDTV Sports17. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector – Performance - Mitsubishi HC3800 Brightness - Lumen Output for various Gamma modes at 100 IRE, color temp on Medium: - Lumen Output at various Color Temps at 100 IRE, Gamma on Auto - Pre-calibration18. Mitsubishi HC3800 Sharpness19. Mitsubishi HC3800 Sharpness 220. Mitsubishi HC3800: Bottom Line Sharpness - Light Leakage - Image Noise - Audible Noise21. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector Calibration and Settings - Mitsubishi HC3800 Color Temperature - Lumen Output at various Color Temps at 100 IRE, Gamma on Auto: - Mitsubishi HC3800 Basic Settings22. Mitsubishi HC3800 Post Calibration Grayscale - Engineering Sample - Production HC3800 Projector - RGB Settings - Brightest Modes23. Mitsubishi HC3800 – Projector Screens - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector Screen Recommendations24. Mitsubishi HC3800 – Competitors - HC3800 vs. Epson Home Cinema 8100 and Home Cinema 8500UB - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. Mitsubishi HC5500, HC6800 - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. Sanyo PLV-Z70025. Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. BenQ W6000 - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. Sharp XV-Z15000 - HC3800 vs. Optoma HD2026. Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. BenQ W1000 - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. Panasonic PT-AE300027. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector – Warranty28. Mitsubishi HC3800 – Review Summary - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector - The Bottom Line29. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector – The Bottom Line 2 - The Very Bottom Line on the HC3800 projector30. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector: Pros, Cons, and Typical Capabilities - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector: Pros - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector: Cons - Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector: Typical Capabilities31. Mitsubishi HC3800 Projector Specifications Mitsubishi HC3800 Post Calibration Grayscale Mitsubishi HC3800 – Competitors