Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector Calibration and Settings Posted on July 16, 2013 By Art Feierman 1. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector Review - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector Highlights - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector Overview2. Mitsubishi HC4000 Special Features - Black Level Performance - DarkChip 3 - HC4000 Lamp Life - 1.5:1 Zoom Lens3. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Physical Tour - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector - Appearance - HC4000 Control Panel - Input/Output - HC4000 Menus - Mitsubishi HC4000 Remote Control - Mitsubishi HC4000 Lens Throw - Lens Shift - Anamorphic Lens4. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Image Quality - Mitsubishi HC4000 Out of the Box Picture Quality - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector - Flesh Tones5. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Image Quality 2 - Mitsubishi HC4000 Black Levels & Shadow Detail6. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Image Quality 37. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Image Quality 4 - Mitsubishi HC4000 - Overall Color & Picture Quality - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector: Performance, HDTV and Sports - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector: Bottom Line on HDTV Sports8. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Performance - Mitsubishi HC4000 Brightness - Effect of Brilliant Color on lumen output (Sports mode):9. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Performance 2 - Lumen Output on Low Lamp (Sports mode, Medium Color Temp, Brilliant Color off) - Mitsubishi HC4000: Bottom Line Sharpness10. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Performance 3 - Light Leakage - Image Noise - Audible Noise11. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector Calibration and Settings - Mitsubishi HC4000 Basic Settings - Mitsubishi HC4000 Post Calibration Grayscale - RGB Settings12. Mitsubishi HC4000 – Projector Screens - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector Screen Recommendations13. Mitsubishi HC4000 – Competitors - HC3800 vs. Epson Home Cinema 8100 and Home Cinema 8500UB - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. Mitsubishi HC5500, HC6800 - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. Sanyo PLV-Z700 - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. BenQ W600014. Mitsubishi HC4000 – Competitors 2 - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. Sharp XV-Z15000 - HC3800 vs. Optoma HD20 - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. BenQ W1000 - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. Panasonic PT-AE300015. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Warranty16. Mitsubishi HC4000 – Review Summary - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector - The Bottom Line - The Very Bottom Line on the HC4000 projector: - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector: Pros - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector: Cons - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector: Typical Capabilities17. Mitsubishi HC4000 – Full Specifications We calibrate each home theater that is reviewed. The Mitsubishi HC4000, of course, is no exception. Working with a pre-production projector that is 2nd generation (based on the discontinued HC3800), rather than an all new unit, this HC4000 behaved admirably. No way really to tell it wasn’t full production from normal operation and viewing. For that same reason, unlike a first of a series projectors, this is a stable platform, and issues like color table changes should be well behind us. Ours is a pretty standard calibration, there’s always more done by some of the “hi-end” calibrators. Our calibrations, including the Mitsubishi HC4000, are normally limited to a grayscale calibration, along with brightness, contrast, color saturation, etc. Only in very special circumstances will we calibrate the individual colors, in which case we discuss why. Let’s take a look at the numbers: Color Temp over IRE Range, (Cinema mode, Medium color temp, Brilliant Color off) 30 IRE 6503K 50 IRE 6472K 80 IRE 6522K 100 IRE 6649K Mitsubishi HC4000 Color Temperature Before we provide our settings, let’s see what we started out with: Pre calibration, these are the color temperatures over the grayscale range: That’s as good as many projectors measure after calibration. Impressive! Because the HC4000 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 and Color Temp for various Gamma modes at 100 IRE Auto 567 @ 6673 Sports 607 @ 6726 Video 584 @ 6763 Cinema 569 @ 6649 Effect of Color Temp setting on lumen output (Sports mode) Medium (default) 607 High Brightness 872 Cool 468 Warm 561 Below you’ll find final color temp measurements, post calibration. Mitsubishi HC4000 Basic SettingsIn 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. Settings for measurements (default values are in parenthesis): Settings for measurements Auto Sports Video Cinema Contrast (0) 0 0 0 0 Brightness (0) 13 5 13 13 Color(0) 0 0 0 0 Tint (0) 0 0 0 0 Color Temp= Medium (default for Auto gamma) Lamp Mode= Standard (unless noted otherwise) Brilliant Color (BC) = Off (unless noted otherwise) All other settings at default Mitsubishi HC4000 Post Calibration Grayscale Color Temp over IRE Range (Post calibration) 20 IRE 6625K 30 IRE 6534K 40 IRE 6569K 50 IRE 6589K 60 IRE 6575K 70 IRE 6537K 80 IRE 6558K 90 IRE 6527K 100 IRE 6482K 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 HC4000. 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: HC4000 Projector Grayscale Measurements: NOTE: Greyscale is very flat full range. Delta E grayscale error averages 0.8, which is excellent performance (less than 3 is good). RGB SettingsTo get the color temp settings above, the following adjustments were made to Contrast and Brightness. HC4000 Post Calibration settings: AV Memory 1 with User 1 gamma on –1, Color on –5 (Red is oversaturated by default), Tint on 1, Lamp on Normal, Brilliant Color Off RGB settings (default is 0) Contrast R= -11 G = 0 B= -8 Brightness R= 0 G= -1 B= 0 Note that the Red and Blue contrast are lowered to bring green in balance. Lumens at 100 IRE: 550 @ 6482 Average Gamma = 2.19 (about perfect, 2.2 is the target) Brightest Modes: Quick Cal of Sports mode: As with the HC3800, you can’t use High Brightness as a starting point for User color temp, so I’m using medium (next brightest) with Brilliant Color on. Also, like the HC3800, using Cinema mode with High Brightness provides a an alternate decent bright mode, coming in at 816 lumens All other settings at default. Stored on AV Memory 2. HC4000 RGB settings (Brilliant Color off) (default is 0) Contrast R= 0 G = 0 B= -8 Brightness R= 0 G= 0 B= 0 Lumens at 100 IRE (Brilliant Color off: 743 @ 6802 Estimated with Brilliant Color on: 980 lumens 1. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector Review - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector Highlights - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector Overview2. Mitsubishi HC4000 Special Features - Black Level Performance - DarkChip 3 - HC4000 Lamp Life - 1.5:1 Zoom Lens3. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Physical Tour - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector - Appearance - HC4000 Control Panel - Input/Output - HC4000 Menus - Mitsubishi HC4000 Remote Control - Mitsubishi HC4000 Lens Throw - Lens Shift - Anamorphic Lens4. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Image Quality - Mitsubishi HC4000 Out of the Box Picture Quality - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector - Flesh Tones5. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Image Quality 2 - Mitsubishi HC4000 Black Levels & Shadow Detail6. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Image Quality 37. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Image Quality 4 - Mitsubishi HC4000 - Overall Color & Picture Quality - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector: Performance, HDTV and Sports - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector: Bottom Line on HDTV Sports8. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Performance - Mitsubishi HC4000 Brightness - Effect of Brilliant Color on lumen output (Sports mode):9. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Performance 2 - Lumen Output on Low Lamp (Sports mode, Medium Color Temp, Brilliant Color off) - Mitsubishi HC4000: Bottom Line Sharpness10. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Performance 3 - Light Leakage - Image Noise - Audible Noise11. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector Calibration and Settings - Mitsubishi HC4000 Basic Settings - Mitsubishi HC4000 Post Calibration Grayscale - RGB Settings12. Mitsubishi HC4000 – Projector Screens - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector Screen Recommendations13. Mitsubishi HC4000 – Competitors - HC3800 vs. Epson Home Cinema 8100 and Home Cinema 8500UB - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. Mitsubishi HC5500, HC6800 - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. Sanyo PLV-Z700 - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. BenQ W600014. Mitsubishi HC4000 – Competitors 2 - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. Sharp XV-Z15000 - HC3800 vs. Optoma HD20 - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. BenQ W1000 - Mitsubishi HC3800 vs. Panasonic PT-AE300015. Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Warranty16. Mitsubishi HC4000 – Review Summary - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector - The Bottom Line - The Very Bottom Line on the HC4000 projector: - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector: Pros - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector: Cons - Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector: Typical Capabilities17. Mitsubishi HC4000 – Full Specifications Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Performance 3 Mitsubishi HC4000 – Projector Screens