Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Performance 2 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 Lumen Output on Low Lamp (Sports mode, Medium Color Temp, Brilliant Color off) Effect of zoom on lumen output (Sports mode) Zoom out 624 Mid zoom 607 Zoom in 517 The different lens positions aren’t causing a huge difference in brightness, nor slight enough to dismiss from your notice. Basically, mounting at the closest (the zoom lens is a 1.5:1), buys you about an extra 20% more lumens. Personally, I figure most zoom lenses are at their worst, at their extremes, so I’d suggest backing off from the closest possible position, at least a little. Since there are tons of lumens for movie viewing, many will take advantage of the quieter low lamp mode, which is plenty bright, and has an extremely long lamp life rating (5000 hours). Low lamp will drop the brightness of the projector by approximately 24%. HC4000 Low Power mode Turning Brilliant Color off, and lamp to low, and the Mitsubishi HC4000 projector still manages 460 lumens. That approximate percent should also hold true for all modes. Since the HC4000 projector has a 1.5:1 zoom lens, we measured the difference in brightness betwwen full wide angle, mid-point, and full-telephoto settings on the lens. Full wide angle (the projector filling the screen from its closest distance), increases brightness by a modest 7.5%. Full telephoto decreases brightness by 9.3% compared to the mid-point. Color temperatures (target is 6500K) over the grayscale range 30 IRE 6673K 50 IRE 6472K 80 IRE 6522K 100 IRE 6649K Pre-calibration we measured these color temperatures (target is 6500K) over the grayscale range. That’s really impressive for before a calibration, and for that matter pretty good for after a calibration, too! The Calibration page will provide the settings we used. That includes basic settings as well as gain and offset. We will revise, with numbers from a production projector if there are color table changes, between this unit and full production ones. I don’t expect that to be the case, though. The HC4000 projector is definitely one of the sharper ones out there. In viewing side by side with the lower cost Optoma HD20, the HC4000 was slightly sharper. I would say that it is sharper than most of the 3LCD competition as well, including some of the more expensive ones like the Panasonic and the Epson projectors. In a side by side, the BenQ W6000, has a very slight edge, but it is exceptionally sharp in its own right, as BenQ’s have tended to be. For your consideration, our usual close up images: Top left: HC4000, Top Left Center – LG CF181D, Top Right Center – JVC RS25, Top right – Mitsubishi HC7000 2nd row left: Panasonic PT-AE4000, left center: Epson Home Cinema 8500UB, right center: Optoma HD8200, right: BenQ W6000. Please note, we are slowly switching to using the Playstation video logo as our sharpness example, instead of the old dts-hd logo. The original sample test disc from dts died, and they can’t find me another. HC4000LG CF181DJVC RS25 Mitsubishi HC7000Panasonic PT-AE4000Epson Home Cinema 8500UBOptoma HD8200BenQ W6000PreviousNext Close up of a computer monitor, from Space Cowboys (Blu-ray), left to right: HC4000, Optoma HD20, BenQ W6000, and Sharp XV-Z15000. I haven’t seen any projector do better than the BenQ when it comes to trying to read the type on the on screen menus in this scene, but the Mitsubishi HC4000 is so close as to not matter. By comparison, the Optoma HD20 is visibly soft compared to the other two, and the more expensive Sharp XV-Z15000 (which we commented on it’s lens softness), is somewhere in between. HC4000Optoma HD20BenQ W6000Sharp XV-Z15000PreviousNext Mitsubishi HC4000: Bottom Line SharpnessI will say the same thing as last year’s HC3800: Sharpness is a major strength. I’m jealous. My far more expensive JVC RS20 can’t produce quite as sharp an image, and that projector is more than 5 times the price. I don’t really notice when watching movies, but am aware of the difference with some nice 1080i hi-def sports, and other top quality digital content. Mitsubishi does extremely well, when it comes to sharpness. I doubt any of the ultra-high contrast 3LCD home theater projectors can beat and most can’t match the HC4000’s sharpness, and that includes Mitsubishi’s own HC7000, which is close. 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 Mitsubishi HC4000 Projector – Performance 3