Close up of a computer monitor, from Space Cowboys (Blu-ray), left to right HC7000, Epson Home Cinema 1080 UB, Sanyo PLV-Z700, and BenQ W20000. Only the BenQ does a visibly better job. The HC7000 is one of the sharper 1080p projectors out there.
Mitsubishi HC7000: Bottom Line Sharpness
One of the best! Enough said.
Light Leakage
Excellent! There is the usual very tiny amount coming out of the lens. That amount is probably greater, with the more lens shift you use. When I'm viewing, the projector is normally at maximum lens shift, so it wouldn't get worse than what I observe. I never noticed the stray light once during watching.
Image Noise
Mitsubishi uses the Silicon Optics Reon-VX image processing, which is very highly regarded. I found no issues of any significance at all, on normal processing (I don't check some of the more oddball frame cadences.) I do, however, useWe are in a world where very few projectors have any real issues anymore. That's not to say that there can't be further improvement, or some specific scenes that they can still screw up a little, but everything needs to stay in perspective: Is the difference between very good image noise handling, and great image noise handling, a significant consideration, compared to things like having sufficient brightness, better black levels, and so on.
Audible Noise
You just can't beat Mitsubishi in terms of audible noise. Their 3LCD projectors are probably the quietest out there. This projector claims 17 db in low power mode, and is probably about 5-6 db noisier at full power. When you consider that the average DLP home theater projector is probably still 5 db noiser in low power, than the HC7000 is at full power, you must realize that audible noise is not an issue for this projector. If the HC7000 noise levels are, for you, too lould, then there probably isn't a projector on the market that will satisfy you.