The hottest-selling HDTVs right now are big-screen rear-projection sets, a category that's still dominated by the relatively cheap, time-tested cathode-ray tube (CRT). But the new “microdisplay” TVs are gaining fast. These tubeless sets use DLP (Digital Light Processing), LCD (liquid crystal display), or LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon) chips driven by a replaceable lamp to produce brighter and consistently sharper images than just about any tube-based projection design.
Mitsubishi's WD-52525 uses DLP technology and is aimed at buyers who want a versatile, future-ready television and don't mind paying extra for it. Although at $4,199 it's Mitsubishi's least expensive 52-inch DLP model, the WD-52525 still costs a few hundred dollars more than other 50- to 52-inch DLP sets on the market. But you get a built-in HDTV tuner and a couple of unique features — Mitsubishi's ColorPerfect controls and NetCommand system.
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Compared with traditional CRT televisions, DLP sets are relatively compact and usually weigh considerably less. The WD-52525 is a tabletop design that's only 17 inches deep, but at 132 pounds, it's heavier than most similar-size DLP and LCD sets.
SETUP When I turned on the WD-52525, a screen invited me to step through setup for the NetCommand system, which enables the TV to directly control other A/V components via infrared (IR) emitters and onscreen menus. Giving it a try, I was prompted to select my A/V gear from a list and indicate my input arrangements. Then I affixed the supplied emitters to the IR windows on my DVD player and A/V receiver so they could receive commands from the TV.
I was able to control my components through the TV, but NetCommand's onscreen interface is a bit cumbersome and its library of brand/model control codes is somewhat limited. The rest of Mitsubishi's menu system, however, was easy to navigate. I also appreciated the large, partly backlit remote, which offers an alternative to the NetCommand system by directly controlling up to four other devices. Its highlights include ample finger space, a rocker-type input selector, and a big, easy-to-use cursor control.
Mitsubishi always seems to go the extra mile on the back-panel input bay, and this TV is no exception. Its generous array of connectors includes an HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) port, which I used — along with an adapter cable — for the DVI (Digital Visual Interface) output of a Bravo D1 DVD player. The WD-52525 is also among the first HDTVs to have a CableCARD slot, which looks like the PC Card slots used in laptops for Wi-Fi cards and other accessories. When a CableCARD is inserted and activated by the cable company, you can decode premium digital channels without a cable box.
But there's a catch: you have to lease the card from your cable company, and because the current Digital Cable Ready standard for HDTV supports only one-way communication — from cable company to TV, not vice versa — using a CableCARD means you won't get the cable company's program guide or be able to take advantage of any video-on-demand services it may offer. Of course, CableCARD is only an option — you can still use a cable box if those features are important to you. I verified that the set's CableCARD slot was functional but used a Dish Network DVR 921 HDTV satellite receiver as the high-def program source. (For more on CableCARD, click to read “Wild Card.”)
Since lamp life is a potential concern among owners of DLP TVs, the WD-52525 is thoughtfully designed to display a message after 4,000 hours of use advising you that it's time to start thinking about replacing the lamp. A new one is $299, but in the first year it's covered by the warranty.
The WD-52525 offers six display modes for standard-def sources, including one that places black bars to either side of the screen and one that stretches the sides of the image. With high-def sources, you're limited to two modes: Standard and Wide Expand, which stretches the image horizontally. Numerous picture adjustments are provided, including the ColorPerfect controls for fine adjustment of color balance, three color-temperature presets, and DefinEdge, which adds edges around onscreen objects to increase perceived sharpness — this should be used only with standard-def TV and other low-resolution sources. The Mitsubishi remembers picture settings separately for each input, which made it easy for me to set up one input for my DVD player, another for satellite HDTV, and so on.
PICTURE QUALITY After a thorough calibration (see “in the lab”), I fired up my progressive-scan DVD player and popped in Mystic River. During the helicopter flyover of Boston that ends in Franklin Park , the grass of the baseball field and the leaves of the trees appeared lush and vibrant, revealing subtle variations in the foliage. In later scenes, skin tones looked natural and balanced — from the pale face and arms of Annebeth Markum (Laura Linney) in the morning light to the red-faced rage and despair of Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn) when he learns of his daughter's fate.
Like all DLP TVs, the WD-52525 can't match the deep, inky blacks you get from big-screen CRT sets, but dark shots still revealed plenty of shadow detail. When Celeste Boyle (Marcia Gay Harden) returns home to find her husband (Tim Robbins) watching vampire movies in a dim room, wrinkles on her face were plainly visible. Although shadows in the background didn't quite go to black, they were clean, with generally smooth gradations between darker and lighter areas. Video noise, which appears as roiling pixels in dark areas, was also much less of a problem than on most other DLP HDTVs I've seen.
I did occasionally see brief red, green, and blue doubles of brighter objects — for example, in the sunlit white shirts of the churchgoers or the bright light under the door of the morgue waiting room. But to its credit, the Mitsubishi didn't produce these “rainbow effects” as often as other DLP sets in my experience.
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Turning to HDTV, I checked out the set's off-air digital TV tuner and found its performance to be not quite as good as that of the tuner in our Dish Network satellite receiver. At S&V's indoor testing facility, the Dish receiver was able to pull in the Fox digital channel, but the Mitsubishi couldn't lock onto the signal without breaking up. Next I scanned Dish's satellite channels before settling on the Home Run Derby on ESPN HD. The picture was simply stunning. I could see the shadows of the dirt clods under Lance Berkman's cleats as well as the enraptured expressions of fans in the crowd as he knocked one ball after another out of the park. Wrinkles on spectator George Bush, Sr.'s neck were also plainly visible, and I could even read the lettering on the uniform of a kid way out in left field. The image appeared rock-solid, without any jitter on graphics, like the score box at the top of the screen. Overall, the high-def picture was striking.
BOTTOM LINE With its cavalcade of features and input options, the WD-52525 represents the cutting edge of DLP technology. It has one of the cleanest, most accurate pictures I've seen in a rear-projection DLP HDTV to date, and its user friendliness and smart style should really please buyers looking for a less expensive alternative to plasma.
In the Lab
Color temperature (Low color temperature before/after calibration)
Low window (20-IRE) .............. 8,004/6,824 K
High window (100-IRE) ........... 7,434/6,526 K
Brightness (100-IRE window before/after calibration): 104/40.5 ftL
The WD-52525 was set to maximum contrast out of the box, resulting in an extremely bright image. Its initial grayscale with the Warm color-temperature setting was a little blue. After calibration, grayscale was significantly better, and peak brightness, though still high, was much lower. (Calibration needs to be performed by a qualified technician with specialized equipment, so discuss it with your dealer before purchase, or call the Imaging Science Foundation at 561-997-9073.)
The black-enhancement control actually adjusts brightness on the fly. I left it turned off, and the TV did an excellent job of keeping the level of black consistent. While it had no trouble displaying blacker-than-black content, the set did clip whites on its component-video input. This can translate into lost detail in very bright areas of DVD images. Overscan was negligible, and color decoding was very good. Mitsubishi's ColorPerfect controls allowed me to, yes, make them perfect, resulting in excellent color saturation. Once I adjusted sharpness and turned off the DefinEdge control, there was no sign of edge enhancement.
— D.K