Given the Mitsubishi's accurate out-of-box color, I wasn't surprised to see it excel in that area, too. Dead Man's Chest has a somewhat stylized color palette, but the fair skin of Keira Knightley (who plays Elizabeth Swann) managed to look natural in scene after scene, as did Bloom's tanned complexion. And the many pirates' ruddy, pustule-ridden, or sun-baked and leathery faces also showed good variation.
As good as its handling of high-def movie discs was, the HC4900 also proved a competent performer with DVDs and both standard and HDTV programs on cable. Its upconversion of 480i standard-def was mostly clean and crisp, and the straightforward noise-reduction feature (options include On and Off) smoothed out pictures without significantly reducing detail. I observed excessive "ringing" on 480p signals, however, and there was no option to compensate for it by adjusting picture sharpness in the Video menu. I also found that reds and greens looked slightly oversaturated and soft in a few programs I watched, but not much more than I've seen on other projectors tested recently.
Bottom Line
Mitsubishi might not be the first name in front projectors, but its HC4900 1080p LCD front projector is an all-around strong performer that stands up very well alongside its competition. And though I occasionally wished for a little more brightness from its Low lamp setting, on the plus side, I was impressed by the projector's setup features and accurate color. Maybe the market for rear projectors is slipping away, but I think it's safe to say Mits is looking at bright future in front projection.
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