Mitsubishi HC1600 - Projector Review

15 Aug 2008


The Mitsubishi HC1600 projector produces 1700 lumens. The projector has a 2500:1 contrast that produces a crisp an solid image. It has accurate color and a bright, powerful image. This makes HC1600 ideal for photography, still graphics, and slow moving videos. However, its 2x speed color wheel makes it a bit low standard for sports, and gaming for those especially for those who are sensitive to rainbow artifacts. I purchsed Mitsubisi HC1600 from visualapex.com.



High lumen . The HC1600, produces 855 ANSI lumens in high lamp mode. The mitsubishi HC1600 gives a much brighter white. This is good for slow moving videos and imaes. Turning off BrilliantColor provides a more balanced image, but drops lumen output to roughly 425. However, if you need that extra brightness boost, BrilliantColor can provide it.

For applications that require more light output, the HC1600 cca give up to 1257 ANSI lumens in "Sports" mode. Low lamp mode drops output lumen by one fourth. When it's time for that big game, invite all your friends and move the projector out into the living room and put it in sports mode. They will be all in praise.

contrast The Mitsubishi HC1600 is rated at 2500:1 contrast.Now a days we get projectors that have contrast raion in the range 10,000:1 . However, it has been found to have about 500:1 ANSI contrast, which is very impressive considering its price as compared to much more expensive DLP projectors like the InFocus IN83. The On/off contrast has been measured out to 1300:1. The BrilliantColor has the effect of boosting both ANSI and on/off contrast, so, enable BrilliantColor when you invite your friends to view it. color The HC1600 promises very good color balance. It is not as accurate higher end models, it still provides a balanced, vibrant image which is great for video games, film, or photography. Price the HC1600 is an affordable, entry level product. I purchased it for $900 which I feel is good for its quality. Replacement lamps cost roughly $380. Life of lamp is about 3000 hours. We can expect the procis of lamps to fall in future.

Some Concerns

Zoom and placement The HC1600 has a 1.2:1 zoom lens and no lens shift. It will throw a 100" diagonal 16:9 image from 11'11" to 14'6", and at this screen size the bottom edge of the image will appear 16.4" above the centerline of the lens, or about 33% of the image height. This makes the HC1600 suited for ceiling or coffee table mounts, but it also makes rear shelf mounting somewhat difficult without using keystone correction.

Color separation artifacts. The HC1600 is has more frequent appearance of rainbows compared to other comparable projectors. This is partially due to the HC1600's high brightness, but most of the blame can be placed on its 2x speed color wheel, which is unusual in home theater products. 2x speed wheels are typically used in business projectors, since static imagery is much less likely to induce rainbows than motion video. If if you are sensitive to rainbow artifacts, you'll want to review the HC1600 before purchasing if at all possible.

Poor performance over VGA The HC1600 shows color performance when using the 15-pin VGA port than when using component or HDMI.It also locks the color saturation menu option when using VGA, which exacerbates the issue significantly. The HC1600 gave a far superior image when using the HDMI connection. You will better use this for display using HDMI connector.