Mitsubishi VS-50705 50 in. TV

Those who say size doesn't really matter clearly have never tried to watch the Superbowl on a nineteen inch television. It was because of this that my husband and I found ourselves shopping for a big-screen television one day...and were boggled by the array of choices. Big screen TV's come in three sizes - Big, bigger and oh-no-that-will-never-fit. I had a lot of fun with the analogies (you can just imagine!) but in the end we found the perfect television for us - the Mitsubishi VS-50705.

Although this is neither the newest nor the biggest big-screen TV on the market, the Mitsubishi VS-50705 offered the options we needed at a price that was more than reasonable. In fact, we got our TV for the great price of $1799 when Good Guys offered it on sale, and a local Mitsubishi dealer had to beat their price (a low-price guarantee situation). While this may still seem like a lot of money, we found that big screen televisions ranged from $1100 to well over $3,000 and this set offered the best quality for the least dollars, in our opinion.

Features, Specs & Details
? Physical Appearance
This is a tall, extremely heavy television. It's a rear-projection television, in a large black matte case. The television screen is on top, with the speaker section on the bottom. The controls are on the back although there is a hidden flap on the front where you can access important controls (power, volume, channel, etc.) plus RCA jacks just in case you want to plug in your camcorder, etc. directly. We actually use this all the time, when we want to show a video onscreen or when we can't find the remote controls. The physical casing is on movable casters (like wheels) so it is theoretically "easy" to move; however, it's very heavy and we just used the service folks to install it and haven't moved it since!

? Screen and Image
This is a large and clear screen, which has a diagonal measurement of fifty (50) inches. Unlike some other brands we looked at, you can still see the image clearly if you look at it from the side. Some other brands (of rear projection tv's) totally lost visibility if you viewed the screen from an angle. Mitsubishi offers a "protective screen" which is normally about $150; but it's included with this television for free. Our screen has had children pushed against it, a kitten scratching at it, toys and shoes thrown against it, and has not a mark on it (although the plexiglass-like cover has needed cleaning several times!).

The image quality is excellent - far crisper and cleaner than other projection tv's we looked at. It has what Mitsubishi calls "Diamond Vision", meaning that the CRT has provides "optimum focus and the smallest spot size" (from the Mitsubishi webpage). They also stress the value of their "Precision Beam Control" and "Front Surface Mirrors" -- but the bottom line as far as I am concerned is that Mitsubishi offers the best resolution in a projection television of any we looked at. Our set does not have HDTV but I think it's available now for an upcharge -- for the price difference, we skipped it as it just was't a priority for us.

I recently also helped a friend pick out a big screen tv as well (she got a Mitsubishi as well) and I felt that our resolution was as good as anything else that's out there (in a projection TV). I do think that it's not quite as sharp as a non-projection (tube) set; however, it's vastly superior to all other brands of projection televisions. The color is also very true and we haven't had any problems with colors looking "off" at all. It also has an auto-iris that senses the room light -- I don't really see the difference since our television is on a wall that has fairly even lighting (and we don't watch it in the dark), but it does automatically adjust the brightness and contrast so the image is still clear and visible in bright light.

?Sound Quality
The sound is very good on this television and you get a variety of sound setup options based upon both the type of show you are watching, and the type of speaker effect you want. We have our set hooked up for surround sound and have found that we get great sound this way (which is primarily a function of the quality of the receiver and speakers, I'm sure) but that the basic television sound is sufficient for everyday viewing, especially when it's set up to mimic a stereo surround sound.

? Remote Control
The remote functions as a universal remote and we use it to run both the television and the (non-Mitsubishi) VCR. It is very easy to setup, and has all of the functions that we need for the television at the tips of our fingers. There are not all of the VCR functions that you use for recording (timer programming, tracking, etc.) and so I have to use the VCR specific remote if I want to record with a timer. After I do this I've found that I have to manually reset the Mitsubishi remote to accept input for my VCR again. Nonetheless, it's easy enough to run both the VCR and TV off of one remote and we don't do a lot of programmed recording, so I haven't found this to be much of a hassle.

Set Up
As I said, we run our television with a setup through a VCR and home theater system. For everyday viewing we can use it with or without the VCR on, and the TV offers side by side viewing. This means we can see the second image, if desired, in either a reduced size image (picture-in-picture) or in a full-sized half-screen image. The PIP can be moved all over the screen (for example, in a football game we can leave it on the bottom left so it doesn't obscure the scores and other information) and can be switched with the primary image with only a single button. It's easy and very handy. It also has channel preview which we rarely use but some people swear by.

All of the inputs for wiring are on the back, other than the few controls on the front (for video viewing as discussed above). They're easy to get to for initial setup; and if you don't have your TV in a wall unit I imagine they are very easy to get to. We purchased a solid oak unit that encases the entire TV, with a glassed in panel on one side to hold the audio and VCR components. This adds a lot of extra weight and we don't move the TV (or wall unit) around much; but the initial setup was very simple and we haven't had problems with it the entire time we've had this TV.

Other Stuff
I have only two other random observations about this television. One is a suggestion that you measure your room before you go shopping for a big-screen tv. My friend has a huge bonus room and could use an even bigger TV than we have; in our home 50" is clearly big enough. Size does indeed matter when you're buying a big screen - you don't want to skimp, but neither do you want to end up sitting 6 feet away from a huge screen. We are about 15 feet back from the screen and have found this to be a good distance for this size of screen.

Secondly - and if anyone from Mitsubishi is reading this and wants to help me out, I'd welcome it! - we have had one annoying problem with this television. That is, spiders. They wander in through the holes in the back, and somehow die inside. Then their images are captured - projected - upon the screen. I'm not sure if they fry on the projection lamps, or if they are actually clinging (dead) to the inside of the screen, but it's incredibly annoying. Eventually they fall off, but each time this happens we have a month or two with a silhouette of a dead spider on our screen. Blech.

Overall Recommendations
You can read all of the technical specs by clicking on the View More Information above, but in the long run, what really mattered to us was the quality of the image, the clarity of the sound, the warranty (one-year standard, longer available through purchase) and the final price. We felt we got a "killer deal" on this television, and have been happier than clams with it. As I said a friend recently bought a Mitsubishi and she took me with her since I had been so successful in negotiating a great deal on ours.

Overall, I have to give this television extremely high marks for an image that is almost as good as a tube, and a quality that has performed strongly in our home. My husband is thrilled with the image, and when we have our annual Superbowl party, the guests all crowd around this television to see the commercials (and the game, too as well). If you are in the market for a big screen television and want to buy a product that won't break your budget, but will give you superior image quality, I'd strongly recommend taking a look at the Mitsubishi VS-50705.