Mitsubishi WS-55805 55 in. TV

Yes. Mitsubishi does make televisions. And they are some of the best performing in their monetary class.

For general information on this model check out www.mitsubishi-tv.com. This review will explain the specifications and features more thoroughly.

The WS-55819 is the new 2002 model. It features a 55 inch widescreen display that mimics a movie theater's output and allows the viewer to see more of the screen. If you are thinking about purchasing a letterbox or 4:3 or non-widescreen television, think again. In a few years, all broadcasts from every channel will be in widescreen format. Therefore, when the signal is displayed, the widescreen image will only take up the middle of your television significantly reducing the size of the image. For example, a 53" letterbox would have a 42" making viewing less breath-taking Also, after prolonged viewing of the widescreen images, you will leave permanent but subtle "ghost-images" on the top and bottom of your screen which will be stationary black lines.

My family had been looking for a HD-upgradable television for a whole year before we made our decision. We visited many stores. For some reason, the PC Richard & Sons store we went to hooked up an HDTV receiver on the Mitsubishi projection televisions only. All of the other televisions were hooked up to a cable box. Out of these, the SONY KP-57WV600 have the best picture quality.

Now back to the HDTV on the Mitsubishi. The picture was amazing! There were images of flowers and images from space. The amount of detail was incredible! After sitting for a while, I thought I was looking outside of my window. Actually, the HDTV image was better than real life. I wanted to buy it on the spot.

BUT before making our purchase, I compiled numerous data regarding the specifications and features of several HD-upgradeable televisions. My goal was to find out what made the picture quality of the WS-55819 better than anything else.

(I don't recommend wasting your time doing what I did. It's all just a bunch of fancy words that mean close to nothing. For the person who's just beginning to understand television features and functions, reading about the subject would be very confusing. I recommend going to a store that has all of its TVs connected to one source. Then you can judge for yourself which has the best picture quality. SONYs generally have the clearest picture, the most attractive TVs, and great functions like Memory Stick readers, but this translates into higher price tags.)

This is what I compiled.

First and foremost: the television department of Mitsubishi specializes and only makes projection televisions. All of the research and development done by the team is dedicated to the advancement and improvement of HD-upgradeable projection televisions.

Mitsubishi's entire line of HD-upgradeable televisions is equipped with a more advanced lens that is designed to deliver an amazing 1080i HDTV picture when paired with an HDTV receiver. According to two salespersons, the lens of the Mitsubishi is better than the Toshiba and the Hitachi. The PC Richards in my area recently connected a Mitsubishi WS-55819 to a HDTV receiver. Mitsubishi's HDTV-ready televisions including the WS-55819, WS-65819, WS-55908, WS-65908, WS-55909, and WS-65909 have far better HDTV picture quality due to their high-performance lenses. Other televisions from other brands were primarily designed to perform their best now- without HDTV signals. Mitsubishi TVs are designed with the future in mind.

Mitsubishi's newest HD-upgradeable televisions are equipped with Microfocus CRT and DPM3, a third-generation pixel multiplier which increases the number of pixels on screen which makes lines look smoother and less blocky.

One unique feature that greatly enhances viewing experience is something called IRIS or Intelligent Room Illumination Sensor. This is a light sensor on the television that determines how much light is in the room. The brightness of the screen will change according to how much light is present in the room. For example, if the room is dark, the IRIS will dim the screen so that the image is not too bright. With other televisions, it would be necessary for you to turn the brightness down during night viewing to avoid hurting your eyes or squinting. The IRIS is a wonderful feature that even adjusts the colors and contrast on screen to make everything more realistic and exactly like what you see in a movie theater. Finally, a company besides SONY has thought of an innovative technology. Ask any other Mitsubishi TV owners; the IRIS is amazing.

If you buy this Mitsubishi TV model, you won't need to purchase an expensive progressive scan DVD player. Why? Because the deinterlacer that is built into this TV is most likely better or of equal quality to the deinterlacer that the progressive scan DVD player has. This deinterlacer or line-doubler is activated in the television's film mode which changes interlaced signals into progressive signals automatically without a progressive scan DVD player.

When viewing cable television, the picture is average for most channels. But to get a better picture, upgrade to digital cable or satellite. Even after the upgrade, picture quality remains mediocre.

I will judge the durability of the WS-55819 according to the durability of other Mitsubishi televisions. Everyone I know who has purchased a Mitsubishi TV in the past has had no problems regarding the durability of the TV. In fact, my previous projection television from Mitsubishi lasted and is still perfectly functional after 16 years of dedication.

The most flawed area of performance is the sound system built into the base of the TV. Both speakers are only 20 watts. To get the best sound, you should purchase a 6 piece surround sound satellite speaker system with a DVD player equipped with a built-in dts and Dolby Digital 6.1 decoder.

Bottom line

The Mitsubishi WS-55819 is an incredible TV with some innovative features and decent picture quality. It's great for the average user, but if you are willing to pay a couple hundred dollars extra, go for the SONY KP-57WV600. The new SONYs have the best looks, picture quality, and features.