Mitsubishi WS-65813 65 in. HDTV CRT TV

This is my first review on Epinions.

Today is 29-Apr-2004. We've had this TV for about 2 months now. Bought it from GoodGuys for $4200 (MSRP $4999) because we bought another $3500 worth of additional stuff. I'm quite on the border of whether I should recommend that someone pay near the MSRP for this TV.

Picture: Don't get me wrong: the picture quality is absolutely amazing. We looked at Sony (LCD & CRT), Samsung (DLP), and Toshiba (CRT) and this TV had the best picture for around $5000. DVD movies and, more importantly, HDTV programming is just stunning. We've re-watched tons of movies on it already (before we had a 27" and 4:3 aspect ratio). The picture is bright enough to leave side windows open, but not the windows that are facing the TV even if you're not getting direct sunlight. Once the sun goes down the picture is really bright. The brightness is evenly distributed throughout the screen (unlike a Sony CRT model we saw that was brighter in the center than this unit, but dimmer on the corners). This TV is in a unique category of having 9" CRT tubes (most have 7" tube) which makes for better picture. Now the gripe. Bewarned that, while this TV will upscale 720p Over The Air HD signal to 1080i, this TV will NOT display 720p signal from an XBox. Which means that 30 or so XBox games (many more on the way) that are capable of 720p will have to be played in 480p (normal TV) resolution. There are currently only 4 games (with not many on the way) on the XBox lineup that are capable of 1080i and I hear that only two are worth playing. Acceptable viewing angle is quite narrow: anything wider than 50 degrees and forget it, but that's not a problem with us since our sofas are directly in front of the TV.

Sound: Dish out some cash and get some good surround sound speakers and receiver if you can. We spent $1000 on Energy Encore system and another $500 on a Denon Receiver and the difference is huge. Dialog, music, movie sound effects, and loudness is much better from the surround sound speakers and receiver. Sometimes the dialog is unintelligible on the TV speakers...especially on reality shows.

Enclosure/Cabinet: This unit comes in a gorgeous high-gloss black finish (think piano) that lets people know that this is indeed a high priced TV. The anti-reflective shield is not anti-reflective as I'd like it to be, but still better than a reflective shield, I guess. TV repair guy (I'll explain why he was there below) told me that there is actually less glare if you remove the shield so I did and he was right. Unfortunately, the TV is not as impressive looking (looks like there is something missing, which is true) so I leave it on and watch TV with the blinds closed. Besides, we don't have the space to safely store the shield without risking scratches. The shield is suppose to protect the more expensive projection screen that is behind it. This TV weighs close to 300 lbs.

Connectivity: There are plenty of connections for our 2 DVD players, 3 VCRs (don't ask), and receiver. I do wish that there were more than one DVI connection for future additions (such as HD receiver for Dish or DirecTV). We could get component cables for high-definition signals, but good ones are $200. DVI is great way to connect stuff to your TV and its much cheaper than good component cables such as Monster cables. For example: Samsung's DVD-HD931 DVD player with DVI cable is $300. Great DVD player.

Remote: Functionality is quite good. There's a button on the side that lights up the remote buttons green for searching in darkness. It can learn signals of other remotes so, if you spend the time, you can use just this remote to control everything. I do wish that is was smaller though, because the "Enter" button is too far away from the "Number" buttons.

GoodGuys: We bought the 5 year warranty, which comes with free calibration. Completely useless unless our TV breaks down in those five years which is highly unlikely. The guy they sent was not an ISF certified technician but a TV repair man. He asked what was wrong with the TV. I told him nothing and all I wanted was a calibration. He diddled with the TV a bit and left. Didn't even do a good job. Do yourself a favor and save $500. I'll update if our TV goes in the next five years. *crosses fingers*

Technology: Finally I'd like to address the different technologies that are available for TV. Do your research. Each TV display types (CRT, LCD, LCOS, Plasma, and DLP) have their pros and cons. Just about everyone thinks that rear projection CRT TVs (this type of unit) will be phased out by the others and I believe them. Picture on CRT, in my opinion, is still the best, but it won't be long before the others offer the same picture quality at less than half the price and with wider viewing angle. If I could wait a year or two for a TV, then I'd wait for a DLP or LCOS, but since I couldn't I got this TV and I'm quite happy with it.

Hope I've been helpful. Drop me a line about this review, otherwise I'll never get better at it.