Mitsubishi WT-46805 46 in. TV

I've had my 46805 since May 2000, and while it isn't made any more (the 46807 is a distinctly different beast) I feel it may be worthwhile to write a review of it anyway, as I'm sure stores still have backstock and there will probably be a few sets on the used market.

It's a 46" widescreen projection TV, but you knew that already. It supports progressive HDTV (sounds like some sort of communist thing) as well as normal NTSC.

It's really an entry-level product, and whether or not to buy it depends entirely on the price. It isn't worth retail; it has too many problems for that. The price I paid was for a demo model, and I feel I got my money's worth.

The image quality is quite good after a proper setup. When I first got the TV it had been sorely mistreated and was horribly misadjusted--it was on "full burn" contrast level, the convergence and geometry was way off, colors badly screwed up, lenses badly out of focus. (At first I attributed this to being on the shop floor, but it turns out they often come this way from the factory.)

After a few hours of adjusting things were better. Focusing the lenses and doing an electronic focus made a world of difference, and between that and adjusting the color/contrast settings with the help of the Avia Guide to Home Theater DVD it looked really good.

The biggest drawbacks to the set are the lack of image scaling in progressive HDTV mode (this means that non-anamorphic DVDs played in a typical progressive DVD player will show stretched or squished images), the fact that the blue gun simply cannot be sharply focused (and for that matter none of the lenses in the box are real great quality), and this other little annoying thing...

This model has often-noticeable problems with vertical wavy lines. It apparently varies from set to set; mine has it bad enough that it shows up during a few movie scenes. It's much more noticeable with solid screen images (solid gray is the worst). Some 46805s have it very badly and it's noticeable all the time, while others don't have it at all.

It's apparently a cable shielding problem, and how bad it is depends on exactly how the internal wiring is run in the set. It hasn't been bad enough on mine that I've wanted to do anything about it (it's only obvious when watching certain scenes on the Avia test disc or during certain scenes on two DVDs) but it's something to watch out for.

The on-screen controls are occasionally annoying to use (the menu controls aren't exactly intuitive--they seem to take more button pushing than I'm used to), but I don't use them often enough that it's a problem. The per-input controls are really nice, as is the fact that you can name the inputs (they can be labeled "DVD", "VHS", "GAME" etc. which makes it easy to keep track of which input is which).

I only use my set to watch DVDs and VHS tapes and for playing video games so I can't comment on how well it works with cable or satellite. I also haven't used the builtin speakers, so I have no idea if they're any good.

I find I have to tweak the convergence a little once a month or so. I don't know if this is typical for projection sets, but it doesn't take long so I don't regard this as a huge problem. I did have to do some heavy adjusting of the convergence via the service menus when I first got it (red and green were separated by .25 inches in places, and the "normal" convergence controls just weren't adequate).

Would I get it again? Yes, but only at the price I paid; I wouldn't pay more than that. I'd much prefer the current model...

The 46807 (current model) apparently has a builtin image scaler for progressive mode viewing which is a big benefit, but only if you plan on using progressive mode... and it sounds like they solved the wavy line problem. They've also locked out most of the service menus, which is simply lame; a lot of things that were adjustable in the 46805 (like the color decoder and image doubler) aren't adjustable in the 46807, which is an unfortunate decision for those of us that like to get the most out our sets.

I originally got the 46805 because I live in an apartment and don't have room for a larger projection set, and I wanted something that did widescreen HDTV (which ruled out Sony's WEGA series). It does both of these, but if I realized how big an issue the lack of scaling was going to be I would've chosen a different model (tho the good price on a demo model was definitely a factor). Fortunately more and more new DVDs have an anamorphic mode so I probably won't care a couple of years from now.

If you want something that works flawlessly out of the box, this ain't the set for you. Sorry Mitsubishi, but you're going to have to do a better job of adjusting the sets before they're shipped. And, gosh darn it! Quit setting the contrast and brightness to "full burn", it looks awful. (I won't bother commenting on the way-off default color settings.) I didn't spend hours adjusting the set controls because I enjoy it; I had to in order to get a reasonably good image.

For a lot of incredibly useful information about the 46805/46807 and other Mitsubishi sets, try http://www.hometheaterspot.com. This is a non-commercial site that has a very active Mitsubishi user forum, and the site owner has provided a lot of useful Mitsubishi projection TV info.