Mitsubishi WT-46805 46 in. TV

I finally did it. After pondering about whether to spend substantial amounts of money on a TV set, I finally purchased a big screen TV. Initially, I planned to buy a regular big screen TV, figuring on spending $1500 or less. Then I thought...if I was going to spend big money on a TV, how about getting an HDTV? My final analysis was this...in a few years chances would be good that I would want an HDTV anyway. So I took the plunge and spent $2700 on the Mitsubishi WT-48605.

At 46 six inches, it is the perfect large screen TV for living rooms on the smallish side. The WT-48605 is Mitsubishi's entry level HDTV (actually HDTV-ready). It has a 16:9 aspect ratio, so it's great for viewing widescreen DVD's. Some of it's features include PIP, and POP, which allows you to view up to 9 different programs at once...although when you would actually need this feature is beyond me. It has 4 inputs, including a convenient one in the front...good for hooking up your camcorder on occasion. It has component video input, which supposedly delivers higher quality video pictures than S-video when hooked up to a DVD player. I was shocked to learn that the recommended component cables that you're supposed to use can cost over $100. It has something called "diamond shield" which is an option on lower end Mitsubishi TV's, and it is supposed to enhance video picture quality. Regular 4:3 aspect ratio movies and TV shows can be viewed in 3 formats. It can be stretched horizontally to fill up the 16:9 ratio widescreen, but this makes everything look fat. It can be magnified without stretching, but this results in decreased visual resolution, and some elements being cut off the edge of the screen. It can be cropped side to side, giving a grayish border on either side of the picture.

The picture quality is excellent when viewing DVD movies using the component video hook-up and a DVD with progressive scan capabilities, such as the Toshiba 5109. I actually bought the component video cables for $69. The picture is sharp and very clean. I am getting digital cable in a week, so I'll have to wait to see how that works out. So far I haven't tried getting regular antenna reception because there aren't many clear signals where I live, but I suspect the picture quality will be nowhere near that of DVD. The TV set is capable of displaying great images, the limiting factor is the source of the video. I've heard that the picture quality isn't all that impressive with regular cable signal.

I have a few problems with the set. First, there is something called a 64 point convergence process which allows you fine tune the color guns in the TV to give a better picture. You are supposed to aim the red and blue gun separately to aligned with the green gun. The problem is, it's easy to do with the red, but extremely hard to do with the blue. It requires superimposing red and blue lines on a grid pattern, but the blue lines sort of blend in with the background so I can't tell if it's aligned properly or not. The other problem I have is that I've heard that to get maximal picture quality out of this TV set, you need to call in a technician (an ISF technician...I don't even know where to find one)to do other fine tuning work inside the TV set. I've heard that this produces exceptionally stunning picture quality, supposedly better that merely doing your 64 point convergence adjustment. Why should I spend another $200-$300 for this kind of adjustment? Shouldn't the TV be functioning optimally when I've just bought it?

In the end, I am very happy with my set. My DVD movies look great, and I am very optimistic that once I get digital cable, I will be pleased with the result on my TV set. I've heard about a few picture quality and power tolerance problems with this set, but I've not had any such problems so far.