I got an email last fall that said if I did not post, I would be purged... And I recently got an email from Mitsubishi inviting me to comment on the TV I purchased in the fall of 2009. So I thought I would go ahead and say something.

Previously, I had a 65" Mitsubishi 3-tube RPTV set. I got it in 2000 or 2001, I think. I loved the set. In 2005 I moved, and a few months later, I changed from cable to satellite. About 2 years ago, I upgraded my satellite from Standard Def to High Def.

The difference was astounding. We thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the HD picture. One tiny flaw bugged me, though. In order to expand a 4:3 broadcast to 16:9, Mitsubishi (and perhaps others) stretches the picutre horizontally. But the stretching is minimal at the center of the screen, and maximum at the left and right edges. This keeps faces and whatever else may be the main focus of your attention from being overly distorted in the center. It is assumed that stuff near the edge of the picture is less important than the "center of attention".

This had an odd effect during a side-to-side pan, where something woudl be stretched then compressed then stretched again.

In late 2009, we came into a little extra cash from selling a vehicle. My wife wanted a new sofa, and I bargained with her to get a replacement TV in exchange (hee hee).

I bought a Mitsubishi WD-73837 RPTV, up from the 65" we had. It has HDMI inputs which the older set did not. I was initially a bit suspicious of the technology with the lamp focused on the Texas Instruments "magic mirror", reflecting onto the screen. But reviews were good, so I took the plunge.

Wow. I'm glad I did. The difference between the old 65" set and the new 73" set was as impressive as that between standard def and hi def. This thing has a 180w bulb that provides the light. I am set on the "normal" default brightness setting, and this is the brightest, sharpest picutre I think I've ever seen.

I did have an early service call. There was a "blob" on the screeen. Mitsubishi sent a serviceman under warranty, and it turned out to be a chunk of dust sitting on the inside of the screen. Reaching in and wiping with a soft cloth made it go away. The picture is wonderful since, and I have never had any calibration done.

We feed it with HD satellite, and with a streaming Blu-Ray player. The satellite looks great, of course, and the Blu-Ray usually does, too. It has a hard-wired ethernet connection to our router. Some of the streamed content is hi-def, but not all. Blu-Ray disks look incredible, and 480p DVDs look almost as good. The Blu-Ray player upscales to 1080p. If you're not thinking about it, the difference isn't obvious.

We haven't messed with 3D, and have no plans to do so any time soon.

Bottom line: This is by far the best TV I or any of my friends have ever owned. We have hosted the Super Bowl for the neighborhood for the last 2 seasons. It's by far the nicest TV on the block!

AZ Mountaineer
Northern Arizona