Mitsubishi LaserVue 65" HDTV World Premiere
The LaserVue L65-A90 is a high-end HDTV, and it's got the specs to match. The 65" display sports 1080p resolution with "Plush1080p" up-conversion for lower resolution signals. You also get 120Hz image interpolation tech, dubbed "Smooth120Hz." It uses Mitsubishi's 6-color processor with the new LaserVue Light Engine to produce two times the color of any other consumer HDTV. That's close to 200% of the color gamut for BT.709, the standard for High Definition television content.
As far as inputs go, there are four HDMI 1.3a ports and two component inputs located on the rear of the display, with an additional component input on the front. There's also a PC/DVI port (with dedicated audio-ins as well) on the rear next to the "3D glasses emitter" port. To round things out, there are two RF antenna inputs and an S-Video input, should you need them.
Footprint-wise, the LaserVue set is somewhere between a Plasma/LCD and a traditional DLP (I specify traditional because, technically, the LaserVue is a DLP too). It's 12.5" deep with the stabilizing foot attached, and 10.6" deep without, for when you mount it on the wall. It stands almost 40" tall and weighs about 137 pounds. It's a large television, but the depth is really an improvement over traditional DLP sets.
One of the long-term benefits of the LaserVue technology is a significantly lower level of power consumption compared to other HDTV technologies. A Pioneer Elite 60" plasma requires 524W for operation; a Sharp Aquos 65" LCD requires 525W; Mitsubishi's 65" LaserVue TV only needs 135W. On average, the LaserVue required one-third the power of a comparably sized LCD and one-fourth of a similar plasma set. If you're dropping the suggested retail price of $6,999.99, you may not be as worried about your utility bill, but it's still good to see gains with regards to efficiency.
Our first demo experience with the LaserVue TV was a 3D demo set up in the trailer. We watched a short loop of 3D-enhanced footage, including two Star Wars scenes (which were amazing) and a trailer for an animated movie about flies that become astronauts and save the day, or something. We were provided some special glasses that synced up with the television through the aforementioned 3D glasses emitter. The 3D effect was pretty astounding, but the folks from Mitsubishi confirmed that there's still not much content available.
After we finished in the trailer, we headed into the store proper and checked out the comparison setup. One of the first things I noticed was the difference in color between the three sets. The reds on the LaserVue popped out vibrantly. The reds on the Pioneer and Sharp displays were more orange than I would have noticed without the LaserVue present. Earlier reports from CES stated that the colors on Mitsubishi's prototype almost seemed surreal, and I'd agree. We made sure the settings were as balanced as possible between the three displays, and the color performance on the LaserVue was still noticeably more impressive.
The blacks on the Pioneer Kuro panel were about as black as I have seen before, but I did see some crushing with especially dark scenes. The Sharp panel had the least observed black level performance of the three, with the LaserVue falling in between the two for most scenes. On the dark scenes where the Kuro was crushin', the LaserVue was better able to hold on to the details.
When we asked about life expectancy, the Mitsu-rep didn't quote any numbers, but he did tell us that the life expectancy for a TV with this technology was very high. They have yet to see a failure even in their accelerated stress testing, so they simply don't have any numbers to quote yet. What he did say was that over the life of a laser, there will be significantly less degradation of brightness or color accuracy (approaching none) as compared with other TV technologies, simply due to the nature of lasers.
By Cameron Baker, TheTechLounge
