Customer Reviews

Mitsubishi WD-65733 65-Inch 1080p DLP HDTV

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I bought this set in June '07- about a month after it was released. Unfortunately, I am returning it to Amazon and have bought something else.

This set has a big, beautiful picture. It also has an annoying whine- coming from the back- which I think is the color wheel spinning. I didn't notice this in a store because of other noise- but at home- I couldn't help but notice. To me, it was irritating and distracting.

I already have a Samsung DLP, also with color wheel, but I don't notice any whine from it at all. Nor from others I'd looked at.

I checked, and other buyers have reported the same thing on AVSForums-- one of which had a Mits service person state the noise was normal for this set. I'd also gone back to Best Buy- and sure enough- their display did the same thing.

I am very particular about noises like this- so if you are too at least listen to this before buying. I wish I could have kept it... but alas...

I recently purchased this set and here are my initial observations

THE PROS

HD Picture Quality

This set has stunning HD picture quality. I find myself sometimes looking at programs I wouldn't otherwise be interested in just to see all the amazing details. Like other high def sets, especially large ones, non HD programming definitely tends to look worse than an analog TV. Fortunately, the remote allows you to instantly switch to smaller formats if you find the pixelation too annoying. Depending on your room, you may also be able to sit further away from the screen but this loses some of the immersive quality for which you presumably bought such a large screen.

Size

Kudos to Mitsubishi for achieving such picture quality on such a large screen while maintaining a depth of less than 16". I am able to fit this TV nicely inside my entertainment center just as if I had bought a much more expensive flat screen plasma or LCD.

Three HDMI Slots

This is a plus over sets with only two although, of course, I would like to see 4 or five slots. Why HDMI ? HDMI gives you the highest quality so choosing perpherals with HDMI output makes sense if you want to take advantage of this set's picture quality. Why so many ? Well, ideally you would have one for:

1)cable or satellite box
2)DVD player
3)HTPC
4)Camera Dock with HD output (e.g. the Kodak Z812)
5)Camcorder Dock with HD output (e.g. Sanyo HD1000)

I also like the fact that you can hide unused inputs and customize their names.

Value

I believe this is a transitional period in the high def TV market so spending a lot of money doesn't make sense as next year you will get it for 1/3 or 1/2. However, sacrificing picture quality to keep it cheap also doesn't make any sense as does waiting another five years for the market to mature. This set provides a good quality to price ratio with a decent set of features right now.

THE CONS

Motion Blur

Significant pixelation during moving scenes. Given the spectacular HD images when the picture is relatively static, it is especially jarring. I will confess I haven't yet taken the time to research this,especially to see if it is any worse or better than other DLP sets of comparable size.
There could be many factors involved: the inherent magnification resulting from viewing such a large screen from a relatively small distance, the fact that my cable box only puts out 1080i, the content itself. I will need to investigate further and if I find anything, I will add more comments.

Cooling

Others have talked about a whine. Some have said they don't hear it. I can say there is definitely fan noise. This thing has a lamp comparable to a searchlight and thus needs some heavy duty cooling. Most likely the reason for the varying comments is the fact that the fan is temperature controlled. The hotter the lamp gets, the faster the fan goes. At higher speeds I can see how this might be perceived as a whine. At lower speeds it's just a hum. Also, typically, in my case at least, the noise is masked by other things. For example, my HDR's drive seems to always be spinning and, of course, the TV sound itself typically masks the noise. I probably wouldn't have noticed it except for other reviewer's comments sensitizing me to it. However, it's currently cold here so the fan is running at its low speed, I will have to wait for summer to see if it really becomes a whine and also to see if I have the problems with the unit shutting down due to temperature.

Sound

The sound from this TV is pretty bad. Looks like it was an afterthought.
(Note: at a minimum, be sure you go in and crank up the bass and treble settings. This offers at least a small improvement). Additionally, to minimize the front real estate dedicated to speakers, they are only given a slot through which to radiate the sound. The common wisdom is that you'll be hooking it up to AV system so it doesn't matter. I disagree. A home theater system is great when you're watching a movie or other "big screen" show but just watching the evening news with surround sound and a subwoofer is, at least for me, sensory overload. Also, yoking the set to an AV system for all TV watching is an inconvenience. You either need to select multiple devices in sequence to turn them on and adjust volume, have multiple remotes or use a fancy remote like the Logitech Harmony. Even with the Harmony (which I got for free from Vann's with this set), powering on/off multiple devices is not practical given that they use the same code to power themselves on and off. If you don't have the remote pointed just right (or the battery is low), one will turn on. When you press the on button again, the first will turn off and the second on.

At the very least, they should provide a switched outlet and an audio out that tracks the volume control like my old Sony XBR did. If they did that, at least you could buy some powered speakers and put them under the TV as a permanent replacement and they would be completely integrated with the set. Unfortunately, the Mitsubishi's audio output does not track the volume setting and there's no switched outlet so I'm still trying to figure out what to do.

Vertical Bowing on Left Side

I have learned that, without a trained eye at least, you will probably not see bowing or other forms of geometric distortion on one of these large sets unless you are displaying something with a high contrast horizontal or vertical line. You can check for horizontal bowing,at the bottom of the screen in a store at least, by asking the store sales person to put on a news program that has a ticker at the bottom. Based on this I discovered that the Samsung 6176S, which I almost bought, had significant distortion at the bottom. There was nothing in the store to reveal vertical distortion so I only discovered it when I got home and displayed the channel guide from my cable box. I got more experience with it when I hooked up my Mac Mini. The screen with the Mac mini is gorgeous but there is a slight bow on the left side of the screen only.

CONCLUSIONS

One might ask why I bought this TV given all the cons. The simplistic answer was that, for the choices currently available on the market, the pros outweighed the cons. My top priorities were the three pros: Excellent HD picture, slim cabinet, good value.

One of my principal reasons for upgrading to an HD set was to use it as part of an HTPC where I could access the internet, view all my photos and videos etc. I also wanted a big screen to get a true immersive experience and finally, wanted it to fit nicely inside my entertainment system cabinet to help streamline and remove clutter from my room (my previous proj TV stuck out 6"). With the exception of the slight vertical bow at the left, this set does a great job at all of these.

If money were not an issue, I could have gotten this terrific quality and size without any of the bad points by buying a top of the line LCD but that was not an option. As I mentioned earlier, I don't think this is a good time to spend a lot of money on one of these TV's. Instead, I believe I will be happy with this for the next four or five years. After that I should be able to buy a comparable LCD TV with all the good points and none of the bad, and probably for less than what I paid for this set.

I am thrilled with this TV. Can't beat the price and the picture is absolutley beautiful. The guy who installed our HD said it was one of the best pictures he has seen. This is our first HD set after having a 50" Pioneer Projection TV for the last 10 years and couldn't be happier. The picture is bright and perfectly clear. The first week it was just receiving an SD signal and I was impressed with that. HD is WOW! Sorry for the folks that have the buzzing problems, but there is not of that with ours.

This has the best DLP picture I have seen.
DLPs can be a bit grainy. This one is not.

As far as the buzzing noise, this does not seem to happen on all units.
The first unit I got, did buzz. I took that one back and got another which is buzz free. In addition, none of the mitsubishis on the floor (at Fry's) buzz.

The only thing I can think of is that my first set was manufactured in June 2007. The second one July 2007. So maybe this is something that was fixed.

Now I am totally happy with this television.

Watching sports in HD is just amazing.

This is a great looking set with a fabulous picture. There is NO whine that some people have whined about..... I can't wait to get HD added to my satellite.
The only problem was getting it here. I ordered the combo with the base, which also fits the set perfectly and interlocks the two together. Amazon uses a 'white glove' service called Eagle. They don't deliver to my area so they subbed it out to another carrier. None of the companies had my correct telephone number. After sitting for a week in Atlanta, the base finally made the 90 mile trek to my town but they had the wrong phone # so they couldn't get a hold of me and back it went. After multiple phone calls and emails to all three companies. the TV was delivered 3 days later but no 'white glove'. Only one man showed up and he couldn't move it in and inspect it. Back it went.... The next day the delivery finally happened.
Be careful with the white glove treatment. They are supposed to unpack and remove all packaging, but the warrantee requires you to package the tv in the original packaging to return it. Rock and hard place problem! The packaging is BIG!!!

Summary: We are happy with the tv and the deal we got. Not at all happy with the delivery and the lack of response from ANY of our emails or telephone calls. I don't know that we would do this again with a major appliance.

The picture quality is the best of any DLP HDTV on the market. I viewed just about every DLP available, the WD65733 I purchased is second to none.
The operating manual is an easy read.

Wish I had read the review below before buying. This TV's humming sound is completely unacceptable. What a shame, the picture is fantastic although I seem to notice that the upper corners are not as bright as the rest of the screen.

This tv is going back to the store. The whine or humming sound is not subtle, you will hear the noise and it will annoy you. I've tried plugging the unit into a high quality power conditioner thinking it might be voltage issue, but nothing seems to get rid of the sound.

I originally planned to get the 70" Sony SXRD, but this Mits was less than half the price, almost the same size and almost as good a picture quality. I still think the 70" Sony is out of my price range, so I'll be getting the 60" Sony SXRD. I'd rather have a smaller quiet picture than to live with this noise.

Update: Some reviewers claim the problem is the cooling fan. That's not true, the fan noise is low and acceptable, it is the color wheel that makes so much noise. You can tell, becuase the whining sound goes away when you first turn the tv off. At that point the color wheel stops spinning, but the fan keeps cooling for 2 minutes. You can hear the cooling fan when you first turn the tv off, but it is almost inaudible.

I ended up getting a 67" Samsung instead of the 60" Sony I mentioned above; size does matter. The picture quality is very good, but probably not as good as the Mits and certainly not as good as the Sony. Still my neighbors and friends say it has the best picture they've ever seen. It has a color wheel (and cooling fan of course), but the sound is very quite, much much quiter than the Mits.

The first thing we looked for in a TV was the picture, and mitsubishi really hit the nail on the head there, the colors are beautiful, however quite substantial motion lag is noticed. I liked the picture of the Samsung DLPs more, but they were also considerably more expensive.

I have hooked my laptop up to the screen via the PC connection and the picture is AMAZING, but have not tried out the usb input yet. The number of HDMI's is fine for me. The interface is pretty good, it is simple to switch between inputs and the sound is OK, but as some other reviewers have said, some fiddling with it is necessary.

The fan is quite obnoxious if you are close to the TV, but at a regular sitting distance for this TV(about 15-20 feet) It is not noticeable. I have never been bothered by the sound of the cooling fan other than when I go back behind the TV to connect something. It is quite loud then, and the fan is really quite forceful, it blasts hot air out of the left hand side and kept blowing things off of a shelf we had next to it. This leads me to question how the TV would operate without the ventilated location it has in my home, and that it might easily overheat.

The one thing that I really dislike about this TV is that the bulb burnt out after only 8 months of use. We sent for a new one under its one year warranty and it shipped actually quite quickly. So their customer support was impressive, but I just don't understand why the bulb on this one doesn't last. We had another DLP TV before this one and the bulb on on that one never burnt out. I can only hope that the new one doesn't burn out because by that time it will be out of warranty and these bulbs run for around $250. Yikes!!!

Bought this tv a couple of weeks ago and I have the buzzing sound that others have talked about. Had a repair guy come out from the service department and he said this was the third call this week for this set, said its a problem with this model's color wheel and the higher rpm and some of them "whine" pretty high.

He said it will get worse and that I can just ask for a replacement TV or replace the color engine or he recommended I just ask for another brand if the new TV does the same.

Well, It is a terrific movie watching machine. Sad that the price has come down 50% in only 9 months since I bought it at Amazon. BUT the big deal is the inconvenience of the power shut off due to lack of air flow. I have it in a great location with an air conditioning vent supplying direct cool air and have had to add two auxiliary fans (one on both side) to blow air into the box ... this set should have had a faster flow fan with much better venting in the chassis! If you don't mind turning up the sound so the noise of the outside fans isn't such a distraction, it has a great viewing picture! I watch DVD movies and they are all beautiful, I also changed to a Denon HDMI AV with a Sony HDMI DVD player, awesome system (Bose speakers!).