An HD DVD (remember those?) of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford provided me with an excellent opportunity to watch the Mitsubishi strut its stuff. Viewing a wintry scene where Jesse (Brad Pitt) and Dick Liddil (Paul Schneider) descend on a farmhouse in search of a fellow outlaw, a range of subtle highlights could be seen in the play of sunlight on snow. Combined with finely rendered details like rough fences encircling the barnyard, weathered planks lining the barn's exterior, and bare tree branches in the background, this all added up to a clean, realistic picture, with the HC6000 delivering almost window-like clarity.

The Mitsubishi's color was consistently vibrant on the reference discs I checked out. Reds were a bit too vibrant on a few scenes but the greens looked balanced, if just a tad yellowish. Even on a period film like Jesse James where the color palette barely extends beyond gray, brown, orange, and green, the HC6000 managed to flesh out an impressively wide range of subtle hues. And it also delivered natural-looking skin tones. For example, in the strangely choreographed scene where Jesse's cousin Wood Hite (Jeremy Renner) is killed, distinct tonal differences could be seen between Hite's flushed, enraged face and the pale, fearful countenance of Robert Ford (Casey Affleck).

Checking out the Blu-ray Disc of Pan's Labyrinth, I was impressed by the dark blacks that the HC6000 delivered. In a scene where the young girl Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) enters her mother's room shortly after their arrival at the villa, shadows in the corners of the room were satisfyingly deep, while details like carved patterns in the medieval-looking bed as well as creases and folds in the bunched-up blankets came across clearly. But this kind of performance was only possible with the Auto Iris function switched on.

The HC6000 also did a great job upconverting regular DVDs - no surprise with the Reon chip onboard. And its noise-reduction settings (for eliminating random, mosquito, and block noise) proved very effective in smoothing out lousy-looking programs delivered by my digital cable service.

BOTTOM LINE

The HC6000's standout Auto Iris mode delivers consistently punchy-looking, filmlike pictures without the compromises usually associated with that feature. And it's also dead quiet - a big plus if you use it in a small- to medium-size room. Beyond that, the projector looked great with every source I threw at it, from high-def discs to regular DVDs and cable TV. The HC6000 isn't just a step up from Mitsubishi's own HC4900 model; it represents a substantial leap over much of the low-cost LCD front-projector competition. S&V

TEST BENCH

Before Calibration

After CalibrationBrightness (100-IRE window) 14.7 ftL / 14.3 ftL

The HC6000 delivered fairly accurate out-of-box color reproduction with the Mid (medium) color-temperature mode selected, although its green level was down slightly across the entire grayscale range. Tracking measured ±180 K of the 6,500-K standard from 20 to 100 IRE. Adjustments made to the red, green, and blue brightness and contrast controls in the User Color Temperature submenu helped to improve gray- scale tracking, which afterward measured an impressive ±123 K from 20 to 100 IRE. Color-decoder tests revealed only a mild -5% green error for both the HDMI and component-video inputs. Compared with the SMPTE HD specification for digital TV colors, measurements showed mild oversaturation for all colors, although oversaturation of the red point was more pronounced.

The Mitsubishi's measured 14.3-ftL postcalibration brightness was slightly below average compared with that of other projectors I've tested recently, although picture brightness was never an issue. With the Low lamp mode and Auto Iris 5 mode selected, the projector's best-case contrast-ratio measurement was 1,257:1 in my medium-gray home theater.

A 1080p multiburst test pattern viewed via the projector's HDMI connection was displayed at full resolution. But 1080i and 720p signals viewed via the same input showed interference on the highest bursts with both patterns - a situation that didn't hold true for the component-video connection. - A.G.

Color temperature (Medium before/User mode after calibration):

20 IRE: 6,609 / 6,559 K 30 IRE: 6,587 / 6,514 K 40 IRE: 6,429 / 6,623 K 50 IRE: 6,500 / 6,455 K 60 IRE: 6,320 / 6,483 K 70 IRE: 6,422 / 6,569 K 80 IRE: 6,365 / 6,521 K 90 IRE: 6,365 / 6,560 K 100 IRE: 6,367 / 6,540 K

Brightness (100-IRE window): 14.7 / 14.3 ftL

Primary Color Point Accuracy vs. SMPTE HD Standard

The HC6000 managed to deliver fairly accurate out-of-box color reproduction with the Mid (medium) color-temperature mode selected, although its green level was down slightly across the entire grayscale range. Tracking measured [+/-]180 K of the 6,500-K standard from 20 to 100 IRE. Adjustments made to the red, green, and blue brightness and contrast controls in the User Color Temperature submenu helped to improve the projector's grayscale tracking, which afterward measured an impressive [+/-]123 K from 20 to 100 IRE. Color-decoder tests revealed only a mild -5% green error for both the HDMI and component-video inputs. Compared with the SMPTE HD specification for digital TV colors, our measurements indicated mild oversaturation for all colors, although oversaturation of the red point was more pronounced.

The Mitsubishi's measured 14.3-ftL postcalibration brightness was slightly below average compared with that of other projectors I've tested recently, although picture brightness was never a real issue . With the Low lamp mode and Auto Iris 5 mode selected, the projector's best-case on/off contrast-ratio measurement was 1,257:1 in my medium-gray home theater . Once again, this measurement was below the average of other projectors I've tested, but my subjective opinion was that the Mitsubishi delivered consistently satisfying picture contrast when its Auto Iris mode was active - more so than several other projectors I've tested that measured better on this spec.

Overscan measured 0% for 1080i/p-format high-definition signals with the projector's variable Overscan adjustment at its 100% setting. A 1080p multiburst test pattern viewed via the projector's HDMI connection was displayed at full resolution. However, 1080i and 720p signals viewed via the same input showed interference on the highest bursts with both patterns - a situation that didn't hold true for the component-video connection. Picture uniformity overall was very good. I did see a slight amount of pink tinting on higher-IRE full-field test patterns, but it wasn't in evidence when I watched movies.

Not surprising for a projector containing a Silicon Optix HQV processor, the HC6000 aced all the tests contained on that company's high-def and DVD test discs. Its performance here basically guarantees that 1080i-format HDTV programs displayed on the projector will look solid. Upconversion of DVDs and standard-definition TV programs was very good, and the projector's video noise reduction processing proved very effective at removing grain and noise from pictures without eliminating detail.