HC1500 Introduction and Basic Setup

I like to include budgetary concerns in most of my shopping articles and buying guides. It's important and conveys my desire to see everyone make the best purchasing decisions they can within their means. With front projection prices dropping, these products are starting to becomes the bargains of the century in terms of price per square inch. We missed the boat on checking out the HD1000U and absolutely jumped at the chance to recoup our losses and get a close look at the new Mitsubishi HC1500 projector. The attraction is a clean system that handles up to 720p for a retail price that is less than $1000.

Things We Really Liked About This Projector

Continuing the above thought, Mitsubishi has entered a projector into the marketplace with several very nice convenience features which help distance it from the pack and set it apart:

• BrilliantColor
  While not new, this function is nice in that it allows for a quick way to eek out more brightness to suit the time of day and ambient lighting conditions in your viewing room. It's almost like a built in day and night adjustment, however when activated it will crush your white levels so use sparingly.
  
• 12V trigger
  Many times this feature gets left out of lesser-priced units. It's nice to know that the HC1500 can be used with a motorized screen if desired.
  
• Price & RS-232C
  At under $1000 you really can't beat this 720p projector for getting HD into your living room without breaking the bank. To also include RS-232C control options (with clear codes at the Mitsubishi website) is absolutely unreal in terms of value.

Basic Setup and Installation

We placed the projector high up on our stand and configured it to hit our 100-inch Stewart Studiotek 130 screen. We found the throw distance was longer than we typically encounter and it required about 12 feet to fill our screen completely. Keep this in mind as you will need to position the unit precisely in your room due to the absence of lens shift. As always, we recommend avoiding any keystone adjustments.

Throw Chart for Distancing the Projector from a 16:9 Projection Screen

Here's a quick guideline for setting up the HC1500 to best meet the various available screen sizes.

As you can see, you may require some additional distance in order to fill your screen completely. This isn't a big deal unless you have a room that is shorter in length or you find the need to place the projector closer to the screen due to other physical restrictions of the environment.

The projector itself comes with an AC Power cable, RGB (HD15) cable, RS-232C cable, remote control (including batteries), lens cover, Quick Start card, User Manual and a Safety Manual. You'll need an HDMI or component video cable if you're planning on using either of those inputs (recommended.)