Movies were fun to watch on this projector for their color and black levels. As with other Mitsubishi's, however, I did have a significant problem with rainbows and they don't, for me at least, go away with time. Having interviewed enough people about this phenomenon, I no longer authoritatively say that everyone will experience rainbows as significantly as I – since everyone's perceptions of them are different. For me, the timings Mitsubishi uses (in this case a 4-speed, 7-segment wheel) wreak havoc with my optical system. My best recommendation to anyone is to try out this projector in your own home to see how you react. Don't look for rainbows, lest you find them, but find out if typical viewing material (include some high-contrast images with vertical line patterns) creates a problem for you.

Rainbows aside, I really enjoyed both the color and the detail this system afforded me. The better the signal you feed this projector, the better the results you will get – and you can get REALLY nice results.

HD DVD - Batman Begins
This movie came out rather dark, as though the transfer was done poorly - the problem is we know that the transfer was flawless base don other projector reviews. Thinking back to my luminance graph I quickly realized that setting this projector "by the book" will result in some crushed blacks - at least in my experience. When setting black levels (Brightness) be sure you can raise the value a notch or two higher than normal. Unfortunately, this raises your blacks overall, but I’d rather than than lose the detail present in DVD and HD-DVD images. There were moments of real detail and exceptional opportunities to see how well the HC1500 handled gradients, skin tones, deinterlacing of motion elements and detail. Batman Begins was a very enjoyable movie to watch, and the Mitsubishi HC1500 gave an impressive performance. Any perspective anomalies in the photos below are likely due to the camera angle and type used and not the projector.

Both color and detail were present and beautifully portrayed through the HC1500 projector.

The problem with having a nice projector and a great movie like Batman Begins, is that I quickly got lost in the story and took entirely too long to grab some of these beautiful screen captures. It is a sure bet that you will enjoy the images shown by the HC1500 – they are stunning.

HD DVD - We Were Soldiers
This HD DVD is best described as a DVD that was reprocessed into HD DVD without much ado. The images are grainy, but the detail pokes through at various times throughout the film and black levels were honest and not crushed or clipped. Colors were vibrantly shown by the DLP system and overall this reminded me of how standard definition DVDs looked like on the HC1500 projector. The system doesn't enhance poor images, but it does a great job of allowing the best possible picture to shine through.

Blacks were rich and deep; and colors popped during the scenes that didn't involve the rather barren landscape of Vietnam.

HDTV – Discovery HD Channel
I watched several shows on Discovery HD, including Build It Bigger and Into the Lion's Den. Both had some excellent imagery (as expected) and I was floored by the detail exhibited by the Mitsubishi. This projector can really show off a nice image – the key is finding them. With this unit you will find yourself watching more and more HD content and quickly becoming an early adopter of HD-DVD formats simply to have more material to view on the big screen.

Notice the hair detail in the above picture and the lack of crushed whites in both. This is partially due to the correct setting of White levels (Contrast) and disengaging the BrilliantColor feature.

Here are some additional screen captures form a DiscoveryHD promo I simply HAD to display:

Detail, detail, detail! And colors are absolutely vibrant – you will not be disappointed with this picture.

Conclusion

I give the HC1500 my full recommendation with a hearty warning: If you are susceptible to rainbows I highly suggest you get a look at this model before jumping into a purchase. To my eyes this was a significant issue, more so than other DLP models I have reviewed recently. This projector is worth a serious look – especially at the street pricing you'll find on this model. It's absolutely mind-blowing to me that we live in a time when a projector can be had for this price possessing the level of features and amenities that come with the HC1500. If you break it down into price per square inch, you are saving a bundle by going with front projection at this price – as of this writing you can barely get a decent 40-inch LCD TV for the same money. RUN to your nearest Mitsubishi dealer and check this one out for yourself – you owe it to your wallet.