
Seemingly every vendor and their dog is spruiking their own LCD television sets, and though Mitsubishi have been producing TVs for quite a while, this TV belongs not with the vendors, but their pets.
Mitsubishi Diamond Digital DV321 |$2199 |
For: Good amounts of black; minimal motion blur
Against: Cartoonish images; poor detail resolution
Verdict: A cheap screen that is well and truly trounced by competition from Baumann Meyer and Reality
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You see, this TV behaves every little bit like its bargain price suggests, and less. One of the main problems with this unit is in the images it produces. Firstly, the Mitsubishi is unable to resolve subtle gradations of colour, instead it produces distinct banding akin to a plasma TV. In fact, the effect can be almost cartoonish.
Levels of black are very good, but contrast and the ability to reproduce fine detail are lacking. Whereas, some of the screens we looked at in the last issue were able to resolve details such as skin pores, the Mitsubishi struggles to reproduce even the basic look of skin itself.
On the plus side, even though the panel is only rated at 12ms, there is very little blurring on fast motion, which is good for action or sport, though there is still a slight tendency for judder.
Styling is quite good, if a little like a desktop monitor, and the swiveling base and detachable speakers are nice, yet functional, touches.
The menu system is straightforward and easy to navigate. The supplied remote handset feels a little cheap in the hand, but it is relatively well laid out.
The unit has an onboard analogue tuner, which is not really worth writing home about.
The sweet spot problem we noticed with the NEC is even worse here, with any off-axis viewing (say, by more than 15 degrees) washes the screen out completely. And similarly, shadows are green and not the normal shadow colour.
The LCD panel marketplace is incredibly competitive at the moment, and this disappointing effort from Mitsubishi is likely to be swept aside for the true bargains.