A lot of reviews on the various audio products we offer at Audio Solutions have been written up, so for a change we thought it might be good to have a look at one of our large-screen visual products. In this case we’d like to give our thoughts on the recently released HC7800D full high definition 3D projector from Mitsubishi Electric.

We set up the projector in our upstairs showroom and decided to start by checking out the 3D performance. The HC7800D is sold as a package, with four pairs of 3D glasses included with the projector, making it great when buying for a family. The projector has a 1500 ANSI lumens brightness, which allows for a little ambient light in the room; however the image looked best with the light turned fully off and the curtains drawn

After only a few minutes viewing “Avatar 3D”, we can safely say that the HC7800D delivers the best 3D performance we’ve seen from a projector at this price range, which can be attributed to the technology built in to Mitsubishi Electric’s newly designed  3D glasses. The glasses are active state models, however we didn’t get the significant drop in brightness you usually see with these types of glasses – it was barely noticeable here. Crosstalk, or “ghosting” as it’s also known was non-existent even with fast moving images, and the glasses were really comfortable – after watching the movie for a good 2 ½ hours our eyes weren’t feeling strained at all.

Next, we hooked up a Playstation 3 to see how well the HC7800D performed with 3D gaming. We tried two 3D compatible games out here – “Killzone 3” and “Batman: Arkham City” – and like “Avatar”, fast moving images were smooth and easy to view in 3D with no crosstalk visible, and the sense of depth we got really added a new dimension to the gaming experience.

Video quality with 2D viewing was also superb. Images were bright and easy to view, with the HC7800D’s high contrast ratio (up to 100,000:1) providing vibrancy to the colours on-screen. Playback of HDTV broadcast, Blu-ray discs and also regular DVDs was impressive, with every scene being reproduced in fine detail. This HC7800D comes with frame rate conversion technology, which ensures that images reproduction is great no matter what the source.

All in all, we found the HC7800D to be an excellent projector, and would highly recommend to any customer looking for a mid-range range home theatre model that supports 3D playback as well as 2D.