New 2010 Mitsubishi:
Here is a first look at one of the new Unisen Immersive Sound televisions from Mitsubishi.
The Unisen line expands on the 149 series offered last year from Mits. The principle behind these sets is that they not only offer great pictures but combine them with a powerful on board sound system without the need for additional electronics or speakers. They are available in three trim levels 151, 153, 249 series. Available in 40, 46, and 52" sizes
First impressions:
Out of the box and even before you plug the Mits in it exudes the feeling of a premium product. The thin bezel and clean lines make it a very attractive presentation. New this year is a glossy screen that gives it more of a plasma like look opposed to the mat finish that was used last year.
While most TV manufactures are trying to hide their speakers Mitsubishi is putting them right where they belong, up front. It has been a consistent complaint from my clients that the on board speakers from most of the manufactures sound thin and don't voice dialogue well.
The back of the set is plane but well laid out with connections being easy to reach and well spaced. Being in the custom integration business one of the first things that I look for is to see if all the inputs are accessible when attached to a wall mount. I know this sounds basic but you would be surprised how often this has actually been a problem and not just from the tear two manufactures the big guys have done it too. I'm happy to say that the Mits passes the wall mount test.
By the numbers:
The 153 has the usual features that you would find on a TV in this price point. It also has some pleasant surprises. There are four HDMI inputs, One USB for music or photo,1080P 120Hz processing, and a smart input management system that only enables the inputs that are physically connected to a device.Then there are the surprises. An integrated 16 speaker sound bar, dedicated subwoofer output, direct IR input, auto calibration microphone for optimizing the sound for your room, and a digital coax audio input for adding digital audio from a none HDMI source. I was very pleased with the feature set available on this TV.
The experience:
Once we got the Mits connected to our Sony BD player and our HD Dish Network system it was off to the races. Initially like most TV's out of the box the Mits was way over driven. Using the THX optimiser disc that we have around the store we were able to quickly get the Mits into shape and looking good. The color control system that Mits uses is far superior to most on the market; allowing you to adjust six separate color and their tint. These settings are set per input allowing for separate optimal settings per source. While the picture was very pleasing with good color, decent black levels and low noise the real story here is the sound. We paired the TV with a paradigm 8" subwoofer using the TV's subwoofer output and put it through its paces using a Blu-Ray version of Top Gun.
It was immediately evident that this TV has some serious audio chops. Even without running the auto calibration setup the sound was dramatically superior to most $500 home theater in a box systems. It only got better once we calibrated the system for our room. Paired with the Paradigm woofer the system had plenty of impact to fill a small to medium sized room. Now I'm not going to say that this system sounds better than a nice component based surround system but considering the ease of use, the cleanliness of the presentation, and its retaliative performance I think its a great value. I would however definitely recommend adding a subwoofer to the system as we did here. Without the sub the sound is loud but defiantly lacking the bass impact the we all associate with home theater.
The Bad:
I did have a few gripes about the TV. First off the factory remote has horrible button spacing and is a pain to use. Second Mitsubishi's menu system (they refer to it as Jade & is a new system for this model year) is cumbersome to use and not as responsive as we would like. Third the subwoofer output on the TV is way to hot, meaning that you have to turn the gain way down on your subwoofer to keep it from clipping.
The Verdict:
All in all this is a very strong product that offers a great value when you consider the sound aspect. If your somebody who is looking to do a modest homtheater system on a budget I would have no hesitation recommending The Mitsubishi 153 Unisen TV. Its combination of sexy styling and performance make it a real contender in today's crowded TV market.
-The AV Addict
*for a full list of specs click on the link below
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