Mitusbishi iSP LT-52149 LCD TV with integrated soundbar hands-on

by Nilay Patel posted Oct 30th 2008 at 12:00PM

No, it's not the hot new LaserVue set, but we've gotten to play with Mitsubishi's new LT-52149 120Hz LCD with integrated soundbar for a week or so now, and while we're impressed with the soundbar's simulated surround, the picture quality just isn't there on the $3,799 display. First off, we're not at all sold on the value of 120Hz dejuddering -- it makes everything look like it was shot on VHS on a soap opera set. We're totally unclear on who likes this, since we think it's pretty nasty. It does work well with sports programming, but for the most part we just left it off and didn't miss it. We also saw some gradient banding issues on HD content, and SD looked terrible, leading us to believe the built-in scaler isn't all that great -- an issue on a large 1080p set where almost everything has be scaled or deinterlaced in some way. That said, there's always a chance we didn't spend enough time tweaking settings, since Mitsu lets you get pretty deep -- we liked the PerfectColor adjustments, and the discrete brightness and backlight controls were much appreciated. Speaking of which, the backlight is one of the brightest we've ever seen, and it makes a huge impression when you first see the display -- it's incredibly vibrant. Too bad the image quality didn't hold up to harsher scrutiny -- the integrated soundbar is super easy to set up, sounds good, and would have made this set a perfect choice for rooms where traditional surround systems don't work. As it is, however, we just can't see dropping nearly four grand on a less-than-perfect picture. Check the gallery for some more hands-on shots.

Gallery: Mitsubishi iSP LT-52149 hands-on

Filed under: Displays, Mitsubishi, LCD

Tags: hdtv, isp, isp 149, iSP LT-52149, Isp149, IspLt-52149, lcd, lcd tv, LcdTv, LT-52149, mitsubishi

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

Knots @ Oct 30th 2008 2:38PM

My shop sells this TV for $2700. Perhaps a typo?

Neutral

Troi @ Oct 30th 2008 1:59PM

Just to correct the review, none of the LCD TV's in Mitsubishi's line use LED backlighting. I heard a rumor maybe next year. They do however use rows across the entire back from top to bottom of full spectrum florescent backlighting. This is what gives it its brightness while the full spectrum lamps produce more accurate color. I do agree that the video processing needs some updating or improvement (HQV would be nice for a premium branded line). Also I am disappointed in all manufacturors and thier implementation of 120hz. I wish that one of the higher end companies would engineer TV's that display 30p and 60p at 120hz but use 5:5 processing when dealing with 24p not convert the 24p to 60p then to 120hz.

Highly Ranked

TrentD @ Oct 30th 2008 3:18PM

THANK YOU. I'm glad someone finally called a spade a spade and said that 120 Hz is a bad thing.

It could have been great for eliminating judder, but instead these companies interpolate frames and make it a big runny, uber-smooth mess. Film isn't made to look silky-smooth.

I literally almost get sick watching 120 Hz displays. I saw Sony's new 240 Hz displays at CEDIA, and they're even worse. It's creating data that wasn't there, and it ruins the experience.

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