Mitsubishi Unveils 82W-inch Rear Projection HDTV

[Gregg Lengling]

Greg Tarr
TWICE
4/11/2003 6:00:00 PM
   Dallas - Mitsubishi introduced to its dealers its 2003-04 product line featuring what it calls the 'largest integrated rear projection HDTV set' an 82W-inch LCOS-based unit with full 1080p resolution and input capability.

Called the 'Alpha 82', the LCOS rear projector will carry a $20,999 suggested retail price when it ships this fall. It will join the company's 65W-inch, DLP rear-projection model, which continues in the line up.

Mitsubishi senior vice president of marketing Bob Perry said the set incorporates an ATSC digital tuner, with QAM cable demodulation and improves upon some competitive LCOS 1080p models in the market by adding inputs that will accept the full 1080p signal streams. Competitive models, he said, have inputs that will accept only up to 1080i signals.

The Alpha 82 is the highlight of an HDTV line that includes eight upgradeable CRT rear projection monitors, 11 fully integrated HDTV CRT rear projection sets, five plasma display monitors (spread over two series) and two wide screen HDTV LCD televisions with integrated NTSC analog tuners.

The new HDTV rear projection monitors will be offered in two series - the Silver, with prices ranging from $1,799 to $3,199 and the Silver Plus, with prices between $2,099 and $3,399. Each series features screen sizes of 42W-inch, 48W-inch, 55W-inch and 65W-inch.

Most models this year include the new PerfectColor System enabling independent control of six colors and advanced Multimedia Video Processing, which reduces artifacts in up converted images.

Mitsubishi also announced a second generation to its Promise Module, which last year added ATSC tuning, NetCommand, and digital interface capability to its HDTV monitors. This time the Promise Module takes the form of a set-top box, which will work with both Mitsubishi HDTV monitors, and for the first time, with any other vendor's HDTV monitors.

The 'HD-5000 Network Controller' carries a $1,699 suggested retail price and offers a built-in ATSC over the air tuner with QAM cable demodulation and adds NetCommand, IEEE1394 with DTSCP copy protection to HDTV monitors that were produced before specifications for the digital interface were available. Outputs include HD component video, and RGBHV.

[StarvingForHDTV]

Wow the Alpha 82 sounds pretty neat.  1080p must look amazing.  82" is a big jump as well.  I'm not willing to pay suggested retail, so I'll keep waiting.  Thanks for the news though.

Starving