Price Paid:  $1200.00 from Sound Advice

Summary:
This was my first rear projection television. I was using a Sony 27". I am amazed by the performance of this TV. Picture quality is great. I use this TV for watching DTV and DVD. For DTV, I use S-video and component for DVD. I know HDTV picture is better with a progressive scan DVD play, but that setup will cost 3 times as much. For the price you can not beat it. Build quality is great. Father-in-law has a 15 year old Mitsubishi that is still working. Remote is great.

Strengths:
The picture, sound, and price.

Weaknesses:
Sound department was a little lacking, but that really did not matter because I use the home theater for sound.

Similar Products Used:
I viewed other analog rear projections from: Sony, Toshiba, and Hitachi.

Price Paid:  $1400.00 from Brandsmart

Summary:
The picture quality of this television is excellent. My satellite is hooked up to the TV with an S-Video connection and the picture is very clear. But until you play a DVD, you won't be able to see exactly how good this TV really is. I hooked up my DVD player to the TV using component cables and I couldn't believe that I was watching a projection screen. I would recommend this television to anyone who is looking for an affordable large screen.

Strengths:
Picture Quality; User friendly remote control

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
Sony, Toshiba

Price Paid:  $1450.00 from BrandsMart (local Hi-Fi store)

Summary:
After exhaustively researching and viewing nearly every 'better' brand 50 inch projection television on the market, I finally decided on the Mitubishi. All the brands I tested and mentioned above really do project a very nice image, but the Mitsubishi line always seemed to be the leader in vibrant color richness, picture detail and sharpness. In fact, I found the picture to rival most HDTVs.

The remote control is effective and easy to use in conjunction with a very nicely laid out on-screen menu system. I read the picture convergence must often be set out-of-box to really get am ideal picture and I found this to be true of this T.V. Manually setting convergance (via two levels of adjustments) was fairly easy to figure out. Even without looking at the manual. It was also very easy to program the remote to operate my dish system. The buttons and functions operating (suprisingly)very much like the dish remote.

I'm a person who likes to upgrade equipment every few years. So, lack of HDTV is really a non issue for me. My viewing habits and the great price a non HDTV such as this can be obtained for made buying this model an easy decision.

In summary, this model provides an outstanding picture and very intuitive user interface. I recommend it to those like me who enjoy fairly regular updates to their home entertainment toy collection and don't yet see the point of paying extra for HDTV. Not owning it long enough to for an opinion on reliability, based on brand reputation, I expect this to be a very reliable piece of equipment. I hope I'm not dissapointed.

Strengths:
Picture Quality, Ease of adjustment, on-screen menu system, brand reputation, price

Weaknesses:
Really, none thus far. Unless, one considers non-HDTV a weakness

Similar Products Used:
Extensive demos of comparable Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba models.