DLP video projector is a good option for the image-conscious.

The DLP-based Mitsubishi XD300U is certainly bright at about 2100 ANSI lumens, especially for a video-centric projector designed for light-controlled environments.

That's taken a while to prove, and a new generation of DLP technology doesn't hurt. But at least a few manufacturers are starting to pay attention to video and turning to DLP for video quality. In January, I reviewed NEC's DLP-based video projector for business and home theater, the HT1000. Here I look at Mitsubishi's entry into an emerging class of affordable business video projectors that pay more than lip service to moving images.

The HT1000 was a completely new video projector, but Mitsubishi's XD300U represents a more gradual evolution. It's actually a revision of the older XD200U, one of the first affordable projectors to license Faroudja's DCDi de-interlacing expertise, and the XGA-resolution XD300U continues on the same course. Smaller design steps mean the XD300U still serves data-mode business projection very well, but thankfully, video is not just along for the ride.

DLP technology, of course, has had some great success in video projection and has been — even going back to that conversation with Texas Instruments — the technology of choice for most very high-end digital cinema projectors. Of course, those models all use three Digital Micromirror Devices and eschew the color wheel of micro-portables. Is it that color wheel, blending synchronized flashes of red, green, and blue (and most often clear for brightness), that compromises the quality of motion video in the smallest of today's projectors?

TI's latest-generation DMD, known as Double Data Rate (DDR), moves information twice as fast, giving the micromirror more timely image information to display. Even older micromirrors could move tens of thousands of times per second, but if the device isn't getting data fast enough, all that speed is just put toward displaying old image information again. That might be all right for projecting static computer images, but video needs to keep moving.

Faster processing sounds great, and there is a noticeable improvement in the single-chip, DDR-based projectors hitting the market now. But just as much of that improved quality has to do with better video components that now mark the trend toward quality — beyond just small and cheap. Going back a couple of years, when the name of the game was intensely smaller, brighter, and cheaper, the tendency for data projectors was to get by with inexpensive video circuitry and image processing. After all, showing spread-sheets was job one. But poor quality components, ineffective scaling and de-interlacing, and noisy analog-to-digital conversion all breed noise and result in the poor video quality of most past DLP-based portables.

With the 6.6lb. XD300U, Mitsubishi is paying attention to those video-processing pieces. Continuing to license Faroudja's DCDi de-interlacing technology, for instance, results in smoother diagonal lines and fewer motion artifacts for the projector.

The company has also been doing some very good work of its own on color reproduction through past generations of projectors. The proprietary ColorView color matrix allows users to adjust individual colors without affecting the entire color scheme. That's impossible, of course, if you think about the color parabola. An adjustment to red, for example, necessarily shifts oranges, yellows, pinks, and peaches. ColorView literally recalculates the color matrix upon any user changes to individual colors. The effective result is the appearance of no change to any other color. The XD300U also supports the standard sRGB color scheme in data mode.

Along with Mitsubishi's individual color-matrix controls, the XD300U has individual color temperature controls for adjusting brightness and contrast for red and blue. There are gamma mode presets for standard, dynamic, and theater.

For the XD300U, Mitsubishi has stuck with a native 4:3 resolution, rather than 16:9. As a product intended to serve the business video market, that's probably the right choice. 16:9 makes more sense for straight home-theater projectors focused on the one task of showing widescreen movies, but too much of today's content still takes the familiar 4:3 shape of most TV sets and cameras. What's more, TI still charges a premium for its 16:9 version of the new DDR DMD chip, and economies of scale for light engines simply mean that the price can be a lot lower for a native 4:3 product.

On the other hand, Mitsubishi has made an odd choice on cabling for a product that reputedly targets video usage. There are two computer inputs via 15-pin RGB ports, and one 15-pin pass-through output, bolstering the XD300's effectiveness in business and classroom settings. There are two video input channels, each with an independent S-Video and RCA composite jack. That redundancy is terrific for multiple video sources, save the less-than-ideal mini-jack for line audio. However, all of these choices apparently come at the unfortunate expense of a dedicated set of component inputs.

The XD300U does offer component video input, but it's not by a standard set of RCA or BNC jacks. Instead, component signals enter through three of the 15 pins in computer input #2, thus requiring a splitter cable. Of course, 15-pin-to-BNC splitters are available at many specialty electronic stores, but they are hardly as common in an A/V closet as spare BNC and RCA cables. I was lucky to have one (just one) in the lab when, as can happen, my test unit inadvertently arrived without that very component splitter.

The XD300U includes a standard Kensington Lock feature to physically lock down all projector functions without a key — a mild theft deterrent for public display situations. Also, for installations everywhere — from special entertainment venues and clubs to company boardrooms — the XD300U includes a splash-screen still capture and store function for displaying a logo at startup or during idle times.

Both vertical and horizontal keystone correction are on board, as are some surprising adjustment capabilities. Shutter adjustment for top, bottom, left, and right sectors of the screen help deliver a sharp image, even if the setup location is not ideal.

I measured the XD300U's brightness at 2013 ANSI lumens, and that's within an acceptable 5% margin of Mitsubishi's claim of 2100 ANSI lumens. More importantly, more than 2000 lumens is an impressive output for any data-oriented projector in the same class. It is, on the other hand, considerably brighter than most video-centric projectors (including the 1000-lumen HT1000) destined to display movies in light-controlled environments. In turn it's arguably a little too bright to display the rich blacks of film-source material. Yet the XD300U is primarily a business video projector, and the extra brightness can hardly be considered a big drawback in display environments as diverse as nightclubs and boardrooms.

Mitsubishi also claims a contrast ratio of 2000:1 (full on/full off), and I got pretty close to that with 1847:1. However, that number can be a little misleading. By the ANSI checkerboard, I measured a far more modest 147:1 contrast ratio. That's by no means poor — 100:1 used to be a very acceptable virtual standard — but today many projectors get over 200:1. My measurements put uniformity at just under 80%, and that's a little lower than I'd like to see.

Still, the XD300U's image quality is nice and sharp — easily sharper than the more highly processed picture of the HT1000. Colors in video mode are quite good, although subtle hues are not as rich and blacks are nowhere near as deep. But that does not mean color is bad; it's just less vibrant than in NEC's model. Overall, the extra sharpness can make the image quite agreeable.

At $6,995, Mitsubishi's XD300U carries a clear premium for its attention to video, at least compared to similarly sized data-oriented units that can sell for half the price. But compared to other projectors that produce similar video quality, it's a step in the right direction. If you're image-conscious, the XD300U is indeed worth looking at.