Mitsubishi WD510U Projector - Image Quality

Posted on October 9, 2009 by Art Feierman

Mitsubishi WD510U Color & Picture Quality

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To start, I brought up my usual text spreadsheet to see how the projector handled different resolutions. Starting with the WD510U’s native resolution (1280 x 800), small (8 pt.) text was sharp and very readable on a 90” diagonal projected image. This was also true of the spreadsheet’s white text-on-black and yellow text-on-dark blue backgrounds as well. Mitsubishi’s processing of resolutions greater than the native 1280 X 800 was among the best I’ve seen, especially in a relatively low-priced projector. There was almost no discernable difference viewing the text spreadsheet at 1600 X 1200 through the WD510U.

The WD510U suffers from the usual DLP issues with color rendition. In its brightest modes, reds and greens are too dark and yellows look mustardy. That’s not to say that photographic images and video look bad, but they lack the depth and saturation of its LCD competition. That being said, if your primary presentation needs are focused on spreadsheets and charts, not photographs, the WD510U’s image sharpness and decent contrast ratio will be a better choice than most of the LCD competition.

I then tried the WD510U’s “Wall Screen” feature with a light brown wall. Starting with the Beige setting and adjusting the level slightly, I was able to produce an acceptable image, with colors that looked fairly natural. While not something you’d use all the time, the “Wall Screen” feature really does allow for a spur of the moment presentation.

Turning to video presentations, the WD510U did a solid job with DVDs played on my laptop. In Theater mode and if properly calibrated, it has decent blacks and acceptable skin tones. Again, as is typical with DLP multimedia projectors, colors looked much more natural in Theater mode. Standard mode, with its decent brightness levels and better color rendition than Presentation mode, works well for video or TV viewing during the daytime without having to eliminate all external light. The built-in 2W speaker has limited value due to its low output and should only be used in a pinch and in a small room.

As is the case with most multimedia projectors, there is a movable electronic zoom (called Magnify on the WD510U) that allows the user to zoom in on a particular section of the screen. This can be very handy for pointing out details in photos or charts. You can also freeze the displayed image or mute the image and audio via buttons on the remote.