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Video Review: Mitsubishi FL7000U “Corporate 1080p” Projector
It’s been a couple of years now since “1080p” emerged as the default resolution for high-quality home theater and motion video projection. Marketers bill 1080p as “Full HD” because it matches the highest native HDTV resolution of 1920x1080 and it’s the natural choice when top motion video quality is important. The caveat is that most smaller- to medium-sized, native 1080p projectors are designed for ambient-light controlled environments, like those home theaters and entertainment spaces, and don’t deliver the brightness needed in an open sanctuary.
That’s where Mitsubishi’s new FL7000U makes a great breakthrough. It’s a native 1080p projector with excellent image quality, yet it delivers 5,000 lumens of brightness as opposed to the 1,000-2,000 lumens of most home theater/entertainment-centric models. At roughly $15,000 (street), it also has a much lower price than the alternative large installation models that are often beyond the means (if not needs) of medium-sized houses of worship. (Mitsubishi now also offers a more affordable, lower 1366x800 resolution sibling, the FL6700U, with a street price of about $10,000.)
Mitsubishi coined the phrase “corporate 1080p” for this new type of high brightness, motion video to make a distinction between it and the data-centric projectors that usually populate larger boardrooms and smaller conference rooms. Yet the high lumen-high quality combination will certainly appeal to houses of worship where the ambient sunlight and sanctuary lighting can be a real issue for projected images.
The native 1080p resolution certainly targets motion video, as from a live camera feed or recorded video segment, and offers a very modern, cinematic appearance. Yet the native high-resolution wide aspect also offers the option of splitting the screen between two source inputs. For example, the extra screen width would allow for a side-by-side with a live camera of the pulpit speaker on one side and text or hymn references from a data source on the other. If both of those sources are 4:3, or are cropped to 4:3, aspect ratios, they will occupy the large majority of screen real estate in a very natural manner with black bars on the top and bottom.
Installation Options
By today’s projector standards, the roughly 22-pound FL7000U fits comfortably into the “fixed installation” class, and the chassis is built with that in mind. First, there’s a very convenient handle across the front of the case that makes it quite friendly to carry and lift into place. All of the connection ports are along the side of the chassis and there is an excellent array of connectivity options.
A 15-pin RGB and DVI-D, as well as a set of 5xBNC for RGBHV, all will serve for data inputs. For video inputs that BNC set can also be used for component video, including HD component. In addition, there is a set of 3xRCA component inputs, as well as the obligatory S-Video and composite ports. The FL7000U does include a 10-watt monaural speaker to go with its audio inputs, but most sanctuaries are likely to already have a more capable audio system in place.
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Jeff Sauer has covered the professional video and A/V industry for a dozen years and is an independent video producer and consultant in Massachusetts.
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