Mitsubishi HC6500

The basics

The Mitsubishi HC6500 LCD full-HD projector has two HDMI v1.3 inputs, a contrast ratio of 15,000:1 and a brightness level of 1200 lumens. It also has a 2,000 hour lamp life, built-in lens shift and weighs 7.5kg.

The good

What better recommendation for a home cinema projector than the fact that its parent company also makes beer (Kirin lager)? Settle back in your chair with two of the Japanese super-conglomerate’s finest products, enjoying the crisp bite of Kirin while the HC6500 pumps fizzy 1080p colours directly into your brain. Black levels are stupendous for the price, while there’s brightness to spare in any but the sunniest rooms. Visual processing is first class, powered controls allow you to make adjustments without letting your lager get warm, and the 5000-hour lamp life (in low power mode) is positively economical.

The bad

While brightness is good, if you stretch the HC6500 beyond 110 inches, you’ll start to see the strain. It loves 24p Blu-ray footage but copes less impressively with plain old Freeview. And to be honest, at around a grand and a half, it’s still on the pricey side.

The bottom line

Domo arigato, Mitsubishi-san! Top Japanese build quality plus attention to detail and powered everything make the HC6500 a very flexible projector indeed. Now if we just promise to use Mitsubishi power stations for our next public infrastructure project, can we have a small discount?