As far as projectors are concerned, Mitsubishi has traditionally been associated with the business end of the market. This translates to 4:3 aspect ratios, and the sacrifice of contrast range for brightness so that pictures stand out better in well-lit conference rooms. Such characteristics, however, don't tend to equate to cinematic visuals.

Thankfully, the company's HC2000 is aimed squarely at the burgeoning home cinema market. Sourced from Optoma - which sells a physically identical projector with a similar specification - the HC2000 is based around the new-ish HD2 DMD chip, a 16:9 device with an HDTV-ready native resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels.

Mitsubishi claims that thanks to its use of the HD2 , the HC2000 can offer a contrast ratio of 3,600:1. This isn't quite as high as the supposed 5,000:1 of TI's latest DarkChip 3 variant, but the manufactured figures seldom mean anything in the real world.

Aimed at the middle sector of the home cinema market, the HC2000's bulk gives the impression you're getting something for your money. A more plausible reason for its larger-than-usual size is attention to cooling details that have helped reduce fan noise to a mere 23dB.

Enjoyment of quiet passages during movies - with the projector only 1.5m above the viewing position - was not impaired at all. Fan noise (and colour-wheel whirrs) can be quite obtrusive in smaller viewing rooms, and so Mitsubishi should be congratulated in this regard.

On top of the unit is a lens-shift adjustment, plus controls for (electronic) zoom/focus setting, source selection, automatic display positioning (for computer use) and menu access. Most of these functions are also available via the compact remote handset, which benefits from a switchable key backlight.

Ready for the future

On the back panel is a barrage of future-proofed socketry. First up, we have a RS232 serial port for remote system control. There's a DVI input, which supports the HDCP encryption of recent kit. Older projectors without HDCP-compliant DVI ports simply won't yield pictures from such sources. Note that the DVI input can also be interfaced with HDMI sources, provided the relevant adaptors/cables are used.

Experimenting with a Zinwell QS1080 Euro1080 box reveals that the DVI input will accept both standard and highdefinition (1080i/720p) signals - at 50Hz as well as 60Hz.