Mitsubishi WD-73738I’d like to make two points clear at the onset. One, I have always been a bit suspicious of glowing reviews I’ve read out here, suspecting somehow they had been written by people associated with the company producing the product being reviewed. And two, although I have purchased other less expensive items online, I have always had a great fear of buying large ticket items, such as this television set, online.
I had resisted buying an HDTV mainly because I wasn’t comfortable with the drawbacks inherent in each type of set, e.g. burn-in for plasma sets and dropped pixels for LCD sets, plus the fact that the picture on most of these sets gradually deteriorated as each day went by. My current set had been a 45 inch Mitsubishi DLP television, whose picture was still as sharp and clear as the first day I turned it on back in 2001. Plus, I had never had to replace even one lamp during this almost ten year period. So I was definitely a Mitsubishi fan, despite some of the problems I’d read about with certain of their earlier DLP high definition models.
But the thing which really motivated me to finally purchase a Hi-Def set was the day I watched my first 3D demonstration at a Best Buy store. It was amazing and all I could think of after that was watching my favorite sports teams in 3D. So I began a long and very arduous research process, mainly online. It finally brought me to this particular Mitsubishi 3D ready set, despite the negative reviews given to certain earlier Mitsubishi models. (Whose warranties Mitsubishi did extend for two additional years) And, it seems as though many people bought Misubishi sets without ever being aware that, under varying circumstances, they may have to replace their lamps from time to time.
At any rate, I eventually took the giant leap of faith and ordered my new Mitsu 73 inch HDTV from Amazon,com. Mainly because I had made other smaller buys from Amazon.com with no problems and I have to admit I liked the idea of free shipping and no state taxes on a large ticket item like this, which saved me around $260.00. Anyway, the big day arrived and while I had had many earlier concerns over how the delivery would be handled, I was delighted to find how smoothly the actual delivery process went. At the time of purchase, the delivery was scheduled for 7/22/10 between 8:00 AM and 12:00 PM. They actually arrived at 10:15 AM on 7/22/10. As I was extremely relieved to find, the two men handling the delivery actually brought the stand and set inside my apartment, in that order, and carefully unboxed each item. They then gave me plenty of time to carefully inspect each item for any exterior damage. They then carefully placed the set on the stand and even turned on the set to make sure the initial blue screen appeared. So, it turned out all my delivery fears were absolutely unfounded. The delivery could not have gone better.
After they left, I waited for a bit and then began hooking things up. After plugging everything into my new surge protector and making the required connections, I turned the set on and went through the required set-up routine, making all the picture settings which had been recommended on several Hi-Def forums for the earlier version of this model. These seemed to give me a very nice initial picture, even though I feel I may have a bit more tweaking to do to suit my individual preferences. But after briefly watching some college football and professional golf, as well as an episode of The Sopranos, I believe all my research has been well rewarded and that I have purchased the perfect set for me. There have been a few who told me they would never have anything to do with Mitsubishi sets, but as I told them, I will remain a huge fan until such time as my set proves otherwise. In addition, I will mention that I did purchase a SquareTrade extended warranty for this set, as I would have done for any item costing this much money. The cost was little enough to provide peace of mind for four years. And, as I later learned, my Visa card automatically extends the warranty for a fifth year.
So I suppose this review is exactly the type that would have inspired me to believe it was written by a Mitsubishi employee. Nothing could be further from the truth. I just feel I did my homework and bought this item from a reliable E-tailer and hopefully, I will be enjoying my new Mitsubishi 3D HDTV for many years to come.
Reviewed by : Honest Abe, July 23, 2010
VIZIO M220VA