Digital Light Projection televisions are racing to become the new standard of the digital age; several companies have embraced them with the fervor of the converted. Plasma and LCD televisions are making their own bids for dominance. But these days, most manufacturers are saying little about CRT-based television, which remains the biggest-selling technology—by reason of price, picture quality, and consumer familiarity.

The Mitsubishi WD-52628 is one of the best-looking RPTVs I've seen, with a bright, detailed, three-dimensional picture, deep blacks, and vivid yet natural colors. It also happens to be one of a new crop DLP rear-projection TVs on the market that use TI's new 1080p DLP chip.

How things have changed. Just a couple of years ago, bringing a 57-inch TV into my studio meant wrestling with a 300-pound gorilla of metal, glass, plastic, and particle board. I'm still trying to figure out how to get my 51-inch Hitachi CRT out of its room so new flooring can be installed. But when Mitsubishi delivered their new WD-57731 for review, I could almost have moved its 88 lbs. by myself had it been in a more compact package. As it was, two delivery persons hauled it into my house without breaking a sweat.

• $3,199
• 65" single-chip DLP (wobulator)
• 1920x1080
• Key Connections: Dual HDMI and component inputs, IEEE 1394

Features
With its 65-inch (diagonal) screen, the Mitsubishi WD-65835 is the second from the largest set in Mitsubishi’s full-featured Diamond line. But it’s a lot lighter and more maneuverable than you might expect.

The set offers a full array of the usual video and audio connections. Plus, it includes the increasingly common USB port for viewing your JPEG photos. There is no RGB computer input. You can only connect a computer via a digital link to one of the HDMI jacks.

I could make some witty comment about how difficult it is to use the typical home theater, but, at this point, that would be a cliché. Basically, unless you take a great deal of care or spend considerable funds on a touchpanel-based control system, it's likely that, at best, only one person in your house will be able to play a DVD in the correct aspect ratio with 5.1 sound. To be honest, I'm surprised more people don't just read a book. It would certainly take less effort.

Everybody loves new toys. When you're a geek like me, new toys come in the form of test equipment. This year, Christmas came early for the Home Theater video department, as we finally got the OK to buy an HDTV test-pattern generator. Woo-hoo! OK, so maybe test-pattern generators aren't your idea of fun. Maybe a 73-inch rear-projection TV is your idea of fun. Well, we got one of those in, too.