Tour & Design
The front of the WD-82737 is dominated by the monster screen: this thing is huge and dwarfs everything else. It's surrounded by a small bezel on the top and sides, and a larger bezel at the bottom. Two speaker grilles are also present on the bottom bezel
Back
We weren't able to get a good shot of the back, but you can see from here that it shares the same large dimensions as the front.
Sides
One of the downsides of DLP projection TVs is that they aren't thin. Although the technology has improved over the years and they have got thinner than they were, they are still chunky. The WD-82737 is 22.7 inches deep.
Stand/Mount
The stand of the WD-82737 is built into the display; it cannot be wall mounted. But it is much lighter than an equivalent sized plasma or LCD screen: at 154.4 lbs, it could be placed on a sizable media center or other piece of furniture.
Aesthetics
If you want a TV this big, you'll need a big living room. And unless you live in a sports stadium, a HDTV this size is going to dominate the room. But the WD-82737 won't look like an eyesore; it has clean lines and a simple, straightforward look.
Performance Features
Display Size & Technology
The screen of the WD-82737 is 82 inches across, and the system behind it is a DLP (Digital Light Projection) working with a 180-watt light. Mitsubishi didn't supply an estimate for the life of this light source.
Formats & Resolution
The WD-82737 is a Full HD screen with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. This means it can display every pixels of a 1080p image, as well as handling all of the lower resolution signals that devices output, such as 1080i, 720p and 480p. It can also handle a 24 frames per second signal output by a high-end Blu-ray player.
Brightness, Blacks and Contrast Ratio
We were not able to test the depth of the blacks or the brightness of the whites on this demo unit, and Mitsubishi did not supply any information on these figures.
Color
The WD-82737 supports a new standard called Deep Color, where the device can send more detail in color, which could mean more accurate colors and a wider range of colors on the screen. Again, we were not able to test this claim out, and Deep Color is not part of the Blu-ray standard, so no Blu-ray or DVD players currently support it.
Motion & Refresh Rate
120Hz motion processing is included on the WD-82737, and we found that motion did look pleasingly smooth and pleasant on the demo that Mitsubishi were showing. But we'll have to wait to get a unit into our testing lab before we can draw any real conclusions on this.
Viewing Angle
Mitsubishi did not supply any figures for viewing angle, and this is often a problem with DLP displays; because they use projected light, the image quality often degrades as the angle of view increases. This was definitely evident on the demo unit we looked at, but it did look to be less than many older DLP HDTVs that we have looked at. But once again, we will have to wait until we get a sample unit into our test lab for a closer look.
3D Performance
Mitsubishi is also advertising the WD-82737 as being 3D ready, and they offer a pair of optional 3D glasses that can be used with an appropriate 3D video source to produce 3D HDTV. These use the shuttering approach; the LCD screen in the glasses flicks on and off 60 times a second, showing the alternate frames of video to each eye to produced the 3D effect. We were not overly impressed with the demo they were offering; the 3D effect was unconvincing and looked rather layered; objects were either flat on the 2D background, or seemingly hovering above it. Bright areas of the screen had a definite, and rather disorientating, flicker to them. However, we will reserve final judgment until 3D becomes more widespread, as the way this will be delivered to the user is still being finalized, and this will no doubt have a big impact on the quality of the final product. At the moment, it suffices to say that the technology is in its infancy, but the WD-823737 is being advertised as being 3D ready.
Connectivity & Media
Audio & Video Ports
Mitsubishi is a little stingy when it comes to ports and sockets: there are just 3 HDMI ports on the rear, of this display, plus two component video inputs and 3 analog audio inputs. In addition, there is a single digital audio and an analog audio output, an antenna input and a connector for the transmitter that works with the 3D glasses.
On the side of the display are another small number of ports: a single component and composite input, plus a service port. There are no HDMI ports here, so if you want to plug in a device such as a digital camera or camcorders that only has a HDMI output, you'll be crawling around behind the back of the screen.
Media & Other Connectivity
There are no ports for connecting USB devices or the Internet; this display can't show photos, play music or videos directly.
Placement
The side ports are, not to put too fine a point on it, in an awful location. They are located on the side of the main body of the display, which means that you can't reach them from the front. To get to them, you will have to move the entire display so you can climb around the back and get to the ports.
Audio
we were not able to test out the speakers on the WD-82737.
Controls, Menu & Remote
Remote
The remote of the WD-82737 was not available for us to test out, but it looks to be a pretty standard model
Controls
There are only a small number of controls on the WD-82737, and these are hidden away under a small panel on the front of the display. Under this, there are controls for volume, channel and activity, which controls the on-screen menu and can be used to trigger a number of tasks, such as watching a DVD (where the display switches to a certain HDMI port and switches the settings to a certain set of options).
Menu
We were not able to access the menu system of the WD-82737 on the demo unit that we looked at, as it was locked out to prevent people like us from messing with it. We tried pressing the button until a Mitsubishi representative walked over and told us to stop messing with their stuff.
Conclusion
Series Comparison
737 Series
The 737 series has three models; the 65' WD-65737, the 73' WD-73737 and the 82' WD-82737. All share similar specifications except for the screen size.
Meet the tester
Richard Baguley is a veteran writer who has written about technology ranging from Alphabet to Zip file utilities. He has contributed to pretty much every major tech publication, including Amiga Format Magazine, PC World, Wired, CNET, Toms Guide, Forbes, and many others. He lives in the Boston metro area with his wife, dog, and an indeterminate number of cats.
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