Sum and Substance:

Thumbs Up:

Great video quality, awesome speakers, includes Vudu service.

Thumbs Down:

Lacks VGA port for computer connectivity, needs to improve in remote control and main menu system, and needs a subwoofer to get the best out of speakers.

Inside the Trunk:

Universal remote control – Infrared

The Whiz Kid Speaks:

Mitsubishi LT-52249 is a 52 inch wide screen TV with full HD resolution of 1920X1080, 1080p, Image aspect ratio is 16:9, LCD refresh rate is 120 Hz, it also has features like SharpEdge, PerfectColor, Integrated sound projector, UltraThin frame.

Input video formats include 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p, 480i. Computer resolutions which are supported are 1280 x 1024 (SXGA), 800 x 600 (SVGA), 1024 x 768 (XGA), 640 x 480 (VGA), 1920 x 1080, 1365 x 768, 1280 x 720, 1064 x 600, 898 x 480. The TV has total audio output of 52 watts. The TV doesn’t have a VGA input so computers can be connected only through HDMI.

Connectors on the panel include 2 x HDMI input ( 19 pin HDMI Type A ) – Rear, 1 x Digital audio input (coaxial) ( RCA phono ) – Rear, 1 x Fixed/variable audio output ( RCA phono x 2 ) – Rear, 2 x Audio input ( RCA phono x 2 ) – Rear, 1 x Composite video / component video input ( RCA phono x 3 ) – Bottom, 1 x Composite video / component video input ( RCA phono x 3 ) – Side, 1 x USB ( 4 pin USB Type A ) – Side, 1 x Composite video / component video input ( RCA phono x 3 ) – Rear, 1 x Subwoofer output ( RCA phono ) – Rear, 1 x Digital audio output (coaxial) ( RCA phono ) – Rear, 2 x HDMI input ( 19 pin HDMI Type A ) – Bottom, 1 x Audio input ( RCA phono x 2 ) – Bottom, 1 x Audio input ( RCA phono x 2 ) – Side.

Razzle Dazzle:

Normally TVs in this class sport hidden speakers and on the front, all you get a clean sheet of black glass. Manufacturers hide speakers in order to make it pretty. Mitsubishi LT-52249 however, doesn’t care about what other TVs are doing; they have come up with speakers in the bottom of the screen. This definitely looks a bit ugly but the 16 speakers in the front have excellent sound quality. The presence of this panel of speaker also makes the TV tall. The frame of the TV and the base stand is glossy black but we don’t mind that much since this glossiness won’t attract a lot of fingerprints since you don’t touch the TV much.

Inside Dope:

Mitsubishi LT-52249 is the company’s latest offering in the high end range and the company really does it in style with the included speakers. Usually we avoid talking about speakers in TV reviews because they are pretty entry level. If you are really an audiophile you would ditch the TV speakers and invest in a separate audio system. However, this TV has a panel of speakers below the display which give mind blowing out put of 52 watts. However, the presence of the speakers ruins the look of the TV to a certain extent.

One of the TV’s worst features has to be the awful remote. All the keys look the same and it is difficult to tell them apart by their feel. There is no separate aspect ratio button on the remote. The bundled remote is universal and it control four gadgets at a time but with such a poor remote we doubt if you will use it. The main menu is as poorly constructed as the remote control. It often lagged and we were staring at the screen waiting for the hourglass to disappear. What was even more frustrating was that the TV lagged even for simple functions like volume control.

On the bright side, there is “More” button that has shortcuts to the features like video and audio presets which we use a lot. Overall we think Mitsubishi has a lot of catching up to do with other brands when it comes to remote and menu design.

The speakers on the TV are great and deliver awesome sound quality. The external bars on the TV have some advanced setup options. You can change the layout and room dimension information, change levels and adjust angle. There is an output for subwoofer which is used to connect an external subwoofer and there are preset modes like night, stereo and surround.

Interactive features on the TV, just like the speakers, is another highlight of the panel. Mitsubishis interactive features include movies from Vudu, TV shows on pay-per-view basis and stream on-demand capability. LG was once the only TV which has Vudu service but now Mitsubishi has joined the bandwagon so LG is no longer enjoying a competition-free market. We checked out Vudu on LG panel when the latter came in our test center, the video quality was like Blu-Ray, absolutely superb. The highest quality movies are all housed in HDX category but it comes at a price and you need a high speed internet connection to exploit these services to the fullest.

This TV doesn’t support streaming videos from sites like Netflix or YouTube however it does a lot in the internet section. We tried Pandora, a free internet based radio service and were stuck on it for hours because of the brilliant speakers. If you are a shutter bug freak you will the support for Flickr and Picasa. Other fun features include games like solitaire which is available in 2 varieties and On Demand TV – a video service that is made up of podcasts and short clips. “Now Being Watched” gives you a Google Map of the United States and it shows who all are using Vudu service right now, though we don’t know why this is done. We think the latter feature is more of a gimmick with Mitsubishi trying to say “look what we can do!”

For picture controls, the TV has 5 picture modes, two of them are known as ADV which, as the name suggests, are for the advanced users. The other three are basic adjustable features. Basic controls include Film Mode setting for 2:3 pull-down processing, setting called PerfectTint for hue tweaking, PerfectColor features to decode adjusting color, Deep Field Imager to tweak brightness and contrast, edge enhancement selection, three-position noise reduction feature and two presets for color temperature. The ADV mode contains settings for advanced users like controls for color temperature fine tuning, color management scheme and gamma presets.

For high definition source input, you get 4 options for aspect ratio and for standard definition, there are 6 options. There are no power saving features that big TVs these days are known to have. However there is an option to switch off the display and listen to just the audio. This is great if you are putting in an music disc or listening to Pandora. There is a fast Power On feature which boots the TV really quickly (normally it takes 20 seconds) but this increase the power consumption.

For connectivity, the back panel has four HDMI ports, antenna input, 2 component video inputs and digital coaxial and analog stereo audio outputs. There is a separate bay which houses a component input, an antenna input and 2 HDMI ports; this panel is located on the bottom so as to provide easy connectivity when mounted on a wall. Finally there is a side panel which has a component video input, USB port and Ethernet jack however it doesn’t have an HDMI port or VGA port for computer connection.

The TV had great video quality, the color representation was accurate and the black levels were deep. The sound quality undoubtedly was one of the best we have ever seen in a LCD TV but for best results use a subwoofer.

Nitty Gritty:

Mitsubishi LT-52249 belongs to the high end family of LCD TVs which means it comes at a premium. However with the great sound, Vudu service and finally great video quality we think it is worth it.

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