November 19 - 4:30pm EST   Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America on Wednesday announced the release of two new 500-series projectors with the wide-format WD510U and WD500U-ST. Both have 1280x800 native resolution and 16:10 aspect ratios and are meant for use in education and business industries. The WD510U has a brightness rating of 2,600 lumens, with the WD500U-ST rated at 2,100 lumens. [full story]

November 18 - 4:05pm EST   Reseller of consolidated patent license portfolios MPEG LA on Monday announced flat panel HDTV maker VIZIO has entered into an MPEG-2 Patent Portfolio License with the company. As a direct result of the new agreement, a few other clients of MPEG LA with essential MPEG-2 patents have dropped their lawsuits against VIZIO. Filed in the summer of 2008 in New York, the lawsuits allege VIZIO failed to enter into a licensing agreement for MPEG-2 video compression technology necessary for its HDTVs. [full story]

October 28 - 12:30pm EDT   After a small delay, Mitsubishi says it has begun shipping the LaserVue, said to be the world's first commercial laser TV. The technology is claimed to reproduce up to two times the color of most current HDTVs, and at the same time consume significantly less power. Power use in the LaserVue is 135W, said to be a third of the amount used in an equivalent LCD, or a fourth of that used in a similar plasma set. [full story]

September 3 - 4:10pm EDT   Mitsubishi Digital Electronics unveiled three high-end 1080p home theater projectors at the CEDIA Expo that opens on Thursday, including the HC8000, HC7000U and HC6500U. The HC8000 is the electronics giant's first ultra-bright 1080p HD projector, meant for use in brighter home environments thanks to its rated 5,000 ANSI lumens. It uses three 1.1-inch 3LCD inorganic panels to create 1920x1080 images. Its connections include a DVI connector with an HDMI-to-DVI adapter. [full story]

August 19 - 9:25am EDT   Mitsubishi on Tuesday gave a preview to Americans of some likely HDTV updates with refreshes to its REAL TV line in Japan. The MZW200 series at 40 and 46 inches claim a strictly average 15,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio but have a comparatively high 3,000:1 base ratio that helps improve their overall black levels. They also use the electronics giant's newer Diamond Engine Pro III technology to process video in 16-bit detail and reduce noise beyond typical efforts from competitors. [full story]

June 30 - 8:40am EDT   Mitsubishi this morning took a different approach to its LCD line through the launch of its 149 series TVs. The 46-inch LT46149 and 52-inch LT-52149 both replace the simple stereo speakers of many other HDTVs with a 16-point audio system, much like speaker bars, that can generate a 5.1-channel surround effect without occupying the physical space. Called the integrated Sound Projector, the system lets users optimize the sound field for a certain room size and sweet spot to more convincingly generate audio. [full story]

June 25 - 11:05am EDT   Mitsubishi today committed to the final launch of its LaserVue sets. The world's first production laser-based HDTVs should be available in the summer and will be split into 65-inch and 73-inch screen sizes; by using laser light in place of normal lamps, either screen is much more accurate and can generate 200 percent of the normal NTSC color gamut while also consuming much less power. The 200 watts used by a LaserVue is said to be half that of a same-size LCD and a third that of an equivalent plasma set. [full story]

April 7 - 11:30am EDT   Mitsubishi on Monday took advantage of the gap between electronics shows to firm up its HDTV lineup, including the first-ever laser TVs. Originally shown at CES, the laser-based range is now to be called LaserVue and should be available sometime during the summer. While most details of sets themselves are unknown, the news makes laser TV only the second next-generation HDTV technology after OLED to ship and will reportedly eliminate most of the problems of both LCDs and plasma: the screen jumps from showing just 40 percent of the visible color range to 200 percent and consumes half the power of an LCD. It can also display 3D imagery with the right support. [full story]

January 16 - 11:55am EST   Apple's claim to have the world's thinnest notebook in the form of the MacBook Air may not account for a 10-year-old notebook, says a claim from CNET. Although as thin at every point, the 1998-era Mitsubishi Pedion maintained a uniform thickness of 0.72 inches when closed, just slighly thinner than the new MacBook's 0.76-inch figure at its thickest point. This came despite a smaller 12-inch screen and considerably older technology, which included a 233MHz Pentium MMX. The HP co-developed notebook used magnesium instead of aluminum but also required a unique design to reach its dimensions. [full story]

January 8 - 9:10am EST   Mitsubishi today revealed details about its laser TV technology following its debut at CES. Based on technology from Australian firm Arasor, the approach is said to produce far more accurate light than possible with either LCD, plasma, or rear projection techniques. Where an average TV can only display 40 percent or less of the visible spectrum, the beams from a laser TV can produce double the color and create a far more color-accurate image on the screen, Mitsubishi says. The precision also improves over other technologies and prevents color bleeding or other artifacts. [full story]

December 28 - 12:05pm EST   Next month's Consumer Electronics Show, scheduled for January 7th to the 10th, may see the arrival of some long-awaited TV technologies, according to reports. Laser sets -- which are said to be lighter, less power-intensive and cover 90 percent of the visible color spectrum -- should finally make their public debut, as Mitsubishi has announced a formal unveiling. Models from Samsung and Mitsubishi were originally supposed to premiere by the end of 2007, but unspecified delays pushed the date forward. [full story]