I have done several installs of the VW-50 and it is a nice projector, however I would say the Mitsubishi HC5000 produces both a sharper and brighter picture. They both produce roughly the same black level, which happens to be very very good. If you will be doing a lot of SD viewing, I would actually recommend the new Panasonic AE1000U. This projector produces as good of an HD picture as the other two, but really blows them away with upconverted SD material. Its black level though is not quite as good as the other two. On the plus side the AE1000U produces the brightest picture of the three and to my eyes has the best colors. Keep in mind if you go with the VW-50 almost all installs are currently done with either a Da-Lite High Power Screen or a Vu-Tech SilverStar screen due to the low light output of the VW-50.
~Josh