Considering Panasonic PT-AE3000U???

[lancer360]

I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on a projector, but want to get some last minute advice. I have a budget around $2500-$3000 for the projector. Based on my research, I think I want to get the Panasonic PT-AE3000U. I also considered the Epson 6500UB, but it didn't get very good marks for gaming due to the lag. The Panasonic has an option to greatly reduce the lag at the expense of some of the video processing, but I'm ok with that for gaming.

My room is 16x17 and has a large window on one wall which will be covered with heavy curtains so lighting control should be pretty good. Plan is to get a Carada Criterion Brilliant White screen which has a 1.4 gain. Projector throw will be around 15' with viewing at 12'-13'. About the largest screen size I can reasonably fit on the wall is 106" diagonal 16:9 since there is a door and my front speakers on the wall. Viewing will be a relatively even mix between TV and HDTV, movies, and Xbox360. My receiver (Yamaha HTR-5990) will do HDMI upconverting so I will have a single HDMI feed to the projector.

Are there any other projectors I should consider? Is there anything else I may be overlooking?

 

[lsiberian]

I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on a projector, but want to get some last minute advice. I have a budget around $2500-$3000 for the projector. Based on my research, I think I want to get the Panasonic PT-AE3000U. I also considered the Epson 6500UB, but it didn't get very good marks for gaming due to the lag. The Panasonic has an option to greatly reduce the lag at the expense of some of the video processing, but I'm ok with that for gaming.

My room is 16x17 and has a large window on one wall which will be covered with heavy curtains so lighting control should be pretty good. Plan is to get a Carada Criterion Brilliant White screen which has a 1.4 gain. Projector throw will be around 15' with viewing at 12'-13'. About the largest screen size I can reasonably fit on the wall is 106" diagonal 16:9 since there is a door and my front speakers on the wall. Viewing will be a relatively even mix between TV and HDTV, movies, and Xbox360. My receiver (Yamaha HTR-5990) will do HDMI upconverting so I will have a single HDMI feed to the projector.

Are there any other projectors I should consider? Is there anything else I may be overlooking?

I don't know about LCDs for gaming. DLP would be my choice. Especially if you can control where the PJ is mounted.

http://www.projectorcentral.com/optoma_hd20_home_theater_review.htm

I personally like the above for it's price. I find PJs get outdated pretty fast so spending 2-3k on one is a waste IMO.

But if you insist on the expensive models be prepared to pay a lot of money.

I personally doubt the PJs lag with gaming.

 

[jostenmeat]

I personally like the above for it's price. I find PJs get outdated pretty fast so spending 2-3k on one is a waste IMO.

But if you insist on the expensive models be prepared to pay a lot of money.

I disagree. I think spending about 2.5k is the desired minimum budget for a brand new PJ. The improvements from, say, the 6500 from the 1080UB, or Pana 3000 vs 2000, or JVC RS10 vs RS1 are there, but it's not like "OMG why did I pay $2,500 last year?!" type of improvements.

I still enjoy my superceded PJ quite a bit, and have no plans on upgrading anytime soon.

If you could put a price on having the nicest pic you know of, anywhere, in your own home, for the time being, this year, and next year, and the year after that, what would it be?

To some people, $1,000 more to have that over a multi year span is ok, especially since we're talking about AV, which usually means money is involved.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on a projector, but want to get some last minute advice. I have a budget around $2500-$3000 for the projector. Based on my research, I think I want to get the Panasonic PT-AE3000U. I also considered the Epson 6500UB, but it didn't get very good marks for gaming due to the lag. The Panasonic has an option to greatly reduce the lag at the expense of some of the video processing, but I'm ok with that for gaming.

While this is a minimal improvement overall and I've yet to see a projector which has been really bad with this, I do believe it is a personal decision. Understand that projectors, plasmas, and LCD displays ALL use very similar processing in them and will experience nearly identical delay/response issues. Yet, I do feel this is an area which Epson could improve upon.

My room is 16x17 and has a large window on one wall which will be covered with heavy curtains so lighting control should be pretty good. Plan is to get a Carada Criterion Brilliant White screen which has a 1.4 gain. Projector throw will be around 15' with viewing at 12'-13'. About the largest screen size I can reasonably fit on the wall is 106" diagonal 16:9 since there is a door and my front speakers on the wall. Viewing will be a relatively even mix between TV and HDTV, movies, and Xbox360.

Please understand that light control doesn't just mean controlling light coming in from outside. You should also control the light which reflects off the screen, and there will be lots of it, by painting the walls and ceiling as dark as reasonable. In a dedicated space, this could be black, but if it is a family room setup, at the very least look for some beiges, blues, greens, or other that are significantly darker than white. You don't have to go to dark, but ANYTHING that isn't white will help.

My receiver (Yamaha HTR-5990) will do HDMI upconverting so I will have a single HDMI feed to the projector.

If running any wiring BEHIND drywall, I would strongly suggest that you run conduit (1 1/4" at the smallest) to the projector. At some point HDMI will be obsolete, and you may find you have some HDMI issues as well which lead you to need an analog cable in place. This will really save your patootie at some point. If you have easy retrofit access, then don't worry about it.

Are there any other projectors I should consider? Is there anything else I may be overlooking?

There are tons of sub $3,000 projectors on the market which are very good, but the Panasonic is no slouch for sure.

 

[lancer360]

I have easy overhead access so if I decide to pull the wire, it will be easy. The walls are a flat beige. I was thinking about painting them, but since I will be moving about a year from now I decided against it based on another thread I started on home resale value. The room does have a flat white ceiling though. Based on the Projector Central Pro Calculator, I should be in the neighborhood of 24 to 27 FL depending on my final projector placement.

 

[jostenmeat]

If I was getting the 3000u, I think I might do a 2.35:1 screen. It will probably look really cool to potential buyers as well.

What they might not know is that if/when they need to buy a PJ, the 3000 is the only model available right now with preset lens memory.

I don't know what prices you've looked up, but I just got an email from PP today, and it's a good price at $2499 with free 2yr.

Doh, I see that it says "subscriber-only pricing". Well, subscribe to their email list, and maybe you can get the same price? Hm, hopefully it doesn't matter . . .

http://www.projectorpeople.com/projectors/projdtls.asp?itemid=24159&sid=POST

 

[lancer360]

Well holding off a day or two worked out. I bought from visual apex today and they had a holiday sale for 2499. Draw back is they are in Washington and I'm in North Carolina so shipping will take 5 days or so. I'm not going to buy a screen until I get the projector set up so I can play with size and aspect ratio.