Panasonic PT-AE900U Projector Review

[txmrlevine]

Paany 900 & screen

I have a Panny 900 celing mounted ~14 ft from my 106" Elite Cinetension screen w/ Hi contrast Grey screen - looks absoutely beautiful. I am running 16' Monster COmponent cables from my AV source - Both DVD and HI-def cable are marvelous in reproduction. The only thing I would like is a Motorized zoom and focus capablity.

 

[docferdie]

can somebody please do a head to head with this projector and the yamaha DPX-1300? I don't want to spend an extra $7000 if I'm not getting that much more in terms of image quality.

 

[BMXTRIX]

I can't imagine that you would get that much from almost any projector over the current lineup of 720p $2Kish projectors on the market.

When I got my projector 3 years ago (Panny PT-L300U) the first thing I did was put it right under a $12,000 Runco projector. The Runco was a LITTLE bit brighter, had a little bit better image processing, colors were a tiny bit more accurate - and it was no less than five times as noisy.

The store manager walked in and said "Yep, that's why we don't sell those, they look way to go for the money."

Bottom line is that there are very, VERY few projectors over $5K or $6K that I would recommend. Some of the 3-chip DLP models (Sim2) or the Sony Ruby (1080p SXRD).

But, that's my opinion on all of it. Looking for 90%+ of the quality?
Panasonic AE900
Sanyo PLV-Z4
Optoma HD72
InFocus IN76

 

[docferdie]

Thanks for the reply. As far as general installation is concerned, given the wide range of throw distances for a given screen size, is it better to mount this projector closer to the screen or as far back as possible, or does it not make a difference? Basement is still unfinished so this is my one shot to get it right.

 

[BMXTRIX]

If you can put the projector ANYWHERE... Then I would look at where a typical mounting distance would be for projectors without as much versatility. Say, the InFocus IN76 or Optoma HD72. If those models are supposed to be 13 feet from the lens to the screen (or so) then that is where I would put the projector. That way, you are at least marginally sure that should you upgrade down the road you will be able to swap out the current projector for a new projector that may not have as much versatility in the setup.

 

[imrjones]

Hello,
Is there any way I can do any manual adjustment to the picture on a Panasonic PT-AE900U? I get like a bit of a ghost image or blur around images on the screen and I have adjusted it from the lens but is there anything else I can do? Is there anything inside that I can adjust?