Panasonic PT-AX100U LCD Projector Review

[Mayhemm]

Yeah. You're probably right. I don't think I've ever seen a projector with two HDMI inputs. They could have kept the second component input though, since it was already there on the AE900u.

I guess I was just hoping I'd be able to put off buying an expensive new receiver for a while. Mine only does DD, DTS and S-video switching.

 

[old&slow]

Is it realistic to think one can watch TV on a projector?
What I mean is I always considered it to be the domain of movies. But can one use a projector as a consistent means of tv as well??? Will it hold up under what would be a fair bit of use??

thnx

 

[Mayhemm]

Sure, why not? The quality of the presentation would depend on your source though. I find that they work ok for digital cable and/or satellite, but where they really excel is when you have a Hi-Def service. Awesome for that purpose.

However, you'd probably want to just use it for shows you watch regularly. Channel surfing just for the heck of it is not recommended because it will wear down your lamp life, but it should handle 2-3 hours per night no problem.

 

[Audioholics]

Is it realistic to think one can watch TV on a projector?

We sure do...

 

[Rob Babcock]

A PJ has been my primary TV for years.

 

[jlcct]

I leave my projector running for 12 hrs a day on a regular basis. I just had to replace the bulb the other day for the first time. The picture seems to be the same as before. Pretty reliable so far. I have owned it since March. Although I was very wasteful and reckless with mine I will shore up the usage and be a little more responsible with it this time around. I expect to get a good year and a half from this bulb.

 

[jrod9707]

12 foot room

Hey guys I've got a 12feet where i can mount the projector whats the biggest image I can get out of the panny 900 or 100? It's hard to find info on this due to the zoom I'd be using.

 

[Mayhemm]

If you've got 12 feet between your projector and screen, you should be able to expand your picture anywhere from 60" (TELEPHOTO end of zoom) to 120" (WIDEANGLE end of zoom).

This would apply to both the AE900u and the AX100u since they have the same zoom. In reality you may get a little less on either end because you're not mounting your projector flush to the wall (unless you are?), but those are the screen sizes I'd look for.

 

[mgdurand1]

Wha about data use?

Hi. New here. Have set up a HT surround setup at my local church for the youth and looking to replace their current Sharp XG-NV4SU projector. I use the room (like a large meeting room, but not extremely large - think 2 big bedrooms - we can darken it pretty well but some ambient light present) for my movie class. It is a youth room and other uses involve data via computer, etc. I want to get them this Panasonic as it seems to fit right into my plans, but I would like others to be able to use it for their projects as well. Does anyone know this model handle things like that (other than video) fairly well? No matter what I would imagine it would be light years ahead of their current Sharp, but don't really know. Any help or suggestions appreciated. Also, if any other recommendations on projectors given the above brief sketch on parameters, greatly appreciated.

Mike

 

[timothyy]

Hi guys. I am new here as well. I've built an urge to get my home cinema out recently and came to a conclusion to buy the Panasonic AX100. I love the feature especially 2x zoom. My house is a bit small and I am too greedy and want to get a 120" screen. Ha! Ha!.

My other choices were Optoma H72, Panny AE900, Optoma H70 and may be Sanyo Z5. Unfortunately, only Panny comes with 2x zoom. Went to test Optoma but the local distributor is total useless. Don't think want to risk my money on some distributor that I can't trust.

Anyway, back to Panny AX100. Saw all the great reviews in Projector Central and Projector Reviews. Even here. Unfortunately, recently in Projector Central 2 fella posted below comments.

So, would really love to hear from those of you who have tested the machine... is it so bad as what they commented or they are simply "bad" guys?

By the way, I am from Malaysia and Panny AX100 will only be launched end of the month.

Personal Experience
Bought my projector 7 days ago.
Initial impression was, wow nice and bright.
But this opinion soon dulled when I noticed moving text was distorted and jerky. Straight lines on a boring old composite input appeared jaggered. Tried to use component video inputs and found that bright red objects were flickering and shaking. Tried 480p and 720p input, both the same result.

Colours are not natural, Greens and Oranges are far too overpowering.

Some scenes, with dynamic Iris on, flicker between changes from bright to dark or vice versa.

The projector itself is bulky.

Unsure why others have raved about its quality upscalling, as it appears that it can't handle it.

Overall unhappy with its picture quality. It's obviously been designed to only work well with native 720p movies.

I'm taking mine back to the store tomorrow.

Problems
Not versatile enough when handling different input resolutions/sources.

Colours aren't natural, overpowering.

Graphics/Text distorts when the projector rescales it. Even worse if you try keystone correction.

Inanimate Red objects appear to flicker and wobble against their backgrounds when using component video.

Personal Experience
A few days ago I received the ax100 and was really impressed with the amount of light it produced. Also the sharpness of the image looked very good. But after some more testing in a dark room I came across some problems. I used the test patterns of DVE PAL (Digital Video sentials) which showed quite some false contours even with the sharpness control at its lowest setting. A complete gray image did not look very homogene, although I did not notice this during movie viewing. One demo of DVE shows a man and a woman in a restaurant and the light jacket of the woman shows some very uggly jaggies
(staircases) on the shoulders. I compared this with my old AE700 which, for this scene, looks much better. With my HDTV decoder at 1080i the image looks terrible especially for subtitles, so I find it very strange that some reviewers say the ax100 has a good deinterlacer. My old AE700 does a much better job. The dynamic iris makes a very strange noise and is actively working even with a still image.
The remote control is very good, the menu structure is great and also the lens shift is much easier to operate.



Problems
Jaggies, bad de-interlacing & noisy iris made me decide to return it and keep my old ae700.

 

[Mayhemm]

Actually, the Sanyo also has a 2x zoom, same as the Panny.

 

[timothyy]

Ha! HA!... Sorry... Forgot about that. Over here, the Sanyo Z5 is more expensive about USD250.00...

 

[jackdean101]

I'm glad to hear the AX100u is an improvement over the AE900u.

However, I think they should have at least kept the second component video input, even if it meant a higher price. How am I going to hook up my PS2 or X-box if my DVD player is hogging the only component input? The press release says it's targeting gamers as well as home theater buffs, but I'm not going to like unplugging my DVD everytime I want to play Halo or Tiger Woods. And if I hook up my HD satellite receiver to the HDMI connector (via DVI) where is the HD-DVD/Blu-ray player going to go?

Too bad this thing is lacking a really complete set of inputs. Otherwise, it sounds darn near perfect.

Let's not forget it's bulkier and heavier than the 900 too. Although that's a minor concern compared to the inputs. But I guess even that would depend on what you use it for. Maybe I'll look into the AX1000u when it gets a price.

You obviously haven’t been "gaming" that long or else you would know that multiple inputs aren’t needed if you have a receiver, DVD, cable box.. ext. ext.. These days they all have video switching. Also who gives a rip about weight? This type of projector is not designed for portability. So it will most likely be mounted to a ceiling and left until replaced, so weight is not a factor.

I personally think this is the best 720p project I have seen. I am just skeptical when it comes to LCD, DLP is just so much better when it comes to home theaters. Although the stats on the Penny r hard to beat. I am also concerned about the lamp life, considering that Panasonic has not released any kind of a statistic like they have done in the past.

I wonder if there will be any new 720p DLP projectors that will try to compete, with similar lumens and contrast. Does anybody know if Optoma is planning to replace their HD72? The HD72 sure gave the penny 900 a run for its money. I would have bought the HD72 if it wasn’t for the new release of the AX -100u.

 

[Audioholics]

It is a youth room and other uses involve data via computer, etc. I want to get them this Panasonic as it seems to fit right into my plans, but I would like others to be able to use it for their projects as well. Does anyone know this model handle things like that (other than video) fairly well? No matter what I would imagine it would be light years ahead of their current Sharp, but don't really know. Any help or suggestions appreciated. Also, if any other recommendations on projectors given the above brief sketch on parameters, greatly appreciated.

I would personally go for a brighter unit for data use. There are several ~3000 lumen projectors available for around $2k or so. Check out VisualApex.com or ProjectorPeople.com

 

[timothyy]

You obviously haven’t been "gaming" that long or else you would know that multiple inputs aren’t needed if you have a receiver, DVD, cable box.. ext. ext.. These days they all have video switching. Also who gives a rip about weight? This type of projector is not designed for portability. So it will most likely be mounted to a ceiling and left until replaced, so weight is not a factor.

I personally think this is the best 720p project I have seen. I am just skeptical when it comes to LCD, DLP is just so much better when it comes to home theaters. Although the stats on the Penny r hard to beat. I am also concerned about the lamp life, considering that Panasonic has not released any kind of a statistic like they have done in the past.

I wonder if there will be any new 720p DLP projectors that will try to compete, with similar lumens and contrast. Does anybody know if Optoma is planning to replace their HD72? The HD72 sure gave the penny 900 a run for its money. I would have bought the HD72 if it wasn’t for the new release of the AX -100u.

I heard HD73 is coming out soon.

Anyway, jackdean101, you have bought the Panny-AX100? Is it good? Actually, I've kinda made up my mind on this Panny. Like what you mentioned, hope the lamp life will be ok.

The product is still not launched in my country yet. And I've got ready my living room as my movie room. I am getting air-con unit, new sofa cover, new curtain to block the sunlight... and painted my feature wall to darker color.

Just can't wait till they launch the product.

 

[basil]

Fact or fiction- Panasonic PT AX 100u product flaw?

I was about to rush out and purchase a 100u but read on the Net very disturbing comments by several users who claimed that after +- 400 hours their machine developed the same problem .....shutting down and refusing to power-up....They each claimed that it was later found that there was a serious design flaw and faulted function with the iris. It was stated that Panasonic were very churlish about their problem and apparently weren't prepared to comment or admit that there was a design flaw in the operating of the iris.
Although each stated that when they worked they were excellent, each had the same bad experience and were met with a poor,uncaring response from Panasonic. They went on to strongly advise the readers to stay away from that model.
Can you comment on your experience,dispel these claims or confirm them?

Basil

 

[patnshan]

I have the AX100U with about 550 hours on it. I have not had one problem with it at all. I can highly recommend it from my experience. The 200U would be the current model, and it seems to have had some of the problems others noted, corrected.

Pat

 

[Pell]

I owned one of these for a while, and I must say it was absolutely incredible. We recently moved and no longer am able to use it (we moved to a loft so theres WAY to much light now) so we sold it.

To be honest though, at this point and with the street prices of the 1080p panasonic projectors I would save up some more pennies and go with the 1080p to help 'futureproof' a bit. Either way , kick *** projector!

 

[Rinny]

Hello having a problems with projector PT-AX100U. There's a green dot in the picture 12" in DIA. at the top of the screen. Any Cule's on what this is or to fix...Thanks

 

[Rinny]

Hello having a problems with projector PT-AX100U. There's a green dot in the picture 12" in DIA. at the top of the screen. Any Cule's on what this is or to fix...Thanks