My ae700 Review

phillfyspoon · 30-09-2004, 8:31 PM

Got it up and running through component froma sony ns930 dvd player.

first impressions: first film was star wars epII, First off the image had alot of artifacts and grain but looked very "film like". I had the bulb on low with dynamic iris set to "on". I did some some tweaking with the settings on the projector and player and came up with a more natrual smooth image with less grain.

Colour: Out of the box colours had a little blue and green push so I tweaked with the setting and after that colours looked bold and lifelike.

Brightness: The bulb is certainly brighter then my old ae300 which I had on low. This gives the image more punch.

Contrast: Bulb on low and dynamic iris on. This makes a big difference to contrast. switching between on and off there is a noticable difference to shadow detail. I was happy with my ae300's blacks just not overall shadow detail, but the ae700 has plenty of it in dark scenes. The image has more depth to it. Im very happy with the contrast and dont see myself wanting to upgrade because of it, like before.

Screendoor: It is allmost invisable. I had to get my head 1-2ft to the screen the see the structure. Panasonic did good here.

Verticle banding: Is still an issue with the panels used but can be tweaked to minimal effect. running the flicker tweak and turning off any picture processing from the dvd player makes it just noticable in bright or foggy scenes.

Im pleased with the purchase and recommened this lcd highly. for the price it is a bargain. Colour and contrast have improved greatly over the other models.

9/10

30-09-2004, 9:05 PM

Is that 3 points off for the VB issue? Is it really that distracting? I'm getting worried at this stage. I'm getting the impression that it's the worst in the series so far in regards to VB. This will be my first PJ so I've never seen VB before. I'm imagining something like seeing stripes when a blue sky scene is being displaye. Or like if you have a gradient colour when your screen is set to 16 bit colour. Please tell me it's not that bad.

RobsterD · 30-09-2004, 9:09 PM

Very interesting with regards to VB,on my AE500 it was noticeable and I dont think I would consider upgrading to an AE700 fron the AE500 if the problem still exists.
Doesn't really sound like the AE700 is going to be that "significant upgrade" us Panny users were hoping.

eugdog2 · 30-09-2004, 9:20 PM

can you tell what verticle banding is - I do not know

Fjorko · 30-09-2004, 9:23 PM

It is thin vertical lines running from the top to the bottom of the screen. Most WXGA LCD Projectors seem to suffer from it to some degree, but it can be made less noticeable with tweaking..

BTW, have you new AE700 users tried the Flicker Tweak ? Any less VB afterwards?

phillfyspoon · 30-09-2004, 9:41 PM

it is quite bad very visable on a bright background, even on peoples faces!!

theritz · 30-09-2004, 9:50 PM

phillfyspoon,

Thanks for the review, sorry to read that VB is so evident.

Fjorko,

Quote:

have you new AE700 users tried the Flicker Tweak ? Any less VB afterwards?

Which "flicker tweak" are you referring to ? If it's the tweak to reduce peek-a-boo scanlines, then that's a different issue to VB. DO you know of service menu tweaks for the AE700?

Sean G.

30-09-2004, 9:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phillfyspoon

it is quite bad very visable on a bright background, even on peoples faces!!

I'm not getting this VB thing. You say it's very visable on a bright background even on peoples' faces, but the first pic posted by zAndy1 (http://www.avforums.com/forums/projectors/154106-panasonic-pt-ae700-reviews-post1198422.html) shows Frodo close up with pale skin and yet there is no sign of VB. Another post in the thread gives an example of VB, giving evidence that a picture of VB can be taken meaning it should also show up on the pic of Frodo going by your comments.

PRINCEGRINCH · 30-09-2004, 9:53 PM

Hi, thanks for the review Phillfyspoon. Regarding the Vertical Banding, how does it compare to the AE500 on the following picture, and what input connection did you use on the Projector. Thanx

http://www.romabio.dk/media%5Cdownlo...screenshot.zip

JonMace · 30-09-2004, 9:57 PM

I get mine tommorrow and have saved watching SW trilegy till I get it any sceens yuo recomend to see if i notice it?

Will be running though a Harman Kardon 506 DVD into a IScan Proo, so computur in to PJ.

All ideas wellcome

phillfyspoon · 30-09-2004, 10:02 PM

I wouldnt say it was as bad as the ae500 pictures posted but not far off. Im using component progressive. Im trying to tweak it out but not much luck

explicitlyrics · 30-09-2004, 10:04 PM

is it as bad as the med picture in the zip file?

30-09-2004, 10:05 PM

Can we ask what DVD (Region) you were testing it with? Thanks for the info.

phillfyspoon · 30-09-2004, 10:08 PM

I would say it might be on par with it if I was viewing that scene, im not sure Im trying to find a scene were it realy stands out. I have used ntsc and pal dvd's.

Im using star wars epII and the two towers right now

PRINCEGRINCH · 30-09-2004, 10:10 PM

Thanks for the quick reply Phillfyspoon. If its about half as bad, then its tolerable for me. I am going to be using my DVI output from my HTPC and later HDMI DVD Player, I hope this improves the picture, n hopefully there will be tweaks out to limit the Vertical banding to a tolerable level for most people, if not then its the Sony HS51.

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