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Old 29-01-2002, 8:27 PM   #1 (permalink)
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Panasonic PT-AE100 first impressions - :)

Hope its OK to start a new thread, as the others were speculating about price etc...

anyway, picked one of these up from the local Panasonic centre in Brighton (right next door to the Sony centre). Agreed a 7 day return to test it at home.

Now, before I give my impressions, I'm no expert, and I don't have a proper screen. Instead I used some matt white artists board on the wall. Not ideal, but I was thinking it should be a harsher test than when I saw the Sony HS1 at Sevenoaks.

Anyway, I'm very impressed by this little panasonic. As they say, you should ignore the specs and just see what it looks like. And it looks very nice indeed.

It certainly seems to paint a much more natural image than the Sony. With the Sony, after a while I became quite aware of the horizontal line structure and it became quite fatiguing. There was none of that with the Panasonic. I tried it with Final Fantasy, Gladiator and also R1 Starship troopers (with this last one, the opening studio logo has those little scratches in the film. Really noticable blown up big - really makes it feel like home cinema )

The blacks aren't great, but that can be improved by using the low light mode and 'cinema' picture mode, and it really didn't bother me that much. This latter mode seems to be very clean- the other two modes (normal and dynamic) have quite a bit of noise, especially noticable on large areas of single colour.

Trying to lower the brightness right down to get a good black ended up losing too much detail, so I might try a grey screen.

I was about 13ft from the image maximum - less than 2x screen width anyway, and there was no chicken wire obvious. Occasionally you'd notice it for a split second out of the corner of your eye, but if you looked at it it wasn't there.

Nice bright image too - I was a bit concerned about using the low power lamp mode, but it was plenty bright - the room was almost completely dark though.

Each video mode (PAL/NTSC etc) has its own memory settings so you can adjust separately for your different regions. There are also a full set of connectors on the back (Composite video, S-Video, SVGA, Component). Chart in the manual shows how to get the best picture (it likes being fed 848x480 wide SVGA). Manual mentions automatically selecting 16:9 or 4:3 by a signal down the S-video. Not sure if it did it, but it'd be nice if it did.

It seems to be quite short throw (not seen many though). At 11ft from the wall, the smallest image was 7ft diagonal (16:9) and the largest was about 8.5ft. So for the size I was looking at, it needs to be in the middle of the room. Also, I might want to ceiling mount it, as otherwise the angle might be a bit steep.

All I have to do now is persuade my wife of its charms. I'm tempted to ask her to pick one up while she's over in Japan, but what happens if it breaks down or has dodgy pixels? (this one has one bright green one in the top border). I'm sure she'll love it once its up and running, but we're moving soon, so she'll try and get me to take it back until then. Probably makes sense, but even if I do, I think I know which one I'll be buying.

I've heard good things about the PLV30 but I can't get a demo easily (Richer sounds or mail order being the only simple way to get one), so I'm looking forward to seeing impressions from people who've seen the PLV-30 to compare with it.
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Old 29-01-2002, 9:12 PM   #2 (permalink)
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How does the just mode work?
Is 4:3 material, ie TV, ok in the just mode?
Fan noise?
Light leakage anywhere like on the Hitachi a little while back?
Cheers.
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Old 29-01-2002, 9:32 PM   #3 (permalink)
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Thumbs up

Looks like I still want one
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Old 29-01-2002, 9:44 PM   #4 (permalink)
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Thumbs up

And me

Do you think it's worth £1500 then?
How do you find the shaddow detail? try some dark scenes like Alien.

I woudnt rate the plv-30, my Brothers suffers from vertical lines on bright scenes, it also needs a completely darkened room.
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Old 29-01-2002, 9:53 PM   #5 (permalink)
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Sounds good...

What price did you get it for?
regards
Tony
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Old 29-01-2002, 10:00 PM   #6 (permalink)
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I definatly want one by the sounds of the first review. Thing is my room is quite bright with pure white walls so will it be ok for this, also my friend had his compaq projected onto his wall so can I use my wall, its white and as flat as it could be.
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Old 29-01-2002, 11:07 PM   #7 (permalink)
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Re: Panasonic PT-AE100 first impressions - :)

Quote:
Originally posted by richard plumb
what happens if it breaks down or has dodgy pixels? (this one has one bright green one in the top border).
This is the main reason I'm not that interested, I'm not sure I can be bothered to fight for a dead pixel free one. I'm still holding out for the Plus Piano ( are you listening Plus/Rapesco ? )
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Old 30-01-2002, 12:16 AM   #8 (permalink)
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I'm so jealous. I want one NOW!!!

My local Panasonic dealer told me it would be the end of february but I can't wait that long!!!!!

Jonny
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Old 30-01-2002, 8:34 AM   #9 (permalink)
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Cool

Richard

I think you should reply to your 1st post entitled "PT-AE100-Why so excited", as you now know why!

I think you have been very lucky to find a Panasonic Centre that seems to have lost its manual on how to be sarcastic, rude & condiscending to its customers. Stick with them!

But, agghh, I see you have hit the wall we call the Wife Appreciation Factor (WAF). Flowers is always a good starting point I find! Good Luck!!
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Old 30-01-2002, 9:15 AM   #10 (permalink)
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Light leakage - some visible from the rear vent, but it isn't that bright - doesn't leak over the table.

Noise seems a bit louder than the CS1, but not too bad. Didn't check the dB in the manual - I can do that tonight if wanted.

My room is very bright. Windows all down one wall, white/grey patterned walls, pale carpet, white sofas. It was fine, although it does seem to light the whole room up in bright scenes. Perfectly usable with the lights out.

Shadow detail seemed OK, but the contrast range isn't amazing. While I still have some time left with it, I'm trying to get some icestorm, but all my local DIY stores are out of pale base . Then I'll play with the settings some more. This is one area where I'm interested in more expert opinions, hopefully this week.

I paid £1500.
Definitely worth it, considering its better (to me) than the Sony which is retailing at £700 more than the Panasonic. Sony surely have no choice but to react and cut their prices.
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Old 30-01-2002, 9:44 AM   #11 (permalink)
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And just mode?
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Old 30-01-2002, 9:54 AM   #12 (permalink)
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didn't really look at it. Not easy to route TV through to it - My digibox is tied really tightly to my TiVo and I don't want to upset it. I was never really a fan of Sony's equivalent 'just' stretching - I usually watch 4:3 with side bars.

I did briefly flick through just mode while playing with the 'aspect' button, and it didn't seem offensive, but I spent no time with it.

I'm going to try and spend some more time with 4:3 material to see how 640x480 affects things, but as I'll be using a fixed height approach, it'll probably look as good as 16:9, just smaller I'll try out just a bit more then too.
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Old 30-01-2002, 2:47 PM   #13 (permalink)
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Well ive ordered one from my local dealer for £1,550. Get it delivered on Friday definatly. Its my first leap into projectors but I think I cant really go far wrong with this model.


First film to de virgin the wall is: Independance Day
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Old 30-01-2002, 3:09 PM   #14 (permalink)
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Brad,

I coudn't wait either, ordered mine from a local Panasonic dealer on the phone, it's arriving Friday, £1400 including vat, that's his price, I didnt even have to knock him down

OK I know you should demo before you buy
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Old 30-01-2002, 3:11 PM   #15 (permalink)
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Got some icestorm 5 & 6 (all the stores said you couldn't get a mix of the two), and some MDF.

I'll have a play tonight or tomorrow. I'll get the THX optimode up (don' t have Avia or VE). I'll also play with the colour controls - there are three settings depending on whether you have a white screen, grey screen or something else screen (can't remember)
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