[Ekko Star]

Shopping around yesterday and they had one in the store.

Couldn't resist it and bought it for £1300. Yes there are cheaper places on the net, but I just thought cos of the waiting lists in some places I just didn't fancy a month or even longer wait.

Dealer was great and friendly, didn't check for dead pixels, but he said if it was in anyway unacceptable for me he would simply replace it. He also pointed out that he had sold around 40 or so units and only one had ever been returned. The fault being that one had just died, ie probably PSU. The other 39 I presume are very satisfied owners.

Very, very popular machine indeed he said, as soon as he puts a box up on the shelf it sells within a day or two. Demand must be great out there, but that's hardly surprising at it's price point.

One thing I noticed was my machine is Made in Japan, now I'm not sure if these machines are also manufactured elsewhere and if this has anything to do with the faults that crop up ? Would be interesting to know.

Anyway about to unpack mine and set it up, lets see how good this thing is.

[Timh]

Mine is Made in Japan also. Dont you just hate that naff carry bag? next to no padding at all.

[Bert Coules]

Lucky you! Which store was this?

Bert
http://www.bertcoules.co.uk

[Ekko Star]

@ Bert, Tottenham Ct Road

Have had a chance now to see it working.

No dead pixels & fan noise very quiet, good news.

Tested it with Moulin Rouge, Phantom Menace "Pod Race", Romeo Must Die.

I haven't got a proper screen yet. Having recently converted my loft into a "cinema room" all the walls have been painted magnolia white. This was quite a good viewing surface considering. The windows haven't yet got screens on them so there was quite a lot of natural light. Yet the picture itself was quite viewable with only 700 ansi lumens lamp

What can I say about this little baby ?

Yes it's LCD and associated problems of screendoor & contrast of blacks is evident. However being sat 3m back I didn't suffer from any lack of viewing enjoyment on an 82" image.

Simply put for between £1200-1300 you are getting pound for pound an astonishing bit of kit.

If you have the money Get it, if you haven't got the money Get it, if you have to beg, borrow or steal the money Get it.

No brainer this one, affordable essential buy.

[Bert Coules]

Ekko Star,

I'm glad you're so pleased.

If you have the money Get it...

I had the money. I got it. Then it went bang and now I haven't got it any more. At the time of writing, I'm not even entirely sure when my poor projector is. Probably somewhere in limbo between the dealer (just off the Tottenham Court Road, as it happens) and Panasonic...

So it's great to have posts like yours to keep my enthusiasm up. Thanks.

Bert
http://www.bertcoules.co.uk

[Ekko Star]

@ Bert

I think you may have had one of the early batches ? I hope you get a new replacment unit. I'm sure the later batches are more reliable, mine was shipped out of Japan on the 19/4 as it says so on the sticker on the box. So it must be one of the recent ones.

Anyway time will tell.

The daylight has pretty much all but gone now up in my loft. So it can do the PJ's image a bit more justice.

Just viewed Gladiator "fight sequence" and Phantom Menace "final battle".

Well the "black/contrast ratio" is much more than acceptable. In actual fact far, far better than it has the right to be at this price. In all honesty I could go as far as to say it is pretty much a non issue as you will simply get lost in the razor sharp imagery this little baby throws out.

Very, very good little machine. 5/5 from me.