[Donnacha]

Finally gave in and have decided to upgrade from my trusty old Panasonic PTAE100 to a Hitachi PJTX300. I think I got a good deal from Discount Electrical (Roy Jowett) - £879 incl. a replacement lamp!! So that should keep me covered for a year or two.

I haven't seen the device in action so I'm buying purely on reviews and comments (not recommended I know), but my rationale was as follows:

- bulbs are much cheaper than the panasonic range, so lifetime value may well be cheaper, as well as a good deal on the unit
- I haven't read too many posts about issues / faults with the PJ and the vast majority of reviews are very positive and favourable
- I think any upgrade is gonna be way better than my old Panny, and I loved that!
- I never saw my old panasonic in action before I bought it!
- .....I just bought a HD-DVD player and couldn't wait any longer for Hi-def delights!

It arrives Tuesday.

So now the questions are:
- has anyone got theirs hooked up to a PC? If so is there anything special needed for 1:1 pixel matching
- like the PJTX200 thread are there any recommended settings for optimum picture?

....very excited!!

Thanks!!

[UrbanT]

Excellent, we expect a full report when it arrives!

[theritz]

Donnacha,

Finally gave in and have decided to upgrade from my trusty old Panasonic PTAE100 to a Hitachi PJTX300

I wonder are you the last of the original "AE100" gang to upgrade ?..... Happy days....

Hope you get on well with the 300, look forward to reaidng your impressions.


Sean.

[dexter]

Nope - there's still me with my PTAE100 - am also looking to upgrade to the PJXT300 so will be interested in a review / comparison!

[samhain]

I remember reading about the AE100 years ago thinking WOW, that looks awesome but no room for a projector so never ever got one.

[Donnacha]

Thank you all!

I think it was the fact that I got the HD DVD player that has spurned me on - as it looks good even on the Panny AE100 so will no doubt look great on the hitachi! I could never go the plasma / lcd route after having owned a projector!!

I must have had the Panny 4 1/2 years!!! So I supopse that's way back when it first appeared. There's life in the old dog (Panny) yet - actually my first (ae100) one died after 3 years, and replaced it with a cheap 2nd hand one. In fact it's current lamp has about 2,000 hours on it, I have a spare with about 170 hours on it and then another unused spare. So when it goes to a loving home they'll have plenty of juice left!!

I shall report my findings and progress on Tuesday (bloody job gets in the way!!). ....still ...working from home on Tuesday

[swiftpete]

Hey, I've got the same projector and have been happy with it. I used the same settings that were recommended for the tx200 as far as the colour temp etc goes. These are;

Color Temp:

Use 7500K as reference, then set:

Low RGB: +1, +2, +3
Mid RGB: -4, +2, 0
High RGB: 0, +1, -5

Gamma:

Use standard as reference, then set:

1: +1
2: +2
3: +3
4: +2
5: 0
6: -3
7: -3
8: -4
9:-3

Black: Auto1

Iris: 3

Sharpness: 5

Personally I changed the colour level to +2 and the brightness and contrast to +3 and +10, sharpness to 6 and the picture looks spot on, great with the xbox 360.

I have tried using it with the pc and the pic wasnt bad but had it through a 15m vga lead and a vga to dvi adaptor so i think i lost some quality on the way. Anyway, good luck setting it up etc!

[benji_m]

Originally Posted by theritz

Donnacha,



I wonder are you the last of the original "AE100" gang to upgrade ?..... Happy days....


Sean.

Still got mine here too

[Donnacha]

Originally Posted by benji_m

Still got mine here too

Hi Ben,

as I bought my new Hitachi from your store I hope its a marked improvement from the Panny as you've seen both in action!!!

Waiting on your delivery man to knock on my door tomorrow!!!

[theritz]

Still got mine here too

Yo Ben !


There's a surprise................... ...


I thought you'd have been tempted by some of the kit passing through your hands over the last couple of years ?


Sean.

[benji_m]

Originally Posted by Donnacha

Hi Ben,

as I bought my new Hitachi from your store I hope its a marked improvement from the Panny as you've seen both in action!!!

Waiting on your delivery man to knock on my door tomorrow!!!

Err yes, rather a huge improvement. That's why I don't take it home to compare!

[benji_m]

Originally Posted by theritz

Yo Ben !


There's a surprise................... ...


I thought you'd have been tempted by some of the kit passing through your hands over the last couple of years ?


Sean.

Very tempted lol. But I refuse to buy a new one til it dies!

[Donnacha]

Well its arrived !!!

Update to follow once I've got it up and running.

[Deano@Dublin]

Hey Donnacha - are you going to punt your PTAE100 on eBay? It'd be interesting to se what you get for it...

[cyberheater]

Originally Posted by Donnacha

Well its arrived !!!

Update to follow once I've got it up and running.

I'm looking forward to this. Being in the original AE100 club myself, i've noticed the difference going from projector to projector but mine have always been incremental upgrades.

Going from a AE100 to the TX300 should be fairly spectacular.

[samhain]

Originally Posted by Donnacha

Well its arrived !!!

Update to follow once I've got it up and running.

Exellent, pictures speak a thousand words. Never seen Hitachi pj in action.

[Donnacha]

OK - Quick update as I've only had an hour to play!!

First impressions is that physically its a fine looking unit and alot chunkier than the old panny, side by side the AE100 looks weenie!!

Anyway got straight to hooking it up. I haven't aligned it properlyyet, i.e. just stuck on the table and used the lens shift to position quickly (Lens shift very handy!!).

Connected up my HD-DVD player (Tosh A1) via the HDMI cable that came with the player and my HCPC via VGA.

Straight to HD DVD to start with - that's why I bought it!! First impression, ...nice but not the gee whizz, jaw drop I was expecting! Then I found the menu button and started to calibrate based on a few sugegstions of some good folks on here. The result: mmuuuch better! Still Hi def wasn't mind blowing (tried MI:III as this is reckoned to be reference stuff) but very good. Perhaps I'll appreciate it more once I've set it up properly - but definitely better than the panny although not the huge leaping I was expecting - well not yet anyway.

Then I tried the PC - after setting up the resolution to 1280x720 and fixing the phase I got a nice pic. Played King Kong SD DVD from the PC and again looked very nice.

So far I've noticed the deeper blacks compared to the AE100, a little bit more detail than before and it is sooo quiet!! Can hardly hear it and its right beside me!!

I think as I had a 1:1 pixel match with the AE100 and it set up nicely for DVD's using Theatertek I already had a PQ I enjoyed. This is obviously better (not stunningly so...yet) but I think it will improve once I've had a chance to set it up properly.

Fuller report (and maybe pics) to follow.

Cheers

[Donnacha]

Originally Posted by Deano@Dublin

Hey Donnacha - are you going to punt your PTAE100 on eBay? It'd be interesting to se what you get for it...

Howaya Deano!

I prob won't stick it on Ebay yet - there's a lad in Dingle who's interested in it and if that falls through I'll probably put it on the classifieds here as its less hassle and will go to a good home!

I want to sell it as a package as I have 2 bulbs to sell with it - so that will up the total cost.

Cheers

[Donnacha]

Very quick update - watched MI:III on HD-DVD last night. Very, very nice indeed. Very cinematic looking, in fact I thought it looked like a cinema presentation. In parts almost 3D like!!

Blacks a little too deep at the moment for me so more tweaking ahead, but a very impressive start. Need to check out SD DVDs now!

[Donnacha]

Hi - Update with some Pics.

As I mentioned previously, its a much bigger PJ than the Panasonic Ae100. Here's an idea of how big:





Some screenshots (not great quality but should give a nice indication) SD DVD by the way:






HD DVD vs SD DVD (you can't really tell, but trust me there is a difference!!)
HD

SD


I'll post some more (hopefully better) pics later, but having too much viewing fun at the moment!!

Cheers

[samhain]

nice pics, I particularly like the pic of the amorous AE100

Is it the camera, the pics just look a little soft to me? How's the sharpness in real life?

Cheers

[Donnacha]

Originally Posted by samhain

nice pics, I particularly like the pic of the amorous AE100

Is it the camera, the pics just look a little soft to me? How's the sharpness in real life?

Cheers

The sharpness is good, its the camera, or more likely the person operating the camera. I'm no photographer! If anyone has any suggestions I can try to take more accurate pictures?