I miss my AE100

Jonny1973 · 08-10-2002, 12:09 PM

MY PT-AE100 was last seen on the 10th August when it went in for repair.

It had a yellowish picture but was still very watchable. In fact, it had probably had it for ages without me noticing.

8 weeks later, still no projector. Apparently Panasonic are waiting for a prism. They should have it in "early" October.

The projector is probably on a shelf somewhere, when I could have been using and taken it in when the prism arrived.

snelly · 08-10-2002, 1:01 PM

b4stards

have you complained to Panasonic? I would have thought that any more than a couple of weeks and they should have offered a loaner or at the very least returned your unit (bearing in mind it was watchable...)

I am dreading the colour uniformity getting bad on mine as every ae100 I have seen suffers from it!!!

Tim

08-10-2002, 7:53 PM

I'd definately get on the blower at this stage & demand a replacement unit.

Most companies have a policy of replacing goods under warranty if they can't be fixed, or fixed in a reasonable period of time.

2 months is ridiculous.

You have far more patience than most, & a hell of a lot more than me.

Say enough is enough & demand satisfaction (do this every night with my other half - hasn't worked yet though - maybe you'd be more sucessful

).

BTW, on the downside (as if your not there already), chances are the new prism will develop similiar problems in the future. As Snelly said, most AE-100s have this to some extent, but with most it's not noticeable.

Mine at just over 400hrs is OK, but the previous one was pretty bad (bordering unacceptable) at 200.

Hope this cheers you up

(joke).

Jonny1973 · 08-10-2002, 8:39 PM

Already complained 2 weeks ago but it's in Panasonics hands not my dealer.

Audiovision would have done a swap out if they had a AE100 in but they didn't.

If the prism goes again I shall trade it in for something else. Maybe the new budget WXGA from $ony (Grrr, see my dvd player thread!!!)

Splice · 08-10-2002, 10:06 PM

Jonny, I dont think you will be alone with this yellowing of the picture, on my previous machine i noticed this after i set up htpc it was very noticable when opening notepad or anything white. it was very prominant, i first thought it was smoking that was causing it. My current AE100 has 497 hours on it and i noticed this has developed again but i hope i caught it early and i have turned up the fan to the next speed setting. i feel that it is because i have been using it for long periods of time ie 10 hour sessions. it does not seem to have got worse since i did this (around a 100 hours ago) so i will keep my eyes on it, if it don't get any worse i will live with it.This time i know its not smoking as we no longer smoke in the living room.I'm Sure someone on the avs forum has had the same problem recently. If this is heat related due to long sessions then maybe panasonic should have made the users aware of this so that they could turn up the fan speed to help keep the machine cooler. Just out of curiosity did you use yours for extended periods and anyone else running HTPC just have a look at your notepad in full screen and see if you have this issue i see it as a slight browning/yellowing that is more or less circular from the centre of the screen outwards but it dosen't reach the edges.

All the best......Splice

Jonny1973 · 08-10-2002, 10:17 PM

Sounds like the same problem as mine.

I noticed it on mine in May during the world cup but it didn't seem to get any worse.

I did use mine for long sessions (6hrs/day) but why shouldn't I? If there was anything wrong there should be some kind of message on-screen. If over heating is a problem the fan should turn itself up.

Splice · 08-10-2002, 10:21 PM

My sentiments exactly.... it makes me think the components ain't as heat resistant as maybe they should be.

Slice...

08-10-2002, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Splice
If this is heat related due to long sessions then maybe panasonic should have made the users aware of this so that they could turn up the fan speed to help keep the machine cooler

IMO having to run the PJ with the fan speed increased makes it utterly useless.

It's already not as silent as I would like, with fans higher I certainly wouldn't be using it as a HCPJ.

What makes you think this will even solve a possible problem?

The noisest fans cool the bulb & direct no airflow towards the prism assembly (OK, maybe cause a vacuum/venturi effect which might help). Only the small cage fan inside the filter sends air to the panels/prism block.

I did some temp readings some time ago, must root them out & post them.

08-10-2002, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jonny1973
If over heating is a problem the fan should turn itself up.

It does.

Have you ever heard the fan speed fluctuate? Mine does quite regularly, as do most others. Not say from low to high, but minor speed increases/decreases.

I'll post them temps later.

Jonny1973 · 08-10-2002, 10:32 PM

Kramer,

I know the fan automatically turns up but splice was suggesting manually turning it up and leaving it.

Like you, I already find the 'hair dryer' noise on annoying. Any higher would be unacceptable.

I've heard it on occaision switch to high but only once or twice. It might have been caused by the warm weather (don't laugh).

Splice · 08-10-2002, 10:37 PM

Kramer
on my previous projector the fan i noticed would cut in at a higher speed just for a short period of time, i have only notice this on one out of the 4 ae100's i have owned, it maybe something to do with ambient temp, i really dont know. all i do know is that since having htpc on both machines its plain to see that something is discoloring inside the projector. It really dont bother me when watching dvd's and if i didnt run a white screen i may not have noticed it till it got really bad. the previous ae100 was very badly yellowed in fact it was more brown on that one. I just felt that the extra cooling may stop it getting any worse, and for the past 100 hours it seems to have achieved this but i do use mine sometimes for 10 hours at a time but more often around 6. only time will tell.

All the best.Splice

Splice · 08-10-2002, 10:41 PM

forgot to mention. with regard to the noise from the fan. i agree the faster fan speed is noisier but again i have noticed that the fans i have had on all four machines sound different, by this i mean if i had needed to turn up my previous projector to the higher speed it would have been straight back as it was considerably noisier than this one. so maybe i'm lucky in that sense. I will say though that if it does get any worse now then it will have to be sorted out.

All the best...Splice

Splice · 08-10-2002, 10:57 PM

Heres the guy on avs with same prob i think.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...t=ae100+yellow

All the best.Splice

snelly · 09-10-2002, 11:54 AM

Hmm,

interesting I find that most of the colour uniformity related problems appear far worse when the screen is very dark. YOu can really notice that dark corners have either a green or pink tinge on some pjs. Never ever seen a yellow spot yet so here is hoping I wont.

I run my ae100 on higher speed just because I think it might help...

if the fan is too loud I just turn upo the amp - and hope i block out the rest in my head. My house is far too noisy to worry about this anyway...watching films with two dogs fighting in front of you can be an experience...

Tim

08-10-2002, 7:53 PM	#3
Kramer Guest Posts: n/a	I'd definately get on the blower at this stage & demand a replacement unit. Most companies have a policy of replacing goods under warranty if they can't be fixed, or fixed in a reasonable period of time. 2 months is ridiculous. You have far more patience than most, & a hell of a lot more than me. Say enough is enough & demand satisfaction (do this every night with my other half - hasn't worked yet though - maybe you'd be more sucessful ). BTW, on the downside (as if your not there already), chances are the new prism will develop similiar problems in the future. As Snelly said, most AE-100s have this to some extent, but with most it's not noticeable. Mine at just over 400hrs is OK, but the previous one was pretty bad (bordering unacceptable) at 200. Hope this cheers you up (joke).
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