[True-Blue]

Ok, this review is not going to be technical, I'm not going to talk about on/off contrast ratio's or ANSI or gray scale or anything else like that.

What can I tell you then ?, well being completely honest I thought I was going to disappointed as I'm getting excellent results from a Hitachi TX200 (720p) in my bat cave and in the back of my mind I thought improvements would be subtle.

The AvSales projector dem room is very nice but decorated more in line with a living room than a bat cave (no offence intended guys)- so the first point I'm going to make is for anyone considering using this machine in a cream / magnolia / generally light coloured room. I've read lot's of posts from people asking 'will I get a good result without a bat cave?' and the answer is Bloody hell Yes, if you can control ambient light. The image quality was stunning, it blew my TX200 away, and I'm used to watching that in a room that's painted a colour as dark as you'd want to go without going black, with no windows

This machine is going to be awesome in my room, but I'll have to wait until Friday to see that.

1080p or 720p - This was another area where I was really sceptical. Does the extra resolution make a difference on a reasonable size screen. Well, AvSales have a 73" diagonal fixed frame screen, my own is 83" diagonal, to put this into context. I watched Casino Royal at the weekend from PS3 via the TX200 and I thought the picture was superb. This was part of the reason that I thought I'd be disappointed with the Panny - I'm getting excellent results already. The difference between 720p and 1080p then - amazing. Now I appreciate that the panny is a more expensive PJ than the Hitachi but the extra detail moving from 720p to 1080p was not something I was prepared for - based on what I've read I thought the difference would be marginal. Not so - huge. At the point on the crane arm where the enemy agent points the gun at Bond the detail on his burnt hand is incredible, I hadn't even noticed this when watching at home but it just jumped out at me and slapped me in the face !!

So is it worth moving from 720p to 1080p with PJ's - oh my god yes, but I can only answer this specifically in terms of moving from the Hitachi to the panasonic - the difference is night and day.

Standard Def - another major surprise here, the PS3 is a suprisingly good upscaler - 'out of the blue' looked absolutely superb and totaly watchable via the panny even directly after watching HD content. Switching the upscaling off in the PS3 revealed..... an even sharper picture with the Panny doing the work. It's very very good with a decent dvd transfer.

My general perception of the image quality is WOW. With HD material we are talking 3D tendencies, excellent image depth - absolutely brilliant. Chris explained to me that this was a combination of excellent contrast, superb black detail and extremely good colour accuracy, all I can tell you is that I knew I'd be walking out with one after about 2 min's

The colour reproduction just blew me away, can't really think of anyway to explain this.... you'd need to see it for yourself, but again absolutely fantastic.

I have no idea how this would compare to an HD1, or the Epsom TW200 or new Sanyo as I haven't seen them - all I can tell you is that if they are better, the performance advantage must be small and probably not worth worrying yourself about. I know we all strive for the 'best' performance we can achieve for our hard earned pound notes, but I really don't think anyone is going to be disappointed with this machine at this price.

In a word AWESOME, highly recommended.

[True-Blue]

I nearly forgot to thank Chris and Alastair from AvSales - how rude of me

Top guys, highly recommended

[mrapbp]

What are they selling this for?

Good comments by the way!

[Cool-hand]

So did you 'walk' out with one?

Glad you enjoyed it so much. A non-techy but fresh approach. Thanks.

Rgds

CH

[jah]

Nice to hear that you were impressed. After some of the reviews, though, it began to sound like a no-brainer one to buy to me sight unseen.

You'll get yours before mine from the sounds of it so I'll be interested to hear how you get on with it at home. My gaff is still painted with the same magnolia paint the builders slapped on so it's good to hear that the results are still special even in that kind of environment. I do have blackout curtains though so light control is pretty good on the whole.

I'm chomping at the bit to get mine and truly expect to be blown away. I won't demo anything else just in case though.

Cheers,

jah

[NWhiteley]

An excellent review mate.

Being non technical myself, i am pleased someone has taken the time to give their first hand impressions of what something can do in the real world. The usual technical mumbo jumbo may look good on paper, but, its all counts for nothing with me.
Your review has convinced me that the AE2000 should go to the top of my to-buy list. Cheers.

[True-Blue]

I did walk out with one yes, but I'm away at a hotel in Gatwick so can't take it home to play with it until Thursday night.

In terms of the deal I've done I'm not sure I should post that specifically as I honestly don't know how AvSales would feel about it ?

What I can tell you is that I feel I've been properly looked after both in terms of service and the package

[True-Blue]

While I remember, it was sat on a stand pretty much just above ear height about a foot away from me and ran virtually silently even from that distance.

Also, picture sharpness - I've never seen another panny pj before this one so have no idea how good or bad smoothscreen was in the past - this image was crystal clear, very sharp and ultimately very 'film like'

[sdb123]

Excellent news...really pleased for you.

Did you get a sneak listen to the new Ultra subwoofer?

[Shockabuku]

Thanks for the write-up, Blue. I'm hoping to get down to AV-Sales for a demo sometime soon. Saw the HD1 & VW60 last weekend, and the VW60 is winning so far, but I really don't want to pay what Sony are asking. Makes the Panny look mighty tempting, providing it can give me 95%+ of the VW60 performance.

[True-Blue]

Originally Posted by sdb123

Excellent news...really pleased for you.

Did you get a sneak listen to the new Ultra subwoofer?

No didn't have time and at this point my wallet has no desire to find out how much better the new one is than the old one !!


Jah, you won't be disappointed mate

[Shockabuku]

Oh, and time to change your sig!

[True-Blue]

Originally Posted by Shockabuku

Thanks for the write-up, Blue. I'm hoping to get down to AV-Sales for a demo sometime soon. Saw the HD1 & VW60 last weekend, and the VW60 is winning so far, but I really don't want to pay what Sony are asking. Makes the Panny look mighty tempting, providing it can give me 95%+ of the VW60 performance.

Well, only you can be the judge of that but isn't the Sony nearly twice the price ?

I think you may be tempted by the Panny on the basis of performance per £

[sdb123]

A quick question on your thoughts re: performance. How did you find the dark scenes/black levels from the Pannie?

[The Nightfly]

Another quick question; what colour mode where you using?

[True-Blue]

Originally Posted by sdb123

A quick question on your thoughts re: performance. How did you find the dark scenes/black levels from the Pannie?

Very, very good.

Casino royal, towards the end in venice where bond is following the girl through dark passageways, the details in the shadows were brilliant.

In another clip from a Blueray HD tester disc an orchestra are playing in black suits against a black background in a studio of some sort. The detail in their suits was superb and the contrast between their suits and the black background was also excellent. Should be even better in my Batcave

[True-Blue]

Originally Posted by The Nightfly

Another quick question; what colour mode where you using?

An excellent question, Colour 1 with a few minor tweeks to some basic settings such as brightness.

[Dr Force]

True-Blue thanks for your efforts and well done on the purchase.

Did you see any sort of softness due to the smoothing out of the screendoor effect??

How far away were you sitting??

Any motion blurring or pixelisation on faster scenes??

thanks

[True-Blue]

[QUOTE=Dr Force;5787907]True-Blue thanks for your efforts and well done on the purchase.

Did you see any sort of softness due to the smoothing out of the
screendoor effect??

No none at all the the picture was sharp with excellent uniform focus

How far away were you sitting??

About 9' to 10' from a 73" diagonal screen

Any motion blurring or pixelisation on faster scenes??

No none at all - zero


Just to add to that I couldn't see visible pixel structure from a foot away let alone 10' - I don't think throwing a big image will cause any problems.

Any more for any more ?

[sdb123]

Yep, one more from me....it's a really serious one too!

Just how far into the demo was it before you made your decision to buy the pj?

[True-Blue]

Originally Posted by sdb123

Yep, one more from me....it's a really serious one too!

Just how far into the demo was it before you made your decision to buy the pj?

Almost immediately.... the difference between the opening sequence of casino royal on this machine in 1080p and the TX200 in 720p was massive

which

a) blew my socks off,

and

B) really took me by surprise because I Never expected it !!

[sparkymarky]

another short question, in conjuunction with the black level question, have you any dlp's at all as a comparison?

[True-Blue]

Originally Posted by sparkymarky

another short question, in conjuunction with the black level question, have you any dlp's at all as a comparison?

I didn't demo a DLP in a side by comparison as I don't get on with them (Rainbows)
However, I have demo'd numerous DLP's in the past (in a search for one where RBE wasn't a problem for me) and I would say this offers a black performance that would stand up very well against DLP.

I'm not saying that this machine betters DLP in this respect, but I personally think it's now damn close, where LCD in the past would have been left standing. This may of course be true of all the latest D7 LCD's and probably of the new Mitsi 6000 also, which I think is D6 based.

The black performance I observed this evening was excellent, and that was in a light coloured room.

[KelvinS1965]

Thanks for all your information. I have to ask ( as an owner) have you ever seen the AE1000 and if so how does it compare? I have a chance to sell mine on to a friend and then get the AE2000 myself, but it will cost me about £800 to change.....

I like that you've changed your sig already...I did that when I was waiting for my Monolith to arrive. I hope you enjoy it when it turns up, as you have a bat cave, you should see it at it's best; every room tweak I've done has helped me get more and more out of mine.

If you find the picture is too bright in your room (or just want to improve the blacks), get a neutral density (ND2) filter for it. A 72mm Glass coated Hoya one fits nicely in the lens surround with two bits of blutak to secure it and you can still put the lens cap on after use.

[sparkymarky]

thankyou very much for that i was thinking of the hd80 but its long throw ratio and therfore very limted placement was really worrying me if i move into smaller gaf, which is a very high possibilty when renting! if the the ae2000 has blacks as good as say an in76 or even relatively close then i'll be happy. i've got a demo of the hd80 and hopefully the ae2000 this fri so that will tell!

thanks again

[True-Blue]

Originally Posted by KelvinS1965

Thanks for all your information. I have to ask ( as an owner) have you ever seen the AE1000 and if so how does it compare? I have a chance to sell mine on to a friend and then get the AE2000 myself, but it will cost me about £800 to change.....

I like that you've changed your sig already...I did that when I was waiting for my Monolith to arrive. I hope you enjoy it when it turns up, as you have a bat cave, you should see it at it's best; every room tweak I've done has helped me get more and more out of mine.

If you find the picture is too bright in your room (or just want to improve the blacks), get a neutral density (ND2) filter for it. A 72mm Glass coated Hoya one fits nicely in the lens surround with two bits of blutak to secure it and you can still put the lens cap on after use.

Sorry, haven't seen the previous model so really can't comment on how the two compare - according to the 'experts' the performance should be significantly different in terms of blacks, sharpness, focus etc - But I honestly have no idea

Re the Signature, I do physically have it here at the hotel - just can't use it till I get home on Thursday night, do have friday off though

Thanks for the filter tip, I'll bear that in mind

[True-Blue]

Originally Posted by sparkymarky

thankyou very much for that i was thinking of the hd80 but its long throw ratio and therfore very limted placement was really worrying me if i move into smaller gaf, which is a very high possibilty when renting! if the the ae2000 has blacks as good as say an in76 or even relatively close then i'll be happy. i've got a demo of the hd80 and hopefully the ae2000 this fri so that will tell!

thanks again

Well up until now DLP has been the general preferred choice for those who don't suffer RBE like I do, be interested on your thoughts after your demo.

It was an easy choice for me though as I just can't do DLP, and in isolation the black performance of this machine is superb

I thought I'd read a review somewhere that said the blacks on the 2000 are as virtually as good as the HD80 - would only have been from a link in the PJ section somewhere ?

can anyone point Sparkymarky to that review ??

[Shockabuku]

Don't forget to turn noise reduction off (it's set on by default)!

[Kent Home Cinema]

Originally Posted by True-Blue

I nearly forgot to thank Chris and Alastair from AvSales - how rude of me

Top guys, highly recommended

Morning

Good to meet you yesterday and pleased you enjoyed the demo. Thanks for your business and if you need any further help when you are setting everything up on Friday do give us a call.

Regards

Alastair

[True-Blue]

Originally Posted by Shockabuku

Don't forget to turn noise reduction off (it's set on by default)!

Ok, excellent many thanks.

Had a couple of further thoughts since last night,

This machine is not discreet visually - not a problem for me as it's going into a dedicated room, but if it was to go in my living room i'd face severe resistance from the wife.

although it's large, a similar size to the HD1, it looks like a quality piece of kit - not particularly important I guess, but at least it's nice to have some substance for one's cash

i'm not a professional reviewer by any means and I have no affinity to Panasonic or personal desire for you to buy their product. In addition, I haven't posted this thread as a way of either justifying my purchase or starting a PT AE2000 fanboys club. But what I can tell you is that to my eye's this is a stonking projecter offering excellent overall performance that the vast majority of 720p LCD users are likely to find as a big jump performance wise.

Is it better than the Epson, JVC or Sanyo - I have no idea and to be honest I don't care. Does it offer sublime performance for the money - definitely. Am I looking forward to hours and hours of 1080p excellence over the next few years - HELL YEAH

It ticks all my boxes !