I've just demo'd and bought the PT AE2000 - Here are my thoughts

[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?