[Phil Hinton]

This month I was invited for a one to one meeting with Panasonic to see their newest LCD projector, the PT-AE3000. This was an exclusive scoop for AVForums as I was the only person out with Panasonic to be invited.

This took place in Panasonic's demo facilities and my meeting was with
• Tetsuya Koyama - Category Owner Home Cinema
• Tetsuro Shiota - Chief Engineer Home Cinema
• Hartmut Kulessa - Product Manager Europe
• Steve Lucas – Product specialist.

You can see a video of the projector and interviews here.

So, after the introductions, I sat down to a presentation of the new technology being incorporated with the PT-AE3000. The first and probably most important new feature is the Pure Contrast Plate technology (PCP) which eliminates any stray light from the optical path. This helps to increase the contrast available and Panasonic are claiming a staggering 60,000:1 figure. Of course being the type of person I am, contrast figures have to be proven, not merely quoted, so I will comment on the actual performance later. The other added advantage of PCP is the increase in brightness with again a quoted figure of 1600 lumens. As well as PCP there are further improvements to some long standing Panasonic features, such as dynamic iris, smooth screen technology and pure colour filter pro. To round off the optical improvements is a new optical lens path.

Another new feature for this years model is the 100Hz motion picture pro frame creation technology – try saying that after a couple of drinks. This works much in the same way as the technology seen on the companies’ 2008 line of plasmas but optimised for the big screen viewing. It basically interpolates additional frames by analyzing what is happening on the two adjacent frames to create a sharp image with fast moving action. This works by replacing what many would see as a blurred image, with one that looks sharp, detailed and lifelike. As well as the 100Hz variety for Pal playback, there is also a 96Hz mode for 24p from Blu-ray. There is also demo mode which was switched on at this point with the processing switched off on one side and working on the other. I have to say nothing jumped out at me as being un-natural in this variance of the technology, rather the frame creation added smoothness to the image without taking any obvious detail or adding in any artefacts. This is something I would want to test over a longer period of time, but even with some test patterns, including a moving resolution test that we played through the PT-AE3000 I saw nothing that would initially put me off this new technology.

Other new features include a newly upgraded Detail Clarity processor 2 which again works with the focus points of material rather than adding a uniform sharpness. This works rather better than it should, it impressed me on the PT-AE2000 and on the new model it looks just as good, but again these technologies need to be assessed over a longer period than I had at this meeting.

Other technologies present on the last projector from Panasonic also make a return in upgraded form, such as the waveform monitor. This really is a neat gadget once you have the knowledge of how it works, but again there is also an automatic mode which should help novices to see what the feature attempts to do.

And finally we come to a feature which really surprised me; both in its implementation and the fact Panasonic have listened to what people are talking about in terms of home cinema projection – a 2.35:1 zoom feature.
This is being marketed as a budget option to using a cinemascope screen in your cinema room without the need to spend thousands on an anamorphic lens. Now you could do this with any projector on the market to be honest, you just zoom up the image and then fix the focus and off you go. But the draw back is having to manually zoom out again when you switch back to 16:9 material and re-focus the image. The neat thing here with the PT-AE3000 is that you enter the details of you screen and focus points into the memory banks of the projector and add a name to your settings. Then when you want to watch at 2.35:1 on your suitably sized screen you push a button and it does it for you automatically. Now I can hear some projector enthusiasts saying this is a cheat and you’re not using the full panel for the image and you will also lose some brightness, and yes, they are right. However when you factor in that a good quality anamorphic lens starts at around £3k and you also have to find a solution to move this in and out of the light path. So you can see why Panasonic have added the feature and to be honest I found it to be rather good in the image quality stakes with no real drop in quality of brightness. Indeed you could get better results with this option over buying a cheap anamorphic lens.

So finally what did I think when I sat back to watch some movie and SD material. Well let’s just say that the PT-AE3000 left an impression on me – a rare thing these days when you see so much new technology as I do in my day to day job. The contrast levels really have taken a huge leap forward with this projector and it easily gets up there – if not overtaking – a machine like Epsons impressive TW2000. And finally I may have found a dynamic iris I can live with as the new one here certainly did its thing without making itself obvious.
Overall I have been very, very impressed with this £2000 - £2500 projector and its new features (Price to be confirmed). Obviously I am going to reserve final judgement for when we get a review sample through the doors of AVForums towers, but from the short time I have spent with the machine in a good quality demo room at Panasonic HQ, I have to say it looks like being another projector to move the market along in the quality stakes.

You can see a video of the new projector and interviews with Panasonic staff here.

We will up date this thread with more information when we get it. The Panasonic PT-AE3000 will be officially announced at IFA ’08 in Berlin Germany.

[Pessable]

The video only plays for the first 3 seconds for me.

Anyway, it looks like an impressive step forward from the PT-AE2000 as long as the price is right (simlar price to the PT-AE2000?). Any idea when it will be shipping?

Pessable.

[Stuart Wright]

Originally Posted by Pessable

The video only plays for the first 3 seconds for me.

Yes I have experienced this with previous videos. I'm not 100% sure what it is, but I have a feeling it is the embedded player failing when there is lag in downloading the video file (for whatever reason).
I have fixed it by uninstalling and then re-installing the adobe flash player. Or more often I just re-load the page in a different browser.
Or more obviously, I guess, the answer is to open the WMV version.

[IAN P]

Stunning piece of kit,i want one

Great review guys,the 2:35 feature is quite brilliant,this looks like the new king of the hill,did he mention £2,000.00?

Great price if correct.

The videos fine on my pc.

Very exciting news. I have been thinking of buying the Ae2000 but will wait a little longer for this now. Sounds very promising.

[whats_this]

2.35 included as standard

Hope this becomes a standard feature on all mid range projectors. Gonna have to start saving. This has completely screwed up my current plans

[raigraphixs]

Hope the size is not any bigger

Looks ace, cant wait for the tests.

When is it due out?

[IAN P]

Originally Posted by raigraphixs

Hope the size is not any bigger

Looks ace, cant wait for the tests.

When is it due out?

Going off previous projectors by Panny,then October seems a fair bet.

[crimsoneagle]

Think my AE2000 and Aussimorphic are going up for sale
Any ideas on the street date for this?

Thanks Phil great news!!!!
Look forward to your review!!!!

[Nic Rhodes]

Do we have a delivery date yet?

[gandley]

That looks like a solid entry.

Phil in the video you say the projector has a native 60k:1 CR , but if thats with the DI engage then that is not the native CR.


Also Phil and AVforum, thanks for getting the scoop, looks great and i hope the brigtness is really there on this one.

Anyword on how panasonic are doing the smoothscreen stuff with this PJ?

Could this be the new price to performance/features king?

[KelvinS1965]

Noooooooo!!!!! I didn't want to read this but couldn't help myself. I already do the 2.35:1 zoom myself and have even tried to create a macro on my 525 remote to do it automatically on my AE2000 and previous AE1000 but to no avail. Having it done by a button press would be sooo cool.

Damn.....I was just thinking if it would be a good time to send off my AE2000 for the Cine4home 'Ultra' upgrade before I start using it more as the nights draw in.

Must stop reading these forums.

[crimsoneagle]

lol thought u would chime in Kelv
Im seriously thinkin about sellin the AE2000 and my Lense....

[Phil Hinton]

I don't have a firm release date just yet. More details soon. I'm at IFA at the moment doing lots of video stuff on some really exciting products. \keep an eye on the video forum and we will do our best to get these up as soon as we can.

[SMG]

It will be available starting in October.!
Smooth Screen. Yes!

[madshi]

@Phil, thanks for the Panasonic and JVC informations. Very welcome!!

One question: Does the Panasonic support 1080p25 input, too? And will it calculate 3 intermediate pictures to bring this to 100Hz, similar to how it works with a 1080p24 input?

Thanks!

[Nic Rhodes]

local dealer reporting no prices and availability yet after he spoke to Panasonic.

[SMG]

Link to new projector..

http://panasonic.net/pavc/projector/products/ae3000/

[IAN P]

3xhdmi,2xcomponent.

Not to shabby at all

[cyberheater]

Initial review here:-

http://www.cine4home.de/news/PanaAE3...000Preview.htm

Translated version here:-

http://translate.google.co.uk/transl...hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[IAN P]

Thanks Cyberheater,although the translation is humerous,they seem to give it 2 thumbs up.

[KelvinS1965]

Originally Posted by IAN P

Thanks Cyberheater,although the translation is humerous,they seem to give it 2 thumbs up.

I like the image 'plasticity'....does that mean it would be good for watching Walace and Gromet? I think I might have to upgrade to one once they're out....I just wonder how much I'd loose on my AE2000? At least the '3000 uses the same lamp as I have a spare for mine.

[Mad Monk]

Originally Posted by Phil Hinton

The first and probably most important new feature is the Pure Contrast Plate technology (PCP) which eliminates any stray light from the optical path. This helps to increase the contrast available and Panasonic are claiming a staggering 60,000:1 figure. Of course being the type of person I am, contrast figures have to be proven, not merely quoted, so I will comment on the actual performance later. The other added advantage of PCP is the increase in brightness with again a quoted figure of 1600 lumens. As well as PCP there are further improvements to some long standing Panasonic features, such as dynamic iris, smooth screen technology and pure colour filter pro. To round off the optical improvements is a new optical lens path.

Thanks for the explanation but I don't seem to quite grasp how this works. More lumens and higher contrast seems great but does it come at a cost to some other features such as lens sharpness?

Also does the new AE3000 still use smoothscreen technology guys?

Does the Pj have a CMS for calibration? It seems there are settings to adjust the gamma but adjusting primary and secondary colours would be great.

[Phil Hinton]

Originally Posted by monkeykong

Thanks for the explanation but I don't seem to quite grasp how this works. More lumens and higher contrast seems great but does it come at a cost to some other features such as lens sharpness?

Also does the new AE3000 still use smoothscreen technology guys?

Does the Pj have a CMS for calibration? It seems there are settings to adjust the gamma but adjusting primary and secondary colours would be great.

Smoothscreen yes. CMS, yes but the usual odd inplementation used. Lens sharpness is no worse than the 2000.

[Miniholic]

Have been looking at the AE2000 recently, looks like this presents me with a dilemma. Don't need the 2.35 as my room isn't wide enough to make the most of it, but not too suare about the other improvements.

Originally Posted by KelvinS1965

I think I might have to upgrade to one once they're out....I just wonder how much I'd loose on my AE2000?

Loads mate. Let me know when you stick it in the classifieds.

I did actually think of you when I saw that it was caplable of 2.35:1.

[KelvinS1965]

Originally Posted by Miniholic

Loads mate. Let me know when you stick it in the classifieds.

I certainly will.

Originally Posted by Miniholic

I did actually think of you when I saw that it was caplable of 2.35:1.

I didn't know I had such a reputation regarding 2.35:1

[Persian Vice]

This is crazy,after 2 months of resource i finaly made my decission and i was ready to order the AE2000 and now all the brands are coming up with new models now i have wait another month before they all come out and i have no idea what to choose!!!panasonicAE3000,epsonTW5000 or the Mitsubishi HC7000...or should i just get the AE2000

[Nic Rhodes]

Welcome to the club!!. I was going to pull the trigger on a 6000 this week but now am interested in the 7000 and 3000. I suspect the final decision may be driven time of availability at a decent price (£2200) rather than the superiority of one model over the others (all the 6000, 2000 and 2200 had good quality and choice was often down to 'features rather than 'quality' of one model over others). I await with interest the responce of supplers next week.

[pottydave]

Hi
I am also in this club, I was about to go for the HC6000, but the specs on the Panny AE3000 have blown me away..., particularly in relation to the 2.35 option, so now a little . However, the HC6K PJ is still a serious contender for the price !

Regards

Pottydave

[JagoPlasma]

so is the CR on this unit really better than the new JVC? I always wanted the HD1 due to the high CR, but I cant imagine an LCD being better than the LCOS. surely they are sacrificing something? I call shootout!

however I am really tempted by the 96/100/120 picture processing and more importantly the 2.35:1 mode (I actually like the fact it zooms rather than scales the picture!)