Panasonic PT AE2000 or Sony VPL-HW10

[singingauditor]

I'm new to projectors, and grateful for some views on the 2 options. I have the option on a ex-demo Panasonic PT AE2000 (42 hours on bulb), from a AV shop at £1400. It comes with full warranty etc.

They have also offered me the Sony VPL-HW10 at £1400 as well, and this will come with a sony blue ray player, which i could sell for £170 ish, bringing the sony in at £1230 delivered. This seems a one off offer as i had some problems with my overall order so they are making amends.

I have seen them both, not side by side and both look good to me, well to my untrained eye they seem very good.

Each seems to have its downsides – the sony cables all come out of the side rather than the back – not ideal for me, and the panasonic seems to suffer from dust blobs. Ideally I wanted to a projector that would do a 92” diagonal screen from 5.5m but none seem to fit my needs. So i'm going to have to ceiling mount them - but they are both huge. Panasonic has great reviews, Sony is new and no independent reviews yet.

Which one to go for? Or should i consider something else. I really need to decide by this friday.

[stainless-steel]

If you've seen them both then you're probably the best qualified to make the decision.

My vote would be for the Sony, it's a brand new PJ for 2008 where as the Panasonic is an outgoing 2007 model.

All the (limited number of) reviews I've seen for the Sony have been very positive, for £1230 I can't think of anything that'd make me go for the Panasonic.

[NWhiteley]

Originally Posted by singingauditor

They have also offered me the Sony VPL-HW10 at £1400 as well, and this will come with a sony blue ray player, which i could sell for £170 ish, bringing the sony in at £1230 delivered. This seems a one off offer as i had some problems with my overall order so they are making amends.

Thats a good price. Were is it from and do they have them in stock?

[jacko5]

Originally Posted by singingauditor

I'm new to projectors, and grateful for some views on the 2 options. I have the option on a ex-demo Panasonic PT AE2000 (42 hours on bulb), from a AV shop at £1400. It comes with full warranty etc.

They have also offered me the Sony VPL-HW10 at £1400 as well, and this will come with a sony blue ray player, which i could sell for £170 ish, bringing the sony in at £1230 delivered. This seems a one off offer as i had some problems with my overall order so they are making amends.

I have seen them both, not side by side and both look good to me, well to my untrained eye they seem very good.

Each seems to have its downsides – the sony cables all come out of the side rather than the back – not ideal for me, and the panasonic seems to suffer from dust blobs. Ideally I wanted to a projector that would do a 92” diagonal screen from 5.5m but none seem to fit my needs. So i'm going to have to ceiling mount them - but they are both huge. Panasonic has great reviews, Sony is new and no independent reviews yet.

Which one to go for? Or should i consider something else. I really need to decide by this friday.

You have a nice big room at 5.5m. Have you considered a 106" diag screen? You would be able to shelf mount the HW10 and without checking I expect the AE2000 would work too.
Personally I would go for the Sony.

[tfboy]

Originally Posted by singingauditor

as i'm new to this would i have a problem with the sony image being washed out, as the room wont be totally black. The panasonic seems to have more lumens therefore brighter?

So people think the Sony would be the best option.

I'm not sure brighter would always be better.
If you have lightly coloured walls / not a bat cave room, then you won't get the best possible contrast ratio and apparent brightness.
If you have a projector that's a lot brighter, whilst that may initially be better "on the screen", there will be more light bounced which will therefore reduce contrast further, so you may end up back where you started so to speak.
It also depends on what screen you get - you can get screens with a narrower reflection cone. So whilst this isn't too good for people watching off-axis, it will reduce the light spillage and probably give you better contrast.

Best bet is to try and get a demo in similar conditions and see what you think

[jacko5]

Originally Posted by singingauditor

Yeah the room is a decent size but the useable seating area would make the 106" screen just a tad too big, might however be a better solution than the hassle of ceiling mounting etc.

Although I'm reasonably intelligent I can never work out those screen calculators and rely on the shops to do the calculation but you can confirm that both these will work with a 106" screen at 5.5m - are there any easy to understand calculators.

The place is the home cinema centre in Edinburgh. They dont have them in stock. They say it will be 3 weeks. I guess however this deal is available as a way of compensation, as mentioned in my first post.

as i'm new to this would i have a problem with the sony image being washed out, as the room wont be totally black. The panasonic seems to have more lumens therefore brighter?

So people think the Sony would be the best option.

Remember, the critical distance is from the front surface of the lens to the screen surface. Don't forget to take into account, if using a pulldown screen, to allow for how far it will hang away from the wall. Mine is almost 1ft.

For shelf mounting,the maximum you can have the AE2000 to fill a 92" screen is 5.52m. and the HW10 4.29m.

The maximum you can have the AE2000 from a 106" screen is 6.37m. and the HW10 4.95m.

When comparing brightness figures, don't be fooled by the manufacturers figures which usually quote maximum possible brightness, not calibrated brightness based on settings you would use in real world viewing.

[J-Mac]

Originally Posted by singingauditor

I'm new to projectors, and grateful for some views on the 2 options. I have the option on a ex-demo Panasonic PT AE2000 (42 hours on bulb), from a AV shop at £1400. It comes with full warranty etc.

They have also offered me the Sony VPL-HW10 at £1400 as well, and this will come with a sony blue ray player, which i could sell for £170 ish, bringing the sony in at £1230 delivered. This seems a one off offer as i had some problems with my overall order so they are making amends.

I have seen them both, not side by side and both look good to me, well to my untrained eye they seem very good.

Each seems to have its downsides – the sony cables all come out of the side rather than the back – not ideal for me, and the panasonic seems to suffer from dust blobs. Ideally I wanted to a projector that would do a 92” diagonal screen from 5.5m but none seem to fit my needs. So i'm going to have to ceiling mount them - but they are both huge. Panasonic has great reviews, Sony is new and no independent reviews yet.

Which one to go for? Or should i consider something else. I really need to decide by this friday.

I saw the HW10 in the home cinema centre yesterday and was very impressed. Even when they flipped it to ITV2 on freesat, I thought the quality was as good as/better than the TVs you see in John Lewis, (OK - not calibrated).

I'd a slight issue when there was motion in parts of the picture that were out of focus but that was probably because the screen was so large relative to where the seating was - it improved when I walked behind the sofa.

At the price they're quoting (which they wouldn't give to me) I'd go for the Sony.

I'm also looking to get my first projector, but want to see the AE3000 as a comparison and whether it will be worth the extra cash. With all these things there is a budget, but seeing as your getting an enhanced discount have you considered waiting another couple of weeks 'til they get one in?

[singingauditor]

Originally Posted by J-Mac

I saw the HW10 in the home cinema centre yesterday and was very impressed. Even when they flipped it to ITV2 on freesat, I thought the quality was as good as/better than the TVs you see in John Lewis, (OK - not calibrated).

I'd a slight issue when there was motion in parts of the picture that were out of focus but that was probably because the screen was so large relative to where the seating was - it improved when I walked behind the sofa.

At the price they're quoting (which they wouldn't give to me) I'd go for the Sony.

I'm also looking to get my first projector, but want to see the AE3000 as a comparison and whether it will be worth the extra cash. With all these things there is a budget, but seeing as your getting an enhanced discount have you considered waiting another couple of weeks 'til they get one in?

I haven't considered the new panasonic - seems just a bit too much for my first projector. To be honest i demo'd the ae200 panasonic and I thought that was excellent. But i'm jumping on the 1080p bandwagon, even though 720p is great. I'd regret it afterwards.

Yeah they've just told me about the 3 week wait, which is pushing me towards the panasonic.

bit worried about the loss of focus on movement. I will be viewing on a 92" screen from about 12 foot. This is the thing that disappointed me about the pioneer tv, i have the 50" 8 series 720p, and i notice the loss of focus on that in some motion scenes, something i never had with my panasonic 600, although that was only 37". So hopefully the motion problem is not serious.

as i say the price is a one off due to circumstances of my overall order. Most people seem to be saying its a no-brainer and i should go for the sony. I must say though the shop have excellent customer service, ive never been as i live in lancashire.

I'm surprised no one has come out in favour of the panasonic though

[stainless-steel]

Having seen both you're still in a far better position to make a decision than most of us.

My money's still with the Sony though.

[Phil Hinton]

I should have the Sony here for review next week. Should have the AE3000 soon. We have a review of the AE2000 http://www.avforums.com/reviews/Pana...00-Review.html

[J-Mac]

Originally Posted by singingauditor

I haven't considered the new panasonic - seems just a bit too much for my first projector. To be honest i demo'd the ae200 panasonic and I thought that was excellent. But i'm jumping on the 1080p bandwagon, even though 720p is great. I'd regret it afterwards.

Yeah they've just told me about the 3 week wait, which is pushing me towards the panasonic.

bit worried about the loss of focus on movement. I will be viewing on a 92" screen from about 12 foot. This is the thing that disappointed me about the pioneer tv, i have the 50" 8 series 720p, and i notice the loss of focus on that in some motion scenes, something i never had with my panasonic 600, although that was only 37". So hopefully the motion problem is not serious.

as i say the price is a one off due to circumstances of my overall order. Most people seem to be saying its a no-brainer and i should go for the sony. I must say though the shop have excellent customer service, ive never been as i live in lancashire.

I'm surprised no one has come out in favour of the panasonic though

As has been said previously, go with the one you like.

I had seen the AE2000 when there was still a Sevenoaks in Edinburgh and thought that was good but as that was over nine months ago wouldn't like to claim one was better than the other. At the end of the day you shouldn't be disappointed with either.

In terms of their shop, I think their screen was 108" so on a smaller screen the issue I had with the motion should be less. On reflection, I'd also come straight off the street into a darkened room. It became less noticable/negligible when I stood behind their sofa/had been there a while.

I agree completely on the service. They are enthusiastic and knowledgable, without being pushy.

Let us know what you go for. My wife was out yesterday, singlehandely trying to spend the UK out of recession and came back with the usual magic beans. The AE3000 may now be out of my budget, so I might now looking at the 2000 vs Sony.

Cheers

[jacko5]

Originally Posted by J-Mac

As has been said previously, go with the one you like.

I had seen the AE2000 when there was still a Sevenoaks in Edinburgh and thought that was good but as that was over nine months ago wouldn't like to claim one was better than the other. At the end of the day you shouldn't be disappointed with either.

In terms of their shop, I think their screen was 108" so on a smaller screen the issue I had with the motion should be less. On reflection, I'd also come straight off the street into a darkened room. It became less noticable/negligible when I stood behind their sofa/had been there a while.

I agree completely on the service. They are enthusiastic and knowledgable, without being pushy.

Let us know what you go for. My wife was out yesterday, singlehandely trying to spend the UK out of recession and came back with the usual magic beans. The AE3000 may now be out of my budget, so I might now looking at the 2000 vs Sony.

Cheers

The motion problem you experienced may have been motion blur. Some people are more sensitive to this effect than others, in much the same way as rainbows with DLP. It is something which is inherent with LCD/LCOS technology. According to people with far more experience and knowledge than I, it is due to the sample and hold effect, which is perceived by some people more than others as a blur, for example when you have a close up of someones head which they move suddenly and it appears to go out of focus temporarily until the movement stops.
This does not happen with DLP, but then there are other problems.

[Crustyloafer]

Originally Posted by J-Mac

At the price they're quoting (which they wouldn't give to me) I'd go for the Sony.

Originally Posted by singingauditor

as i say the price is a one off due to circumstances of my overall order.

I really should emphasize this point, the price offered to singingauditor is a one off due to problems with his initial order.

The current price that J-Mac was offered is still is already a reduced price and is it possible that the price on this product may be increased in the coming months.

[singingauditor]

just to let people know that i plumped for the panasonic.


I know people on here are keen on the sony, but the panasonic seemed to fit better in terms of placement. When i demo'd it it was brilliant.

I also saw the sony at the manchester show, the demo guy seemed more interested in showing the sound system, whereas everyone had come to see and discuss the projector. The demo included a pixar short - which surely would look good on any projector and most tv's. The kung fu hustler was better, as it showed lots of dark scenes. must also point out that they were using an expensive screen, and the room was very dark.

It looks great, but the panasonic is well reviewed and tried and trusted and better warranty. Just glad I've made the decision really.

thanks for all the comments and help