AE100 now or wait?

richard plumb

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I'd like some advice on whether to get an AE100 this weekend (bonus burning a hole in my pocket), or wait and see what comes out later.

Trouble is, the bonus will pay for the AE100 (£1300 from local panasonic dealer), but newer machines will most likely be more expensive. AE200 doesn't seem worth waiting for, and the AE300 will be more expensive.

I can't use the projector until we move (maybe end of October), but I don't want to end up losing the option of the AE100 if panasonic discontinue it, and have to pay more for the 200.
 
Well I'm very happy with mine but I intend to look at the ae300 when it comes out mainly because of the possible improvement to screendoor.
(The idea of getting a DVHS machine with sdi output into Dscaler or similar with 1080i -540p also seems quite intriguing)
 
£1300 bonus! you lucky git!
If you cant use it until the end of October then I would definatly wait, I know its hard but it might be worth it. I had the same problem about 18 months ago, I wanted a Toshiba MT1 but there were rumours of a similar priced Projector with Progressive scan.
I waited a few weeks and ended up with (in my view) the much better Sanyo PLV30. Prices are tumbling and specs are getting better, so be patient and WAIT.
 
......to be in !


I've gotten the AE100 after a long time waiting, so I know what you're going through. The recent spate of posts about new projs (AE200/300, Sony, Philips, Sanyo) have made me think that I should have waited a bit longer. But then I realise what a brilliant picture I have and that no matter that it could always be improved on I just sit back and enjoy having a better movie picture in my living room than you generally see in the local UCI - and thats not an idle boast.

If you're talking about waiting until October then I'd probably advise you to wait the extra couple of weeks - you never know the price might well drop a little further, but if you've got the dosh in you hand and you've earned a treat, then go for it - you'll never look back.


Sean G.
 
I think I'm going to wait a while before I buy a projector. I'm wondering if the AE200 might be more reliable than the 100, and I also want see what the Sony HS-2 is like.
 
Given that these things are only launched in Japan in october, we still don`t know when they will be in this country, I decided to buy as I had waited 3 months already. I wouldn`t decide though until you have the room set up and everything, as you will be eating into your warrenty without being able to use the thing,

Chris
 
having said that, if I buy the AE100 now and it breaks later, panasonic might replace it with an AE200 anyway :)
 
i would say definately wait. ive just had two PTAE100Es over the last two weeks. the first one broke after 31hours of use, the second after about 30minutes.

theres a really screwed batch going around now that will just fail to light the lamp, once it blows its screwed and it seems to just blow at random. someone mentioned a batch that has underspecced capacitors - dont know if thats true or not but seems very likely given my experiences. if you buy now theres a big chance you will be having to get it serviced within a few weeks because getting it swapped out just gets you a new one with faulty capacitors.

im returning mine for a refund and have instead decided to get the Epson TW100 which is 1280x720 WXGA which is a higher resolution that the PTAE's 858x484 WSVGA output, hopefully this will really reduce the screen door effect also which i found annoying but was prepared to put up with.

the slight downside is that its more than twice the price :eek:
 
As a Panny AE100 owner since Feb 2002, I'd say wait.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's fab for the money. When I bought it nothing could touch it for the price.

But with Sony's Wide XGA sub-£2000 machine due in October (Japan), I'd wait for one of those.
 
well I`d say get one now while you have the cash, you`ll use it, somehow even on a wall.

I wasted ages and ages to buy mine and a lot of that wait was due to some of the stuff I read on here about it ( the PTAE 100). I had made my mind up to go for the Plus Piano, huh what a joke that was.

The panny is far beyond what I expected it to be, I am totally happy with mine and I wont be wishing for another model thats even dearer.

I demod the Simm 200 too at £5000, no way would I pay the difference in price, to be honest I couldn`t see a picture difference other than the Simm looked like it had the warm setting on.

I guess it depends on how good you are at holding on to your cash if you wait. It doesnt take long to dissapear, and how critical you are of the picture. If you`ve seen it and it looks good go for it now then your next bonus will pay for the screen. I cant see you being sorry and by the time your rooms done you will be well into it.

Oh and any jobs going in your place?
 
Originally posted by Jonny1973
As a Panny AE100 owner since Feb 2002, I'd say wait.

But with Sony's Wide XGA sub-£2000 machine due in October (Japan), I'd wait for one of those.

after the original posts, I thought the Sony was confirmed as being above £2000, possibly nearer £2.5k?

whichever way, its not going to be at a list of £1500 and less than that on the street.

I'd go for the AE100 now.

the other new 16:9 PJs maybe out soon "officially", but with the usual supply problems it can take months before they really get into the supply channel.
 
well, i picked one up on Saturday from my local panasonic dealer.

I'll give it a quick test today for dead pixels. I made 5 640x480 jpegs (black,white, red, green, blue) and popped them onto a memory stick, then I'm going to use my camera's composite out to the projector. That should show up any stuck nasties, right?
 
Well done You won`t be sorry I`ll bet
 
And don't forget, the ae100 had lots of probs for the first 9 months or so. I doubt if the ae200/300 will be much better on this score until this time next year.

You could then trade in/flog the ae100 & stll get circa £900 (thru e-bay).
 
richard,

you can check an AE100 for dead pixels by going into the service menu. Don't worry there are no scary options on here so you can't do any damage.

Go into the options menu and hold enter whilst OSD is highlighted.

The last option (can't remember name) displays solid screens of colour and you can cycle colours using left/right to check for dead pixels.
 

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