Just got my 700 exchanged, wow what a difference

fallwood

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Hi all, finally got my 700 exhanged by panasonic (after 3 months waiting) and I have to say its far superior to the unit I had before. I always claimed that my 700 never looked as sharp as my 500 but put it down to the smooth screen technology being tweaked a bit on the 700. The new unit is razor sharp and ive only got the sharpness turned up to 3, its also way brighter than the old one ever was. As far as i can tell its got the newer 1.05 firmware , are their any reports of the newer firmware improving the picture or was it only to fix the hdmi issues, their are a few new options in the service menu (HD overscan, and 525p OS) anyone know what these do. Anyway im well happy now and hopefully this one will fare a bit better .
 
Reports on the avsforum in the US say that they new firmware improves the coulour balance and image quality. My ae700 has the 1.07 upgrade and it seems to have made a bit of an improvement in picture quality.
 
Is there any news regarding Panasonic's response to what will no doubt now be a deluge of requests for the new firmware?

I'm about to purchase one and don't know whether to get in touch with them prior to going ahead. I'd like to think that they will do a no fuss upgrade on what will be a new projector, but common sense tells me they will eventually start to make excuses.

CooperUK - you sound to have had a genuine fault (the VB) that they responded to and have fixed. That won't be the case with a new machine so I'm just wondering what you think I should do when I buy my AE700.
 
NorthernNerd
do a search theres a few threads on the subject.Mine had bad VB firmware 1.03 Panasonic wouldn't take it back to upgade it to 1.07.It was still under warrenty as well,in the end i contacted them making up i have problems with the HDMI contection.They picked it up and had it back to me with in a week with new firmware 1.07,hardly notice any VB anymore.
 
I am thinking of buying a Panasonic ae700. Is there anyway of knowing beforehand whether you are buying one with the 1.07 firmware upgrade or are there none of those for retail sale? I.e. do you have to get onto Panasonic to upgrade it?
 
Oldgold - I should get mine tomorrow and, from what i was told, it is very recent stock.

I'll post what ver firmware it has, though I suspect it'll most probably be 1.05.
 
NorthernNerd said:
Oldgold - I should get mine tomorrow and, from what i was told, it is very recent stock.

I'll post what ver firmware it has, though I suspect it'll most probably be 1.05.

So what firmware version did it have ?

Ray :)
 
I got a new PT-700AE delivered on Friday from DiscountTV (site sponsors), it's my first projector and it's truly great.

I was slightly disappointed though when accessing the service menu to see I had firmware 1.03 (well I'm guessing it is as the only numbers I could see were 1.04, 1.03, 1.03).

This makes me think it is old stock - also Shane had said it would be upgraded to 1.07 before being sent out. However the VB seemed un-noticeable - until I played my chipped XBox in at 480P (MS Hi-Def kit), yeurgh. Terrible, Halo 2 was pretty ugly - luckily Soul Calibur II looks amazing in 720p.

Watched Finding Nemo today (from S97 DVD through HDMI - outputting at 750p) with the kids and noticed the screen turn to gash for about .5 second twice. Is this the fabled 1.03 HDMI issue?

I am hoping to get the pj updated to 1.07 - is it best to go through DiscountTV or Panasonic? Suggestions, ideas and any thoughts would be great....
 
I'm getting a PT700 demo at discounttv next week (and HS50 if stock has arrived) . Definitely want 1.07 if I choose the panny. Send yours back to Shane.

Ray :thumbsup:
 
Just to update - had to go to Panasonic direct for the firmware update. They are picking it up tomorrow - very hassle free. DiscountTV don't have 1.07 firmware version in stock apparently.
 
Panasonic don't seem to treat the vertical banding as a warranty issue, however if you happen to have the "white flash" issue with the HDMI port then they seem happy to do the upgrade......
 
Scumball, post here if it does fix your xbox prob! Theyre picking up my pj on monday :) Mentioned the xbox prob to them aswell as the hdmi issue. Got the impression theyre going to look at that separately to the firmware upgrade, dunno.. By the way, do any details need to be written on the box, such as rma number etc? I forgot to ask when i just spoke to them on the phone! Maybe the courier comes with a sticker or jiffy bag with details written on it....
 
I got an email from Shane after i made an enquiry about the firmware on their Panasonic projectors, they seemed interested in selling to me but when i sent a second email again enquiring about the firmware all i got was silence, no emails back which suggests to me they don't want my business so i guess someone else will get it, unless of course they read this and are willing to respond to legitimate concerns regarding the firmware ( why settle for old firmware and worse picture quality and why on earth have they and other manufacturers not got the latest versions in stock and what is Panasonic playing at ? )
 
Ivojo said:
Panasonic don't seem to treat the vertical banding as a warranty issue, however if you happen to have the "white flash" issue with the HDMI port then they seem happy to do the upgrade......

...what is the 'white flash' HDMI issue?
I've had a search but can't find a description of the problem, only mentions of it.

Thanks muchly
Neil
 
Fatbob1080 said:
By the way, do any details need to be written on the box, such as rma number etc? I forgot to ask when i just spoke to them on the phone! Maybe the courier comes with a sticker or jiffy bag with details written on it....

Bob,

just pakage up the AE700, there is no need for an RMA number or the like.

I included a piece of paper in my box with my name, address, telephone number and email address.

On the outside of te box all I put on was a piece of paper saying "Fragile. Take care" If that helped or not is another matter.

Panansonic had my AE700 back to me in exactly one week's time. Pretty good I thought.

Regards
Keith Hurst
 
FoxyMulder said:
I got an email from Shane after i made an enquiry about the firmware on their Panasonic projectors, they seemed interested in selling to me but when i sent a second email again enquiring about the firmware all i got was silence, no emails back which suggests to me they don't want my business so i guess someone else will get it, unless of course they read this and are willing to respond to legitimate concerns regarding the firmware ( why settle for old firmware and worse picture quality and why on earth have they and other manufacturers not got the latest versions in stock and what is Panasonic playing at ? )

So if these guys are not reliable then who else has the AE700 at a good price ?

Cheers

Taz
 
They are reliable thats an old post and the version i got had the latest firmware, discount my old post.

In fact there service was good and reliable and i got a phone call just before it shipped so i'm happy with them.
 
Spoke to digital direct this morning and their stock is new, whether that means it is 1.07 or not I don't know but it from Panasonic and less than a week old

MB
 
Got mine from digital direct on thursday and its 1.07. I think the build date on the back was Feb/March 05
 
Spooksta said:
Got mine from digital direct on thursday and its 1.07. I think the build date on the back was Feb/March 05

\o/

Thanks, that puts my mind at rest :)

MB
 
I got mine from projectorpeople.com. I only worked with one person and she was extremely knowledgeable and super nice. Her contact information is below. She is US based.

They also have tech support for problems after you buy. I called to see about returning my 700 for a different model and they wouldnt do that, but gave some great advice on resolving the VB problem such as removing power chord periodically.

Good luck.

Jim

Sarah Buss
800-639-3010 ext 2242
Senior Account Representative
 

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