My AE700 review and DiscountTV experience

Nikumba

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Will post more indepth when i get home, since using sisters uni computer.

Anyhow went up to see Ben on saturday saw some nice countryside since the GPS decided to take us over the moors that was fun :)

When we arrived, talked to Ben and got a demo of the AE700 and was pretty much sold on it as soon as i saw Nemo on it. After that he spent several hours helping to put a package together, for DVD player, speakers and A/V reciever.

I have to say superb service and a jolly decent chap :)

Regards

Nikumba
 
Bit of an update:

Got itchy to try my new toys out so set some of it up at my sisters uni house, projectored onto a woodchip wall painted in magnolia, with a lit room, the thin curtains didnt do much, the picture was superb and the sound was amazing.

Should have all of it set up properly tonight

Nikumba
 
Sounds good Nikumba! I am very interested in this projector myself. Keep us informed of your opinion.

What DVD player/Speakers/Reciever did you pick out?
 
I have just placed an order with Discount TV for an AE700 myself. I don't think that I'll be indulging in any other kit upgrades just yet as I had a major AV refit barely two years ago.

I've just got away with justifying the swap-out of the rear-pro for the PJ. I think that the missus would kill me if I went for anything else just yet. Mind you, a HDMI player would be nice...

...anyway, keep us posted Nikumba. I'm just going to have to rely on these forums until Discount TV gets some further 700's into stock and I can get my eager paws on one for myself.

James Graham
 
A word of advice for any pj noobie forthing at the mouth. All LCDs, and I mean all LCDs can make a computer animated DVD look great eg. Shrek, Nemo, Toy Story, etc. The real test comes with realistic skin tones, absolute black and shadow detail. Try Pirates of the Carribean, Dark City, LOTR or any other dark movie.
 
Venom1969 said:
A word of advice for any pj noobie forthing at the mouth. All LCDs, and I mean all LCDs can make a computer animated DVD look great eg. Shrek, Nemo, Toy Story, etc. The real test comes with realistic skin tones, absolute black and shadow detail. Try Pirates of the Carribean, Dark City, LOTR or any other dark movie.

Venom is spot on.

Most shops will demo with a CGI movie because most of them are bright and colourful. In oyther words they hide any contrast or skin tone problems. My AE100 was demoed using Toy Story.

A friend has just bought his first PJ, they demoed Antz.

The Matrix is another bad choice since most of the movie is tinted green.

If possible, take a selection of your own DVDs to look at.
 
Yes Nikumba and I (and another!) looked at a small selection of his obscenely large DVD collection, one of which I am still in awe!

TBH if you just put toy story on, the customer generally knows you are being less than thorough and it gets really boring for us watching the same clips all the time!

Anyway Nikumba thanks for getting me out of doing proper work for the afternoon :)
 
A really good film to demo is Pleasantville. This film (for those who don't know) is partly in monochrome and partly in colour. At least on the R1 DVD (can't speak for r2) they've taken a huge amount of trouble to get the skin tones etc just right in the coloured bits because of the significance of colour to the story. And the monochrome parts can reveal their own set of shortcomings (if any) in the display.
 
I got the AE700, Pionner DV-668AV, and Denon AVR-1905 and Acoustic Energy speakers and a Draper 83" screen

Got it all set up in my room and it is amazing. Only draw back is the screen is too big :( So need to talk to ben about changing it

Nikumba
 
why is the screen too big..?

Can you not zoom the picture out or is it simply TOO BIG for your room??

Shame.

Cap :)
 
Captain Benefit said:
why is the screen too big..?

Can you not zoom the picture out or is it simply TOO BIG for your room??

Shame.

Cap :)

Even at 2 x zoom it doesnt fill the space the screen would take up, so i will either get a smaller screen, or get rid of the screen and use the wall, since its fresh plaster room the wall is very smooth

Nikumba
 
Hmmm..how close do you have the projector to the screen? Can you not move it back? It sounds like you have it too close...you should easily be able to fill a 83" screen.
 
According to projectorcentral.com's calculator, at that distance the max screen size you could get is 85" (with 2x zoom). So maybe its pushing it a little..how much of the screen does it fill up?

Can you move it back any further?
 
Spoke to Ben about the screen, going to return it and go with the plain wall. Thumbs up for more great service form Ben :)

Nikumba
 
Dont discount the screen mate. They DO make a difference.

Just my opinion.

Cap :)
 
Im not discounting it, but at the moment given my setup it is somthing I can live without for now.

Cheers

Nikumba
 

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