OK, so how good is this AE100 then?

As an occasional visitor to this site I'm amazed at how many of you guys seem to own one of these.

I've got a Toshiba MT3 and while I think its got a pretty decent picture, I do find it a bit noisy and the light around the picture (I guess from not having a 16:9 panel) is a bit of a pain.

I suppose this latter problem does not occur with the Panasonic (?)

and is it reasonably quite?

how good is the picture?

would I see an improvement over mine? After reading a very good review in this month's HCC I'm now a little intrigued.

any info would be much appreciated.

 

If you go to the Panasonic shop over at Gloucester (maybe give them a ring first to check for stock) they should be able to give you a quick demo - they may even let you take yours across to do a comparison??? I had a look at one a few months ago when they were in the process of setting up a room for demo's upstairs and I was impressed - though I would also like to see one driven by a pro-scan device/pc to see what it can really do.

Cheers,

Dean.

 

I was running my AE100 using an S-Video DVD Player and I was VERY happy with the results. The screen I was using was made of MDF and painted a Shade of Gray between IceStorm 5 & 6.

Then I purchased a Philips Q50 PAL Progress DVD player (based on recommendations from this forum) and I can't believe the difference. It really has to be seen to be believed.

Its Quiet.
Razor Sharp Image.
Great Contrast.
Great Colours

Two of my friends were going to buy Plasma TVs and after seeing the AE100 with the Q50, they both purchased the AE100 and one of them also purchased the Q50. I can't believe here in Australia no shop is demoing it with a Progressive scan DVD player. They are nuts!!

In any case that is my VERY SUBJECTIVE Opinion.

Best Regards (& Good Luck)
Amelia

 

How good ?

Mine arrived whilst at work on Wednesday - tired and full of cold I made sure that it at least turned on

Thursday, still ill, Dad had a go at putting up a makeshift screen, an eight foot wide roller white roller blind

Curtains drawn and DVD player connected via component connections the play button was pressed and whatever DVD that was in there ( happened to be Rush Hours 2 ) sprung into life

A few books under the projector and a picture soon came on the screen - and WOW

Bear in mind I had not touched and of the picture controls and that due to it being a cheap blind there was not only a picture n the screen but also the wall behind it ( due to the holes in the blind ) but the picture was very very good - no blockyness - good colour - very sharp

I cant wait til I get the proper screen up

So much potential

 

thanks for your help guys.

I might just pop over to the Panasonic shop next week Dean.

I think that the Q50 sold in the UK doesn't have progressive scan - is that correct? Does this really make such a big difference?

 

Does the Q50 make such a difference? (or really, what you mean, does progressive scan make such a difference)

YES.

BUT. If you don't have the cash to go progressive scan then don't lose any sleep. You'll still be blown away. When you upgrade to a Prog DVD or go the HTPC route (Prog by its very nature) you will experience what I feel is a 50% upgrade in quality.

If you don't see the PJ running progressiveyou'll be v happy.

When I switched from regular interlaced via Svideo to Progressive (HTPC) I could not see what all the fuss was about at first. Then, I switched back temporarily for whatever reason and thought that something was wrong with the PJ!! It wasn't, I just noticed what I had left behind! - I won't go into details because you won't notice it until you upgrade, and thats the better way to be. No piont picking faults in what you have if you can't afford the upgrade yet.

Enjoy what you have, but be aware that there is a very sweet upgrade path awaiting you!

 

Woaaaah there a moment.

One point to make. Maybe sucking eggs, but consider it a reminder.

I, and I expect most of us went from no pj to the Panasoinc AE100. Yes I love it, and tried it against others, ie the Sony, and hence it is awesome. No complaints at all. Does all I could ever want and so on. At last an 'affordable' unit to get us into pj's that is actually good!!

In your case however, the Toshiba is a good pj in its own right. You already have a good pj. The 'difference' may not be so great. Yes the Panasonic may be better than what you already have, but you may not see as impressive a unit as I/we did. However, having compared it against your Toshiba, and if 'you' think it's worth it, then get one.

I'd put money on it that you'll be happier with it, but it's all relative. You may hanker to go upmarket. You are already on the ladder. The 16:9 panel and the AV inputs on the Panasonic are a great bonus to its picture. It may be more than enough to sway you.

Just thought I'd pitch in a bit.

 

spoke to a guy from AVSales.com earlier today (hmm... I feel a rather large ball has started moving and I may not be able to stop it!) and he was extremely helpful.

Told me about the ProV progressive scan converter.

has anybody used one of these? how's it likely to perform if I stuff the S-Video from my Marantz DV4100 into it?

 

You are correct in that the UK version doesn't have Progressive Scan. As far as it making a big difference, well yes it does in a MAJOR way.

The thing to remember is if you haven't see it run on a higher end DVD player then the image looks very good and you will be 100% happy with it, but if you do happen to eventually go down the path of a Progressive Scan DVD player or HTPC, you will be blown away. It's like having a 2m Plasma Screen in you living room

Good Luck!!

Best Regards
Amelia

 

They are rather good, s-vhs & tuner work fine (mono sound from tuner). It does improve picture quality.

That said, for the life of me, I cannot get them to work with composite input. Yesterdays failiure - N-64 using it's own phono output.