I'd like to start a thread dedicated to the calibration / tweaking of the PT-AE4000U.

I'm in a batcave with dark red walls and a 106 in 1.1 gain screen. The projector is 12 feet from the screen and the seats are 11-10 feet away (right below the projector).

I have no calibration experience and I have no tools to perform calibration except a DVE HD-DVD calibration disc, which I haven't used yet. If anyone is generous enough to share, I'm looking to learn the settings of those who own calibration tools or who have gotten the PT-AE4000u professionally calibrated.

Let's all get the most out of our brand new PT-AE4000U.

BTW - I just watched UP last night on Bluray - amazing!

Here are my current settings - I have three saved profiles:

Profile 1 (Film)
Color 1
+25 contrast
-3 color
-5 brightness
+10 sharpness
Frame Creation Mode 2
Detail Clarity +4

Profile 2 (Game)
All the same above except
Frame Creation Off
Fast Response On

Profile 3 (Animation)
All the same above except
Fast Response Off
Frame Creation Mode 3 (looks good with animation!)

Does dreaming about tweaking one of these qualify...? :}

I'd very much like to follow along with this as well, but I don't know jack about calibrating these things, though. I do think it would be benificial to discuss some specifics about your room, screen size, screen, etc, to add a setting to the 'tweeks' you are making. For example, a 150" 2.35 grey screen in an ambient light situation will requre a dramatically different approach then my matte white screen, 120", in the batcave, (ceiling mounted, 14' throw).

The only specifics I can say: I tend to put frame creation to '2' and detail clarity to '3' when viewing Pixar material, as I think that looks better. Any more detail clarity is less desireable, I feel. So far I haven't touched contrast, sharpness, gamma, etc. I'm running cinema 1 on eco mode, plenty bright for now.

Thanks for the info. I have a somewhat similar setup and have been waiting for others to start posting their tweaks as I’m still in shock about how great the picture looks compared to my old DLP HDTV.

My room presently has black ceiling, dark red walls (soon to have black curtains). Projector is 19 feet back from a 134” 1.78:1 Carada BW (supposedly 1.4 but some have measured it lower) with seating 14‘-15’ back from the screen

My only tweaks so far are:

Profile 1 (Film)
Cinema 1
Eco Mode
+10 Brightness
Frame Creation mode 2
+2 Detail Clarity (that may have been the default setting)

Profile 2 (Game)
Cinema 1
Eco Mode
+10 Brightness
Frame Creation: Off
Fast Response: On
+2 Detail Clarity (that may have been the default setting)

Profile 3 (Computer)
Cinema 1
Eco Mode
Frame Creation: Off
Fast Response: On
+2 Detail Clarity (that may have been the default setting)

I found that normal lamp brightness was to bright for my computer so I switch to eco and then also tried it for film and gaming and it seems plenty bright enough for me. Looking forward to trying some other settings once I pick my jaw up off the floor at what I’m seeing already.

I haven't touched much beyond the basic controls either. I'm really interested in anyone's gamma tweaks controls. The AVFORUMS review (link found in the original PT-AE4000u thread) states that they were able to get this projector to near perfect gray scale after adjusting the gamma.

I haven't touched mine either.

Why would you buy a $2k projector to get amazing blacks and colors but not bother to buy a $150 colorimeter (http://www.amazon.com/Xrite-EODLT-X-Rite-Eye-One-Display/dp/B000CR78CE/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1258066375&sr=8-7) to make sure it has some degree of proper calibration? :eek:

The colorimeter will last for years and can be used to retune as the lamp fades or when you buy a new projector.

You can also have some objectivity when you talk about the AE4000's performance instead of all this guessing if the guys face is suppose to be that red or purple.

Why would you buy a $2k projector to get amazing blacks and colors but not bother to buy a $150 colorimeter (http://www.amazon.com/Xrite-EODLT-X-Rite-Eye-One-Display/dp/B000CR78CE/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1258066375&sr=8-7) to make sure it has some degree of proper calibration? :eek:Two good reasons are inexpensive sensors typically aren't very accurate and don't work a hoot under low light conditions. :) I tried such and when Ken Whitcomb finally came over (along with his fancy equipment) to calibrate my projector it was all too obvious he had to start from scratch.

Two good reasons are inexpensive sensors typically aren't very accurate and don't work a hoot under low light conditions. :) I tried such and when Ken Whitcomb finally came over (along with his fancy equipment) to calibrate my projector it was all too obvious he had to start from scratch.

Firstly they work infinitely better than guessing with colored filters over your eyes - or worse, doing nothing and pretending the projector is near calibration.

Secondly, they are often quite accurate and if you want more assurance of that you can purchase a Spyder3 that has been calibrated by Calman for about $300. I have done so, and shown that an old Spyder2 is reasonably accurate as well.

Thirdly, low light is not their forte, but they work very well above 20% and that is a good deal better than doing nothing as well.

It's not a substitute for a professional equipment, but if you won't spend $150, you sure won't spend several h undred for a pro.

Firstly they work infinitely better than guessing with colored filters over your eyes - or worse, doing nothing and pretending the projector is near calibration.

Thirdly, low light is not their forte, but they work very well above 20% and that is a good deal better than doing nothing as well.Based on professional reviews you often know right where each setting sits (such as grayscale)... no guessing at all.

Come on fellas, how about posting some settings?? :)

http://www.projectorreviews.com/panasonic/pt-ae4000/calibration.php

Above is Fieremans's guide to tweaking the Ae4000u. He's pretty much the authority, and this thing is fairly detailed.

I do find it interesting that in his guides he recommends no larger than 110" screen, little gain (unless your screen is small, 96" I think he says), and grey screen if you are to have any ambient light.

I'm running a 120" 16:9 and a bit less than that 2.35 on matte white in a batcave, in CINEMA 1, on eco mode, and its bright enough for me. I must just not know **** about a proper picture. Then again, my bulb is pretty new.

To Orion: I would note that these professional reviewers/calibraters pretty much say this thing is as near 'spot' on as you can get right out of the box. You can 'tweak' it to your room specifications, but as you mention 'low light conditions aren't their forte.' So . . . I guess in my case its as good as it is going to get without spending a bunch of money for a minimally better PQ.

http://www.projectorreviews.com/panasonic/pt-ae4000/calibration.php

Above is Fieremans's guide to tweaking the Ae4000u. He's pretty much the authority, and this thing is fairly detailed.

I do find it interesting that in his guides he recommends no larger than 110" screen, little gain (unless your screen is small, 96" I think he says), and grey screen if you are to have any ambient light.

I'm running a 120" 16:9 and a bit less than that 2.35 on matte white in a batcave, in CINEMA 1, on eco mode, and its bright enough for me. I must just not know **** about a proper picture. Then again, my bulb is pretty new.

To Orion: I would note that these professional reviewers/calibraters pretty much say this thing is as near 'spot' on as you can get right out of the box. You can 'tweak' it to your room specifications, but as you mention 'low light conditions aren't their forte.' So . . . I guess in my case its as good as it is going to get without spending a bunch of money for a minimally better PQ.
if i have 120" 2.35:1 screen and pany 4k about 12'5 from the screen. do the pictures bringht enough on eco mode ?:confused:

Art, who knows infinetely more than I do on the subject, would say absolutely not. In my batcave, if I went to normal 1, I'm sure I could do 120" and no one who came over to watch a movie would notice anything wrong. If you have any ambient light issues, definetely not. Understand, 120" 1.77 screen will be brighter than 120" 2.35.

Sorry if I missed it. Did Art state if the calibration by Mike was done in the High or low lamp mode?

Why would you buy a $2k projector to get amazing blacks and colors but not bother to buy a $150 colorimeter (http://www.amazon.com/Xrite-EODLT-X-Rite-Eye-One-Display/dp/B000CR78CE/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1258066375&sr=8-7) to make sure it has some degree of proper calibration? :eek:

The colorimeter will last for years and can be used to retune as the lamp fades or when you buy a new projector.

You can also have some objectivity when you talk about the AE4000's performance instead of all this guessing if the guys face is suppose to be that red or purple.


I am never sure how to work any of these calibration devices...I'd love to have the perfect colors but always get frustrated by how to set it properly. Is it difficult to use?

if i have 120" 2.35:1 screen and pany 4k about 12'5 from the screen. do the pictures bringht enough on eco mode ?

Mine 4k running in eco mode is in a batcave 19’ back from a 134” 1.78:1 Carada Brilliant White and the picture is more than bright enough for movies, gaming and TV and almost to bright for my computer. When I ordered my screen Carada said that eco mode may or may not work for my situation but they certainly didn’t rule it out and my eyes tell me it’s just fine.

I am never sure how to work any of these calibration devices...I'd love to have the perfect colors but always get frustrated by how to set it properly. Is it difficult to use?

You just point the meter to the screen, use the calibration disk to show various colors and shades of gray, and take measurements using a computer.

There is a learning curve, but also lots of info here about how to do it.

You do have to know how your projector works and how to make adjustments.

I think its worth the time, especially if you find orange faces and turquoise sky annoying.

Sorry if I missed it. Did Art state if the calibration by Mike was done in the High or low lamp mode?

in normal mode.

Thanks, I guess normal was used since the brightness of the unit would not be enough for most in low lamp mode. Using this mode the lamp life would be 2000 hours. vs 4000 for the Epson. Still waiting for Art to compare the two.

There is enough info on the two to compare, in my opinion. the 8500 is just a bit better than the 8100, the way panny 4000 is to the 3000 - hence 'evolutionary' non 'revolutionary.'

If ambient light is an issue, go Epson. Ditto if you are watching it a ****-ton, as its lamp lasts longer. PQ is about equal. Epson has a little better contrast, Panny has it on the shawdows, Epson can throw a darker 'star scene.' Panny has more bells and whistles, the lens memory, and is more easily customizable (PQ), as well as a bit cheaper, can be mounted more flexibly, etc.

The link above has art comparing the two, just not the 'official' face off. There is a face off between the panny 4000 and the 8100, look at that for more specifics

I am never sure how to work any of these calibration devices...I'd love to have the perfect colors but always get frustrated by how to set it properly. Is it difficult to use?

Go through this guide a couple of times and if you can follow what he's telling you, then it is pretty straight forward. Although it can take hours to get it right (although you'll find out that right is relative, because however well you do, you can always improve on a calibration (or die trying)).

I bought the inexpensive i1 LT for $140 off of Amazon, downloaded the free software and have been tweaking my Epson 6500 for months and just love tinkering with settings. The picture improvement is really noticeable - at least to me.

I upgraded to a i1Pro as I found a reasonably good deal on one, and now use both meters to calibrate.

http://www.curtpalme.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10457&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

Thanks, I guess normal was used since the brightness of the unit would not be enough for most in low lamp mode. Using this mode the lamp life would be 2000 hours. vs 4000 for the Epson. Still waiting for Art to compare the two.

Why are some of You so sure that the Epson lamp will last 4000 hs in the brightest mode?

Epson says:
Lamp Life (2): Up to 4000 hours
(2) Lamp life will vary depending upon mode selected, environmental conditions and usage. Lamp brightness decreases over time.
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/consumer/consDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&infoType=Specs&oid=63077381&category=Products

Isn't "up to" = max?
I've read on this forum that there are some Panny owners with more than 4000 hs in his pj (¿Calibos?). With only one that has reached this max You got a PJ with a lamp-life specification of "up to" 4000 hs :)

What means "depending upon mode selected"? Is not saying that if You select the high-power lamp mode the lamp will last less hours?

Both in high power mode, Panasonic's lamp consumes 15% less power (170w vs 200w). Less power = less heat = longer life?

I think that Panasonic is being conservative with his lamp-life numbers. I believe that my PT-L300 and L-500 had a lamp-life of 4000 hs max (low-power).

Sorry my english. Fernando

I took my first stab at calibrating my 4K last night. I am shooting onto a 7' wide 2.35 Dalite Hi-power screen in a light controlled room, my pj is shelf mounted with the lens approx 12.5' from the screen, height is level with the top of the screen. Up til now I found color 1 and cinema1 a little too dark for my tastes with the lamp in hi mode. I have been watching in "normal" mode and was pleased with that. I tried the settings from Art's review site for "color1" and was really pleased with the results. I watched "he's just not that into you" last night with my wife after changing the settings. This movie had lots of close ups of the actors faces, good for checking skin tones and also was mostly dimly lit, good for checking if the brightness level would be sufficient. In a word....PERFECT! Very pleased with these settings and will be using it for all movies from now on. I will still use normal for sports and HDTV.

contrast= 0
brightness=+4
tint= -4
color= -5
lamp= normal
frame creation= mode 1

Oh well....I finally got around to setting up my isco 3L and my 4k....and all I have to say is WOW:) Right out of the box with no adjustments what so ever to the 4k and it looks pretty good. The below is my setup right now and scaler question.

samsung up5000 > onkyo sr605 > VP50 > panny 4K > isco 3L > 8' wide stewart videomatte 200 scope screen @ 17' from face of 3L to screen.

I built a lens sled, but reallly want a fix setup. My 16x9 to scope screen material fits great, however, my scope material is what I need to adjust to fit the screen with the lens on using the scaler. I would rather use the scaler instead of the zoom of the panny to fit the scope material to the scope screen....If you guys could help in anyway that would be great. I'm still playing so who knows I might have this within the hour. The 4K lens fits like a glove in the back of the 3L ( 1/2" from lens to lens ). I'll post some pic.'s before Cal. and after Cal.

Two good reasons are inexpensive sensors typically aren't very accurate and don't work a hoot under low light conditions. :) I tried such and when Ken Whitcomb finally came over (along with his fancy equipment) to calibrate my projector it was all too obvious he had to start from scratch.

WOW....you are a lucky member to be in indy so close to Ken W. Can you drill down some tweaks? If not...could you please PM me Ken's price and number. I had it 4 years ago, when I lived in Ft. Wanye, in my old CRT projector days.

WOW....you are a lucky member to be in indy so close to Ken W. Can you drill down some tweaks? If not...could you please PM me Ken's price and number. I had it 4 years ago, when I lived in Ft. Wanye, in my old CRT projector days.You can send Ken a PM at: D6500Ken

What would be a typical price to have some one tune the 4K at my house?

Depending on who does it you could spend between $350.00 and $600.00.

Thank CharlesR

Just got my AE4000 last week. Watched Star Trek this weekend and it was excellent. It is actually pretty bright and might have to paint the walls.

I am starting the tweaking process. Has anyone fooled around with the masking settings? I have a 16x9 screen and am thinking of setting the bottom and top masking for 2.25:1 movies. I tried it manually for a few seconds and found the difference fairly small and it cut off the progress bar at the bottom when paused (Panny BluRay DMP-60 player) which is not a big deal.

I am looking at auto settings for 2.25 and 16/9 to do this but have not tried it yet. Does it work ok?

I've had my AE4000U running for about 15 hours now and I can't shake the feeling that the image is blurry. I just can't seem to get a nice sharp picture out of it.

It's 13.5' away from a 106' screen.
It's sitting on a shelf about level with the top of the screen using vertical lens shift to move the screen down.
I've tried also with it dead center and no lens shift and while that may improve things a few % it still seems off to me, enough to be annoying / dissapointing.

Unfortunately I have no other projector to base my 'feeling' off but it just doesn't seem right, kind of like when you need glasses only when driving in order to see the far away signs, I dunno how to explain it.
When I run a PC on it the text is very hard to read (the small text underneath the destop icons), larger text is easier to read but not sharp.

Any ideas?
Does anyone with one of these units live in S.E. Florida, specifically West Palm Beach or Broward, I guess the only way for me to tell would be to view another unit's output.

I'm having a similar problem. I cannot get edge to edge focus under any circumstances. I have tried rotating the projector to verify it is lined up properly; but still can only get the center and left hand in sharp focus. If I get the right hand in focus, the left hand of the screen loses focus.

My solution is to have the center in very sharp focus with both edges slightly out of focus, a compromise. It would be nice to have full screen focus before, something I never had an issue with from 2 previous projectors (panasonic AE700, Sony VPL-VW50).

My set up is the Panny ceiling mounted (using a bit of lens shift to move the picture down) about 15 ft back from a 138 inch 2.35 Carada Brilliant White screen in a well light-controlled room. Brightness so far is good (less the 50 hours on lamp).

I'm having a similar problem. I cannot get edge to edge focus under any circumstances. I have tried rotating the projector to verify it is lined up properly; but still can only get the center and left hand in sharp focus. If I get the right hand in focus, the left hand of the screen loses focus.

My solution is to have the center in very sharp focus with both edges slightly out of focus, a compromise. It would be nice to have full screen focus before, something I never had an issue with from 2 previous projectors (panasonic AE700, Sony VPL-VW50).

My set up is the Panny ceiling mounted (using a bit of lens shift to move the picture down) about 15 ft back from a 138 inch 2.35 Carada Brilliant White screen in a well light-controlled room. Brightness so far is good (less the 50 hours on lamp).

I just projected a test pattern with horizontal, vertical and oblique lines and the focus is consistent in all area of the screen.

Is the lens projecting perpendicular to the screen?

steve

I just projected a test pattern with horizontal, vertical and oblique lines and the focus is consistent in all area of the screen.

Is the lens projecting perpendicular to the screen?

steve

As far as I can tell it is. I've rotated the projector in order to test this, no matter how far I rotate it the focus doesn't seem to change much. And if I rotate it, I would need to use the horizontal lens shift to correct for it (right now, I am using very little horizontal shift).

Is it possible that the LCD panels are in alignment with each other but not with the lens as a group?

I really don't know what I am doing but...:>) I projected the test pattern and took screen shots of rt, middle and left 1/3. Tried to get the camera perpendicular but wasn't perfect. Followed one line rt, mid, left. I have a very high gain screen so focus isn't perfect but appears to be consistent across the screen. The images are very tight crops.

Steve

Where are the calibrations ? Just got my Panny yesterday and looking for some good settings. Tried the ones posted already but need more. Anyone out there have any?

There is nothing you can do about it. It is simply a matter of the quality of the lens. I have the same issue and it is especially noticable of the windows desktop. I have not found it to impact movie viewing.

I guess this thread is dead.

I guess this thread is dead.

Too bad! I think it would be really helpful to have some useful tweaks posted for the "normal" picture setting to get it more accurate without losing too many lumens.

It might be dead because the projector is nigh onto perfect on Color 1. For the most part tweaking takes you in the wrong direction. Just switch to the gray scale and see how uniform the bars are and how each one is clearly distinguishable from the next. I've had a lot of projectors and I never got one to do that.

[QUOTE=JHouse;17907735]It might be dead because the projector is nigh onto perfect on Color 1. For the most part tweaking takes you in the wrong direction. Just switch to the gray scale and see how uniform the bars are and how each one is clearly distinguishable from the next. I've had a lot of projectors and I never got one to do that.

Really, color 1 is perfect. Idk for me color 1 seems off. I prefer normal with a few changes.

[QUOTE=zasy99;17599068]


Really, color 1 is perfect. Idk for me color 1 seems off. I prefer normal with a few changes.

All I know is what I read from people who have actually measured. You and I eyeballing it are just whistling Dixie.

One of the dynamics for casual viewers like us is that we bring a set of expectations to the table based on what we "learned" is right, given what we are used to watching. If the last set-up wasn't perfect, you can have a jaundiced eye. It happens in both audio and video all the time. And I mean ALL the time. So I'm watching Color 1 (which the reviews say are essentially perfect D6500K along the entire gray scale) to train myself correctly. It has apparently worked. I love it.

EDIT: Here is a paragraph from the projectorcentral review:

Improved color accuracy. The Cinema 1 mode delivers virtually perfect color balance, measuring almost exactly 6500K across the entire gray scale with a beautifully flat line on the color temperature graph. For those who want to pull it out of the box and run without worrying about calibration, this is as close as it gets to ideal. Discs that are properly transferred will be seen as the director intended the films to be seen, including whatever tints and color biases that may have been engineered into the original.

Another EDIT: Here are excerpts from the projectorreviews site:

Mike calibrated Color 1, which has a very good color gamut, whereas, for example, Color 2 has the wider color gamut usually found on most projectors. A wider gamut, in theory, is a good thing, but it's wider than the standards we use, so normally isn't as accurate. We "bring back in" those extended colors when a calibration is done. In this regard, Color 1, might be thought of as similar to, say, the THX mode on the Epson projectors as they too have a tight REC 709 type color gamut in their THX mode.

Thanks to Color 1's defaults, it does produce very good color accuracy, even without calibration, but Mike's calibration further improved the picture. Color 2 has that larger gamut.

Here are the color temperature measurements for the Color 1 and 2 modes:

Color Temp over IRE Range (Pre calibration):

Color 1 Color 2

30 IRE 6615K 6352K
50 IRE 6482K 6216K
80 IRE 6549K 6276K

100 IRE 6660K 6357K
Beyond these measurements, (and a CIE chart) Mike did not work with Color 2

We normally do not calibrate a projector's individual colors using their CMS (color management system), just a gray scale calibration. We on occasion, make an exception, where it really must be done from a practical standpoint. For example, my JVC RS20 projector, has a great THX mode, but, overall, can be improved. To do so with my RS20, though I had to use their CMS to recalibrate green, and other individual colors. This remains true for the newer JVC RS25. Recently, in reviewing the PT-AE4000's most direct competitor, the Epson Home Cinema 8500UB / Pro Cinema 9500UB, we were able to improve on it's THX mode, with a grayscale calibration. Bottom line, we didn't do CMS individual color adjustments with the Panasonic or the Epson.

In the case of the Panasonic, however, without using the CMS, Mike still ended up with some slight shift towards red, due, I expect by a slightly oversaturated red output. Note, Panasonic is touting their new lamp, with a warmer - more red, color temp, so that isn't overly surprising. (By comparison, the Epson and most LCD projectors, tend to overdrive green more than any other individual color.

[QUOTE=zasy99;17599068] I prefer normal with a few changes.

OK, so what are these "few changes" you make in the "normal" setting?

Take a look here for what projectorreviews.com needed to do to their particular projector in their particular room. (That's the danger of using somebody else's settings, these machines and our rooms differ).

http://www.projectorreviews.com/panasonic/pt-ae4000/calibration.php

Hi, JHouse: I do feel there is a little bit of push to red. I do have dark, purpleish, chocolaty front wall. How exactly do you adjust individual colors, as suggested by projectorreviews.com? Thanks.

No clue man. There is probably a red drive somewhere in the advanced menu. But if you are going to screw with it, write down where you started and use small, small steps. When you do it by eye, you have that same problem of looking good on one program and making another worse.

[QUOTE=neverfaithful;17907772]

All I know is what I read from people who have actually measured. You and I eyeballing it are just whistling Dixie.

One of the dynamics for casual viewers like us is that we bring a set of expectations to the table based on what we "learned" is right, given what we are used to watching. If the last set-up wasn't perfect, you can have a jaundiced eye. It happens in both audio and video all the time. And I mean ALL the time. So I'm watching Color 1 (which the reviews say are essentially perfect D6500K along the entire gray scale) to train myself correctly. It has apparently worked. I love it.


Wow, that is strange. I am going to go home later and look a this Color 1 mode again. I guess I am going to have to train my eyes. But I just personally like the punchier colors from normal but I guess we are just used to seeing that. I also have to add that I am coming from a Pioneer Plasma that my eyes are used to since 2007. I will see how Color 1 looks again and give it a try. It just seemed to dark, its weird.

Hi, JHouse: I do feel there is a little bit of push to red. I do have dark, purpleish, chocolaty front wall. How exactly do you adjust individual colors, as suggested by projectorreviews.com? Thanks.

You have to go to Advance Menu and mess with the contrast R and/or Brightness R.

Nobody has done the auto adjust on the waveform monitor? I like to do it if I switch from a movie to sports. It's a noticeable difference and it only takes a few seconds. Just hit waveform monitor on the remote and then default and it will adjust for you.

Try it and see what you think.

Oh NO! Something ELSE to worry about. :D

The father of a friend of mine used to say: "Son, you could screw up a ball bearing with a toothpick."

He wasn't talking about me of course. :D

[QUOTE=neverfaithful;17907772]

OK, so what are these "few changes" you make in the "normal" setting?

I will tell you when I get home.

No clue man. There is probably a red drive somewhere in the advanced menu. But if you are going to screw with it, write down where you started and use small, small steps. When you do it by eye, you have that same problem of looking good on one program and making another worse.

Thanks. I will write down where I started.

You have to go to Advance Menu and mess with the contrast R and/or Brightness R.

Thanks, I will play with them tonight.

I'm having a similar problem. I cannot get edge to edge focus under any circumstances. I have tried rotating the projector to verify it is lined up properly; but still can only get the center and left hand in sharp focus. If I get the right hand in focus, the left hand of the screen loses focus.
...

My set up is the Panny ceiling mounted (using a bit of lens shift to move the picture down) about 15 ft back from a 138 inch 2.35 Carada Brilliant White screen in a well light-controlled room. Brightness so far is good (less the 50 hours on lamp).
Same problem here. I am at 15' for a 104" 2.35:1 or 84" 16:9 (attempting CIH). When projecting 84" diag 16:9 from my Mac via HDMI, there is clearly a focus issue left to right. If the right is in focus, the left gets blurry (and vice versa). When I zoom to the 104" setting (looking at 16:9 image from Mac still) the picture is more clear. This is not a signal problem, because the OSD gets blurry too as you move it around.

I did a little test and gently pushed on the lens housing side-to-side. By doing this, I was able to get my smaller 84" projection to be crystal clear. Of course, the lens moves back as soon as pressure is released. So, it seems like the lens is not aligned perfectly straight.

Most of my viewing will be movies at the 104" 2.35:1, so it is not a huge issue, but I am still a little disappointed.

After using different modes, I decided to settle on NORMAL picture mode. To my eyes, it renders the best and more realistic fleshtones.

I tried NORMAL over the weekend and found it tired my eyes. A bit of Blooming. I am back to Cinema 1 now.

I had hoped that this thread would come back up. The other one is all over the place.

I have done a calibration using Spears and Munsil in every color mode. At the beginning of this thread the first few that replied had their brightness at +10. I do not see how or why they would do this? Using S&M, my brightness was never set more than +1 for accuracy.

I would like to see what others that are using NORMAL think of the setting compared to Cinema1 or Color1? Are you using ambient light or in a bat cave?

Normal mode was just too grey for me. I am running with Color1 right now. I still need to get some filters to do a complete calibration. I have been using the AVS HD 709 v1.3 disk (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=948496).

When I was playing around, I did manage to get my brightness to +10. I think that was when I had the HDMI mode in Enhanced (not quite sure what that does). I turned that off, and I have lower brightness and contrast numbers.

The review over here at www.projectorreviews.com (http://www.projectorreviews.com/panasonic/pt-ae4000/index.php) might help people just starting to calibrate their PT-AE4000U. They have some initial values, and it might be interesting as a comparison.

Are you guys using the default settings of NORMAL mode? You have to calibrate it, Try it and I think you would be pleased.

I did not do a professional calibration, just the spears and munsil disc and DVE.

Later, I will try and post what values I ended up with and see how that stack up with your values. I'd be interested to try yours too if you guys don't mind posting it.

So I calibrated NORMAL last night here is what I got:
Contrast -2
Brightness +3
Color -7
Tint +2
Sharpness 0

I was still getting a blueish tone so I turned the Color Temp down 2 or 3 clicks and it looked really good. Using a large 125" wide 2.35 screen, I think that I need the extra brightness with NORMAL. These setting seem to be working pretty good.

I have not tried calibrating Gamma and not sure how to. I also have no idea how to use WaveForm Monitor.

Here's my settings:

Picture Mode: NORMAL
Contrast: -10
Brightness: +2
Color: -5
Tint: -1
Sharpness: 0
Dynamic Iris: OFF
Detailed Clarity: +3

I find the bightness of this mode excellent for my viewing taste.

Curious.. why turn off the Dynamic Iris?

Also - can anyone explain how to use the Waveform Monitor?

Hello ,
I've 119" 16:9 screen.
How can I use 2.35 function with my ae4000?

Hello ,
I've 119" 16:9 screen.
How can I use 2.35 function with my ae4000?

Hi, CaRaBeeN: This thread is for tweaking the projector to get the best image quality.

There is another thread on this projector, where you will likely get more response to your question. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1186232&page=139

Thanks very much.

Hello ,
I've 119" 16:9 screen.
How can I use 2.35 function with my ae4000?
Essentially, there is no point in using the 2.35:1 (lens memory) function. It is meant to be able to zoom in to fill a 2.35:1 screen (with letterbox black bars going off the top and bottom of the screen) which you don't have.

I'd like to start a thread dedicated to the calibration / tweaking of the PT-AE4000U.

I'm in a batcave with dark red walls and a 106 in 1.1 gain screen. The projector is 12 feet from the screen and the seats are 11-10 feet away (right below the projector).

I have no calibration experience and I have no tools to perform calibration except a DVE HD-DVD calibration disc, which I haven't used yet. If anyone is generous enough to share, I'm looking to learn the settings of those who own calibration tools or who have gotten the PT-AE4000u professionally calibrated.

Let's all get the most out of our brand new PT-AE4000U.

BTW - I just watched UP last night on Bluray - amazing!

Here are my current settings - I have three saved profiles:

Profile 1 (Film)
Color 1
+25 contrast
-3 color
-5 brightness
+10 sharpness
Frame Creation Mode 2
Detail Clarity +4

Profile 2 (Game)
All the same above except
Frame Creation Off
Fast Response On

Profile 3 (Animation)
All the same above except
Fast Response Off
Frame Creation Mode 3 (looks good with animation!)


I see that you have mentioned in your Profile's above that you store the Frame Response setting. I have tested and found that the Frame Response setting is not stored with the profiles. So if you save a memory location 1 with FR to fast and then set it to normal and save it in mem location 2, when you recall memory location 1 it will still be normal and not fast.

I would like to know, are there any other threads on the internet about calibrating the AE4000? I haven't really searched.

I have a CALMAN setup at home and have been using it for about two or three years now to calibrate my displays. It works really well.

I have a Stewart Firehawk G2 screen and I am calibrating my setup to take into account the display surface.

I have 3 profiles:
1) D65 calibrated on Color1
2) Almost D65 calibrated on Dynamic but brighter than (1) and with wider color gamut.
3) Very bright Dynamic, not calibrated.

Curious.. why turn off the Dynamic Iris?



I read somewhere that you can improve your black level if it is OFF.

Curious.. why turn off the Dynamic Iris?

Also - can anyone explain how to use the Waveform Monitor?



also looking for an explination of the waveform monitor and what settings it changes if you hit "auto adjust" while using it.

we need pics of the panny 4000 in action
pleeeeeaseeeee

TTT


i just now got around to setting up my dynamic setting to mimic ones of a review that was online (i cant find the link!)

and i am finally happy using dynamic in a brighter than normal room. it looks great.

also looking for an explination of the waveform monitor and what settings it changes if you hit "auto adjust" while using it.

sotwell / johnzm: waveform monitor.
See pages 14 and 21 of the Funcional Instructions (manual).
"You can monitor whether or not the luminance level of the input signal is in the recommended range by displaying it in the waveform monitor. If the waveform
is not in the recommended range, adjust it for the best quality..."

sotwell : Curious.. why turn off the Dynamic Iris (DI)?
Some people do not like the DI because they say that they see the light pumping, etc.
The AE4000' DI is one of the best (read the AE4000's Cine4Home review).
If you turn off the Dynamic Iris, the dynamic contrast will be notabilly reduced. I personally like the Dynamic Iris of my the AE3000. I only notice it pumping when open/closing windows with my PC. Not in movies.

how about some screen shots please

how about some screen shots please

Normal
+10 contrast
-8 color
+3 brightness

Calibrated with DVE Blu-Ray.

Here are my screenshots, obviously I'm a very bad photographer, and I have a bad camera, which looks to add brightness and whiteness to the pictures.

Trust me, the real stuff looks WAYYYYYYYYYYY better than this:

Panasonic AE-4000 on a 106'' Da-Lite Perm-Wall High Power:

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010072/819584620_nQHZw-XL.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010073/819584736_sNkqZ-XL.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010074/819584874_wATGe-XL.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010071/819584528_jRR6C-XL.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010070/819584361_SqU2u-XL.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010067/819584107_Hy5vg-XL.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010063/819583944_Q53FL-XL.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010097/819585709_KRVWN-L.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010087/819585512_nurEo-XL.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010080/819585296_CUL7E-L.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010077/819585173_w59Jg-L.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010085/819585390_dFzSW-L.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010115/819586448_AzLuH-L.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010113/819586310_HjqBh-L.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010117/819586549_MEiUj-L.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010098/819585891_af8pb-L.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010100/819586050_YoGTX-L.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010131/819587249_fuT5y-L.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010132/819587405_jyXib-L.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010118/819586695_EvsWY-L.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010119/819586890_5YmDu-L.jpg

http://wazo.smugmug.com/Cinema-Maison/Screenshots-projecteur/P1010133/819587533_oiucu-L.jpg

As for now I am very pleased with my new toy!!! :D

Just curious if anyone is using a Da-Lite High Contrast Cinema Vision (gray 1.3 gain) with the 4k?

If so do you like the combo? What settings are you using?

So guys, 3 pages of this great thread.

Which are the calibration settings most of the people are using? I'm just waiting for mine to arrive.

It will be a 92" screen from about 10' away or something like that, on a regular screen.

So, apparently I'm an idiot. I've running the eye one and getting my readouts, but as I go to move my blue levels (or red, or green) I can't get to get any color change using the contrast R, contrast B, or contrast G; Brighness R,G,B doesn't change A THING either. And I"m talking about going from -15 to +15 and not noticing a bit of difference.

What am I missing?

Cinema 1
Brightness +3
Contrast -2
Color -3 or -4
tint -3 or -4
color temperature +1
Gamma simple (low -1)
Detail clarity +3

I forget color and tint exactly....but test it out with some nice close up face shots...and look for skin tones.

So guys, 3 pages of this great thread.

Which are the calibration settings most of the people are using? I'm just waiting for mine to arrive.

It will be a 92" screen from about 10' away or something like that, on a regular screen.

I think many use the default color and tint settings, "0" , and use color1 or cinema1 picture mode. Use a calibration disk to set your brightness and contrast settings. That being said, I use a HP screen and here are my settings:

Picture mode = color1
Color = 0
Tint = 0
Brightness = +1
Contrast = +8
Detail clarity +2
FI mode = Off

You should also check out Art's calibrated settings at projectorreviews.com if you find the colors oversaturated OTB.

Well I got the PTAE4000U a couple of days ago. It arrived the same day as the screen - unfortunately I failed to read all of the spec for the Cinetension 120 and it is overall 1/2 inch too long to fit into the alcove. Right now I'm trying to get a RM# from Provantage and will order the 110.

Anyway - Couldn't wait - so I set the projector up attached to Directv via HDMI and was really surprised that the picture was so crappy. Overall purple cast so much so that I had to go to -26 color.

Something must be wrong says I - everyone is raving over this projector maybe I got a bad one. So I disconnected and reconnected to a LCD tv and had exactly the same problem with the purple.

Reset the directv - and voila - even without a screen this projector is great. I can hardly wait for a replacement screen.

So, apparently I'm an idiot. I've running the eye one and getting my readouts, but as I go to move my blue levels (or red, or green) I can't get to get any color change using the contrast R, contrast B, or contrast G; Brighness R,G,B doesn't change A THING either. And I"m talking about going from -15 to +15 and not noticing a bit of difference.

What am I missing?

If ypu are making changes to these settings (RGB contrast. brightness), you need to pull up the greyscale patterns as these settings are for greyscale adjustments.

For colour changes, you need to use the CMS. Making changes there will make changes to the CIE charts when using the colour patterns and measuring.

So guys, 3 pages of this great thread.

Which are the calibration settings most of the people are using? I'm just waiting for mine to arrive.

It will be a 92" screen from about 10' away or something like that, on a regular screen.

This is what I have been using:

Picture Mode: Cinema 1
Contrast: +5
Brightness: -3
Color: +1
Tint:+2
Sharpness: 0
Color Temperature: +3

I use a carada BW screen with gain of 1.4. It is 92" and projector is about 10' away.

I have calibrated all setting with Spears and Munsil BR. I perfer Cinema1 on my 136" Carada BW 2.35. 14' throw.

Cinema1
Contrast 0
Brightness +2
Color 0
Tint 0
Color Temp 0
Detail Clarity +2 (default)
Frame Creation - Mode1

I have seen several that have Contrast at +5 or higher. Are you not clipping at this setting. Any contrast setting above 0 for me starts clipping whites at about 250.

I also use Spears and Munsil. From where I'm seated, I find the contrast setting to be optimal. Lowering it would be on the warm side for me and white starts to get "dirty".

I think there is a thread here somewhere that talks about white level between 235 and 250 as there's hardly any detail to be seen at level higher than 250. That seems to be my experience also. Your experience may vary of course.

Just set up my 4K last night, and it is AMAZING out of the box. Played around with settings a little bit, but Im going slow right now. I think its fair to say it looks better than my calibrated IF 7200.

I have a copy of Digital Video Essentials that I used to calibrate the 7200. What (if any) advantage is there to pickup up the BLU version of this?

jc

I have the AE4000 for more than a year now. Bulb has around 540+ hours (including several tens of hours for playing around with DIY calibration). Initially I just used the colorimeter (Spyder3) with the AVSHD 709 disc and HCFR software to adjust grayscale (to D65), gamma (to 2.2), and the (master) Color & Tint controls. I had been able to achieve some satisfactory results. Watching blu-ray movies using “Cinema 1”, and blu-ray concerts and HDTV broadcast using “Colour 1”, is really enjoyable with this unit, and didn’t bother to tweak its colours (though I noticed, from my measurements, the gamut of “Cinema 1” is larger than the REC709 standard, and my “Colour 1” is even smaller than the standard).

But wait ... the longer I watched this unit, the more I felt that the colour is off, esp. after the big screen “wow” factor is diluted over time. So I decided to measure the colour performance of “Cinema 1”, including the gamut, saturation level, luminance level, and deltaE, using Dan’s spreadsheet (thanks Dan for the great work). The attached file with naming “(Before)” reflect the result of measurement for “Cinema 1” before I tweaked the CMS of this unit (in fact, “Colour 1” is even more “off” in my case – seriously under-saturated colours).

After many hours of work on its CMS using Dan’s 75% saturation method, I had been able to tune the color gamut of “Cinema 1” to look better – it’s not entirely correct though, as at 100% saturation level it is still off, but the result for 75% or below is acceptable now. Results are attached in file with naming “(After)”. Both blu-ray and HDTV broadcast are looking much better in terms of colour accuracy – just a much more natural look on the scenes and the skin tone. It just helps to bring the image out of the reality – the scene just looks as real as it is.

Oh forgot to mention – matt white screen of 0.8 gain; ceiling mount at 8.5 feet, with the viewing distance also 8.5 feet. Viewing environment is not fully light controlled (such as having white ceiling, and wall with light-yellow colour), but ambient light is very low.

Just a quick reply about calibration devices though this threat seems dead. I have used both the Xrite LT and i1Pro, both work excellent. The i1Pro takes readings much faster. My brother and I both used these devices, the LT first, then 6 months later the i1Pro. The calibration from the LT proved to be very close to the more professional i1Pro. I trust both devices and have had great results.

Also - can anyone explain how to use the Waveform Monitor?

I finally found a somewhat useful explanation of the Waveform Monitor. Can't say that I really understand it, but this presentation from Panasonic does a reasonable job of describing how it works and gives an example of Auto Adjustment.

Waveform Monitor - Adjust image like a pro! (http://www.panasonic.net/avc/projector/products/ae4000/waveform.html)

I finally found a somewhat useful explanation of the Waveform Monitor. Can't say that I really understand it, but this presentation from Panasonic does a reasonable job of describing how it works and gives an example of Auto Adjustment.

Waveform Monitor - Adjust image like a pro! (http://www.panasonic.net/avc/projector/products/ae4000/waveform.html)

From my practical experience of calibrating the AE4000, the Waveform Monitor is useless. It only bases on the input signal, and what the Auto Adjustment does is try to maximize the "dynamic range" based only on the input signal. But it cannot take the most important aspect of calibration into consideration - the actual display output of the projector (i.e. the output that is seen by your eyes). The actual display level will depend on numerous factors such as screen material, screen gain, throw distance, ambient light (even a minute amount), viewing environment (e.g. reflective wall surface with light color), etc. For example, if there is a small amount of ambient light present in your viewing environment, you will not be able to see the darkest shade of gray (i.e. video levels 17, 18, etc.) if using the "Auto Adjust" result - because its Auto Adjustment cannot take into account the ambient light that washes out the shadow details in your displayed image. The correct procedure is to use an appropriate test pattern in a calibration disc (not even need a colorimeter) to make sure you raise the Brightness setting to a point that level 17 is barely seen. At the end of the day, we are not watching the "input signal", we are watching the image displayed off the screen (or wall) that is output by the projector.

For what it is worth, I used a DYI screen with Behr Ultra White and was happy with it, but could never get the calibration close as it should be. I recently broke down and bought a Steward StudioTek 130 G3, I almost went Firehawk, glad I didn't. As I said I was happy "watching" my DYI ultra white, but the StudioTek made a difference, in watching and calibration. My Gamut is much closer now and when I tweak things fall into line easier when I make changes. Now can I say there is an $1,800 difference in the pic, no, but I don't care, there is a noticeable difference, flesh tones, shadow detail and overall uniformity and pop of the pic. I am glad I made the purchase. Mainly because I am not making myself as crazy calibrating. Still not all the way done, but you know how it is, after so many hours you kind of want to sit back and enjoy. Oh, I am using an i1 Pro now, used the xrite LT before, and I agree with the post above, both do an excellent job. The i1 Pro is much faster at taking readings, but the LT is better at 10 and 20 IRE, can't go wrong with either one.

Do you find it bright enough with that size?

Plenty bright enough, no problems at all, glad I spent the money. Though not a HUGE difference from DIY, but enough.