I recently purchased an AE-900U and can say I couldn't be more pleased with it. :D

VBE-None -Don't know what it looks like? :p

SDE-None 106" at 14Ft.

Rainbows- Of course none ;)

I have been sitting on the fence for a couple years watching the performance go up and the price come down on PJ's. I appreciate the help from fellow AVS posters and reviews as I bought this projector online sight unseen (No dealers in my area carry it anyways).

For those of you still sitting on the fence just pull the trigger. For the price to screen size and performance ratio it is a no brainer to me.

My only issue has more to do with the screen (106" grayhawk) than the PJ. With solid bright images I can see the texture of the screen. Maybe this is common with all beaded screens, I don't know. I also have a little bit of a hotspotting issue with bright colors and images. If I get a ND filter will that reduce the hotspotting problem? Thanks everyone and Panasonic :D

Could someone post a picture of what they consider to be good convergence on this PJ? I have what I consider to be a misconverged projector, but tech support disagrees, saying "they all look like that, perfectly normal". I'd like to see if mine is par for the course (making me a little too sensitive to convergence problems) or a bit out of whack. Aside from this issue the PJ is great, so I don't want to swap it out and get a perfectly converged machine with a VB problem or a noisy iris or some other more annoying malady.

I've attached 2 examples of mine, admittedly pretty poor screenshots that don't do the misconvergence justice, but anyway.

I also get a blue-ish hue behind any white lettering in the user menus. Is that normal?

Thanks,
Sean

P.S. FWIW, the picture seems soft to me, which is why I started throwing up test patterns and looking for a possible source, as opposed to putting up test patterns just for the sake of looking for something to worry about with no corresponding real-world problems.

So, having had my 900 for almost 2 weeks, I'm wondering. How often does everyone clean the filter? Weekly, Bi-monthly, every 50hrs, every 100? Can you do it too often?

Also, how is everyone cleaning it? Vacuum? Washing?

Just curious to see what the concensus is. Also just noticed that my free bulb that came with it also comes with a new filter.

Could someone post a picture of what they consider to be good convergence on this PJ? I have what I consider to be a misconverged projector, but tech support disagrees, saying "they all look like that, perfectly normal". I'd like to see if mine is par for the course (making me a little too sensitive to convergence problems) or a bit out of whack. Aside from this issue the PJ is great, so I don't want to swap it out and get a perfectly converged machine with a VB problem or a noisy iris or some other more annoying malady.

I've attached 2 examples of mine, admittedly pretty poor screenshots that don't do the misconvergence justice, but anyway.

I also get a blue-ish hue behind any white lettering in the user menus. Is that normal?

Thanks,
Sean

P.S. FWIW, the picture seems soft to me, which is why I started throwing up test patterns and looking for a possible source, as opposed to putting up test patterns just for the sake of looking for something to worry about with no corresponding real-world problems.

Looking at your pictures, the convergence is not perfect. But compared to other AE900 owners' pictures of their misconvergence, yours appeares to be acceptable. How close do you have to be to see it? If you notice it while watching a movie at a "normal" seating distance, then you do have a problem. But if not, I would agree with Panasonic that all of them look like yours close up. The bigger the picture the more you will notice faults in the picture.

Looking at your pictures, the convergence is not perfect. But compared to other AE900 owners' pictures of their misconvergence, yours appeares to be acceptable. How close do you have to be to see it? If you notice it while watching a movie at a "normal" seating distance, then you do have a problem. But if not, I would agree with Panasonic that all of them look like yours close up. The bigger the picture the more you will notice faults in the picture.

I can't see the misconvergence from normal seating distance per se, but I do detect a softness in the PQ that I'm assuming is partially a result of the misconvergence. I'd be really interested to hear whether most everyone here has better or about the same convergence as mine, give or take. Certainly it's not as bad as the examples posted by DrA a few pages back (that looked awful, sorry DrA), but then again, I did drop over $2k on this thing and would like a nice sharp picture.

Thanks,
Sean

P.S. I am using a fair bit of vertical lens shift (lens is a few inches below the top of my 92" screen, with about a 12' throw). However, I set the lens shift to dead center and still saw the misconvergence.

Could someone help me understand this. I have a home receiver with a A/B switch that I use with my AE900u. "A" has a pair of 8ohm and the B channel has a pair of 8ohm outdoor speakers directly connected to the receiver. All I want to do is to have the ability of lowering the volume to the outdoor speakers.

I was told that a disadvantage to adding a volume control to just the outdoor speakers is that the amp's AB output is wired in series or parallel. I think it is parallel. If this is so then putting a VC on 1 output would change the volume on both A & B at the same time. AB outputs on amps are designed to work with 1 pair 8ohm speakers on each output.

Being that I have never done this before, if this is true, is there any way that I can be able to achieve what I want to do?
Hi Steve,

A/B switching is one source driving one amp with two different set of speakers connected, each independently switched on or off. The SPLs will vary by the sensitivity and resistance of the speakers; if identical sets of speakers are connected, they will both play at the same volume. You certainly can put an external speaker volume control on one or both circuits to reduce the SPL. Radio Shack, for one, sells them. Ideally, one would be installed in a wall plate. If that's not possible, small external speaker volume controls can be used.

Zoning is separate circuits from source to speakers allowing one set to carry, for example, an FM radio station while the other plays music from a CD. Separate zones typically would have their own - internal - volume control at the preamp level.

U kidding me? What convergence problem. Now tell us, how do you have the pj at the screen? Are you using any lens shift?

Here is mine...I have about 20% lens shift, 9 feet from lens to screen.

Steve.

I can't see the misconvergence from normal seating distance per se, but I do detect a softness in the PQ that I'm assuming is partially a result of the misconvergence. I'd be really interested to hear whether most everyone here has better or about the same convergence as mine, give or take. Certainly it's not as bad as the examples posted by DrA a few pages back (that looked awful, sorry DrA), but then again, I did drop over $2k on this thing and would like a nice sharp picture.

Thanks,
Sean

P.S. I am using a fair bit of vertical lens shift (lens is a few inches below the top of my 92" screen, with about a 12' throw). However, I set the lens shift to dead center and still saw the misconvergence.
Are you feeding it DVD, upconverted DVD or an HDTV channel?

U kidding me? What convergence problem. Now tell us, how do you have the pj at the screen? Are you using any lens shift?

Here is mine...I have about 20% lens shift, 9 feet from lens to screen.

Steve.


:) Thanks Steve (seriously). That's exactly what I'm looking for - real world example to calibrate my own "sensitivity". Any others? FYI, I am using a fair amount of vertical lens shift (lens a few inches below the top of the screen), but no horizontal. However, when I moved the lens to dead center, I got the same results. Throw is about 12' on a 92" screen.

-Sean

Are you feeding it DVD, upconverted DVD or an HDTV channel?

Yes. ;) In the pics I was feeding it 1080i from my HDTivo over component, using the HDNet test pattern. But I also tried it with my Oppo (720p over DVI) and a Denon 1815 (480p over component) using Avia, with similar results.

-Sean

Could someone post a picture of what they consider to be good convergence on this PJ? I have what I consider to be a misconverged projector, but tech support disagrees, saying "they all look like that, perfectly normal". I'd like to see if mine is par for the course (making me a little too sensitive to convergence problems) or a bit out of whack. Aside from this issue the PJ is great, so I don't want to swap it out and get a perfectly converged machine with a VB problem or a noisy iris or some other more annoying malady.

I've attached 2 examples of mine, admittedly pretty poor screenshots that don't do the misconvergence justice, but anyway.

I also get a blue-ish hue behind any white lettering in the user menus. Is that normal?

Thanks,
Sean

P.S. FWIW, the picture seems soft to me, which is why I started throwing up test patterns and looking for a possible source, as opposed to putting up test patterns just for the sake of looking for something to worry about with no corresponding real-world problems.

Convergence is also about the same for me. Believe it or not, I stopped scrutinizing my 900 from 2 feet away and sat back and watched a DVD. Under close scrutiny this projector may not be perfect, but in my opinion having just upgraded from a Z1, I am getting excellent performance for my money at normal viewing positions. Thanks for posting your convergence pictures. Looks like we lucked out.

Yes. ;) In the pics I was feeding it 1080i from my HDTivo over component, using the HDNet test pattern. But I also tried it with my Oppo (720p over DVI) and a Denon 1815 (480p over component) using Avia, with similar results.

-Sean
OK, but how does a 1080i picture look? Maybe some are better and maybe some are worse, and at "average" the picture is still stunning.

Yes. ;) In the pics I was feeding it 1080i from my HDTivo over component, using the HDNet test pattern. But I also tried it with my Oppo (720p over DVI) and a Denon 1815 (480p over component) using Avia, with similar results.

-Sean

I haven't got my 900 yet, but every LCD PJ I've ever seen has that exact type of color glow from the edges of a solid line like yours has. Your's looked completely normal to me. I think you only have a problem is the colors are really misaligned, like a pixel or more. I think the softness you are seeing is more from the smooth screen, it's really not softness, you are just used to seeing an artificial sharpness created by screen door, which this PJ doesn't have.

While that is technically true, you can effectively eliminate black bars with a good adjustable masking system. I have an adjustable masking system that I put together using black micro-velvet which has settings for 1.78 and 2.35. In the 2.35 setting, the bars are completely undetectable even in dark scenes (though they are technically still there).
--
Bryce

Any screen shots of your design? I have thought about building a masking system to go with the new screen and AE900U replacing my PB6100 and DIY screen.

Thanks

Billy

Hi there. I am just a newbie and just waiting for my AE900. Now I have to find the right screen. I have a budget like $500 cdn. Do you fellows have any suggestions as to which screen and what model will match my projector. Your advise is much appreciated.

Cheers,

I tried to take better screen shots tonight of what I'm seeing - see below. The more I look at it, the less it looks like a classic convergence problem where you have one color (say green) visible on one side of the white line, and another color (like red) on the opposite side (similar to Steve's pic from a few posts back). In my case I get a blue/purple fringe on all sides - top, bottom, left, and right - of a white line. It's almost as if the blue panel is on a different focal plane from the red and green. To test this, I intentially defocused the picture until I saw no blue fringing, and sure enough, I got yellowish fringing instead (and a defocused image). The blue fringing is substantial - at least 3 pixels wide. Shows up when you look at white lettering in the Panny menus too. When you look at a color bar test pattern, you can see the colors bleed into one another rather than having nice crisp edges.

Again, the picture I get is decent, but it just doesn't have the crispness I'd expect, which is why I'd like to see what other Panny's look like.

Thanks,
Sean

dmtx,

I am using a GrayWolf with my AE900. They come in 92" and 106" manual pulldown versions only...if you need a different size you have to get creative.

I purchased a 106" screen and cut it down to make an 84" fixed screen...

Brightness is good, color fidelity is spot on, the only complaints I have with this screen are:

-occasionally I can see the glass beads (used for the 1.7 gain)
-it is retro-reflective, and I ceiling mount my projector, so I get a bit of a brightness dropoff the lower I sit. My front row is about 14" lower than my rear row, and the picture is a bit dimmer from up there

Other than that, I find it to be a great match for the AE900. The gray screen really improves black level while not crushing whites, and the 1.7 gain really makes the picture "pop" without hotspotting.

Oh....and it's CHEAP (check the screens forum).

Rich

I tried to take better screen shots tonight of what I'm seeing - see below. The more I look at it, the less it looks like a classic convergence problem where you have one color (say green) visible on one side of the white line, and another color (like red) on the opposite side (similar to Steve's pic from a few posts back). In my case I get a blue/purple fringe on all sides - top, bottom, left, and right - of a white line. It's almost as if the blue panel is on a different focal plane from the red and green. To test this, I intentially defocused the picture until I saw no blue fringing, and sure enough, I got yellowish fringing instead (and a defocused image). The blue fringing is substantial - at least 3 pixels wide. Shows up when you look at white lettering in the Panny menus too. When you look at a color bar test pattern, you can see the colors bleed into one another rather than having nice crisp edges.

Again, the picture I get is decent, but it just doesn't have the crispness I'd expect, which is why I'd like to see what other Panny's look like.

Thanks,
Sean

With those clearer pictures I can see that the blue vertical is misconverged to the left, and the blue horizontal looks like it is out of focus, because it appears on both sides of the white line. The good thing is that blue is not as noticeable as red would be. Is it the same over the whole screen? I wonder if the LCD panels can be focussed separately in the service menu.

Hi there. I am just a newbie and just waiting for my AE900. Now I have to find the right screen. I have a budget like $500 cdn. Do you fellows have any suggestions as to which screen and what model will match my projector. Your advise is much appreciated.

Cheers,

I use a 72" Carada Classic Cinema White 1.0 gain screen. It was a good price and I'm very pleased with the picture. Beat any DIY screen I built.

A previous post of mine referred to a cool-to-warm color shift from one side of the image to the other visible in black and white images, and that the 700 & 900 apparently share this problem. I see now that I misunderstood the wording in a post made prior to my comments. Given that, I have seen NO mention of this effect observed with the 900, and am only aware of its presence in the 700, including mine.

Of course, if any 900 owner discovers otherwise, I'd be interested to hear. I'd like to think Panasonic found a way around the problem.

Sorry for the error.

KongFan

KongFan,

I am observing the same problem on my new AE900 after about 150 lamp hours. Do you know what causes this problem and is there an easy fix for this?

Thanks,

Raghu

Raghu13,
KongFan and I first discovered this color shift anomoly on our 700's over a year ago. I've researched it quite a bit and apparently it's normal - and there is no fix. It's very disturbing on B&W films (like the new "Kong" DVD). We have just learned to live with it. I was hoping it had been corrected on the 900. Guess not. Bummer.

Funny this convergence issue should come up now, as I was playing with my Infocus 7205 last night, pulled up a test screen (white net on black), and got the same effect. A little red on one side, a little blue on the other. I'm going to look into it but suspect you can expect a little of this no matter what the technology.

BTW, I have about 1,000 hours on this (wonderful) projector and am advertising for sale now in order to buy the Panny 900. Am I nuts for "trading down"? My issue is the lack of flexibility you get with the Infocus, I really need a way to fine tune the image within a screen, which I haven't bothered to buy due to the positioning issue. I love the Infocus projector, and it does seem like alot to give up - Faroudja processing, great blacks/colors/contrast, etc. It's not the quietest projector by any means.

With those clearer pictures I can see that the blue vertical is misconverged to the left, and the blue horizontal looks like it is out of focus, because it appears on both sides of the white line. The good thing is that blue is not as noticeable as red would be. Is it the same over the whole screen? I wonder if the LCD panels can be focussed separately in the service menu.

Hey Jumpy-

Yep, the problem is uniform throughout the screen. And I agree with your assessment regarding the blue being out of focus relative to red/green. The fact that it's blue makes it less offensive, but I can't help but wonder how much better the pic would look with it properly focused.

Does anyone know whether there's a service menu option that can help with this?

-Sean

Funny this convergence issue should come up now, as I was playing with my Infocus 7205 last night, pulled up a test screen (white net on black), and got the same effect. A little red on one side, a little blue on the other. I'm going to look into it but suspect you can expect a little of this no matter what the technology.

BTW, I have about 1,000 hours on this (wonderful) projector and am advertising for sale now in order to buy the Panny 900. Am I nuts for "trading down"? My issue is the lack of flexibility you get with the Infocus, I really need a way to fine tune the image within a screen, which I haven't bothered to buy due to the positioning issue. I love the Infocus projector, and it does seem like alot to give up - Faroudja processing, great blacks/colors/contrast, etc. It's not the quietest projector by any means.

Hey Hank-

That surprises me to hear that you see convergence issues on a 7205. I thought that was basically impossible with a single-chip DLP. As for trading down... the 7205 was on my short list of PJ's when I settled on the 900. I liked the 7205's picture better, but not enough to offset the significant increase in noise (which would be a problem in my small room), increased cost and the relative inflexibility in room placement. It is a beautiful picture though.

-Sean

I tried to take better screen shots tonight of what I'm seeing - see below. The more I look at it, the less it looks like a classic convergence problem where you have one color (say green) visible on one side of the white line, and another color (like red) on the opposite side (similar to Steve's pic from a few posts back). In my case I get a blue/purple fringe on all sides - top, bottom, left, and right - of a white line. It's almost as if the blue panel is on a different focal plane from the red and green. To test this, I intentially defocused the picture until I saw no blue fringing, and sure enough, I got yellowish fringing instead (and a defocused image). The blue fringing is substantial - at least 3 pixels wide. Shows up when you look at white lettering in the Panny menus too. When you look at a color bar test pattern, you can see the colors bleed into one another rather than having nice crisp edges.

Again, the picture I get is decent, but it just doesn't have the crispness I'd expect, which is why I'd like to see what other Panny's look like.

Thanks,
Sean
Excuse me, but of course it's mis-convergence. Most noticeable on your "995" pic, the pronounced blue "fringe" on the vertical is the blue line shifted to the left. If you see a purple fringe on one side of the white line, then you will most assuredly see a green fringe on the other side. The line is only white with the presence of all colors. Move one or two colors one way of the other and you will see a primary color "fringe" on one one side and a blended color on the other. This is simple primary color stuff here. If your blue shift is uniform across the screen, that would suggest that it could be adjusted out by tweaking the blue panel.

Excure me, but of course it's mis-convergence. Most noticeable on your "995" pic, the pronounced blue "fringe" on the vertical is the blue line shifted to the left. If you see a purple fringe on one side of the white line, then you will most assuredly see a green fringe on the other side. The line is only white with the presence of all colors. Move one or two colors one way of the other and you will see a primary color "fringe" on one one side and a blended color on the other. This is simple primary color stuff here. If your blue shift is uniform across the screen, that would suggest that it could be adjusted out by tweaking the blue panel.

Hey Pepar-

That's just it - I don't see a green fringe on the other side, or red for that matter. I see blue on both sides equally (though that doesn't really show up clearly in the pics, I admit). That's why I said it's less like a classic convergence problem (like you described) and more like blue is focused on a slightly different plane than red/green. If I use the focus ring to focus the blue perfectly, red/green are defocused (showing a yellowish fringing on all sides).

That said, any idea how to tweak the blue panel?

Thanks,
Sean

Yep, the problem is uniform throughout the screen. And I agree with your assessment regarding the blue being out of focus relative to red/green. The fact that it's blue makes it less offensive, but I can't help but wonder how much better the pic would look with it properly focused.

mtnsean,

I have the exact same look to my projected image. The only difference is that the blue/purple fringe is on the other side. I am glad it's not red. It isn't noticable until I'm 5 feet or less away from the image, but I also notice a softness that is a bit annoying. I find myself constantly refocusing to try to adjust the sharpness. I have gotten used to it, but I would like a sharper image. Let me know if you find any solutions (I've tried adjusting the panels in the service menu, but I don't see much difference).

Funny this convergence issue should come up now, as I was playing with my Infocus 7205 last night, pulled up a test screen (white net on black), and got the same effect. A little red on one side, a little blue on the other. I'm going to look into it but suspect you can expect a little of this no matter what the technology.

Interesting, since the 7205 is a single chip device,hence convergence is a non-issue.

Could we all be seeing chromatic abberation here? These lenes ain't the best. Fringing can change as lens aperture changes - which happens with a zoom lens. A test would be to change the throw of your PJ maintaining the same image size. Utilizing the zoom will change its aperture and thus any chromatic abberation that might result.

Me? I'm too lazy. :p

ted

Hey Pepar-

That's just it - I don't see a green fringe on the other side, or red for that matter. I see blue on both sides equally (though that doesn't really show up clearly in the pics, I admit). That's why I said it's less like a classic convergence problem (like you described) and more like blue is focused on a slightly different plane than red/green. If I use the focus ring to focus the blue perfectly, red/green are defocused (showing a yellowish fringing on all sides).

That said, any idea how to tweak the blue panel?

Thanks,
Sean
The longer wavelength of BLUE causes it to focus on a different plane than red, in FRONT actually of the red's focused plane. So it is reasonable to conclude that there is de-focused blue spilling over. The vertical lines in your pics seemed to show much more of a pronounced blue line left of the white though.

UNfortunately, I know nothing about re-converging the panels. Hopefully, someone else will.

UNfortunately, I know nothing about re-converging the panels. Hopefully, someone else will.

Also unfortunately, there appears to be no help in the service menu.

Also unfortunately, there appears to be no help in the service menu.
I guess they really don't want ANYONE mucking around with the panels. Still, I'd bet they needed to be adjusted when built and tested, so there *must* be a way to do it.

I guess they really don't want ANYONE mucking around with the panels. Still, I'd bet they needed to be adjusted when built and tested, so there *must* be a way to do it.

You need to remove the mainboard & reconnect it with what is called a Service Kit - basically a set of cables. Not a simple operation for the faint of heart but doable if willing.

ted

The longer wavelength of BLUE causes it to focus on a different plane than red, in FRONT actually of the red's focused plane. So it is reasonable to conclude that there is de-focused blue spilling over. The vertical lines in your pics seemed to show much more of a pronounced blue line left of the white though..

The length difference is minor and should be accounted for in the optical design.. I would think the quality of the lens has far more impact.

ted

The length difference is minor and should be accounted for in the optical design.. I would think the quality of the lens has far more impact.

ted
Maybe there's a way to account for it in positioning the blue panel, but there's no way to do it optically - unless there's a way to refract light through a lens differently by frequency. (There isn't.)

The difference may be minor, but it's noticeable, and is an issue with our eyes as well. Ever notice how some blue items are a bit more difficult to see clearly? That's why.

I guess we've got to remember we are talking about a $1800 PJ here. A couple of years ago that price was crazy for what we are getting. So perfect optics is probably not going to be achieved. Just think of the picture you are getting for $1800, it's really amazing. But I'm like the rest of you, I can't stand it unless something is perfect, I wish I could listen to my own advise :) We probably drive the PJ makers crazy.

Maybe there's a way to account for it in positioning the blue panel, but there's no way to do it optically - unless there's a way to refract light through a lens differently by frequency. (There isn't.)

The difference may be minor, but it's noticeable, and is an issue with our eyes as well. Ever notice how some blue items are a bit more difficult to see clearly? That's why.

The refraction will be handled by the internal prisms. I think we are splitting hairs here. As I said and you are now suggesting this will happen and manifest itself as chromatic abberation within the lens assembly. Changing focal length would be a test for this as I suggested in this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6681567&&#post6681567) . These lenses are not the quality of SLR lenses and thus do not have the glass to correct for abberation of this sort.

As to correction - it is indeed quite possible as I alluded to (more elements) See here (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/geoopt/aber2.html)

ted

What is the use time/overal time limit of the ae900 bulb warranty, oddly I can't see to find it one their site.

I guess we've got to remember we are talking about a $1800 PJ here. A couple of years ago that price was crazy for what we are getting. So perfect optics is probably not going to be achieved. Just think of the picture you are getting for $1800, it's really amazing. But I'm like the rest of you, I can't stand it unless something is perfect, I wish I could listen to my own advise :) We probably drive the PJ makers crazy.

Total agreement.
(Which is extremely rare for me. ;) )

What is the use time/overal time limit of the ae900 bulb warranty, oddly I can't see to find it one their site.

Same as almost everyone, 90 days or 500 hours.

The refraction will be handled by the internal prisms. I think we are splitting hairs here. As I said and you are now suggesting this will happen and manifest itself as chromatic abberation within the lens assembly. Changing focal length would be a test for this as I suggested in this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6681567&&#post6681567) . These lenses are not the quality of SLR lenses and thus do not have the glass to correct for abberation of this sort.

As to correction - it is indeed quite possible as I alluded to (more elements) See here (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/geoopt/aber2.html)

This is not an "aberration." It is physics, and no upgrade in lens quality will address it. Additional lenses could, but then there goes the simplicity and low price of this model. Let's put the hairs back together and move on. :)

thanks, mike, thought so, just wanted to make sure. Between the playoffs, superbowl, family in town and sopranos starting it seems like I should be able to hit 500 hours easily in the first 3 months, - if none of the old problems show up by then I should be home free.

BTW - I thought the 900 used the same lamp as the 700 - but I see lamps listed for sale as just ae700 lamps - is there a difference?

This is not an "aberration." It is physics, and no upgrade in lens quality will address it. Additional lenses could, but then there goes the simplicity and low price of this model. Let's put the hairs back together and move on. :)

Well, actually, the aberration IS physics <one of many physics links for chromatic abberation> (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/geoopt/aber2.html) And as even this link points out there are a number of things one can do in the lens path to address it. For those who want perfection, the world of optics presents the path to maddness - the quest for perfect optics is much older then any of us here.

BTW - The human eye has some chromatic abberation issues in the blue, it is compensated by yellow pigment in one of the layers of our eyes. I would be very interested to so someone who has this problem try a very mild yellow filter and see what kind of effect that has.

BTW - I thought the 900 used the same lamp as the 700 - but I see lamps listed for sale as just ae700 lamps - is there a difference?

They have different model numbers (ET-LAE700 vs. ET-LAE900), but as to whether there's any physical difference, who knows? I would like to think they improved the one for the 900, based on issues that arose with the 700.

This is not an "aberration." It is physics, and no upgrade in lens quality will address it. Additional lenses could, but then there goes the simplicity and low price of this model. Let's put the hairs back together and move on. :)

Gosh you do live up to your self-description. Of *course* its physics it is also parlance when you deal with cameras. Oh look "Chromatic Aberration" http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/geoopt/aber2.html - fancy that.

It is from a photographers' perspective an "aberration" and perfectly correctable with physics (read "optics" - see my link) just not at this level as I said way back when.

I moved on ages ago when I suggested a test to see if it changes with zoom settings.

ted

Well, actually, the aberration IS physics <one of many physics links for chromatic abberation> (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/geoopt/aber2.html) And as even this link points out there are a number of things one can do in the lens path to address it. For those who want perfection, the world of optics presents the path to maddness - the quest for perfect optics is much older then any of us here.

BTW - The human eye has some chromatic abberation issues in the blue, it is compensated by yellow pigment in one of the layers of our eyes. I would be very interested to so someone who has this problem try a very mild yellow filter and see what kind of effect that has.
The cranberry juice in my cosmos freezes in our freezer, but the vodka doesn't. I guess I have an issue with referring to something like that as an aberration.

Anyway, w-a-y OT here. Over and out on this . . .

good point on the zoom settings ted, as anyone who reads lens reviews a great deal one of the main criticisms of cheaper zoom lenses is the CR (they don't even bother to spell it out it's so common ) that creeps in at max zoom.

Now, our lenses should not be having that big a problem at such moderate zooms, but I suspect that optics quality is indeed one of the places where mid-range manufacturers skimp, as they are only throwing pictures of 1280x720 resolution, epic optics are not necessary. At the same time, there is a big part of me that doesn't believe that the high end pjs (lets' take the ruby for example) are really using glass that is that much better - it just doesn't seem like a great return on inputs for the manufacturer when the flaws they induce are only visible to the most picky among us.

The cranberry juice in my cosmos freezes in our freezer, but the vodka doesn't. I guess I have an issure with referring to something like that as an aberration.

Anyway, w-a-y OT here. Over and out on this . . .


who is this guy?

I'm to the point where I've decided on the projector for the room. You guessed it, the Panny 900 is my choice. I've looked through all 50 some pages in this thread and still have a few questions.

1. My room is 23x15x8 and is located in the basement. It will be a dedicated theater with stage / riser / double drywall with GG/ GOM etc... I plan on starting the drywall this weekend and wanted your opinions.

- Should I build a vent with an inline fan that extracts air to another room? I've read that some people use PVC and then a thermostat to kick off the fan to extract the heat coming off the projector.

Any recommendations that I should do this? The room stays a cool 60 degrees during the Winter. The room will stay somewhat dorment in the Summer.

2. Throw distance. The distance from the projector mount to the screen is approximately 23'. I will be having a 106" screen. Will there be any issues with focus / throw distance that far back?

Thanks in advance!

J

who is this guy?
Obviously someone who has gotten in over his head. :o

At the same time, there is a big part of me that doesn't believe that the high end pjs (lets' take the ruby for example) are really using glass that is that much better - it just doesn't seem like a great return on inputs for the manufacturer when the flaws they induce are only visible to the most picky among us.

Ruby (should that be "THE" ? ;) ) suffers from the same lumens change that our lowly Panasonics do as we zoom - not enough glass for Constant Aperture. Definitely a place they are saving money.

The glass on the Qualia, however, is a sight to behold.

ted

Obviously someone who has gotten in over his head. :o
:p

I would still put my beer in your fridge if you let me as long as it doesn't freeze. :)

ted

:p

I would still put my beer in your fridge if you let me as long as it doesn't freeze. :)
The more, the merrier, ted! Thirty-six degrees. :)

Regarding the "convergence" issue on the 7205 - that was the wrong choice of words. Fringing, ringing, two hens a laying..... heck I don't know. Do know it has a beautiful pic right out of the box. Maybe I should just watch and leave the damn thing alone. :o

This here newbie was playing in a menu field last night where he probably shouldn't have been playing, and after a few too many cervezas I might add. Glass Carl Zeiss lens is on this beaute so the optics *should* be excellent....another reason not to go to a Panny. Perhaps I should just get a good Chief mount and do this thing right.

Ruby (should that be "THE" ? ;) ) suffers from the same lumens change that our lowly Panasonics do as we zoom - not enough glass for Constant Aperture. Definitely a place they are saving money.

The glass on the Qualia, however, is a sight to behold.

ted

Good optics are always a thing of beauty. I forget who said it, but someone once called top quality optics the industrial ages' version of the crown jewels. Certainly they rival microchips in turning otherwise cheap raw materials into something very, very dear.

peper - sorry if unduly harsh, just grumpy.

Of course, now I am much grumpier - in the thread I put up about placing my 900 order (becuase it's all about me) someone has just replied that the manual specifically cautions against running the pj for a full afternoon (ie. a noon to midnight run of bowl games.) This is outrageous and has me on the verge of canceling my order. My 5000+ hour (on one bulb) x1 regularly ran 12 hour days in during football season and a few movie marathon parties. If this is really a problem for LCDs I don't understand why anyone would buy them. Can anyone comment on this?

peper - sorry if unduly harsh, just grumpy.
No apology necessary, grumpy. I got a bunch of my 2900 posts by recognizing when someone was being an ass and jumpin' on 'em. I deserved it.

:cool:

someone has just replied that the manual specifically cautions against running the pj for a full afternoon (ie. a noon to midnight run of bowl games.) . . . . Can anyone comment on this?

I can't say I've read every word in the manual, but the only thing I've seen is a statement that running the projector for more than 10 hours continuously or turning on and off frequently could reduce lamp life. That's pretty standard advise for any projector.

jsm88 -- They only caution that running the AE900 for more than 10 hours can reduce the lamp life (because it can get very hot). You should not have a problem with an occasional 12 hour session, if you can keep the room cool and provide plenty of ventillation around the PJ (= keep it at least a foot or two from anything).

From the manual: "The lamp may need to be replaced earlier due to variables such as individual lamp characteristics, usage conditions and the installation environment, especially when the projector is subjected to continuous use for more than 10 hours or the power is frequently turned on and off."

MikeSRC beat me to it :D. Like Mike said, pretty much standard precautions for any PJ.

beat you both to it in his other thread :p

So the other night, I watched The Incredibles and I noticed some things that might be attributed to the projector, or might be attributed to my source DVD player, but I don't know. One thing that I noticed was that some of the menus had this sort of flicker or shimmer to them. Also, around the edges of some of the characters I saw that same kind of effect. It also happened with the new Willy Wonka and with Madagascar My DVD player is a cheap DVD/VHS Panasonic combo unit and I was thinking up upgrading to the HD DVD from Panasonic. Will it make much difference?

2. Throw distance. The distance from the projector mount to the screen is approximately 23'. I will be having a 106" screen. Will there be any issues with focus / throw distance that far back?


jspielmann, I too have similar dimensions for my home theater. I plan on placing the AE900 at the back of the room on a shelf - which places it at 23' from the screen. I'd like a 120" wide screen at 2.35 aspect ratio. Plan to get a scaler and a HE lens. Anyone see any reason why the Panasonic AE900 PJ won't work from 23' to give a 120" wide image?

Thanks in advance.
~hemster

jspielmann & hemster -- Check the Projector Central's projection calculator: http://www.projectorcentral.com/Panasonic_Home-PT-AE900U-projection-calculator-pro.htm.

Remember that the distances are from the front of the lens and not the back of the PJ (it's about a foot deep). From 22', the smallest picture is a 109" diagonal.

hemster -- Your Ok for the 120" screen.

jspielmann -- For a 106" screen you have to put the lens at 21.4' (or closer) to the screen.

I posted a week back that my unit died after about 6 days of use. The manual said it might a problem with the lamp circuit. Well, of course I was totally bumbed, but the forum sponsor I ordered from made the return process very painless, and a week after sending my malfunctioned one in, I recieved my new unit yesterday. After having a seemingly perfect unit the first time, I was seriously fretting about getting one that was soft, had bad iris noise etc. Well, I don't know if the week without has made me forget just how good this projector is, but this one seems even better then I remember the last one being.

The only thing is that it seems to be crushing the blacks quite a bit, though I'm using a new dvd player, so that might be the culprit. I'm using the Oppo 971 through dvi, and I must say it looks great. Not HD quality, though I've never seen HD on a 120" screen, but the dvd's do seem noticably better looking. What I'm most pleasantly suprised with is the quality of divx videos when blown up to 120" diagonal. I have a rather large collection, and while they look great on my 27" TV, I was expecting to be able to count the pixels at that size. But I'm amazed. Lowly 624x352 shows, while soft, look absolutely spectacular. WAY better then SD TV.

Regarding the Oppo 971. So far it seems to be a very solid player. Thanks to all the people who reported their love for it and recommended it. I'm very happy with it. So I'm curious, for people who use this dvd player with this projector or similar ones, are there any picture settings that should be changed out of the box to improve performance? Also, I think the firmware is in the 9xx's somewhere. Is there a particular version I should look for that will improve performance without introducing the image shift?

Ahh, it's so nice to have a projector again! It was all I could do just to pull myself away long enough to make this post! You people have me thoroughly addicted!

I hope you're happy! :)

unless there's a way to refract light through a lens differently by frequency. (There isn't.)
.

Actually all glass refracts light differently a different wavelengths. The whole problem of lens design is making a lens with different glass types to account for this so that different wavelengths do focus on the same plane! Only the very best Apochromatic lenses actually achieve this.

However, it shouldn’t be such a big issue with projector lenses though.

Liam

CAPEK, the AE900 & Oppo are a great combo. There is an issue with the new firmware and the AE900 causing a slight sift. If you like you like you can install firmware 1022 and lower the brightness 3 bars. This will work fine until the new firmware comes out. I never updated to the new firmware because of the slight problem. Check out the Oppo threads on the DVd player fourm.

jspielmann & hemster -- Check the Projector Central's projection calculator: http://www.projectorcentral.com/Panasonic_Home-PT-AE900U-projection-calculator-pro.htm.

Remember that the distances are from the front of the lens and not the back of the PJ (it's about a foot deep). From 22', the smallest picture is a 109" diagonal.

hemster -- Your Ok for the 120" screen.

jspielmann -- For a 106" screen you have to put the lens at 21.4' (or closer) to the screen.

Thanks for the reply.

I want the Panny to sit on a shelf at the back of the room. That should be approximately 22' taking into consideration that the projector is 1 foot in depth. Can I use zoom to get the 106" that I want. I want to avoid using a ceiling mount if at all possible.

Do recommend putting in a ventalation unit for this projector?

Thanks,

J

Thanks for the reply.

I want the Panny to sit on a shelf at the back of the room. That should be approximately 22' taking into consideration that the projector is 1 foot in depth. Can I use zoom to get the 106" that I want. I want to avoid using a ceiling mount if at all possible.

Do recommend putting in a ventalation unit for this projector?

Thanks,

J
Since CT_Wiebe was so precise in his distance calculation, that's probably a hard number that cannot be exceeded. Closer than the 21.4', the zoom could be used to enlarge the projected image, but beyond it you're likely to have an image too big for the screen. (The measurement is from the lens to the screen.) Ventilation is always important, and as you mention a shelf, air flow is definitely something to consider as air can stagnate - close to the ceiling, on a shelf, against the wall, etc.

CAPEK, the AE900 & Oppo are a great combo. There is an issue with the new firmware and the AE900 causing a slight sift. If you like you like you can install firmware 1022 and lower the brightness 3 bars. This will work fine until the new firmware comes out. I never updated to the new firmware because of the slight problem. Check out the Oppo threads on the DVd player fourm.
Ok, will do. Thanks for the tips.

There is something else that I've noticed with my new unit though that is pretty annoying. With SD TV from my basic TW cable box through S-Video, the image will "jump" or "twitch" about a dozen times a minute. I've only had one viewing with my new 900, so hopefully it's source related and even a one time thing. I watched about 3 hours of dvd's through hdmi and it never happened.

So does anyone else's PJ does this? Any insights anyone could offer would be great.

Bad S- video cable? Try wiggling it to see if this affects the picture.

Thanks. I tried that as it was happening last night, but only on the projector end. I watched a game tonight after reconnecting everything, and it never happened once, so I'm relieved.

hi im from australia can any body tell me if the ptae 900 e is different from the unit un the us thanks

I've owned my Epson TW100 for 3 years and I have been generally happy with it (after banning myself from reading these forums of course:) . Against my better judgement I started lurking here again and I see that the new kids on the block in this segment are teh AE900 and the Z4. After reading pages and pages of feedback I think my heart is set on the 900. I'm expecting the Panny to be an improvement but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with both of these projectors and if they could tell me how the TW100 compares to the AE900.

Thanks.

I have decided on the AE900U thanks to all the discussions I have read here. I now have a question about the image brightness in my setup.

The room that I am setting up in is a small room and has my twrow distance at 10 feet to a 92" diagonal (16:9) screen.

Using the calculator at projectorcentral for a 10' throw and 92" screen, assuming a screen gain of 1.0, I get - "Image brightness is in recommended range" and the AE900U zoom is 1.86x

But I am also thinking of getting the Optoma Greywolf screen (DS9092-PM) and it has a screen gain on 1.8. Adding this into the calculator, I now get - "recommend lower brightness, try increasing image size or reducing screen gain".

The room can be completely dark when running the PJ.

So, will the above really result in an image that is "too bright". What is the effect of this extra brightness on viewing - hot spots, eye strain, etc? Can I use some filters to reduce the light, any recommendations? Or should I go with some other screen?

Thanks!

I have decided on the AE900U thanks to all the discussions I have read here. I now have a question about the image brightness in my setup.

The room that I am setting up in is a small room and has my twrow distance at 10 feet to a 92" diagonal (16:9) screen.

Using the calculator at projectorcentral for a 10' throw and 92" screen, assuming a screen gain of 1.0, I get - "Image brightness is in recommended range" and the AE900U zoom is 1.86x

But I am also thinking of getting the Optoma Greywolf screen (DS9092-PM) and it has a screen gain on 1.8. Adding this into the calculator, I now get - "recommend lower brightness, try increasing image size or reducing screen gain".

The room can be completely dark when running the PJ.

So, will the above really result in an image that is "too bright". What is the effect of this extra brightness on viewing - hot spots, eye strain, etc? Can I use some filters to reduce the light, any recommendations? Or should I go with some other screen?

Thanks!


I have this pj mounted at 14', with an ~84" diagonal screen -> Graywolf material mounted on a DIY frame. Its not too bright...and IMHO, too bright is easier to deal with than not bright enough.

My 1st row is at 8.5' (1.5 widths) and second row is at 14'....I don't have any hot spotting issues.

Cheers,

Rich

Boykster, I have my AE900 set up in a small room and I am using a matte white screen have I have more than enough light output. I do enjoy tweaking the projector (See AE900 tweak thread) and I use filters to increase my blacks and CR. I am know using a 81A + 81B fliter trying CKL's settings MikeSRC has had success with EF filter and the Grey Wolf screen combo.
If you plan to try the filter the Grey Wolf should be fine. I would also check on the screen fourm for more information.

I got mine yesterday. I didn't do much calibration - just stuck in Star Wars to use the THX optimizer. I liked Normal with the lamp low the best, but I can see that I do need to tweak some stuff. Mine is mounted upright on a shelf projecting onto a durotherm board (very little lens shift)

I watched Battlestar Galactica - looked pretty good. I'm using a Pioneer 533 with componenet cables (and the Pio set to progressive). If this is what 480p looks like, I can't wait to see 720p!

Anyone else get a SLIGHT oder from theirs?

Brian

I have decided on the AE900U thanks to all the discussions I have read here. I now have a question about the image brightness in my setup.

The room that I am setting up in is a small room and has my twrow distance at 10 feet to a 92" diagonal (16:9) screen.

Using the calculator at projectorcentral for a 10' throw and 92" screen, assuming a screen gain of 1.0, I get - "Image brightness is in recommended range" and the AE900U zoom is 1.86x

But I am also thinking of getting the Optoma Greywolf screen (DS9092-PM) and it has a screen gain on 1.8. Adding this into the calculator, I now get - "recommend lower brightness, try increasing image size or reducing screen gain".

The room can be completely dark when running the PJ.

So, will the above really result in an image that is "too bright". What is the effect of this extra brightness on viewing - hot spots, eye strain, etc? Can I use some filters to reduce the light, any recommendations? Or should I go with some other screen?

Thanks!
Sounds like our set-ups are almost identicle. Only difference is my projector is 11 feet away. I have the 92" Greywolf screen as well. Not to bright at all. Totally perfect for the room size. Leave the lamp on low mode and you're good to go. I have the Denon DVD 3910 with the IRE set to 0 and the black levels are AMAZING. Good luck. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I've had this set-up for over a month and am really happy with it.

Elio

I just got my 900 last night, put 5 hours on it. First impressions are WOW!

It was way off on color and brightness out of the box but after a little time with my VE calib disc it was much better. I actually had to bring the brightness down to -15 and the blacks are awesome! I'm projecting on a 110" Behr Silverscreen painted wall 14' back for now with plans on getting a Stewart screen in a few months. No VB! No SDE! No strange sounds when it's turned on or off, just the fan running. Using a Denon 1910 set to 720p with a 5m DVI cable from bettercables. Only DVD at this point as I don't have HD with my Dish yet, maybe next year. DVD looks great, I was worried about the upconversion with the Denon but WOW, it's looks wonderful. No motion artifacts or moire(sp) at all. I haven't watched any SD dish yet, I need to get the equiipment mounted in a wall and cables run before that.

I'm using 100% of the vertical shift and see no convergence or bending issues. Well, may a big of convergence but only at about 2 feet from the screen. It dissapears after 2-3 feet. Low lamp mode and is this thing quiet! Even at full fan speed it's not too bad, only on quiet passages you notice it.

Color needs to be adjusted a bit yet, tends to lean toward yellow. I'm sure I can tweak it. I've tried settings from others and it gets close but every environment is different I guess. I plan on spending more time with the VE disc to get it right. I'm used to a 60" Pioneer Elite Pro-119 RPTV (non-HD) that has exceptional color, I mean exceptional, that's why I bought it and also why I leaned toward the 900 as color was said to be its strong feature. I just hope I can get it close to the Pioneer I have.

I plan on ceiling mounting it and using less shift as I'm going to bring it down below the top of the screen a bit.

Sharpness, what are people talking about this projector being "soft"!!? I can't imagine the picture being any more sharpe without looking grainy. It's exceptionaly sharpe and clear. My wife and I watched this thing for 4 hours and she even said it looks as good as the $15,000 Runco DLP we auditioned last weekend. She says we're never going to a theater again!

So far I'm truely impressed with this projector, big picture at a resonable price point. I don't expect perfection but this is about as close as you can get without spending $1000's more. I can be quite picky and so far I love the picture and ease of setup. I researched this projector and read these sites for about a month, comparing it to the Z4 and Mitz. So far I have no issues and plan on enjoying it for quite a while. I can't wait until HD-DVD comes out next year!

Let me know if anyone has any questions on my setup.

GreyWolf/AE900 impressions...

I picked up a 106" GreyWolf at BB a few days ago out of curiosity since returns are very easy at this one. I've got my Panasonic AE900 shooting from 10.5' back and its mounting height puts it pretty much right in the middle of the new screen with extremely minimal vertical or horizontal shift needed. My head is about 2' below the pj when seated in the middle of the couch, and I'm 10' away from the 92" wide screen. The screen itself looks flawless, no dents in the case and no light-colored area (it did have the plastic at the top) or waves/wrinkles.
My impression is that my room is light-controlled (external and reflected) enough that I'm not seeing many of the benefits others would. Contrast is about the same as with my blackout cloth screen, but there's noticeable dimming at the ends of my couch (still within the screen boundaries) and hotspotting from the middle. My pj is apparently low enough, and my head high enough, that I don't see a huge difference in brightness when I raise my head up to pj level. In fact, brightness at my regular height is fine, even given the retroreflective nature of the screen and the "Cinema 1" setting's relative dimness, but it does drop off at the sides as I mentioned. I'd imagine this would be seen with any screen of appreciable gain given the rather large subtended angle.
I do notice a texture that tends to lend a dirtly look to whites, and sparklies are also somewhat evident.
Had I been impressed, I'd have bothered to get a much better price and use the material to cover my 2.35 screen, but I don't think I'll go ahead with that. Given my room conditions and wide angle, I think I'm better served with matte white.
I do plan on bringing this screen to my brother's this weekend and trying it on my 4805 in his white non-light-controlled basement, this screen is really meant to shine under such conditions.

Thanks for all the replies! Looks like I will be pulling the trigger on this one sometime today.

Regarding the GreyWolf DS9092-PM screen - I looked at their pdf manual and it looks like you can either attach the case to the back wall or hang it from the ceiling above. I will have to use the second method (hang from ceiling) since my back wall has a metal plate right along where the screen case will be (I am hanging the screen right in front of a rarely used closet :)

Does the sceen include all the hardware needed to mount it to the ceiling? If I need to purchase any additional hardware for the screen ceiling mount, what is it?

SteelyFan,

IIRC the screen didn't come with any mounting hardware, just eyelets attached to the case to hang with. To celing hang it you'll need some hooks or other hardware..

Rich

Thanks boykster. I'll add a couple of hooks to my "to buy" list.

Anyone else get a SLIGHT oder from theirs?
Brian

I just hooked my up on Thursday night. And after I went upstairs and come down I did notice a kinda burning odor. however I didn't experience it last night. We left the kids with a babysitter and they watched two movies. I was curious if I'd smell anything when I got back. Nothing. i'm going to mark it up as using the PJ for the first time.....well actually when I put the projector on standby I did get that smell a bit, but I think it's pretty normal. Makes me think of the smells here at my work in the projector rooms. It definitely wasn't as strong as the first time.

GreyWolf/AE900 impressions...

I picked up a 106" GreyWolf at BB a few days ago out of curiosity since returns are very easy at this one. I've got my Panasonic AE900 shooting from 10.5' back and its mounting height puts it pretty much right in the middle of the new screen with extremely minimal vertical or horizontal shift needed. My head is about 2' below the pj when seated in the middle of the couch, and I'm 10' away from the 92" wide screen. The screen itself looks flawless, no dents in the case and no light-colored area (it did have the plastic at the top) or waves/wrinkles.
My impression is that my room is light-controlled (external and reflected) enough that I'm not seeing many of the benefits others would. Contrast is about the same as with my blackout cloth screen, but there's noticeable dimming at the ends of my couch (still within the screen boundaries) and hotspotting from the middle. My pj is apparently low enough, and my head high enough, that I don't see a huge difference in brightness when I raise my head up to pj level. In fact, brightness at my regular height is fine, even given the retroreflective nature of the screen and the "Cinema 1" setting's relative dimness, but it does drop off at the sides as I mentioned. I'd imagine this would be seen with any screen of appreciable gain given the rather large subtended angle.
I do notice a texture that tends to lend a dirtly look to whites, and sparklies are also somewhat evident.
Had I been impressed, I'd have bothered to get a much better price and use the material to cover my 2.35 screen, but I don't think I'll go ahead with that. Given my room conditions and wide angle, I think I'm better served with matte white.
I do plan on bringing this screen to my brother's this weekend and trying it on my 4805 in his white non-light-controlled basement, this screen is really meant to shine under such conditions.


Hi, Have you ever seen an ae900 mounted from the ceiling w/ the GW? Is it just as good as placing it on a back shelf w/in a few feet of the audiences eyes? I'd love to hang mine from the ceiling (up and out of the way--minimal light path obstruction and blinding eyes). Any thoughts???

---OH, just thought about something...for those of you who are going to reply to this and say that ceiling mounting the ae900 w/ a GW will decrease gain or brightness, i already got a reply for you... --What if the comparison was b/w putting the pj 20ft back on a book shelf and within a few feet of audiences eyes (the back of the room)....vs.... ceiling mounting it only 11ft back, 7ft high? I have heard that the closer physically a projector is to the screen, the brighter the image will be. Therefore these 2 setups might have the same effect/image?? Is my logic correct?

Hi, Have you ever seen an ae900 mounted from the ceiling w/ the GW? Is it just as good as placing it on a back shelf w/in a few feet of the audiance's eyes? I'd love to hang mine from the ceiling (up and out of the way--minimal light path obstruction and blinding eyes). Any thoughts???

Well, although my 900 is technically "ceiling-mounted", it's actually quite far from the ceiling:

http://home.comcast.net/~tgilvey/IMG_0609.JPG

The further up the 900 goes, the more lens shift you'll have to use. Even if you did go the the extremes, you still couldn't have the projector more than a few inches above the screen.
As far as the GW, the greater the angle between screen/audience/projector, the dimmer the picture will get. The screen is designed to throw light back at the angle of incidence (retroreflective), so it throws light back up to the ceiling if the projector is there. If you can get the audience and the projector within the vertical boundaries of the screen, you should be ok as far as brightness.

OH, just thought about something...for those of you who are going to reply to this and say that ceiling mounting the ae900 w/ a GW will decrease gain or brightness, i already got a reply for you... --What if the comparison was b/w putting the pj 20ft back on a book shelf and within a few feet of audiences eyes (the back of the room)....vs.... ceiling mounting it only 11ft back, 7ft high? I have heard that the closer physically a projector is to the screen, the brighter the image will be. Therefore these 2 setups might have the same effect/image?? Is my logic correct?

I agree with your logic, although I can't speak to the specifics of brightness you might expect.

Hi, Have you ever seen an ae900 mounted from the ceiling w/ the GW? Is it just as good as placing it on a back shelf w/in a few feet of the audiences eyes? I'd love to hang mine from the ceiling (up and out of the way--minimal light path obstruction and blinding eyes). Any thoughts???

---OH, just thought about something...for those of you who are going to reply to this and say that ceiling mounting the ae900 w/ a GW will decrease gain or brightness, i already got a reply for you... --What if the comparison was b/w putting the pj 20ft back on a book shelf and within a few feet of audiences eyes (the back of the room)....vs.... ceiling mounting it only 11ft back, 7ft high? I have heard that the closer physically a projector is to the screen, the brighter the image will be. Therefore these 2 setups might have the same effect/image?? Is my logic correct?
Some say, and I agree, that it's best to put the proijector as far from the screen as possible so that the image is projected through the middle of the lens where possible distortions are the least. I'm not sure what introducing a lot of lens shift does to this general rule, though. However, it seems like the further the pj is from the screen, the less lens shift would be needed.

Hi, Have you ever seen an ae900 mounted from the ceiling w/ the GW? Is it just as good as placing it on a back shelf w/in a few feet of the audiences eyes? I'd love to hang mine from the ceiling (up and out of the way--minimal light path obstruction and blinding eyes). Any thoughts???

---OH, just thought about something...for those of you who are going to reply to this and say that ceiling mounting the ae900 w/ a GW will decrease gain or brightness, i already got a reply for you... --What if the comparison was b/w putting the pj 20ft back on a book shelf and within a few feet of audiences eyes (the back of the room)....vs.... ceiling mounting it only 11ft back, 7ft high? I have heard that the closer physically a projector is to the screen, the brighter the image will be. Therefore these 2 setups might have the same effect/image?? Is my logic correct?
Mine is ceiling mounted right now. Was tabletop first. Image brightness is the same for both. My ceiling is very ow though and the bottom of the projector is at the same level as the top of the screen. It's 11 feet back from the GW 92" screen. It's plenty bright. Very little brightness shift from sitting to standing. I'm extremely happy with this set-up.

Elio

Thanks for the posts guys. I put two 4 foot speakers one on top of the other to simulate an image projection from a ceiling mount (yes, my muscles are sore). After 2 hours of viewing various media, I agree that the image when ceiling mounted only appears marginally less bright vs. mounting at the back middle of the room.

So, I've decided to ceiling mount my pj. They have some mounts on ebay for less than 50buccks, any one have one of these? Do they work ok? Also, ... cables---freaking expensive man! I will need about 25 ft of hdmi to dvi and 25ft of component...anyone know where to get good quality cables for cheap? Or maybe a recommendation on a brand/model that would work well (since i dont think we can mention dealers on this forum).

The dvi to hdmi would be for my oppo dvd player--very awesome, i love the thing.
The component would be for my comcast hdtv cable box.

Thanks guys!

jspielmann & hemster -- Check the Projector Central's projection calculator: http://www.projectorcentral.com/Panasonic_Home-PT-AE900U-projection-calculator-pro.htm.

Remember that the distances are from the front of the lens and not the back of the PJ (it's about a foot deep). From 22', the smallest picture is a 109" diagonal.

hemster -- Your Ok for the 120" screen.

jspielmann -- For a 106" screen you have to put the lens at 21.4' (or closer) to the screen.

CT_Wiebe, Thanks for your response. I will probably get the PJ and horiz. lens and try out some images on a blank wall before finalizing on the screen size. I'm having second thoughts about 120" wide 2:35 now and may end up with 110" wide. But only after a little experimentation will I order a screen.

Regards
~hemster

cables---freaking expensive man! I will need about 25 ft of hdmi to dvi and 25ft of component...anyone know where to get good quality cables for cheap?
http://www.avcable.com/
http://www.ramelectronics.net/
http://www.pacificcable.com/

I just got my 900, but from a place I can return it no problem if I'm not happy. A couple of things, I'm surprised how bad the black level is compared to my 4805, and yes I have it in Cinema 1, low lamp, auto iris. When the scene is mixed with light and dark it's fine, just when it's mostly black it's much more like a grey than my 4805. From the review I assumed black level was right in line with older DLP's, but it's still pretty far off. Of course this is a brand new bulb and will no doubt improve with age.

Also, does anyone notice that a test pattern line, or just a line in the menu will be very sharp on the right side of the screen, but on the left it seems to have a blur that comes off to the left. I think it look like an optical problem more than a convergence issue, perhaps from maximum lens shift and a bit of side. It can't be seen in normal video at all so it doesn't matter. I have a tiny bit of miscovergence, but better than any other lcd I've seen, a little blue from the top. Overall though, this puts off a great image, I'm still not sold on if I want to get rid of my 4805 for this. I've got 30 days to decide.

One other thing, I really don't like the lens shift amount, at maximum, it's less than my 4805 was standard. That really not quite enough. Who is going to mount a PJ in the middle of a screen anyway. Most people want it above, and it will just barely go above without keystoning. Really not enough in my opinion.

http://www.avcable.com/
http://www.ramelectronics.net/
http://www.pacificcable.com/

Try www.totalsignal.com, I bought thier 50' hdmi, it wouldn't work without sparkles. But that's a very long lenth, the 35' works perfectly. They seem to have really good quality for the price. If you want longer than 35' though, you need to go to www.bluejeanscable.com.

I just got my 900, but from a place I can return it no problem if I'm not happy. A couple of things, I'm surprised how bad the black level is compared to my 4805, and yes I have it in Cinema 1, low lamp, auto iris. When the scene is mixed with light and dark it's fine, just when it's mostly black it's much more like a grey than my 4805. From the review I assumed black level was right in line with older DLP's, but it's still pretty far off. Of course this is a brand new bulb and will no doubt improve with age.

Also, does anyone notice that a test pattern line, or just a line in the menu will be very sharp on the right side of the screen, but on the left it seems to have a blur that comes off to the left. I think it look like an optical problem more than a convergence issue, perhaps from maximum lens shift and a bit of side. It can't be seen in normal video at all so it doesn't matter. I have a tiny bit of miscovergence, but better than any other lcd I've seen, a little blue from the top. Overall though, this puts off a great image, I'm still not sold on if I want to get rid of my 4805 for this. I've got 30 days to decide.

One other thing, I really don't like the lens shift amount, at maximum, it's less than my 4805 was standard. That really not quite enough. Who is going to mount a PJ in the middle of a screen anyway. Most people want it above, and it will just barely go above without keystoning. Really not enough in my opinion.

Hey there, you have some good points, especially about the amount of lens shift, although most people buying this pj will want to mount it on a shelf, therefore in the middle of the screen.

About the ae900 vs. the 4805, I found that the 4805 had a huge screendoor issue, you gotta be at least 2.5 widths away from the screen to not notice the black boxes---w/ the 900, i'd say only 1 width is enough. Black levels? well, lets just say i was so distracted by the screendoor that I couldnt focus on them. So, well, theres my opinion on the matter...oh yeah, the 900 has way better hdtv too. Lates

Thanks for the posts guys. I put two 4 foot speakers one on top of the other to simulate an image projection from a ceiling mount (yes, my muscles are sore). After 2 hours of viewing various media, I agree that the image when ceiling mounted only appears marginally less bright vs. mounting at the back middle of the room.

So, I've decided to ceiling mount my pj. They have some mounts on ebay for less than 50buccks, any one have one of these? Do they work ok? Also, ... cables---freaking expensive man! I will need about 25 ft of hdmi to dvi and 25ft of component...anyone know where to get good quality cables for cheap? Or maybe a recommendation on a brand/model that would work well (since i dont think we can mention dealers on this forum).

The dvi to hdmi would be for my oppo dvd player--very awesome, i love the thing.
The component would be for my comcast hdtv cable box.

Thanks guys!
I would suggest you definitely check out monoprice.com. I ordered two 25' Component cables and one 25' HDMI cable. In total, the 3 were $46. As far as quality goes, they are indestinguishable from much shorter, and much more expensive, Monster cables I bought a while back, in other words, they're excellent.

Hey there, you have some good points, especially about the amount of lens shift, although most people buying this pj will want to mount it on a shelf, therefore in the middle of the screen.

About the ae900 vs. the 4805, I found that the 4805 had a huge screendoor issue, you gotta be at least 2.5 widths away from the screen to not notice the black boxes---w/ the 900, i'd say only 1 width is enough. Black levels? well, lets just say i was so distracted by the screendoor that I couldnt focus on them. So, well, theres my opinion on the matter...oh yeah, the 900 has way better hdtv too. Lates

Um, I don't remember trying to turn this into a 4805 vs 900, that's a silly argument to even start considering the price difference. I already own the 4805 and the 900 now. I can see the difference myself. I was commenting on something that I've noticed, that the black levels are not as nearly good as I expected coming from the 4805. I thought they would be more comparible but they are not, it's very easy to see, I was quite dissapointed. Of course the screen door is larger, it's 480p, but it's nothing like you describe. And again that's a pointless argument since we are comparing a 480p vs 720p. I was commenting on black level only. Again I was saying that I'm not sure yet that the 900 is worth the upgrade to me, but I can decide this viewing the new unit. Telling me that my 4805 has terrible screen door is not really helpful since I've been viewing it for a year and a half, I think it has an amazing image for the price and have no screen door issues myself. But I wanted HD too, hence I bought the 900.

Um, thats fine. I was just stating my opinion. One could still get about what, $500 bucks for a used 4805, so net, one would pay 1300 for the 900, thats pretty good. As far as black levels go, yes, they could be better, but I think the 900 is comparable to the benq 7200, and the mits (both dlp's), I would have to pay 2x as much for a 78dc3 before the black levels noticably better--and thats a lot of cash.


Again, just my opinion, didn't mean to offend anyone.

I just got my 900, but from a place I can return it no problem if I'm not happy. A couple of things, I'm surprised how bad the black level is compared to my 4805, and yes I have it in Cinema 1, low lamp, auto iris. When the scene is mixed with light and dark it's fine, just when it's mostly black it's much more like a grey than my 4805. From the review I assumed black level was right in line with older DLP's, but it's still pretty far off. Of course this is a brand new bulb and will no doubt improve with age.

Also, does anyone notice that a test pattern line, or just a line in the menu will be very sharp on the right side of the screen, but on the left it seems to have a blur that comes off to the left. I think it look like an optical problem more than a convergence issue, perhaps from maximum lens shift and a bit of side. It can't be seen in normal video at all so it doesn't matter. I have a tiny bit of miscovergence, but better than any other lcd I've seen, a little blue from the top. Overall though, this puts off a great image, I'm still not sold on if I want to get rid of my 4805 for this. I've got 30 days to decide.

One other thing, I really don't like the lens shift amount, at maximum, it's less than my 4805 was standard. That really not quite enough. Who is going to mount a PJ in the middle of a screen anyway. Most people want it above, and it will just barely go above without keystoning. Really not enough in my opinion.
What DVD player are you using? I wasn't wow'd by the black levels of the 900 either until I set the black level on my DVD player to 0 IE and, holy smokes, what a difference. Blacks are now solid and dense. I have a Denon DVD 3910.

E

I had one of the first 20 4805's sold, so I got pretty familiar with it. I find that the 900 preserves the contrast/blacks of the 4805 while bettering color saturation. As far as artifact-free picture size, there's no contest of course. When viewing HD content, especially on the 106" screen I'm using for the moment from 10' away, the experience is truly theatrical. I consider it quite an upgrade for my installation, maybe the best buy in projectors today if a theatrical field-of-view is taken into consideration.

I just received the AE900 a few days ago. It is my first front projector thanks to you folks on the forums!
I think that I might have a slightly defective unit though and wanted to see if others have seen this issue. The color green is showing up in the wrong places. If I switch my source over to my Mitsubishi 65907 Diamond 65" or an older CRT 27" TV the color green issue goes away. In some cases the Mits and the crt will show yellow or brown and the AE900 shows green. Scenes where there is grass appears as though the grass is florescent green. The 27" and the 65" ALWAYS agree on the color though. Slight differences but nothing like the AE900.
This issue is VERY pronounced with my Hughes HDVR10-250 high def satellite receiver. It is a bit better with my Panasonic RP91 but still way off for the greens.

What's weird is that you would think that a messed up color decoder would show up everywhere but it does not. Skin tones are fantastic with this projector. They are even better than my Mits Diamond 65"!!!! The only time faces have color problems is when a light source, usually florescent, in the show is incorrectly shown as green. Light sources are particularly problematic.

I am using a 106" Panaview Greywolf grey screen and the projector is mounted around mid screen about 19' from the screen.
I did a quick Avia check on the video portion and like most others it appears that only minor corrections were needed.
I don't get it? How can the color decoder be fine but I am seeing what I would describe as a pronounced green push?

Um, thats fine. I was just stating my opinion. One could still get about what, $500 bucks for a used 4805, so net, one would pay 1300 for the 900, thats pretty good. As far as black levels go, yes, they could be better, but I think the 900 is comparable to the benq 7200, and the mits (both dlp's), I would have to pay 2x as much for a 78dc3 before the black levels noticably better--and thats a lot of cash.


Again, just my opinion, didn't mean to offend anyone.

I didn't mean to sound offended. I jjust thought maybe you thought I was trying to start a comparison between the 4805 and the 900, and I wasn't at all, just commenting my my slight dissapointment in black level. I don't know why some are experincing the same black level, I think it might be because my 4805 had about 500 hours on it, and the 900 isn't broken in. After a few hours perhaps the bulb will burn in and I will get more in line with what I'm expecting. This seems like a really bright PJ, I think my 100" 1.5 gain screen is too small and bright for this units output. I need to get to a 1.0 gain and it would probably look a lot better. Again, the 900 has a great picture, at least my unit does not come close though to the same blacks I was getting out of my 4805, but perhaps with time and a better screen I can achieve it. Has anyone else noticed the blur from the left half of the screen? Just in test patterns not noticable in video. Thanks.

And I'm hoping for improved blacks as well. Like you, I've noticed that black levels are nice in mixed scenes but in dark screens they could be better. I have it in Cinema 1, brightness -20, contrast -7, DI on, low lamp, on black out cloth, full light control. Maybe my computer is at fault? I'm running XINE in linux with an 8mb ATI rage 128 through VGA (not the best vid card and didn't tweak any settings). I plan on getting the Oppo player and AVIA, hopefully this improves things...

I don't have contact lenses in (won't get them 'til Monday - I need them!), although this may not affect my perception anyway. I'll update in a month...

I'm having second thoughts about 120" wide 2:35 now and may end up with 110" wide. But only after a little experimentation will I order a screen.

Regards
~hemster

hemster,

What were your plans for 2.35 at 120"?
Constant Height?
Anamorphic lens + Scaler?

I run a 51" CH setup with a Prismasonic + HTPC and a filtered 700 which provides 90" wide for 1.78 and 120" for 2.35. I find the image more than acceptable with 2.35 with the provisos that I find lower lumens fine and I've a dark room.

ted

I just hooked my up on Thursday night. And after I went upstairs and come down I did notice a kinda burning odor. however I didn't experience it last night....

My 1st night there was a slight burning odor. But the second night it was almost if not completely gone. So I'm not going to worry about it (unless it comes back).

On a (possibly related) note, while the fan on "high" is pretty loud by itself, when I'm actually watching a movie I don't notice it. So I think I will leave the lamp on low and the fan on high, which probably is the best combo for lamp life.

Brian

Thanks to all the reviews/recommendations, I just bought the following -

Panasonic PT-AE900U
Optoma Greywolf DS-9092PM
Oppo OPDV971H


I have decided to ceiling mount it and had a quesiton about cabling. For the component and DVI-HDMI, I will get long cables and run them behind the wall to the driver components. But what about the power supply?

What is the length of the PS cables that comes with the PJ? I am guessing it is not long enough to run a 25'-35' lenth to the nearest plugpoint.

Do I have to create a junction box/plug-point in the ceiling near the projector itself? Are there some special type of power cables required to run them behin the drywall (I am thinking from an electrical code/fire hazard point of view) and where can these be obtained?

What is the most commen method for routing power to a celing mounted PJ?

Thanks, and sorry if I asked too many questions all at once.

Optoma Greywolf DS-9092PM i'd doublecheck that screen. the graywolf looks great from table mount but not very good at all from the ceiling...it looks really washed out

you can see the difference by viewing from sitting behind a table mount and then just standing up...it starts to lose it's punch

as a tablemount, it's a very fine screen

others may disagree

inukshuk,
I know what you are talking about. I was originally going to keep the PJ on a back shelf for this same reason. But I couldn't convince the wife on that one and decided to quit while I was ahead (she approved the whole home theater a little too easily, hmm...).

Also, I am in a small room with about 10' throw distance to a 92", 1.8 gain screen. Using the calculator at projector central, it shows that this results in a brighter than recommended image.

So given the above information, do you think that the Greywolf would still be "washed out"? My understanding was that it was just a loss in brightness (which I think my setup has some headroom to absorb). Also, the PJ will be ceiling mounted to be right at the top edge of the screen.

Thanks.

While this isnt the screens forum, the graywolf does get a lot of talk...I have a graywolf with my AE900 (ceiling mounted) and while ceiling mounting is not ideal with this screen (being retroreflective) it can easily be "bright enough".

The general consensus on the graywolf thread (screens forum) is that ceiling mounting essentially reduces the gain of the screen to 1.0 - 1.2 or so (from 1.8), but does add that "stand up and it gets brighter RPTV"effect.

I chose to mount my AE900 about 24" above the height of the back row....about 1/5 from the top of the screen, and brightness hasn't been an issue. I posted some pics of my setup on this thread...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=614878

Cheers,

Rich

Rich,

Thanks for your inputs on the screen. I was just about to post in the screen forum, but now I don't have to.

Also, you effectively answered all my ceiling mount questions with your setup pic. It was just what I was looking for.

Thanks again!

... most people buying this pj will want to mount it on a shelf, therefore in the middle of the screen.
...


How is this possible without trying to beam through the audience? I cannot imagine that most folks seated with their heads below the bottom of the screen?

How is this possible without trying to beam through the audience? I cannot imagine that most folks seated with their heads below the bottom of the screen?
Yes, either the projector is off axis, or the viewers are. The alternative would seem to be the projector very near the viewers heads or shooting past very near their heads - when seated. When standing, they'd cast shadows. Why not use a screen that has better off-axis viewing?

So given the above information, do you think that the Greywolf would still be "washed out"? My understanding was that it was just a loss in brightness (which I think my setup has some headroom to absorb). Also, the PJ will be ceiling mounted to be right at the top edge of the screen. it really seemed to lose something when i projected from above (as i moved the pj to different spots when initially setting up) but i see the poster after me is happy with it so perhaps you better take a look first and then decide

i also did not like other things about it, the weight, the pull down, waves etc...i just plain didn't like it overall...i much prefer a permanent fixed screen and am building one myself from the DIY forum

you may love the graywolf, as i say, for pure image from tabletop, it's very nice, excellent contrast, nice colors and really hides the screendoor

good luck

i also did not like other things about it, the weight, the pull down, waves etc...i just plain didn't like it overall...i much prefer a permanent fixed screen and am building one myself from the DIY forum

I agree with you here. I do not like the fit/finish of the GrayWolf all that much. It is a manual pulldown screen, that often comes damaged (?!?) and has a WHITE case.

I bought mine with 1 purpose in mind...to make a fixed mount screen. I bought a 106" screen and cut it down to make an ~85" fixed mount.

SteelyFan,

Cool, that's what's great about this forum :p Good luck and enjoy!


Rich

SteelyFan -- CAUTION -- If you mount the cables behind the wall, you have to buy Plenum rated cables or your fire insurance will be null & void. Ordinary cables are not rated for hidden mounting and Insurance companies take (unfair) advantage of this.

SteelyFan -- CAUTION -- If you mount the cables behind the wall, you have to buy Plenum rated cables or your fire insurance will be null & void. Ordinary cables are not rated for hidden mounting and Insurance companies take (unfair) advantage of this.


Thanks! I read up a few threads on Plenum cables and I am scared now. I might look into having an electrician do the wiring (atleast, the part of giving me a supply outlet on my ceiling).

I am guessing that the Plenum rating cables are only for the power supply. The DVI/HDMI, component and speaker cables are all the same old regular ones since they do not carry high voltage/currents, right?

Hi there !
Well it seems, as if I revceived a unit which actually has some minor vertical banding.
Is there any opportunity to tweak VB out for "beginners" ? (I just don´t know if a newbie like me should go in the service menu and try to adjust some settings because I fear I could leave it worse than it was before ...)

What do you suggest ? And in case you suggest playing with the service menu-settings: how do I enter the service menu of the AE900 ???

Thanks in advance,
prickelpit

Thanks! I read up a few threads on Plenum cables and I am scared now. I might look into having an electrician do the wiring (atleast, the part of giving me a supply outlet on my ceiling).

I am guessing that the Plenum rating cables are only for the power supply. The DVI/HDMI, component and speaker cables are all the same old regular ones since they do not carry high voltage/currents, right?

It was mentioned elsewhere in this forum that even the signal cables have to be Plenum cables. The best thing to do is to check with your insurance company and get their official word on the matter. Better to be safe than sorry.

Prickelpit, search for the "AE700 Tweaks". The instructions for the flicker tweak are on the first page. You may also want to adjust the panel adjustments for red, green and blue. The menu choice for this can be accessed from the same menu as the flicker tweak can be accessed from. With the panel adjustments, the range isn't great, but it does affect VB.

It is always a good idea to write down the original values before changing values in a service menu. It isn't super-critical with these adjustments, but it is definitely good practice.

If the instructions make sense to you, I wouldn't fret about entering the service menu. You will need to press the enter key for three seconds early in the process. If you are bouncing your remote off of the screen, rather than pointing it at the projector, you may have problems with the projector recognizing the three second press - in that case, just point the remote at the front of the projector.

It is very unlikely that you will make things worse. With the flicker tweak, you may have some difficulty choosing between two adjacent positions (say like 65 and 66) that seem to both minimize a panel's flicker, but other than that, it is easy.

Good luck. I have some VB that I have not been able to reduce. With about 80 hours on the bulb, it still grabs my attention a few times during most flicks. I will be calling the dealer I purchased it from tomorrow to see what my options are.

It was mentioned elsewhere in this forum that even the signal cables have to be Plenum cables. The best thing to do is to check with your insurance company and get their official word on the matter. Better to be safe than sorry.
Yes, indeed. Plenum cables have nothing to do with what goes through them and everything to do with what they do in a fire. Plenum cables are special fire-rated animals that are specially made to have a low flame spread and to NOT give off toxic gases in a fire.

It all came back to me when reading these posts . . and now I need to find some to replace the standard extension cord I pulled into my wall to power my projector from the RGPC at my head-end . . .

I obviously woke up cranky this morning. I normally resist the temptation to comment on people's understanding (right or wrong) of hot button topics like insurance.

Mea culpa. :o

Oh, please. Not to get off-topic in the thread but blanket statements based upon limited information and an incomplete understanding of how insurance works is silly. "Insurance" does not equal "Evil Company Out to Take All Your Money". Words like "unfair" are usually used by folks who never take the time to read or understand their policies and what they are actually paying for.
If CT_Wiebe stuck a toe into OT, you've entered into it with a full body slam. His comment was almost tangential to his sensible warning about using the proper wiring.

I just pulled the trigger on the AE900. I chose the AE900 for several reasons, most notably the smooth screen technology. This will be my 6th LCD projector and I've always been bothered by SDE. Even when sitting as far away as 2-3x the distance, in my mind the SDE has always been there. It was not as obivious as going up close but it could be described as 'dirt'. I did own a DLP (Plus Piano) a couple of years ago but returned it after a week of seeing rainbows and I've been an LCD guy ever since. I haven't seen the AE900 in person but I am anticipating a brighter more dynamic image than I'm used to minus the 'dirty' screen effect.

Yes, indeed. Plenum cables have nothing to do with what goes through them and everything to do with what they do in a fire. Plenum cables are special fire-rated animals that are specially made to have a low flame spread and to NOT give off toxic gases in a fire.

It all came back to me when reading these posts . . and now I need to find some to replace the standard extension cord I pulled into my wall to power my projector from the RGPC at my head-end . . .


This is a very important point for folks to understand; despite the protestations of our insurance salesman friend, adjustors will, in fact, deny coverage if out of code modifications have been made, even if they had nothing to do with the damage itself.

More on topic - I'm surprised more folks don't consider trim, mouldings, and other hiding techniques that don't require you to pierce any drywall and yet can bee very useful for running/hiding cable (and make it easier to get to again if there are problems/changes to be made. Crown mouldings/fake beams can be a very good way to get power/signal to your projector, and as long as they are on the inside of the firewall they don't expose you to the same sorts of risks. Just a thought.

On a unrelated note, my pj left VA on Friday, I went with the free shipping, what are the odds that UPS just sits on it until the promised date (Friday) With the "big river" guys the crap i buy usually makes it cross country in 2-3 days, even with super saver shipping - the fact that my pj hasn't been scanned since friday makes me think I won't have such luck here.

SteelyFan -- CAUTION -- If you mount the cables behind the wall, you have to buy Plenum rated cables or your fire insurance will be null & void. Ordinary cables are not rated for hidden mounting and Insurance companies take (unfair) advantage of this.
Only if your wall is a plenum. Usually standard CL-3 rated wires are correct for in-wall.

Need some help. Problem with the green color? Anyone else seeing problems with the color green in this projector? Greens appear awfull and I can't seem to correct it.

I just received the AE900 a few days ago. It is my first front projector thanks to you folks on the forums!
I think that I might have a slightly defective unit though and wanted to see if others have seen this issue. The color green is showing up in the wrong places. If I switch my source over to my Mitsubishi 65907 Diamond 65" or an older CRT 27" TV the color green issue goes away. In some cases the Mits and the crt will show yellow or brown and the AE900 shows green. Scenes where there is grass appears as though the grass is florescent green. The 27" and the 65" ALWAYS agree on the color though. Slight differences but nothing like the AE900.
This issue is VERY pronounced with my Hughes HDVR10-250 high def satellite receiver. It is a bit better with my Panasonic RP91 but still way off for the greens.

What's weird is that you would think that a messed up color decoder would show up everywhere but it does not. Skin tones are fantastic with this projector. They are even better than my Mits Diamond 65"!!!! The only time faces have color problems is when a light source, usually florescent, in the show is incorrectly shown as green. Light sources are particularly problematic.

I am using a 106" Panaview Greywolf grey screen and the projector is mounted around mid screen about 19' from the screen.
I did a quick Avia check on the video portion and like most others it appears that only minor corrections were needed.
I don't get it? How can the color decoder be fine but I am seeing what I would describe as a pronounced green push?

this has gotten a little OT, but I thought I would make one final post on cables that I thought might be useful:

http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/audioprinciples/interconnects/inwallspeakercables.php

Mike, you might want to try a few of the settings on the AE900 tweak thread to see if the problem is resolved. You could always go back to the original settings if they don't work.

Only if your wall is a plenum. Usually standard CL-3 rated wires are correct for in-wall.
I believe this varies by state and locality. There is a National Code, but some municipalities place even more stringent requirements on buildings. And when it comes right down to it, any vertical space can exhibit a chimney effect during a fire.

Just pulled the trigger on a Panny 900. I wanted to come out from under my rock to thank everyone and the amazing amount of information that has been provided to help me make my decision.

I will provide my feedback once I get set up and productive with the system. I hope my experience is just as happy as the majority of the folks that have taken the panny plunge.

Happy holidays.

Dennis

Hey all, I too owe a big thanx to this forum, I certainly would never have known what unit to buy without it. I got the ae900 and have to say I cannot conceive a better picture personally (DVD source Progressive scan was awesome), as most I was wow'ed. Now I would like to say the wow factor was great but I really tried to understand all the stuff I had read about pic quality and man, you guys are very very very picky to say the least. The blacks on this (star wars - Sith) were outstanding, looked as good as my 32" tube TV ( I will say my sony DVD player offers a setting to enhance black levels which is set to on). I will only say to another laymen such as myself, don't hesitate, go get it, you will not regrete your decision. I'm looking forward to re-watching many movies I had only seen on my tube. Ya baby!

Having spent lots of time on this thread I decided to finally fulfill my dream of building dedicated HT and go with AE900 PJ.

I am very familiar with HDTV and related technologies but completely new to PJs. This bring a big dilemma for me where to buy this PJ -- online seems an obvious choice, but then again being a newbie I want to have an option to be able to return / exchange PJ if something goes wrong and not being charged confiscatory fee for doing that. Can somebody recommend respectable online dealer that will treat their customers right. What kind of exchange / return policies should I be looking for when buying a PJ.

I am not sure if this is the right place to ask this type of question or if its even permitted to post vendor type of information on this thread. If it is so I apologize and would appreciate if somebody can point me in the right direction (thread, url, faq).

TIA, Davie.

Who might have the best prices for a AE900?

Prices are not to be quoted on the forum. I would check with the AVS supporters.

I thought it would be ok to give some web sites to check out. Sorry.

Any recommendations for getting rid of VB. I have some in my unit, I didn't seem to notice at first, but I notice it a lot now. I tried the flicker tweak, blue had a lot of flicker and I tuned that out. But that almost seemed to make the VB worse, does perhaps blue need some flicker? I couldn't see where panel adjust made any difference, so I just left it the same. Is there any tweaking recommendations, or should I just exchange this unit? Is this a problem a lot of you are noticing? Thanks.

I thought it would be ok to give some web sites to check out. Sorry.
I think it *is* OK to post resources. Go to http://www.projectorcentral.com and you will find reviews and a search engine. Or use http://www.pricegrabber.com. This forum has some sponsors that sell projectors, and then there's always the owners and hosts, http://www.avscience.com.

I thought it would be ok to give some web sites to check out. Sorry.

What is not allowed are price discussions other than MSRP or recommending specific dealers. But as the other member pointed out, resource links are allowed.

Ron

Does anyone know if a ceiling mount from ebay for less than 50 is good enough for an ae900? I'll be dropping it 1ft from the ceiling, and once configured, never touching it again. Thanks :)

In my research I ran across a dealer selling the Panasonic PT-AE900E... I was a bit confused as to what this was as all references I have seen have been for a model 900U.

I called Panasonic and the tech support folks say this is a "european" spec 900. They claim it is the same as the unit sold in the US except for the power supply, which the tech says they "probably" changed. Now it is hard to imagine anyone selling a projector in the US with a European spec power supply....?

But I wondered if anyone here had any information or experience with these units??

I did a search of this thread, but there was no mention that I could find about any model 900E projectors.

Thanks ...........

I did find a thread listed sort of asking this very question... although they did not have much in the way of answers........... either!

I purchased my AE900 projector from VisualApex and have had it for a week now. The free shipping option was via UPS Ground service and it took a week to arrive. My experience with this company was fine and I would do business with them again.

Oh yea, forgot to mention cables. It takes a bunch of very long cables to hook up your gear to the projector. I used forum advertiser, Monoprice, and was very pleased with the service.

I am running into a strange problem with my new 900 (7 hours). I am displaying just the Windows desktop, but the brightness level changes every few seconds, sort of like the bulb is "flickering". For example, it would get a bit dimmer and stay that way for 10 seconds, then it would brighten up to where it was and stay for a few seconds. The interval appears to be random.

The effect is definitely noticeable, probably even if I am not looking for it.

This happens even after I disabled the dynamic iris. I have also done the flicker adjustment. Has anyone else run into this?

Need some help. Problem with the green color? Anyone else seeing problems with the color green in this projector? Greens appear awfull and I can't seem to correct it.

I just received the AE900 a few days ago. It is my first front projector thanks to you folks on the forums!
I think that I might have a slightly defective unit though and wanted to see if others have seen this issue. The color green is showing up in the wrong places. If I switch my source over to my Mitsubishi 65907 Diamond 65" or an older CRT 27" TV the color green issue goes away. In some cases the Mits and the crt will show yellow or brown and the AE900 shows green. Scenes where there is grass appears as though the grass is florescent green. The 27" and the 65" ALWAYS agree on the color though. Slight differences but nothing like the AE900.
This issue is VERY pronounced with my Hughes HDVR10-250 high def satellite receiver. It is a bit better with my Panasonic RP91 but still way off for the greens.

What's weird is that you would think that a messed up color decoder would show up everywhere but it does not. Skin tones are fantastic with this projector. They are even better than my Mits Diamond 65"!!!! The only time faces have color problems is when a light source, usually florescent, in the show is incorrectly shown as green. Light sources are particularly problematic.

I am using a 106" Panaview Greywolf grey screen and the projector is mounted around mid screen about 19' from the screen.
I did a quick Avia check on the video portion and like most others it appears that only minor corrections were needed.
I don't get it? How can the color decoder be fine but I am seeing what I would describe as a pronounced green push?


Mike, I noticed this as well but have not had a chance to tweak it yet. Every color is fine except green which shows a bit strong. I'm projecting on a silverscreen painted wall and the picture looks amazing. I was able to adjust the green down a bit with contrast and tint but it needs a little more work, it's not to bad but noticable if you're looking for it. Like I said, I haven't adjusted it with VE yet so that may correct it I hope. I looked on the tweak thread and did not find anything on this. Let me know if you find a solution and I'll do the same.

I think I'm going to give up on the 900. At least I bought it at a place I can return it. I just can't get rid of the VB, I've tried all the tweaks mentioned in the 700 thread. Unless anyone has a suggestion, I find it really bothersome. I've heard that they fixed the VB problem in the Sanyo Z4, has anyone tried that PJ and have an opinion?

I think I'm going to give up on the 900. At least I bought it at a place I can return it. I just can't get rid of the VB, I've tried all the tweaks mentioned in the 700 thread. Unless anyone has a suggestion, I find it really bothersome. I've heard that they fixed the VB problem in the Sanyo Z4, has anyone tried that PJ and have an opinion?
No one else seems to be having the problem as bad as you. Perhaps it's just the unit that you have now. Have you considered exchanging it for another?

I'm thinking about it, but I'm afraid I will just get another like it. Perhaps I'm just sensitive to the effect. Has anyone got a unit that has 0 VB?

I'm thinking about it, but I'm afraid I will just get another like it. Perhaps I'm just sensitive to the effect. Has anyone got a unit that has 0 VB?
You'll never know if you don't try. And two bad ones in a row would probably give you more confidence in your decision to switch to another projector.

With my AE900 on the way I want to get my mount ready for when it arrives. I'm using a DIY mount and I will be modifying the mounting plate I used for my TW100. Does anyone know the screw size for the AE900?

Thanks.

Has anyone got a unit that has 0 VB?

I've never seen any on mine and I've tried every test.

Regarding greens, they are a bit oversaturated with the AE900, but they shouldn't look fluorescent. Try the settings in the Tweaks thread.

Does anyone know the screw size for the AE900?

Thanks.

4 mm

I am running into a strange problem with my new 900 (7 hours). I am displaying just the Windows desktop, but the brightness level changes every few seconds, sort of like the bulb is "flickering". For example, it would get a bit dimmer and stay that way for 10 seconds, then it would brighten up to where it was and stay for a few seconds. The interval appears to be random.

The effect is definitely noticeable, probably even if I am not looking for it.

This happens even after I disabled the dynamic iris. I have also done the flicker adjustment. Has anyone else run into this?

As a follow-up to this, when I turn on the projector without the PC, the blue screen looks solid, no "flickering". When I turn on the PC everything also looks fine, but as soon as I change the resolution (for example, from 1024x768 to 1280x720), this "flickering" starts.

So I suspect this is a PC synchronizing issue. I'll have to do some more testing tonight to find out what the cause is.

I'm thinking about it, but I'm afraid I will just get another like it. Perhaps I'm just sensitive to the effect. Has anyone got a unit that has 0 VB?

I got mine last week and have not seen any VB at all. The picture is awesome.

As a follow-up to this, when I turn on the projector without the PC, the blue screen looks solid, no "flickering". When I turn on the PC everything also looks fine, but as soon as I change the resolution (for example, from 1024x768 to 1280x720), this "flickering" starts.

So I suspect this is a PC synchronizing issue. I'll have to do some more testing tonight to find out what the cause is.
Are you using Powerstrip? You may need to create a custom resolution.

Does anyone know if a ceiling mount from ebay for less than 50 is good enough for an ae900? I'll be dropping it 1ft from the ceiling, and once configured, never touching it again. Thanks :)


Hi All,

I'm looking at this mount for my ae900u : http://www.av-products.com/Dual%20length%20projector%20mount.htm What have you all used for your mounts? Is it worth buying an expensive mount? Thanks!

I have the AE900 on a shelf on the rear wall, but before that I built the DIY mount shown here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=551998). The 900 is not a heavy projector and any commercial mount that fits will works fine.

I am running into a strange problem with my new 900 (7 hours). I am displaying just the Windows desktop, but the brightness level changes every few seconds, sort of like the bulb is "flickering". For example, it would get a bit dimmer and stay that way for 10 seconds, then it would brighten up to where it was and stay for a few seconds. The interval appears to be random.

The effect is definitely noticeable, probably even if I am not looking for it.

This happens even after I disabled the dynamic iris. I have also done the flicker adjustment. Has anyone else run into this?

A brightness flicker which fits this description is a (not un)common problem on the AE700. It is usually solved by running the lamp at high power for between 10 minutes and an hour or so. It does re-occur though.

If it's only a synch problem your lucky.

Dave

4 mm


Thanks!

A brightness flicker which fits this description is a (not un)common problem on the AE700.
Does that apply to the AE900?

As a follow-up to this, when I turn on the projector without the PC, the blue screen looks solid, no "flickering". When I turn on the PC everything also looks fine, but as soon as I change the resolution (for example, from 1024x768 to 1280x720), this "flickering" starts.

So I suspect this is a PC synchronizing issue. I'll have to do some more testing tonight to find out what the cause is.

Are you using VGA? If so be sure AUTO is selected in the POSITION menu. As an aside, is it absolutely necessary to change rez? Games perhaps? A fixed pixel device performs best when it is being driven by its native rez and you've achieved a 1:1 mapping of your pixels. Otherwise you will see blurring artifacts.

As to your brightness flickering - if it is not a bulb issue - you might try turning OFF the AUTO IRIS when doing PC desktop stuff.

ted

I've never seen any on mine and I've tried every test.

Regarding greens, they are a bit oversaturated with the AE900, but they shouldn't look fluorescent. Try the settings in the Tweaks thread.

Well maybe I should try another one in that case, I just thought I might be sensitive, and they all did this. Does VB usually go away after the unit ages? Also, I've tried to find exactly how to use the flicker and panel setting, but I couldn't find any details on what these do. Obviously the flicker is adjusted until it doesn't flicker, but what exactly does the panel adjustment do? I was able to make the VB slightly better messing with this, but not much. What does this do exactly?

Does that apply to the AE900?

This would be lamp issue - most bulbs telegraph their coming demise or at least their senility in this manner. The 700 got this rep, as many of us had premature failure of our lamps with early PJ's but it is not a PJ issue per se.

ted

Regarding mounts, I too just put it on a DIY shelf. (2 metal tracks, two brackets, and a 23x11.75" shelf) The manual states ~8 pounds, but it feels like < 4 to me.

Brian

Thanks furious. I'll give that a try today and post my results.

UPDATE: Not sure whether to thank you or curse you for that suggestion. :) On a solid white background, I was able to detect what appears to be one single dead/degraded pixel on the green LCD. It's completely invisible on black, blue, and red fields, but can be detected on white, green, and yellow fields, as well as lighter grays. Interestingly enough, it isn't simply a black square and doesn't look like a dead pixel as I've seen them on laptop screens. It's shape is much less defined and it does retain some subtle color. I'm assuming this is a result of smooth screen. Either that or it's not a dead pixel at all. Perhaps a spec of dust on the green LCD?

--
Bryce

I'm revisiting a post I made a while back on this thread. After recently taking a closer look at the images that several of the "well-used" LCD projectors at work throw, I've decided that what I observed on my AE900 above is probably not a dead pixel at all. It seems more likely to be a very small (1 to 2 pixels wide) dust blob on the green LCD. It's appearance is consistent (though much less obvious) with what I see on the projectors at work which probably haven't had their filters cleaned in quite some time. Although one wouldn't typically think of a dust blob in a positive light, I consider it to be significantly better than a dead pixel. A dead-pixel is a defect, whereas a dust blob is not. Warranty aside, I could potentially clean off a dust-blob on my own (not that I intend to try)...but I couldn't replace an LCD panel. :)

The good news is that after 76 hours on the bulb, I've never once seen the thing while I was actually watching a movie. Other than when I throw up a test pattern and explicitly look for it, it does seem to stay completely invisible. Just for good measure, I have also added a HEPA filter to my A/V room where the projector resides directly behind the Theater room. Hopefully this , combined with regular filter cleaning, will minimize the possibility of any additional dust problems in the future.

--
Bryce

Does the AE900 accept component input at the VGA (15pin) input? My current component cable is a 3 composite connector into a single 15 pin connection at the projector side. If I need to run a new cable I'd rather know now instead of when I fire this baby up when I receive it. :)

Does the AE900 accept component input at the VGA (15pin) input? My current component cable is a 3 composite connector into a single 15 pin connection at the projector side. If I need to run a new cable I'd rather know now instead of when I fire this baby up when I receive it. :)

I dont believe that it does. It does have 2 component inputs (seperate from the VGA input).

Could you just buy a breakout cable?

Rich

Mancubus, if you have a little patience I'll let you know. I have a component to DB15 adapter around here somewhere. Give me abit to find it and I'll try it out and let you know.

Mancubus, if you have a little patience I'll let you know. I have a component to DB15 adapter around here somewhere. Give me abit to find it and I'll try it out and let you know.


Thanks, I can wait. My PJ doesn't get here until Thursday. If you could try it before then and let me know that would be great! If not I guess I'll have to see for myself. :)

I dont believe that it does. It does have 2 component inputs (seperate from the VGA input).

Could you just buy a breakout cable?

Rich


Good point about the other 2 inputs. :( Well, I already have an S-video connection running to the PJ so if the DB15 fails to work at least I have the Svideo to fall back on until I can find a long good quality component cable. I could go the breakout cable route but I would rather avoid another connection between my DVD and my PJ.

Cable found :) Now I just need that stupid male to male component connector.......it's here somewhere....

Well, on the plus side you'll get a picture......but the colors are whacked. I believe the it is stricktly a PC VGA jack and the component to hd15 adapter is using the tv color spectrum (or whatever its called) I'm not sure if there is a way to switch the vga jack to use component colors or switch your component out to use a computers vga colors.

Well, on the plus side you'll get a picture......but the colors are whacked. I believe the it is stricktly a PC VGA jack and the component to hd15 adapter is using the tv color spectrum (or whatever its called) I'm not sure if there is a way to switch the vga jack to use component colors or switch your component out to use a computers vga colors.
Yes, indeed. I'm pretty sure that projectors - displays - are expecting a computer signal on their D-Sub 15 - commonly referred to as VGA - inputs. Physically adapting a component cable to a D-Sub 15 connector doesn't address the difference in signal. Some electronics are needed to make it work, as in "component-to-VGA converter" not adapter.

Okay folks, after lurking here reading all the posts in this and several other threads describing projectors in this price range I took the plunge. We've been building a new house and I have an 18x24 room on the second floor that's pretty much dedicated to a theater experience, although we wanted it to be multi-purpose as much as possible. After looking at all the options, I settled on the Panasonic because of both the quality and the mounting flexibility.

Ordered the projector, had it delivered the day before we moved in. Put it aside while we moved in (I haven't been married 25 years without developing priorities) but busted it out last night (third night in the new house). Set it up quickly on a temporary table, attached a non-upscaling DVD player (one of the kids' cheap Symphonic brand), threw together an old 5.1 H-K set that came with a Gateway Destination 6-7 years ago (wires all over the floor!) and stuck in a DVD I picked up in China a few months ago. Pointed the PJ at a khaki colored textured wall with no screen. In other words . . . about the worst possible "out of the box" test I could put together.

It was AMAZING! Picture quality at 120" diagonal was fantastic. Even my wife was impressed. If things are this good with such a poor setup, I can barely wait to get an upscaling DVD and use HDMI with a new sound system.

Thanks for all the info that helped with this purchase decision.

Well, on the plus side you'll get a picture......but the colors are whacked. I believe the it is stricktly a PC VGA jack and the component to hd15 adapter is using the tv color spectrum (or whatever its called) I'm not sure if there is a way to switch the vga jack to use component colors or switch your component out to use a computers vga colors.


RCN_Moose,
thanks for taking the time to test this for me. It is truly appreciated. I'm going to go out tomorrow and see if I can find breakout cable and an adaptor. If I'm not successful at least I have the Svideo to fall back on in the meantime.

Well, on the plus side you'll get a picture......but the colors are whacked. I believe the it is stricktly a PC VGA jack and the component to hd15 adapter is using the tv color spectrum (or whatever its called) I'm not sure if there is a way to switch the vga jack to use component colors or switch your component out to use a computers vga colors.

Ouch, I have a VGA cable run that I am currently using with my BenQ. My Panny will be arriving in two days, and I did not buy a HD15 to component breakout cable. My BenQ PB6100 only has a HD15 input for VGA or Component use. The projector central review stated that the VGA in could be used for HD...

"The connection panel has a PC input (15-pin VGA) for PC, HDTV, and analog RGB video, and two component video inputs (3-RCA) for HDTV and component video. It has an S-video and composite video input, both of which should be used only for VCRs, video game boxes, laser disc players, and any sources for which component outputs are not available."

Do you think this is a setting issue, or projector central just got it wrong?

Ouch, I have a VGA cable run that I am currently using with my BenQ. My Panny will be arriving in two days, and I did not buy a HD15 to component breakout cable. My BenQ PB6100 only has a HD15 input for VGA or Component use. The projector central review stated that the VGA in could be used for HD...

"The connection panel has a PC input (15-pin VGA) for PC, HDTV, and analog RGB video, and two component video inputs (3-RCA) for HDTV and component video. It has an S-video and composite video input, both of which should be used only for VCRs, video game boxes, laser disc players, and any sources for which component outputs are not available."

Do you think this is a setting issue, or projector central just got it wrong?

Never mind, I see where I misread it. It says the VGA input could be used for HDTV, but it never says for component in. I take it that analog RGB and component are different?

I take it that analog RGB and component are different?

BINGO!

You can still go the breakout cable route....

Rich

Hi !
As recommended I tried the Flicker Tweak yesterday.
Unfortunately I was only able to do the Flicker Adjustment vor BLUE, because the Screens for RED and GREEN simply stayed black !!! I was able to change hte settings for RED and GREEN but without any effect to the black screen.

Does anybody know what went wrong ????

Thanx,
prickelpit

I think I may have found the cause for my "candle flicker" problem.

I connect my computer to the AE900 using VGA. I get this brightness flicker, where the image would slightly dim and about 30 seconds later it would brighten, kind of like the way a candle flickers. This happens regardless of whether the iris is on or off.

At first I thought it was the dreaded bulb problem, but it may not be (fingers crossed). If I turn off the PC and just project the blank blue screen, there is no flicker, so I suspected it had something to do with the PC.

So I moved the PC into the room where the projector is, and replaced the 35' VGA cable with a 6' one, and the problem appears to have gone away. There were other variables that changed by moving the PC, but this looks promising.

I am surprised by this, because the AE700 worked fine with the long cable, as did another AE900. My next step is to look for a VGA booster or amplifier ... can anyone recommend what I should look for?

Hi !
As recommended I tried the Flicker Tweak yesterday.
Unfortunately I was only able to do the Flicker Adjustment vor BLUE, because the Screens for RED and GREEN simply stayed black !!! I was able to change hte settings for RED and GREEN but without any effect to the black screen.

Does anybody know what went wrong ????

Thanx,
prickelpit

I believe you have to feed a signal to the projector before you can flicker adjust red and green.

I am surprised by this, because the AE700 worked fine with the long cable, as did another AE900.

The cable might have broken the last time you disconnected it. Test it with a normal PC monitor before spending money on an amplifier.

Liam

Never mind, I see where I misread it. It says the VGA input could be used for HDTV, but it never says for component in. I take it that analog RGB and component are different?

Yes. There are actually 5 signals with analog RGB and only 3 with component.

I've never seen any on mine and I've tried every test.

Regarding greens, they are a bit oversaturated with the AE900, but they shouldn't look fluorescent. Try the settings in the Tweaks thread.

After going through my VE calibration I was able to get the picture pretty close to perfect, greens are great now. One problem now is getting the red right, it looks great on the test patterns but on DVD (using the same connection) it looks more magenta. I've tried to adjust it out but to no avail. I'll post this on the treak forum but have not found a combo that works yet.

Has anyone else noticed very small bubbles embedded in the front lens of the 900? It is only visible with light passing through the lens. They have no effect on the picture quality as far as I can tell but I would like to know if it is normal.

Has anyone else noticed very small bubbles embedded in the front lens of the 900? It is only visible with light passing through the lens. They have no effect on the picture quality as far as I can tell but I would like to know if it is normal.
This is not abnormal and I'm assuming that you'd see it on other projectors as well. I have seen these even with decent camera lenses and they do not impact the performance.
I suspect that the costs associated with producing a perfect lens would be prohibitive.

well...just pulled the trigger on the Panny projector - got it and an 1 year extended warrenty + free S&H for $2000 before the rebates!

Of course it will be nearly a month before i can really use it since we don't take posession of the house til mid Jan, and i still have to build a screen! - been an avid reader of the DIY screen section for a couple of weeks now.

Thanks to everyone for their advice and posts
~Mike

well...just pulled the trigger on the Panny projector - got it and an 1 year extended warrenty + free S&H for $2000 before the rebates!

Of course it will be nearly a month before i can really use it since we don't take posession of the house til mid Jan, and i still have to build a screen! - been an avid reader of the DIY screen section for a couple of weeks now.

Thanks to everyone for their advice and posts
~Mike


I must say that I don't envy your postion :). My projector will be here tomorrow and I can hardly wait to use it. I can't imagine having it in my hands and having to wait weeks before getting to use it!

Anyone having success running the 900 in normal (low) fan mode at higher elevations (4500' and up)?

Does anyone know if a ceiling mount from ebay for less than 50 is good enough for an ae900? I'll be dropping it 1ft from the ceiling, and once configured, never touching it again. Thanks :)

That's what I got, and it's working fine for me!

I just got my AE900 mounted on my back wall corner with a throw distance of 11ft. for a nice 110 in. display, last night. The reason I mounted it in the corner was because of the corner shelf that I purchased for it. The projector is off center with the screen by only 64 in. but I am seeing a very noticable height difference from the left to right side of the screen.

My thoughts were that I would have no problem adjusting this with the options available with the projector. However, I am having a hard time finding (if it even exists) how to compensate for my corner placement of the projector, making my screen rectangular again:-)

I've thought that I need to center it on the back wall, but already have holes in the wall for running the cables, and don't want to deal with that again.

Any suggestions or solutions are greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

I've had my 900 for 5 days now. I doubt I'll ever turn on the 36" Sony tube monster again! I'll just keep it around in case of bulb failure :) This is my first projector and it's simply AWESOME. Even regular TV is pretty good. If anyone is getting ready to buy you should absolutely order an Oppo DVD player at the same time (The Panny dealer I ordered from - ProjectorPeople - Carries them) ... HDMI / DVI DVD movies ... WoW !

Bucca- I think your are SOL. The maximum horizontal shift for the 900 is 25%. In your case a 96" Wide screen (110 diag) would give you a maximum shift of 24". Your 64" is WAY over the limit, which would force you to turn the projector towards the screen and result in horizontal keystoning, which the panny can not correct for.

Anyone having success running the 900 in normal (low) fan mode at higher elevations (4500' and up)?
It'll certainly run in low-fan mode, and the few times I tried this, it didn't overheat or malfunction in any way (no high-temp warnings from the LEDs, etc). You may be fine so long as you have good circulation in the room to dissipate the hot air being output by the projector. That said, the users manual does recommend using high fan mode for higher elevations, and we certainly qualify there. I now run my AE900 exclusively in high-fan mode. If nothing else, I figure I'll get more life out of the bulb this way. Even in high-fan mode, I find that the AE900 is very quiet. Then again, one of the key reasons I went with the AE900 was for the 2x zoom which allows me to mount it outside of the viewing room (in the A/V room directly behind the Theater). This all but eliminates the fan noise, so perhaps I'm not the best qualified to comment on how quiet it is when it's actually in the same room you are. :) For what it's worth, sometimes when I'm back in the A/V room and I power it up, I have to peek into the Theater Room to verify there's a picture on the wall just to be sure it actually started.

Hope this helps.

--
Bryce

Bucca,
Please see the attached pic (from the manual) for the complete range of AE900 lens shift.

Does anyone have the discreet codes for the Panasonic projectors? I can't find them on RemoteCentral.

I have been reading for a while on the Z4 and AE900 and finally pulled the trigger on the Panny (upgrading from the Infocus Screenplay 4800)

Chose the AE900 because I watch from about 6-12 ft away and want to try to avoid the screen door effect which is so prevalent in my current 4800.

I also have the Oppo DV971H.

I am planning to place it on a small table about 16 ft away.

I am currently using a black-out cloth nailed to the wall.

I will probably go with the following setup -

-HDTV cable box connected to a Pioneer 1014tx and then to the PJ through component cable 75ft.

-Oppo DV971H connected directly to the PJ through a DVI to HDMI cable and sound through optical cable 75 ft to the Pionner.

-HTPC connected through a 75 ft VGA cable off the Radeon 9800Pro.

The main issues I am concerned about are the loss of quality from using long cables, particularly the 75 VGA cable as I have heard others with signal problems.

Also, I am pondering whether to buy an Optoma Graywolf.

Am I correct in assuming that it will benefit those with white walls such as mine to reduce reflection and also for better contrast and color? I am also using wooden blinds which do not shut out 25% of the light, (may buy curtains eventually).

I watch mostly anime, sports TV, and dramas(DVDs and TV rips) and therefore I am not as concerned about the black levels but rather the vibrance and contrast and richness of the colors. To me, the Infocus 4800 frustrated me because it was VERY lacking in those departments and forced me to upgrade since the colors appeared to be VERY dull.

My main reference in terms of colors, sharpness and contrast is a Dell Ultrasharp 2001FP.

How should an optimized AE900U compare to this monitor?

I should be receiving my projector by Monday.

I will be posting updates on my setup and opinions while I take into account any feedback that others have to offer.

Does anyone have the discreet codes for the Panasonic projectors? I can't find them on RemoteCentral.

If you're looking for On/Off discretes, there are none.

If you're looking for On/Off discretes, there are none.

The only way to do discretes is via serial.

Rich

It'll certainly run in low-fan mode, and the few times I tried this, it didn't overheat or malfunction in any way (no high-temp warnings from the LEDs, etc). You may be fine so long as you have good circulation in the room to dissipate the hot air being output by the projector. That said, the users manual does recommend using high fan mode for higher elevations, and we certainly qualify there. I now run my AE900 exclusively in high-fan mode. If nothing else, I figure I'll get more life out of the bulb this way. Even in high-fan mode, I find that the AE900 is very quiet. Then again, one of the key reasons I went with the AE900 was for the 2x zoom which allows me to mount it outside of the viewing room (in the A/V room directly behind the Theater). This all but eliminates the fan noise, so perhaps I'm not the best qualified to comment on how quiet it is when it's actually in the same room you are. :) For what it's worth, sometimes when I'm back in the A/V room and I power it up, I have to peek into the Theater Room to verify there's a picture on the wall just to be sure it actually started.

Hope this helps.

--
Bryce


Thanks Bryce.

How long have you run in normal fan mode? Long enough for the average movie (~2 hours)? I ask because in my setup, the projector will be about 3' above the seating area, and anything other than normal fan mode will be fairly distracting. I ran a PT-L300U for 2.5 years on normal fan without a hitch. I called and asked Panasonic back then, and they said that as long as a room was relatively cool and had good circulation, the projector would be fine in normal mode up to about 6500'.

I don't mind sacrificing a few hundred lamp hours for a lower noise level. I only run about 250 hours a year as it is.

I just spoke with tech support at the vendor after returning my AE900 for VB evaluation. While the tech support fellow was personable and courteous, his conclustion was that the amount of vertical banding I have is perfectly normal.

As it is, I notice the banding a couple of times during a flick. On animation movies, I often notice it quite a bit (say opening of Ice Age). I supsect that as I watch more movies, I will notice it a bit less. But, nonetheless, I am not thrilled with the situation. One wonders how Projector Central managed to get three units with no VB if what I have is normal?

I am going to sleep on it overnight, and consider possibly eating the $410 restocking fee and getting an HS51 instead. While the Sony will have more visible SD, it is very very unlikely to have VB issues. On the other hand, given my net cost after the $200 rebate and the Blockbuster card (which I value at $100 as I am not a gamer), I could hang on to it for a while and see if I can live with the VB. If not, I could then sell it for under $1,400 and still come out ahead relative to the restocking fee. I think that is probably the mature thing to do. :rolleyes:

Caveat emptor, if I knew that the amount of VB I have is normal, I would have bought the HS51 in the first place.

P.S. I have done the tweaks. And BTW, when I spoke with the tech suport fellow, he mentioned that the flicker tweak does not affect VB on the AE900 - the panel adjust does. This jives with my experience trying to tweak out the VB. He also mentioned that the VB on the AE900 manifests itself differently than on the AE700. He said that on the AE900 VB consists of much narrower stripes than on the AE700.

I am not totally bent out of shape and I am not trying to dis the AE900 (the image is otherwise spectacular).

Pricklepit, yes, you do need to be feeding the projector while adjusting the flicker on the other two panels. I use the all white, 100 IRE, full screen test pattern from one of the calibration DVD's.

Could it be possible for those who are upgrading to a 900 if you could take a picture of what "screen door" or VB looks like on your previous unit?

This is my first PJ and when up close I see screen door but from a viewing distance, none.

Here is a shot of my 900 with what I see as screen door effect really close up of the menu.

Steve.

Can someone please tell me what this vb issue is? I have watched several movies with my new pj and do not notice anything botherng me. I want to look for this issue with my pj but do not understand what I'm looking for. The picture has been more than I ever expected really and have looked hard to see flaws. I have only viewed DVD's so far, no HD. I want to know in case there are some reasons for me to return this befor it's too late to do so.

I just got my AE900 mounted on my back wall corner with a throw distance of 11ft. for a nice 110 in. display, last night. The reason I mounted it in the corner was because of the corner shelf that I purchased for it. The projector is off center with the screen by only 64 in. but I am seeing a very noticable height difference from the left to right side of the screen.

My thoughts were that I would have no problem adjusting this with the options available with the projector. However, I am having a hard time finding (if it even exists) how to compensate for my corner placement of the projector, making my screen rectangular again:-)

I've thought that I need to center it on the back wall, but already have holes in the wall for running the cables, and don't want to deal with that again.

Any suggestions or solutions are greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.


A PJ should ALWAYS be mounted as close to the center as possible. You can fix a little change to the left or the right with the adjustable lens shift, but it should only be a few inches or so. You really need to find a way to mount it very close to the center of the back wall if you want a correct image. Just get some adapters to extend your cables, if using component just get some cheap couplers at Circuit City and they work just fine.

Can someone please tell me what this vb issue is? I have watched several movies with my new pj and do not notice anything botherng me. I want to look for this issue with my pj but do not understand what I'm looking for. The picture has been more than I ever expected really and have looked hard to see flaws. I have only viewed DVD's so far, no HD. I want to know in case there are some reasons for me to return this befor it's too late to do so.

You can find this out easily in a search, but if you can't see anything don't worry about it. Mine has a lot, I'm exchanging it for another and I'm really hoping I get a good one this time.

[Originally Posted by MikeSRC
If you're looking for On/Off discretes, there are none.]

Bummer,

So much for automating the Theater...

Bummer,

So much for automating the Theater...

Well, you can still automate everything without discretes or a direct serial connection, but you need the right universal remote to do so. ;)

Can someone please tell me what this vb issue is? I have watched several movies with my new pj and do not notice anything botherng me. I want to look for this issue with my pj but do not understand what I'm looking for. The picture has been more than I ever expected really and have looked hard to see flaws. I have only viewed DVD's so far, no HD. I want to know in case there are some reasons for me to return this befor it's too late to do so.

Why do you want to know if nothing is bothering you?. Some levels of VB may be normal so if you don't see it, why do you really want to look for it? Trust me, if it's not obvious it's not a problem with your projector and you shouldn't worry because once you know what you're looking for you'll end up obsessing over it like many of us here!

Enjoy your VB free projector! :)

Well, you can still automate everything without discretes or a direct serial connection, but you need the right universal remote to do so. ;)

If you're really serious about automating the theater, don't give up so easily. Since you are reading AVSForums, there's a chance you might have a HTPC...if you do, then its as simple as running a length of CAT5 cabling (or a serial cable) from your PC to your projector. I pulled cat5e along side my component/HDMI cabling. Then it's a relatively simple matter of:

a) terminating the cat5 cable with the appropriate connectors directly. This is what I did and I can share my exact details (another user did this as well)

b) terminating the cat5e cable with RJ45 connectors (or simply running an already terminated cable) and using RJ45-> DB9 adapters (1 for each end) then buying the serial adapter from Panasonic (about $30).

Then, check out Girder (or any other automation software) that can address a serial port and send commands. From there, you're golden. If you choose girder, I have both a serial port spec and group I can export to give you a headstart.

In my theater, when I press "Watch TV", it turns on the PJ, powers up the receiver and sets it to TV, sets the PJ to component 1, dims the overhead lights, and turns on the soffit lights. Etc for DVD, HTPC, PS2

Its pretty easy once you get going....I use a Pronto (old one) for control, and girder to control the PJ.

Anywho....

Rich

BINGO!

You can still go the breakout cable route....

Rich

Since my projector should arrive tomorrow and my screen on Friday, I went ahead and ordered a breakout cable and VGA gender changer from two different companies last night, not knowing if they would ship today. LOL, both companies shipped today. I ordered one 2nd day air and one Overnight, so if all goes well I will have everything in my hands for this weekend.

Since my projector should arrive tomorrow and my screen on Friday, I went ahead and ordered a breakout cable and VGA gender changer from two different companies last night, not knowing if they would ship today. LOL, both companies shipped today. I ordered one 2nd day air and one Overnight, so if all goes well I will have everything in my hands for this weekend.

Cool!

You'll have to let us know how the breakout cable route goes...I'll bet that there are a fair number of users who currently have pj's with component via HD15 that are interested in upgrading but don't have component cables run.

Cheers,

Rich

Breakout cable.......... explain please

i've now got about 30 hrs on my AE900 and have used the flicker tweak to get the VB down to almost unoticeable levels. :)

However last night I started seeing the "candle flicker" mentioned in a previous post. i.e differing degrees of brightness every few seconds - even with auto iris off and an entirely uniform blue screen. Previous posts suggest its a cable/source issue so I disconnected all cables but still had the issue - therefore I was assuming the problem sits with the pj. Lamp mode was on low so I switched to normal and the flicker went away ! We watched a film for a few hours and had no flicker. At then end of the film I switched back to Low lamp mode and no flicker ! Does this indicate a bulb/pj problem to anyone and should I be talking to my supplier re replacment ?

Thanks

About the lamp flicker, don't worry about it, seems all new bulbs seem to do that after a few hours of watching.

My Infocus LP340 did it (flickering first 5 mins, then settling down), my HT1000 had it between 50 and 100h.

Probably something that with settle down in time.

Thanks , thats a weight off my mind !!

Not all new bulbs flicker. None of the three or four bulbs in my Sony 10HT ever exhibited any sign of flicker - not when new or middle-aged or on their last legs, and not when the PJ was powered up or warmed up.

I also have some flicker, though it is not noticeable while watching movies. I do notice it if I freeze a very bright frame, put up a white field, or am reading the NY Times (black type on a white background). It is most noticeable when the PJ is first powered on and dimishes significantly after 15 or 20 minutes.

In my case, I do not think it is bulb flicker, but rather the interaction of the panel flicker on the red green and blue LCD panels. I did the flicker tweak after the projector warmed up for a half hour. Subsequently, I went back into the service flicker adjustment when the PJ was cold - sure enough, there was lots of flicker on each of the panels until the machine warmed up.

I find the flicker more noticeable with the bulb on high. I can easily live with the amount of flicker I have, though I am not thrilled by its presence.

Now you might actually have bulb flicker. I spoke about flikcer with a friend of mine who has between 15K and 20K cumulative hours of viewing time on at least a dozen and a half different LCD projectors. His take on it is that the tendency towards having bulb flicker problems varies between PJ models and that some manufaturers tend to do a better job of controlling bulb flicker than others. His experience is that bulb flicker is generally worst between 500 and 1,000 hours on the bulb. It is also his experience that the flicker can vary depending on environmental conditions (hot vs cold, dry vs humid).

Anyway, if my brand new PJ exhibited enough flicker to interfere with viewing, I sure as heck wouldn't just hope that it goes away. Where I bought my PJ, during the first thirty days you can exchange defective units. If your vendor provides a similar service and you are still within the window, you might consider contacting them.

Good luck. Maybe someone more knowledgeable than those of us who have already proffered advice will have something to say. As you can see from the post below, having clean power and no interference on the cabling might play a role (even if you aren't using an HTPC).

I think I may have found the cause for my "candle flicker" problem.

I connect my computer to the AE900 using VGA. I get this brightness flicker, where the image would slightly dim and about 30 seconds later it would brighten, kind of like the way a candle flickers. This happens regardless of whether the iris is on or off.

At first I thought it was the dreaded bulb problem, but it may not be (fingers crossed). If I turn off the PC and just project the blank blue screen, there is no flicker, so I suspected it had something to do with the PC.

So I moved the PC into the room where the projector is, and replaced the 35' VGA cable with a 6' one, and the problem appears to have gone away. There were other variables that changed by moving the PC, but this looks promising.

I am surprised by this, because the AE700 worked fine with the long cable, as did another AE900. My next step is to look for a VGA booster or amplifier ... can anyone recommend what I should look for?

I think I have finally solved this mystery, and you won't believe what the cause is.

My projector & htpc are located in different rooms, connected using a 35' VGA cable, and I get the "candle flicker". When I moved the PC into the projector room and used a 6' cable, it goes away. So I naturally assumed the culprit is the cable.

However, the area around my htpc is a mess, so I cleaned up a bit tonight. I also turned off the second PC that is plugged into the same UPS, and I moved the UPS away from the htpc. Now the problem has disappeared, and I get a stable picture.

So it was probably some kind of interference from the tangle of cables or interference from the UPS. Hopefully this "candle flicker" is gone for good.

Not all new bulbs flicker. None of the three or four bulbs in my Sony 10HT ever exhibited any sign of flicker - not when new or middle-aged or on their last legs, and not when the PJ was powered up or warmed up.

I also have some flicker, though it is not noticeable while watching movies. I do notice it if I freeze a very bright frame, put up a white field, or am reading the NY Times (black type on a white background). It is most noticeable when the PJ is first powered on and dimishes significantly after 15 or 20 minutes.

In my case, I do not think it is bulb flicker, but rather the interaction of the panel flicker on the red green and blue LCD panels. I did the flicker tweak after the projector warmed up for a half hour. Subsequently, I went back into the service flicker adjustment when the PJ was cold - sure enough, there was lots of flicker on each of the panels until the machine warmed up.

I find the flicker more noticeable with the bulb on high. I can easily live with the amount of flicker I have, though I am not thrilled by its presence.

Now you might actually have bulb flicker. I spoke about flikcer with a friend of mine who has between 15K and 20K cumulative hours of viewing time on at least a dozen and a half different LCD projectors. His take on it is that the tendency towards having bulb flicker problems varies between PJ models and that some manufaturers tend to do a better job of controlling bulb flicker than others. His experience is that bulb flicker is generally worst between 500 and 1,000 hours on the bulb. It is also his experience that the flicker can vary depending on environmental conditions (hot vs cold, dry vs humid).

Anyway, if my brand new PJ exhibited enough flicker to interfere with viewing, I sure as heck wouldn't just hope that it goes away. Where I bought my PJ, during the first thirty days you can exchange defective units. If your vendor provides a similar service and you are still within the window, you might consider contacting them.

Good luck. Maybe someone more knowledgeable than those of us who have already proffered advice will have something to say. As you can see from the post below, having clean power and no interference on the cabling might play a role (even if you aren't using an HTPC).

Thanks, well if it doesnt go away after a short while I'll call the supplier. I'm inlcined to think its a bulb issue as it went away after switching from Low to Normal bulb setting - this was immediate BTW . If it was panel flicker I'd assume swithcing bulb mode wont make a difference. You are right though, spending £1200 and having an issue that wont go away is unacceptable

I´ve got one question regarding screen-width:
I´m sitting 4,60 metres (181'') away from the screen with schreen-width (not diagonal !) of 3 metres (118'') in a fully light controlled room (I´m projecting on a white wall).

Well, at least I do stick to the recommendation of a 1,5xseating-distance, but you can imagine that often the DVD-picture is quite blurred (especially regarding faces/details in the background) with 3 metres width.
Is my screen-width really sooooo out of range/too large ?
I really love a BIG picture - and problem is that projecting an image of say 2 metres width on this big wall makes the picture look really small.

Can you tell me which is the largest width recommended for the Panny 900 with the seating distance mentioned above ???

Thank you,
prickelpit

My second, and most oftern used, row is at 1.3 screen width. My fisrt row is at .8 screen width. I occasionally sit there for a real in your face experience.

I've been lurking in here for a long time, the amount of info available is staggering. I'm a total newb when it comes to front projectors. My situtation concerns my theatre room (17' x 20') totally light controlled (new house, new dedicated room) walls all dark blue, ceiling & front wall black, carpet greyish blue. I have a Panasonic AE900 projector still in the box as I await the finishing touches on the room. I have opted (been swayed by dealer) to go for the DaLite Da Mat screen (119" diagonal). I even called DaLite and they confirmed what my dealer was saying. I used the projector calulator at projector central some months ago to calculate throw and brightness. I was fiddling around with it last night and any time I select the screen size above 110", it says I need more brightness!!??. This is driving me nuts. I plan on sitting at 13' (first row) I guess I can always mask down the screen size, but many people have reported that they are using large screens with said projector and that the picture is bright enough. Is my screen too big @ 119", not enough gain (1.0)?? Everbody says that the lumens quoted isn't a real world measurement. Did I screw up on the screen? Please help me deal with my neurosis...

Thanks.

If anyone is looking for feedback on a ceiling mount, I just installed the Chief RPA-225 for the PT-AE900U. Great mount, easy to install, only took about 20min to install and adjust total. I installed an extention pipe (18") and a few fittings to make it all work from Lowes which took about 1 hour to install the support board and flange inside a susspended ceiling. Very sturdy mount and it's descrete/small too. When I get everything done, I'll post pictures of the entire installation of my HT space. With 2K susspended from the ceiling, I personally wouldn't trust just anything to hold my projector.

Any questions let me know.

@pepar:
don´t you suffer from a blurred picture at that seating distance - or did you simply get used to it ???

Well, at least I do stick to the recommendation of a 1,5xseating-distance, but you can imagine that often the DVD-picture is quite blurred (especially regarding faces/details in the background) with 3 metres width.
Is my screen-width really sooooo out of range/too large ?
I really love a BIG picture - and problem is that projecting an image of say 2 metres width on this big wall makes the picture look really small.

Can you tell me which is the largest width recommended for the Panny 900 with the seating distance mentioned above ???

Thank you,
prickelpit

This is a source issue - DVD's are Standard Definition. Do you have HD channels (which you can't entirely trust to be true HD)? Does it not look different? If you've an HTPC you can download .WMV files from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/content_provider/film/ContentShowcase.aspx and note the difference. A good HTPC running a good codec and ffdshow will reveal the quality of good quality DVDs - there are some reference DVD transfers that you might compare to. If not I suggest looking into a good upscaling player such as the Oppo and drive the PJ with HDMI - borrow if you can.

However it's the sow's ear issue - DVD's are low def.

1.5 seating is a recommendation because of the limits of the tech - per THX its the back row of the theatre, As source improves I believe many with large screens willl move closer.

I sit 1.3 with 16:9 and about 1 with 2.35 on my AE 700.

pepar Though we had earlier differences of opinion - not only is your fridge the right temp, but your seating ratio looks good too. ;)

Now if only I could convince you of the joys of Constant Height with an anamorphic.

ted

I just spoke with tech support at the vendor after returning my AE900 for VB evaluation. While the tech support fellow was personable and courteous, his conclustion was that the amount of vertical banding I have is perfectly normal.

As it is, I notice the banding a couple of times during a flick. On animation movies, I often notice it quite a bit (say opening of Ice Age). I supsect that as I watch more movies, I will notice it a bit less. But, nonetheless, I am not thrilled with the situation. One wonders how Projector Central managed to get three units with no VB if what I have is normal?

I am going to sleep on it overnight, and consider possibly eating the $410 restocking fee and getting an HS51 instead. While the Sony will have more visible SD, it is very very unlikely to have VB issues. On the other hand, given my net cost after the $200 rebate and the Blockbuster card (which I value at $100 as I am not a gamer), I could hang on to it for a while and see if I can live with the VB. If not, I could then sell it for under $1,400 and still come out ahead relative to the restocking fee. I think that is probably the mature thing to do. :rolleyes:

Caveat emptor, if I knew that the amount of VB I have is normal, I would have bought the HS51 in the first place.

P.S. I have done the tweaks. And BTW, when I spoke with the tech suport fellow, he mentioned that the flicker tweak does not affect VB on the AE900 - the panel adjust does. This jives with my experience trying to tweak out the VB. He also mentioned that the VB on the AE900 manifests itself differently than on the AE700. He said that on the AE900 VB consists of much narrower stripes than on the AE700.

I am not totally bent out of shape and I am not trying to dis the AE900 (the image is otherwise spectacular).

Pricklepit, yes, you do need to be feeding the projector while adjusting the flicker on the other two panels. I use the all white, 100 IRE, full screen test pattern from one of the calibration DVD's.
Have you tried "hard powering off" your 900 after viewing??? This worked for many of us 700 owners. A few weeks back (after a year) I tried leaving the projector in "standby." VB was back. Big time. I forgot how irritating it can be. So I'm back to "hard powering off" Try it. Give it a few days to settle in.

@pepar:
don´t you suffer from a blurred picture at that seating distance - or did you simply get used to it ???
Disclosure first; I have a Sony HS20 with an IMX Image Processor (lens) to eliminate moire on my microperfed screen. It eliminates moire by eliminating screen door. But from what I've read, the AE900 has no, or very little, screen door. I'm following this thread as the AE900 is on my short list for a replacement projector.

No, at the 1.3 x screen width - 92" - the picture is AWESOME, especially with hi-def sources. At .8 x screenwidth, it's BIG and causes a lot of head-turning to take it all in, but it's in no way "blurred."

Just thought I’d pass this on… Last night I received my 2-meter HDMI cable from Bettercables. I connected it to my new S97 DVD player and the picture was absolutely stunning, much better than with the HDMI cable supplied by Panasonic. The combination of the S97 and AE900 is terrific—even better than with my Oppo that I’ve just replaced. I see little to no macroblocking on the worst of DVD’s, such as Batman Begins. I have a 100-inch Da-lite HCCV screen and the picture just pops out at you. The colors are vibrant, and the image is sharp and clear when watching DVD movies. I calibrated the player and projector with a combination of Avia and some suggestions from some of the members here, and can’t believe the results. I never thought cables can make a huge difference, but I must wholeheartedly recommend the HDMI cable from Bettercables.

Thanks Bryce.

How long have you run in normal fan mode? Long enough for the average movie (~2 hours)? I ask because in my setup, the projector will be about 3' above the seating area, and anything other than normal fan mode will be fairly distracting. I ran a PT-L300U for 2.5 years on normal fan without a hitch. I called and asked Panasonic back then, and they said that as long as a room was relatively cool and had good circulation, the projector would be fine in normal mode up to about 6500'.

I don't mind sacrificing a few hundred lamp hours for a lower noise level. I only run about 250 hours a year as it is.

I watched perhaps 1 or 2 movies before I got everything setup and switched to running in high fan mode full time, so I didn't have a lot of run-time in this mode by any means...but no issues during that time.

Thanks.

--
Bryce

pepar Though we had earlier differences of opinion - not only is your fridge the right temp, but your seating ratio looks good too. ;)
Did I mention that Toronto is one of my favorite cities and that we always stay at the Harbourfront Admiral and dine at North 44, Far Niente and Avalon? :)

I'm using a Denon 1920 DVD player in widesceen mode, when it's outputting on HDMI at 720, I see a fine green line at the top of the image from the AE900. When I output 480 from the DVD the green line is not there.

Unfortunately I only have the one DVD source right now. Any ideas about what this artifact is and if it's an issue with my DVD player or the projector.
Thanks,
Joe :confused:

Does anyone know a place in Atlanta where I could see the Panasonic 900? Please email me privately.

Thanks,

Arthur

I'm using a Denon 1920 DVD player in widesceen mode, when it's outputting on HDMI at 720, I see a fine green line at the top of the image from the AE900. When I output 480 from the DVD the green line is not there.

Unfortunately I only have the one DVD source right now. Any ideas about what this artifact is and if it's an issue with my DVD player or the projector.
Thanks,
Joe :confused:

I have two "black" lines about a half inch from the top and bottom of 2.35:1 aspect movies... they are not there at any other aspect ratio. I phoned a Panasonic service dealer here in Canada, and they said "bring it in".

I don't mind sacrificing a few hundred lamp hours for a lower noise level. I only run about 250 hours a year as it is.

I find with my previous 3 projectors that after a few months, not only does the lamp get slightly dimmer, but the the colors from the LCD panels start to look faded, perhaps due to the intense heat exposure.

Therefore, running the fan at a higher speed may preserve that "new" look longer. Maybe.

I'm using a Denon 1920 DVD player in widesceen mode, when it's outputting on HDMI at 720, I see a fine green line at the top of the image from the AE900. When I output 480 from the DVD the green line is not there.

Unfortunately I only have the one DVD source right now. Any ideas about what this artifact is and if it's an issue with my DVD player or the projector.
Thanks,
Joe :confused:
I have the EXACT problem with the Denon DVD 3910. It's an aftifact created by the combination of scalers according to Denon's tech rep. He said to set the player to 480P and let the projector scale up. Sucks don't it?

Elio

Hi:

I'm thinking of buying an AE900 (hate myself for it, as I know, it's going to be half the price next year, kicking myself, for not being able to settle on last year's technology, and saving a bundle (e.g. getting an x1 for about $400 vs. the $2k for the panny, but the difference is just too inticing, anyway... ) I want to put the AE900 on the night table in the bedroom to project onto a screen. The night table is lined up to the bottom of the 110" screen. Doies this present a problem. I'm guessing that there is veritical shifting ability, but does this lessen the picture quality?

Question about fan modes and tweaks/calibrations.

Fan Modes:

Ok, my 900 should be arriving within the next hour or two. What's the low down on fan modes. My BenQ PB6100 was automatic. If things started to heat up, it kicked the fan up to a higher level. For instance, if we turned the heat on in the house and it started to get real warm (usually because my wife doesn't understand the concept that raising the temp 10 degrees will not have the house heat up faster than raising it a few degrees) then the fan kicked into high mode, but 98% of the time it runs in low mode. Does the Panny have a similar Auto mode?

Calibration/Tweaks:

I am planning to calibrate with Avia, but I am not sure what other calibration tweaks are being referred to in this thread. Are they all listed in the 900 tweak thread, or is there another source?

Also, what mode should I calibrate (Cinema 1, Natural, Normal)?

Thanks

Breakout cable.......... explain please

Ok, some projectors like my BenQ PB6100 use a VGA (HDDB15) connector to connect to a Component video out on a DVD player or other source.

So, in my case I ran a 25' shielded VGA cable and connected one end of it to the projector. On the other end, I used a breakout cable to attached to VGA cable that broke the signal into the three (RGB) connections needed for component video.

The breakout cables are sold by several companies, including some of the sponsors listed above. The price varies greatly based on where you buy it, and presumably quality.

The breakout is essentially a VGA connector (usually male, so sometimes a gender changer is necessary) on one end and then either three or five cables with RCA plugs on the other end. You only need three for component video, but on the ones that have five, you can just ignore the ones marked Horizontal and Vertical sync.

I don't think we are supposed to talk or recommend specific vendors on this forum, or I would provide a link to a page with a breakout cable so you could see what I am trying to explain.

My pannie arrived today. Hooked it up to my pc and was blown away. This is my first projector and i'm really pleased. No SDE or VB. Some slight converging, but you have to be with your face up against the screen to see it.

I'm using a thin MDF panel right now, but the surface is a bit too glossy and bright for my room, but the image is awesome allready, it'll only get better when i build it to scale and add the black border and calibrate it properly.

Tested various media. Xvid, which is obviously somewhat blurred, but still very watchable, i expected worse, I'm even surprised how well normal cable television looks. DVD looks great. HD blew me away, i ran a scene from monster's inc and various other clips and it's amazing.

All in all, i'm very pleased. :D

Ordered my 900 from V/A last thursday UPS ground, it hasn't been scanned since leaving Redmond on Friday, though the tracking still says on schedule for deliver on Dec 16 - can anyone who has ordered from VA assure me that this is normal for them and I should still expect to see it tomorrow despite no tracking waypoints? I cannot describe the disappointment I will feel if I get home tomorrow to no package, particularly knowing that means nothing til Monday.

Oh, and while I'm wasting everyones time, what is the screw size of the mounting holes on the bottom of the pj? (it's a long darn thread to search through)

JSM88, don't worry, UPS or Fedex does not scan the item again until it arrives at the destination. Check your tracking number tomorrow.

I appreciate the assurance, it's just that when I order from amazon it gets scanned 5-6 times during the process - I can pretty much watch the packages work their way across the country. I'm guessing it has something to do with the status of the shipper and the volume they send through the system (ie. maybe amazon can demand better tracking info so they can keep customers/inventory issues under control.) Still wouldn't buy something important like this from them.

Oh, and while I'm wasting everyones time, what is the screw size of the mounting holes on the bottom of the pj? (it's a long darn thread to search through)

4 mm.

Regarding shipping tracking, it all depends on where they ship from and where you live relative to thet. West cost to East Coast, especially Ground, will not show up until it gets to the distribution center near you. It's on the road the rest of the time and they don't track the truck's progress. ;)

For example, with stuff I've bought from Amazon, depending on the type of shipping and where it's coming from, I either get a lot of info or none.

and they don't track the truck's progress.

But I want real time satellite tracking of the truck!!!

Ok, I'll calm down. 4mm huh? I think that means I can reuse my X1 mounting screws, even better.

But I want real time satellite tracking of the truck!!!


They should do like some airlines do, where you see a little picture of a plane moving across a map of the country. :D

I justed hooked up my 900 and have a question. My BenQ had a source/input search mode. My DirecTV is hooked up S-Video and my DVD is hooked up component.

The 900 doesn't seem to auto search for inputs, and I am having to manually toggle between the sources. Is there an auto search like my PB6100 had?

Is there an auto search like my PB6100 had?

Under the "Option" menu, Auto Search should be "On".

Ordered my 900 from V/A last thursday UPS ground, it hasn't been scanned since leaving Redmond on Friday, though the tracking still says on schedule for deliver on Dec 16 - can anyone who has ordered from VA assure me that this is normal for them and I should still expect to see it tomorrow despite no tracking waypoints? I cannot describe the disappointment I will feel if I get home tomorrow to no package, particularly knowing that means nothing til Monday.
For UPS Ground from the west coast you will see an origin scan at pickup, a departure scan at the terminal, an arrival scan at the destination terminal (with a possible scan at an intermediary bulk break point before that) and an "out for delivery" scan. You should not expect delivery until you see the last two scans, though they can and usually do occur at the wee small hours of the morning.

I suggest you set your alarm clock to wake you up hourly starting at 3AM so you can hit F5 on the tracking page. :)

I have two "black" lines about a half inch from the top and bottom of 2.35:1 aspect movies... they are not there at any other aspect ratio. I phoned a Panasonic service dealer here in Canada, and they said "bring it in".

They're fairly light, right? I mean, you can see them from normal viewing distances, but they aren't real dark and sharp. If so, this is normal. This is overscan in the source. If you had a 2.35 ratio display device and screen, then you would not see it. However, the 900 is a 1.78:1 display device, so it will display the overscan in wider aspect sources.

I suggest you set your alarm clock to wake you up hourly starting at 3AM so you can hit F5 on the tracking page.

Everyone's a comedian :D

upgrading from my 5423 hour (one bulb) X1, got the v/a deal on the double warranty, plan on running my 900 for exactly 2 years and then upgrading to the best reasonable 1080p projector. Will probably put 5000 hours on the panasonic in those two years. I really can't wait to get this thing. Will be able to go from an 80 to 100 inch screen. Right now I'm watching Oceans 12 in HD (I find I will watch almost anything bearable if it's in HD - compared to any other source it truly is like having your own screening room.)

thank for the info, great response, you saved me lots of time trying to figure this one out

I've been lurking in here for a long time, the amount of info available is staggering. I'm a total newb when it comes to front projectors. My situtation concerns my theatre room (17' x 20') totally light controlled (new house, new dedicated room) walls all dark blue, ceiling & front wall black, carpet greyish blue. I have a Panasonic AE900 projector still in the box as I await the finishing touches on the room. I have opted (been swayed by dealer) to go for the DaLite Da Mat screen (119" diagonal). I even called DaLite and they confirmed what my dealer was saying. I used the projector calulator at projector central some months ago to calculate throw and brightness. I was fiddling around with it last night and any time I select the screen size above 110", it says I need more brightness!!??. This is driving me nuts. I plan on sitting at 13' (first row) I guess I can always mask down the screen size, but many people have reported that they are using large screens with said projector and that the picture is bright enough. Is my screen too big @ 119", not enough gain (1.0)?? Everbody says that the lumens quoted isn't a real world measurement. Did I screw up on the screen? Please help me deal with my neurosis...

Thanks.

Anyone.....

Does anyone know of a retailer or dealer in South Orange County that has the 900 set up?? Please respond or PM me if you know of one.

Thanks...