Was told to start an OWNERS thread, so here it is. I've only put a few hours on it so far, but I'll cut and paste my first impressions from another thread:
Have had it on for about an hour now and I'm impressed!
3D is the best I have ever seen! There is absolutely NO CROSSTALK or GHOSTING visible. Even one of the best 3D titles I own (Despicable Me) had some ghosting visible on my other Panny plasmas (especially the title), not here. Of course poorly produced 3D will still look like crap, but the good ones will REALLY look great on this projector.
In my almost completely dark "man cave", I'm using the 'cinema 1' setting, eco lamp mode, and 'light' for the 3D glasses setting. I don't think that most people will find the 'normal' or 'dark' mode to be very pleasing, at least I don't.
Set up was relatively easy, especially if you've already owned a few Panasonics like I have (the 900 and 2000). I HATE the joystick lens shift adjustment, but it should only have to be set once, and as long as you don't change the positioning of the projector, you shouldn't need to touch it again. So far, everything else that's setup related has been a joy.
Those worried about the built in 3D emitter's range will be happy to hear that (at least with my setup: approx. 17' throw to a 120" Wilsonart Designer White screen) the 3D effect is not lost even when sitting 15' back from the screen. I have the built in emitter set to 'strong' and the lens shift cover off.
Of course these are only my very first impressions, so I'll have to really give it a workout later tonight. Will check out a lot more 3D (both Blu Ray and cable) as well as 2D.
BTW, mine was delivered by FED EXP (overnight service). It came from Memphis, TN.
This projector looks great. I will get my Ae7000 next saturday. I have here a AE4000 with 0 lamp hours use and i will make some pictures about this projectors side-by-side.
Lots of people place it mid throw because they think that would be be the maximum net gain for both totalled. Its easy and it must be right? Not really because light and on off are different things and one might have enough of one and not enough of the other. There is a sharp slope fall off in ANSI as you leave closest throw and a sharp slope fall off in on off as you leave longest throw. After a bit, the slope levels off and becomes a much more gentle curve almost leveling off to a straight line but still curved. Its a log function. In the middle you get more ANSI lumens than you would by mounting at long throw and more on off than you would be mounting at close throw. But, for example, you may need or want considerably more light and the increase in light by mounting at close throw may more than outweigh a modest gain in on off associated with mid throw mounting.
Anyone out there have some recomendations on how to setup the lens memory for 2.35:1 and 16:9, is there a how to guide? in the zoom focus menu, (blue screen w/green bars) should the green bars be on the edge of the screen? sorry if this makes no sense but just looking for some help setting up my first projector!
Just wondering about the Cinema mode everyone is using. If I remember correct that is not the "calibrated" mode for best color. I know on the 4000 it is Color 1 that is recomended, has this changed?
Quote:
Originally Posted by hellyeah /forum/post/21032272
Anyone out there have some recomendations on how to setup the lens memory for 2.35:1 and 16:9, is there a how to guide? in the zoom focus menu, (blue screen w/green bars) should the green bars be on the edge of the screen? sorry if this makes no sense but just looking for some help setting up my first projector!
I remember using instructions that someone posted in the AE3000 thread way back when. You might try looking and searching there but to put it simply, you want to set up your projector for 16:9 first. Get it centered, focused, zoomed properly for 16:9 material. Then from there, you can adjust the zoom, focus and v-shift for 2:35:1 and 2.40:1 or anything else you want to set up. I would just use broadcast TV or a 1.78:1 blu-ray for your initial setup and then put in scope movies to set up your other lens memories.
But like I said, more detailed setup instructions were posted in the AE3000 thread a few years ago and I remember following them at the time.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hellyeah /forum/post/21032272
Anyone out there have some recomendations on how to setup the lens memory for 2.35:1 and 16:9, is there a how to guide? in the zoom focus menu, (blue screen w/green bars) should the green bars be on the edge of the screen? sorry if this makes no sense but just looking for some help setting up my first projector!
With the AE3000 you could press enter (or whatever is in the center of the arrows on the remote) while in this mode and it would show the picture.
I never bothered using the lines, just always used the actual film.
I think the menu is roughly the same, with the AE3000 it was:
Set your 16:9 position centrally using the trickey joystick, once happy, lock it in place, then in the lens control settings, adjust focus, zoom until happy save it as whatever you want to call it in the lens memory save area.
When you want to reload it, it's in the lens memory load area (you can setup the function button on the remote to go straight there)
Then put a 2:35:1 source on, use your zoom to remove the black bars, you can then use the V/H-Area position from the menu in the same area (under lens control) to move the picture around, I used to have to set the horizontal a wee bit, but quite a lot on the vertical. When happy once again save it as ....
Along with the AE4000 auto options would then switch the 2 above settings automatically if turned on, but I'm still using the old tech
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mopar_Mudder /forum/post/21032582
Just wondering about the Cinema mode everyone is using. If I remember correct that is not the "calibrated" mode for best color. I know on the 4000 it is Color 1 that is recomended, has this changed?
Cinema1 looks great to me. It is based off the REC709 but I personally prefer it better than REC709 as it maintains saturation on a large screen. I'm using Cinema1 for 2D viewing and NORMAL mode for 3D viewing because of the brighter lumens output so the image doesn't look dark with the glasses.
The other modes that are included are DYNAMIC, REC709, CINEMA2, DCINEMA and GAME
Quote:
Originally Posted by AV Science Sales 4 /forum/post/21032246
Lots of people place it mid throw because they think that would be be the maximum net gain for both totalled. Its easy and it must be right? Not really because light and on off are different things and one might have enough of one and not enough of the other. There is a sharp slope fall off in ANSI as you leave closest throw and a sharp slope fall off in on off as you leave longest throw. After a bit, the slope levels off and becomes a much more gentle curve almost leveling off to a straight line but still curved. Its a log function. In the middle you get more ANSI lumens than you would by mounting at long throw and more on off than you would be mounting at close throw. But, for example, you may need or want considerably more light and the increase in light by mounting at close throw may more than outweigh a modest gain in on off associated with mid throw mounting.
I understand now. I think I might not have as much choice as I thought I did of where to mount the projector. It turns out that the minimum throw distance I can use is around 15-16 feet, so that might be the setup that I have to use since I plan on doing a lot of ambient light viewing and I think I need all the lumens I can get. Anyways, I really appreciate all your help. Thanks!
Quote:
Originally Posted by claymic /forum/post/21032039
Larryad
What screen are you using ? and the size ?
This projector looks great. I will get my Ae7000 next saturday. I have here a AE4000 with 0 lamp hours use and i will make some pictures about this projectors side-by-side.
I have a Da-lite 119" High Contrast Da Mat screen. It's a very light gray with only 0.8 gain. I'm using an adapted version of the Cinema 2 mode. I knocked the red brightness and gamma down a notch and the overall color about 3 notches. The lamp is in econo mode. For the most part with this screen I like this mode. It can however blow out some of the bright whites (then again that might just be the film). I really don't care for the Rec709 mode. While not bad, it just looks a little flat to me. The mode I'm using at least to my eye looks the most like what I see at the IMAX. I'll break out the calibration disk in the not too distant future. Right now I'm just getting aquainted with it. The unit does produce some beautiful, beautiful images.
I was worried about 3D on this screen but there are no issues. The emitter works fine with it and the image does not appear to be too dark even in dark scenes. I watched How to Train Your Dragon last night and there are many dark scenes. Everything was very discernable with detail and pop. I did notice my first instance of ghosting on this one. Very minor though. Overall this was a fun movie to watch at this size.
I wonder as well. Cinema1 is measured at 526 lumens by PC; by contrast, HW30 measured at 850 lumens in Cinema1. I saw the HW30 demo at Magnolia with the 92" BD, it looked like a giant plasma tv, very intoxicating. I hope the 7000AE can throw that kind of pictures. I need something that can light up a 125" 2.35 screen.
It may be my imagination, but compared to my CRT (ref std for shadow details), I can resolve more details in the dark sections.
I want CRT black detail levels, with crisp images (no blur/ghosting/distortion), and 3D darn it. *sigh* The wait for the perfect projector continues.
As to the poor guy who had a defective panel out of the box (the lt blue blotch)...Try running it a few hours. It is possible to have temporary burn in with LCD panels where pixels kind of get stuck. Running them a few hours fixes this.
I'm surprised Panny QA didn't catch this. Don't they fire up each projector and do an automated basic screen shot analysis? (red, green, blue, white) before shipping? The time, cost and complexity would be minimal. It's in their best intrest really.
It may be my imagination, but compared to my CRT (ref std for shadow details), I can resolve more details in the dark sections.
I want CRT black detail levels, with crisp images (no blur/ghosting/distortion), and 3D darn it. *sigh* The wait for the perfect projector continues.
QUOTE]
And you may be able to with this projector as well. I don't know. I make no claims as to my photos or adjustments being reference. If it's perfection you're after though, you might be in for a mighty long wait, and a whole lotta dollars more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DigitalGriffin /forum/post/21033205
As to the poor guy who had a defective panel out of the box (the lt blue blotch)...Try running it a few hours. It is possible to have temporary burn in with LCD panels where pixels kind of get stuck. Running them a few hours fixes this.
Now optimum set up. Every projector trades brightness vs on/off based on throw distance ratio. Place it closer, you get more ANSI lumens out but less on/off. Place it farther away and you gain on off and lose some ANSI lumens. The functions are a log function and putting things in the middle gives you probably close to the worst in any direction. From end to end, the fall off in either might be around 30% with most of the fall off occuring rapidly as one moves from an extreme. For maximum of either, one needs mounting close to an extreme. One has to chose their poison. What do you want? This will involve screen size and gain. What's the minimum of either you will accept? This is best discussed with a call as we can go into everything and you can make relevant choices, something you must do, not the advisor.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Larryad /forum/post/21033268
And you may be able to with this projector as well. I don't know. I make no claims as to my photos or adjustments being reference. If it's perfection you're after though, you might be in for a mighty long wait, and a whole lotta dollars more.
I know there's no such thing as "perfection". But black level crush/motion blur is one of the reasons I kept my CRT box. Panny solved the motion & 3D part. Looks like JVC solved the black level crush part. But neither has solved both problems.
It may be your camera that's crushing the black level details. I'm hoping it is as I really want this projector.
I'll see if I can get my Nikon D70 to show the differences in the shadow details. You can then compare my photos to your projector's using your eyes.
It could be my camera. I know the whites are being crushed a bit, so it's probably true that the blacks are as well. That may well be do to my settings. I'm still experimenting. I do know there is more shadow image than what I could show in my photo. But your statement about the two units may also be correct.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Larryad /forum/post/21033375
It could be my camera. The pictures do darken down a bit and also build an additional compression in them. I wouldn't go strictly by a photo. You can discern more detail when the picture is in motion rather than being paused. Problem is for a photo it just blurs. But your statement about the two units may also be correct.
I wouldn't read anything into an uncalibrated (right?) screenshot... Previous Panasonic projectors have excellent shadow detail and don't crush blacks..Panasonic of course has no way of knowing what size screen, throw distance, screen gain or ambient lighting the end user may have. After calibrating with WOW, S&M, AVIA or whatever one chooses to use for setting contrast/black levels etc etc, we should be able to get pretty close to a super fantastic pq. Those pictures will look much better than an uncalibrated projector screen shot uploaded and viewed on a low contrast, non-hd display that most of us are viewing on... (imho)...kf (mine arrives 10/5 to replace a panny 3000).
I have made no attempts yet to calibrate the image. I'm just playing yet and I did state that. However the images do look pretty good on a high def moniter. At least I think so. My camera, however, can't resolve every detail that the screen shows.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kmfellows /forum/post/21033500
Those pictures will look much better than an uncalibrated projector screen shot uploaded and viewed on a low contrast, non-hd display that most of us are viewing on... (imho)...kf (mine arrives 10/5 to replace a panny 3000).
I know it's not my display because I did a gamma & contrast crank on the lowest 25% to see if the details were preserved. This would eliminate any black crush due to my LCD monitor. There were 3 shades. Black, dark grey, medium grey. So it's likely the camera or the uncalibrated panny.
A simple +3 stop setting on the camera while using point spot light meter on a dark scene will determine if the detail is there or not. You'll get white crush on the camera ofcourse , but it will bring out the dark detail if it is present.
Will you all please provide info about which screen you are using?!? The screen obviously makes a hell of a difference to what image a projector is throwing,in fact it`s crucial no?
I`m an extremely happy owner of the 4000 with a Draper glass bead Luma 2,a set up which is tremendous for me as I need no wide viewing angle at all.But if I(when I!) upgrade to the 7000 I`m thinking I might get a new screen. As brilliant as the Draper is,I think this new 7000 would show it`s flaws....any suggestions? Apologies if this is wronly posted but I do stick by my suggestion of us listing which screen we are all using as nothing is more important to a projector outside the lighting set up of the viewing room,no? Thanks and congrats to Panasonic for their great line of projectors.
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