AVS Forum banner

OWNERS Thread for the Panasonic PT-AE7000U 3D Projector

573K views 5K replies 534 participants last post by  tolikboev 
#1 ·
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.
 
See less See more
#1,056 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by zoey67 /forum/post/21114561


Although not really surprised that a 4 yr old Infocus outperformed a new Panny pj, I didn't think it would be with an X10. Imagine what a thrashing a better model like IN81/82/83 or sp 8602 would have done.

Exactly! I was shocked to say the least, especially when considering my X10 has 1800 hours on the bulb and a 2500:1 contrast ratio!
 
#1,058 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by streamerlover /forum/post/21114479


Well, after everyone was bitching about the joystick on this thing, I had readied myself for a battle...for NOTHING. mine was pretty smooth and I had the screen filled dialed in in no time! Whew! Now my ***** is with the dam power cord. I had a nice custome L shape iec connector on mine to route the wire straight up that I have used on my past three panny projectors. You think it fits in the 7000? ARGH,,,,,

Doing a quick comparison to the 4000 which was table mounted, the 7000 kicks its ass nicely in 2d mode. And this was with a quick and dirty calibration.

I'm upgrading from the 4000 too and I thought the picture quality on that was great, as well as everyone else that saw it. To hear that the 7k kicks its ass is good to hear but then I read comments about the Infocus X10 kicking the 7k's ass and I'm all confused. How good can a picture be?

I had a 720p DLP and tbh the 2D picture quality sucked compared to the 4000 (not to mention the rainbows!!). I guess it's all subjective opinion.........like everything in life!
 
#1,059 ·
Guys go easy on me. I am new to projector world and this os my first one. I am a comer from lcd. I know the projector won't have back light and less brightness but will have a magnificent size and picture.


I am just asking if I should replace the pro position. I will post pictures soon since I gave mine to a friend. I will post it today.
 
#1,061 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by inefekt /forum/post/21114680


I'm upgrading from the 4000 too and I thought the picture quality on that was great, as well as everyone else that saw it. To hear that the 7k kicks its ass is good to hear but then I read comments about the Infocus X10 kicking the 7k's ass and I'm all confused. How good can a picture be?

I had a 720p DLP and tbh the 2D picture quality sucked compared to the 4000 (not to mention the rainbows!!). I guess it's all subjective opinion.........like everything in life!

Trust me, the x10 may not kick ass on the 7k but you would not say that in any form if you've seen a 720p Infocus pj...esp the x10. Wait a minute here, the x10 was 1080p right?
 
#1,063 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by inefekt /forum/post/21114680


I'm upgrading from the 4000 too and I thought the picture quality on that was great, as well as everyone else that saw it. To hear that the 7k kicks its ass is good to hear but then I read comments about the Infocus X10 kicking the 7k's ass and I'm all confused. How good can a picture be?

I had a 720p DLP and tbh the 2D picture quality sucked compared to the 4000 (not to mention the rainbows!!). I guess it's all subjective opinion.........like everything in life!

Let me say again, the ae7000 throws an excellent 2D image and has awesome blacks, but as far as sharpness and detail, there just is no comparison. The X10 is RAZOR sharp and because if it, you see so much more detail in the image and things just POP! It's just something you would never appreciate until you've owned both I guess.


As far as the Acer goes, in 2D is sucks big fat donkey balls compared to both the Panny and X10. But for whatever reason in 3D it is very impressive and the image it produces is outstanding for a 720p projector. I have no ideal why but it just is!
That's why many owners are on the fence about which new projector to get. Well mainly due to the limited placement of DLP projectors, especially if you have an HP screen.
 
#1,066 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by plasmaowner /forum/post/21114810


Let me say again, the ae7000 throws an excellent 2D image and has awesome blacks, but as far as sharpness and detail, there just is no comparison. The X10 is RAZOR sharp and because if it, you see so much more detail in the image and things just POP! It's just something you would never appreciate until you've owned both I guess.


As far as the Acer goes, in 2D is sucks big fat donkey balls compared to both the Panny and X10. But for whatever reason in 3D it is very impressive and the image it produces is outstanding for a 720p projector. I have no ideal why but it just is!
That's why many owners are on the fence about which new projector to get. Well mainly due to the limited placement of DLP projectors, especially if you have an HP screen.

I saw rainbows everywhere with my Acer, even with 3D glasses on though not as much, and from reading reviews of the X10 it'd be no different. But you are right about the Acer in 3D mode, looks great for a $500 projector. One of the main reasons for my upgrade to the 7k is that I can plug blurays and gaming consoles into it to watch/play in 3D without having to buy a converter box.
 
#1,068 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by WizardOfZo /forum/post/21113541


My Panasonic glasses came in yesterday: TY-EW3D3M twin pack

This morning I did a brief test comparison on Avatar between this version and the older TY-EW3D10 glasses that came with my Panasonic Plasma TV.


In general the new glasses are lighter and much more comfortable. Being able to recharge them is good, but if charging multiple sets, I will need a multi-port USB hub. Also note that you cant use a standard USB cable, the connector looks more like the one used by my LG cell phone, it is thinner and wider than a normal USB jack.


When I paused Avatar and swapped back and forth between old and new, the new ones were definitely a bit brighter.

One thing that I need to look into further is the fact that while watching one segment, it looked like there may have been ghosting with the new glasses, but I did not see it with the old ones.

I could not get back to that scene to pause it for a more thorough comparison.


One other down side I noticed with the new glasses is that I get more reflections from behind, I have LED ceiling lighting in the theater and they do not turn completely off and unless I block the reflections around the ears, it is distracting.


I will try some more testing tomorrow

I found a brighter scene in Avatar where there was some obvious ghosting so I paused it and compared the new & old glasses and the ghosting and brightness was close to identical in both. The new pair may have been a little brighter, but not enough to say one pair was better than the other in the bright scene.


Only other thing to beware of is that Medium glasses will not fit on a 6 year old. I have not bothered to order the smalls, since I think I will use the old sets for the kids. I have them strapped to baseball style caps that are adjustable, making them more kid friendly and less likely they will grab the glasses by the lenses or by the arms and snap them.


I have 2 more pairs of mediums on order, placed 2 weeks ago. I hope Panasonic picks up the pace on the supply. The first order took a little over a month to get to me.
 
#1,069 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by plasmaowner /forum/post/21114566


Within the menu of the Panny I made my final adjustments to the position and focus of the image. A really nice feature I must add!

That's what I thought.


I would suggest you go back to the position menu and reset them all to 0. When you touch these settings the projector doesn't use the optics to change the position. Instead it changes what to display on each pixel so you are no longer projecting the picture 1:1 on the LCD matrix. This results in a less than optimal picture. The display will not be as sharp. This is not unique to LCD.


Use the lens shift, focus and zoom to adjust picture position. If the picture is not projecting level then physically move the projector until it is level. If you need keystone correction don't use the projectors keystone menu to fix it. This generally means your projector isn't level and projecting perpendicular to the screen. For example if your projector is mounted way to the left or right side, don't aim the projector at the center of the screen. Doing so will result in keystone issues. Instead use the lens shift to correct. If the lens shift isn't enough then you need to move the center line of the projector closer to the center line of the screen. The imaginary plane at the face of the lens should be parallel to your screen.


Another issue you may be seeing is convergence. All projectors with 3 panels tend to have some convergence issues. Getting the pixels from 3 different panels to line up exactly with each other is nearly impossible. If you have a single panel system like a DLP with a color wheel or a DLP with LED lamp, then the convergence is always perfect since all 3 colors hit the screen from the same panel. Convergence issues are particularly noticeable when you connect the projector to a PC and observe text with small fonts.


So reset the position settings to 0, adjust using the lens shift, focus, zoom, and physical position of the projector if necessary then let us know if it improved sharpness any.
 
#1,070 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paul M. Joseph /forum/post/21115193


Which is the The Panny 7k Out Of The Box setting?

Those are the default settings, before the owner adjusts the brightness/contrast/gamma/hue/color etc settings....i.e. no attempt at calibration...


I'm curious, other than the bulb being a little less bright, how/why does the projector image improve after 50 or 100 hrs of use as has been suggested?

kf
 
#1,071 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by plasmaowner /forum/post/21114241


I want to start off by saying that I am in no way an expert at any of this stuff. At best, I'm just your average audio/video enthusiast in search of the best projector for my setup and hard earned money. I just wanted to share my honest opinion of this projector from the perspective of a DLP owner who has been enjoying 3D for the past year. FWIW, this post is meant only to provide input to other DLP owners who are on the fence about this projector.




I currently own two DLP projectors, the Infocus X10 (3 years now), the Acer H5360 (1 year) and a 159 HP screen. I'm also using a HTPC with Nvidia 3D Vision/3DTV Play and TMT 5. I'm upgrading because I wanted a one projector solution and have been keeping up with this thread and Mits7800, among a few others. I was holding out for the Mits but decided to try out the Panny due to the raving reviews and it's much better placement flexibility.


Setup:

I didn't have too much trouble getting the Panny setup in my environment. The lens shift knob is indeed cumbersome but it only took me about 25 minutes. I was able to fill my screen with the lens about 15.7 feet away. I used the controls on the side and later in the menu for final touchups. I didn't have any trouble getting it to work with my HTPC either. Just had to run the setup wizard again in the Nvidia control panel and I was good to go.


First thing I noticed was how much softer everything looked on my HTPC compared to my X10. I knew this going in but wow I didn't think and/or expect it would be that big of a difference. The colors were also off, just not near as deep, faded even. I started thinking that maybe I was just remembering incorrectly so I plugged my X10 back in and WOW, the image is a 1000 times sharper with MUCH more detail. And colors have much more contrast, depth, pop and seem to literally jump off the screen compared to the AE7000 (I have 1800 hours on my X10 bulb). I connected the Panny back and made some adjustments in the menu, but no matter what I did I just couldn't duplicate the same image as the X10. Simply put, everything on my HTPC look MUCH better and sharper on my X10 (browser, windows, text, background wallpaper, games, well everything). Also the colors are much deeper, have more contrast and POP. Also worth mentioning is the mouse lag on the Panny. It's not too bad but definitely noticeable at 60Hz. There is absolutely NONE with my X10 at 60Hz or Acer at 120/60Hz.


A little bit discouraged, I moved on to some 3D. I started off with Avatar in 3D. I'm very familiar with it and it's my first choice to demo when I have guest. If I'm to judge by the out of the box settings of the Panny, the Acer wins hands down. The Panny OOTB settings are WAY to dark, even on my HP screen (project is shelf mounted). So my first impressions were underwhelming to say the least. So after about 30 minutes of tweaking the settings, I found that setting the picture to dynamic mode and glasses to light provided the brightest image, even rivaling the Acer (400 hours on the bulb). In this mode the 3D has tons contrast, colors are very punchy, and it's very sharp. The image is very clear and motion is good, especially with FI set to 2/3. Unfortunately there is a cost to the overall image quality when using these settings. Dynamic mode on the Panny = torch mode, and inherently has the same problems known to all displays using this setting: crushed blacks, over saturated colors, edge to edge sharpness distortion, etc. I personally have never like using dynamic mode on any display. It just doesn't look good to my eyes, even in 3D, and I would never want to be forced to use dynamic mode just to get a brighter image. Please keep in mind that I'm using the 2nd gen glasses. The 3rd gen are suppose to be 10% brighter I believe.


The most pleasant settings for 3D I found was normal mode, light, and frame interpolation set to 1. With these settings the image rivals the Acers in terms of clarity and sharpness do to the resolution bump. It's still just a tad too dark IMHO. Comparing the Acer in 3D, it is damn near as sharp as the Panny, just not as clear. The contrast also is a 1000 times better on the Panny and puts the black level on the Acer to shame in 3D. It also has very good detail. I tried Bolt, Despicable Me, Coraline, and Legend of the Guardians. They all looked fantastic. Overall, I think the Panny offers a good jump in 3D picture quality over the Acer and would be a decent upgrade for owners, but I honestly was expecting lot more. If anyone has seen the Acer in action, its 3d is much better then it's 2d performance. So to sum up 3D on the Panny, if I had never seen 3D on the Acer before and the Panny, and it was my first 3D projector I would probably be blown away, but that's just not the case.


Crosstalk: I honestly didn't notice any crosstalk on any of the titles I saw in normal mode with glasses set to light. I did see some when I was on dynamic mode, but most of the time it never was distracting.


Last but not least I viewed several 2D movies: Let The Right On In (original Swedish movie), Transformers 3, The Dark Knight, Hanna, 300 and a few episodes of the first season of True Blood (all on Bluray). I was a bit concerned with the 2D after my initial impressions of the image quality within the HTPC itself, I'm happy to report that in all of the titles I demo'd looked fantastic! The sharpness, contrast, depth, pop, everything was much better. I can't comment with regular DVDs since I don't own any. I found that I liked the 709 mode best and cinema 2 second best. With the HP screen all of the modes look good honestly. Normal mode is a tad too bright on my HP screen for Bluray, even when set to ECO mode. For cable TV or games I find it just fine. When comparing Bluray playback to my X10, it's a much closer fight. What I absolutely love able the Panny are the blacks and shadow detail. They are excellent and miles ahead when compared directly to my X10. The X10 suffers greatly when it comes to dark screens, especially when there is not much white on the screen. Its looks mudded compared to the Panny. Other than that both are very good with colors and contrast but sharpness and detail and overall punch there is just no comparison. Don't get me wrong the Panny has pretty good sharpness and detail but it just can no way no how compare to my X10. In this regard, the X10 is in a league of its own. It's just something you have to see I guess.


Before getting the Panny I never considered myself a fanboy to any tech (DLP, LCOS, LCD). How could I be really, I've never owned LCOS or LCD and I believe you can't really make judgment on anything unless you've tried it first hand ... right? Well now that I have, I'm can without a doubt announce that I'm officially a DLP FANBOY!!!


Needless to say, the Panny is back in the box and is going back to PP. Here some much needed pics this thread seems to not have!

Thanks for the honest review! Now you have me worried even more about my decision to try a LCOS over my Infocus SP8602. I also use an HTPC and like it SHARP and well defined.You've confirmed what has been lounged in the back of my mind since demoing the newer LCOS projectors. I may have made a Boo Boo! lol


I've considered suggesting/installing the AE7000 in a friend's new entertainment room. Being they're not familiar with the other techs, they'll probably love it!
 
#1,072 ·
Thinking of getting this and could use help with a few questions:


*Anyone know (or can measure) the power consumption of the projector in ECO mode?? The specs only provide one power consumption number (285W) and I presume it consumes different amounts of power in difft modes? And can the projector be used primarily in ECO mode in a room with all dark walls and no ambient light?


*Is this projector good (or at least OK) for standard definition TV (over FIOS) and for regular WII games? And is it dumb to get this if my wife will not watch any 3D at all (I and the kids might try and like 3D, but we'll probably use it primarily for 2D as a family - hopefully watching Blu-ray and HDTV, but this will be our family TV, so will be used for everything).


*If we usually watch from ~10 ft away, how much of a difference would there be between a 100" or 106" screen and which should we get? The reason we might prefer the 100" screen is because the area of the room the screen will be in is only 100" wide (and there will be in-wall speakers to the left and right of the screen) Though the room itself is 144" wide, there's a huge 37" wide beam coming down the left ceiling of the room, and a 7" beam on the right side of the room and the top of the screen may be in between those two beams. And we could imagine that the kids may sit in front of the couch when watching TV or playing games. However, the room is 17ft long in total, and we have a 4.5ft raised platform in back for additional seating... (and the projector will be on the ceiling in the back of the room, ~15.5ft away from the screen)


Thanks for any and all advice!
 
#1,073 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by wgf_bean /forum/post/21115504


...So reset the position settings to 0, adjust using the lens shift, focus, zoom, and physical position of the projector if necessary then let us know if it improved sharpness any.

I also wonder if plasmaowner gave the pj a good 30 minutes of warm up time before doing any critical focus adjustments as the user's manual suggests?
 
#1,075 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by mrlittlejeans /forum/post/21115892


The Infocus X10 was the same projector as the 80 or 81 I believe. When Infocus released a new model, they took their old stock and renamed it X10. It also uses the larger DMD than the 8602 so should have superior sharpness.

Not sure of that ..possibly..going by the owners that have had several Infocus models, the SP8602 isn't any less sharp than the others, with a cleaner and more dynamic image to boot. The SP8602 is sharper than any LCOS or LCD I've seen..so it is sharp enough. Making sharpness a non issue when looking for a weakness.


Here's a pic of a single alternating one pixel pattern with a cheapo camera. It is more defined in person.



It looks more like this in person. This is planar pic.



Try that on most LCD or LCOS projectors.
 
#1,076 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by dsm42 /forum/post/21115845


Thinking of getting this and could use help with a few questions:


*Anyone know (or can measure) the power consumption of the projector in ECO mode?? The specs only provide one power consumption number (285W) and I presume it consumes different amounts of power in difft modes? And can the projector be used primarily in ECO mode in a room with all dark walls and no ambient light?


I'm using eco mode on 106 inch screen 1.0 gain in a light controlled room with no trouble at all...Heck, even looks fine with the lights on (for football at least)..I don't think these projectors make much difference in our electric bills at least not the same way say central air conditioning use does!




*Is this projector good (or at least OK) for standard definition TV (over FIOS) and for regular WII games? And is it dumb to get this if my wife will not watch any 3D at all (I and the kids might try and like 3D, but we'll probably use it primarily for 2D as a family - hopefully watching Blu-ray and HDTV, but this will be our family TV, so will be used for everything).


Can't really say. I've been spoiled by only using the projectors with HD sources, and occasionally regular DVDs but with an excellent DVD player (OPPO) which is acceptable. Regular TV is too soft, but luckily all the regular channels I watch are also on HD channels (I also have fios)..So is it OK for SD TV? Not for me, but maybe for you...and what are you using to improve the signal (upconverting to 1080p in DVD player, or outboard processor,AVR?)

2D performance is excellent.


*If we usually watch from ~10 ft away, how much of a difference would there be between a 100" or 106" screen and which should we get? The reason we might prefer the 100" screen is because the area of the room the screen will be in is only 100" wide (and there will be in-wall speakers to the left and right of the screen) Though the room itself is 144" wide, there's a huge 37" wide beam coming down the left ceiling of the room, and a 7" beam on the right side of the room and the top of the screen may be in between those two beams. And we could imagine that the kids may sit in front of the couch when watching TV or playing games. However, the room is 17ft long in total, and we have a 4.5ft raised platform in back for additional seating... (and the projector will be on the ceiling in the back of the room, ~15.5ft away from the screen)


The 106 inch screen would be 6 inches bigger than the 100 inch screen. Ok, I couldn't resist. I can say that when I first installed my 92 inch screen, my wife said it was too big. She got used to it. Then I installed a 106 inch screen. She said it was too big. She's used to it. Now, I'm sad I can't get a bigger screen (my room doesn't have..the room...). I'm just saying you'll likely never think "I should've could've had a smaller screen", but you will think "Imagine how this would look even bigger!...just my .02...kf




Thanks for any and all advice!

.
 
#1,077 ·
Panasonic PT-AE7000U


I'm using the same Chief RPA mount and interface bracket from from my 4000. I added Chief's Lateral Shift Bracket, which allows me to center the offset lens without having to change the mount location.



The device with the reddish eye sitting to the left of the lens in the IndustroLogic IR232 IR-to-RS232 converter. AS you can see it has a very small footprint.



Planet Earth


How The West Was Won


Blade Runner



All screencaps were taken in Cinema1 Picture Mode, Eco Lamp. Screen is 1.4 gain Carada 125" 2.35:1. Throw is approximately 13.5 ft.
 
#1,078 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joesyah /forum/post/21115902


Not sure of that ..possibly..going by the owners that have had several Infocus models, the SP8602 isn't any less sharp than the others, with a cleaner and more dynamic image to boot. The SP8602 is sharper than any LCOS or LCD I've seen..so it is sharp enough. Making sharpness a non issue when looking for a weakness.




Try that on most LCD or LCOS projectors.

My issue with this is that I (and probably like many others here) never watch "a pic of a single alternating one pixel pattern". I prefer to spend my time watching movies! :)


Watched Green Lantern 3D last night streamed from an Iso rip on my hard drive via my Oppo 93. Picture quality was awesome and I actually even kinda enjoyed the movie. Never saw it in the theaters but the reviews were pretty bad. Next up, Captain America!
 
#1,079 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesN /forum/post/21116073

Panasonic PT-AE7000U


I'm using the same Chief RPA mount and interface bracket from from my 4000. I added Chief's Lateral Shift Bracket, which allows me to center the offset lens without having to change the mount location.



All screencaps were taken in Cinema1 Picture Mode, Eco Lamp. Screen is 1.4 gain Carada 125" 2.35:1. Throw is approximately 13.5 ft.

What????! Where's the "a pic of a single alternating one pixel pattern!!!"
 
#1,080 ·

Quote:
Originally Posted by streamerlover /forum/post/21116079


My issue with this is that I (and probably like many others here) never watch "a pic of a single alternating one pixel pattern". I prefer to spend my time watching movies! :)


Yeah me either! lol

I do use it to adjust the sharpness, so it will help you in the end, regardless of the pj you use.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top