Panasonic PT-AE4000 MSRP $1999 - Page 76

i do believe he is a dealer down under in new zealand.
http://www.rapalloav.co.nz/products.php?cat=27

I sell projectors and I test all new models each year at home first before I find the most suitable one to match my setup and environment. Some projectors I see are great, but they don't do what "I" need them to do for "my" setup. There are heaps of great projectors available today, but I always say match the projector for your environment and requirements. Just because a projector gets a great review, it doesn't mean it will be great for your home.

Truer words have never been spoken!!

Projectors and Screens are "application" driven!

However, with your level of exposure we would all certainly like to read more your comparative experiences.

Only a very few folks get the opportunity to try out so many competing models in their own environment... so the rest of us have to read between the lines and try figure out exactly what is being said about the different projectors.

Maybe you could start your own comparison thread where we could pelt you with incessant questions!

So I just hooked up the panny last night and let me say wow! I've never had a projector before and it just kills my rear projection lcd and the flat panel doesn't stand a chance!

Side note: Running a onkyo txsr607, does anybody know the 5 digit code for the projector on my onkyo remote?

Picture looks very good through the cable on a DVI line. Just bought a oppo HDMI switcher and some adapters so I can hook up my ps3. Should be able to run blue ray by Wed. Cant wait to see the upgraded picture this unit throws out. Oh buy the way I am using a 106" Firehawk Stewart screen.

So, after the QA fiasco, I finally had a chance to go down to Visions yesterday here in Calgary and take a look. They had a 4000 set up in their VERY non-optimal viewing room... tons of ambient light, and 10 or so flat-panels all cranked up on the walls adding more. The pic looked ok, but a bit washed out as expected with all that light. Of course, they were only projecting onto a small screen... maybe 90".

After about 45 mins of talking/haggling with the guy, I managed to snag the last one they had in stock, and got them to match the QA price, including the extra bulb, so I was ok with that and pulled the trigger.

Was out at a Christmas party afterwards, so I didn't get a chance to unbox it until late last night. Got it centered and focused on my 120" da-lite high power, played a bit with the modes, FI, sharpness, etc, and watched a few minutes of Matrix on blu. Gotta say, for brightness on Color1, in eco-mode, it blows my old self-built 1080p away, and is very watchable, even with ambient light right near the screen. On normal lamp brightness and some of the other brighter modes, it is almost too bright at that screen size. I think I'm throwing from ~13-14' from the screen, with the projector sitting roughly centered on the sceen and behind my viewing position. So, first impressions, with no real time to calibrate... I'm a happy camper!

Wow! You must have done a lot of degotiating! Obviously there is quite a bit of room on the pricing! Now that just leaves the rest of us who lost out on the deal feeling bad.

Yep it pains me. I've been very slowly building a home theater for the last 20 years. Never have I been one device short of perfection, well perfection without winning lottery. I'm sure many of you can relate. I'm basically dieing to get my hands on one of these to complete my 20 year dream of a top of the line home theater. I'm a 10% discount from affording one and it is KILLING ME.

I've had only DLP up to now. So I'm lil nervous about that that, and the talk of blur has me nervous as well. But I seriously can't believe I'm 10% away from a very big dream. Almost gives me chills.

From my seat, blur is not a problem. My other projector is a Sharp XV-Z20000 DLP 1080p. The difference between the sharpness of the two is not an issue. I'd call it imperceptible at any normal viewing distance. I'm typing this post using the 4000 as a computer monitor. Since I do a lot of things on my HTPC, I end up using the 4000 as a display quite often. It's quite satisfying.

The Sharp cost me about $7500. Although there are advantages with the DLP, the 4000 does some things much better. If friends or family were to ask me now which is the better buy, I'd have no qualms recommending the Panasonic.

Hi Chris:

The last time I mentioned the possibility of a blue spot being a potential dust blob, I was out-voted (probably legimately) by two other members because the spot was centrally located, and was presumed to be a failing polarizer. Because your PJ is new, and spot is toward the edge, I'll pipe up again and suggest the possibility of a dust blob. Mine have been yellow and red. As I think about it, I'm not really sure if the way the colors are combined allows for a blue dust blob, but there's a foolproof way to check: If you can focus the spot, by substantially defocusing your image until the spot sharpens and intensifies, you will be able to recognize a dust/debris particle. I both of my recent cases (two different Pannys), this also required changing my zoom setting to allow enough focusing latitude to bring the offending particle into sharp relief. It's an odd, non-intuitive fact of dust blobs that, by virtue of the way colors are combined, a bit of debris is actually bright, rather than silhouetted, and is colored relative to its location among the internal surfaces where the light & colors are combined. As described, your light "spot", other than the color, sounds identical to my own dust blobs. It's quite easy to verify if you can focus on the particle.

Good luck & let us know. If it's a dust blob, there are some good tutorials on removal linked previously in this thread, but you've got a pretty legitimate gripe that your PJ is brand new, and you might just choose to exchange it if you can.

Congrats Chris!!!
I too was involved with QA and being in ONT, we have no Visions to visit (no deals over the phone,... I tried). I`m still searching though.
Looking forward to your extended impressions of the 4000.

Guess I'll be going to Visions tomorrow to see what I accomplish price wise. They've left a sour taste in my mouth since I went to get something with their "price guarantee" the salesman confirmed the price and stock then went to get it approved and came back with the manger who said it's too low so couldn't do it and walked away. When I asked for the details of there policy (as it said to see in store for details) the salesman told me that those are the details we beat what we want. Haven't gone back since, maybe I'll try a different location? I hate haggling which is why I loved the QA deal. Not sure who else in the GVR carries it besides visions.

I'm putting a lot of hours on my AE4000. Usually 5 hours once a day on workdays and twice on Saturday and often as much a 15 hours in one shot on other days off. I know that turning the projector on and off is universally accepted as lamp life shortening. However, a few places also mention that running one for long periods also shortens the life.

As long as it's properly ventilated are marathon sessions likely to reduce lamp life?

I ask because if this is an issue the best way for me to mitigate it is share the duties between two projectors. Using any other type of display is going to be difficult for me due to placement options, however I have plenty of room on the back wall for another projector.

Also will running the projector in high altitude mode help prolong the lamp life at lower altitudes?

I'm already running in eco-mode which I see recommended often and just wondered if switching on high altitude mode would help the lamp last longer even if at a lower altitude.

Spent all day yesterday with a fellow AVS'er trying to get this to work.

HDMI is such a pain in the ass!!!

GRRRRRR!

You're probably in a better situation than most, since on/off cycles are what really reduce bulb life, not long sessions. If you don't mind the noise, the better cooling of high altitude mode will prolong bulb life to some extent.

If your goal is to save money, I don't think a second projector will help.

If you keep filters clean and the projector is well ventilated, you'll be fine. But keep in mind bulb life is a statistical thing, there are many variables such as filament defects and internal contamination. Two bulbs from the same assembly line, used under the exact same conditions, can still have very different lifetimes. Often it's a matter of luck, no matter how careful you are.

Here's a thread on the subject:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=791129

I second that GRRRR, although the problem is not HDMI per se, but HDCP. Without copy protection, the worst that happens is you get the occasional sparkle from a mis-transmitted pixel. I have a computer monitor in my kitchen that uses a pair of cheap DVI/cat5 baluns over a long length of single cat5e. Has a great picture at 1920x1200, with the occasional pink pixel.

No way it can carry HDCP protected video, though. That's where SlySoft's AnyDVD comes to the rescue. It's sad that I have to buy illegal software (in the US, at least) to use perfectly legal hardware for perfectly legal purposes. I originally bought AnyDVD because it was the only way to view Blu-ray from my laptop on my old (but HDCP-ready) TV. The handshake simply wouldn't work reliably, even though all the equipment technically supported HDCP.

If the industry had simply used plain HDMI instead of adding Intel's HDCP nightmare on top, they would have made far more money from increased sales/reduced confusion than they ever gained by combating piracy. No pirate is deterred by HDCP, it merely inconveniences consumers.

If there's any bright side, HDCP forces people to use good cables for long runs, so the image is pristine. When it works.

The problem is I need at least 60 feet. I am hoping Celabs is just tell me my dipswitches are wrong. The instructions are pretty bad as there are Dips on the unit that are not even in the manual. For something so expensive I expected it to just work or at the very least have a decent manual.

Yeah, you'll probably need their help to set the switches properly. If you can't get it to work, there are plenty of other fish in the sea:

http://svconline.com/how/products/hd...rs/index4.html

I assume you have cat5e or cat6 cable, and the jacks were carefully terminated?

Yes, All done by an electrician and tested.

I finally got mine mounted (after some serious OT at work) and played a couple games and watched a Planet Earth disc to make sure the wife was immediately wow'ed. I'm thoroughly impressed out of the box and can't wait to do some tweaking. If your thinking of upgrading from the AE900 then don't hesitate, its a pretty huge leap up!

My goal is to replace my aging DLP HDTV which I'm using to surf the internet, check email, monitor CD rips and other mundane tasks prior to or in lieu of turning the PJ on for the day. I usually turn a display on/off twice a day and I wanted to maintain something other than the AE4000 to save it from this extra wear. This display will also be a backup in case the AE4000 goes down and needs work or replaced.

As I looked at displays to replace the HDTV I realized if I do get an average lamp life of 2000 hours (from the thread you linked I now understand it's much more variable than I expected from my experience with the HDTV) then essentially I would need to put about 2000 hours (possibly less since it would also save on/off cycles for the PJ lamp) on any other display I buy per each $400 it costs, just to break even on lamp replacement costs. Based on my usage pattern I'd be lucky to break even on anything costing even $800 in 3 years.

Presently I'm dragging the HDTV in and out of my room at least once a day since the only place it fits is in front of the center speaker. Since this display is also a backup to the AE4000 I wanted something I could comfortably watch for days or weeks should the need arise. I average about 70 hours a week with a display on with 2 on/off cycles each day. I've had my AE4000 for 5 weeks and have 255 hours on it which means about 50 of that 70 are going on the PJ. I don't care if I'm replacing lamps every 10 months or 2 or 3 times a year as long as I'm doing what I can to maximize the potential hours I get out of them. After all I bought this projector to use but also do want to use it wisely.

So in a nutshell I'm looking for a backup display to save on/off cycles, length of time on not being a factor (thanks for that), to have as a backup should the AE4000 go down and to be a more elegant solution than dragging an HDTV around.

I can easily add another shelf to the rails I presently have on the back wall. I don't mind replacing lamps as long as I'm using them wisely. I don't need the new display right away though my HDTV is showing signs of dieing. So I started to think a second PJ might be my best option especially if my HDTV can hold out until the next projector model year or maybe until/if some of this years other models drop in price. Am I just being crazy?

I tried high altitude mode and at first the fan noise was quite loud but then seemed to drop off and become nearly inaudible. Either way I can't see it being a problem when gaming or surfing the internet maybe for movies. I'll have to try it.

Thanks for the help
Dean

Well I norrowed down the problem to the Samsung BD player as the cable box HDMI works.

Apparently Samsung BD players are notorious for handshake issues. I am going to try my Panasonic one. Praying it works!

I'm interested in doing an accoustically transparent (AT) screen with the 4K.

I know in the past that there were some moire issues with AT screens and LCD projectors. Is this something to be concerned with on the 4K?

Thank you.

I'll look for that post on removing it if it's a dust blob. Didnt even think it could be that! I should get a chance to look at it in more detail this weekend. I'll let you know what i find.

Chris

How much are you guys using the "auto load" feature for changing aspect ratios? At first I was leaving mine in auto all the time but I have begun to worry about all the wear and tear this is placing on the servo's when watching HDTV or even just watching trailers or extra content on movies. The source material can change AR's every few mins when commercials are on....movie trailers too can sometimes switch back and forth on each one. It just seems like a bad idea to let it cycle back and forth so much on non-critical viewing such as that. I have now taken to just leaving it in manual and set to 16x9 mode when watching movie previews and then just loading the 2.35 AR when the feature starts. What are most of you doing?

When using the Chief RPAU ceiling mount with a drop down pole for the 4000 what kind of bracket should I use to mount the pole to the ceiling? Will a piece of heavy PVC pipe be adequate to hold the 4000 and mount?

Thank you.

No PVC will wobble - ask me how I know!! Use steel pipe and paint it black otherwise you will get sea sick just watching the news!!

I still have my 4000 on auto zoom. It can be annoying, it zooms in during Sears ads, for example. And watching The Story of India documentary on BD, it zoomed several times for some letterboxed video segments. Would have been seamless and desirable in that case, except for the stupid PROCESSING message in the center of the screen, of course.

But usually it doesn't zoom much, mainly because we watch very little TV, mostly just movies.

If there were discrete codes for each lens memory, so I could go directly to them with a single button press, then I would turn off auto zoom entirely. Would also be great if there was a discrete code to toggle auto zoom, so I could turn it off before a movie, but it's buried in the menus.

Right now I have a Harmony button programmed to go to the next lens memory (I have 1.78, 1.85, 2.2 and 2.35 set up). But since the 4000 is unresponsive during zoom, I then have to press a second button to close the Load menu once it finishes.

I bought an RS232 receiver off eBay, but haven't made time to get it working yet. Once I do, and can access lens memories with one press, I may turn off auto zoom. Of course that means my wife won't bother to zoom her chick flicks properly, but they're mostly in 1.85 anyway.

I don't know if the lens memory hardware was designed for constant use. Since the Panasonic engineers didn't see a problem with flashing a processing message, they may have assumed this wouldn't be a frequent operation.

I think that is a good question. One that may make the additional year of warranty perhaps even more valuable. Early on does there appear to be any drift?

I haven't noticed any drift. Focus seems to be quite sharp even after many zoom cycles.

I did find I had to save each of the lens memories a few times before I got zoom to return to exactly where I wanted it. But once set properly, it seems to return consistently.