Panasonic PT-AE4000 MSRP $1999 - Page 103

Originally Posted by neverfaithful

Wow thats good news. I am waiting on my Carada BW 1.4 gain screen.

Originally Posted by capnkirk52

This PJ is really sweet man. Everything looks great, BR, Xbox, PS3, DirecTV. I can't believe they only charge 2000 for this thing. My room has flat black walls and super dark carpet so it works but you might need to run regular mode if this is in a white wall, white carpet, window'd (with no shades) room.

You will be surprised how bright it is.... What is your planned throw distance? Mine is at the max for 16.9 @ 19 feet. If yours is closer I wouldn't worry about it at all.

Originally Posted by neverfaithful

off topic question but rear surrounds high up or ear level???

Originally Posted by sboily135

Hi there,

I have been using my PT-AE4000 for about a month now (about 70 hours on the counter). Everything was great, except that a couple of days ago, I noticed a circular spot about 2 inches of diameter on my 92 inches screen. It is visible only when the screen is black (during PS3 game loading for example). The spot is just slightly less black than the background, and the spot is almost perfectly circular on about 75% of the circumference. I have cleaned my lense, but that did not make any difference. Furthermore, the spot is always there on any mode.

Does anybody have an idea what could be the problem? I guess I will have to send the unit back. Unfortunately, I am in Canada and bought the unit online in the US. I will have to send it back to the US, since Panasonic Canada does not cover US unit.

Thanks for any advice!

Originally Posted by m. zillch

Unless they mention being designed to rely on boundary reinforcement, such as some Allison and RDL designs, I vote ear height from a standing position but not touching the ceiling.

Originally Posted by neverfaithful

Yea man im hanging out impatiently. I am praying for a Saturday delivery, I will be home all day waiting. I just been rearranging my audio system, speakers and furniture for the screen.

Originally Posted by neverfaithful

off topic question but rear surrounds high up or ear level???

Originally Posted by kjoy064

would you mind posting some pictures on how the screen attaches to the frame.

cheers

Originally Posted by HiDefHT

The traditionally accepted position for 5.1 rear surround speakers is behind the seating position and up a couple of feet with the speakers facing slightly downward. The desire is to create a soundfield (hence the word 'surround' in 'rear surround speakers') around the seating position rather than being aware the sound is coming directly from the left or right rear speaker.

See http://www.thx.com/home/setup/speakers/51.html

Originally Posted by tbadiuk

On dust blobs:

(I've been meaning to write this for a while, finally have the time)


1) I actually damaged my AE2000 using a compressed air mini-spray can and had to sent my unit in for repair. Panasonic was nice enough to fix it for me (damaged the 'phase difference optical plate' I believe it was called) even though it was pretty obvious that I'd done the damage. It did come back with a nice sticker/seal thing that said WARRANTY VOID IF CASE OPENED on it when I got it back. Moral of the story- you can damage you unit when trying to remove dust blobs. I personally refuse to ever do it again.

2) After I got the unit back, I developed a ton of dust blobs. My theory is that these units are assembled in clean rooms. Opening them up to 'clean' the dust blobs just gets more dirt in there which later can settle on the optics.

3) The AE2000 dust blobs were almost always green in color and quite noticeable, especially in the brighter modes (normal for example). The AE4000 seems to be developing blue colored blobs mostly. My theory is that the 'middle' placed optic path which is horizontal with the lens in alignment is susceptible the most to dust. On the AE2000 I know this is the 'green' path. I have a hunch that the AE4000 uses the middle location for the blue path and the green/red are on the outsides of the case.

4) I now use a dust cover on my projector. I had a custom one made for like $25 from a web site (don't have it handy at the moment) that was made to the exact dimensions in a nice black material. If you look at the AE4000 closely (any AEx000 model actually) the front by the lens is WIDE OPEN. That is, while the unit is powered down there is no air being expelled from the front to keep normal air from flowing in. So, when the unit is off the nice cloud of dust particles in your room just lazily drifts in and settles on everything. They really should have some thin filter material on the front to prevent air from 'flowing' in while the unit is off.

To be honest, compared to the super-noticable green blobs from my AE4000, the blue dark ones on the AE4000 (I have two at the top) are nothing really. I have to really look for them to try and spot them with I have the shutter on. As long as I don't develop any green ones I don't care. As by the above you can see I've already been through 'dustblob hell' once with the AE2000. I can live with the barely noticable blue colored ones if need be, and I'm super-picky.

Ted

Originally Posted by qlee72

Does FRONT/CEILING installation option automatically flip the image? I haven't tried it yet...I guess I was on the default FRONT/DESK installation option. If it does flip the image, I guess I'm stuck w/ FRONT/DESK setting.

Originally Posted by Roger That

Yes, by selecting FRONT/CEILING, the image (including the menu) flips. If you have the projector mounted to the ceiling (upside down), that's what you want.

Originally Posted by buddahead

I cant beleive panny has not fix this 3 year old problem with their fp's.That is why I went with a epson.No dust blobs here.

Originally Posted by qlee72

Hi,

I got my 4000U yesterday and I had a question about how to set up for 2.35:1 screen (what settings, aspect level, etc.), do the lens memory, and test for 16:9 viewing. I want to test for maximum 2.35:1 screen I can get and make sure I'm setting it right. I'm using HDMI cable for 1080P output. 16:9 screen looked fine watching cable HD channels, but when I popped in Golden Compass BD, which is 2.35:1 aspect, I was getting letterboxing (top and bottom blacked out).

Originally Posted by neverfaithful

Congratulation on your purchase. Take some screen shots if you have a screen.

Originally Posted by HiDefHT

This photo is from the Blu-ray "Public Enemies" projected on a 100" screen by my PT-AE4000. It was taken with a simple Olympus 3MP camera and thus this photo is not nearly as good as the screen actually looked (picture slightly out of focus and the poor dynamic range of the inexpensive Olympus camera giving some white crush on face detail). Actual screen image has very wide dynamic range, sharper & with more detail than shown here. Nevertheless, it gives you an idea of what the 4000 is capable of. I run it on Eco lamp mode and Normal, Sharpness on factory default and Detail Clarity +4 (from memory factory default is +3). (I posted some other screen pictures earlier in the thread at http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...5#post17619155)

Whilst the Epson 8500 may have slightly darker black levels, the 4000 has superior detail in dark areas. This was mentioned in several reviews. There are several dark scenes in Public Enemies and the 4000 handled them very well.

Originally Posted by Viche

This pic is pretty amazing overall, but I wanted your guys opinion on someting. Is it me, or does it look overly and artificially sharp? Every poor looks like is has been edge enhanced to the point of distraction. Does the projected image really look like that and if so, is it due to the source (the movie is overly contrasty/sharp) or the camera that took the picture?

It just doesn't look right to me. Definitely not filmlike.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by qlee72

Who's set up a fixed 2.35:1 screen for 4000U?
How do I go about it?

Originally Posted by nickmo

I have built two. The first one was simple and easy. The second one was a painful process of trial and error, and I'm still not happy with it.
To get my dimensions I used the projector calculator here.
You can see the little screen build log I made here.
A picture of the first screen I built:

Originally Posted by 501transpo

1) I actually damaged my AE2000 using a compressed air mini-spray can and had to sent my unit in for repair.
******
Excellent point...If you are going to DIY, use an hand "bulb" type blower. The canned air can deposit propellant on the panels and then you are "screwed".

Steve

Originally Posted by qlee72

I used that calculator before and with my TD of 13', I can just get in 125" Diag (115"Wx49"H). My question is, how do you set up 4000U (aspect selection, zoom, lens memory, etc.) so that initial setting is for 2.35:1 ratio but when you watch 16:9 (cable HD or movies) it will be pillar boxed?
Also, w/ 2.35:1 screen, do you still get a slight letter boxing?

Originally Posted by neverfaithful

What like the kind I used to use to suck the snot out of my baby's nose? I am glad I saved it, I knew it would come in handy one day.

Originally Posted by jjmbxkb

Once you get into your projector menu, it should be fairly intuitive. Easier than read the following the notes. Please also note I do have an AE4000, but I set it up for 2 screens for a sort of CIA setup, not CIH, so part of it is what I think should happen.

However, before even talking about adjusting settings, I noticed you ceiling mount your projector. I assume you are aware that in order to fit both the 2.35:1 and 16:9 images on the same 2.35:1 screen (CIH), the project lens cannot be too much (I guess several inches) higher than the top of your screen, otherwise the zoomed (enlarged) 2.35:1 images will be lower than your screen area.

Here is the quick note:

- You should leave the aspect ratio at the default 16:9.

- First, you adjust the manual lens shift (The two dials on top of the box) to position the image in the center of the projection area. This should be a one time adjustment. This should be a one time adjustment.

- Then go to the Lens Control menu, and zoom a 2.35:1 image so that it fits your 2.35:1 screen. You will need to adjust H-Postion or V-Position during this process. You then go to Lens Memory Save, also on the same menu, to save the settings.

For 1.78:1 (16:9) materials, you zoom to fit the images within the height of your sceen, and then adjust Horizontal and Vertical postioning as needed. Then save.

- Many movies are 2.40:1, so if you use the saved 2.35:1 memory settings, you will have slight letter boxing. Similarly for 1.85:1 movies, if you use the 1.78:1 memory settings, you will also get slight letter boxing. In both cases, you can zoom in just a little bit to remove the boxes. (You will end up with some light spills on the sides for 2.40:1 images, you need to use Left/Right masking to cover them.) Then save into separate memories. There are six memories, so you should have enough.

Hope this helps. Thanks.