Panasonic PT-AE4000 MSRP $1999 - Page 198

Hi, denada:

The vertical shift is 100%, which means you can position the projector 1 full screen height from the screen center along the vertical center line. So if your screen height is 60", your projector can be 30" above or below the screen.

The 40% is for the horizontal shift. I'm less sure about it, but it should mean you can position the projector 40% of screen width from screen center along the horizontal line. So basically, if your screen is 10' wide, your projector can at 4' off screen center either to the left or right.

Don't know if there is a web site for this or not.

Hope this helps.

Hi jjmbxkb,

Thanks for that explanation!

Hi denada,

Beware that the horizontal and vertical lens shifts do interact with each other. Use horizontal shift will reduce the range that you can use the vertical shift, and vice versa; which means, you can only use the maximum 40% horizontal shift if you do not use any vertical shift at all.

You can check this out in Panasonic website:
http://panasonic.net/avc/projector/p...features3.html

Thanks for that link Dominickwok, If I place the projector near the ceiling and I project the image on the opposite wall, will I need vertical lens shift in order to do so?

Ps I will not ceiling-mount it, but I want to place it on top of a cupboard, not a standard setting up position according to the Panasonic website..

The functional instructions manual has some good information in it about lens shift, starting on page 6. I found the manual here:

https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/pro...E4000U_Eng.pdf

Odd that I can find no mention of the AE4000U on the official Panasonic web site (panasonic.com).

According to the manual, you can shift the image left and right up to 40% either direction of center. That's a total range of movement of 80% the width of the image. Vertical shift can go 100% either side of center. That is, one whole screen height above center and one whole screen height below center. The catch is you can't always do both at the same time. There's a diagram on page 7 that shows the range of motion pretty well. It's not precise but it will give you a good idea.

You can certainly place the projector off center both horizontally and vertically, just not too much off center. If you run out of vertical lens shift you can also tilt the projector and use keystone correction, but obviously the quality of your image would suffer.

The general consensus here seems to be that for the best image you should level the projector so that the lens is exactly parallel with the screen (using a level for best results), then use lens shift (and zoom/focus) to get the picture in the right position.

Thanks very much for this info, nice find on the instructions manual, will do some reading!

After checking out my receiver last night, it was indeed set to pass through mode vs. 1080p for output (could have sworn I had it at 1080p). So, I moved to the Samsung C6500 DVD player and notice that I had that set at 1080p output. I changed it to "Auto". The two BR movies I had in hand to test did not exhibit the blue screen during preview transitions but I did get the screen once prior to the previews starting. Will need to continue with settings changes and more testing as I'm still not comfortable things are resolved.

I'm not using any video processing between my BD player and my projector, so I can't comment on the effect a receiver will have on the signal.

My player is doing the upconversion for the DVDs but can't output them at 24 fps, so the video output must switch from 24 to 30 fps from time to time, and I experience the blue screen/screen flashing on a regular basis.

It's listed on the "business" side of the site, it's also listed on the Best Buy for business site too, neither site cross searches which is silly IMO:
http://www.panasonic.com/business/pr...4000/index.asp
http://www.bestbuybusiness.com/bbfb/...tID=BB11064106

Bill

Your advice here and in the rest of your post is good, however I thought to point out that the limitations of how much vertical offset one can use is additionally reduced even further from the stated limitations if one is also expecting to use the "CIH auto zoom feature" (or whatever that is called). Although I came up with slightly different measurements, the consensus here seems to agree that the maximum vertical offset one may employ in order to successfully use this feature without having to resort to downward tilting projection and possibly also using the keystone feature (which as you say reduces the image quality), is about 50% of the screen height, not 100%. That is to say the projector can be mounted as high as the top edge of the screen's height (or just a tad more by my measurements), but no further.

Interesting comment on the 24/30 fps issue. I am 100% sure that I had my DVD setting to enable 24 fps previously, but it was disabled when I checked last night, so I re-enabled it. Having it disabled could have been part of it. Seems that losing settings on the Samsung C6500 was a previously reported bug. Will have to monitor that going forward.

Thanks for the post.

Hello fellow forum members
I'm looking to purchase this projector. My question is "is there a real problem with dust on this projector or not"
I read thru hundreds of threads about this projector for about 6 months now and I'm trying to determine if this is a problem or not. Please, if you own this projector and it is a problem please let me know. Thank you all for your knowledge you placed on this forum. And thank you for your response.

I had dust/something on my Red LCD right out of the box and when I say dust I mean I could actually see it with my eyes this is how big it was. It was showing up on the left and side in the lower third of the screen right at the edge, during dark scenes. I followed a guide on how to clean it and it has been fine since.

Bill

Where is the guide for cleaning dust blobs off this projector. I got 2 in only 600 hours on this damn thing. I SOOOOO didn't miss having them with the mits hd1000 I had. To have them back now in only 600 hrs is beyond annoying as hell. So is it a problem, yes. Can it be dealth with , sure.

These are the ones that I followed:
http://forum.blu-ray.com/projectors/...ic-ae3000.html

Like he states it is the same form factor and it was identical to the 3000 in the pictures.

Bill

I had a couple dust blobs in my projector one time about 2 months after I bought it and I just followed the instructions and took apart my projector and used a air suction/blow bulb (You know one of those baby snot removers), not a compressed air can. It has been good ever since. It is annoying to have dust blobs but it was fun to take apart my projector and do the easy 20min job since I like looking inside technology and learning things. Hey what can we do, it is a great projector for $2K. I love the picture on my 110". Its been 9 months and I am still saying wow nice pic.

I'm not an owner, just a lowly 4000 wannabe, but I've wondered if those controls on top of the projector cabinet might not allow dust to get-in somehow. I'd be inclined to lay a piece of lintfree fabric or something over those controls to try to limit the possibility of dust entering there.

In any case tho it looks like it's easy to get apart and blow clean.

One thing I have always wondered/worried about is: whether over time a dust particle can get "stuck" (burned) in-place and thus be harder to get off e.g. with just a blower bulb. One should try I think to rid their pj of dust blobs as soon as they appear.

That isn't a bad idea. I mean once the projector is mounted and setup up you really have zero need to mess with the dials any longer. I may just put a piece of painters tape over mine....even though it's ceiling mounted and the top has become the bottom.

Bill

There are two kinds of projector designs on the market: seal light path optics and non-sealed light path optics. Sealed cost markedly more but are almost immune to dust blobs. Non-sealed, like the 4000, are much more affordable but prone to dust blobs. Luckily 99% of these dust blobs are completely invisible to the typical user and when they are large enough to be readily visible they can be cured with a puff of air through disassembly, like the others have provided links to on how to do it properly.

I'm now on my 4th Panny projector, none had sealed optics, and I've never had a dust blob that was visible on normal program material so I've never had need to open any of them up. [I did have one once only visible on a dead input (all black) image only, but it went away on its own.]

Other things to keep in mind:

- People who mount their projectors on tables are more prone to dust than people who ceiling mount. Dust settles downwards, not upwards, so there is much less of it up high in the room and it is the larger dust particles that are the problem.

- The majority of room dust is composed of human skin, the exception would be rooms that have recently undergone construction. Let such rooms sit for a week and wait for the dust to settle, prior to firing up any open light path optics projector.

- "But dude, I notice so many reports of dust blobs on the Panny designs!" That's because they are the number one selling projector in their price range. I know of no evidence that there is something endemic to the design of the Panny's air filtration scheme that makes them more prone to dust blobs than any other non-sealed light path optics design. There are just so many of them out there so the , lets say 10% that have visible blobs we are much more likely to hear about compared to the less common brands that have a much smaller market share.

Once again, for those following my PT-AE4000U saga, I have an update!

Without any warning, my new replacement PT-AE4000U showed up this afternoon, despite a promise from Panasonic that they'd let me know when it shipped so I could be in for it. In any case, I was in, and I finally have a perfect, amazing, flawless PT-AE4000U!

OK OK I'm not telling the whole truth, - I haven't opened it yet!

Maybe a bit terrified to open it? Maybe a bit scared to see what happens?

Thankfully my in-laws are visiting this afternoon, so I won't get to even play with it for a few days (maybe a week; they're here till next Friday!).

In any case, it does look like it's possible to get a replacement projector from Panasonic if you push them hard enough!

I'll update when I've had time to test it...

Looking to speak with some fellow owners who are projecting on a simple blackout cloth. If you wouldn't mind sending me a PM have some questions.

Cheers!
TSF

I think dust gets in by way of the filter itself that we are supposed to keep clean. I would suggest not taking the filter off and cleaning while the projector is on.

To answer you question here. I am one of those guys that when I buy something I take care of it very well and when I bought my 4000 I immediately put a dust cover over it and would cover it daily to avoid the "Dust blobs" but after 2 or 3 months (you can look for my post here someplace back in April or May) I noticed I had a few "Dust blobs. So, with that said, my dust cover did not help me. Now I do not even cover it and I haven't had a blob since April or May.

Well, I just got my replacement projector set up. It's an August 2010 build date, and first impressions are much better than my March 2010 model. While there is still a slight cast to the image on a grey screen (slight green cast to right side of image), it's much more subtle than my first Panasonic. I'm too tired to really play with it tonight (ooer), but so far I'm much happier. Let's see if that feeling lasts....!

Hi all. I've been reading this thread for some time now, and finally joined the AE-4000 club over the weekend.

While playing with the projector's test patterns this morning (the ones under the "Options" tab of the main menu), I found what seemed to be significant amount of bleeding on the color pattern. I'd appreciate it if anyone could comment on the photos below, and specifically, whether they're normal or abnormal for this pattern.

Thanks!

Attachment 186200

Attachment 186201

Attachment 186202

Mine looks exactly the same. I think with an LCD type projector your never going to see perfect lines like that, especially close up. I also notice on the focus test pattern it's really hard to know if your in the " sweet spot" because of this. That being said, it seems to have zero effect on picture quality, BlueRay looks razor sharp.

There is another thread with "convergence issue" in the title that talked about it, to no resolution.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...6#post18167736


I would equally like to here if it's common.

Normal, except for the fact that you seem to be projecting your image sideways. (just kidding)

Never fear, mine looks that way too.

Thanks, fellas - I'm trying to avoid being paranoid / anal, but you know how it is with a new baby in the house!!

I'm real happy with the picture quality (Terminator 2 looks great on this), and so far the AE-4000 plays nicely with my Pioneer SC-07 AVR and BDP-23FD player. Quite an upgrade from the 720p InFocus 4805 - which served me well over the years, but is now being shipped off to the retirement home!!

Yea they always look like that on those patterns. Even my two DLP projector did. Even CRT just the nature or the pattern. What you really wanna test is dead pixels and what text looks like from pc. Text will let ya know how sharp things are for sure.

the 4805 was 480p, not 720p. so..... congratulations! you've got even more upgrade than you thought you did

i went from 4805 to IN72 (4805's replacement) to ae4000. the panny is not quite as sharp as the two dlp's were (as what you're seeing indicates), but the million other things it does better definitely outweigh that one drawback (if you even see it as a drawback).