Panasonic PT-AE4000 MSRP $1999 - Page 3

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I will look into the warranty thing. I am getting mine shipped to the UPS store across the border($10 charge from UPS to accept the package). That way its free gound shipping. Then just pay tax at the border. Its an option for anyone within reasonable driving distance to the States.
Still a way better deal versus buying within Canada. Especially with our dollar close to par there is no excuse to be charging us that much to buy it within Canada.

How's this compare to the new Epsons -- such as the 8100?

Which is better and why?

Good questions for the future, as I'm sure no real comparisons have been done yet. Hopfully soon.

Wow...this one is at the top of my list for 2010!!

As others have said, the reviews up at PJC.com, pretty soft, I'm ready for head to head comparisons with Epson and JVC, course, I'm thinking of buying this one just on the principle that its the first 1080p "flagship" product to be in this forum and not the one above! (I think that was in my original criteria for buying a 1080p pj 5 years ago when they were all $5K) the JVCs will not try to be price competitive as they don't have to, but Epson's going to really be between a rock and a hard spot with this pj at $1999 and the arguably better JVC at $4K...there's lots of one dollar bills in there there and subjectively not all that much difference in performance (black level, brightness, etc).

Should be an interesting race...I'll probably be cheering from the fence again!

I am interesd in this as well. I also wonder how good the Lens Shift is too. Especially in a room with ambient light. Wondering how it will compare to the Epson 8100 in this regard. I have not heard of the Epsons having "dust blob" issues either, is it really that bad with the Panny's?

I have owned 5 Pannys over the last 5 years and never seen a dust blob until recently. But it was a piece of cake to blow it out of there.

At the very least I would hope that Panny would allow us to ship it back and forth at our cost. I'm sure we would come out way ahead.

Yes, of course you'll have a warranty. The same warranty as anyone else who buys it. This is a strange misconception...though you may have to send it back to the States. I buy electronics in the US all the time and never had warranty problems. Just last year I contacted Pentax about a DSLR I bought in the US, it was repaired under warranty in Canada.

Dogone, just been looking at your theatre build. Wow. ( seriouly have a 133 inch screen in your bedroom? Man you have it bad! You'd be thinking an ae4000 might work ok in your new theatre I guess? Lol

I believe that there is a Mack Canada that u can purchase warranty from.

S

Other than their feature set I have never been truly impressed with any Panasonic digital projector, hope this one has 'real world' upgrades over the AE3000 (the comparisons that are sure to come should be interesting). The new street price is indeed a welcome 'upgrade' .

Jason

"Other than the feature set..."

What does that mean?... the PQ?
What didn't you like about the 3000?
I'm not sayin, I'm just askin.
I've never owned a Panasonic, nor seen one in action, and am seriously considering the 4000 to get me though the next few years.

Thanks for the link. That fills in on some of the details.

But I've been searching for a video of the PT-AE4000U's Intelligent Lens Memory with Auto Detection feature in action. The above link shows a clip of 2.35:1 source material being zoomed...to a larger version of the same 2.35:1 source material but with nothing particularly CIH about it. Odd.

Does anyone know of a link where they show, say, 1.78:1 or 1.33:1 source material and then they switch to 2.35:1 source material (or vice versa) to show how the projector quickly/smoothly/easily/accurately accommodates both sources and aspect ratios while retaining CIH?

Jason,

are you serious? Did you ever check out the 3000 in person? We both come from the land of the crt...and I think the 3000 was an amazing projector...what did you not like about it?

I'm all over one of these when they come out later this month. In NZ they come with a replacement bulb as well.

Wow, I haven't considered an LCD projector for quite some time but this looks like a real steal. The CIH function is really attractive to me especially at this price. Depending on Art's review this might just have to be my new projector.

Dave,

The features of the newer Panasonic(s) are out of this world (mainly the AE2000/AE3000) but the image quality has never really impressed me, it's not bad by any means just not something that makes me say "wow". Hope that clarifies what I meant .




Yes I have seen both the 2000 & 3000 in person and to be honest they just don't 'wow' me, I am ultra picky however and have evil eyes (mainly due to years of calibrating CRT projectors ) so my opinion should make little difference to most viewers.



Jason

Jason, so what modern projectors have you seen that 'wow' you? Just curious.

I wasnt going to be in the market for a projector until the late spring anyway but this is good news. I had pretty much decided, based on many factors, that the 3000 was going to be my purchase.

Seems like the 4000 will get the nod now

The pimp is a big DLP guy That is like asking the Devil for icewater

Agreed. I am ordering from the states!

Thats good to know. I feel better about buying from the states now!
Thanks!

I wouldn't take this for granted.

Panny is known as a company that does NOT support US purchases in Canada.

The US arm may or may not ship it back to you at your cost.

After looking over the Panasonic AE3000 vs Epson 6500ub on projector central, is it safe to say the AE4000 beats or is egual to the 6500ub in black levels and brightness or overall pq?

Hmm.....wonder if this will cause the prices on the AE3000 to drop? I wouldn't mind taking the AE3000 either actually. The only thing I'm scared of is I have friends who own Panny PJs (AX200, AE2000) and it seems quality control and long-term reliability is somewhat an issue.

I guess I'm just spoilt by my 2700 hours running strong Marantz that hasn't given me a single issue to this day, despite running over 15 hours a day in the weekends.

Are there any 1080p DLP PJ's out yet that are close to Ae3000/AE4000 in performance?

Hi have a panny projector I bought 3 years ago. They have not supported US projectors in the past. I would check with them before purchasing. I ended up buying from a dealer in Canada, had a problem and was glad I purchased here. Got a good deal though, so if the price was low enough I would buy from the U.S.
What is the Canadian MSRP on this? I just looked on the Canadian Panny site and it is not listed.

I pulled the trigger and pre-ordered a ae4000.

One thing that I'd like to mention is that the US dollar is sinking faster than a brick in a pond. Believe me, this will affect our electronics purchases. At $2k, how much lower can the ae4000 go? Sure it uses a lot of the same nuts and bolts of the ae3000, but seriously.

Based on the track-record of the ae2000 and ae3000, if you're in the market for a feature-packed, great performing front projector at an unbeatable price, I don't know why the the ae4000 cannot be at the top of your list. Having said this, I am looking forward to what Epson brings to the table with their 8500. I am sure Epson is upping the bar as well.