Panasonic PT-AE4000 MSRP $1999 - Page 267

Most of us wait thirty minutes before setting zoom and focus adjustments for storing in the memory positions. However, in my own case, I have found that a warm up period of a couple of minutes is adequate for actual viewing. (Most of that is to allow the lamp to reach its full light output.) As you observed, the small changes that occur in focus as the projector warms up are virtually impossible to see at normal viewing distances IF the projector has been properly focused when it is warm.

Just an update. I spoke to my sales rep this morning. He removed the shipping, added the mount to the order, and said he would also ship the mount for free. Very nice guy to work with. I can highly recommend Projector People at this point.

Just got one of these - many people have praised its out of the box settings. colour-wise I could see where they are coming from: simply stunning. But the grayscale on my unit was way out. I've had to up the contrast about 20 or so and lower the brightness a similar amount on normal, cinema 1 and colour 1. Is this atypical? (the OTB black screen was grey!)

You need to get a Setup (or test) disk to set both Brightness and Contrast. You really can't do it by eyeball. By the way, Contrast controls the maximum white level and Brightness sets the black level. (As I recall, there used to be a primitive display setup utility on DVD's with THX certification. Not sure if they included that on THX certified Blu-ray's.)

Another item is that grayscale is actually the balancing red/blue/green so that the color of a 'white' screen is maintained from minimum brightness level (very dark gray to black) to maximum brightness and the color temperature is 6500K. That is a very, very difficult adjustment to make without professional calibration equipment.

I have had mine for a year now. 400 Hours put on it. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this projector!!!!

dgkp, I myself prefere the Contrast at +10. I have set this using the waveform monitor and there is no white clip on the test signal waveform at +10.

On the other hand, I find that my Brightness is just right at 0. You may double check in your BD/DVD player menu for some "Lighter/Darker black" setting and try the other position.

+1

This is calibrated using good old GetGray and the HD AVS disc. On both if I use the OTB settings then the calibration is clearly way, way off on contrast and brightness. To get my 1% or 2% whites or blacks just visible with no clipping I'm in the +20s for Contrast and the -20s for Brightness. I'm not complaining, once set up its fine. I'm just reporting a very different experience from some others.

I received my projector!

I am now happy. I will have to figure out the dimensions and tape off my area, then save projector zoom settings. Then paint.

How do I send in both forms with one UPC? The rebate and the extended warranty? I want both!

I just sent a request to the Projector People, asking them how to handle it.


EDIT: The rebates say they cannot be combined with any other offer except for each other. I called the Rebate Center phone number on the rebate (which happens to be the same on both) and asked how to send them in, since both rebates need the original UPC. The woman who answered was both very nice and helpful...oh, and she is a native English speaker somewhere in the US. She said Panasonic has given them the OK to use a photocopy of the original UPC for the $250 rebate and the 2 year warranty, since they know it will be needed on one of them. She said to send them in two different envelopes as they go to two different departments at the center (one is not authorized to handle money, making it a cheaper center to staff).

You have to send in a form for the $250.00 rebate and a form for the warranty extension separately to two different Panasonic adresses. You will have to cut the UPC code off the box and send with one claim, and use the UPC label attached to the box for the other claim. PP can send you the claim forms if necessary, or you can download them as pdf files.
I got my $250.00 rebate last week, it took about 10 weeks.
What a deal, this projector is a steal at the current rebate price.

i just got this projector. Projector people said i got the last one. For the price it was an awesome deal

My box only came with one UPC on it. It is a sticker stuck to the side of the box. It also came with a second sticker which only has the product number and the serial number on it (and also a very tiny third sticker with product and serial number on it - I stuck that in my manual).

Only one UPC found, though.

And it appears you did! The 4000 no longer appears on their site for sale.

Mine was the same way. I sent the original UPC with the $250 rebate and photocopy with the warranty extension with a note on the photocopy mentioning I sent the original with the $250 rebate. If they screw up one, I would want it to be the warranty (I've had good luck with all my Panasonic products, including the "boom box" from the 1980's which is still working out in the garage )

I called them as well and was told originals with the rebate, copies with the warranty fwiw.

That's good to know. The form claims 6-8 weeks, and I set a reminder at 8 weeks. Maybe I'll hold out a couple more before following up.

Does that mean that the AE4000 is no longer being made? If so, I do not think that Panasonic have really a replacement for it. The AR100, by all accounts is a media room projector and is too bright and has poor contrast for a dark HT room projector. The AE5000 is 3D and about $1000.00 more expensive than the original MSRP for the AE4000, so as I see it Panasonic really has nothing in their catalog to replace the AE4000.

Yes, the AE4000 is discontinued. There is no AE5000, Panasonic skipped a couple model numbers. The AE7000 is the current top of the line model with 3D, and yeah, the MSRP is $2,999. The AR1000 is a decent home theater projector, but it is more a replacement for the AX200, which was only 720p (the AR100 is 1080p). The AR100 has 2800 lumens and 50,000:1 contrast, which is decent. There's probably a few places with some stock of the AE4000 is you scour the web hard enough. Actually, I just did a Goggle shopping search and Amazon has some from 3rd party sellers starting at $2320.

I've had mine for 2 years last December and love it, it's a keeper. I have 2 projectors. I started with a AX200 to see how I'd like projection HT, and loved it so I bought the AE4000. Rather than sell the AX200 for half of what I paid for I kept it and used it for TV sports & DVD and reserved the 4k for only Blu-ray, to keep the hours down. It worked, I have only 1260 hours after 26 months. But I recently saw the deal for the Epson 8100 1080p pj closeout at $749, marked at "refurb" but comes with 2 yr. warranty on pj & bulb, so I upgraded to that and eBayed the AX200 for $450, so the upgrade only cost me $300. The AX4000 will be around my house for a long time. The PQ is outstanding, and I love the auto load memory - I prefer 2.35:1 movies lowered down to the bottom of my 16:9 screen so there's just one wide bar at the top and the movie is more at eye level, and the 4k does this automatically for me.

You obviously have never seen one in action, both of your statements are false.

Just going by the Projector Central review for the AR100. In fact I was definately in the market for the AR100, until I read that review, which convinced me to get the AE4000 instead.

Kinda sucks that you have to pay close to $1k just to have 3d (price difference between 4000 vs 7000). I'm just glad I got the 4000 before they are all gone. They have some at Amazon, but I'm not sure if they are authorized dealers thus no warranty

I have had my 4000 for 2 years now and I am on my second blub with 1150 hours on it. I could not be any happier with it. I had to clean the lenses inside from dust blobs one time and never had any since. Love this projector.

Yeah, I agree. I think they screwed up, or maybe they don't mind sacrificing sales in the near term in order to keep up with the Joneses, and hope to sell more later when 3D really takes off (sarcasm intended). The movie studios are doing the same thing. From the money people's perspective they are saying "if you have the opportunity to increase the cost of the product that you are selling, then you would be stupid not to." This is pretty much a direct quote from a financial manager friend of mine who works for Disney. Somehow the green has caused them to lose site of the fact that people might NOT WANT THEIR LAME 3D TECHNOLOGY. Movie theater attendance is on a sharp decline. In this economy, people are saying that they can no longer afford going to the movies, and they don't want to pay extra for 3D. Some people are actually coming to their senses and realizing that the 2D experience is ACTUALLY BETTER than its 3D counterpart. I've pretty much signed Panasonic off for this round. I want a true update to the 4000 or I am going to wait for another company to fill the gap in the $2000 price range, or for 3D projectors to come down in price (maybe close out pricing on the 7000). Then the question becomes, do these newer projectors have more lag in gaming?

I was hoping that the AR100 would be the same projector as the AE7000 - minus the 3D capability. Obviously it is not, even though it has the same chassis. So, if anyone from Panasonic is listening, that is the projector you need to bring out in the $2000.00 MSRP market.

Yep. That would sell like hot cakes. I'd buy one tomorrow....well as long as the lag wasn't too bad. In their minds though, they would be sacrificing $1000 of potential revenue. So instead, I'll by someone else's projector. Lame.

How do you adjust vertical/horizontal lense shift digitally with the remote? I can't find anything in the manual that tells me how.

You don't! You have to use the actual knobs on the projector itself.

Does anyone have a link to the $250 rebate form and 1 extra year warranty? I can't find it anywhere on the net.

Here is the one for the $250:

http://www.panasonic.com/business/pr...FormAE4000.pdf

The warranty extension is here:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/FrameWor..._PT-AE4000.pdf