Panasonic PT-AE4000 MSRP $1999 - Page 275

Thanks again guys. Sounds like I'm calling up Panasonic one way or another, since I believe convergence would be another issue that can't be calibrated away. (I'll try a test pattern first so I'm armed with as much info as possible.) I'll also try the full gamut of picture modes -- I think I saw the same problem in "Normal," but curious to see whether it persists in "Dynamic." As for image retention, my screen is 2.4 to 1, so I do watch a lot of 16:9 movies with black bars on the sides, but the color shift appears even within that portion of the screen. Now that I think about it, my constant-height setup means I adjust the pj's power zoom and focus much more than the average user (almost every time I watch a movie), so I wonder whether the constant wear-and-tear could have thrown something out of alignment in there. Anyway, if Panasonic can help me I'll be sure to share what I learn.

Ahh, sorry for the idiotic comment about black bars on a 2.4 screen -- obviously that has nothing to do with the shape of the image inside the projector! I don't watch enough 4:3 movies to have any image retention.

Hi, all-

Been loving my AE4000 for almost two years, but lately I notice that I seem to be losing red at a very fast pace. My projector has always been somewhat red deficient (calibration usually brought blue and green contrast down to around -8 to allow red to catch up), but now I have to turn blue and green down to -19 to allow red to catch up. This is making calibration difficult since I have NO red to work with on the high end and it seems to be getting worse!

Does anyone here have experience with this? I tried doing a search, but no luck. Could this be a bulb issue? Or something worse?

How many hours are you on the bulb?

LCD panels don't change their reflectivity with age, as long as their surface stays clean. They can fail, get dead pixels, and the polarizers can possibly "cook" [which may alter color, but as far as I know it is usually a lack of uniformity across the screen, never a "loss of one of the primary colors"], so I suspect the part that we know does change with age, the bulb (lamp), is indeed the culprit.

How many hours old is it?

There are about 700 hours on the bulb. I have run it almost exclusively in ECO mode, btw...

There was a recent post by Chad B. where he had solid results calibrating Normal mode versus using Cinema, maybe give that a shot (I plan on doing it once I have hit 100+ hours on my new lamp).

Jason

Has anyone setup their AE4000 as part of an automation with a grafik eye system? Am trying to discover how to do it, but any information on how to do it seems hard to find. Basically I want the projector to turn on as part of a scene, but am not sure of the connection between the projector and the GE to do this.

i'm not super familiar with the graphic eye, but i believe you'd just need to put one of your zone's into "switch" mode, then have it switch any old 12v dc power source as part of your scene. run the switched 12v line (terminated with a 3.5mm TS plug) to the projector, plug it into trigger 1, then in the projectors "option" menu set trigger 1 to "input" and "power on/off". as for how you get a constant 12v to the grafik eye, i can think of a lot of different possibilities depending on your exact situation - some more "code friendly" than others. and speaking of code, if you care about it, you may want to check what you local code says about mixing high and low voltage wiring the same box. it's my understanding that some places allow it, some allow it as long as the box is segregated, and some don't allow it at all. i suppose if need be, you could always have the GE switch line voltage, then transform and rectify it somewhere else.

I've had my AE4000U since the day they were released. At this time, my lamp hours are at 1725 (I travel a lot, hence the low usage). I've not had any problems with my projector until now. While watching a movie off the DVR, I put the film on pause for a couple of minutes. When I got back and restarted, the screen went black and then the film resumed; maybe thirty seconds later, the same thing happened and it continued to alternate between film and black about every 30 seconds. The black never stayed black more than about 5 seconds. I did a power cycle and things were running fine until I paused the film again and experienced the same problems. Again, restarted and all was well. Moved onto another program on the DVR and it played fine for about 20 minutes and again the problem re-occurred; this time it only flashed black twice and then seemed fine. I realize I'm getting close to a lamp replacement, but there was no indication on the screen or on the projector that there were/are lamp issues. I clean the filters regularly and the projector runs quietly and doesn't get very hot. Anyone have any idea what could be causing this? I'd hate to lay out $350 for a lamp and find I've still got issues.

When you say "the screen goes black" do you mean the bulb turns off [pitch black] or that the video signal is "black" and you can still make shadow puppets?

See if it happens with a component video connection too. It could be the HDMI handshake is having issues due to a weak signal, and possible reason for that is the connections have started to come loose or are oxidizing. Disconnecting and re-connecting the entire chain of HDMI jacks from source through switchers, and finally th pj itself, will scrape the contacts clean, and let you make sure everything is snug and well-seated while you are at it..

edit to add: I just checked the manual . At 1800 hours "Replace Lamp" will appear on screen but it will disappear if you hit any buttons. In later stages it goes off completely.
https://eww.pavc.panasonic.co.jp/projector/extranet/main/manual/ae4000/AE4000U_Eng-OI.pdf
Edited by m. zillch - 8/24/12 at 11:03pm

I use a Logitech Harmony remote to control my Grafik eye setup. While I hadn't completely integrated it into calling up a scene when the activity (i.e., watching a Bluray) is started, I do have scenes for each activity that can called with a single button push. For example, I can set the theater lights to allow for easy access to seating or turn the lights completely off. For TV watching (sport events is a big thing at our place, I have a really low rear room light scene which provides enough light to be able to eat, drink and move about.

After having lived with this setup for over two years, I can tell it is a real convenience to be able to set the appropriate lighting scene at a single button push rather than having a pre-programmed. I don't know if I would really want the lights to be turned off when the projector is turned on as many times I haven't load the Bluray into the player when I switcvh to the 'watch movie' activity.

The screen went dark (no shadow puppets possible); when I switched off the DVR unit, then the screen went to blue, but it was still flashing to the point that I had to try to time the flashes in order to use the menu to check bulb hours. It was almost like the projector was cycling on and off. This concerns me because at that point I started switching inputs, yet still got the same flashing regardless of which input I chose. It also indicates that the problem doesn't seem to be cabling. Here's a response I got from Panasonic:
The first suggestion I have is to try using a shorter cable that is 8ft or shorter. HDMI cables over 8ft causes the signal to travel greater distances to unit and thins the signal to a point where it might have some gaps between the time the signal reaches the projector and when it leaves the video source. Also, check and see if the same issue happens with other devices with a shorter HDMI cable. If it only happens when using the DVR or with a cable over 8ft then it would not be an issue with the projector. If the issue only occurs with with a cable over 8ft long then you may need to consider using an HDMI extender so that you can use a shorter HDMI cable when connecting devices to the projector.

We hope this information is helpful.

Thank you for contacting Panasonic

Since I have a spare HDMI cable in the ceiling, I'll try using a different cable today if your suggestion to unplug the cables and re-plug them in doesn't work. FWIW, I am using high end HDMI cables with heavy jacketing from Blue Jean and I replaced them when I installed the new projector in Oct '09. I'm not sure I'm buying into the Panasonic response since I've had the same cabling set up for almost 3 years and while I've read about problems with super-long HDMI cables, it seems unlikely that a functioning 12' cable would present such problems. As noted above, however, I'm not sure that it's cabling causing the problem. Thanks for your response and I will report the results and further test different configurations today.

UPDATE: At this point, it appears that the HDMI cable between Directv box and PJ has failed. Backup cable worked fine, though I guess I'll have to test things a couple more days to be sure. I've also noticed that the colors with the replacement cable are much warmer than the one that was failing.
Edited by bruce3404 - 8/26/12 at 2:28am

Does anyone know of or know where I can find the amount of video delay each Frame creation mode causes?

I want to start using it more, but need to know how much to delay the audio.
I've searched and found a few #s from rockband or something, but those aren't very exact from my understanding.

Thanks!

If by that you mean the bulb (Panasonic calls it a lamp) extinguishes completely because it gets no electricity [hold a flat surface inches away from the front lens to verify] then what HDMI cable you use or distances has nothing to do with it. I would try removing and reseating the bulb. Some people have reported that the sensor which monitors if the external door for this area is open, falsely indicates the door is ajar and will refuse to fire the bulb up. This is especially true of people who don't shut the lamp door firmly or fail to seat the bulb fully (deeply) in its cradle area .

If the bulb still turns off spontaneously despite being installed properly, you may have a hairline crack in the electrical path [in the bulb itself, possibly] which makes and breaks contact, intermittently, due to a cylce of thermal expansion and then contraction (cooling) of the metal and need a new bulb. Just a guess, though, I'm not guaranteeing it.

Digital connections either successfuly transfer the stream of 0's and 1's from one location to another, or they dont, there's no such thing as "this USB cord gives the music more bass" or "this HDMI cord makes the colors warmer".The numerous "audiophile" magazines which indicate otherwise should be shunned as unscientific followers of superstition and pareidolia.

I have a lot on my plate right at the moment and unfortunately dont have the time to address any further follow up. Please seek others' advice for any further help. Good luck with your issue. I hope you can solve the issue without having to pay for a repair.

The DVE HD Basics disc has a calibration pattern for you to adjust audio delay. It is buried in the Advanced Patterns section (can't remember the name of the pattern). It displays a running circle with a beep sound emitted from the centre speaker channel whenever it's radius hits the 12:00 position. You can then adjust the audio delay of your receiver to match the audio (the beep) with the video (radius at 12:00 position). For my case, I use 75ms as the audio delay in my Onkyo receiver when using Mode 1 of Frame Creation (I don't have figure for other mode because I use Mode 1 exclusively).

Interesting... I looked in the audio section and couldn't find it but will look in the advanced video section. I quickly scrolled through these as well but didn't see anything for sync.

Hi!
I've been looking for a solution to my problem into the forum, and I cannot find it.
Yesterday watching a movie, suddenly the VP AE4000 shut off, but before that made some stranges sounds ( Like clicks). I open the box and unistall and install the lamp, thinking that was the problem. But no think. Reading here in AVSForum, somebody explained about the EXT Menú, I tríed it and found that my problem is with the Iris. Searching again, found that in models before PT-AE 4000 (like 1000) the problem was resolved lubricating the iris mechanism. I watched a video in Youtube Where clearly i can see the iris mechanism and the way they lubricated the iris, but I cannot found some video for the AE4000 and since the internal hardware is diferent, i don't find the iris to Apply some lubricating.

Some of you known how may i to Apply lubricating to my Panny?

Regards!

Sorry, but I guess none of us know.

Although I know many people do it, and some report great success, opening and futzing with the innards of their pjs themselves, I'm leery of doing it myself and I am generally pretty good with such things. The thing is none of us own anything even remotely close to a "clean room" where the ambient air has been professionally filtered to remove all of the invisible to the naked eye dust. If any of this falls on an LCD panel, polarizer, prism, internal lens surface, etc it can cause a dust blob problem with the image.

For every "Look I fixed my pj myself !" post I wonder if there are an equal number of people who tried to, but then later ended up with dust blobs and are too embarrassed to post since they realize it was their own damn fault, so they stay quiet and we never hear from them!

Obviously it will cost money, but I think a visit to an authorized service center is the next step. True, they may not have "clean rooms" either, however they have facilities to test the image before the final tightening of the screws when putting it back together and they can be held accountable if there is any issue after the fact (for 90 days usually).

You can always send it to Heartland Services who does all of the Panasonic warranty repair and also will do out-of-warranty work.

Thank you... I sent the Unit directly to Panasonic.

When you get it back, consider turning off the dynamic iris. I have mine off and I don't miss it. I find the changes in brightness distracting and I don't see that it adds that much to the contrast.

The Pro8100 had that problem initially and ViewSonic put out a firmware fix for it.

:S

Hey Guys,

I bought an AE4000 about two years ago, managed to use it for about 3 months and then kept in the office while I renovated my theater for about a year. Now I go to install it and the fan noise seems to be louder than I remember it. I measured it with my dB meter and I'm averaging about 45db's in ECO Mode. Is this normal?

I went into the service menu and checked out the stats, everything seems to be fine except for the fact that my Lamp OK is in RED. I only have about 300hours and it never overheated on me. I'm wondering if I really picky in terms of sound, but Im pretty sure it is supposed to be much quieter than 45db's?

"Renovation"= invisible dust in the room that clogs the air filter quickly. Have you been cleaning your 4000's air filter every 100 hours, as they recommend? A clogged air filter can cause heat build up and high fan rpms.

I knew you would say that..lol The first thing I did when I got home tonight was vacuum the filter, but no dice. That fan exactly where the filter is, is really loud...It doesn;t heat up either, been checking it every so often in the service menu :S

Anything else you guys can think of? I don't want to send it in for repair if there's nothing wrong with it. Everything works, the only thing is the fan is bothering me...

Is your SPL meter a dedicated one or just an app you run on your cell phone? What is the A-wtd SPL AT YOUR SEATED LISTENING POSITION and is it much louder than the ambient room noise due to furnace/AC/DVD player/DVR hard drive etc?

I'm using a Triplett DB Meter (not the greatest one in the world but better than the iPhone ones). Link Below...

http://triplett.com/products/specialty-testers/detail/7-specialty-testers/flypage/118-sonichek-mc?sef=hcfp

From seating position I measure roughly 35-40db's. I have all my gear in a dedicated room in a sound proof room. I don't hear a peep from my gear room. I literally only have me and the projector in the room. I wish I had an HVAC System but I don't