Panasonic PTAE7000/ AT5000 - Page 3

Appreciate your detailed assessment of the PTAE7000, Brad. How did the sharpness compare to your RS20?

To what is this referring?

Nice!

Does this mean there is going to be more projectors coming from Panasonic?

I was about to pull the trigger on the epson 8700ub, but if this is available for 3k, not 3.5k, i'll jump on board with the 3D craze. I didn't like the look of the white epson much anyways and the electronic zoom function seems like a feature worth droping some extra dough on.

The only thing i don't get is why these projectors don't have a system to cover the lens when not in use. Even cheap digital cameras do this now. This will be my first projector, how do you keep the lens clean?

I took that to mean that it can't do vertical stretch for anamorphic lenses while in 3D mode. I imagine the lens memory/zoom feature for would still work for CIH in 3D.

I am a bit troubled by the fact that the lens is no longer centered on the chassis.

In order to do lens memory/zoom for CIH on the 4000, the lens had to be dead-centered horizontally with the screen center. I imagine there are others like myself who took great pains to mount their 4000 with this constraint in mind. If I want to upgrade to the 7000, and assuming the lens/memory zoom feature has the same constraints, I'm going to have to tear into my ceiling and redo my custom mount to center the 7000's offset lens.

The lens doesn't get dirty, unless maybe you smoke. I blow the few dust particles off my AE4000 lens every couple months with a Rocket blower.

You really don't want to touch the projector once it's mounted. I only do so to clean the filter, and it really only needs that every 2-3 months.

Sure, you can put the lens cap on, but that only risks disturbing the focus and alignment. I've had my AE4000 since October 2009, and the focus is still perfect, never had to adjust it or any of the lens memory settings.

I suppose an electronic lens cover might be a nice feature, but would add cost and something else to break. You really don't need one. Of course, I don't have kids, your lineage may vary...

That bothers me aesthetically, I liked the old look, but a few inches off center isn't going to affect the image in any perceptible way. Don't rip anything out.

On the 4000 it matters. If your lens isn't centered, and you use the manual horizontal shift to center a zoomed 2.35:1 image, then the "unzoomed" 16:9 image is slightly off center.

It's an even bigger deal if you have masking.

Thanks guys, it was fun, and the first time I've had the chance to get a preview like this. I'm am like such an insider now.


Well, the first part of the demo was on a smallish screen, about 90" would be my guess, so it looked razor sharp. The second part of the demo was in a room set up like a living room, and the screen was larger, perhaps 110" 16:9. Still plenty sharp, I didn't feel like "hmm, that seems out of focus" at any time. I would say comparable sharpness, but my point of reference is on a bigger screen with the RS20, 136" wide. I'd have to see a side by side with a projector known for sharpness to be sure, but I didn't find it lacking at all.



Yes, the rumors anyway are that there have one or two other projectors coming this year. I asked about them, like what price point, would it be a higher end or lower end compared to the 7000, but they politely declined to respond to that. So those other ones must be running a little behind this one.

If one does get a dust blob, can it be cleaned at home - or do you have it send it in for service? If that later, I don't think I could consider such a machine.

It can be cleaned at home

You're correct if the lens throw is exactly perpendicular to the screen. And yes, you don't want to use horizontal shift.

But if the projector is angled just a tad horizontally, you won't notice the tiny amount of horizontal keystoning and overscan caused by a 6" offset, if you split the difference between 16:9 and 2.35. Even with 16:9 masking.

At least I don't, and I'm pretty picky. You may be pickier...

Can it be cleaned at home without possibly voiding the warranty?

--Darin

With 480 Hz LCD panels in the AE7000 I suspect they are using every other frame for blanking (to allow time for a clean transition between the right and left sequential frames) thus producing a 240 Hz effective rate with 120 Hz per eye.

Pretty sure, but I'll leave that to folks that own the Panny (4000 would be the same in that regard). I don't recall any discussion of it voiding the warranty with the previous generations though.

Any idea of the price range for the future Epson LCoS based projectors?

Oh I forgot to mention the CFI / frame creation - I asked about it right at the end of the demo, and they turned it on during 3D of Ice Age - it was pretty subtle, even at the highest setting. I would have liked to have more time to try it out, like with fast panning non-animated material - and try out the different "levels" - the RS20 doesn't have CFI, so curious what I'm missing, and whether I might like it in moderation. Didn't really get a good chance to assess that during the brief demo of it.

hope springs!

Some good info and pics here:

http://www.projectorpoint.com/Webpag...?WebpageId=121

Thankyou DB2, that was awesome information!

I was just hoping for an updated AE4000 without the 3D!
If not, hopefully the price will drop further on the 4000 or they will announce a 2D only version..

well I'm in for a new PJ I guess ill have to sale my 4000

I have the Panasonic 4000, and I enjoyed it as a 2D projector until I got the JVC RS40. (It's still my backup pj.) The 4000 didn't match my previous Sharp 20k DLP in some ways, but it was better in others, so I was fairly happy. When I got the RS40, though, it was a revelation. All I could think was, why the bleep did it take me so long to discover a JVC. At this point, for my home theater, it's hard to imagine anything beating high native contrast. I wouldn't consider going back to an LCD projector unless it was *significantly* better than the 4000. And that's after having as many lamp issues as the average JVC RS40/50/60 owner this year - ie, too many.

I still love 3D. (I'm shooting and creating my own Blu-ray 3D discs. ) But, I intend to hold out until some rave reviews come in on a better 3D projector than my RS40. After all, most of what I watch is still 2D. I don't see early adoption of a second generation pj in the cards for me unless something really spectacular comes along.

I just received my 65" VT30 plasma (the 3D glasses will work with this 3D projector), but I just decided to move to a new city and, with the move, comes a new house. This house has an optional media room, which, of course, will become my home theater.

Floor plan here. Click Interactive Floor Plan tab > Second Floor > Media Room

The room is 15'-9" by 15'-8" and I will have the slope to 9' ceilings.

Since I am new to the projector scene, I could use a little advice:

• What are the length limits for high speed HDMI cables? [Edit]I think I answered this one by looking at Monoprice and I see 100 ft. high speed HDMI cables. I don't need anything near that long, but would that work?
• I would like to put the equipment rack in the closet. Since I have a Logitech Harmony H1, how do I point the remote at the screen, but have the signal reach all of the equipment that's in the closet? Is that was an IR repeater does? How does this work? [Edit]I just looked on Logitech's web site. It looks like I need the Harmony 900 with IR blaster.
• What type of screen do I need to get for the best results with this projector?
• Why not have a large 16x9 screen and just have the black bars during 2.35:1 movies? What does all of this "lens memory" stuff actually accomplish? I really don't want to have to get some kind of shifting screen cropping mechanism.
• Am I correct in assuming that this projector mounts to a pole or platform that hangs from the ceiling?
• What are some of the best room acoustical treatments available that also reduce light reflection such as the light reflecting from a projector screen?

Maz78,

Same here; don't need 3D since I wear glasses most of my life.

Joe Clark,

Ditto. LCD does not do it for me anymore. I still prefer JVC's contrast w/o using dynamic iris though I'm very happy w/ my Sony HW15 in terms of overall color, brightness and contrast, in that order, comparing to my old RS2. The price is also about 40% less but JVC has the edge in built quality.

One good thing I noticed the Panny is built in Japan while JVC is China. It is not necessarily bad since most of my Apple products were built there as well, as long as someone does a great job in QC supervision.

I have been using discrete codes with and IR to RS-232 converter since I got the 4000. It is the only way to go, also eliminates the need to hit "ok" to shut it down. Also switch picture modes with one click.

Yeah, I also use an RS232 solution, but it's a pain, would love to get rid of that box on top of the projector and the extra device in Harmony setup.

There were prices announced last year when they had planned to release their LCoS projectors and before then ran into issues with actually manufacturing the LCoS chips (see the existing thread - HERE). However, as the market has changed over the past year I suspect the prices will be lower, especially for 2D only models. Epson has not yet announced their plans for 3D projectors, but it is expected this info will be released, and perhaps demos provided, at the IFA (Germany) and CEDIA (USA) trade shows in early Sept. There have been some hints that Epson would bring out a LCD 3D projector and given that Panasonic is usng D9 Epson LCD chips, there will probably be an Epson LCD 3D model(s) based on these same D9 chips. If Epson follows their normal pattern there will probably be at least 2 models offered. It's still unknown what plans Epson has for a LCoS based 3D model.