Panasonic PT-AR100 MSRP$ 1,999 - 4000U replacement... kind of - Page 20

Originally Posted by ravic

seems like the "mask area" just chops the picture off. The projector still projects black in that space.

So you will see some light spillage in the masked area. It just gives you the ability to keep the picture clean and only on the screen.

Originally Posted by SVM

Looking for some of your feedback if this PJ would fit my needs. I have a 92" draper 16:9 pull up traveller screen with grey finish and the pj will be on a coffee table in the family room at 9-9.5 ft distance. We are watching this from 12.5 - 13ft away from the screen. If I have to move PJ any further back it will have to be placed 17ft away behind my sofa.

Brought a Mitsubishi HC4000 last week and tried this setup and ended up returning. Great little PJ and fills the screen nicely but I realized It does not have the brightness I am typically used to on my 50 inch lcd tv and plasma screens. Being family room there is also ambient light that killed the fun. The placement on HC4000 was also somewhat difficult with no lens shift and this led me to look for a bright PJ and panasonic seems to be one recommended around in the reviews with Epson 8350.

Picture quality and brightness are cruical for me, around 1K price Panasonic seems to be a good value. Any thoughts if this would be a good PJ in my setup without being too bright?

Thx

Originally Posted by Grayson73

Which projector has more vertical lens shift? AR100U or 8350?

Also, bulbs for the 8350 are currently $91 and up, while the AR100U is $315 and up. Anyone think the AR100U bulb will drop? If not, prices are pretty close since the AR100U is about $150 less than the 8350.

Placement flexibility. Epson's home theater projectors have always had excellent placement flexibility, and the Home Cinema 8350 follows in that tradition. The manual zoom/focus lens has a range of 2.1:1, just like the Home Cinema 8100. It can display a 100" diagonal 16:9 image from 9' 9" to 20' 10", or a 120" diagonal image from 11' 9" to 25' 1". The 8350's zoom range is the longest you will find on any home theater projector. As far as lens shift goes, the Home Cinema 8350 has a vertical range of just under two picture heights and a horizontal range of 25% in either direction.

Placement flexibility. The AR100U has a 2.0:1 manual zoom lens, plus manual lens shift. The lens shift uses the same joystick controller found on the AE7000, complete with the same protective cover to keep it from getting jostled when not in use. With the lens shift, you can place the bottom edge of the image 15% of the image's height above or below the centerline of the lens, which makes both ceiling mounting and coffee table mounting a possibility. Of course, using the center position of the shift also allows for a rear shelf mount. The horizontal shift can move the image 25% of the image width in either direction, which allows for some creative installations should something prevent you from placing the projector on-axis with the screen. When planning your installation, think of the lens shift range like an oval, rather than a rectangle; you cannot reach the extreme horizontal and extreme vertical ends of the shift range simultaneously.

Originally Posted by mtucker

There is a horizontal and vertical screen position setting in the menu, but you want to use the lens shift to get the picture centered on the screen. It is generally suggested to leave the electronic positioning at zero.

Projector reviews posted their settings http://www.projectorreviews.com/pana...alibration.php for the REC 709 mode (the chart near the bottom of the page). It is a little confusing as they say it is for REC 709, but the chart is labeled Cinema. I fired mine up last night for the first time. Looks nice. I will be using the Digital Video Essentials Bluray to dial in my settings.

Originally Posted by Grayson73

Which projector has more vertical lens shift? AR100U or 8350?

Also, bulbs for the 8350 are currently $91 and up, while the AR100U is $315 and up. Anyone think the AR100U bulb will drop? If not, prices are pretty close since the AR100U is about $150 less than the 8350.

Placement flexibility. While both projectors have 2.0:1 zoom lenses, the AR100U's lens shift range has about 20% more vertical range than the 8350. This may make the AR100U easier to install in certain situations. The AR100U can be easier to ceiling mount without the use of an extension tube, and it can be placed under a low table without forcing you to lower the screen on the wall. Of course, either projector can be placed on a rear shelf. The 8350 loses 39% of its potential light when used at the telephoto end of the zoom compared to 46% on the AR100U. So in both cases you should take potential light loss from the 2.0x zoom lenses into account when planning your screen size and throw distance.

Originally Posted by izakmarais

From projector central's comparison (sorry first post so I am not allowed ot post a URL):

Originally Posted by Argyle

So, one thing is that Panasonic doesn't advertise this projector as having Smooth Screen like their previous models. I am considering upgrading to this model from an AX100, and (at 720p) that was one of my favorite features of my projector. How is the screen door effect relative to competing 1080p models?

Originally Posted by FACP

Hmmm... this might finally be the projector I need to upgrade my AE900U after 5 years of service. I've been so scared of upgrading because I do not want to mess something that just works. I have a dedicated home theater with light control, a 120 inch 2.35:1 Carada screen married to my AE900U. I do have an old Panamorph P750 anamorphic lens that i'm anxious to try out with this new projector. Hope this would work out well. Will be purchasing this week.

Originally Posted by Grayson73

The manual says that lens shift is 65% of screen height. My projector is below the bottom of the screen, which would be 50% of screen height correct? Therefore, lens shift should work in my situation?

PT-AR100U Lens Shift

This Panasonic has plenty of lens shift as well as lens flexibility ! For that same 100 inch screen, the PT-AR100U can be placed, (normal or inverted), anywhere from about 32 inches above the top of the screen surface, all the way down to 32 inches below the bottom of the screen surface. That is measured from the center of the lens. There is also a good amount of horizontal lens shift. Using horizontal lens shift will partially limit the range of the vertical lens shift (and vice versa).

The combination of the wide range zoom lens, plenty of lens shift, gives you the flexibility to ceiling mount or shelf mount the PT-AR100U in almost all room situations.

Originally Posted by TruSpyder95

I do however have a question for the other pannyowners as well as anyone else who could help. Would it be worth it to calibrate the projector with like 15 hours on it, or wait? Also, is the "Disney WOW" calibration disc a good tool for a PJ noob like myself?

Originally Posted by Mr.G

The vertical shift range (in inches) is determined by the size of your screen which you don't mention. As you say the manual states that the vertical shift range is 65% of the screen height.

Example: 100" (16:9) screen has a height of 49"
Vertical shift is 31.85" (above or below the screen surface)

Example: 120" (16:9) screen has a height of 59"
Vertical shift is 38.35" (above or below the screen surface)

So you can see you have plenty of vertical range for most conventional installations.

From the Projector Reviews website:

Originally Posted by Grayson73

So in your example for 100", the projector would normally be in the middle of the screen at 24.5" height. That means that I can have the projector 31.85"-24.5", or 7.35" below the bottom of the screen, correct?

With the lens shift, you can place the bottom edge of the image 15% of the image's height above or below the centerline of the lens, which makes both ceiling mounting and coffee table mounting a possibility.

Thank you for your response.

The vertical lens shift for this size (100") screen is 31.9 inches or 809 mm. That means the projector can be mounted above or below the center of the screen 31.9 inches. Or the image can be shifted up or down (from the center lens position) 31.9 inches.

You may find our online throw distance calculator helpful in setting up your installation.

http://panasonic.net/avc/projector/c...169/ar100.html

We hope this information is helpful to you.

Thank you for contacting Panasonic.