Panasonic PT-AR100 MSRP$ 1,999 - 4000U replacement... kind of - Page 21

Guys thanks for all the great advice on this thread. This is my first ever projector purchase and I was stunned by how good it looked. Getting the lens perfectly centered was the hardest part.

For those of you asking, I attached a picture I snapped of it all running in full indirect daylight.

It must be the angle of the photo, but that projector does not look level.

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe that is why it was so hard to get the picture centered? kevinca, did you use the lens shift "stick" that is behind the pull-off cover near the lens?

It's not even close to level. The keystone is -8. There does not seem to be any warping. The sides of the image are perfectly straight. Is this a problem? How different would it look if it were closer to level. Yes I did use the lens shift joystick also.

You should be able to center the picture with only lens shift. Level that projector!

You lose some sharpness and detail when keystone correction is used. My projector is about the same relative height to the screen and I got my image placed perfectly using the lens shift joystick only and no keystone correction.

Never use keystone!!! You will lose your native resolution.

I find one of test pattern, the full frame grid, is very useful to setup the projector. It does not matter if the lens is centered or not. The lens needs to be straight to the screen, so the projector will level, normally the screen is vertical. Reset keystone to 0. Use only lens shift to make all lines parallel and fit your screen, so the rectangle will be rectangle. Otherwise it's difficult to tell if the lens level and straight. That is what lens shift is for. Hope this will help.

Regarding the keystone changing the native resolution, I noticed that the default had appeared as 1080i and was wondering why that had occurred. This explains a lot. I won't have time to mess with the level until next week sometime. I appreciate the input.

I also used the REC709 reference levels from the review posted a few pages earlier and then queued up Inglorious Basterds. It looked much warmer and true to the colors you see in the movie theater.

You are mixing up your terms here. Keystoning causes a projector algorithm to kick in and compress part of the image to correct the picture geometry, the correction causes a loss of apparent resolution and a dimming effect especially around the edges, perhaps even adding in artifacts.

The native resolution of the AR100U is 1080p that cannot be changed but you can change the scaling by keystoning.

When setting the image size on this projector, it it better to use the manual toggle and zoom, or use the positioning in the pj menu? Does it even make a difference?

Keep the H and V position settings at 0, keystone at 0, then use zoom and lens shift to get the image positioned where you want it. There's a "setup" screen that is black with a grid of green lines which should help you get everything level and square.

Cool, thank you. I used the manual toggle when aligning the screen, buti just wanted to check with the knowledge base here as I'm still trying to learn as much as I can about projectors.

By the way PatrickGSR, What screen material are you using with your panny?

Adjusting the mounting to make everything "level and square" and lens shift for position/location and zoom for size.

I'm using the old RS-MaxxMudd paint mixture just painted on the drywall in the room, with a black felt border around it - the original screen I painted for my SP4805 six years ago. I'm planning on repainting the screen with a new mixture, after sanding it all down, and will likely be spraying it instead of rolling it on.

thanks for so much information here

Im getting very tempted to do the same and spray a Silver Fire mix onto my Wilsonart.

I tried Projection Calculator Pro on projectorcentral.com and was astonished at the results.

11'6" throw distance, 106" screen.

PT-AR100U (2800 lumens): 32fL Video, 64fL Presentations
Planar PD7150 (1000 lumens): 29fL Video, 58fL Presentations

Is this accurate? I thought the PT-AR100U would be MUCH brighter than my Planar PD7150. 3fL does not seem to be that much.

Ill be the first to admit that I dont know as much about projectors as plenty of others on this board, but those numbers do seem a little strange to me as well.

I would have imagined that with almost 3 times the lumens, the Panny would be blowing the Planar out of the fL waters.

I am pretty sure I want to get AR100U but I have a couple questions. I am a little confused about the amount of lens shift it has. I would like to mount the projector on a suspended shelf that is 6'5" high. I would like to project a 90" image from 9 ft back and have the top of the image be 6 ft high. Is this possible? Would mounting it upside down help or does it project straight in front of itself as a default? If this setup doesn't work, how far back must I mount the projector keeping the height of the shelf and screen the same.

Also, I've noticed that priced seem to be going up on this projector (I first looked at it two weeks ago). What is the best deal at this point?

Try Coderguy's projection calculator. Select Panasonic, then AR100U. Change the mount from ceiling to shelf. Input all of the various measurements you included in your post.

http://www.eliteprojectorcalculator.com/

Special pricing on the AR100U ended April 1 and price went back to $1200 at most dealers that advertise on AVS Forum. There are lower prices if you Google but they may not be authorized dealers.

You own the Planar PD7150, correct? Did it ever impress you as being too bright? If the answer is no then obviously the quoted fL is wrong. A white screen on the AR100U is so bright at full power you squint your eyes, no exaggeration.

The ar100u has a brighter near-best mode than other projectors. Although the most accurate mode is not super bright, you can increase the brightness tons more and still maintain good color. On an Epson LCD or other Panny LCD's, when you try this the image starts looking too cool, too washed out, and too green.

That is what makes this PJ so much brighter, even at 2000 lumens the color is still relatively close to the purist calibrated modes.

Why was this projector on sale and now goes up 10%? I was so close to buying but now I see the price has gone up. Was there a reason for the lowered price? I've never seen something go down in price in tech and then go up. So odd...

Welcome to the world of projectors, it's not as bad as the w6000 which has been going all crazy in prices. Last year you could have bought a w6000 for $2000, last month $1000 to $1300, this month $1500.

It's just MFR stock and promotions mostly.

Well it is stupid. Just makes me angry to feel manipulated like that. No reason for that other than a PJ being a more emotional purchase than others.


Why is 68% bad? What is average for 'or equal' PJ's?

I am not sure how much vertical lens shift this projector really has, the manual describes it in an insane fashion and the reviewers contradict each other. I need someone to measure it.

I think it has 100% of screen height from center-point each way, this means for a 100" Diagonal 16:9 screen, it can go about 25" above or below the top of the screen. If someone has better info, please let me know.

Here is the Panasonic calculator:

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

Even though I don't like messing with my setup I'll take a vertical shift measurement tonight when I'm using it. My ceiling mount center lens position is about 2" below the top of my 120" screen.

Yah, I don't trust that calculator, I've seen mistakes made in both the Panny manuals and there. If it is accurate, then it's a huge amount of lens shift and that would make it the highest amount of lens shift I've ever seen on a projector. It might be, just not sure. It would be great if 1 or 2 of you could measure it, thanks.

Okay, I tried measuring the vertical shift last night. Here's my setup, 120" (16:9) screen, lens center line is 2" below top of screen surface, throw distance (lens to screen) is 166". Without changing anything on my setup I was able to move the bottom of the image down 18.5", when I tried to shift the image upward it went way off the top of the screen. Since I wasn't about to take my projector down from its mount I decided to zoom the image down to where it approximated a 72" diagonal screen. With this size I was able to shift the bottom of the image (up and down) a total of 47" which I think it is pretty darn respectable. Maybe you can plug these numbers into your calculator and see if they jive.

Assuming you negated the 2" drop when you shrunk down to 72", I think that is 32%. That would be about half of the stated 68% but they could be calculating the 68% as of the total delta and not the shift from any once center point.

Did the screen have any shift horizontal as that might affect the vertical max/min?