Panasonic PT-AR100 MSRP$ 1,999 - 4000U replacement... kind of - Page 23

I see on Projector Central that the XD300 first shipped in December 2002 and is XGA 1024X768 4:3 aspect ratio. I had a similar projector (resolution wise) many years ago although it was not DLP. I have no doubt that any of the new projectors, either LCD or DLP, will be noticeably better picture-wise. The AR100U case is larger and the projector is 3 times as heavy as the XD300. Current home theater projectors are 16:9 aspect ratio so you will also have to invest in a new screen if you decide to upgrade. All things to think about.

16:9 does make a nice improvement, and then you are geting all 1080 on the used space. But my policy is that I try to not upgrade unless it is broken

Looks like B&H photo does not expect the price to change till 31/03/2013. It will probably drop but at least I don't expect it to go back to $1499. If it drops to $999 again, that is when I`ll buy - regardless of the status of the man cave

It is still a good projector at $1200 for someone that wants to buy one now. I have been having a great time watching TV and Blurays on it. The price drop to a grand certainly helped sales and activity on this forum, but people expect prices to continuously go down which is probably why there hasn't been much activity on this thread in awhile. Interesting that B&H thinks the price will stay steady until 2013.

For those discussing DIY screens, I went with the Do-able DIY screen about five years ago and have been very happy with it. Its limitations are 1. It is not available roughly east of the Rockies and 2. for a 16:9 screen, you are limited to about 100" diagonal. It is cheap, easy to mount, and has very level RGB levels. http://72.9.159.100/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=617173

I've been going back and forth on this one and the Epson 8350. I am a bit concerned about the huge number of problems reported on the Epson 8350 forum, but it is a tad cheaper right now and Epson has great warranty service. Plus, not a lot of light in my room (no windows, just some light coming down the stairs) so the better blacks on the Epson a more attractive than the lumens on the Panny.

Anyone want to sway me one way or the other?

If you don't need the light cannon go with the 8350 for sure.

Well I am on my 4th replacement 8350. It's great when it works but when it doesn't you get to play refurb replacement roulette. Personally would buy a panny if I had my time back. What about an ae4000?

Will this projector be bright enough for a 1.4 gain 150" screen? It would be ceiling mounted between 16 to 14 foot from the screen in a completely light controlled room painted black. I want a nice vivid picture with some pop.

Can you think of any reason this would be a bad idea? The room is 16 ft wide by 21 ft deep. I plan to have a row of 4 leather seats around 16ish ft from the screen. The room is pre wired for 7.1 with a conduit at 16 from the screen wall with a power outlet on the ceiling next to the conduit.

This house is being built now so i can always change the wiring but need to do so very soon if necessary. The actual room dimensions cant be changed however.

Thanks for any input.

1.4 gain and this things lumen output is quite a bit for a completely light controlled room.

If you have control why not go with something that has better blacks. This thing isn't for people who have perfect control of light.

This just isn't true. You don't have to use all the lumens all the time. The Cinema I mode is not really much brighter than other makes of PJs. In fact it is slightly dimer than a few. So, the idea that it will be too bright for a dark room is not accurate. The nice thing about this thing is it has the lumens when you want them. This may not be the black level king, but it is damn good.

i am planning on getting this projector in a few weeks. the screen i have is a 92" diagonal 1.0 gain so i will probably need a nd filter what size fits this projector and has anyone tried using an adjustable one

like this one http://www.ebay.ca/itm/58mm-ND-Fader...item4ab4359a6e

The lens on the AR100U takes a 85mm filter and you will not find any close to this size that will screw into place on the lens assembly. Anything smaller will need to be taped in place or whatever jerry-rigging you can think of.

Just saw this older thread about Panasonic warranties:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=802513

Anyone know if the AR100U has any such weekly hour/use frequency limit?

That's a pretty old thread you dug up. I doubt it had much validity at the time and certainly would not be legal in either Australia or the U.S. today. I saw your other thread about over-use of this projector and sense your concern, I generally use my AR100U 4-5 hours per day. Much of the marketing for this projector implies it can double as a daytime TV since it battles ambient light fairly well especially when viewing HDTV cable shows. In which case many people are going to put a lot of hours on their projector and will have to ante up for a new bulb every year or two. This projector has a fairly big box and excellent air flow so I don't think your worry over a damaged optical block from over-heating or overuse should be an overriding concern. However, I wrote Panasonic support for an answer to this question and they replied:

oh haha, thanks for doing that. Wow 12 hours we're nowhere near that. It's just the number of bulb strikes per day that concerns me more than anything. Sometimes it's 2 per day, and a few times I think has even been 3 in one day, which sounds like way too much to me.

I'll have to tell my wife to watch it with the strikes lol

I will have fairly good light control in my (to be finished) cave. I really like the features of the AR-100U but it may be a bit too bright for the intended use. On paper the Epson 8350 would be a better choice for black levels but I am a bit uneasy about the reported potential problems with the Epson. As some of the previous posts hint a ND filter may be the solution to reduce the brightness on the AR-100U which I am hoping will improve the black levels to that of the 8350. Has anyone done some experimenting with a ND filter on the AR-100U? If so, kindly share your observations.

I'd go with the 8350. Black level is one thing, but contrast is a bigger deal and won't be solved by an ND filter. The reported problems are overblown.

You evidently missed the recent ND filter post, the AR100U takes a 85mm size lens ring and there is currently no ND (glass) filter available this big. As you probably know the 8350 and AR100U have the same contrast ratio 50,000:1 and if you take the time to calibrate the projector in eco-mode and in one of the low light settings (Cinema 1 or REC 709) it can look very good. Remember both these projectors are budget models so you can do better if you step up your budget and of course some people will urge you to consider a DLP projector assuming you are not susceptible to RBE. Read the Art Feierman review and go from there.

http://www.projectorreviews.com/pana...100u/index.php

Thanks Mr G. The ND filter post is exactly what led me to asking the question to find out if anyone has actually tried it. The smaller size of the available ND filter when mounted may also lead to some unwanted vignetting on the image.

Since the screen in my cave will effectively cover the only window it has to be removable. (during movie time the window will be temporaly covered with a blackout material to prevent any light from filtering through). My budget for a screen is about $200 which allows me to buy either a 100 " diagonal FAVI or making a fixed frame screen of similar size that will fold away towards the ceiling when not in use.

I am leaning towards the FAVI but it has a gain of 1.3 and that will contribute to the fact that the AR-100U may be too bright in the dark room - even when set at it's dimmest settings. I believe a perfect ND filter of the proper size will have a good chance of improving the black levels when used in the dark room. However, the fact that such a filter may not be available may kill that idea from the word go, unless a smaller filter may actually work without any negative effects on the image quality.

Edit PS Anyone with an AR-100U will be able to test if there will be any vignetting or other image quality issues caused by the a 55mm size of the available ND filter. Just place a piece of thick paper or carton with a 55 mm diameter hole in front of the lens. Look out for any darkening of the image corners with respect to the rest of the image.

Hi everybody, just read through this entire thread and read every review I can find. I think I've made the decision to pull the trigger on the AR100U.

Going to upgrade my AX200U. It's 4.5 years old and has been exhibiting problems for quite some time now. Flickering, flashing, burnt, and dust globs all the way down the left side when anything red is shown (Netflix loading screen is a mess).... and lamp is at 2300 hours with it in high dynamic mode for most the time.

I have it shelf mounted. Throwing from 12.5' to a 120" matte white 1.1 gain screen. Living room set up with a decent amount of ambient light. I don't usually like to watch things in complete darkness. I use the projector for 70% movies/shows on BluRay, or Netflix/Hulu through a PS3, and 30% for gaming on PS3/XBox.

I believe this is the projector for me....correct?

Where is the best place to purchase? I'm not the patient type and hoping to purchase sometime next week. Just looking for the best prices along with a good extended warranty (protection plan). Does B&H still include one lamp replacement with their protection plan on projectors?

There is no reason to go with a 55mm ND2 filter since you will easily find reasonably priced 82mm neutral density ND4 glass filters ($25 or less) on eBay. The 82mm size would nestle into the projector lens opening without need of the threaded ring and would eliminate any concerns about vignetting. Of course how you would go about securing the filter from falling out would be your next concern. The subject of ND filtering for this line of Panasonic projectors was first introduced in the PT-AE7000U thread where one individual used an ND4 filter and thought it worked great. However the 7000U is 2000 lumens compared to the 2800 lumens of the AR100U so it would seem that an ND4 filter would be the one to try first. In camera terms the ND2 filter is one stop down, the ND4 is two stops down and if needed the ND8 is three stops down.

Full Compass has it for $1193 shipped.

I would say I have the similar situation. Let me know how it works for you.

Well i finally got new projector in a few days ago. All i have to say is wow!! Its great. If i had one complaint it would be the red. I find the reds look a little dull. But i can live with that. Overall a great product. Plus its super quiet.

Thanks again Mr G. The discussion on the PT-AE7000 thread was exactly the comment I was looking for.

If I remember right you returned your first AR100U because the colors were not competing with your LG plasma set. I have always felt that the reds were quite strong straight out of the box which seemed appropriate considering the 'red rich' bulb used in this projector. I have revisited Art Feierman's review on his Projector Reviews website and see that he has added more pictures and comments. You may want to try their quick calibration of RGB to see if this helps.

http://www.projectorreviews.com/pana...alibration.php

If you go this route I'd be very interested to learn of your results.

I would think anyone upgrading from the AX200U projector would be quite pleased with the increased resolution, brightness, contrast and sharpness. As the Panasonic graphic shows the AR100U is in the natural 'evolution' of this line of projectors.

http://panasonic.net/avc/projector/s...ema_projector/

AVS sponsors (Visual Apex and Projector People) are selling this projector for $1199 which is the going price just about everywhere. B&H offers SageMax warranties now and I doubt this warranty is as generous as in years past.

Okay help a noob out here :-). I searched and searched but never found a definitive if the AR100u is capable of displaying on a 2:35.1 screen? Or does it just change the aspect ratio on a 16x9 screen to fit 2:35.1 material? I just purchased this receiver and now trying to decide what screen to buy. Thanks people!