Panasonic PT-AR100 MSRP$ 1,999 - 4000U replacement... kind of - Page 25

Thanks Mr.G for your help,

So, I decided to go ahead and do a simpler test to begin with in hopes of not having to tear apart my whole setup (which I was prepared to do to get this thing narrowed down). I stopped by blockbuster and picked up the "This Means War" Blu Ray again, I wanted the same Blu Ray that started me questioning the projector. I don't now why I didn't do this before, but I simply took the disk into the bedroom where the ps3 slim is connected via HDMI to a Vizio 47" LED television (1080p). Pushed play and Voila!...the same mess of a picture I saw projecting from the AR100U. Digital grainy noise from hell (definitely not film grain by the way). Slappin' mosquitoes.

I think this pretty much dials it down to either the ps3 blu ray players, or I just fell victim to a really really bad Blu Ray. I do however still see some digital noise when watching "True Blood" (not nearly to the extent of "This Means War") but I think I may be just looking for it. So, it's probably a mixture of both things as far as I can tell (not the best Blu Rays + PS3 Blu Ray Drive). If any of you happen to watch "This Means War" using your projector, please let me know how it looks to you.

Can any of you suggest an awesome Blu Ray to really knock my socks off with this projector. I want to feed it somethin' real. (I've read the Dark Night discs are pretty awesome, any other suggestions?)

You may have missed this article on the lead page:

20 Blu-ray Discs To Show Off Your HD Display

http://www.avsforum.com/a/20-blu-ray-discs-to-show-off-your-hd-display

Avatar for the eye candy.

$379 for a replacement bulb is pretty excessive, right?

It's not cheap if that's what you mean. The bulb can be purchased at B&H Video for $330 while the bulb for the Epson 5010 and 6010 projectors at the same store are $299.

With projectors I'm always reminded of the saying "If you wanna play, you gotta pay."

$309 is the cheapest currently.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&safe=off&q=pt-ar100u+lamp&aq=f&aqi=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1280&bih=661&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=11167360966868215315&sa=X&ei=69DpT7iUAsSN6QGYz8GyDQ&ved=0CGQQ8wIwAw#scoring=tp

Thanks for putting it in perspective. I suppose the bulb isn't as expensive as I initially thought.

On a side note, what is everyone using for ceiling mounts?

You're going to get a wide range of suggestions for mounts including Monoprice, Visual Apex, eBay, etc. These may be good economical buys but the best mount I've purchased and used is the Peerless PRG-UNV in either black or white. Yes, it costs more than the others but it is a quality product. Your choice.

http://www.amazon.com/White-Precision-Universal-Projector-PRG-UNV-W/dp/B000WBLGAK/

Got the AR100 recently, curious what settings people are using for the noise reduction and detail clarity settings?

I find the projector to be a little soft out of the box (honestly the image looks not that great in general before calibration). I'm using the REC709 mode, eco lamp mode, with Art's settings plus some careful brightness/contrast/color/hue using just that Disney WOW disk.

I've tried leaving sharpness at 0 (raising this adds artifacts) and raising detail clarity up to 4 or 5. Some movies are noise fests (like Harry Potter 8) other less grainy movies look a little better with more detail clarity. The two noise reduction settings seem to do a decent job of removing noise without making the whole image soft. It's tough to a find a good balance between all of that.

Also, another thing that made a nice difference was upping the low gamma setting to 4. This projector shows differences in the darkness regions but without changing the gamma stuff in the darkest areas disappears (and I don't want to bring up the floor by increasing brightness).

Anyway, just curious what other people are seeing in regards to the noise/sharpness settings.

Before I purchase this mount, does the panny have enough lens shift to mount it flush to the ceiling (9ft)?

Lastly, I am 90% sure I will purchase today... Anyone with buyers remorse?

Although you don't mention screen size (I'm assuming 120" diagonal) this projector has more than enough lens shift for your 9 foot ceiling. You may or may not know that the ideal location of the projector in relation to the screen is dead center. As you move farther away from this location the more lens shift is required. Ideally you don't want to locate the center of the lens any higher than the top of the screen. In my case it meant using a 10" extension to drop the center of the projector lens just below the top of my 120" screen.

The AR100U fills a niche for people who desire a bright projector able to compete with ambient light. The family room or living room is where you usually want to locate this projector. It's not really intended for a man-cave where ambient light is not a factor. In that situation you are probably better served by some other projector with less lumens and better contrast. The AR100U has a bright colorful picture and at least in my case quite sharp as the convergence is pretty much spot on. It is a very versatile projector that can be tweaked many different ways. If you're looking for stories of buyer's remorse read through this thread, you won't find many. You really need to know what you are buying and what it can and can't do.

Based on your response and the feedback from this entire thread (Art's review may have also helped a tad too), I just pulled the trigger on the Panny from projectorpeople.com and bought a semi-adjustable ceiling mount (Sanus Systems VMPR1) with 2 day shipping. Hopefully I can get this baby set up before the UFC 148 on Saturday!!!

Thanks to all the great info on this thread I am getting ready to pull the trigger on one of these! A couple quick questions if I may from anyone that owns one of these. My only real main concern is the fan noise. I hate noises when watching movies. I keep all equipment in an adjacent room, especially the noisy playstation. Most movies will be watched on eco mode. The fan exhausts out the front. If the projector is mounted in front of seating will this help reduce the amount of noise heard? Also is the fan noise constant or does it vary with the picture on screen?

Thank you,
Michael

Michael, the AR100U is not as quiet as many of the other projectors in this price range. What one person may find 'quiet enough', another will find too noisy for their tastes. I have my projector mounted about 3 feet over the center seat in my movie room. In eco-mode and while watching movies I don't notice it, in dead quiet scenes if I listen it's there but it's not intrusive enough to bother me. The fan noise is constant but it will change briefly during input changes, like going from cable HDTV to Blu-ray. I didn't engineer this projector but think the 280 watt bulb it uses needs a beefier fan than most and may contribute to the sound level. Someone else asked earlier in this thread about fan noise I sensed they were pretty picky about it so I advised against buying this projector and that's my response to you if that's an overriding concern.

I thought I would object to the fan noise with this PJ, but in actual use I don't notice it at all. It is a bit louder than the AX200 it replaced. It is certainly no louder than a normal fan running in a home for heating and AC.

Interesting projector. Looks like some good deals were had. I'm going to consider this one if my HC4000 doesn't prove bright enough on my 120" 2.35 BD screen. I've seen some posts regarding CIH setups - basically that it can be done but the details are pretty vague. Can those who are actually doing CIH with this projector chime in? Does the projector rescale when switching to 16X9 with a push of the button, basically a projecting pillar box image? Any light spill issues?

This is probably a very dumb question, but are there really only 2 16x9 options when trying to adjust the screen size? 16x9 and 16x9 small? This is my first projector experience and before I received it, I painted a 120" diagonal screen on my wall and mounted it 14' feet away on the ceiling. To my surprise, I quickly realized I could not project a 120" screen size from that distance because the "16x9 small" option was way too small and the regular "16x9" option was way too big. I'm assuming this is all very normal and due to a lack of planning on my part, right?

Since I did not want to move the projector after mounting it on the ceiling (and outta space), I basically connected it to my HTPC and taped off the border. From 14' away on normal 16x9 setting, my screen is now from 140 to 150"! It looks good, but am I missing something? I then set it the HTPC's screen resolution to 1920x1080, but why does changing the refresh rate from 30 to something like 60 change the resolution size making it taller?

find the zoom ring and adjust away. no those are not the only sizes.

I knew I was an idiot for not reading the manual. Thanks so much.

As you've already been told and have probably discovered by now is the lens assembly is actually comprised of two parts - the zoom ring and the focus ring. Look at page 29 in the owners manual that came with the projector which explains the setup process.

Undo any settings you have made and go back to square one. Use the zoom ring enlarge the picture to fill the screen area and then use the focus ring to sharpen the image. It's that simple.

I couldn't remember when I bought my AR100U, then checked here. CRAP! I missed the 90-day window for purchasing a SquareTrade extended warranty. Now I'm starting to get paranoid that this thing may break in under 2 years.

Hi guys, given the same lumens, which technology offer the brighter image? DLP or 3LCD?

Are you asking about lumens actually measured on a screen from each of these two different projectors...or you asking about projector lumen ratings? The two can be very different because of how manufacturers state their lumen output.

If you're asking if the AR100U is a bright projector - yes it is. Will it overcome any and all ambient light you throw at it - no.

You'll have to ask someone else about the brightest DLP projector.

Yeah, I'm asking about given the same screen, would a DLP pj brighter than 3LCD pj (assume both has same ANSI lumens)? or vice versa? I read that DLP pj usually brighter than 3LCD pj, is that true?

If you're comparing the AR100U to the Optoma TH1060P - the Optoma wins in the brightness category.

I'm actually very interested in AR100U & Optoma HD23, it seems that the Optoma TH1060P doesn't support 24fps

Edit: ok, just saw the link you provided, from the reviews, it seems that TH1060P does support 24p
Edited by WereWolf84 - 7/13/12 at 7:22am

Art Feierman of Projector Reviews recently posted a video review of the PT-AR100U which is a basic overview of this projector. Entertaining.

http://vimeo.com/user12471071/pt-ar100u

I have a few questions regarding this projector:

1. Is it very hot? Hotter than a Mitsubishi HC4000? The place where I live in hovers around 90F. I'm worried about the bright hot lamp and it's reliability.
2. I've heard that the placement of this projector is different from others. Ideally, the lens should be at dead center of the screen vertically, unlike others that normally have an offset that requires the projector to be placed at the top or bottom of the screen. Is this correct?

The ideal placement of the projector at the center of the screen is rarely achieved and that is why there is a liberal amount of lens shift with the AR100U. The more you move off the center position the more chance of distortion - however for most installations it is so minor (assuming it's there at all) that no one ever notices. I have my AR100U dropped down to a level that is close to the top of my screen and I use the lens shift to center the picture on the screen, zoom and focus and you're basically done.

The heat generated by this projector is nicely controlled by the fan - exhaust heat feels warm and I have to put my hand right up next to the vent to feel.

The owner's manual states the operating environment for this projector. I've included that section of the manual. Even at 90 F it's fine.

I'm hoping this projector will fit the bill in our family room but a raised ceiling and a ceiling fan will complicate things a bit. I might be limited to mounting this on the back wall and throwing the image about 22-23 feet onto a 92-inch screen or so. I know it's a light cannon but does it have enough lumens to light up that screen from that distance with a good deal of ambient light? I might be able to mount it right next to the downrod of the ceiling fan at about 12-13 feet away from the screen but I've have to get creative.

You can't do 92" screen from 22 feet - 17 feet is the farthest you can be with that size screen. And at 12 to 13 feet it will be plenty bright.

http://www.eliteprojectorcalculator.com/