Panasonic PT-AR100 MSRP$ 1,999 - 4000U replacement... kind of - Page 29

Here's my personal preference order:

1. Blue Jeans Cable - BJC Series-1 Belden Bonded-Pair HDMI Cable: 40 Foot - $132
2. Blue Jeans Cable - Tartan Cable 24 AWG HDMI Cable: 40 foot - $31

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/hdmi-cables/hdmi-cable.htm

3. Monoprice - 40ft 24AWG CL2 Standard HDMI® Cable - Black - $33.15

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240&cs_id=1024005&p_id=3964&seq=1&format=2

For in wall installation you need CL2 rated cables. Both companies mentioned are AVS Forum supporters.

I used Blue Jeans Cables for a long time. I switched to monoprice the last couple years and I've run 50' HDMI runs with their cheaper cables on HDMI 1.4 with 3D. Just make sure it's rated for in wall and 3D (if noted) on monoprice's site.

By the way, be sure you test the kinect out with that large of a screen. I wanted to do the same, and I realized that the screen is so big - the Kinect can only see you from a maximum of 8-9 ft away. You have to stand closer to the screen than you think, and it actually can get dizzy. Based on your screen size.

This made me downgrade to a paltry 60" plasma in my living room (which is 20x20 ft!). Embarassing, but Kinect is no good up close on a huge screen (as much as your dreams may tell you).

I played some PS3 move games in 3D (baseball, tennis, etc) and it was too big that close. You may feel like you're actually in the game, but the feeling is wrong, it doesn't work well. Try it out....

One thing that concerns me is the price of this projector. Right now I can't find it for under $1300, but when it launched it was $1000. To me it's apparent Panasonic knows they have a gem in the rough/competition pricing is higher. Why was it so low in the first place?

I'm one of those Epson 8350 vs AR100u debaters. I know the Epson 8350 produces a beautiful picture, but the extra lumens of the AR100U...am I going to have to be the one to put them side by side and give a comparison review? It seems like every review that does that has not seen them back to back and are going off memory.

This has been asked many times in this thread. Answer: it launched at $1300 (I know that's what I paid), however within a few months Panasonic decided to offer a $300 rebate to generate more interest in the projector. After the rebate expired the price went back to $1300. No big mystery. Projector People has had the AR100U ranked in its Top Ten Sellers pretty much all year. With that kind of sell through why lower the price? It's already a bargain.

Don't underestimate the picture on the AR100U it's beautiful too. The 100 has been a successful seller and almost trouble free projector for Panasonic. Yes, there have been problems for a few customers (no projector line is perfect) but compare it against many of the others in this price range and you will understand why it's a best seller. The Epson 8350 is a two year old projector and the AR100U is one year old. I doubt at this late date anyone is going to bother to test the two against each other.

There have been several reviews comparing the two, so the date doesn't matter. Epson has no trump for the 8350, and Panasonic has none for the AR100U.

The Epson 3010 was a tobacle. The 3020 is probably better in 3D, which is what it sorely needed - but I have not seen it in person. The 3010's 2D was worse than the 8350, and it's 3D was unacceptable (I returned it).

So, an 8350 vs AR100U is still a very good comparison review in my opinion.

Projector people had it for $999 without mail in rebate, so I don't really call that a rebate. That lasted for a few months!

I've owned the AX100 and AX200 so I know what panasonic is capable of, but I've also seen the 8350 and it looked awesome. There is a major difference between usage though (AR100U is meant for lounge room with lights on) vs 8350 performs well in that environment, but better in a theater.

The supply and demand really fluctuates prices. The 8350 was down to $1050 at some point in the last year, as well.

A theater environment brings out the blacks. When I had my ax100/ax200, projecting on a white wall with lights on, the picture was pretty incredible. The eye gets fooled once you put the projector in a ferrari environment meant for movies. The black level (or lack thereof) shows up immediately.

For example, I thought my Sim2 projector looked great on a white wall. When I painted around the screen area black - the image popped out and looked 3D. But when I watched 2.35 content, the gray bars were very noticeable. They were not noticeable when I hadn't painted the wall black (it was seamless). So you can trick the eye, and with a projector like the AX/AR series - that works out best (non theater room use). There are a few applications where a dedicated theater environment could work alright for the AR100U (very large screen, eco mode, etc) - but I'm guessing it's too much of a flame thrower in those cases (raising black level). Tricking the eye involves understanding contrast ratio and perceived difference between dark and light colors.

Thankfully I'm not looking for a dedicated projector so I'm interested in the AR100U.
Edited by elmalloc - 12/30/12 at 7:30am

Thanks for your input.

Indeed Projector People and B&H sold the AR100U briefly for $1000 but in time this error was corrected. Panasonic intended the AR100U to sell for $1300 with a $300 rebate. For some reason there was a communication mix-up and the online merchants thought they could sell it for $1000 and apply the $300 rebate - netting some lucky customers the projector for $700. It was never intended to sell this low.

The AX100 and AX200 were nice bright projectors at 2000 lumens but were limited by their 6000:1 contrast ratio. If you ever see the AR100U you will likely be surprised by the contrast improvement and black levels.

I'm looking to pull the trigger on this PJ in the next few weeks to replace my old InFocus SP4805 but I want to be sure it's a good fit. I have a 90" diagonal screen using black out cloth with a throw distance of about 12.5' I'm a bit worried this guy is going to be too bright. I have good light control and I have no problem running it with the lights on or completely off. With the 4805 I had to have the room quite dark but there is a world of difference between the 4805 and the AR100U.

I know the information is difficult to find with a thread that is this long. It has been said before that if you use a mode like REC709 or Cinema I and put the lamp in ECO this projector is not really any brighter than others. The lumens are there when you need them. You don't have to use them all the time. You should be fine with that set up.

Thanks and you're exactly right, there is a lot of info in this thread. Looking forward to putting the order in soon though

Well it is ordered up! Looking forward to being able to game in HD as well as watch blu-rays. The old SP4805 was really showing its age towards the end.

Unfortunately Panasonic's refusal to lower the price or re-offer the rebate has me and many other people moving on.

I understand that people getting it for $699 is a fluke but it's been almost a year and it still hasn't gone back to $999 via rebate or otherwise.

I'm now looking at the Epson 8350, Benq W1070, and anything else with 1080p and lens shift.

So very true. From what I've read its really a great PJ....too bad panasonic hasn't dropped the price down!

Projector is not located at basement, 40m from the ground level and 900m above from the sea level. There is absolutely no venting heaters near the projector or screen. But the room temperature is around 25-27 Celsius, it is winter time and the radiators are running. I sent it to panasonic service center located in Almaty/Kazakhstan 10 days ago, they are still working on it, and i am waiting with no hope:)

Besides , when you use ar100u with a 0.8 gain gray screen(i use draper luma) , the black levels are really improving a lot. And the viewing angle is becoming 180 degrees , which is awesome.

Question on the PT-AR100U
Ceiling is 8'8" tall I have a 130" 16:9 screen, I have a ceiling fan about 11' from the wall where the screen will be. It hangs down 15" from the ceiling.
Anyway of making this work without removing the fan?

Thanks in advance,
-Boots

You'll need to drop the projector from the ceiling with an extension column.

http://www.eliteprojectorcalculator.com/

Input the Projector Brand and Model. Input your screen size, ceiling height and throw range. This will give you a good idea of where the screen and projector need to be located.

anybody found any cheap bulbs?

There are lots of "cheap" bulbs out there. The problem is, they're always a "generic" or so-called "compatible", and 99% of the time, they're not. Search the forums, you'll find lots of reports from users who tried to save a few bucks. Most of them just wasted their money when the lamps failed within a hundred hours or so. Some actually had to replace parts in their projectors because the "compatible" lamp burned the optics.

It's your money and your projector, you may get lucky but the odds are against you.

Is anyone using this projector with a 120 inch wide screen and long (20 ft.) throw? The Projector Central calculator says that it's not bright enough and most people seem to rely on that calculator for the last word on brightness. I'm assured by Panasonic that it will be bright enough. Most of the posts here also seem to consider it a really bright projector. My theater room can be light controlled but I also leave some lights on during games with company. Screen is da-lite with 1.0 gain.

The 3020 projector shows as brighter on the Projector Central calculator but I don't need 3D and it doesn't have lens shift that I will need.

So at 20 foot throw you loose 40% of the lumen or so.

You won't be able to run it on best mode 1k right? Normal high is what 2k lumens? At zoom loss of 40% (I would say this is worst case for your throw and screen size) you get 1200 Lumens, really not too bad.

You screen is 10 feet wide so about a 138" 16:9 screen, That is 56.5 SQ feet or so.

1200/56.5 = 21.2 FL with a fresh bulb, normal mode, bulb on hi. That will overcome a little ambient light. As the bulb dims it will be less and less.

Have Fun!

I can't comment on this projector, yet, (in process of buying) - but I made the mistake of not buying a genuine, replacement bulb for a Samsung DLP I had a couple years ago. I bought through Amazon and the supposed "factory like" bulb was highly rated.

I installed it in my TV, turned it on and within fifteen seconds, it exploded. IMHO - - this is one area you do not want to play Russian Roulette.

I'd love some help
I've had this projector for about a month now and there is a noticeable flicker on bright scenes and moving scenes.
I've checked the devices I send signal from (tv, bluray, Xbox) and they all have the same issue.
I've checked the cable (10m hdmi cable) by using another cable and the issue is still there
I've had an electrician check the power supply and that is consistent and normal
I've tried every flipping setting on the menu (dynamic iris etc) to no avail
I've run the lamp on normal for the past week or so to see if that fixes it but there is no change at all
There are about 20 hours on the lamp

Any ideas or thoughts about what could be causing this?

Sorry to hear you've got a problem with the AR100U. I see you've done quite a bit of work trying to track down the problem.

The usual suspects for flickering are the bulb or ballast. Sometimes the problem occurs because of ground loops or flaky power but since you've had an electrician check we'll rule that out.

Are you running all your devices through an AVR (as a switch) to the projector? If so, have you tried running any of the devices straight to the projector?

You mention swapping out the cable to the projector but have you tried a short 6 foot HDMI cable? This would involve placing the Blu-ray player close to the projector.

Other than that I have no idea.

Thanks for those suggestions. I'm running straight to the projector from my sources.
I'm going to try a different power circuit for both the projector and the sources. I might also try and use a shorter hdmi cable as an experiment however my projector is ceiling mounted and so it could be a bit of a mission.
I'm suspecting it could be the processor in the projector as it appears that it's a frame rate issue. The projector says that it's showing 1080p/60 but it doesn't look like it at all

I mentioned the shorter HDMI because of the length you are using now - 10 meters (approx. 33 feet). I don't know the quality of your HDMI cable but possibly it's not up to the task at this length or perhaps it has a defect. If you encounter the same flicker problem with a 6 foot HDMI cable then that would eliminate that as the problem.

Are you using 24p from the Blu-ray player to the projector and still encountering flicker? The owner's manual on signal compatibility mentions that an interlaced signal can produce a flicker. That said, I've never this problem with either progressive or interlaced signals. I send a 1080 24p signal from my Blu-ray player to the AR100U via HDMI and 1080i from my HD cable box via component cables. You can try setting your HD cable box to 720p to see if it makes any difference.

Have you tried using the other HDMI input on the AR100U?

Thanks again
I've tried both hdmi inputs, and your suggestions regarding output setting from the sources. There is no change to the flicker. I've also borrowed a thicker hdmi cable from a home theater specialist friend of mine and that didn't change anything.
I think the only thing I haven't done is take the projector a friends place and run something through it from another system. This would take all my gear out of the loop and if the problem was still there would isolate it to something internal in the projector. Sounds extreme but these things retail for NZ$3700 (you Americans have it sweet!) so I'm keen to have it working properly!
Needless to say I've contacted panasonic!

Ok gang, bit the bullet and the PJ is ordered.

Question re the lens shift. I would like to mount this on the rear wall, right side up, as high as possible...please let me know if my thinking is correct:

I'm projecting an 84" image from around 11'.

Seeing the image is ~41" high, with 68% of image vertical lens shift, that gives me around 28" inch of potential downward shift, correct?

So- including my screens 2" border- if I mount the screen with the top of the screen 3 inches from the 7' ceiling (not a lot of options) that means I could mount the projector about a foot down from the ceiling and have plenty of shift to knock it down?

Just want to be sure.This could all be wrong (but still doable) if it is really 14" either way, but I'm assuming the 68% is from the middle of the image, either way.

Thanks!

James
Edited by mastermaybe - 2/13/13 at 6:57am

James,

You going to have to invert the projector. You can achieve a lot with lens shift but not when the projector is a foot from the ceiling and right side up.

You can do a shelf mount or wall mount without problem.

^ Lmao, that's precisely what I thought, but after speaking to a Panny tech I was assured otherwise.

He maintained: "assuming the projector is level, the image center will be aligned with the center of the lens. So in your case, 12" from the ceiling, you will have plenty of vertical shift to direct the top of the image down a few inches from the ceiling."

He added (reasonable so, assuming the above premise): "regardless of whether the projector is inverted or not, you're still going to have the lens centered with the image, with no lens shift".

Now in fairness, when he said that the PJ's lens is centered with the image I was feeling good about my chances too, as I formerly assumed the AR100 actually "threw" the image at a slightly upward angle (when placed right side up) and I would be unable to alter it enough with LS, but if it's in the "middle", then I'd only have to drag down the image about a foot after you consider the middle is already 12" from the ceiling and half of the screen height is ~21", + a 2" frame and a 1" space between the frame and ceiling.

So what am I missing if I may ask? Right now, at one foot from the ceiling I'm expecting 9" of the image to be projected on the ceiling, so I have to account for those 9 inches and the 3 inches for the frame and space between the frame and ceiling.

thanks for any help...I know this should not be this difficult.

James
Edited by mastermaybe - 2/14/13 at 7:30am

Let's do it this way: if I mount the PJ precisely 12" from the ceiling and project an 84" image at 11', how much of the ~41" screen height will appear on the wall? If it's not around 31/32" I'm really going wrong, somewhere.


James