OWNERS Thread for the Panasonic PT-AE7000U 3D Projector - Page 111

you cannot query the xD mode you are in because the command set does not provide for it. Everything in my setup is controlled via rs232 so if you have more info than I do please let me know

My projector is starting to flicker...

Sorry to hear that! How many hours?

1147 hours as of today. I noticed it before, but it seemed to go away before I could 'get a good look.'
Its much more noticeable now and isn't going away.

Its always been on ECO and CINEMA 1. I switched it to NORMAL and it seemed worse.

I've read multiple threads on a few forums and the consensus seems to be "I switched from ECO to Normal lamp mode and the problem went away after xx hours"...I've also seen the exact opposite.

I'm trying to find a permanent solution to eliminate flicker, either send for repair, replace bulb, etc...

Best option would be to send it in. What's the build date?

I called Panasonic. I have to send the projector in. Build date September 2011...

It amazes me that if I purchased an $800 Panasonic plasma, someone would come to my house, but if I spend $3000 on a projector, I have to pay to ship it to a 3rd party repair center.

Of course Panasonic is unaware of any issues...it gets shipped to a 3rd party repair center; Panasonic is completely isolated from repair documentation, how convenient.

Yes, you are right

I agree it's not ideal.

To note, my September, 2011 build projector had flickering issues, too, around the 85-hour mark. My December, 2011 replacement 7000U doesn't have any flickering issues (yet) at 120 hours now.

Well it cost $51 to ship the projector back to Panasonic. It really bothers me that Panasonic won't pay for shipping. I even asked the manager and they still said no.

How did you get a replacement?

Long story. Multiple issues... Definitely a huge mess in my case.

I think I've had a change of heart.

After all the problems that my Epson HC8100 has given me, I was inclined to go with the AE7000 for my next light cannon. But reading the threads here about Panasonic's after purchase customer service (where AE7000 owners encounter long wait times, rude CRs, and having the pay for shipping), I think I will go with the 5010. Also, I read through the Projector Reviews comparison and they give a big edge to the 5010 for 2D and overall brightness and a slight edge to the AE7000 for 3D. Considering the vast majority of my viewing with be in the second dimension, I will go with the 5010.

Let me reiterate. Despite all the problems I've had with my HC8100, Epson's customer service has been OUTSTANDING and STELLAR. Their CRs got on the phone fast and were unfailingly polite, I never had to pay for shipping, and Epson shipped replacements to me overnight. Panasonic apparently comes woefully short of that so therefore, I will give Epson my business again for the next round.

Funny, I've had the 5010, the JVC X30 and the 7000 in my house, and I'd say I liked the Epson the least for 2D (in order of preference, 7000, X30, 5010).

Why? Nothing to do with brightness or contrast, and everything to do with 24p motion. The Panasonic is the best, to me, in that regard. The contrast is better on the X30 (which didn't bother me), and the brightness is higher on the 5010 (also not an issue). The dynamic iris on the 5010 is nothing short of atrocious, with a significant color shift as it opens/closes. My wife complained about it, too, and she normally couldn't give a toss about such things. It's especially noticeable going from a dark shot to a bright next shot. Very ouch!

Also, ironically, I found the 3D image to be the best on the 5010 (in order of preference, 5010, 7000, X30). So hey, funny how that works, but the 5010 has slightly less crosstalk than the 7000, and a very bright 3D image.

In any case, overall I liked the 5010 the least. I posted about this a while back, but it was basically awful input lag (for gaming), terrible iris implementation (you can't even use it in 3D, - it's OFF!), noisiest iris on the planet (sounds like a rumbling - you'll hear it easily if you sit anywhere near the projector). I can't remember what else I complained about, but it's quite clear from my testing of the X30, 5010 and 7000: There's no perfect projector. That said, the 7000, to me at least, is without any doubt the best all-round projector. For ME, personally, the way the 7000 handles 24p sources was the deal clincher. Neither the 5010 or the X30 came anywhere close to that kind of natural 24p motion.

That is one thing that blows me away about the AE7000. I wasn't even sure the iris was working at first. It makes no noise and it doesn't exhibit the color shift that is very visible on Epson's projectors. I had to turn it off and on and switch between a total white and total black screen a couple times before I was satisfied it was actually on and working. The Epson has a much louder and visible iris and the BenQ iris is even worse than that.

Another thing I have learned about crosstalk and this pj so it seems. On my bluray player which is a bt110 there is an option to change the distance between the frames in 3d mode. I will use the scene at the end of transformers as that seems to be the most talked about but really any scene that produces "crosstalk" so to speak will always happen when the frames are furthest apart. When you watch 3d do you ever take the glasses off just to see the pic? Sometimes it can look just a little blurry while others there can be a big gap between the left and right frames and this will always bring about the worst crosstalk. Which with the right settings posted by some of the guys in this thread is very little. I can make the crosstalk disappear in a scene simply buy switching the distance with this option. If you come across any crosstalk and you have this option on your bluray player give it a go for yourself............

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Isn't the spacing also related to the parallax?

So with the AE7000, are you saying you never see a color shift on scrolling credits at the end of a movie? I'm talking about the white letters turning from green to magenta or vice versa as the they move up the screen. I'm just looking for anyone else who sees this. Of course, I also see it in bright to dark scenes as the camera pans.

You sound like a person that needs a projector with a manual iris or none at all.
Hopefully we'll get more choices in the coming year. The Sony VW95 might be a better option if going with an Iris.
That's if you don't mind spending more. I would recommend the RS45/x30 since it does good contrast/blacks without the DI thing or annoyance, but it doesn't do 3D as well as some of the other models.
Very nice home theater by the way!!

From all of the measurements I've seen. The Iris on some of these models is as useful as tits on a bull.

I've not found this option directly, I have PS3 and the closes thing I found that would be similar is a screen size setting...

I wonder if this would fix my issue. I've had trouble getting 3D to look clear. My screen is 136" 2.35:1, so my projector is set to 140".

I discovered the PS3 has a similar option and was set at 100". I changed it to 136" and tried 140" and didn't see much of a change...

I also noticed the image seems to look better (but not perfect) the further back I stand...I wonder if I can manipulate the screen size options in the projector/PS3 to make is look better from the seating area.

I'd be totally fine with a "only slight" 3D effect if the image was clear.

What are you basing the 140" off of? I would *think* it would be based off the full frame 16:9 image. Might be tough if you're using lens shift on a 2.35 screen for 16:9.

Well, most my movies are 2.35:1 and the test Blu-Rays I'm using are 2.35:1, so the screen setting of 140" is closest to the screen size..

My screen @ 16:9 = 108" diagonal.

2.35:1 @ 136" diagonal = 125" wide.
16:9 @ 125" wide = 144" diagonal.

So, either way the 140" setting is the closest to correct for 2.35:1 content.

Maybe I should try (when my projector comes back from repair) making the image as small as possible and seeing if I can get the 3D to look right...

Getting ready to buy a projector in the next week. This is one of my choices because of lag time. I will be projecting in a light controlled environment with about a 15' throw distance and 120" screen. Do any of you regret buying this and would buy something else?

Thanks,

Well, I was hoping to get response from HyperEye. The thing is that my AE2000 did not have any of these issues with the DI on, so I figured it might be just my projector unless they goofed on this model. But I have not yet heard anyone confirm seeing what I'm seeing, so I was thinking I might need to send it in at some point.

Just happened to run across this in the manual while I was looking for something else...

If [AUTO SWITCHING] in the [LENS CONTROL] menu is set to [2.35 IMAGE DETECTION], set the size to 1.02m (40") larger than the actual screen size used for projection.

Try it out.

^I wonder if that applied to 3D at all.

I imaging the purpose of the screen size setting is to determine where the parallax should be. I wonder what viewing distance they are assuming, as I'm sure there is a calculation to figure all this out (Using viewing distance & screen size to figure out image shift for 3D...which is simplified by a 'screen size' setting).

It was a note in the 3D menu settings section.

I have not noticed color shifting on credits. I can spend some time watching credits roll and look for it if you would like. When I switch between color modes I can see a large shift occurring, depending on the difference in the modes, but I have not noticed it happening during regular viewing. I definitely noticed it with both the Epson 8700 and the BenQ W6000. The W6000 has a particularly annoying iris.

At least you've seen it on the other projectors so you know what it looks like. I've never seen it before I got the 7000. It's most obvious on a credit roll, but you don't need to go look for it. You would have noticed it by now. I'm pretty convinced its just my projector because I've had other weird anomalies that very few others have seen as well. The price you pay for buying the first off the assembly line I guess.

I've watched so many credits lately (for other reasons - long story - not related to the 7000), so I know my 7000 doesn't have any color shift in that regard.

Thanks for that confirmation! And you have a replacement from Dec. which is interesting. It would have been interesting to know if you saw it on your first projector, but I guess you had enough problems you probably wouldn't have noticed . I wonder if a firmware upgrade would fix this DI issue.