Is The AE100 A HT or Presentation PJ?  

I really see no reason for a discussion. It's 16:9, it's clearly marketed at Home Theater and it's absolutely useless as a PC desktop in either 856x480 mode or 640x480. Good gracious, you barely get 2 icons on that small of a desktop.

This projector will be kept in this forum as it has been the biggest draw of all to some of the issues leading to the reason we split the forum.

Also its the people who buy this projector(not everyone)who go on repeated rants I HAD TO PAY DUTY DID YOU, HOW MUCH WAS YOUR SHIPPING, ( nobody wants to read this stuff) it was daily posts like these that brought down the spirit of the forum.
Nothing wrong with buying cheap, who would not want to save some money but some of the people buying cheap did not stop at just buying the projector but capitalized on their cheapness after the purchase of their projector complaining publicly for everything they had to pay for.
The worst part is these posts were being posted every day.


Aside from the above please read:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=139948

Alan, another option is to put ALL inquiries as to where/how to get a projector (both low and high-end) in a "Home Theater Marketplace" forum. Of course, you could still apply your rules as to what info is allowed. It might make it easier to try to corral all dealer references (both within and outside of your rules) in one place.

Hmmmm.... I wonder where the LS110 a home theater projector that is under $5000 MSRP will go?

Alan,
Hmmmmm....interesting, your choice of words....you seem to be sending mixed messages. You use the term "cheap" when describing both the projector and the purchasers of same. You refer to another "sub $5000" pj as being included in the over $5000 category as it is "clearly designed for HT" One would get the message that you have a clear disdain for us plebians of HT.

Marketing 101 would or should have taught you a few things......firstly, it's not nice to insult people, especially potential clients. Secondly, Cheapskates like me have been introduced to a lifelong interest in HT now. You might be surprised to find out that I have ordered an HTPC from AVScience and am about to place an order with Better cables (a sponsor I believe). I know that if this is anything like my passions for archery & homebrewing, I'll end up with "upgradeitis" from which you'll probably benefit. These are just my thoughts, take them as you wish.
Regards,
Greg

Hi Greg

People want to know the truth why we made the change. Im not sugar coating or hiding anything. Sometimes I take the good with the bad and in this case it wont be any different. Im not going to hide behind a false excuse.

This is not happening because I dont like cheap projectors but because the forum members are complaining and want something done.

Im am a little different than the competing forums. I also sell and have to balance my decisions and sometimes they can turn around and bite me but at least I can sleep at night because I am straight forward about things.

Also I am not punishing those who buy (cheap). The problem lies with those who clog up the forum with repeated posts. That's the problem. Where do these people come from(the cheap projector camp).
Does this mean everyone who buys a portable presentation projector
falls into this same camp. NO.
Do I see support from the guys on the forum who buy these projectors
telling the ones posting the repeated posts to please ease up its getting ridicules No. So now it is my job and I am getting the bad name for it.

Not to mention the sleazy online dealer tactics that have come along with this issue. Its a mess and needs cleaning up.
I do not know any other way to deal with it.

I dont expect to make everyone happy with this decision but I dont expect to make anyone happy just letting it go.

I appreciate the support from our buyers. We offer great deals and support after the sale. We even offer cheap deals.
Im sure I will loose a sale or 2 from people that do not agree with my decision or my wording but I am telling it like it is.
I hope I gain respect for that at least.

Thanks!!

Question to the 3 people have answered that the AE100 is "better for presentations"...

What presentations are you running that need a non-4:3 AR desktop??? Also, what are you putting on the screen that requires such low resolution?

JPinTO

You missed my previous post.
Im not questioning the projectors worth or performance. Im sure its a great projector.

Most of our complaints have come from this projector.

Complaints that read as follow:
We are sick of the repeated posts over and over saying the same thing every day complaining about shipping and paying duties and US pricing and a screen is to expensive and where do I buy a cheap mount because the mount cost to much mostly come from people who bought this projector.

That is why this projector is being included in this forum. Along with the problems Ive had from dealers spamming the forum for this projector. This gives me a separate area to set the filters and keep an eye on whats going on.

Who knows I may buy one of these units but I wont be posting on the forum I dont want to pay DHL shipping cost right after another guy just posted that same topic. People dont want to read this stuff.

The forum got boring because of this. It was done in high volume to the point I got over run with complaints.

I hope things smooth out and maybe things will be merged again but in the meantime I need a way to monitor dealers coming online to gain sales as well as take care of the numerous complaints.

Alan---

I'm not asking WHY the AE100 is here. I don't really care--- you want it here, fine, no problemo! Put an AE100 only forum called "AE100 and it's cheap@ss owners".... whatever! I agree with the split.

I don't even care what people think of it's performance.

My ONLY question is why do people classify this as a presentation projector and not a "real" HT projector??

Are the lumen too low? Is contrast too low? Is price too low? Is PQ too lousy? What? I'm not looking for justification why it's here--- you've given plenty of good reasons!

But, WHY IS THE AE100 not A REAL HT PROJECTOR??? I cannot for the life of me see how anybody would/is using this thing for presentations?

Alan,

I acknowledge this problem, but I am curious to hear your reasoning for not splitting out all the pre-purchase noise into a forum specifically for discussing the purchase of projectors (within the limits of your guidelines) if that was your issue?

What is to prevent repetitive pre-purchase noise in the +5000 category when a new, not widely available HT projector hits the market? Also, when the perfect $4000 MSRP HT projector is released, the delineation makes even less sense as further exceptions will be required.

This post is not a criticism of the action taken, just an inquiry about the declined approaches and how you foresee things working out in the long term.

{Edit - Alan, From your most recent post the reasoning seems very clear...The split wasn't a strategic move to tailor the forum in some grand vision, it was a response to a situation, an action that allows you to monitor things more closely for some of the issues you mentioned. In this context it really doesn't matter where the split occurs, so long as you have the type of posts you want somewhat quarantined for observation. I hope, as you said, that after this hubub is over, you will consider rejoining the two. --thanks}

Ryan---

Presumably the big ticket purchasers don't care about $30 shipping and $90 duty. I don't care about shipping or duty and I could care less about people buying non-warranted stuff from Japan.

Alan,
Interesting marketing approach, never thought labeling customers and their equipment as cheap (& somehow not HT calibre in the case of the pj) would be a boost for sales.....but I guess you know best.
Cheers,
Greg

JPinTO

I just spent sometime and did a search on the net to numerous sites and yes indeed the AE100 is a HT projector.

If anyone else have their doubts I did a search to numerous sites and all of them market this unit as a HT projector. Also I found that even Panasonic does not support this unit in the presentation section.

So yes indeed I stand corrected!

This looks like a very nice projector.

Alan,

Maybe a filter function would be nice someday...and perhaps a forum unsplit can occur at that time.

I found it easier to skip anything with AE100 in the title (like I skipped anything with LT100 in the title) than I do looking in two forums.

But yeah, if it wasn't on the first couple of pages I rarely went back to peek at the older sections so a forum split was in order with the current feature set.

Nigel

I am on of the three that voted that way. I don't necessarily believe that the AE100 is better for presentations, nor do I care. In fact, I might even concede that it is a purebred 100% home theater projector that is useless for presentations. I voted the way I did because the poll is obviously designed to obtain a certain response and advance a certain point of view related to the splitting of the forums, and whether the AE100 is an HT projector is not relevant to that issue. Alan has explained why he split the forums, and it makes perfect sense. And the AE100 is best left on this forum. Taking a poll on whether the AE100 is better for presentations is missing the point and creating "evidence" that is of no value, IMO.

Alan,

I think your reasons for splitting because of complaints is pretty bad.. To some people paying top dollar isnt an option.. Some people cant always buy the best and want the cheaper alternative.. So what if its posted alot.. I personally like posting things instead of searchin or posting within a post because replies get lost and its easier to get the answer directly to u rather than sifting through hundreds of posts.. Not everyone can pay the top dollar.. People have to live with that.. If other users think they are above other people because they can afford X amount of dollars and are to good to read what people that dont have as much money as others buy and have problems with then I'd tell them thats their problem.. To me it seems that you are one of those people.. Basically your just moving somehting away you dont like..

To say these posts make the forum boring?? I think its the complete opposite as I like to find cheaper alternatives.. Ive found out so many things from peopel buying things that are cheaper in price but not always cheaper in quality.. Just dont do it because one projector has takin control over others.. I dont buy the dealers thing as Ive gotten dealer messages about more expensive projectors.. Ive seen so many different reasons come from the moderators as to the split.. I personally liked it at first but now as I read more and more about it I dont like it one bit.. Im sorry if im sounding mean but these are my personal views and Im sure others feel the same.. If we complain enough about the split wont you then listen to us and put it back to gether like the people who complained and got it split?

CHris

Hi Chris
It has nothing to do with cheap projectors and what you can or cannot afford.

It goes beyond the repeated posts. It also brought commercial presentation dealers out of the wood work. Not only did I get complaints all day about the repeated posts I also got complaints from these dealers blowing in other dealers.

There was so much of this going on I could not keep up with it. I work during the day at AV Science so I do not have time to be a full time babysitter and that is what all this turned into.

By taking the problem and putting it in its own area it is much easier for us
to monitor and filter and keep and eye on whos PMing who for sales if we have to.
If things straighten out and the forum turns back into a low maintenance forum than we can merge things back again.

Thanks for everyone's ideas and support.

I'd STILL like to know what those 3 people who voted the AE100 as presentation projector are doing with a lame@ss 640x480 desktop. Good gracious are they running it off of a 486 too... maybe it's got an "Overdrive" chip that double clocks it to 50mhz. Whooooooooo! :p :p :p

Hi,

I welcome Alan created a dedicated forum for us CHEAP AE100. You guys knew how many those High-End projectors in the other forum I had directly compared to our little wonder. I'm really glad not only the AE100 has higher picture quality but also a whole forum to play with! :)

I just feel a bit sorry of those other sub-$5000 presentation projectors...

regards,

Li On

So Alan said that the AE100 was a presentation projector not a HT projector. Why do you care? If you own one, and you like it, what do you care what someone else calls it? As to the last comment, it is uncalled for, and I will not respond in kind. I sense it arises out of hurt feelings over what others might have said about your personal property (i.e., your projector), and all of us take comments about our projectors too personally. There may be a reason to be angry if someone insults your wife, or your family, or maybe even your dog, but we all need to learn not to get too upset when someone says something we don't like about a piece of metal, plastic and glass that we paid a few thousand for. LIfe is too short.

Well that certainly is a phenomenal leap. Nobody is arguing that the AE100 does not belong here.

Let me spell it out in simply: The AE100 has an MSRP of below $5000.00--- well below. If you look at the forum title at the top of the screen, it says "Digital Projectors - Under $5000 US MSRP" The AE100 clearly belongs in this category.

Look at the post title---> Is the AE100 for Home Theater or Presentation. There is no correlation between the thread title and the forum title.

What I wanted to know was why people felt that the AE100 was for presentations and not for "real" HT. This thread was to determine WHO Is using it for Presentation purposes. Since you don't even have an AE100 and don't care then why post to the poll?

Now it is clear from the poll that a couple of people wanted to skew the results and that NOBODY is using it for presentations.

IMO, "Home Theater" is a presentation. Check out the FBI warning at the beginning of any DVD you watch and read the warnings against unauthorized presentation of the content of the disc. You use your AE100 to watch DVD, right?

Yes, the AE100 is a projector designed to provide a presentation...just like the Sharp 9000, the Seleco NT300, the JVC G15 and every other projector and RPTV ever made.

Of course, I understand your point.

Your poll could have been better worded if you had used two terms that were more polar and less inclusive. The word "presentation" should not have been it the question at all, since it includes both pie chart presentation and DVD presentation. Maybe using words like "Home Theater" vs. "Business Graphics" would have worked.

...or "residential" vs. "commercial".

...or "movies" vs. "slide shows".

Yes, of course this projector was designed for a presentation. They all are!

Do any of us have lives? You want to find threads on a projector, do a search. Searching 2 areas instead of 1...wow...what a time killer... (in case anyone missed it civilization just came crashing down around our ears...)

Alan's comments are quite valid. AND SINCE HE'S PAYING FOR US TO BE HERE...perhaps we can all be a little indulgent of his opinion, even if we disagree.

Do we really want posts on the best screen to go with a z9000, or how to get better than policy service for a stuck pixel on a PLV-60HT to get pushed down the list by some goober who expected to sneak their AE100 into the country free? Or 20 goobers...

OBVIOUSLY, Alan's comments were NOT geared toward AE100 purchasers such as Gregoire or LiOn. I believe his comments (and the split) was directed at the OHMYGODIHADTOPAY$65DUTYONMYAE100 posts. And the IBOUGHTANAE100FOR$1400WHYCANTIGETAFREESCREEN posts.

I'm quite sure none of the admins have any problems with posts from users who want to optimize their cheap pj...or who want help determining the best screen size...or who are looking for tips on overcoming the limitations of their pj. That's what it's here for. And, quite frankly, I'm surprised that they don't do their own marketing in the threads. This is a testimony to their integrity and true love of this hobby/lifestyle/addiction.

I've signed up for 5 forums, including this one. I haven't been to any of the others more than 2 or 3 times. They must be doing something right here.

Jim---

I agree with you, the useless posts are just that: useless. But, I don't think you can keep them away from boards once the target material becomes mass focused instead of niche focused. The AE100 available at $1300 is such that EVERYBODY can afford one. That's cheaper than a big screen TV. It's just the nature of it.

I think AVS would have been far better off deleting all Japan related posts and not allowing them to be a board sponsor.

Give me the authority, I'll delete the useless posts myself. AVSforums is so large of a board that AVS probably needs a full time moderator.

After reading a lot of reactions to the split decision I am still confused. Why would people who own the AE100 or are thinking about buying it, etc, be angered that it is not included in a forum that contains posts about projectors costing double or triple the amount? I would think it would make posting and reading about the projector and it's competition easier, just as it makes finding and reading about projectors costing over $5000 easier. The way people talk it's as if the AE100 posts, LT150 posts and all others for projectors costing less than $5000 are being deleted. When did people decide that by labeling a projector as costing under $5000 it was some sort of attack on them personally? Does the projector cost less than $5000? Then what is the debate about? Forget the semantics and just get back to posting information and tweaks about the AE100 or any other projector. Or open up the forum for projectors costing over $5000 to get information there if the need should arise. Nothing is lost. This idea that it's some competition between each other based on what projector you own is ridiculous and childish. Facts are facts. *MOST* people who own the AE100 did so because it offered a great bang for the buck. They most likely weren't interested in setting up a "cave" type room for dedicated movie watching, etc. That's great. This will allow them to discuss projectors that they are interested in purchasing. Some people are interested in building dedicated movie rooms. Great. They can discuss projectors in a place where price is not the first criteria mentioned. People can open up any one of the forums and read or post. I don't get the problem. There is no reason to split hairs and ask about each little borderline example like "Well what about XYZ? It costs $4999 so it should be in the under $5000 category but it's not.". It's probably even more annoying than reading about the people who are mad about paying $30 in customs costs after saving about $1500. Hopefully people will return to posting about the topic at hand soon.

Sorry for the length of this. I'll stop posting about this, but it just bugs me to see people get so bent out of shape and turn something so innocent into some sort of personal attack.