PANASONIC PT-AE8000U (US VERSION) PT-AT6000E (EUROPEAN VERSION) IFA BERLIN 2012 New LCD 1080p 3D... - Page 8

Well..my experience with epson and their warranty dept was NOT good at all, I went through 4 3010 units in 5 months..after the 4th one went bad I told them either they need to give me an upgrade "I even offered to pay the difference between the 3010 and the 5010" or refund my money and was strictly told no, neither was an option. So after 2 and a half weeks of fighting and escalating my case I finally had someone ok a refund.. so on a monday I shipped the pj back, it was recieved by epson on friday. THREE weeks almost to the day they recieved the unit back I got my check in the mail. At this pont it is very very hard for me to give my money to epson again...in 'MY' opinion epsons customers service sucks. I asked them after the 4th one went bad if all they were gonna do for 2 years is exchange the pj..and they said yep..thats our policy..even if you go through 10 bad units in 2 years..we just keep exchanging them. so at this point I am leaning towards the ae8000u!

There are a lot of stories like that on the Epson threads. If there's a 90% chance of getting a defective projector as a warranty replacement, that certainly cancels out any positive aspects of their customer service in my book.

They were always eager to say..ok just send it back..no hesitation or anything..but 4 pj's in 5 months was too much...my first 2 pj's had the auto iris error..WHICH EPSON CLAIMED THEY HAD NEVER HEARD OF BUT WAS ALL OVER THE NET....the first one I bought from bestbuy...I exchanged that one back to the store...got it home...first power up iris error immediately. Well rather than keep exchanging them..I contacted epson..told them the issue..got a brand new unit from them..it would randonly shut off any time it wanted...at least the first 2 worked once past the iris error....so they exchanged with a refurb..well that one had the shutdown whenever it wanted like the 3rd one...enough was enough!!

Any AE8000 buyers who have experience with a 2.35:1 screen near the ceiling if you are zooming a 16:9 panel? How much light spill did you have on the ceiling when you have it zoomed out to fill the 2.35 format? Additionally, can you shift your 16:9 to either left or right of a 2.35:1 screen if you shrink it down to fit the 2.35:1 height?

It depends where the pj is mounted. If your pj is ceiling mounted at or near the top of your screen, you should have little to no light-spill on the ceiling. The spill will be below your screen. That has been my experience.

Nice. Do you set the 2.35:1 image to fill the upper parts of the 16:9, leaving one big black bar at the bottom? Thanks for the input.

You have equal projection above and bellow the screen. You are simply projecting the black bar above and below the screen, so they are the same.

That is only true if the pj is mounted at the exact vertical center of the screen and no lens shift is used. If the pj is mounted at the top of the screen and lens shift is employed, then the light path is angled downward. When you then zoom out for scope content, the visible image expands sideways and downward. That is why it is necessary to adjust V-AREA POSITION when going from 16x9 to scope -- in order to move the active area of the letterboxed image up to the top of the projected area so that it remains within the boundaries of the physical screen. If your pj is mounted at the bottom of the screen, then the reverse would apply.

If thats true, then its truly good news for me as my CIH cinemascope screen will be hung very close to ceiling (9"). The projector lens is back in the room where the ceiling is slightly (about 10") higher so I will hang the projector so that the lens just clears the ceiling and is more or less pointed at the screen wall a few inches higher than the screen. I'll use lens shift to move the image down and into the screen area.

Note: to do CIH with the Panasonic pjs and their lens memory feature, your pj lens must be within the vertical height boundaries of the physical screen -- it cannot be above or below.

Ah. Damn. thats going to make the projector a room obstacle. Oh well

I checked out your build-out (very nice, btw). You could consider mounting the pj directly above the middle seat in the second row (That's where I have mine). No one is going to bump their head on it sitting down or getting up, and the pj is quiet enough that noise shouldn't be a consideration.

Thanks, I just uploaded the build thread.

I was actually planning on doing exactly what you suggest, but I'm concerned about the projector height. The ceilings arent too high (about 7'4" from the riser floor) and I'll have to come down 18" to clear the 10" lower ceiling in the front of the room + the 8" the screen sits below that. That will put the center of the lens at about 5'10" and the bottom of the projecter at 5'8". Is that high enough off the seat?

I guess I didn't look closely enough at your diagrams. 5'8" would be pretty low and hard to maneuver beneath. My 7000 is about 6'2" above my back riser.

My PT-AE4000U has served me well for the past 3 years, but it's time to upgrade to the 8000U. Very excited. I am, however, new to 3D. After doing some research I was ready to purchase a few pairs of the Panasonic IR glasses when I thought of a question I can't find the answer to...

I'd much prefer to use the RF technology (and 4th generation glasses) that Panasonic is using on their newest Flat Panels. My room set-up lends itself more to RF and it feels like the industry is moving toward RF (example...last night I swung by Best Buy just to get a feel for the sizing of the glasses and they informed me the IR ones were discontinued in-store and they are only stocking the RF ones moving forward). As I'm contemplating purchasing 5 pairs of glasses I thought I'd ask...is there any way to use a RF transmitter of some sort to convert the 8000U's 3D signal to RF...which would then enable me to purchase the 4th gen RF glasses instead of the 3rd gen IR ones?

Thanks for any info.

when and where can i buy one?

www.audiogeneral.com
www.projectorpeople.com
www.visualapex.com

All authorized dealers. Should be shipping in the next week I heard.

It would be nice but I'd guess no, there isn't a way to do it. You could try to rig up a RF to IR system but I'd imagine that wouldn't work very well if at all. If someone does know a way to make this happen I'd like to know.

It's a choice that Panasonic went with but I disagree with it...they should have gone to RF.

The timing on the shutter lenses has to be pretty tightly in sync with the signal from the projector to make sure each eye gets the most exposure possible to each frame and closes before it gets any of the other eyes frame... By introducing a convertor, you'll inherently introduce additional lag, which has the potential to get the lenses out of sync. It can't hurt if Best Buy has what you need and you can return for free if it doesn't work, but I'm a little skeptical. I also think it might be important to avoid the cheap lower end RF to IR convertors, if there is such a thing, to give yourself the best chance at the least lag. Most of them are probably made with the intention of converting remote control codes, which I wouldn't think are nearly as sensitive to lag (in terms of time from when the remote sends the IR to the device receiving the RF). I would grab a pair of the IR glasses as well so you can compare.

Best Buy is rarely the cheapest store and even if they stop selling IR glasses there are still a ton of 3D TVs and PJs in homes with years left on their life. And even if the manufacturers eventually stop using IR in new devices all together, the online retailers will keep selling them for a while afterward (and cheaper). Right now they are around $65 with off brand ones available for around $30 (I don't know if they are as good or not, but they are there). Also, in many case the batteries are not replaceable so even the people who have them already may/will need to buy new ones again in the future.

Just my opinion.

I'm ready to buy one. Is this model worth the $500 price difference over the 7000?

Woohoo! After 5 years with no projector, I just ordered from Visual Apex! Can't wait...

Can't argue with any of that.

For those wondering about crosstalk, this review mentions that is supposed to be lessened in the 8000.

http://3droundabout.com/2012/09/8238/panasonic-introduces-the-pt-ae8000u-3d-home-theater-projector-with-customisation-features.html

To be fair, I wouldn't really call that a review. It's more of a preview. They did not get any hands on themselves and test it out.

I am very anxious to hear exactly what people in this thread are going to be reporting about input lag for gaming, as well as the cross talk, once they get their hands on it. I'm nearly ready to purchase.

I agree. But there was no mention of crosstalk in PJ central's review. I just thought I would link to it. At least it's something...

I pre-ordered the AE8000 from Audio General for $2600. I'm having second thoughts about my order because I might just stick with my JVC HD250. (I've had a week of watching good HD material on it and I am still blown away by the image quality.) Do I want to take the risk of having a lesser projector in the AE8000? If I find it's not as good, then I'm on the hook for a 10% restocking fee. I'm trying to gauge whether I should cancel the order or not. Does anyone have an interest in buying it from me unopened when/if it arrives? I am still deciding, but it's looking like I should stick with my JVC.

You are going to regret the JVC250=>Panny8000 switch I think. The Panny will not be near the JVC as for native contrast and black levels.

Maybe just wait awhile until the reviews from owners start coming in. JVC is a cut above everyone in the 2D section so you may not be happy with the purchase.

That's what I'm thinking. I appreciate the thoughts.

There are probably a few people on this forum who wish they had gotten in at the $2600 price...you could re-sell it pretty easy, I would think? Not sure how that factors in with the warranties and glasses rebate and all of that though.