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Panasonic PT ar100u thoughts and Issues

post #1 of 7
8/30/12 at 7:27am
Thread Starter 
Very happy with this machine, the brightness is perfect for my settings and blu ray and tv shows look great. One problem I have is particularily football games do not look good. 1)I don't know what the technical term is, maybe noise, possibly blur, but just seems to be a lot of pixelation during football games. It's not the cable or HD provider , I have a samsung 55c8000 and tried that and there are no issues....Is that just one of the weaknesses of this machine? It's almost like the "sports mode" has the moist noise, etc. when watching football...Like I said movies look great, just football does not look good which is dissappointing. 2) Also noticed eco mode does not appear to change my image at all which I know others have commented about. 3) this is my first projector, overall I am very happy.Is there anything I can do to make the picture more like my LED? I miss the glossy screen on the LED , just seems like the color saturation is much duller than a typical flatscreen. ON brighter notes, I never notice the fan noise and the brightness is even better than I anticipated... i've tried Art's calibration settings, etc., still have not found the sweet spot for sports...Any info is appreciated.
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post #2 of 7
8/31/12 at 8:14am
Moose, if it really is pixelation then the problem is likely due to the length and quality of your HDMI cable, just because your Samsung looks fine doesn't mean that the quality of the signal reaching the AR100U is adequate. If it is noise try lowering the detail clarity on the 100. Sometimes blowing up the size of the picture (you don't mention your screen size) can amplify a problem you don't notice on a smaller HDTV. I have never used the 'sports mode' so I can't comment on that. Out of the box I went straight to 'Vivid Cinema' and haven't bothered to change it or even calibrate the projector so far. I have watched a few bits and pieces of pre-season football games and they look fine on my 100 but I don't use HDMI for cable TV. I use 40 feet of component cable from the cable box to the projector. But I do use 40 feet of HDMI cable from my Denon receiver for my Blu-ray player(s) and my WDTV Live streamer for Netflix/Hulu+/VUDU.

When you say that the AR100U looks flat and dull are you talking about a picture with ambient light or in a dark room? In a dark room although not a match for a plasma or LED HDTV the 100 looks great. If you are getting anything less than that something is wrong. If you're talking about watching the 100 with ambient light then that's normal. You don't mention the picture modes you're using other than 'sports mode'. I won't bother calibrating anything other than Rec709 and Cinema 1 for movies. Have you read through the AR100 thread? The eco-mode setting has been discussed there. Use the search feature on this forum.

Your post is very similar to posts from 'robzilla' back in April. Here's a link to that discussion.

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1358778/panasonic-pt-ar100-msrp-1-999-4000u-replacement-kind-of/630#post_21941174

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1358778/panasonic-pt-ar100-msrp-1-999-4000u-replacement-kind-of
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post #3 of 7
9/4/12 at 8:01am
Thread Starter 
I have 20 ft mediabridge HDMI's so it very well could be the problem, but I know others that use these and have no issues so a little dissapointing. I have Comcast/Xfinity cable. What I mean by dull, is that it just doesn't have the shine/sheen of my samsung. I guess I miss the glossy look that makes the colors really pop. I've trid all the picture modes, vivid cinema looks best, but again, the colors just don't pop as much as an LED. I have a 100" elite screen.
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post #4 of 7
9/5/12 at 8:36am
Okay, I think I understand now. Did you happen to look at the first link I provided? It was a comparison shot of my 50" Panasonic plasma HDTV and the AR100U - side by side. Is your picture comparable? You have to remember that your Samsung LED is directly transmitting light versus the AR100U where its light is reflected back from your Elite screen which I'm assuming has 1.1 gain material. I was reading the Amazon reviews of the Mediabridge 25 foot HDMI cables and although most buyers are happy with them there were several reviews where the cables failed completely or didn't work as specified. You can always swap the HDMI cable with one from Monoprice for as little as $18 plus shipping and compare the difference - if any.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10240
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post #5 of 7
9/17/12 at 10:10pm
Monoprice has really good cables, I go there all the time for mine as well, great prices too.
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post #6 of 7
9/18/12 at 12:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Moose4242 View Post

I have 20 ft mediabridge HDMI's so it very well could be the problem, but I know others that use these and have no issues so a little dissapointing. I have Comcast/Xfinity cable. What I mean by dull, is that it just doesn't have the shine/sheen of my samsung. I guess I miss the glossy look that makes the colors really pop. I've trid all the picture modes, vivid cinema looks best, but again, the colors just don't pop as much as an LED. I have a 100" elite screen.
Da-lite HP screen will give you the pop and then some. http://www.avsforum.com/t/773065/high-power-a-review-part-1 a good read
indeed!
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post #7 of 7
10/9/12 at 10:07am
Sorry to hijack this thread,But I am looking to buy one of these,
Where should I buy for good price ?.
thanks
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