Official Owners' Thread, Panasonic PT-AE8000U (US version) PT-AT6000E (European version) - Page 36

Thanks for the feedback. I have tried this apprroach but i will try it again in a more disciplined way.

So, what app did you use in your iPhone or iPad? Give me the name and I'll try to install it in my android phone and I'll report back.

I did notice that using different amps might produce different readings. So, let's try to use the same one.

Cheers!

I used dB Meter Pro, Sound Meter+, Decibels and Decibel 10th. They all gave me similar readings.

I use that exact shelf. Only bummer about it is that it swings left and right, so cleaning the projector or dusting around is a bit of a pain.

Hello everyone, I am a complete newbie so I was hoping someone could guide me. I just purchased the Panasonic PT-AE8000U projector to install in a room I have in the basement. The room dimensions are approximately 20'W x 30'L x 10'H, the walls are painted light (I can repaint the room if I have to but I'd rather avoid the hassle) and there are 3 small windows which I am going to cover with blackouts. I will mostly be watching 2D movies but ocasionally some 3D as well. I was hoping someone could help me select the right screen. I was looking at the Da-Lite Cinema Contour fixed screen but not sure what screen size will be appropiate for the room mentioned or which screen surface will work best with both 2D and 3D. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

If you aren't in an extreme hurry to get the screen then Jamestown make custom screens at a very good price using the highly rated Seymour XD acoustically transparent material. http://www.jamestownhometheaterscreen.com/

Project onto the wall, if the color's not too bad. After a few movies, you'll know what size you like.

That's a good idea.

OP - You didn't mention the projector throw (how far from the screen the projector will be) and the seating distance, but I would look at the calculator here:
http://www.projectorcentral.com/Panasonic-PT-AE8000-projection-calculator-pro.htm

You'll generally want your seats to be at least 1.5 times screen size away. So a 120" screen you will want to sit at least 15 feet away.

A high gain screen probably isn't needed. Higher gain will be helpful for 3D, but could hurt 2D. Use the calculator to play with gain depending on your set up.

Thanks for the help guys. I have a few more questions though. I looked at the Jamestown Home Theater screens that 235 mentioned. If I get a custom 150" high contrast grey screen which has a gain of 0.8, according to projector central link posted above I'll get a image brightness of 14 fL at a throw distance of 15' and zoom of 1.96x. Is that bright enough or will the image be too dark. Any suggestions? Thanks.

This is the projector I'm seriously looking at for my new home theater build.

I've read early in the thread you don't get glasses with it - you have to mail off for them? Is this true?

If so, how many pairs do you get and how long does it take to get them?

thanks!

It's treated as a rebate. Two pairs size Medium, takes about 6 weeks.

Plus they (Panasonic) are running this special good through 1/31/2013:

Receive a 3-year limited warranty, $100 cash rebate and two pairs of 3D glasses free with your purchase.

But you must purchase your PJ from an authorized reseller.

Do you have a link for this special?

Very interesting. Looking into buying a PT-AE8000

Guys, I will probably be buying this PJ sometime around mid-Feb... Do you guys think Panasonic might extend there special offer a little longer?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Here is the official Panasonic's website, right around the middle right hand side you will see this "Buy now through January 31, 2013 and receive $499 in rebates and incentives! View claim form for details". So, just click on the View claim form and you should be able to see all details regarding this offer.

http://www.panasonic.com/business/projectors/PT-AE8000U.asp#

BTW - If you want to see the list of authorized resellers click on the "How To Buy" link.

I hope you can join the family and if you do, please post back your impressions on the PJ.

Cheers!

Quick question: What do you guys do about the color uniformity on your PT-AE8000U? I'm being driven a bit mad by the greenish tone to the middle of image, and I can't see to get rid of it. I notice it on sky-scenes, on anything "grey" on screen etc, and it bugs me to no end. I'm getting kind of sick of it, but have no idea how to remove the green from the image... *sigh*

Any help appreciated....

I would also get some sample screen material if the dealer will send you some. I had a grey, white, and bright white. The blacks on the greys were amazing but it really affected the skin tones on the actors. I got my samples from carada.com. They were also very helpful with choosing a screen based on my projector, throw distance, and screen size. The price also is very reasonable.

I think that the degree of color uniformity is determined by A) convergence and B) grayscale calibration. On this projector, I suspect that it's the optics (prisms, lenses, filters, etc.) that are the limiting factor in perfecting convergence. I've taken some convergence photos of my PT-AE8000U to illustrate why I think this.

The first picture shows nearly perfect vertical convergence. The entire screen looks like this top-to-bottom and left-to-right:

Vertical Convergence


Horizontal convergence is a different story. The following three images show the horizontal convergence starting on the right side, moving to the middle-left side, and then to the left side.

In the first picture of the right side, notice how the blue pixels start off with 1-pixel misconvergence toward the left of red and green:

Horizontal Convergence, Right Side


In the second picture of the middle-left side, the blue becomes perfectly converged with red and green.

Horizontal Convergence, Middle-Left Side


In the third picture, the blue shifts to a 1-pixel misconvergence toward the right of red and green.

Horizontal Convergence, Left Side


So moving across the screen, blue tends to stray inside of red and green. It's a smooth and gradual 2-pixel shift in blue from right to left.

In my thinking, this is caused by the optics imparting differing degrees of light bending depending on the color passing through them. I think this primarily affects horizontal convergence because I believe the three colors of light are split horizontally by prisms in the projector, sent through the three LCD panels, and then re-combined through prisms on their way out the main lens. The light is not subjected to different paths in the vertical direction however.

To improve the color uniformity without doing anything to the convergence, I did a DIY grayscale calibration using an X-Rite Display color sensor and the free ColorHCFR hobbyist calibration software. Once you have tailored a proper individual gamma correction curve on all three colors, red-green-blue will come up out of black heading toward white with almost perfectly equal luminosity as the picture brightens. Without proper gamma correction, at various picture brightness levels there will be incorrect mixtures of the three colors, which will tend to worsen the color uniformity issues that result from the previously mentioned color-dependent differences in how light passes through the optics.

Calibration went a long way toward improving the color uniformity on my projector. It will never be perfect but it is at the point now where it is not really noticeable on actual program material like clouds or white buildings.

Thank you for the reply! I have an X-Rite i1 Pro which I've used successfully on my iMac and other computers, but I'm not sure how it works with this HCFR. Got any tips? :-)

Thanks again!

PS Sent you a private message!
Edited by WilliamG - 1/20/13 at 9:03am

What software or disc do you get these images from with the dashed red, blue and green lines for convergence checking? Or is this in the service menu or something? Thanks

I found the convergence patterns here. I display them with a Windows PC using Paint in View > Full Screen.

Hi,

For those who can play .mpo (3D) images on there pt-ae8000: i have posted a topic with two .mpo (3D) pictures from the surface of Mars. They look great on our projector!

http://www.avsforum.com/t/1452969/mars-3d-mpo-images


Gr.

Marco

Here's a post with an Excel file of my settings...it's useful as a template if you decide to go for a DIY calibration according the the Curt Palme tutorial.

Just wanted to share some pics because last weekend my buddy came who's an electrician and installed some new outlets for me and we ran all of my speaker wires through the walls and stuff into my closet. So now my projector doesn't have wires dangling down from it lol.





Here is my stuff in my closet, and a close up of where the stuff is coming out of the wall.





And here is a panoramic of the whole setup, with the projector just sitting up there and wires running right into the ceiling. Prior to that I had it temporarily rigged with wires hanging everywhere and running to the left of my speakers, where I had my receiver and PS3 and wires running from that area.

Superclean, purbeast! And the panorama looks awesome.

Hey William -

That's the one aspect that's gotten worse in the 8k than all the other Panny's I've owned (the last 6 models). They have what one Panny employee called "Epson disease," which is ironic now that their Epson-sourced panels are displaying as such. Uniformity is pretty bad on mine and I think it's an inherent panel issue. Let's hope the next one does something radically different to improve upon this.

Cheers,
Chris

It's hard to say what the cause is...but I seriously doubt it's the panels. One would think that modern design techniques and manufacturing processes for LCD panels would be rather well optimized at this point.

I find uniformity far more likely to be an optical artifact of the color splitting and recombining process, which is highly dependent on mechanical alignment, variation in refractive properties as a function of light wavelength, and the material purity and manufacturing precision of the optical components.

I think I'm inclined to agree with the 8000 being the worst of all in terms of color uniformity. My 4000 wasn't great, and my two 7000s were slightly worse I'd say, and the 8000 is the worst of all. Just ridiculous we're still suffering from this "Epson disease."

Whatever the reason, we can all agree it stinks. This will likely be my last Panasonic projector as I've rather gotten sick of the uniformity issues. Shame, really..

Would it be fair to say that single-chip projectors likely have inherently better color uniformity than 3-chip designs, at the expense of different kinds of artifacts such as rainbow effect and lower brightness?