Official Owners' Thread, Panasonic PT-AE8000U (US version) PT-AT6000E (European version) - Page 30

I let my new Panasonic TY-EW3D3MU glasses fully charge overnight, then I gave them a 30-minute workout this morning before I had to leave for work. I really wanted to know if they provide a different viewing experience than my aftermarket Xpand YOUniversal X104 3D glasses.

Answer: very little difference. The Panasonic lenses are ever-so-slightly less dark than the X104 lenses in operation. I looked very closely at some shadow detail in dark scenes. The Panasonics reveal just a tad more detail than the X104s when looking at a paused (static) 3D image. However when the movie is just playing at 1X speed, I could not see any difference.

With respect to construction, I think the Panasonic glasses are very cheaply made and seem to be quite fragile. I would not want to let a youngster play with these without close supervision. The Xpand glasses are much better made and seem like they could take a bit more rough handling.

In short, I'm glad I have these two extra pair. Now I have six pair total for family and guests. But I think in general the Panasonic glasses will remain as the extras and will only get pulled out when there are more than four people watching the movie. The one exception is that the Panasonic glasses have a 3D > 2D mode that allows the wearer to convert 3D to 2D. This is great for people who don't like 3D or who feel ill, so that they can still watch the movie while other people are enjoying the 3D presentation.

That is probably the Disney WOW blu ray. Mine came in last Friday, indirect signature required. FedEx did not show up until 9:45 p.m. I got a notice the day before about the signature required delivery and thought it was the glasses. Was pretty upset to stay at home all day for only a blu ray!

Bummer, I was expecting the Panny 3D glasses will be much better than the other ones.

I'm currently using the Sony PS3 3D glasses for my 3D needs. So, not perfect, but not bad at all...

Bummer. I've tried these things.

OK this is my third front projector, so I decided it's time to try to take it to the next level. DIY calibration!

I found a lightly used X-Rite Eye-One Display color sensor on craigslist for $10. I'm operating it with a free color calibration software called HCFR Colorimeter and the grayscale calibration methodology documented at CurtPalme.com.

This is my first ever attempt to calibrate grayscale. The results are very interesting...there's more red than I am used to, but it's growing on me.

I also tried to experiment with gamma but I could not improve it using the Simple gamma adjustments. I think I will have to go into one of the advanced modes.

Here's the BEFORE for REC709 ECO with DYNAMIC IRIS OFF (2D):



And here's the AFTER for REC709 ECO with DYNAMIC IRIS OFF (2D):



Here's the BEFORE for DYNAMIC NORMAL with DYNAMIC IRIS OFF (3D):



Here's the AFTER for DYNAMIC NORMAL with DYNAMIC IRIS OFF (3D):



To get enough balance between the colors on DYNAMIC, I had to drastically lower the main CONTRAST control.

The RGB color adjustment controls are pretty basic and the adjustment steps are not extremely fine. We have Contrast R, Contrast G, Contrast B which have an effect at the upper end of the IRE scale (70, 80, 90, 100 IRE). And we have Brightness R, Brightness G, and Brightness B which have an effect at the lower end of the IRE scale (10, 20, 30 IRE). I was working with 80 IRE for Contrast and 30 IRE for Brightness. It's far from a perfect result yet but I feel like I have improved the accuracy of the color tremendously across the grayscale.

Just seen Avengers 3D on my 8000. The climax action scene: WOW!!

I have seen around 20 3D movies on my 8000 but this is my demo scene for now..

Just received my PT-AT6000E and spent 6hrs putting it through its paces. No probs with ghosting whatsoever or any convergence issues you have described. This is simply the best Pj I have ever owned ( and I've had a few in my 25 yrs experience as an AV enthusiast.). The control afforded over virtually every asset is quite remarkable. I can easily control colour saturation and sharpness ( I prefer dynamic mode ) to exactly my preference - no probs ! A far better Pj than my original PT AE 4000 Panny ( which was no slouch itself as good Pj's go ) but this 6000E is simply superb - very quiet in operation and images to die for !!
The 3D is a little darker than I'd hoped ( checked out Prometheus - full of dark scenes ) but far superior than the previous 5000 Model - but at this juncture of tech. development this is as good as it gets in the 3D department. Not moaning here - just a little nit picking !!

I coupled the 6000 with the very latest Cambridge 752 BD 3D player and was amazed at the result ! What a perfect combo ! The 4 Wolfson DAC's in the Cambridges Audio circuitry are nothing less than amazing - far superior than the top pf the range Denon transport which preceded it.
I use an ONKYO 875 Amp to drive my audios and it works perfectly with the Cambridge. Loading times are relatively ridiculously quick compared to the preceding DENON. The build of the Cambridge is much less robust than the DENON ( which cost me £ 900 3 years ago ) - but its audio performance is light years ahead.

I have an eleven speaker surround sound system ( Def.Techs ) with a Velodyne 15 inch DD subwoofer - and the sound NOW just blows me away!
I bypassed the audio input HDMI's in favour of the optical input - and all I can say is WOW !


As overly impressive as the 6000 is ( and it REALLY is that good ) the most significant boost in performance per se comes directly from the Cambridges top end player ( £ 800 in the UK ) which truly is phenomenal. Of course you can buy a 3D player for circa £ 250 -£400 ( or even less ) but they just don't compare in the audio dept with the Cambridges audio assets - which are phenomenal !

Best Regards from one happy chappie in the UK !

I tried to read the whole thread but I think I may have missed this...

Does the auto detect aspect ratio change work on movies that have multiple aspect ratios like The Dark Knight & The Dark Knight Rises? I know that I can push the remote button and change it manually but having the auto change would be sweet.

Yes. It will switch it during the movie. A little bit annoying for guests. The nice thing about the AE8000u over AE4000u is at least you can now hide the PROCESSING IMAGE text while it's switching.

Cool!!! That scores a +1 on my choice for the Panny.

BTW, absolutely love your LED movie poster display in your theater.

Hey thanks. I'm constantly enhancing the visuals on the led movie poster. It's fun to tinker.

The animated movies really pop on the 8000. Still getting warmed up to it before I post a review. So far so good.

I had my wife throw on the 3d glasses and she said, "wow that's really cool!"

Wow. As I go through the trial-and-error process of DIY calibration, I am learning a TON about how video displays actually work. I had no idea just how imprecise they are without calibration. I would have thought that engineering for mass production would have sorted this out by now. But in reality, these devices have rather shockingly non-linear response characteristics. Thankfully, the amazing Gamma correction circuits in this projector come to the rescue. In the Advanced mode, you can actually build a 15-point Gamma correction curve separately for each color. In a nutshell, you can push and pull on the video signal from 5% IRE to 95% IRE to force the three colors to behave in a linear manner across the grayscale. Furthermore, the Picture Memory will store the associated customized Gamma correction curve as part of the settings. Excellent. Also, I found out that Picture Memory will store the Dynamic Iris mode...unfortunately, it will not store the Lamp mode so be careful.

Here are my results for REC709 Lamp ECO and Dynamic Iris OFF. (I don't want to fill up the thread with a bunch of graphs so I am posting these screen captures as links.)

Measurements

Luminance

Gamma correction

RGB Levels

Color Temperature

CIE Diagram

Comments on the picture quality: Excellent! This is my first exposure to what video looks like coming out of a calibrated display. Color: saturated but natural. Detail: outstanding, especially in darker areas. I find myself getting distracted by amazing detail that I have never seen before on familiar content. For example, Game of Thrones Season 1 off the hook amazing.


Here are my results for REC709 Lamp NORMAL with Dynamic Iris ON:

Measurements

Luminance

Gamma correction

RGB Levels

Color Temperature

CIE Diagram

Comments on picture quality: stunning. The closest thing to a "reality creation engine" that I have ever seen. Depending on the scene, you feel like you are looking at reality in front of you.
Edited by HMenke - 12/23/12 at 1:23pm

Being a total noob to projectors and 3D on them, I was just messing around with the 3D settings and trying stuff for a good 30 minutes or so. I ended up setting it on Dynamic mode with the glasses set to "normal" mode. I did have some questions though.

1. As I'm changing the 3D measurements settings I noticed there is a Mode 1 and Mode 2 - is there any difference between the two other than the adjustment display looks different?

2. Is it normal that in one scene when I change the 3D measurements and it looks great, that in another scene it won't look as good and can notice some crosstalk going on? (I think that is the correct term - if I adjust in the 2nd scene I can get it to look "focused").

3. Is there any best setting for 3D on these, or is it just dependent of the factors of the room such as how far back the projector is, where it's mounted, etc.

4. I keep hearing people talk about this "Eco" mode - where is the setting to change this? I haven't seen it anywhere and am just running it on default how it came out of the box.

5. Could someone explain exactly what the Dynamic Iris mode even does and the difference between on and off?

Also, HMenke, would you post your settings for the picture modes you got to look the best that you are raving about? I have done 0 calibration to mine and watch most things in the default REC079 mode.

1. Just two different ways of displaying similar info. Personally I wouldn't mess with them unless the 3D effect is so exaggerated that it induces headaches.

2. Never messed with.

3. Best setting for 3D is a) bright picture mode reasonably well adjusted for Brightness (black level) and Contrast (white level) to ensure blacks and whites are not crushed 2) Sharpness control all the way down 3) Detail Clarity +3 or +4

4. ECO is a lower lamp power mode found under Options. Runs the lamp cooler and the fan slows down (quieter) but less brightness.

5. Dynamic Iris is a pair of shutters that throttles down the light in bright scenes and opens up the light in dark scenes. Its purpose is to increase contrast ratio but some people can perceive the subtle fluctuations of light intensity and thus turn it off. Turning it off creates a brighter image with some loss of blackness in the dark scenes. Leaving it off for 3D would be smart!

6. I would be happy to share the calibration settings but they will do you no good. Your throw is different, your screen size and gain is different, your lamp is different, your projector internal manufacturing tolerances are different. Giving you my calibration settings would be like having you try on my custom-fitted shoes and my professionally-tailored suit...they might fit but there's a 99% probability they will not.

The calibration settings I have are only valid for my particular machine in my particular setup with my particular screen.

At this point, if you don't plan to hire a professional calibrator, you're better off with a good setup Blu-ray like DVE (Digital Video Essentials) HD Basics. If you run through that entire video and do the setup, you will learn a lot and be very pleased with the results. At some point, you may want to try your hand at DIY calibration but it is not for the faint of heart. It's very exacting and tedious, and you have to understand what you want to accomplish and how to access and adjust the controls to make it happen. I'm just now getting into it and although I am beyond pleased with the results...it took hours and hours of boring, repetitive work to achieve.
Edited by HMenke - 12/23/12 at 1:16pm

I had to mess with those settings big time. Out of the box the 3D looked awful. I could see like 2 extra outlines on pretty much every 3D object.

I'm trying to imagine what could be causing that. Other than what I mentioned above, I have my Blu-ray player set to output 24p, I set Frame Creation to MODE1 (under Picture / Advanced) to enable 3D MOTION REMASTER to be engaged (under the 3D menu).

Would be great if everyone that calibrates it posts their various settings. I´m probably not the only one that can't doesn't have access to a calibrator or equipment for it. I know others settings won't be correct for my PJ, but it would be a starting point.

Is this with the settings you originally posted earlier or have you tweaked them? If so do you mind posting?

In reality it wouldn't even be a starting point: There is so much variation between lamps, the panels and to a lesser degree the electronics, let alone the room, screen and ancillary equipment. Far better to use a good set up disc like the free AVS HD709 one and just concentrate on using the basic patterns to set up the contrast, brightness and sharpness. By all means read the reviews to see which modes are closest to accurate, but this is by no means a guarantee that this will be the case in your set up.

I have to agree with Kelvin1965S...my calibration settings won't translate to another projector and setup. However I decided to make a record of them in an Excel file in case I screw up one day and accidentally reset my projector to defaults...I can at least go back and put everything the way it was. I don't mind sharing this file with others as a template, and also as an indication of how specific the settings are - especially Gamma correction factors.

For the record, I did these calibrations using the following equipment and software:

Color sensor: X-Rite Eye-One (i1) Display, mounted on a tripod, angled up about 45 degrees at a distance of about 6" from the screen (found for $10 on craigslist)
Test Material (IRE Grayscale patterns): DVE HD Basics Blu-ray ($30)
Software: HCFR Colorimeter (hobbyist project from France, available for download free of charge)

Disclaimer: If you decide to use these settings, do so at your own risk!

(Edit: file updated 5:48pm US Eastern time 12/23/12 to v1.1. Reason: fix typos in Green section of Columns E & F; add setting for 3D Motion Remaster; add equipment list)

PT-AE8000U Calibration Settings v1.1 12-23-2012.xlsx 16k .xlsx file
Edited by HMenke - 12/23/12 at 2:48pm

Here are the calibrated results I ended up with using NORMAL Picture Mode with Lamp NORMAL and Dynamic Iris OFF (in the Excel file in my previous post, this would be Picture Memory NML24pLpNMLiroff.

I am currently using this calibration for watching 3D Blu-ray. I found that if the Contrast setting is kept at default to maximize light output for 3D, the projector has plenty of Green and Blue output but is very weak on Red. I did the best I could to balance the primary colors by boosting the Red Contrast control almost all the way up, and cutting Green and Blue Contrast somewhat. What I ended up with is pretty good grayscale tracking from 10 IRE to 80 IRE, with Red falling off over 80 IRE as the projector just can't deliver enough Red at this brightness level. The subjective result is really very nice because there's not that much program content over 80 IRE anyway, so the picture is by and large very accurate. When there is content over 80 IRE, I'm OK with it pushing Bluish-Greenish rather than Reddish anyway. Overall this calibration for 3D looks nice and bright and the colors are pleasing. My college-age daughter commented that it looks almost as bright in 3D as what you would expect when watching a movie in 2D without glasses. Screen brightness is about 45fL at 100 IRE and 32fL at 80 IRE. I compare that to my REC709 Lamp ECO Iris OFF: 15fL at 100 IRE and 10fL at 80 IRE. So this image for 3D is substantially brighter than what I am using for 2D.

Measurements
Luminance
Gamma Correction
RGB Levels
Color Temperature
CIE Diagram

Guys, could any of you over 500 hrs of lamp use let me know if you've seen any signs of a flicker?
Helcio

Hello guys, gonna buy this projector today!
I have some questions. I wanted to buy the panasonic ar 100, the light cannon, however i ended up with this one for these reasons:
#1 the lumens are only 15% less
#2 quieter
#3 automatic zoom with memory, please correct me if i'm wrong. I can project a 120" screen during the night, press a button during the day and the screen will become 60". Projecting the same lumens on 1/4 of the surface will result in a 4x more bright screen.

What do you think about this?

Welcome to the forum!

Clever! Most people would not use it for this application...but why not?!

I think it's a great idea in principle, just be aware that there is a challenge in selecting the throw distance:

• At 120" diagonal, minimum throw distance at 2.00X zoom is 11'-9".
• At 60" diagonal, maximum throw distance at 1.00X zoom is also 11'-9".

That means you must place your projector at exactly 11'-9" from the screen, or you will not be able to achieve the full range of image size change you are looking for. You'll still have to avoid letting direct sunlight hit the screen of course, but this projector blasting at 60" should be reasonably bright. I don't know what kind of budget you have, bu there are screens available that are intended for a multi-use room including daylight projection, for example Screen Innovations Black Diamond. You might want to search around on this forum for more info on daylight projection options. For example, a high-contrast gray screen might be a good idea to help improve blacks and overall contrast during daylight viewing.

purbeast got me thinking more about ghosting/crosstalk and the use of the 3D Viewing Monitor.

This is my first 3D projector (or 3D display of any kind) so I am still getting acquainted with the peculiarities of 3D presentation. I'm coming to the conclusion that when ghosting/crosstalk becomes visible in a 3D movie scene, it is caused in some cases by the scene being mastered with what I would call excessive "parallax dynamic range" (PDR). By that I mean the range of parallax within a given scene varies widely between out-of-screen depth to into-screen depth and the projector/glasses technology cannot faithfully display that full range. The result is visible parallax error that we are calling ghosting or crosstalk. It is most apparent where you have a sharp transition in contrast such as around darker objects appearing on lighter backgrounds.

The other condition where I am seeing ghosting/crosstalk is when the scene pushes the parallax or is mastered such that the maximum out-of-screen or maximum into-screen depth approaches or exceeds the technical capabilities of the projector/glasses to display at that high level of parallax.

Both of these conditions can be tamed/moderated by judicious use of the 3D Viewing Monitor function. I was able to get a very nice watchable 3D image on Journey 2 with little or no crosstalk by using Mode2. The small rectangular display is very useful for quickly visualizing the 3D "PDR" and making adjustments to tame the extremes that might exist in the authoring of the material. What I do is pause on the offending scene, make the adjustment (move the Blue "into" signal away from the upper max or move the Red ("out of") signal away from the lower max), and hit enter to save. Then resume Play to check the results. It didn't take much adjustment to "fix" the problem for the rest of the movie.
Edited by HMenke - 12/24/12 at 8:00am

Thank you for the greetings and for the focus suggestion, didn't tough about that. Fortunately (i'm a lucky guy) my room is 4 meters deep. 3.5 meters from the screen is the distance i was thinking of (that is the metric for 11'9").
As of now i don't have a screen, i will think about that in the future.
Thank you again, i will keep the thread updated with some pics of how the projectors handle the ambient light
Edited by cedivad - 12/24/12 at 6:19am

Purchased 2 pairs of the latest Panasonic 3D glasses, TY-ER3D4MU glasses with the assumption that 3D glasses will work on both ST50 Plasma, and AE8000U. They work great on the ST50, but however, they do not work with AE8000U. Manual says only ER3D3 and ER3D2 are supported as of September 2012.

Anyone aware of firmware upgrades to AE8000U which includes support for ER3D4 glasses?

Sorry to say that the AE8000 uses IR only for the emitter. The model for your plasma is RF. A firmware update will not give the projector RF capabilities.

Oh!, I didn't realize that.
Thanks.

Just a quick FYI, You were absolutely right in saying there needs to be a 3D signal present to access the 3D Monitor. However, with keystone active you are unable to access the 3D viewing monitor.