Epson 3020 or Panasonic AE-8000

The AE8000 will best the 3020 on almost all counts as well as having a feature set that is second to none under $3K, only you can decide if the added expense is worth it.

If you are not a serious gamer the lag on the 3020 will probably not bother you much but if you are considering the AE8000 the Epson 5020 would be the direct competition (not the 3020) and it bests the AE8000 in several areas (other than input lag).

Best of luck,
Jason

I am in the same boat as you, though on a lower budget. The input lag of the 3020 has turned me off and I am now looking at the 8350.

If my understanding is correct, the average input lag of the 3020/5020 is around 60ms, if you then add an average online ping of 40ms, you're looking at a 100ms+ ping when playing FPS games such as CoD. If you are even slightly serious about gaming, this will definitely be noticeable and affect your performance.

i was in the same boat as you are right now
i picked the 5020 and should have it by wednesday

Let us know how you like it. Sounds like a great unit, although I will admit I'm a bit hesitant due to the lag issue.

I have gamed on the 3010, 5010 and 5020 and can tell you that the lag is not a major concern unless you are a serious gamer (I am). I had no problem pulling running headshots on the 5020 and my cousin games on his 5020 often (we play Borderlands 2 online and he has no issues). Now with that said I can detect the difference from most of my displays that are in the 30ms or less range. So if you are a competitive online gamer with 60 fps games (like COD) then you'll probably want to stay away from the current Epson models. The casual gamer is not likely to be bothered by the input lag however.

I am not defending Epson here either as they should do better being in the position they are in regarding LCD projectors.

I am just giving my honest opinion as a long time gamer based upon actual experience with these units.

Best of luck,
Jason