[Dr. Rosen]

I have been scouring this site for the past few weeks and am now as confused as ever. I've read about a million posts on the AE-100, and I'm not sure if that is for me or not.

The only thing I will be watching on the projector is DVD's via progressive component output. The problem is I watch a lot of 4:3 DVD's (older movies, television on DVD). Would a 16:9 or a 4:3 native panel be a better choice? I know I am definitely buying a 16:9 screen.

My budget is preferably below $3000 and I will be sitting about 12 feet away. Any suggestions?

 

[rayzor]

The big problem with a 16:9 LCD projector is that when viewing 4:3 material is that the Black Bars look grey. If you are watching mainly 4:3 then a projector with 4:3 native panel would be better for you. The AE 100 can strect a 4:3 signal to fill the whole screen but of course the image is distorted. Another option is to mask the sides of the screen when viewing 4:3 material. There are posts on this subject.


Beware when purchasing an LCD projector because they can have what are called dead pixels. Different suppliers have different policys on how many dead pixels are allowed. My projector only lasted 5 days and its been sent back for replacement after a number of pixels failed. You can test for dead pixels by displaying a Red, Blue, Green and Black image, this tests all pixels operate and also turn off.

 

[Pagash]

Have a look at the Panasonic PT-L711XU. You can find them for about $2600 at the moment. I love mine, and have not heard of any out of the box failures, dead pixels, or other issues.

 

[fcg_vi]

My 2 cents: buy the AE100 for 1400, get some decent masking, enjoy!