Panasonic AE700 or Sony HS20?

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Well if you're really interested... go read the official thread for the HS51. You'll also notice in that thread a recently posted link to a highly detailed review of the projector that from what they saw in their tests, the 6000:1 CR spec is valid. As to the resolution/lumen spec "looking" worse than the HS20...it's all about picture quality. To say you have less of a picture because of lower lumens would be an incorrect statement without addressing ambient light, room environment and of course contrast. To say the same thing for resolution may be more of a valid statement when discussing HD sources as the review pointed out, but for today's DVDs it probably is less compelling of an argument. So for the original poster asking the question...I believe he should consider the HS51 before making a decision...and this is coming from a very happy HS20 owner!

A few points regarding the HS20 vs HS51 debate


Lumens wash out an image and decrease the contrast ratio. Front home theater projectors are not made to be watched in a lit room. If you want something bright, look for an office projector. A home theater projector should not be brighter than about 800 lumens in my opinion.


The resolution on the HS51 matches the HD standard 720p. This means that there will be no scaling for many HD broadcasts. This will result in a better image for those broadcasts than you would see on a 1366 x 768 projector (HS10, HS20).


Contrast ratio has to be one of the most important factors in buying a front projector. Have you ever tried to watch a dark movie with a projector that has a very low contrast ratio? Half of the time you can't tell what's going on in the dark scenes and it is very disappointing.


I say wait until the HS51 ships at the end of the month.

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I'm also new to HT and had to make a similar decision recently. With pj technology progressing as fast as it is, I was reluctant to spend 30k on a pj that might well be obsolete in one or two years. I was looking for bang for the buck, and the Sony hs20 was reported to be at the top of that list.

I just installed the hs20 and have about 40 viewing hours, mostly DVD, some HD and gaming.

First of all, the picture quality on DVD and HD content is stunning despite the fact that the setup pushes the pj pretty hard- 16+ ft throw onto a 108" wide screen. The room is fully darkened though. I still say 'wow' when I watch DVD and HD on this projector. I did a basic calibration with Digital Video Essentials and this projector was pretty well calibrated right out of the box.


The picture from the xbox (halo 2) is less pleasing but still very nice (colors a little washed out and dull) but I suspect that this has more to do with the source than the display. I'd like to see some game content from a HTPC with a fast processor and high quality graphics card, but haven't managed to build this yet.


Now for the bad; after the pj has gone through a satisfactory burn-in period, I'll have to send it back to Texas for repair. This is because of a glitch in the firmware that causes the pj to automatically switch input to the memory stick during viewing. It occurs sporadically and mostly with HD from my cable box and from the VOOM satellite box, but also with DVD. I haven't seen it happen with SDTV, but rarely watch this. This is a known issue with this pj and there is no fix as far as I know short of sending it back to the factory. Based on the amount of information that I've been able to find on this problem, I think it's relatively uncommon.

All in all, after a relatively short trial period, I think this is a fantastic projector for the money. I just got unlucky and got one of the units with a known processor problem.

I'll be curious to see what you decide and how you like the pj once you break it in.

What the hell guys -


There is so much non sense in this thread I am wondering if I am looking at the avsforum website or some other crappy site.


Anyhow - the HS51 has been out for a while and the jurry has not been out very long - as expected the HS51 is not even close to the HS20.

The only good thing is the contrast ratio but this is due to fancy iris processing which create other problem when viewing dark scene with light scene close to each other.


Dont get me wrong - the HS51 is a great projector. People should buy it - but if you intend to watch HDTV or play video game and use an HTPC then FORGET IT and buy the HS20 - period.

Otherwise buy the HS51 or the panny 700 - really good projo too.


HDTV is not 720p - I mean not only - a lot of HDTV is 1080 as well - the HS20 just perform better in HDTV. Dont believe anyone else who are saying otherwise. They dont know what they are talking about.


F

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I did the same thing and got some improvement although it's not nearly as striking as a good DVD. I decreased the brightness, turned black level control to low (instead of off) and increased the contrast a bit. If you have a little time, please pm me with your settings for the xbox. You can save me a lot of trial and error

Thanks.