[Mr.Green72]

I'm considering upgrading my AE700 instead of spending a few hundreds on a new bulb. It's still probably good for a few hundred hours so now would be a good time to sell it for a reasonable price.


The Sanyo Z5 is very tempting at this point, considering the price and the high contrast ratio, wich is about my only gripe with the AE700.


I'm mainly using it for gaming (360/Wii) and for watching DVD's/sports events from time to time. Screen size is 106" and ambient lighting is null.


What would you do?

 

[archer75]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.Green72 /forum/post/0


I'm considering upgrading my AE700 instead of spending a few hundreds on a new bulb. It's still probably good for a few hundred hours so now would be a good time to sell it for a reasonable price.

Lol.


I am doing the same thing. AE700 for a AX100. The new one arrives today and i'll install it tonight. I'll let you know how much of an upgrade it is once it's running.

 

[broadwayblue]

i'm in the same boat. my AE700 will be two years old in a month or so and has given me 2300 hours of loyal service. it has very likely been the best purchase i've ever made as far as overall enjoyment is concerned. that being said, i need to make a decision regarding upgrading the bulb, or buying a new pj. if i upgrade, it will be to another

 

[archer75]



Quote:
Originally Posted by broadwayblue /forum/post/0


i'm in the same boat. my AE700 will be two years old in a month or so and has given me 2300 hours of loyal service. it has very likely been the best purchase i've ever made as far as overall enjoyment is concerned.

I actually have 3800 hours on my bulb. So it's lasted a very long time. I just don't think there could be many more hours left on it.

I'm also going from a component cable to a HDMI cable. But i'll test it first with component for comparison.

 

[archer75]

Ok, I got it installed. First thing you'll notice is the brightness. It is quite a bit brighter than the AE700 which is a good thing. I can watch it with ambient light in the room and it still looks very good. Black levels are also improved but i'm not sure it's a night and day difference. Projector is also quieter than the AE700. Not that it was loud before. But it's certainly quieter now.


I also installed a HDMI cable in addition to component cable and the biggest difference I can see between the two is brightness. The HDMI cable makes the image quite a bit brighter. But can also introduce noise depending on what you are watching. I had NCIS Tivo'd in HD and could see a bit of noise on some scenes. But I went over the ABC and watched Seabiscuit in HD and saw no noise at all. So it must be the show and not the cable or projector.


The remote looks alot like the AE700 remote. Just bigger with a few extra buttons. It works well.


I need to adjust colors some more. I noticed in Dynamic mode the colors where just too much. It didn't look natural. So i'll tweak that today using the avia disc.

The image isn't as sharp as I would like. It looks softer than the AE700. Maybe you'll like that, maybe you won't.


I did take some pictures of LOTR on my DVD player connected via component and in Eco mode and dynamic. I'll need to load them on my computer and see how they turned out and i'll post them later.

 

[sdlehman]



Quote:
Originally Posted by archer75 /forum/post/0


Ok, I got it installed. First thing you'll notice is the brightness. It is quite a bit brighter than the AE700 which is a good thing. I can watch it with ambient light in the room and it still looks very good. Black levels are also improved but i'm not sure it's a night and day difference. Projector is also quieter than the AE700. Not that it was loud before. But it's certainly quieter now.


I also installed a HDMI cable in addition to component cable and the biggest difference I can see between the two is brightness. The HDMI cable makes the image quite a bit brighter. But can also introduce noise depending on what you are watching. I had NCIS Tivo'd in HD and could see a bit of noise on some scenes. But I went over the ABC and watched Seabiscuit in HD and saw no noise at all. So it must be the show and not the cable or projector.


The remote looks alot like the AE700 remote. Just bigger with a few extra buttons. It works well.


I need to adjust colors some more. I noticed in Dynamic mode the colors where just too much. It didn't look natural. So i'll tweak that today using the avia disc.

The image isn't as sharp as I would like. It looks softer than the AE700. Maybe you'll like that, maybe you won't.


I did take some pictures of LOTR on my DVD player connected via component and in Eco mode and dynamic. I'll need to load them on my computer and see how they turned out and i'll post them later.

Archer,


Thanks for the post. I too am a very curious AE700 owner who wants to know how much of an improvement the 100 is. My major complaint with my 700 is the FPN, the inability to scale HD signals, and contrast. Looking forward to further thoughts from you.


Stace

 

[broadwayblue]

archer, while i wasn't surprised to hear that the 100 was brighter than your 700 (after all the 700 had an old bulb and the 100 is supposed to be a light cannon) i am quite surprised to hear that you find it softer than the 700. one of the knocks on the 700 is that it is somewhat soft...so to hear you say that the 100 is a step backwards in that regard is very curious indeed.

 

[archer75]



Quote:
Originally Posted by broadwayblue /forum/post/0


archer, while i wasn't surprised to hear that the 100 was brighter than your 700 (after all the 700 had an old bulb and the 100 is supposed to be a light cannon) i am quite surprised to hear that you find it softer than the 700. one of the knocks on the 700 is that it is somewhat soft...so to hear you say that the 100 is a step backwards in that regard is very curious indeed.

I don't know what it is. It just looks a bit soft. Though not any text on the screen. That is very sharp. It's just weird. Something about the image that is odd. I was just watching BSG in standard def and it looked great compared to all other SD i've seen so far. And it did'nt have the same softness. It's not that it's bad, just different.

The Avia disc I have is old and is more for CRT televisions. And I don't have any color filters to fine tune the color with it. Are there any other calibration discs that would work better?


It's most noticable when you see a person against a bright background. There's something about the outline of the person that looks weird. I don't know what it is. It was very noticable tonight watching extreme home makeover.


I did get a free upconverting DVD player with the projector and the images from that looked very good.


Here's a image of seabiscuit in OTA HD on ABC. It's using HDMI and Dynamic mode with the bulb in eco mode:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Picture057.jpg


Here's another. This is from a DVD player, NOT upconverted. Connection is component. There is some ambient light in the back of the room but the camera doesn't really pick it up. I turned the flash off so it doesn't wash out the image:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Picture054.jpg


And for comparison, this is the AE700: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Picture039.jpg

It's not really as dark as the image shows. But you get the idea how much brighter the AX100 really is.


AX100:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Picture050.jpg


AE700:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...Picture043.jpg


Again, in reality the images really aren't that dark. It's just taking a picture in a dark room with no flash. Both images are 480p.

 

[archer75]

After spending more time with the projector it just becomes more clear how good it really is. Any complaint I had about it isn't necessarily the projector but rather the content i'm viewing.


You know when you go from a small tv to a big one how it shows all the imperfections that you couldn't see before because of the size and quality? Same thing here. The projector is such a big step up from the AE700 that i'm seeing the imperfections in shows more clearly. Most SD looks worse than before. However watching BSG and Enterprise on scifi in SD looked suprisingly good. Better than any other SD channel.

Extreme home makeover in HD doesn't look all that great. The ABC evening news looks very soft. However our local news on CBS was very sharp and clear. Heroes tonight looked AMAZING in HD. Best i've ever seen.

So not all HD is created equal(i'm sure you know this). But with a quality feed the projector is fantastic. As has been said before, it has better black levels, it is quite a bit brighter. I watch it with ambient light all the time and it still looks good. With lights out it is spectacular. The brightness with it almost reminds me a DLP TV a friend has. It really looks that good.

 

[chaos_AT]

My ae700 is dying right now (blue panel problem) after only 3500 total lamp time and Warranty-time is over of course. A friend of mine, also a heavy user, has the same problem.


15 month lifespan is weak.


I dont think I will buy another product with this kind of organc panels. The ax100 also has an organic panel so this is not an option for me. (as heavy user)

I´ve also heard alot of stories concerning overheating problems and possible early death of the panel with the new ax100.


Now its getting clearer, why panasonic only grants 1 year of warrenty.

Next pj will be dlp or lcos or anorganic lcd (ae1000?) Hopefully these will survive heavy use.


edit.: I used my ae700 for nearly everything.: tv, gaming, monitor etc.. too much for this type of projector..

I wasnt informed good enough, because if had been, I would NEVER have bought that kind of projector.

 

[rday1960]

It is a shame these organic panels fail so easily. The companies should have made a fix available at a decent cost. I like the looked feel of LCD better then that of DLP. However, I may take another look at both technologies when I am ready to upgrade.

 

[broadwayblue]



Quote:
Originally Posted by chaos_AT /forum/post/0


My ae700 is dying right now (blue panel problem) after only 3500 total lamp time and Warranty-time is over of course. A friend of mine, also a heavy user, has the same problem.


15 month lifespan is weak.

I agree that does suck. I guess most people don't put 8 hours a day on their projector. Not that you shouldn't be able to...but that's a lot of viewing!

 

[broadwayblue]



Quote:
Originally Posted by archer75 /forum/post/0


After spending more time with the projector it just becomes more clear how good it really is. Any complaint I had about it isn't necessarily the projector but rather the content i'm viewing.


You know when you go from a small tv to a big one how it shows all the imperfections that you couldn't see before because of the size and quality? Same thing here. The projector is such a big step up from the AE700 that i'm seeing the imperfections in shows more clearly.


Heroes tonight looked AMAZING in HD. Best i've ever seen.


So not all HD is created equal(i'm sure you know this). But with a quality feed the projector is fantastic. As has been said before, it has better black levels, it is quite a bit brighter. I watch it with ambient light all the time and it still looks good. With lights out it is spectacular. The brightness with it almost reminds me a DLP TV a friend has. It really looks that good.

I thought it might have had something to do with the content...I haven't watch much SD programming over the past 2 years. Once you go HD it's hard to go back. Glad you're enjoying it. My decision keeps getting harder.

 

[ddung]

For those who had the AE700 power issues, following some advice from these posts I ordered locally (Australia - Prime Electronics) both power supply boards (approx AUD320) and replaced them - the projector works perfectly now !!! Saved hips of money with minimum fuss. Thanks for the forums!