Panasonic; projector; widescreen
This review is from: Panasonic PT-AE4000U 1600 Lumen LCD Home Theater ProjectorThis is only the second video projector I have ever purchased since I built my home theater 17 years ago but I have to say that it is an amazing product. I am certain that any purchaser will be extremely pleased with it. I am!I own a SharpVision XV-S250ZU Video Projector which I purchased in 1992. It was "state-of-the-art" in its day but, over time, its the LCD panels (organic) have deteriorated. (Still, 17 years is not a bad run!)Knowing that I would want to replace the SharpVision, I began doing research on projectors, starting in 2007. I quickly eliminated single-chip DLP projectors as, having seen quite a few of them, I have found that both my wife and I are unusually sensitive to the "rainbow" effect noticeable with this kind of projector. We primarily watch older black-and-white movies and this "rainbow" effect is especially apparent with this type of programming.I also quickly eliminated 3-chip DLP projectors due to their frightfully high cost.Concentrating on 3-panel LCD projectors, I got down to two models: the Epson Powerlite V11H337020 Home Cinema 8500 LCD Home Theater Projector and this one, the Panasonic PT AE4000U - LCD projector - 1600 ANSI lumens - 1920 x 1080 - widescreen - High Definition 1080p. Both of these use inorganic panels and so should last even longer than my SharpVision.The choice was difficult - I had no opportunity to see either "in the flesh" but, from what I have read (and I have read quite a bit), it seemed that, for our kind of viewing (older as well as newer movies, rare television and no games) and our venue (a fully darkened [with less than 5% ambient lighting] home theater), this one would be the better of the two. Almost all of the reviewers stated that this Panasonic produces much more "film-like" images than does the Epson (though, according to those reviews, they are fairly close).I should mention that we only rarely watch current television shows in our home theater but we do have a ePVision PHD-205LE HDTV Tuner ATSC / QAM (HD) / NTSC (Pass-through Only) Tuner Receiver Box. 1080i and 720p broadcasts look superb. Though we also own an OPPO BDP-93 Universal Network 3D Blu-ray Disc Player, we still view mostly standard definition sources (DVD, LaserDisc, and, believe it or not, S-VHS and VHS tapes! The overwhelming majority of the films we watch are only available in SD). However, standard definition looks spectacular in our theater as does the occasional high-definition (Blu-ray) video we watch.Now to the projector itself. I can tell you that setting it up is quick and easy and the image it produces literally runs rings around any LCD (or DLP) projector I have ever seen. Right out of the box its images look terrific and many people will be wholly satisfied without any 'tweaking' whatsoever.The contrast is excellent and the black levels are really, really fine in both color as well as black-and-white movies with deep blacks yet good detail.Black-and-white movies look superb.The color is breathtaking!Believe it or not, when watching a DVD or Blu-ray disc, you'll think you're watching film. I know that we've all seen this claim before - and far too often - but, with this projector, the claim is absolutely true.The overall picture is breathtaking too - FAR superior to any LCD or Plasma "flat-panel" television I have seen (and I've seen quite a few of them in "Home Theater Salons" as well as in peoples' homes). Only a very few older "high-end" CRT televisions can produce as vibrant a color palette as can this projector, at least in my experience, and their picture (image) size is obviously much smaller.This projector has many more features than any other in its price class (and even well above). The myriad settings are ALL user-adjustable; thus the owner never needs to have this projector professionally calibrated.And I can't stress too highly the advantages of a powered zoom lens, something the Epsons mentioned above lack. You can walk right up to the screen and adjust the focus perfectly rather than having to walk back and forth (or squint to see if focus is correct).Mentioning the lens reminds me to tell you that there are lots of adjustments available - zoom, focus, lens shift (both vertical and horizontal), keystone correction, etc. In other words, there are just about all the adjustments you will ever need. (There is even accommodation for an anamorphic supplementary lens should you be fortunate enough to have a very large theatrical screen which can benefit from such a lens.)This projector has many inputs, composite video (the old-fashioned kind), S-video, Component video (the three-cable type), a serial input, and an input labeled Computer (which is a VGA input). And, of course, it has HDMI inputs, three of them in fact. I effected some rudimentary changes in the color - I compared several options (and I have found that Cinema 1, really liked by some reviewers, is not satisfactory to me at least at this time; the colors are not saturated - they are not "colorful" but they, as all other color settings, CAN be 'tweaked'). I am currently using Color 1 for color films. For black-and-white, Cinema 3 looks really good. (I watched THE WAR OF THE WORLDS [1953] which has particularly vibrant color and one of the episodes of THE UNTOUCHABLES television shows which has excellent black-and-white cinematography and has many dark scenes.) But I have a lot more experimentation to try before I decide positively on the permanent settings (though I'm fairly certain I'll keep on using Color 1 for color pictures - it produces really beautiful images). (We also watched a bit of the following features: WHOOPEE [1930], an early two-color Technicolor feature, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK [1981], widescreen 2.35:1 and beautiful color - and spectacular sound, and MY FAVORITE YEAR [1982], 1.85:1 likewise with beautiful color....
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