Panasonic PT-AE1000U :: A Projector Review

So there I was, already a little bit enlightened about the wonderful world of Lumens. Knowledge in mind, I was on a mission, which was beginning to feel more like a quest if you will; the quest to find the best projector in the world. Or well, maybe at least the best projector for my situation. Affordability would be nice too as long as I do not tell my wife what I am spending (wink wink).

A friend of mine recently came across a good deal on a projector and bought it. It was the Panasonic PT-AE1000U. Luckily, he had not swapped it out with his old projector yet, as it was still in the box on his kitchen table just begging to be installed. I began to wonder, would he notice if I just, um well, borrowed it for a little while.

Okay, I would never actually just take something from someone, after all, that's called taxes. But my friend was very (reluctantly) gracious to let me borrow the Panasonic PT-AE1000U for a weekend to try it out. I couldn't wait. So once again, I was going on an adventure down Electronics Avenue.

Now Panasonic makes great products and I recently almost bought a really great professional camcorder by Panasonic. However, due to certain compatibility issues in my video editing software I opted for a Sony instead (I will write about that later). I have no true brand loyalty but prefer to find the best product for my situation at the best price; bringing us back to the PT-AE1000U.

The PT-AE1000U features three LCD panels that display beautiful 1080p HDTV, with a lumen output of 1,100 lumens and a superb contrast ratio of 11,000:1. So what does all this mean you may be wondering? Well from my last article on Lumens Rating we found out that a Lumens Rating of 1,100 is about the average for most home theater projectors. The way Lumens works, the higher the number the brighter the light output. Now a higher Lumens Rating is not necessarily better as it is all relative to your viewing situation.

In my case, I would be setting this up in my Living Room which is fairly small since I live in an apartment. There is one large window that will be allowing light in; however I can easily counter this by using blackout curtains found at any local Bed Bath & Beyond or similar store. So essentially, I could use a projector with a Lumens Rating of 500, but this Panasonic with its Lumens Rating of 1,100 will give me a much brighter and probably clearer picture then a projector with a lower Lumens Rating. While projectors can have a Lumens Rating of up to 4,000+ such a projector would probably not only wash out all colors and picture quality but would probably blind me as well. So the Panasonic PT-AE1000U has an ideal Lumens Rating for my situation.

One of the first things I noticed about the specs on this Panasonic unit is the options that it gives you with your connections as it has two HDMI portals in the back, along with two component terminals allowing you to connect a YPBPR signal cable, S-Video, or an RCA composite video cable. Both connections will allow you to transfer HDTV signals to the projector. This comes in quite handy when you have many different HDTV components such as satellite boxes, DVD players, and my favorite, the gaming consoles. All of these sources can output some form of HD signal. There is even a PC connection for connecting your computer as well. Lastly there is a serial connection for connecting to an AMX or Crestron control system for those that have a control system application.

Besides the connections that are on the outside of the projector, this item is loaded with great technology on the inside. Panasonic has developed an inside team that they refer to as their "Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory" which conducts research into digital cinema, DVD video compression, and digital conversion of film stock. Through this process they have developed close ties with some of Hollywood's leading cinematographers, studio techs, and directors; in hopes of delivering to you their cinematic vision.

At the heart of the projector is the "Cinema Works Pro" Panasonic's new and powerful processing engine. Just to touch on some of the details of what's behind the engine. Panasonic has incorporated a 14-Bit digital processing circuit, a progressive cinema scan, and a new scaling LSI which helps to produce sharper pictures and reduce picture noise. The Panasonic PT-AE1000U brochure goes into even more detail on these specs, but what really caught my attention were the seven pre-programmed cinema presets.

Now my old Sony television had similar features, such as a "warm" picture or a cool picture, where the colors and brightness would adjust accordingly, but nothing close to this. When you are dealing with projecting images in a varying situation these options come in handy. For example, the Panasonic has a "Dynamic" picture setting suitable for when you are viewing images in a brightly lit room. However, turn the lights low, send the kids to bed and watch a good horror flick (or love story when my wife makes the decisions) and set the settings to "Cinema 1" for a soft smooth picture ideal for movies. Pre-set viewing settings are always a plus in my book for any viewing device.

Now that I've touched on some of the technical aspects, let's review some things I noticed when actually using the Panasonic PT-AE1000U. To get the best image quality I referred to the accompanied Panasonic PT-AE1000U spec sheet and looked under Projection Distance. The furthest I could place the projector from the wall was about twelve feet which is ideal for use with an eighty inch screen. Luckily, I have a 100" screen from a previous nightclub venture (another long story) which I can use to test this image. However, for a more permanent screen it would be best to purchase one which fits the projected image better, or to build a screen using such products as Screen Goo. Which I will delve into in a later article.

One of the things I noticed is how quiet this projector is. At 22db you won't even know the projector is there. Being a movie enthusiast this is very important to me as nothing is more distracting while watching a movie than hearing things that don't belong in the movie. Another cool feature was the remote can be set up to control most other components in the room, eliminating the need for multiple "universal" remotes.

So I blacked out my windows, put up my temporary (and overly impressive) screen, hooked everything up, especially the surround sound, turned everything on and ran into one major problem; which movie to watch. To test out the visual quality I grabbed an old favorite of mine, the Matrix. Dismissing Keanu Reeves as Neo, I never tire of this movie. All I can say is the image quality was stunning; so good in fact that I'm not sure if I will be able to return the projector to my friend.

The colors were sharp and powerful, and the contrast was what you would expect from watching a movie in a theater. Coupled with the surround sound, I felt as if I would never have to shell out for a ten dollar movie ticket again. I couldn't wait to test it out with my gaming system. Of course, I will have to return the projector to my friend eventually. Which will leave me with the real dilemma; after watching movies on such a scale in my little living room how will I ever be able to return to the little box named TV?