Panasonic PT-AE4000 Projector Calibration and Settings
We calibrate each home theater that is reviewed. Normally we just do a basic grayscale calibration, as was the case here. I will note that there is still a bit of remaining excess red in skin tones (a very small amount), that a standard grayscale balance did not remove. Calibrating red, and the other individual primary and secondary colors should allow the removal of that small red push.
11/14/2009 - Art Feierman
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Panasonic PT-AE4000 Color Temperature
Let's start with the basics. First, here are each of the modes, showing their "out of the box" measured color temperature for white.
Lumen Output and Color Temp at 100 IRE (mid zoom):
Cinema 1= 411 @ 7180K
Cinema 2= 457 @ 7751K
Cinema 3= 457 @ 8945K
Normal= 789 @ 9520K
Dynamic= 1071 @ 9093K, 1159 with Contrast set to 8
Color 1= 430 @ 6660K
Color 2= 440 @ 6357K
Mike calibrated Color 1, which has a very good color gamut, whereas, for example, Color 2 has the wider color gamut usually found on most projectors. A wider gamut, in theory, is a good thing, but it's wider than the standards we use, so normally isn't as accurate. We "bring back in" those extended colors when a calibration is done. In this regard, Color 1, might be thought of as similar to, say, the THX mode on the Epson projectors as they too have a tight REC 709 type color gamut in their THX mode.
Thanks to Color 1's defaults, it does produce very good color accuracy, even without calibration, but Mike's calibration further improved the picture. Color 2 has that larger gamut.
Here are the color temperature measurements for the Color 1 and 2 modes:
Color Temp over IRE Range (Pre calibration):
Color 1 Color 2
30 IRE 6615K 6352K
50 IRE 6482K 6216K
80 IRE 6549K 6276K
Beyond these measurements, (and a CIE chart) Mike did not work with Color 2
We normally do not calibrate a projector's individual colors using their CMS (color management system), just a gray scale calibration. We on occasion, make an exception, where it really must be done from a practical standpoint. For example, my JVC RS20 projector, has a great THX mode, but, overall, can be improved. To do so with my RS20, though I had to use their CMS to recalibrate green, and other individual colors. This remains true for the newer JVC RS25. Recently, in reviewing the PT-AE4000's most direct competitor, the Epson Home Cinema 8500UB / Pro Cinema 9500UB, we were able to improve on it's THX mode, with a grayscale calibration. Bottom line, we didn't do CMS individual color adjustments with the Panasonic or the Epson.
In the case of the Panasonic, however, without using the CMS, Mike still ended up with some slight shift towards red, due, I expect by a slightly oversaturated red output. Note, Panasonic is touting their new lamp, with a warmer - more red, color temp, so that isn't overly surprising. (By comparison, the Epson and most LCD projectors, tend to overdrive green more than any other individual color.
Panasonic PT-AE4000 Basic Settings
In addition to calibrating Red Green and Blue for a correct grayscale balance (6500K), there are a number of other settings that come into play. Typically Contrast and Brightness (white balance and black balance), need to be done first. Color saturation and gamma also need adjustment.
Our final settings (the default settings for Brightness, Contrast, Saturation and Tint are all 0, in all modes). Mike made adjustments to these, and the Color Temp settings for each of the seven modes:
Cinema 1 |
Cinema 2 |
Cinema 3 |
Normal |
Dynamic |
Color 1 |
Color 2 |
|
| Contrast = (0) | 1 |
-1 |
0 |
0 |
-2 |
0 |
0 |
| Brightness = (0) | 1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
7 |
| Color = (0) | 0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
-5 |
0 |
| Tint = (0) | 0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
-4 |
0 |
Lamp Mode=High (unless noted otherwise)
Lens aperture fully open
All other settings at default (untouched)
Zoom set at mid-point for all measurements
To get the very most out of the DLA-PT-AE4000, a calibration is necessary, but will only yield a slight improvement over Color 1mode. Calibrating the individual colors will further improve and should eliminate the slight red push.
Panasonic PT-AE4000 Post Calibration Grayscale
Here are the bottom line, post calibration numbers for Color 1:
Color Temp over IRE Range (Post calibration):
20 IRE 6522K
30 IRE 6566K
40 IRE 6555K
50 IRE 6523K
60 IRE 6548K
70 IRE 6552K
80 IRE 6516K
90 IRE 6520K
100 IRE 6533K
That is truly a superb set of numbers! Only a 40K variation across the range from dark gray to white, and about as close to 6500K as you will see. Mike placed the calibration settings to get these numbers in the Memory 1 of the Panasonic (which offers more than a dozen savable memories.
Gamma settings:
The gamma controls on the PT-AE4000 allow for detailed customization, including different gamma curves for each primary color! You can have about as much fun as you would like, customizing gamma for your screen, room conditions, personal tastes, etc.
The measured default gamma averages 2.15, pretty close to the "ideal" 2.2. With the advanced gamma controls you can furthter tune the gamma.
Panasonic PT-AE4000 RGB Settings
These are the adjustments we made to Red, Green and Blue for the grayscale balance of Color 1 mode. This is accomplished by placing these adjustments into one of the three Custom settings (1, 2, or 3). We placed all of these into User 1 (which starts out as a copy of THX).
Calibration settings for Memory 1:
Gamma on Simple
| Color 1(Memory 1) | Quick Cal on Dynamic (Memory 2) | |
| Contrast | R = 3 |
15 |
G = 0 |
-10 | |
B = 0 |
-20 | |
| Brightness | R = -1 |
|
G = 0 |
0 | |
B = 0 |
0 | |
| Lumens at 100 IRE: | 430 | 943 |
Now you have everything you need to copy our calibration efforts on your new Panasonic PT-AE4000 projector. Of course there will be slight variations due to the lamp (and lamp performance will change over time). We calibrated with the lamp virtually brand new, as opposed to waiting a couple hundred hours, which is generally considered more ideal. Still, any shifts are fairly slight. If In end up purchasing an PT-AE4000, or the souped up RS35 (with hand picked components and tighter quality control), I'll be calibrating it when new, and then likely redoing the calibration after about 300 hours. If that all happens, I'll post those numbers as well.
Bottom line: Excellent color, natural skin tones (if you don't push the dynamic sharpness and other image features too hard). The Panasonic always looks very good, never strained, as long as you don't run out of lumens trying to project on too large a screen for its brightness.
NEXT: Recommended projector screens for the Panasonic PT-AE4000