Panasonic PT-AE2000U Home Theater Projector Review - General Performance-2

Posted on November 19, 2007 by Art Feierman

PT-AE2000U Lens Throw and Lens Shift

The 2:1 zoom lens allows placement of the projector (for a 100" diagonal 16:9 screen), as close as 10 foot 2 inches (per the manual), or as far back as 19 feet 8 inches, as measured from the screen to the front of the projector. This Panasonic projector has extensive vertical and horiztonal lens shift. The maximum range for vertical lens shift (that means not using horizontal shift at all), is a half screen height. That means that whatever your screen height is, (let's say 49 inches on a 100" diagonal screen), half would be 24.5 inches. Thus, this projector can be positioned as low as 24.5 inches below the bottom of the screen surface, or as much as 24.5 inches above the top of the screen, or anywhere in between.

PT-AE2000U SDE and Rainbow Effect, Pixel Visibility

Thanks to Panasonic's Smooth Screen technology, pixels are totally invisible, unless you are standing a foot or two from the screen. The bottom line, therefore, is no ScreenDoor Effect. Since the PT-AE2000U is an LCD projector, there is no color wheel, and therefore, no Rainbow effect, which bothers a small percentage of the population.

PT-AE2000U Projector Brightness

First, I'll remind you that this was a pre-production sample. As a result, I fully expect the full production projector due in 2 weeks or so, of this writing, to be a bit brighter.

In the Panasonic's best movie mode - Cinema 1, the projector cranked out 388 lumens, after adjustment (slightly more, before), with the lamp in full power mode.

There were no significant differences in brightness between Cinema 1, 2, and 3, despite significant color temperature differences.

Moving to Normal mode, the prefered mode for TV/HDTV/Sports, this PT-AE2000U measured 640 lumens. Not bad for a really good mode for non-movie viewing.

And of course, there is Dynamic mode. Inherently a compromise, sacrificing color accuracy and balance for maximum "cutting through the ambient light" lumens, Dynamic measured 1019 lumens. That makes it the brightest of the new LCD projectors, so far.

The Dynamic mode does it's job. For football, I set the Panasonic PT-AE2000U, to fill just about every square inch of my 128" Firehawk screen, with low levels of lighting coming from overhead recessed lights, plus some daylight coming in around my shaded windows. The Panasonic took a small hit, but overall, the games looked great.

It will be interesting to see how that full production Panasonic will measure out.

PT-AE2000U Projector - Light Leakage

Nothing of note. A non-issue

PT-AE2000U Audible Noise Levels

Reasonably quiet. The Mitsubishi is definitely quieter, but the Panasonic (which doesn't have a published noise level, even in full power), should please all but the most silence demanding theater owners. The Panasonic is definitely quieter than the Epson Cinema 1080 and the Optoma HD80, as well.