Panasonic PT-AE3000 – Performance Posted on October 2, 2013 By Art Feierman 1. Panasonic PT-AE3000U Projector Review - Panasonic PT-AE3000 Projector Overview - PT-AE3000 Projector Highlights2. Menus - Menu - Remote Control - Lens Throw3. Special Features - PT-AE3000 Frame Interpolation - Anamorphic Lens Emulation Capabilities - Waveform Monitor and Split Adjust - Fast Frame Response4. Panasonic PT-AE3000 – Physical Tour - Appearance - Control Panel - Input/Output5. Menu - Remote Control - Lens Throw - Lens Shift - Anamorphic Lens6. Panasonic PT-AE3000 – Image Quality - Out of the Box Picture Quality - Flesh Tones - Black Levels & Shadow Detail - Black Levels & Shadow Detail7. Black Levels & Shadow Detail 2 - Shadow Detail Performance8. Shadow Detail Performance 39. Shadow Detail Performance 4 - Panasonic PT-AE3000U projector:10. Overall Color & Picture Quality11. Panasonic PT-AE3000 – Performance - Brightness - Sharpness12. Sharpness 2 - Panasonic PT-AE3000: Bottom Line Sharpness - Light Leakage13. Image Noise - Image Noise - Audible Noise14. Panasonic PT-AE3000 Projector Calibration - Color Temperature - Basic Settings - Our settings (numbers in parens are the default numbers) - Gamma - the Panasonic has separate gamma settings for - Post Calibration Grayscale15. RGB Settings - Contrast - Brightness16. Panasonic PT-AE3000 – Projector Screens - General Screen Recommendations: 16:9 Diagonal - Cinemascope Projector Screens17. Panasonic PT-AE3000 – Competitors - PT-AE3000 vs. Epson Home Cinema 1080 UB - Panasonic PT-AE3000 vs. Mitsubishi HC5500 HC6500 and HC700018. Panasonic PT-AE3000 vs. Sanyo PLV-Z3000 - Panasonic PT-AE3000 vs. Sanyo PLV-Z3000 - Panasonic PT-AE3000 vs. BenQ W5000 - Panasonic PT-AE3000 vs. Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB - Panasonic PT-AE3000 vs. Epson Home Cinema 610019. PT-AE3000 vs. Sanyo PLV-Z700 - PT-AE3000 vs. InFocus IN83 and IN82 - PT-AE3000 vs. JVC DLA-RS1x, DLA-RS10 and DLA-RS2020. Panasonic PT-AE3000 – Warranty21. Panasonic PT-AE3000 – Review Summary - Bottom Line - Panasonic PT-AE3000 Projector: Pros - Panasonic PT-AE3000 Projector: Cons - Panasonic PT-AE3000 Projector: Typical Capabilities22. Panasonic PT-AE3000U Projector Specifications BrightnessAverage, very average. Some projectors are average in best mode, but in other modes may be significantly brighter or dimmer than average. The Panasonic, however stays right there at the low end of average. I consider average brightness to be anywhere from about 400 to 550 lumens in its best mode, and average tends to be in the 1000 to 1200 lumens in brightnest mode. Header Content Cinema 1 402 @ 6519K Cinema 1 391 @ 7021K Cinema 1 422 @ 8051K Normal 936 @ 8646K Dynamic 1144 @ 7455K, 1261 at full zoom out, 760 at full zoom in Color 1 461 @ 6742K Color 2 539 @ 7457K Let’s start with the brightness of each of the Panasonic PT-AE3000‘s preset modes. This is before any color calibration. I have also included the color temperature measured for white. All measurements above are with the lamp mode on Normal (full power). Switching to low lamp mode, we remeasured Cinema 1, and, surprisingly, the Panasonic still measured 357 lumens, so it is only about 11% dimmer. That 11% should be consistent between full and low power for any mode. Not surprisingly the color temperature was a bit higher at 6742, which seems to be typical with most projectors (and only a minor shift towards blue). Calibrating Cinema 1 mode (remember the Panasonic requires only the slightest adjustment), measured 407 lumens, essentially unchanged. The quick calibraton of Normal mode reduced lumens from 936 to 900 and Dynamic mode dropped from 1144 to 1116 lumens. Again, very minor differences between before and after calibration. The PT-AE3000U, as mentioned, really does have very good color for a “bright mode” to start with, and after our quick calibration, it got even better. SharpnessOur first image is a closely cropped image of the DTS test disc opening menu. What you see in the thumbnail is only about 20% of the area of the full image. The larger versions (when you click on them), are even further cropped. As you can see, the Panasonic is not exceptional in this area. Close up of a computer monitor, from Space Cowboys (Blu-ray), left to right PT-AE3000U, Epson Home Cinema 1080 UB, Sanyo PLV-Z700, and BenQ W20000. Only the BenQ does a visibly better job. The PT-AE3000U is one of the sharper 1080p projectors out there. PreviousNext PreviousNext 1. Panasonic PT-AE3000U Projector Review - Panasonic PT-AE3000 Projector Overview - PT-AE3000 Projector Highlights2. Menus - Menu - Remote Control - Lens Throw3. Special Features - PT-AE3000 Frame Interpolation - Anamorphic Lens Emulation Capabilities - Waveform Monitor and Split Adjust - Fast Frame Response4. Panasonic PT-AE3000 – Physical Tour - Appearance - Control Panel - Input/Output5. Menu - Remote Control - Lens Throw - Lens Shift - Anamorphic Lens6. Panasonic PT-AE3000 – Image Quality - Out of the Box Picture Quality - Flesh Tones - Black Levels & Shadow Detail - Black Levels & Shadow Detail7. Black Levels & Shadow Detail 2 - Shadow Detail Performance8. Shadow Detail Performance 39. Shadow Detail Performance 4 - Panasonic PT-AE3000U projector:10. Overall Color & Picture Quality11. Panasonic PT-AE3000 – Performance - Brightness - Sharpness12. Sharpness 2 - Panasonic PT-AE3000: Bottom Line Sharpness - Light Leakage13. Image Noise - Image Noise - Audible Noise14. Panasonic PT-AE3000 Projector Calibration - Color Temperature - Basic Settings - Our settings (numbers in parens are the default numbers) - Gamma - the Panasonic has separate gamma settings for - Post Calibration Grayscale15. RGB Settings - Contrast - Brightness16. Panasonic PT-AE3000 – Projector Screens - General Screen Recommendations: 16:9 Diagonal - Cinemascope Projector Screens17. Panasonic PT-AE3000 – Competitors - PT-AE3000 vs. Epson Home Cinema 1080 UB - Panasonic PT-AE3000 vs. Mitsubishi HC5500 HC6500 and HC700018. Panasonic PT-AE3000 vs. Sanyo PLV-Z3000 - Panasonic PT-AE3000 vs. Sanyo PLV-Z3000 - Panasonic PT-AE3000 vs. BenQ W5000 - Panasonic PT-AE3000 vs. Epson Home Cinema 6500 UB - Panasonic PT-AE3000 vs. Epson Home Cinema 610019. PT-AE3000 vs. Sanyo PLV-Z700 - PT-AE3000 vs. InFocus IN83 and IN82 - PT-AE3000 vs. JVC DLA-RS1x, DLA-RS10 and DLA-RS2020. Panasonic PT-AE3000 – Warranty21. Panasonic PT-AE3000 – Review Summary - Bottom Line - Panasonic PT-AE3000 Projector: Pros - Panasonic PT-AE3000 Projector: Cons - Panasonic PT-AE3000 Projector: Typical Capabilities22. Panasonic PT-AE3000U Projector Specifications Overall Color & Picture Quality Sharpness 2