Panasonic PT-AR100U – Overall Color & Picture Quality

If you are a “purist” looking for the best image quality down around $1000, and plan to place your projector in a home theater like environment, this Panasonic PT-AR100U may not be the best choice for you. Some of you who are really looking for that best movie image are going to favor some of the DLP based projectors in the price range, for that “look and feel”. But, just as in the past, with older Panasonic projectors taking on their DLP competition, any slight advantage from that DLP “look”, is offset by the much more flexible design, and bigger feature set found with this Panasonic.

Color itself is not an issue.

A mix of additional images to show off the Panasonic PT-AR100U:

While the projector calibrates easily, it doesn’t result in the tightest numbers post calibration. Still, overall image quality is very good in calibrated REC 709, and not much worse without any calibration at all. All the brighter modes, I’d have to say, offer better color, than most other projectors in modes producing upwards of, for example, 1200 lumens.

I was especially impressed with the color, right out of the box, of modes like Sports and Dynamic. Normal, the 2nd brightest mode, also worked fine, though thin on reds with a 9000+ color temp.