Just got my Panasonic L300U, and it's sweet! (1 Viewer)

[Elias A.]

Nice setup, Tommy. It looks like you might need to get some blackout drapes for your windows, since you have a fairly light room. Obviously, the more ambient light you have, the more washed out the picture will be. I have the advantage of having a separate dedicated home theater, with blackout curtains on the windows and the walls and ceiling painted dark purple. Basically, it's dark as a tomb in there, so it's perfect for front projection.

 

[Tom J. Davis]

I'm about 30 minutes away from Halo on my 300u. I'll report back later tonight on how it looks.

 

[Andrew Grall]

Man...

These threads about the Panasonic front projections systems are really making me think...

I currently have a 50" widescreen Toshiba HDTV. It's really the biggest the room can fit. My main gripe about the TV is that it is not 720p capable, so X-Box games that support that are pointless. And I have yet to actually see 1080i on the TV, but I may remedy that soon with Comcast HDTV.

We are going to likely move to another state in just under a year, and we were tentatively planning on selling my ISF calibrated Toshiba and buying a new plasma when we move. But talk of these front projection systems is intriguing me.

Does this projecter display both 720p and 1080i?

 

[Tom J. Davis]

The 300u is 960x540. If you feed it any other resolution the projector must scale the image. I haven't heard how 720p looks scaled, but many users over at the avs forum have reported great success with 1080i. Since the projector's native resolution is exactly half of 1080i hdtv, it should scale nicely. Hopefully one of these days I will find out myself..:frowning:

Oh, Xbox is awsome! The only complaint is it's almost too big. Took a while to get used to. Right now I'm using an 8ft wide screen and I'm 12-13ft away, but I may make it a little smaller when I permanently mount it.

 

[TommyL]

How is the picture? Is there a lot of difference vs a 55" or bigger? And FPS wise...is it a keeper? thanks Tom! tom

 

[Tom J. Davis]

The picture is better than I expected. It's not perfect, but for the money and size I'm amazed. In some ways it's better than my 53" hdtv Sony. The black levels are better on the sony, but not by much. I've been watching Empire Strikes Back tonight and it's ok, but you can really see the resolution limitations. I blame the source material for that though. Kind of the same thing with Xbox. It was cool at first, but I almost prefer it on the Sony. It's just too big on an 8ft wide screen. Almost made me sick.

I haven't done any tweaking yet. Just a plain blackout cloth screen that isn't even stretched around a frame yet, just tacked to the wall. I'm going to try the nd +2 filter and I'll be painting the cloth gray at some point.

The thing that impresses me the most is that I haven't noticed any scaling artifacts, scanlines, screen door, etc, etc. With all the talk over at avsforum about vertical banding and screen door I really expected to have a hard time with those issues, but they just aren't there for me. Not that I'm complaining. Ignorance is bliss!!

 

[Drew Bethel]

Elias, welcome to the 300 club! When I first bought my 300 i was so impressed with the PQ showing on a blank wall that I almost scrapped the idea of building my parkland plastic screen! It only got better.

I would also check at Scot King's settings over on the AVS forum. I plugged them in and was blown away.

 

[Tom J. Davis]

I also tried Scott's settings and they improved the colors dramatically! Now I just need to find time to paint and build the screen.

Tried the nd+2 filter, it improved the blacks, but overall I prefer the picture without the filter. It seems to be one of those things that would work better for some movies than others.

 

[Derrek Kyzar]

Anyone tried the C005M (is that right?) filter after Scott's settings? Colors are great, but I am noticing a little green tint still on peoples faces. Did the settings fix that on anyone elses?

Derrek

 

[Tom J. Davis]

I'm going to try the cc05 whatever filter tonight. I think the colors after scott's settings are pretty damn good, but I'm always willing to try something else.

 

[Derrek Kyzar]

Cool Tom, thanks.

Anxious to hear how that turns out. I know the CC filter doesn't reduce the brightness as much as the ND x2 filter, but will wait to see if you think it got too dim.
Always have to recalibrate after any change I suppose.. Avia should be here any day!!

Derrek

 

[Tom J. Davis]

Watched Basic and Daredevil tonight. Not sure about the filter. I just held it in front of the lens for a few minutes at a time. The projector is sitting right behind my head, so it was pretty easy to do. I guess I need to cut the filter and try to wedge it into the lens somehow.

It definitely didn't make the picture too dark and it helped the green tint that I still have, but not sure what it will do to skies or bright whites. I need to watch something with alot of outdoor scenes to make up my mind. Any suggestions?

Right now the only problem I have with the projector is the green tint. It seems to be something I can work out over time though.

As a side note, Daredevil was awsome on the big screen! I'm still amazed at the smoothness of the picture, even on an 8ft wide screen.

 

[Derrek Kyzar]

I'm glad you mentioned Daredevil, because that is the movie that I have seen most lately because everyone that comes over to check out the theater hasn't seen it yet, so I pop it in.

I noticed the green tint in numerous places, but it seems to be more noticeable on black actors and actresses faces in lit scenes. Any scene with Michael Clarke Duncan, let me know what you think. I also seem to notice it a good bit on Avery Brooks when I watch Deep Space Nine. Hmm.. wonder if it has anything to do with being bald.. more reflection..

I will be so glad when I can sit and ENJOY a movie and not nitpick everything.. it took a while when I had RPTV, this might take longer. Everyone else is blown away, so I should just relax I'm sure.

But in any case, if you would, run the filter over the front on scenes with facial closeups and tell me what you think.

Derrek
Derrek

 

[Brian Schucher]

I have been really nitpcivky since i received my L300 a few weeks ago. The scanline artifact and problems with fleshtones has bothered me. I think they are bothering me a lot less now. Last night for the first time i just got lost in the movie and it was an absolute pleasure! I found the vid quality to be really good on DareDevil and didnt rreally notice any color issues...

 

[Tom J. Davis]

It will be Saturday night before I have a chance to mess with it again. I'll report back when I can.

 

[Massimo N]

I've had the PT-AE300 for since it launched in Canada (Mid March) and I've never looked back. I'm using the HOYA FL-D filter with the projector and it helped the picture a lot. It does cut out on the light output but it is still plenty bright, especially considering the improvement it makes on the blacks and removing the little bit of green tinge.

I'm using the filter on the inner thread (I think it's 55mm .. I'm not sure) and the colour temp had to be tweaked quite a bit. The filter was prety cheap (I paid about $30 Canadian at a local shop).

I'm projecting on a 89" Wide Screen (black out cloth painted painted in BEHR Pure White with 3" Black Felt Trim) Just in case anyone is interested, here are the settings I ended up with:

Picture Mode: Normal
Cont: -1
Bright: -3
Colour: -6
Tint: +3
Sharp: +2
Colour Temp:
R: +1 Contrast
B: -3 Contrast
R: -5 Brightness
B: -1 Brightness
Gamma: n/c

Cheers!
Mass

 

[Derrek Kyzar]

Thanks for that tip!

Are you saying that the one filter helps with the black level -and- the green tinge? ND+2 and a C005M all in one?

I was able to find this site here but I was wondering if someone could tell me the difference between the HMC filters and the Standard Coated filters.

One last thing.. the 62mm are the ones that screw in on the outer ring, yes?

Derrek

 

[Bob McLaughlin]

I thought I'd add to the list of people singing the praises of the Panny PT-L300U! Having a front-projector changes EVERYTHING. You literally will end up re-watching every DVD in your collection, and there are always new things you see in the movie that you hadn't seen before. The image has so much more depth than an image viewed on a conventional glass screen. Even a movie I've seen dozens of time such as "The Wizard of Oz" reveals details that I'd been missing for years.

The best thing is seeing how excited my guests get when they see that huge image projected for the first time! You watch their faces light up and their eyes pop out of their heads. People just can't believe it, and they can't believe how inexpensive this projector is! And of course, kids love the idea of a "real theater" in a basement.

I have a 100-inch diagonal 16:9 DIY screen made from blackout material I purchased on eBay for $30. I put a black velvet border around the screen as well (curtains are going to be my next purchase). I have total control of the light because this is in my basement and I have the windows blacked out. I have 7 real theater seats that I bought at a junk store for on only $6 each, which I've cleaned up and mounted on platforms in two rows.

 

[Neil Joseph]

The black velvet border is my next mini project - What process did you use to apply the velvet border?

 

[Drew Bethel]

I'm also curious about the velvet border. Do you have any pics that you can share with us?