OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

Probably because Deep Color will prove to be amost completely useless in either of the formats. One of the things NOT lacking in either format is color fidelity. I seriusly doubt that one could even tell the difference with deep color. Video games, however, will probably really benefit from it.

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

Have you tried to play video games on the AX100? I may add a PS3 later and I was wondering how it looked. I read that Blu-ray on the PS3 looks great on the AX100.

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

I'm really not much of a gamer, unfortunately. I'd actually love to be able to spend some time playing video games, but I just can't seem to find the time. Oh well, it's probably good that I'm not spending more money on yet another expensive item for my home theater. So, to answer your question, I didn't check out any video games on the Panny Projector. I can't imagine that they would look any less than great, though!

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

I just received the AX100 today. The screen will ship in the next day or two, so I should have it next week. I can't wait to get it up and running.

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

congrats, Matthew! Did you get the screen from Carada?

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

No, the screen will arrive next week. I set the unit up in my living room and projected against the wall to make sure it works ok. I was absolutely stunned. I watched the first half of the WVU-Providence BB game in HD ( GO MOUNTAINEERS!!!!) and the picture was flawless out of the box. The colors were bright and vivid. I couldn't see the picture getting any better. If the unit needs calibrated, the picture would be crazy! Maybe I was lucky. When the screen arrives I will test it out again.

On a side note, Standard def TV looked outstanding to me as well (I use DirecTV) It wasn't as good as HDTV, but still nice. I have heard horror stories that SD looks like crap but I was actually impressed.

I will write more when I get the whole ensemble set up.

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

Matthew I look forward to hearing more about this projector!

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

Yeah, look forward to reading about your adventures. Can't remember if this is your first front projector or not, but if so, get ready to re-discover your movie library.

Yes, it will be that fun.

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

It is the first projector I have owned, yes. I have wanted one for many years and now that I have finished my basement and media room I am stoked. I will probably try DVD's tonight. I want to see the darker movies ( Star Wars, LoTR, etc...) and how the AX100 performs on the black levels. I will post whatever I find and my opinions.

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

Well, I watched Star Wars tonight (Episode IV) and it was great! The darks were dark and the lights were light...Just where they needed to be. I have seen the move around a million times, so I know the colors. I could tell that the reds and blues need a slight calibration. In all, I think the images are outstanding. My screen is slated for a Monday delivery, so I hope to have everything mounted and calibrated soon for the big test. Already though, I would recommend this projector #1 for any first time buyers or for anyone looking for a great projector under $2k.

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

Always good to start off a new projector with Star Wars my friend. Yeah, for sure, fine tune the colors. Grab an AVIA disc if you can.

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

I have an Avia DVD a friend let me borrow. If I have time this evening I will calibrate it and replay the movie to see the differences. It looks great the way it is so I can't wait. It makes me realize I also need a new DVD player. Mine is on the older side.

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

So, Matthew... how did that Avia disc work out? Did you get your Carada screen yet?

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

The Avia disc worked great, but the screen I bought ended up being too big for the area due to an unforseen issue with projector placement. I had to return the 96" for an 80". I will get that screen Wed or so. But, The images looked great. I didn't know how to take pics of the images except with my digital camera. I have some pics of the images but they don't look that great because I took them with a camera. Great projector.

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

Hi,
I'm new to projection systems and I'm looking to install one in our new family room. I've read a couple of reviews on the AX100U and I think I'm pretty much sold! But let me ask you guys a couple of questions before I make a purchase; because I'm a little hesitant, this being my first such project. And, I hope these aren't stupid questions. lol.

The room is 17' front to back, and we have a ceiling fan which is going to require that we install the projector on a shelf on the back wall. (The AX100U's reported flexibility is one of the big selling points for me.) So, someone said something about getting the projector first to determine what size screen to get. My question is, if I use the projector on my wall, which is a light blue-gray color, will I really be able to judge what size screen to get? What I really mean is, if you set up a projector using a wall, and set it up for the best picture you can get on that wall, will that really be the correct size for ordering a screen? Because if the picture is fuzzy at first, you could (I assume) adjust the size of the picture down to make the picture appear sharper, but the wall wouldn't be giving the same results as a screen, so it seems the screen would not require you to adjust the picture size down that far to get the same apparent picture quality. So, is it really necessary to buy the projector first, or is there some other method for picking a screen size?

Also, Ben and Parker, you really sold me on Carada for a screen. (Oh, by the way, Parker, your post from Jan. 28 has a link you intended to be for Carada, but the link is actually to a Carda.com; just thought I'd let you know, so people won't go to Carda and ask for Dave. lol.) Anyway, would I be able to go ask for Dave and give him my room dimensions and tell him I'm planning on getting the AX100U and let him just pick out a screen for me? Or would I need other information to give him?

I have so many questions I want to ask, but I kinda don't know where to start, or what I really need to ask. This project has me excited and apprehensive all at the same time. lol.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.
David

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

Several questions:

1) What is the distance from the projector to the wall/screen?

2) What is your lighting like? Do you have control over the lights? Is thre a large amount of ambient light?

3) How close are you going to be sitting to the wall/screen?

4) What are the main uses going to be for the projector ( ie DVD, HDTV, Video games.)

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

Yeah, I don't know why I didn't give that info on my first post; I knew those questions get asked often, and yet I forgot when I posted.

1) The room is 17', front to back, and I saw the AX100U has a depth of 11.8", so call it 1'; then I figured maybe 6" for the wiring at the back and the backing of the cabinet it will be installed in. So, with the screen on the wall, and unless I'm overlooking some detail, about 15.5' throw distance. Oh, and I'm thinking I'm going to get a Criterion Series screen, so there's about .25". I don't know if I need to be that precise, but I figure it can't hurt to give as much info as I can think to give.

2) The lighting will be handled if it becomes a problem. There are windows to deal with, which will be receiving blackout curtains; right now they only have blinds, BUT we do pretty much all of our movie watching at night, because we're kinda a third shift family. We really don't watch much during the daylight hours, mostly only on our nights off. And we can install after dark, so I don't think it will be an immediate problem for us. Like I say, though, the windows are definitely going to get blackout curtains as soon as we can do it, and any other sources of light will be handled, wherever they rear their ugly head.

3) We don't have the furniture in yet, but I'm expecting to have the seats about 12' away from the screen. And, just to help draw the picture a little better: What we're planning is to build a DVD cabinet at the back, which will have the components down the middle, with the projector placed at whatever height it will need to be, and the two rear speakers housed to the sides. The room is actually 17' wide as well, but there are two doors taking up 7' of the back wall, leaving us with 10' for the DVD/component cabinet. And straight out from the two doorways, at the front wall you turn to the right to the stairway leading downstairs. So, we plan to have another, obviously shorter cabinet built below the screen to house the two front speakers and center channel, matching the look of the back cabinet. So, with the cabinet at the back being 10' in length, from the wall to the doorway, we planned on building the cabinet up front to be the same 10' in length, which would give three or four feet of clear space for the stairway. So, we are hoping to get a screen a bit shorter than 10' in frame length, so it will not stretch past the length of the cabinet, which would just look bad. And actually I had my eye on something in the area of 110" diagonally, because that would be shorter than the cabinet by nearly 10 inches on each side, which I think would look better -- so that it doesn't practically touch the wall on the left side. Now again, back to the seating: While the target width for the cabinets and screen, and basically the theater itself is 10', the seating will probably stretch just slightly out of that 10' on the right side. I wish we could have things more perfectly symmetrical, but this is the room we have, and I don't expect to get all the seating inside of that 10'. So anyway, one seat is probably going to be at more of an angle than the others; so I'd like to avoid a screen that would kill the image for that seat. So, I'm expecting seats at about 12' back, with one seat maybe 3' outside of a straight viewing angle.

and 4) You pretty much named them in the right order: DVD, HDTV, video games. Our big thing around here is movies! We love movies and have a pretty good sized DVD collection. And I expect that we'll get something for upconverting, before long. I'd like to have all our movies in Blu-ray or HD DVD, but we've invested a lot of money in DVDs. So DVD is where I expect to stay for a while. I do plan to get HDTV via DirecTV added shortly. And yes, there will be some video gaming, but just every now and then. The primary use will be DVD.

So, does anybody know of a reason that I shouldn't go ahead and order the AX100U, or expect that it may not work for my room? It sounds great, and I'm about ready to take the plunge. Just wondering if anybody has spotted a red flag that my inexperience might have caused me to miss.

Oh, and one other question, to a moderator: Am I posting in the right place? I know this is the official review section, and I also know I've kinda gone in depth into my whole room layout and such. I'm not trying to hijack the thread or anything. lol. So if I need to move it somewhere else, let me know.

Oh and Matthew, it's so cool to hear that you started out your new projector with Star Wars; my brother and I have christened many a new component with Star Wars. We never got to see any of the original trilogy in the theater, so I'm super eager to see them on the big screen. I'm excited to see a lot of the classics on the big screen. Speaking of which, does anyone know about the capabilities of the AX100U for black and white movies? On one guy's comments for an earlier model in this Panasonic series, he said he had an issue with its handling of black and white movies. I'm not real worried, but would just like to know if anyone has reported any trouble with this one.

Okay, I'll shut up now.

Thanks again, everyone,
David

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

Judging by the answers you provided, the AX100U would be an excellent choice. At the throw distance you have, you should be able to fill a 110" screen easily using the projector's zoom. Keep in mind that the image will be huge sitting 12' away from a 110" screen. I bought the Criterion 1.78:1 screen due to the HDTV use. All HDTV broadcasts (save for a few) will be 1.78:1. This way you can focus the image to fill the screen and just deal with the little black bars on 2.35:1 and such. If you go with the 2.35:1 screens you will have to continually adjust the images or find an anamorphic lens.

I spent several hours last night watching portions of different movies and the AX100U/Carada combo performs like Ferrari. The Empire Strikes Back (my favorite of all 6) looked stunning from all areas - bright Hoth to dark space. I love the projector and the screen!

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

Thanks, Matthew.

Well, I just ordered from VisualApex.com (which I must also thank you for naming in your earlier post -- great deal on the warranties.) It took me a while to get the order processed though, because of my bank. But the folks at VisualApex worked beyond what I expected to get me taken care of, and get my order shipped. So, I'm really glad that you mentioned them; I feel really good about my order.

Now, I just have to contact Carada, and see about getting a screen. Anyway, I'll write more later, when the projector gets here. Thanks again for the advice.

David

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

Hi,

Am looking at this to replace my 500 model.
Is Visual Apex the best price shipped?

Thanks

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

Visual Apex is a great place to order from for sure. For $1899 with 3 year p/l warranty and a 2 year bulb warranty, free shipping and a $400 mail in rebate from Panasonic it is going to be hard to beat.

David did you tell them that you heard about them from HTF?

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

Chris, I'm not entirely sure if they are the absolute best price or not, because I didn't do much more searching after checking them out, after Matthew mentioned them. I know I hadn't found anyone very much cheaper, and I certainly didn't find anyone offering the added warranties. And as for service, in getting my order processed they were helpful beyond what I expected, when I had some difficulty because of my bank. So, I have no complaints from them at all.

Parker, I sure did; I told them I'd heard of them from here, and I've told several people about HTF. HTF has helped me on the road to Cinema Utopia! lol. I'm tellin' everybody. lol.

And as for the AX100U, I got it up and running two nights ago, and I absolutely love it! It looked great, right out of the box. And I don't even have the screen up yet! (The screen, by the way, IS already here. It got here super-fast; I just haven't had the chance to install it yet.) Right now I'm using a light gray wall, and it already looks fantastic!!! I have done some tweaking here and there to contrast and color and such, but the presets already had it looking great. And I have a feeling that had I been using the screen already, I wouldn't have had to change a thing. The whole family is nothin' but nothin' but thrilled with this thing!

I recommend this projector highly!

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

David:

Thanks for letting VA know that you picked it up because of us.

I saw the AX100 at CEDIA last year and loved it. I swear if I had a wall to project the picture on to it would be in my house too.

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

Amazon has it on special at $1,475. VA won't accept my foreign credit card.

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

A great price indeed!

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

I have everything set up now, and I also bought a new DVD player with up conversion to 720p/1080i. Everything looks absolutely great. I have 1 small question. Which resolution is better? 720p or 1080i?

The DVD player is the Panasonic S97S by the way.

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

Whoops, wrong link !!
(Missing an "a" in there)

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

I'm about to fire up and calibrate!
Will post results, compared to previous 500 model.
Shooting onto high gain da-lite 185" 1.78 screen.

Ok...bit perplexed about a few issues.

My top right corner is not perpendicular for some reason.
The keystone is only vertical, not horizontal.
I made the bottom edge balanced by raising one foot - this caused the top left to come down, which I zoomed out.

End result is jaggies or soft picture overall as well.
Sharpness on -4, all mods off, using NATURAL, with AVIA calibration.
FOCUS set using MENU text bitmap reference.

Am using the Toshiba A2 via HDMI and component.

The 500 model looked better via the xBox 360 component than what I am seeing.

Will test a normal DVD via Panasonic player to also compare.

Would appreciate any ideas and comments please.

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

How are people mounting this projector?

I need to do an upside down in the rear and don't see the bottom/screw layout in the user's guide. But I'd rather fashion my own then use their mounting platform.

In fact, I think I want to do some sort of strap so I can easily take it down for maintenance.

How much room should I allow for airflow if I put this in an "open box" (think a cube with the front removed)?

Re: OFFICIAL HTF REVIEW: PANASONIC PT-AX100U 720p FRONT PROJECTOR

I installed a shelf on the rear wall. Your cube could work as the hot air is blown out the front, but you might want an opening for the air intake on the side.

If you go to the Panasonic web page and click drawings, you will find a mechanical drawing that might help you out with mounting. The "specification" PDF also has some dimensions.

http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs...1&displayTab=R

The user manual says "􀀠 Do not cover the ventilation openings or place anything within 10 cm (4")".

If you are going to put it in a cube, why not mount it right side up?

Matt