Any AE100 owners on this Forum? (1 Viewer)

[Chris PC]

At the AVS forum AE100 owners are commonly found. Just curious about the HTF members who are AE100 owners ?

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

I have one now ...

Regards

 

[John Welch]

I've had one since the beginning of April. Finally finished my install a couple of weeks ago. Currently have about 80 hours on the clock.

 

[alan halvorson]

So - just how good is this projector, compared to more expensive models?

 

[Chris PC]

Cool. Let us know how things go guys as you tweak your setups.

 

[Jon_B]

I have one. I've really been enjoying it.
Jon

 

[RANDY FISHER]

I am slos looking for info on this machine. I am getting ready in the next few months to start designing and building a Home Theater in the basement of my new house. I truely miss my old basement home theater but not my old house! Anyway the guys at the AVS seem to think it's the bang for the buck projector out there. Is it available in the states yet? What are the prices for the Japanese unit VS the US one? Where did you purchase yours from and how much?

thanks Randy

 

[Abem]

Have one and love it....

Currently I'm running a prog scan DVD --> AA Transcoder --> AE100. I also picked up the Hoya FLD filter.

Currently I have the projector on the coffee table but am exploring other options... I love this little thing!

Abe

 

[Eujin]

Count me in as another happy AE100 owner. I've only had mine a week, so I'm still tweaking to get minimize screendoor. I'm running a bottom-of-the-barrel set-up at the moment, with only a progressive scan player running in via component inputs. Can't wait to get a transcoder and screen (yes, I'm projecting onto a bare wall at the moment).

 

[Andrew_Ballew]

Yes- I own one- my setup includes an AE100 fed by a JVC XV-SA75 DVD player transcoded to RGB via an Audio Authority component to VGA transcoder. I also use a Hoya FL-Day filter to improve black levels and color.

The picture with the above combo is very, very good- quite enjoyable. A touch of defocus removes most all noticable screen door with very little effect on picture detail. (I sit about 13 feet back from a 92" diagonal 16:9 screen.)

In a nutshell, for the price and sheer impact I would take this combo over any RPTV around in a controlled viewing environment. The FL-Day filter improves black level enough to where it is not much of an issue, and the transcoder adds image clarity that is close to a good RPTV. At the very least, any minor remaining tradeoffs are worth it for the quality and size of screen you get at this price point. (Less than $2000 including all tweaks, imported from Japan.)

 

[Michael Caicedo]

Hello fellow AE100 owners. 120 hrs and counting. I'd love to hear Michael TLVs comments and any tweaks he's done on the AE100. Best tweak so far for me is the Hoya HMC FL-D. Improved blacks significantly.

 

[David Hicks]

I was a happy owner for exactly 40 hours....then it died. I'm currently awaiting a replacement from Japan.

I absolutely love the projector, but if I could turn back time, I would buy the U.S. version for $500 more. Less hassle, 1 year warranty, and no shipping charges to Asia for replacement!

 

[Eujin]

David,

You still get the warranty with the import version, the only downside being the extra cost of shipping charges.
Unless it turns out that you have to send the pj back to Japan more than twice in that 1 year period, the $500 savings is actually pretty good. That said, I bought my AE100 from a private individual who decided not to keep it, so I'm really neither pro-domestic nor pro-import.

 

[ryan_m]

Is it easy to adjust the picture size? I am thinking about getting one but I will want to watch some CATV/DSS on it so I'd imagine it would look better at a smaller picture size than when I'm watching a DVD. I have room for a 92" wide screen. Would it be possible to place in on a shelf of a coffee table (instead of on top) or would that be too low?

thanks

 

[Eujin]

ryan_m,

I have my pj on a little table about 30" high. I don't think you can put it on anything any lower than a coffee table as the image would be very low, but a lot depends on what your room configuration is. If you had the pj on a shelf under the coffee table, I'd imagine that the lower edge of the picture would be around 6" off the floor--if you like images that low. As for picture-size adjustments, it is pretty limited and will largely depend on your distance from the lens to the screen. That said, I don't use my AE100 for anything other than DVD viewing as I find DirecTV satellite just about intolerable. But I'm pretty picky, so YMMV.

 

[Chris PC]

When I finally get an ae100 in the hopefully not too distant future, I was thinking of placing a 60-64" wide screen about 1 foot off the ground. I have tried to picture it like that and it doesn't bother me. I know that sounds low, but otherwise, the screen would have to be too high. When I try to imagine watching a movie with the bottom of the screen 4 feet off the ground, I tend to be looking up too high. I say 4 feet because then the center channel can be below the screen. Thats the problem with towers, its hard to line up the center with the towers tweeters, or at least keep the center close to the towers tweeters, without placing the screen really low or really high. If I place the screen 2 or 3 feet above the ground with the center channel ABOVE the screen, then my center channel is way too high. Any thoughts on how low is too low and how high is too high??? I would be viewing at from 1.75 to 2.5 x screen width away.

 

[Derek_C]

You could place the center speaker behind the screen. That's how movie theaters do it.

 

[Chuck C]

Questions:

-What is a transcoder?

-What does a transcoder do?

-What is a Hoya HMC FL-D? Price?

-Who sells AE100s in the U.S.?

-...and for how much?

 

[Gabriel_Lam]

A transcoder converts component video to D-SUB15 (your standard VGA connector). They're about $100-200 and you definitely want to use one with the AE100.
Hoya makes excellent quality (for the price) camera filters. HMC is the multicoated one which gives you higher performance (less light loss). FL-D is the type of filter that corrects color (subtracts the excess green + blue/green (cyan) component) for daylight balanced film when shooting under florescent lamps. In terms of for the AE100, it's an excellent way to help even out the intensity of the red, blue, and green. They're about $15-50, depending on size. The AE100 does not require a very big one, so think the lower end of that price spectrum.
Currently, very few companies sell the AE100 in the US, but more will very soon. RitzAV does, for $1899.95 plus shipping:
RitzAV
I personally would suggest calling up one of the Home Theater Forum's sponsors (ie. AVmall, ProjectorPeople, TVauthority) and asking them to beat that price. That way you get the price you want and support this forum at the same time.
BTW, if I screwed up on any of the definitions or prices above, someone please correct me.

 

[Chuck C]

beautiful, gabriel, thanks