Early thoughts on the Panny PT-L200u LCD FP (1 Viewer)

[Tim Glover]

I pulled the trigger too on this PT-L200U. Hopefully, it will arrive by next Wed or Thurs. It wasn't really the exact FP I wanted but at this time just can't afford anything else. And for the 7 day return deal, it's a no-brainer. If for some reason, it doesn't meet my standards etc...I'll just return it and wait until I can get a better one.

I think it will work though because I am going to MAKE it work!

I'll keep you all posted on my thoughts next week when I give it a spin.

 

[Reed Grele]

Ron-P,

I have been enjoying this thread for a while. Thanks for sharing.

I think that you have discussed this in another thread, but since you are building a new screen, perhaps you have changed your "recipe". May I ask if Jo-Ann's has a catalog, or SKU # for this particular black-out fabric that you use (might be on the pkg. or sales slip?)

Also, I'd like to know what brand of gray (spray?) paint you have settled on to paint the fabric, and which side of the fabric should be painted?

I may try to make one of these DIY screens myself in the near future. Then I'll have an excuse to buy a FP!

Reed

 

[Ron-P]

Reed, Jo-Ann's blackout fabric # is 2117232. It's the only blackout they carry.

As for the gray paint, it's Lowe's Valspar Gray Plank Interior Flat (code: 101-21.5, 107-1, 116-1). Paint it on the textured side of the cloth. The paint might have trouble sticking to the smooth vinyl side.


Peace Out~

 

[teapot2001]

I think I read somewhere that there is a size limit to the blackout cloth, correct?

~T

 

[Deepak Shenoy]

Thi,

The blackout cloth sold at JoAnn's has a fixed width of 54". So plan your screen dimensions such that the height of the screen is no greater than 54" (if you plan to stretch the cloth on a wooden frame, you probably want to stay under 50" so that you have a little bit of extra cloth on all 4 sides that you can fold over the edge of the frame and staple to the back of the frame).

-D

 

[Ron-P]

Over the past couple nights I've watched Robin Hood: PoT SE and Moulin Rouge. Robin Hood was a slight disappointment, blacks were washed out and the PQ was very soft. So, last night I sat and tweaked some settings. I set the 200 back to "Cinema 1" mode (previously in Cinema 2) and dropped the brightness to -15. I then watched Moulin Rouge and sat amazed with a HUGE smile. The black level was excellent with plenty of detail to be seen. I cannot remember what my other settings are, but those are very close to factory for "Cinema 1".

The big different here is probably the ages between the two movies, Robin Hood is 12 year old. I have not re-watched it since I've tweaked the settings which might help.


Peace Out~

 

[Tim Glover]

Thanks for updating us on your settings Ron. According to UPS, mine is set to arrive sometime tomorrow! I'm only going to have one day to mess around with it as I'm heading for a trip Friday! But, tomorrow afternoon/evening/night has already been designated..."projector day" at the Glover home!

I've been reading alot of threads and elsewhere regarding settings on the picture. I'm hoping to be able to find a setting that will satisfy most of my viewing. For the most part, I left my Sony 53inch RPTV set the same way after I tweaked it initially. But, there were times watching certain films that were very dark and needed a little boost in brightness or another setting to view it better.

From what I gather, the Cinema 1 mode seems to be the favorite for the 200U???

 

[ChrisChap]

Ron - I am seriously considering getting the Panny 200 but I have a few questions.

1. The projector will be about 10'6" from the screen, and the seating will be 6'-8' from the screen. Will this increase the "screen door effect"?

2. Is the 5000 hour bulb life assuming you use it in economy mode, or will eco mode give you longer life?

3. I read somewhere that the X1 has a 3000 hour bulb life, but due to decreased lumens it should be replaced at about 2000 hours. Have you been able to find any info about the actual useful bulb life for the 200's bulb for HT use?

My main concern with a projector is that it would serve as my primary tv/console gaming display as well as a home theater. I can see myself going through a bulb per year. My other option is to get a 32" tv to use for everyday stuff, and use the projector for dvd's, sports, and special occasions. I appreciate any info!

 

[Ron-P]

I look very forward to your thoughts Tim.

Chris HERE is the projector calculator for the 200u. I punched in your 10' 6" distance and came up with some screen sizes. I took the average of the settings and came up with a 97" (16:9) screen (85" x 48"). If your seating is on average 7', that's only 84". Your basically at 1 x's the width of the screen, not too good. You should be, at minimum, 1.5x's.

My back row is 2x's and front is about 1.3x's. The back row, screen-door is not an issue. In the front row, it is slightly noticeable during certain scenes. This includes a slight defocus of the lens. You might want to consider a smaller screen size.

The 5000 hour bulb life is noted when the PJ is set in low lamp mode. Between it and normal, there is such a minimal difference in PQ that there is really no reason to run it normal. That's about all I know on the bulb life. I am only using mine for DVD's so the bulb life is not much of an issue. If I put on 10 hours a week, that'd be a lot. But, based on that 10 hours and at worst a 2000 hour bulb life, that gives me 3.8 years of life. I doubt I'll ever replace the bulb before I upgrade again.

As much as you plan on running it, it'd be less expensive to buy a TV. 3 bulbs and your at 1k.


Peace Out~

 

[ChrisChap]

Thanks Ron!

My old 27" tv died, and my plan was to keep it until I moved and build a dedicated HT in the new place. But with no TV, my timetable has changed.

I am limited on space, so I may just go with a bigger TV for now and go all out on the theater when I move.

 

[Alex Bischoff]

Ron,

I often hear about sitting 1.5 times the screen width away from the screen. However, is that based on the literal screen width (as a component of width x height) or is that based on the screen's diagonal width?

---
Alex Bischoff

 

[Holadem]

What the hell is a diagonal width?

The simplest answer is the correct one.

They said width. So width it is

--
Holadem

 

[LaMarcus]

No it's diagnolly. 102" screen set back 12.75 feet.

 

[chris rick]

Ron and group: Got mine today and spent all day setting it up. A small review/collection of thoughts: I decided to go with the 77 inch diagonal screen that came free with the projector, and so far I love the results. Hanging the screen proved to be a pain in the arse as I couldn't find studs in the wall at first, but it worked out eventually. Sitting ten and a half feet away with the projector on a cofee table in front of my seating area, the results are very nice as there isn't much of a screendoor effect at all after some minor keystone adjustment and angling of the projector! Build quality is very nice as is the look of this sleek projector. The only real complaint I have is the lack of DV-I input for future HD applications (e.g. coming from an hd reciever) Anyway, I calibrated the projector with VE and then threw in some dvd's including Episode II and Monster's Inc. All I can say is WOW on Monster's Inc. It looks absolutely amazing. I also tried some xbox games (Panzer Dragoon Orta, Halo) and liked them very much too. All in all so far I love this machine, it does everything I need it to and is thus far doing it very well. For 1099 with the screen included, this is a great deal.

 

[Ron-P]

Glad to hear it Chris. It is a fantastic machine for the money and the free screen sweetens the deal.

You might want to consider a DIY gray screen as I noticed an improvement in screen-door reduction and an increase in black levels with the gray over the white Da-Lite.

Post your thoughts on movies with dark scenes. I just watched Tears of the Sun and was a little under-whelmed with the dark jungle scenes. After the great Moulin Rouge dark scenes I thought I had it dialed in. Guess it's really going to depend on the movie more so than the PJ settings. Shadow detail I find to be excellent, it's just those large, very dark scenes that don't appear too well. But, I also had the same issue with the X1. Hopefully black levels will improve in the future with the digital projectors.

Next up, I need to build some felt mattes for the black bars.


Peace Out~

 

[Tim Glover]

Congrats Chris!

This is going to be a very long day waiting for the UPS delivery! So far I'm getting NOTHING done here at work...just reading these threads that make me less patient!

I picked up some black velveteen last night at Hobby Lobby. They had a 30% off sale and got enough to make at least a 6inch wide border for the 4x8 screen. For now, I'm going to be using the Parkland Plastic screen. From reviews, it's supposed to be pretty good. At least on par with the Da-Lite Matte White version.

Ron, you're probably right about a gray screen delivering deeper blacks and minimizing the screen door too. It seems that with these lower end projectors (X1, L200U, L300U, Z1...) that most owners are reporting more contrast & deeper blacks with a gray screen.

Do you 200U owners think that the glass on framed movie posters in this room will reflect too much and need to be moved? I have removed the ones on the screen wall, but still have 4 posters framed on the back wall and some on the sides.

 

[Ron-P]

Everything becomes reflective with a FP. I took down all my posters, but you can always leave them up and just cover them with some black felt.

My speakers had to be wall mounted next to the screen, the sides reflect. I plan on buying more felt to cover the reflective sides. The nice thing though, no ambient light needed. No more back-light!

I'd leave everything in place and then adjust, cover or remove reflective items once your set up an running.


Peace Out~

 

[Neil Joseph]

Next up, I need to build some felt mattes for the black bars.

I was also planning on doing felt borders (3"). What is the best way to go about doing this? I painted the borders flat black as Ron Per. did...

 

[Ron-P]

Neil, I plan on using Super 3M spray adhesive. I used it to attach all my heavy-duty Home Depot felt to the walls and it worked great. I'll use the 3M for the borders and then use matte board, attach the felt to that and have some sturdy black mattes.

Now, back to DIY screens. I stumbled onto this SCREEN thread over at AVS. I surfed all 17 pages and found silver seems to be preferable, but how it works with DLP and LCD projectors, there is not enough info yet. Several owners of the 300u have a silver screen (Vultec?) on order and due to arrive any day. Page 17 has several posts so I will follow it closely. I did find that for us DIY guys that the Rust-Oleum Aluminum Spray seems to be a good pick for a silver screen. I plan to buy a yard of blackout and a can of Rust-Oleum, build a patch piece and hang it over a portion of my gray screen, fire up the PJ and do a side-by-side with the two colors.


Peace Out~

 

[Tim Glover]

Here's that website:

www.vutec.com

I read that massive thread too on the screen shootout. The silver vutec was very impressive, but also has a very, very high gain of 6.0???? I think that was it. That particular one is probably better for really large rooms. I would think though that one could obtain a lower gain silver screen and still get those amazing colors.

From those screenshots it looked very impressive.