New Panasonic AE900 owner (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

Thanks to the folks here and at AVS as I hemmed and hawwed for the last 5 years and finally saved up enough and got myself a real HDTV. =)

Just clearing the old 34" Widescreen CRT out and getting ready to nearly TRIPLE UP to 92".... Cant wait, gonna be hard to not have it installed for tomorrow nights WS game, but I dont even have an OTA receiver yet =)

Sam

 

[John S]

Well, cool....

So what did you view????

 

[Ron-P]

One thing is for certain Posten, you'll never go back to a TV again. I went from a 46" Mits RPTV to an 85" screen with my first PJ (Panny 200u). Just 2 weeks ago I sold that and bought a Sanyo Z3.

Congrats on your purchase, your going to be picking your jaw up off the floor quite often and people are going to ask you why you smile so much now. Enjoy!

 

[ChrisWiggles]

It's a beautiful machine! You'll want to check it for VB effects if that bothers you, because some may be worse than others, though in general the ae900 doesn't have too much at all, and it throws a very very nice picture!

 

[Evan M.]

Great choice Posten!! I too would probably get the 900 or Z4 if I was in the market. I personaly am partial to DLP but everything I have heard about this FP would make a lot of DLPers' switch. Give us a nice little review when you can and compare it to others you may have seen too.

 

[Tim Glover]

Yep, give us a review. and congrats to you Ron on your new purchase.

 

[Sam Posten]

I was gonna forgo HD cable too, but then I found out I could get a good deal for a few months while waiting for FIOS or MPG4 DirectTV so I signed up today and Comcast gave me a Scientific Atlanta 8300 HD DVR, so that should be cool. Friday cant come soon enough!

Sam

 

[Chris Gerhard]

Well not exactly.

92" 16x9 display 3,617.02 square inches

34" 16x9 display 494.34 square inches

Chris

 

[Scott L]

Well when you put it that way it's a no brainer, except now my head hurts ;]

Also would like to hear a review when you start playing with it.

 

[Sam Posten]

Jeeez, am I a sucker. Panasonic just announced a $200 rebate on this for PJs purchased between 26 October and 31 December.... Taking it back to the vendor tomorrow and either having them print me a new receipt or something, hate to lose $200 over a 24 hour earlier purchase...

Been away on travel since wednesday, havent even hooked it up!

Sam

 

[Sam Posten]

http://www.projectorpeople.com/SLIS/..._200Rebate.pdf

 

[Scott L]

Nice. If you don't mind me asking, did you pay anywhere near the $3,199 retail price?

 

[Sam Posten]

Will send ya a PM, dont think they like us tqlking price here. Lets say I paid a lot less than what pricegrabber shows.

Sam

 

[Sam Posten]

Got everything hooked up and table top mounted last night. The lens shift is about 8" too short to get mu picture centered even when on a cardboard box, so today I'll be headed to Home Depot to figure out what I'm gonna do to build a shelf, and to Best buy to see whether they have a couple sets of 25' Component cables that dont cost a small fortune. I guess I'll buy a HDMI/HDMI cable too, which I'll use for the HD/DVR cable box until PS3 arrives, then that gets sent to component.

I got to watch a few hours of HD last night, it was GLORIOUS right outside the box. Once I get the dvd player hooked up and a non color blind person to help me dial it in I cant imagine how much better it will look. VERY happy with the Gray Wolf screen too, although I admit that rolling it back up isnt the easiest thing in the world to do. No waves in it tho so that's groovy.

Sam

 

[Sam Posten]

Er scratch that, I checked both CCs and Best Buys web sites and they wanted ridiculous prices for short lengths of cables. Ordered 2 sets of components and one hdmi to hdmi from RAM electronics instead. Will have to keep the cardboard box mount for a few days it seems =)

 

[John Menoni]

Posten, you might want to go to www.cablewholesale.com. They have really good deals on cable that is just as good as the stuff you are going to pay a fortune on.

 

[Sean Laughter]

If you get a PS3 you may want to not put it on component, particularly if it can play Blu-Ray movies and they go ahead with not letting you output full resolution video over anything but the HDMI output.

 

[Sam Posten]

Well, lets just say that that battle hasnt been fought yet, but yeah, I intend to have a PS3 and it will take the HDMI slot and at that time I will 'downgrade' the Cable Box from HDMI to component.

I continue to be blown away, and cant wait to get this thing dialed in with Video Essentials, cant imagine its going to look even BETTER when I get that set right.

Sam

 

[Sam Posten]

Update: pics!

I have been trying VERY hard to get some decent snaps off of my set up, and am not happy with it so far, but these are among the best of the bunch. Any quality issues are the fault of the photographer and not the awesome 900U.

The projector itself, shelf mounted with a DIY design using $20 in Home depot parts:
http://static.flickr.com/26/64693769_4823a213fe_b.jpg

Willy Wonka:
http://static.flickr.com/25/64693627_c0236cbb8d_b.jpg

Star Wars:
http://static.flickr.com/29/64693480_0d982af6d0_b.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/24/64693424_de7ab72be9_b.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/33/64693911_d9a7d3dcbb_b.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/26/64692849_4ce5e12747_b.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/33/64693325_b5c14a9e84_b.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/32/64693529_eca1cd0d19_b.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/31/64693822_e771db3a59_b.jpg

Sam

 

[Jay Mitchosky]

Hey Posten

Thanks for the pics. I'm curious how you find that installation with the projector so close to the viewing position.