Professional review of AE100 ... (1 Viewer)

[James Zos]

I've had my eye on this projector for a while, ever since posters here recommended it to me when I said I wanted to make the jump to front projection.
Lots of people on other forums swear by them as the best bang for your buck, especially since they can be had relatively cheaply by ordering directly from pricejapan.com ...
But I had never seen an "official" review for the AE100 until projector central finally came up with one - just in time for the AE100 to be discontinued in favor of the AE200 and the AE300.
http://www.projectorcentral.com/panasonic_ae100.htm
Because of the newer models, the price for the AE100 has dropped to $1,224, which is pretty incredible.
But I don't know if it makes sense to order now that the new line is coming out and pricejapan has dropped their policy of allowing AE100 with stuck pixels to be exchanged. Now you are stuck with the stuck pixels.
The AE200 is roughly $1,500 and it has a 30 day return policy for stuck pixels. But it doesn't look like that much of an upgrade from the AE100. Is the extra $300 or so worth it?
Any opinions on either projector?

 

[elMalloc]

I'm 6-10 feet away. $2000 budget.
I'm consideringa 4x3 hdtv because I play a lot of games and watch a lot of dvds, so it has to anamorphically squeeze it.

Am I in a better positoin to buy a projector?

-ELmO

 

[James Zos]

I was planning to buy an RPTV before I started looking into the world of front projection. Now I would never consider an RPTV - I'm determined to get a front projector and the cheap price of the Panasonics has made that possible. It is just a matter of which one.
The AE100 is supposed to be great for games and DVDs, and it has a native 16:9 resolution, so no need for the squeeze trick.
I don't know about your viewing distance though. You might see some screendoor.

 

[Chris PC]

Thats true, and oddly hilarious.

 

[TimG]

Personally I would wait a little while, there are supposed to be several new projectors around the $2000 range coming out soon.

TimG

 

[Chris PC]

True. Better to wait for the AE200 and AE300 and see what they are like I guess after CEDIA we'll know a little bit better what the score is