Questions about the Panasonic PT-L500U (1 Viewer)

[David Ruiz]

Hi Guys,

After reading a few reviews, I decided to pre-order this projector. It's not actually out yet, but it will be in about a week or so. I've already ordered it, and there's nothing I can do to cancel the order....not that I would want to anyway.

I have a few questions though.

I've heard lots of people mention that they make their own screens using "Black-out" material for their projectors. Would that be a good idea with THIS particular projector? If not, what kind of material should I be looking for.

In case anyone is interested, I will be having an image of 125" diagonal (16x9).

Another question I have is how long does the lamp last, on this particular model?

And finally, I know that it has a Native Resolution of: 1280x720 Pixels but it has a MAXIMUM resolution of 1920x1080 Pixels.

What exactly does that mean? If I were to attach a HTPC to it, and set my desktop resolution output to 1920x1080 pixels, will I *TRULY* be getting more resolution than it's native mode, or will it be giving me a "Fake" resolution?

The reason I ask the question above is because, the X1 has a resolution of 800x600, HOWEVER, you can get it to display a resolution of 1024x768, but everyone I have spoken to, says that it's a "fake" resolution, and you're still only getting 800x600.

 

[cabreau]

Correct, they are "FAKE" resolutions. Sometimes the eye has a hard time telling when the resolutions get high enough though.

 

[Michael TLV]

Greetings,

It's called scaling ...

It takes the higher pixel array and throws out information to make it fit the existing real pixel array.

Regards

 

[David Ruiz]

Does it help at all with SDE? I will be sitting pretty damn close to the screen (8 feet) and anything to minimize SDE will be good to use.

If increasing the "fake" resolution doesn't help with SDE, does this projector have a "Defocus" feature, to help with that?

 

[Brent Avery]

David:

If it hasn't been mentioned yet or you are not aware of the site, AVS forum will let you in on everything you need to know on your projector and either commercial or DIY screens. I found it to be invaluable in gathering information in order to make the right decisions. Warning though, you may get addicted. Hope this helps!

 

[Bob Maged]

You may want to consider a smaller screen or sitting farther away. A seating distance of less than 1x screenwidth is ill-advised, and not just because of the screen-door effect. It will be like sitting front row, center court at a tennis match.

 

[Chris PC]

Blackout material is fine to use for a PTL500U. I used blackout material to make the screen for my AE100 PJ. Its very inexpensive and if you see another screen you like better, you can always upgrade later. Blackout material is $20.00 and the wood to make the frame is like $25.00 max. I think it only comes in 54" wide rolls so the largest your screen can be for 16:9 is:

52" x 1.78 x 1.147 = 110" diagonal. 52" cause you need something on each side beyond the edge of the screen to staple or attach on your screen frame.

Roughly. : )

More than big enough for most anyones needs. I think 99% of people have screens between 90 and 110" in diagonal. Mine is 90" because of speaker and ceiling limitations and it looks good enough at this size. To each their own.

 

[Trevor Schell]

8 feet away from a 125" screen is way to close.
I am sitting 14 feet away from my 106" screen and can
sometimes see the SDE.
I realize I am just starting out and still have some calibrating to do, so I may see some improvement.

Basically at 8 feet away, you are not going to see a clean image. It's not possible.

 

[Chris PC]

I'd say don't go any closer than 12 feet away from a 8.0 foot wide screen with a Panny 500. Thats 1.5 x screen width. Thats a 110" diagonal screen. Personally, if I had my choice, I'd sit 12 feet away from a 7.25 foot wide (100" diagonal) screen.

 

[JonathonSan]

All these seating distances are great guides, but you really have to decide for yourself. Play with screen size before you build the screen to get an idea of how large you need it. Screen door is not technically dependant on the input resolution, so scaling shouldn't make it less visible. Having said that, SD is much more obvious on bright screens and animation, but with the 500 it should be a non issue. Individual's impression of SD is very subjective. I always hear people say you can't sit that close or that is way to big...it's all up to you, and in my book bigger is better. I went from an 6' wide screen when I first got my Z1 to an 11' wide 2.35 screen with an anamorphic lens sitting at 13.5' back. Is this too close? According to most, but the screendoor I see (not too often even though I am very sensitive to it) is definately a fair trade-off for the envelopement I feel. Do I trade some image quality for size...sure, but it is much more like a real theater now to me. No one who has ever seen it has failed to be impressed.

Jonathon

 

[Robert James Clark]

Well, I don't know about the PT500u, but the AE500u (same projector) is already out.

I have had it for 3 days and I can tell you that the higher resolution and the smoothscreen technology make screendoor almost a non-issue.
I sit 11 feet from a 80" wide screen and have 20/10 vision. Screendoor bothers me much more than rainbows. The screendoor on the Panny 500u models is very very slight.

Scaling a higher resolution image into the 500u isn't going to give you much of anything. You're better trying to feed it it's native resolution if you're going to use an HTPC...

 

[Mike_Lott]

I am still fairly new to the FP arena, but what I've read so far leads me to believe that with your current projector, SDE is no longer a factor anywhere from 1x the screen width or farther. Therefore, if you're sitting 8 feet from the screen, you should go for about a 110" diag screen or smaller. Anything bigger, and you will probably notice, and have to deal with SDE.

 

[David Ruiz]

What about if a bought a Bravo D1, and then upscaled the image to 720p. Would that be better than using an upscaled image from a HTPC?

And one last question: What is pixel-mapping? I've only heard that everyone should do it, but I have no idea what it is.

 

[Parker Clack]

David:

I would buy the projector and then shoot it on to the wall that you are going to be displaying it on so that you can get a good idea of the size that you want. Then I would measure the size of the projected image and make or get a screen that files that size.


Parker

 

[Neil Joseph]

I second what Packy said. I would never buy or make a screen before the projector arrived or before trying a real life test on the wall.

 

[Tim Glover]

Agree with Parker and Neil 100%. The absolute best decision I made was advice like this. Bought the LCD projector, used the wall to see what size screen I can live with and more importantly, what my projector's limits were. Been a happy camper ever since...