Panasonic PT-AE3000 Home Theater Projector

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Introduction

The PT-AE3000 is the latest evolution of Panasonic home theater projectors in the range of the successful series PT-AE, which began back in 2001 with a small PT-AE100. The new PT-AE3000 is characterized by the latest evolution dell engine manufactured by Epson 3LCD which helped to increase, compared with its predecessor the native contrast ratio. The most interesting concern is the reduction of motion blur (loss of detail for moving images), the increase of flow of material at 24p, 25p and 30p and increased native contrast ratio.

The presence of a new optical motorized, with the possibility of storing two positions one for the 16:9 and the other for 2.35:1. We had already introduced the new Panasonic PT-AE3000 projector.

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Installation and menus

Appearance, size and characteristics of the objective allows unparalleled versatility of installation especially in environments where space available is inversely proportional to the size of the screen that you want to achieve. As indicated in the technical characteristics the ratio of target shooting is between 1,34:1 and 2,67:1. Recall that the ratio of shooting is the mathematical relationship that exists between the bottom of the image and the distance between the lens and the image itself. In this case, the PT-AE3000 is capable of projecting an image from 2 meters of base (90 ") at a distance of between 2.7 meters and 5.3 meters in practice, you can choose whether to place the projector front, maybe on a table, or behind, maybe on top of a shelf or on a bracket on the ceiling. the goal in tele position (so with the projector away from the screen) you can lose up to 40% of the lumen relative to the position wide.

The PT-AE3000 projector by itself as a highly versatile. Versatility included also in the configuration menu that preserves the basic approach that earned the success of the models 1000 and 2000 in recent years. In particular i appreciate the wide degree of adjustment provided by the advanced menu of the image settings that allows you to tweak the white balance for each RGB component of both high and low lights and store different color profiles all Internal menu color management by being able to operate regularly on certain portions of the projected image .Memorable even in the latter model is the presence of the waveform monitor that analyzes and displays waveforms of the individual components of the RGB and luminance allowing you to view instrumental corrections that are made. The scan mode signal is significantly increased compared to previous models and was also introduced in the mode Auto Adjust but in practice has not proved very helpful in the calibration.

In addition to the excellent versatility for the calibration of gamma and white balance, also highlighting the possibility to calibrate the colors through a CMS (color management system) a little 'special and already used in other projectors PT-AE series. Rather than selecting a color (primary or secondary) from the menu, you select an image, through a cursor. In this sense it is very useful to a screen with color bars. The CMS allows you to speak up to 8 colors. Modulation of the controls is quite extensive although it is not always guaranteed an adequate response to those colors distant from the point of intervention.

Absolute novelty of the PT-AE3000 are the ability to store two different positions on the optic wire (which acts at the optical zoom and focus) to pass quickly and particularly optically by 16 / 9 format than 2.35:1 ( for those who have a screen with this aspect ratio) and 100Hz call Frame Creation and which can operate in two modes more or less invasive. I must say that the system developed by Japanese technicians, is very effective and can actually reduce any micro clicks without ever appearing too invasive and especially keeping almost intact the effect of depth film. Also, under Options you can set the Frame Response between normal and fast, thus reducing the lack of Motion Blur that can appear especially during gaming sessions.

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lumen and contrast ratio

The most interesting mode for home theater viewing ( colore1, colore2, Movie1, Movie2, cinema3) are characterized by the employment of a color filter inside the projector, as already happened for the other models series. The filter (very similar to FL-Day) dramatically reduces the light flux that remains in this mode, still below the 300 lumens, even with the wide lens position. With the shift from objective widescreen mode to the more remote, the luminous flux is reduced by about 40%.

The improvement over the older generation is also sensitive with regard to the contrast ratio that is between about 2.500:1 and about 9.500:1, depending on the intervention of the various modes .

Color and white balance


The PT-AE300 is characterized by good color reproduction especially in Color 1, in which the reproduction is fairly balanced. In the Color 2 saturation is much higher and yet there are no significant phase errors. In dynamic what is reduced is the most green that appears clearly shifted toward the yellow and can not be corrected with the CMS. In this case it is clear and helpful assistance from the filter film in other modes.

As for white balance, even in this case the default Color 2 and Color 1 are those that come closest to the reference, with the dynamic visibly distant. color 1 and Color 2 can be corrected significantly, using the menu to RGB calibration. For those who need some lumen and did not want more from the Color 1 for calibration, with the powerful calibration menu you can set the white balance even starting from dynamic while the color reproduction is better to start than with the default green more saturated

Display

Already at the first power line and in the factory the PT-AE3000 is striking for the dramatic improvement in terms of contrast than previous models. The black level does not yet reach the heights of the best D-ILA however, you approach very much and very satisfying overall performance is assured through the use of matrix LCD Epson D7 and diaphragm dynamic automatic even faster .the 3000 proves to be versatility that allows installation even in seemingly unimaginable for video projection and inevitably such a freedom in the adjustment of optics (2x zoom and large shift in both vertical and horizontal) is paid in terms absolute image quality. I refer in particular to the uniformity of the image especially in the upper right portion loss of brightness and detail.Overall, when watching high-definition Blu-ray via HDMI gets the impression of a vision very natural, soft ever tiring and very cinematic.

Also, the 24p is managed well and if you really can not bear the appearance of some microstep during panning faster you can activate the mode 1 of the Frame Creation, very effective and completely irrelevant to the quality of images. As for the vision of the material in standard definition, the electronic board shows still some limitations, especially in terms of deinterlacing.

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Conclusions

Usually you can say winning product so one can not be wrong to write that since the introduction of Panasonic's first 3LCD projector PT-AE1000 Full HD up to date with the PT-AE3000 has improved the performance of its products while keeping intact the basic philosophy, on the other we believe that a freshened design at this point would be desirable. the PT-AE3000 is confirmed once again one of the best products on the market in terms of the versatility , performance , price.

Its strong points are still the ease of installation allowed objective with 2x optical zoom and the incredible excursion of both vertical and horizontal shift, but this model now also sees the introduction of the possibility of storing the position of optics Motorized absolute treat for fans with a projection screen 21:9 format (2.35:1).

In terms of contrast, black level it become really interesting all those who wish to recreate the atmosphere of high definition movie in your living room.