Product Description

The PT-AE900U is a native high-definition home theater projector that produces stunning, film-like images with a dramatic 5500:1 contrast ratio.Capable of displaying ultra-sharp, ultra-clear HD pictures up to 14.5-feet wide, the PT-AE900U is equipped with advanced, digital picture-enhancing features allowing you to enjoy "Hollywood picture quality" in the comfort of your own home.The PT-AE900U offers a host of image optimizing features including a Dynamic Iris optical system that extends the iris range by 30% for a breathtaking 5000:1 contrast ratio. Dynamic Iris, with scene tracking capability, constantly adjusts the light volume and gamma curve in real time, so the picture is always optimal and transitions between scenes are amazingly smooth and natural. The PT-AE900U is also outfitted with Smooth Screen technology that effectively eliminates the "screen door effect" (visible spacing between pixels) and gives the projector a sharp, detailed HD picture that is remarkably smooth and film-like.The PT-AE900U's acclaimed Cinema Color Management (CCM) technology controls both contrast and brightness to provide faithful reproduction of even subtle hues, moving color correction closer to the process used for motion pictures.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #60568 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Panasonic
• Model: PT-AE900U
• Dimensions: 3.70" h x 10.60" w x 13.20" l, 7.90 pounds

Features

• 1100 ANSI Lumens Widescreen High Definition Home Cinema Projector
• 5500; 1 Contrast Ratio With Smooth Screen Technology
• Progessive Cinema Scan With 3/2 Pulldown
• Dynamic Iris Optical System With 2x Optical Zoom
• 16.9 Native Res 1280x720 Pixel HD LCD Panels

Customer Reviews

HOME THEATER NIRVANA
The bottom line with this player is that it runs circles around virtually any LCD, Plasma or DLP TV setup you'll ever see at those big-box electronics stores. AND it's cheaper than any of them! It is as good (or bad) as the quality of the signal you feed into it.

Now, I won't go into all of the technical details but I want to tell you what is the optimal setup for this projector, consistent with being budget conscious. I have spent countless hours studying this and experimenting with the various setup parameters, so I humbly offer you the benefit of my research. My pain, your gain (ha!).

My primary use for the projector is to watch my extensive DVD collection. I have also fed it a standard TV signal but, as mentioned, it is so revealing that is shows the deficiency of such a signal. I will eventually connect it to an HDTV signal, but for now it is strictly used for watching movies on DVD.

I have the Panasonic PT-AE900U connected to an OPPO OPDV971H player via a 5-meter DVI to HDMI cable. The Panasonic sits on a shelf behind my viewing area 45 inches above the floor and just about dead center relative to the center of my Model C Da-Lite 119-inch diagonal HDTV, high-contrast matte white screen. One word: OUTSTANDING.

Of course, this is just for the video end of things. I have the Oppo connected via digital optical out to my Denon Dolby Digital receiver and 5.1 speaker setup.

The Panasonic's 1280x720 panels are made to display HDTV 720p in native format. There are two ways to achieve this with the Oppo using its DVI output: Set the Oppo to feed the Panasonic a 720p signal, in which case the Oppo does the upscaling; or feed the Panasonic a 480p signal from the Oppo and let the Panasonic do the upscaling. Feeding the Panasonic an Oppo-upscaled 1080i signal is also possible, but this yields no benefit since the AE900U would then have to downscale the previously upscaled signal. In real-world tests this doesn't look good, either.

Feeding the Panasonic an Oppo-upscaled 720p signal looks terrific - even better than feeding the Panasonic a 480p signal from the Oppo and letting the Panasonic do the upscaling. The difference, though slight, is noticeable. I have A/B'd the images and the Oppo 720p feed has better contrast and more detail. However, such a signal input then limits the zoom options available to you from the Panasonic. Certain widescreen/letterboxed non-anamorphic movies were distorted, unless you played them exactly as projected by the Oppo (at about 66% the screen size) with no zoom. Using the Oppo's zoom feature to fill the screen produced terrible results.

For such movies I fed the Panasonic a 480p signal from the Oppo and let the Panasonic do the upscaling. Voila! Scaling in the Panasonic is accomplished with proprietary Panasonic video processing electronics. The end result is superb. Additionally, feeding the Panasonic a 480p signal from the Oppo allows you greater flexibility with the Panasonic's zoom feature. This allows me to fill my 119-inch diagonal screen. With the Panasonic, zooming -- when desired -- still produces an outstanding image.

There are numerous, almost endless, ways to setup the video to your own taste insofar as fiddling with the brightness, contrast, etc., on both the Panasonic and the Oppo. My experiments show that the optimal, most accurate picture was achieved by leaving the Oppo set to its default settings and setting the Panasonic to 'Natural' which, according to the AE900 manual, is 'To reproduce the color of the image faithfully from the image source.' Assuming the DVD was properly mastered, this is exactly what I want to see. I was watching movies as diverse as 'Finding Nemo', 'Out Of Africa', 'Jeremiah Johnson', 'Spartacus', 'Father Goose', 'The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (B&W) and some classic 'Star Trek' episodes, and ALL looked absolutely gorgeous! It is clear that, when being fed a direct digital signal from the Oppo DVD player as outlined above, the 'Natural' setting is the one to use. Whatever is on the film is exactly what is reproduced - period. All other modes are useful only if you are feeding it some other type of signal.

The Panasonic PT-AE900U, when setup as I have outlined, produces a stunning 119-inch diagonal picture in my very small (12' x 12') apartment living room. It is hard to imagine that it could be improved upon. For the price -- especially with the current rebate -- this is a NO-BRAINER! Watch your friends, who spent 2-3x as much on a screen half to one-fourth the size, drool with envy when you blow them out of the water with a crystal-clear 119-inch image!

ENJOY!

Incredible picture for a great price- It is so worth it!
I used to swear by DLP projectors. But the LCD AE900u changed my thinking is plenty good enough for me. so much that it inspired me to write my first review. It puts out a great picture with the least SDE of any digital projector I've ever seen. This is AWESOME for my xbox 360 in 720P. This is the BEST HD projector to get if you have a smaller room, or if you want your viewing distance close to the screen. It is much quieter than the infocus x1 or sp4805, the colors are vibrant, the picture is bright and punchy, and the lens shift capability makes projector placement incredibly easy. Some people say the image is a little soft, but it's only an illusion. The "sharp" projectors in AE900u's class have an artificial grid that separates each pixel, and this grid increases the perception of sharpness. This grid also is ugly and distracting if you sit anywhere close to the screen. The 900U has "smoothscreen" technology to make the grid almost non-existant. No more watching a movie and it looks like I am watching through a screen door (because of the grid). the picture now looks more natural and film-like. Do some searches and read some profesional reviews, and you will see that the AE900U is King of its class for its time.

Exceeded Expectations Out of the Box; All My Friends Are Utterly Impressed
I got this projector before the 2005 Holiday season and it has seen a lot of use and a lot of people have seen it used. My place is now refered with phrases like: "how about seeing a movie on the big screen tonight?"

I use a DaLite 60inch White Projector Screen. Its portable and stands on the floor. I leave the lights on in the house (not in front of the screen) and the contrast is still amazing...though of course it improves when all the lights are out, but realistically, I can read a good book and watch the movie with great picture viewing at the same time if I wanted to. And guess what? I leave it in LOW power lamp light mode all the time, and it's still an awesome picture. The contrast is excellent!

I have a portable projector and projector screen because I take the setup to my friends' houses. I don't always want a bunch of people over at my house! As many times as I've moved the setup, it has always worked without any trouble.

I've hooked up XBoxes, PS2s, Game Cubes, DVD players, and Computers to the AE900U. The menus are easy to navigate, and it comes with a wicked cool remote control...you don't have to point it a the box either...just point it at the screen and it works. The 2x Zoom is a great asset; since I use a portable screen which gets put away after each viewing, I don't have to put the screen in the exact same spot each time...I just set it up approximately where it was and just use the zoom and focus to fix the rest.

The picture quality can be tweaked, the settings can be tweaked, and you can even save these settings on up to three memory slots for quick adjustments. I find that Dynamic mode works best on all formats, but sometimes I'll switch when it's a bright cartoon playing or an old black and white.

The box is quiet -- even in high fan mode. I live in higher altitudes so I need the higher fan mode.

It works, It works great, I've had no problems, and I've had scores of great moving watching experiences thus far.