Customer Reviews
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.
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.
I'm really bummed.
I just purchased this model from a reputable distributor and it arrived this evening.Hooray! I set it up in the same ceiling location that our old DLP projector was located. After reading the manual and tweaking the settings, I sat down to watch a movie. I must say the picture was a great improvement over our old projector. However, 20 minutes into the movie, the screen turned into green and black vertical stripes and slowly faded to red. The unit was unresponsive. I could not even turn it off. I tried calling the distributors technical assistance line but to no avail. Then I tried to call Panasonic. Their automated answering system would have been comical if I weren't so ticked off. It tells you to speak naturally and then connects you to the commercial sales division or anywhere but technical assistance. Ultimately, I had to turn the main power switch off at the rear of the projector. I know that that action is a "no-no" since the fan should keep running to cool the bulb, but I did not want to leave it on until somebody from some technical service department calls me back at some future date. I would like to be telling you how great this projector is, but there it sits, on my ceiling, like a dead, dark, lifeless, $slightly below MSRP yet still expensive$ box. I tried to turn it on again, but it just flashes some red on the screen and turns off, like some pissed off (albeit, dying) HAL 9000. I will be sending this unit back tomorrow and will not be asking for a replacement. I will probably try a Sony or BenQ for the next one. Panasonic had their chance and they blew it, errr... blew up. If you want to try this projector, just make sure you can return it or have it repaired locally. The picture did look really nice for about 20 minutes.
