Viewing
The projector includes noise reduction settings. I tried them at times and
found a reduction in some fine noise, but preferred to leave them off.
I was happy with the shadow detail of this projector. Some past Panasonic
LCD projectors I have owned have been lacking in this area, but this one did
very well in the Cinema 1 mode with some of the more difficult scenes I use,
including the one from The Two Towers shown under More Test Scenes
here:
The dynamic iris operation was also much improved from last year's model to
my eyes. I mainly used the projector in Eco-Mode for the lamp when the
dynamic iris was on so that the projector would not modulate the lamp, as
well as moving the iris. During normal viewing, I hardly noticed the dynamic
iris in action. It even did well in one difficult scene where the AE900U had
a very noticeable jump.
While I did notice a little bit of vertical banding with this projector, it
was better than the AE900U I own. I am sensitive to vertical banding, and
with this projector it was slight enough that I think few would notice it
even if they were looking for it. However, those who don't know what it is
are probably best off not looking for it anyway. At times I also saw some
Fixed Pattern Noise (FPN), where it looked like there was a layer on the
screen that didn't move with the images. This is one area where DLPs tend to
do better than LCDs.
I was impressed with the images for the price point of this projector and
all that it provides. When comparing to much more expensive models, the
latter showed more 3-dimensionality, but I still consider the images from
the AX100U to be very nice for the money.
For images like standard definition content on high definition channels
where there can be visible garbage at the top of the images, the AX100U
includes both adjustable overscan and the ability to shift the vertical
position of the images digitally (this is separate from the lens shift). It
also includes the ability to shift the images digitally in the horizontal
direction a small amount, which could be useful for some channels that end
up with a solid line on one side or the other (a vertical green line like
this has been common with ABC-HD on the west coast in the past).
Using a DVDO iScan VP50 video processor I was able to feed 720p24, 720p48,
1080p24, and 1080p48 into the HDMI input of the AX100U. However, all of them
had problems. With a judder test pattern, there was tearing of the image and
none of those modes worked well enough to be useful for normal viewing. The
1080p60 mode looked good with the test pattern, but I would use 720p60 given
that the native resolution of the projector is 720p.
Conclusions
Of all of the projectors I have owned or seen, the PT-AX100U is the one that
I would be most comfortable recommending to first time projector owners.
There are multiple reasons for this, including its price point, but largely
the flexibility that Panasonic has designed into this particular model. From the
vertical and horizontal lens shift and large throw range that allow it to
work in many environments, to the ability to go bright when needed, while
also providing a good color balanced mode with good contrast ratio for dark
room viewing, this is just a really good unit. When I get a call from a
friend of a friend or a relative telling me that they are thinking about
getting a front projector and asking me for a recommendation, I expect the
PT-AX100U to be the first projector to come to mind for a while, even if I
do end up recommending something else after finding out their budget and
other factors.
There are still reasons to spend more money (like higher resolution, having
a personal preference for the look of DLP or LCOS over the look of LCD,
etc.), but for those who don't want to do a large amount of research and
want good value for their money, the PT-AX100U can be an easy choice that
will more than satisfy most people and blow away their friends. I expect
that even many of those who do a lot of research will come back and buy the
PT-AX100U, either as a holdover while they wait for technology improvements,
or as a top price/performer that they will keep for some time.
One thing to keep in mind is that the warranty is on the shorter end here at
1 year for the projector and 90 days for the lamp, although extended
warranties may be available.
- Darin Perrigo -
Associated Equipment:
- Colorfacts with Eye-One Beamer color sensor
- AEMC CA813 light meter
- 96"x54" StudioTek 130 screen
- 128"x72" Da-Lite High Power screen
- AccuPel HDG-3000 Calibration Generator
- DVDO iScan VP50 Video Processor
- Toshiba HD-A1 HD DVD player
- Samsung BDP-1000 Blu-ray player
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