Help me choose a projector please..

[ak808]

So I finally narrowed it down to 2 choices. The epson 1080ub which has gotten rave reviews and the panasonic ae2000u. Pricing is not a factor. The thing that has got me so confused is the epson doesn't support an anamorphic lens while the panny does. Honestly I'll be using it to only watch blurays and nothing else. Do I even need a anamorphic lens? Also will a 16x9 screen be ok or should I go with some other aspect ratio screen. The screen must be electric as well since it will cover my 46in 650 Oh and one more thing the epson I heard is loud. Is this true?

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by ak808

So I finally narrowed it down to 2 choices. The epson 1080ub which has gotten rave reviews and the panasonic ae2000u. Pricing is not a factor. The thing that has got me so confused is the epson doesn't support an anamorphic lens while the panny does. Honestly I'll be using it to only watch blurays and nothing else. Do I even need a anamorphic lens? Also will a 16x9 screen be ok or should I go with some other aspect ratio screen. The screen must be electric as well since it will cover my 46in 650 Oh and one more thing the epson I heard is loud. Is this true?

I own the Epson Powerlite Home Cinema 1080 ub. This is my fourth projector after one Sharp and two Sony's. The picture quality and black levels are outstanding. When I bought mine, I received $200 rebate back and the retailer included a ceiling mount for free and did not charge for shipping. Epson is very good with customer service. I damaged the HDMI input of the projector and they replaced it with a new one.

Panasonic's projector is also a good one. It uses the same D7 chip developed by Epson. However, the Panasonic projector is not very pretty and looks like a receiver hanging from your ceiling. I don't know much about Panasonic's customer service.

An anamorphic lens is a very expensive luxury that really doesn't do much when you watch a blu-ray movie on a good screen in the dark.

This is the dealer I bought my projector from. I received the projector in a few days and the packaging was first class. Currently, they sell it for $2,800, free shipping, and you get a free ceiling mount and a T shirt. Add it to the shopping cart to get the real price.
http://www.projectorbundles.com/inde...on=CARTDETAILS

Epson's web site sells it for $2,800, free shipping, no mounts.
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/c...ession.new=Yes

The screen size depends on you. 16x9 works perfectly. My room is large and I have a standard fixed mount screen that covers most of the wall. ProjectorDiscount has a good selection of screens at low prices.
http://projectiondiscount.com/default.asp
http://projectiondiscount.com/prodLi...?idCategory=61

[kpkelley]

Panasonic will be coming out with the successor to the ae2000u, the ae3000. It was shown at CEDIA and included a new frame interpolation technique that reduces motion blur. If you are watching a lot of action movies this may be something to consider.

The Panasonic PT-AE3000U (click for specs) is improved over the PT-AE2000U (currently the best selling 1080p projector), in contrast and black level performance. I saw a side by side between their two models, and the improvement is very visible.

Of this group, only the Panasonic, is offering frame interpolation to pretty much eliminate motion blur, although the next projector up in the Epson line, the 6500 UB, also offers frame interpolation.

http://www.projectorreviews.com/advi...ors1080p-1.php

More on the Panasonic:

It’s brighter - now a claimed 1600 lumens. Of course we’re concerned with how many lumens it really can put on the screen in both “best” and “brightest” modes. Still, the PT-AE2000U, overall, was just about average when released, and would be below average if we looked at whats out there now (almost a year later, including other announced projectors from other brands. More lumens is always a good thing.

Perhaps most interesting, is Panasonic has added the ability to actually interpret new frames.

Start with a 60 frames per second image, and it will analyse one frame, then the following, and completely create a new frame in between, that anticipates the position of moving objects. The example they gave was a shot of an airliner (in the air. frame 1: plane in the frame, but starting far to the left. The next frame (that would be the next frame broadcast, or on the disc), shows the plane almost all the way to the right side of the frame.

The PT-AE3000U actually creates a new frame, with the airplane whose location is half way between the first and second original frames. and so on. This method of getting up to 120fps, makes a great deal of sense, and should dramatically reduce the inherent motion flaws of not enough frames to begin with.

Very clever.

Better still, they do the same with 24fps (movies), but actually create 3 frames between the first and second provided frames.

http://www.projectorreviews.com/blog...me-projectors/

[Deadset]

I'm really looking forward to the reviews that will hopefully be out by October on these new entries from Epson, Panasonic, Mitsuibishi and Sanyo.

What surprised me was the MSRP for Sanyo and Epson is sub 2k... Any ideas what the other 2 will cost?

[Chevypower]

If pricing is of no concern, why not look at Christie projectors? :-)

[ak808]

Originally Posted by Chevypower

If pricing is of no concern, why not look at Christie projectors? :-)

I meant between the two projectors I picked. Because one is about 500 or so more then the other so people would tend to pick the cheaper one.

[kpkelley]

My suggestion would be to wait a little longer if you can. The new projectors will be out shortly and if they fail to impress you greatly over their current iterations you can get the older ones at what will surely be a reduced price.

If you had to get one now, the epson may be the better overall choice due to it's brightness advantage. That being said if you are only using it for blu-rays I like the Panasonic.


Oddly enough this site has a comparison of these two projectors:

A couple of months separated the two reviews, so I didn't get a chance to run these two projectors side by side.

The Panasonic, as previously noted, is very film like, and I used the phrase "a pleasure to watch" in describing it in the review. Nothing has changed. That makes it an exceptional consumer projector - for the people who just want to watch content, and not fiddle (although every projector can use a a little improvement that can be accomplished by a basic end user calibration (or hiring a professional).

The Epson is, I have to say, a touch less "film-like" (by the way, "film-like" is a very subjective term). Overall its image appears a touch harder, but also more dynamic - more "pop" and "wow".

For me, the extra horsepower, and the really superior black levels make the picture quality of the Epson, a step up from the Panasonic.

[ak808]

Yeah seems like every review I read always goes in favor towards the epson. However, what really troubles me is that here in hawaii no one carries these 2 projectors. Thus, I have no way to demo them. The main thing that is mainly steering me away from the epson is that it is louder. But, how loud is it? It'll probably placed about 4 feet back and 6 feet or so higher then my seating.

[Oddiophile]

Epson is replacing the 1080UB home cinema edition with the 6500UB and the 1080UB Pro edition is getting replaced with the 7500UB.

Contrast on the 6500/7500UB is rated at 75,000:1 with Dynamic iris, 7,000:1 native.

They should be out around November

[ak808]

The new epsons do look nice on paper but they would be out of my budget. I'm only really looking to spend about 3000 or less on the projector. Now to add on to the confusion of picking a projector I just found out I can get a brand new sony vw40 for 40% off retail which would make it 1800.00. Should I go with the sony or still choose the epson 1080ub? The epson would have to be shipped since no one carries it in hawaii.

[Oddiophile]

Originally Posted by ak808

The new epsons do look nice on paper but they would be out of my budget. I'm only really looking to spend about 3000 or less on the projector. Now to add on to the confusion of picking a projector I just found out I can get a brand new sony vw40 for 40% off retail which would make it 1800.00. Should I go with the sony or still choose the epson 1080ub? The epson would have to be shipped since no one carries it in hawaii.

Prices on the new Epson's have not been set yet, Epson said under $3000 for the 6500UB and under $5000 for the 7500UB.

The Sony HW10 is the replacement for the VW40, early reports are that the HW10 does delver a better picture then the VW40, but the HW10 does not have motorized lens like the 40 does and MSRP is $500 more. $1800 for a brand new VW40? I would take the VW40, that's a hell of a deal for a hell of a good projector.

[ak808]

Hmm...I think I'll try and see if bestbuy will price match it. If they do that'll be great since they have a special that is if you buy a projector all elite screens are 50%. So with that I'll be spending about 2 grand for my setup. Not bad.

[ak808]

Just an update. I decided to wait and go with a whole new projector then the 2 I thought I would pick. I was going to go for the mitsubishi hc6500 since bestbuy had it for 2500 but, since they jacked up the price to 3500 I figure why not spend 500 more and get the hc7000 and free isf calibration with it as well from a local store. So my setup is going to be 106in elite cinetension 2 (matte white) paired with the hc7000. Should be here in about 2 weeks. Can't wait