Entered CNET Catalog: 10/31/2005
SKU: 0791871111246
Manufacturer: Panasonic
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Manufacturer 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 summary
The good: Relatively inexpensive; solid video processing with 2:3 pull-down; excellent features for setup, including long zoom and horizontal and vertical lens shift; very bright and capable of driving large screen sizes; numerous picture-tweaking options.
The bad: Black-level performance and contrast ratio not up to DLP standards; somewhat soft HD images.
The bottom line: While not quite as impressive as more expensive DLPs, the budget Panasonic PT-AE900U LCD is the champion of its price bracket so far.
Average user rating: from 9 users
4.0 stars
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 11/11/2005
Panasonic's remote is well designed and, to our delight, nearly completely backlit. This universal-learning model offers direct-access keys for input selection--another feature we applaud since it makes switching inputs much simpler and also helps with programming a universal remote. The PT-AE900U has direct-access keys for the picture mode, the aspect ratio, and the Advanced menu, where the grayscale and gamma menus are located. As we mentioned at the outset, the Panasonic PT-AE900U has true HDTV native resolution, meaning it can display every pixel of a 720p HDTV program. Other sources, including standard TV, DVD, and 1080i HDTV, are scaled to fit the three 1,280x720-pixel chips.
Like nearly all front projectors, the PT-AE900U lacks such traditional conveniences as picture-in-picture or the TV Guide EPG. It does, however, offer a number of setup and picture-enhancing features that make it quite flexible and greatly aid in improving the machine's overall picture performance. For example, in addition to the zoom and the lens shift mentioned earlier, the projector has a CCM (Cinema Color Management) system that allows you to change the color, tint, and brightness of small areas of the picture from left to right and top to bottom all around the screen. This is a great feature because it allows you to compensate for some of the white-field uniformity problems that commonly arise with LCD projectors.
We found a slew of different Picture modes on the PT-AE900U, including Dynamic, Normal (the factory preset), Cinema I, Cinema II, Cinema III, Video, and Natural, all of which have different picture presets and color tones. We settled on Normal for our calibration and evaluation. Frankly, the 12 color-temperature settings (-6 to +6) give you too much choice over the color tone of the picture; we chose -2 before grayscale calibration. The Cinema Reality setting is yet another name for the important 2:3 pull-down circuit. Finally, the Advanced menu provides three gamma settings and all the controls necessary for grayscale calibration.
The connectivity options on the Panasonic PT-AE900U are quite good for this price range. A single HDMI input serves as the only digital connection. Two component-video inputs, an S-Video input, a composite-video input, a 15-pin VGA input for PC connections, and a serial port complete the jack pack on the rear of the projector. The Panasonic PT-AE900U is a decent-performing little projector as far as LCD-based models go. It evinced better color performance and resolution than the Sanyo PLV-Z3. Our biggest complaint with its performance is its lack of truly compelling blacks. Instead of deep, rich blacks such as those you would get from a good 1,280x720-resolution one-chip DLP projector, it produces muddy dark grays. Space scenes and dark scenes in general on the excellent DVD of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back lacked shadow detail, and blacks tended to be on the murky side.
Brighter scenes on the same DVD looked decent but somewhat softer than we expected for a projector of this resolution. Although the Panasonic PT-AE900U fully resolved a 720p multiburst-resolution pattern at both the component and HDMI inputs, DVDs and even HD looked a little fuzzy. The lens is the culprit; when focusing, we noticed that we couldn't see the pixel detail that more expensive lenses will give you.
Running our DVD player in interlaced mode via its component-video outputs, we were pleased to find that the Cinema Reality feature engages 2:3 pull-down; consequently, the projector rendered Star Trek: Insurrection cleanly and smoothly, with no motion artifacts or jaggies.
The color decoding, while not perfect (it pushes red slightly), is reasonably accurate. The actual color of red is reddish orange, and of green, yellowish green, which unfortunately is the norm for all but the priciest of projectors. After calibration, the Panasonic PT-AE900U had impressive color saturation for an LCD projector.
HD material from our Time Warner HD cable system looked good, with the Discovery Channel, PBS, and HDNet looking the best, as usual. Color saturation was commendable, but again detail suffered. Images looked distinctly softer than on some of the lower-cost DLP projectors we've reviewed recently, such as the pricier Sharp XV-Z2000U. Dark concert footage on HDNet looked decent, but it lacked shadow detail and snap.
The reality here is that the Panasonic PT-AE900U is one of the least-expensive high-resolution projectors on the market. Given that, you have to expect some performance compromises, such as the slightly soft picture produced by the lens. That said, for a little more than $2,000, this projector will give you a big-screen home-theater experience that's better than just about anything we've seen in this price bracket.
Geek box
| TEST | RESULT | SCORE |
| Before color temp (20/80) | 5,950/7,100K | Good |
| After color temp (20/80) | 7,150/6,650K | Good |
| Before grayscale variation | +/- 403K | Good |
| After grayscale variation | +/- 36K | Good |
| Overscan | 0% | Good |
| DC restoration | All patterns stable | Good |
| 2:3 pull-down, 24fps | Y | Good |
| Defeatable edge enhancement | Y | Good |
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 User Rating:
2.5 stars
out of 9 user reviews
great while it lasted
Pros: image quality, price
Cons: durability, online customer service
Review: I loved this projector for the year that it worked. Great HD picture and easy to use. But the colors started fading after I had owned it for a year (yes, it essentially broke right after the warranty expired). It turns out the "main board" broke which is prohibitively expensive to repair (~$1000). Maybe I was just unlucky. Oh, and the online Panasonic customer support was essentially non-existent. Bummer, I really liked that projector, but I'm not sure I can buy another Panansonic (shortest warranty among most projector manufacturers).
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 9 user reviews
This is the best $1300 projector you can buy, PERIOD!!
Pros: 1. Best dollar value projector on the Market 2. Plenty of Inputs 3. Extremely easy to use, but has tons of features
Cons: 1. Smoother picture than DLP projectors 2.Remote control must be pointed directly at 3. 1 Year Warranty is shorter than most projectors on the market
Review: I purchased this projector about 2 months ago from www.projectorpeople.com. The price was $1749 but there is a $400 cash rebate and a Blockbuster video rental card worth about $300. Also, Projector People included a free 3 year lamp warranty for up to two lamp replacements. So in terms of pure value for your dollar, there is no better projector on the market, PERIOD! The picture quality is remarkable. There is no screen door affect at all. Its still hard to believe that you can get this high quality projector for essentailly $1300 after rebate. This is a perfect choice for everyone except the purest videophiles. They will most likely prefer the slightly better definition of a 1080p DLP projector.
This projector's greatest strength is also it's greatest weakness. Panasonic's 3LCD technology is what essentially nullifies the screen door affect. But it also produces a slightly smoother picture than the high cost DLP projectors. But you will only notice the difference when running the two projectors side by side. (Which I did to kill some time at work)
This projector's greatest strength is also it's greatest weakness. Panasonic's 3LCD technology is what essentially nullifies the screen door affect. But it also produces a slightly smoother picture than the high cost DLP projectors. But you will only notice the difference when running the two projectors side by side. (Which I did to kill some time at work)
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 9 user reviews
Great projector
Pros: Good zoom, low noise, nice brightness, high definition, super price
Cons: None that I can think of
Review:
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 9 user reviews
Amazing quality for the money!
Pros: Smooth film-like images.
Cons: Black levels
Review: I almost feel like I am watching film rather than a digital projector. I just wanted a projector for "film night" and don't have space to dedicate a whole room for a theater. I also wanted a large screen without putting an ugly monster in my living room. The epson and optima all-in-one units cannot even compare in picture quality. Spend a few more bucks and pick up one of these beauties along with the oppo upscaling dvd player and da-lite portable cinema screens and you're set!
User Rating:
5.0 stars
out of 9 user reviews
Perhaps the best money I've ever spent!
Pros: PERFECT color, ideal brightness, no screen door affect.
Cons: Not as sharp as my previous projector BUT I'm still pleased with the "900".
Review: First of all I bought this online for a really good price, I also am due the $400 rebate and the $300 Blockbuster rental card. Regardless that I got a low price, this projector looks fantastic!!! I've only been able to really review pretty high end projectors prior to purchaseing this 900 since the local Home Theater showrooms only show $10K and up projectors. I feel the image quality of this projector MATCHES the $10K units that I've seen. Actually, the way that the Panasonic 900 eliminates the screen door effect looks the same as the $10K box (R*n*o). The 900 is very quiet while running, has all the inputs you'll need, and has nice brightness. I use mine with a 60" x 80" Da-Lite HCCV grey screen so the image is 100" diagonal and the room is almost completely dark. The picture that this projector displays is literally stunning!!!!!!!
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 9 user reviews
Best HD deal. Beware the sales call ...
Pros: Great picture and easy to use.
Cons: Broadway Photo and Video.
Review: I borrowed one of these for a week to check it out at home and it pretty much sold itself.
The Good:
No doubt about it, for the money this is the best HD deal out there. It has a built-in line-doubler, to give you a de-interlaced picture from regular 480i. Also has 3:2 dropdown, to eliminate flicker/timing issues from movies originally shot at 24 fps. It handles 720p quasi-natively, by using the middle band of 720 lines rather than scaling. It takes all standard inputs, including component and HDMI. The image rocks. Virtually no false contouring, accurate colors, deep contrast and auto-detection for most signal formats.
The Bad:
The supplied manuals and documentation aren't great, though it does get you through all the basics. E.g. info on de-interlacing and 3:2 is scant. Manufacturer’s rebates are always a risk – you have to carefully go through all your junk mail for weeks so as not to miss it, hiding behind coupons and snake-oil offers, and there’s no come-back if you do. I wish they’d provide even more optical zoom so that you could shrink TV-sourced images down to a watchable size: in an 18’ room, the minimum diagonal size is around 7’6”. This shows up too many imperfections in SD TV and, in any case, it would be nice to have an option to shrink it to a more standard TV size - with an ultra bright image - and treat it like a regular TV. Most standard TV programming isn’t intended to be blown up so large. I’m sure that when they made the Teletubbies, they didn’t imagine them at 7’ tall scaring the bejesus out of your kids ;o) At, say, 4’ diagonal it would look so much better. DVD sources, even at 480i, tend to be much cleaner and scale very well after doubling.
& The Ugly:
I originally ordered through Broadway Photo & Video. It offered the cheapest price (though S&H was twice the competition) and advertised that it was in stock and would ship within 1-2 business days. I even called (per advice I’d read here on CNET) to verify that they were fully authorized and had the item in stock before I placed my order.
Then came the pushy sales call that claimed it was ready to go… but before shipping it, did I want: a ceiling mount, a special carrying case and a 3-year extended service plan? All these things were apparently necessary since it was unstable without the mount, it had an “external lamp” that was easily broken, and the manufacturer’s guarantee was only 90 days. In fact: it sits on a shelf perfectly well (that setup is recommended for noise reduction and ease of access for cleaning), it does not have an “external lamp”, and the guarantee is for 1 year.
They opened the call with “It’s in the box, ready to go”. That was until I refused to order all the extras and buy the 3 year extended service plan; then came the e-mail “It’s out of stock. Please follow this link to cancel your order”. I phoned to check the new delivery status and they canceled the order. Clearly at this price, they only make money on the extras and if they can’t get you to buy them – they don’t want your order.
Note: CNET doesn’t list them in their Buying Choices, but they do list them via a Sponsored Match link.
The Good:
No doubt about it, for the money this is the best HD deal out there. It has a built-in line-doubler, to give you a de-interlaced picture from regular 480i. Also has 3:2 dropdown, to eliminate flicker/timing issues from movies originally shot at 24 fps. It handles 720p quasi-natively, by using the middle band of 720 lines rather than scaling. It takes all standard inputs, including component and HDMI. The image rocks. Virtually no false contouring, accurate colors, deep contrast and auto-detection for most signal formats.
The Bad:
The supplied manuals and documentation aren't great, though it does get you through all the basics. E.g. info on de-interlacing and 3:2 is scant. Manufacturer’s rebates are always a risk – you have to carefully go through all your junk mail for weeks so as not to miss it, hiding behind coupons and snake-oil offers, and there’s no come-back if you do. I wish they’d provide even more optical zoom so that you could shrink TV-sourced images down to a watchable size: in an 18’ room, the minimum diagonal size is around 7’6”. This shows up too many imperfections in SD TV and, in any case, it would be nice to have an option to shrink it to a more standard TV size - with an ultra bright image - and treat it like a regular TV. Most standard TV programming isn’t intended to be blown up so large. I’m sure that when they made the Teletubbies, they didn’t imagine them at 7’ tall scaring the bejesus out of your kids ;o) At, say, 4’ diagonal it would look so much better. DVD sources, even at 480i, tend to be much cleaner and scale very well after doubling.
& The Ugly:
I originally ordered through Broadway Photo & Video. It offered the cheapest price (though S&H was twice the competition) and advertised that it was in stock and would ship within 1-2 business days. I even called (per advice I’d read here on CNET) to verify that they were fully authorized and had the item in stock before I placed my order.
Then came the pushy sales call that claimed it was ready to go… but before shipping it, did I want: a ceiling mount, a special carrying case and a 3-year extended service plan? All these things were apparently necessary since it was unstable without the mount, it had an “external lamp” that was easily broken, and the manufacturer’s guarantee was only 90 days. In fact: it sits on a shelf perfectly well (that setup is recommended for noise reduction and ease of access for cleaning), it does not have an “external lamp”, and the guarantee is for 1 year.
They opened the call with “It’s in the box, ready to go”. That was until I refused to order all the extras and buy the 3 year extended service plan; then came the e-mail “It’s out of stock. Please follow this link to cancel your order”. I phoned to check the new delivery status and they canceled the order. Clearly at this price, they only make money on the extras and if they can’t get you to buy them – they don’t want your order.
Note: CNET doesn’t list them in their Buying Choices, but they do list them via a Sponsored Match link.
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 9 user reviews
Amazing projector for the price
Pros: Low screen-door-effect, color, connectivity, HDTV performance, lens shift, zoom range
Cons: Brightness at 10' diagonal with auto-iris enabled
Review: Awesome projector!! I just upgraded from a 5-year old Sharp XV-DW100U to a Panasonic PT-AE900U and have been amazed at the difference. My front row distance from the screen is only 1.6x the screen height, and it's extremely hard to see the pixels even from there (low screen-door-effect)!! This was one of my main reasons for considering this projector and it exceeds my expectations in this area! The color is wonderful with tons of adjustment options. HDMI, component and other inputs make this projector easy to connect to various sources. The manual lens shift and huge zoom range allows for flexible placement - mine is hanging from the ceiling 18 ft from the screen. The video processing that takes a 1080i signal and fits it to the 720 line resolution is amazing. I'm actually surprised to say that I find 1080i signals looking "picture window" quality. DVD's, even at 480I/P are great and my new upconverting DVD player looks great at 720P and 1080i. The only drawback is that the brightness, on larger screens with the auto-iris enabled, can suffer at times. Therefore, you need a nice dark room with low ambient light for the best performance with this unit. The contrast with the auto-iris enabled is pretty good, however, so it's a trade-off worth making. Contrast is better than most LCD's (especially those without an iris feature), but it still doesn't compare as well to most DLP's. However, for almost invisble pixels, flexibily of placement, great performance and amazing price, this projector is almost impossible to beat!
User Rating:
5.0 stars
out of 9 user reviews
WOW , WOW and did I say "WOW"?
Pros: Unbelievable picture
Cons: nit picking doesnt matter - the picture is the main thing
Review: After exhaustive research and talking to online sales reps, I decided this is the projector for me. I even went to high end electronics stores to demo many projectors, but decided to buy this sight unseen.
You wont be disappointed in any way with this incredible machine. I have had for 4 years a 65" mitsubishi, which I have always felt was the bench mark of a high quality picture. I began a home theater project with the attitude that if the picture wasnt as good as my mitsubishi, that i would move it up to my theater. I was assured it was even better.
That brings me to the present...Finally finished my project and hooked up the projector.
The picture is truly amazing. Anyone who sees the image will be blown away. Im a picky person and I am speechless also. The movies are fantastic (I recommend upconverting to HD with the HDMI input), but as good as that is the High def is even better. I have never (and Im very demanding) seen a picture as good as this anywhere! Even at 5 feet from my 95" diagonal screen the picture is crisp and viewable with ease. Theres no way any othre sub 10k projector can be better than this all the images are just amazing.
I will say this--if you are waffling on projectors as I was, heres my advice: PICK UP THE PHONE NOW and order this from a good online company (I used projector people), you wont be disappointed.
You wont be disappointed in any way with this incredible machine. I have had for 4 years a 65" mitsubishi, which I have always felt was the bench mark of a high quality picture. I began a home theater project with the attitude that if the picture wasnt as good as my mitsubishi, that i would move it up to my theater. I was assured it was even better.
That brings me to the present...Finally finished my project and hooked up the projector.
The picture is truly amazing. Anyone who sees the image will be blown away. Im a picky person and I am speechless also. The movies are fantastic (I recommend upconverting to HD with the HDMI input), but as good as that is the High def is even better. I have never (and Im very demanding) seen a picture as good as this anywhere! Even at 5 feet from my 95" diagonal screen the picture is crisp and viewable with ease. Theres no way any othre sub 10k projector can be better than this all the images are just amazing.
I will say this--if you are waffling on projectors as I was, heres my advice: PICK UP THE PHONE NOW and order this from a good online company (I used projector people), you wont be disappointed.
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 9 user reviews
great "bang for the buck" projector
Pros: 5500/1 contrast, better learning remote(than 700-u)
Cons: took away 12volt jack for projector screen
Review: I just traded up from the ptae700u proj., to this 900u, and its contrast ratio is awesome.The lens allows a great range of set-up options, that you pay dearly for on dlp projectors with zoom and tilt. But why panasonic got rid of the projection screen 12volt jack, is beyond me! That aside, these projectors are built tough, and will give you a great home theatre for the money
