39 replies to this topic

[gobberon]

Here is a quick review of the new Panasonic PT-AE7000 for the forum. I'll be adding to this as I get more time with the unit.

** Disclaimer **

I am not a qualified calibrator and I don't sell or market projectors nor am I affiliated with the manufacturer in any way. I am a consumer and these views are just my own. As with everything, YMMV. I can only compare this unit with my old Sony VW60 (which is FS by the way - plug).

Packaging
The unit is well packaged and the lens is held in place with some foam inserts to stop it from moving around during transit. You get a remote, some batteries, manuals, CD, a locking power cable (nice) and lens cover. You get 12mths warranty (although the US gets an additional 12mths on mail in). The unit I got had a seal saying it was quality checked at Panasonic Aust.

The Projector
Its big, as they all are, with a nice matt black finish. It has a cover that flips up to get access to the lamp. The lens is offset to the right. There is a separate power switch. There are rubber feet for adjustments and overall, feels solid. It has quite a nice array inputs - 3 HDMI, Component, Composite, Svideo, PC, 2 triggers, RS232 control, Kensington lock hole, and external IR emitter for glassess sync so your pretty well covered. IR emitters are included.

Setup
I have a fixed 110" screen. The screen is about 1.0 gain and around 4m away. The PJ is "desk mode" and up high on a shelf level with the top of the screen. I used a Blu-Ray of Star Trek from a PS3 for screen tests.

Initial impressions.
The lamp came with 0hrs on it. The unit powers up pretty quickly and is fairly quite in normal lamp mode. First impression, the picture really pops. Focus is good, my Sony was a little better but not by much. On a black screen there was no obvious bleed and uniformity was good. My Sony was a little worse in this regard but these are vastly different technologies.

The blacks are definitely better than the Sony and the dynamic range is excellent. It handles the blacks in some of the opening scenes of Star Trek admirably for a DI system. I'm seeing things I did not see before with the Sony. The picture is quite engrossing. The whites are also handled with ease. Clouds are well defined and you can see details quite clearly.

I used my old HDMI cable and it works fine even for 3d (YMMV). I dropped the lamp to eco mode and the fan drops in speed and is very quiet.

Adjustments
Where do I begin. This thing has more than enough tweaking to satisfy most and even the more demanding of us. The lens shift range is excellent for me, again YMMV, the front cover just slides out and you get access to the shift control and you see the IR emitters there as well. [Note to Pannasonic - the joystick on my unit came off, freaked me out but lucky for me I just snapped it back in and all good] A lot of folk are complaining about the lens shift joystick, it is a bit fiddly but when you get used to it its ok. I could get it to adjust to quite small tolerances and once its locked you never need to change it again. One thing I noticed, when you adjust the lens shift the IR leds move as well to point in the direction of the screen, nice touch.

The PJ comes with a great range of built in test signals. Grey scale, focus (x2), colour bars and grid. One annoyance is that you can't use focus and zoom on the grid but not a big deal. The waveform monitor is a plus when you wnat to get that little bit extra and it can auto adjust levels based on the current scene.

Picture modes
In all modes the DI (Dynamic Iris) is not noticeable at all. With the Sony you could see the DI at work in some scenes. I must say I did not see this on the Panasonic yet and you can't hear it in operation. You can switch it off or on, no manual control. I think it works well enough for me. The Sony had this feature and I never used it. In a couple of modes you can hear the colour filter slide in to balance to one of the in built standards. You lose brightness for colour accuracy. In these modes the brightness was on par with my Sony which had quite a few hours on the lamp. I found the Normal mode to be quite good for colour and the picture is quite bright. In any mode there are more than enough adjustments to get the picture any way you want it.

Black Levels
Black levels for me are excellent. I can only compare with a night shot from Star Trek where Kirk is riding in to the bar. The fields can be clearly seen as well as the detail in the clouds and the car park. This was not the case with my old Sony, which to be fair is a few generations behind.

The star field in the opening scenes of Avatar are clear and depending your mode choice you can even see the nebula field in the background. Stars in the scene with the planets in the foreground are quite clear and as far as I can tell all visibly rendered. The star field occupies the top right 1/4 and I checked with the waveform monitor for stars and as far as I could tell, in the section I checked, they were all on screen and visible.

Again, I can't compare with anything else but for me this is impressive. One mode, [D-Cinema] really crushes black and is really next to useless but I haven't done any tweaks so the jury is out on this one. The other modes are quite good and one [Rec 709] is really for those who want a somewhat accurate picture, but you will sacrifice a good deal of light.

Thats it for now - I will update for 3D and other items as I play more.

Edited by gobberon, 16 November 2011 - 12:51 PM.

[MRCRIST]

Thanks for you thoughts I am sure others will have many questions to ask you.

could you please elaborate a bit further on my questions below.

Your impressions /thoughts of night scenes and just how it handles black.

If you have the BR Avatar how does the dark stellar sky look in the beginning scenes with the planets in the background? And how does it compare to your VW60.

Edited by Crist, 16 November 2011 - 10:48 AM.

[blybo]

Crist, on Nov 16 2011, 11:47 AM, said:

Thanks for you thoughts I am sure others will have many questions to ask you.

could you please elaborate a bit further on my questions below.

Your impressions /thoughts of night scenes and just how it handles black.

If you have the BR Avatar how does the dark stellar sky look in the beginning scenes with the planets in the background? And how does it compare to your VW60.

Also if you could give some reports on the lens memory functionality if you've tried it. I read somewhere it can detect the aspect ratio and automatically switch to that memory position. True?

[709er]

Thanks for the excellent info on your new unit.
Our screen size and viewing distance is the same as yours and I am also keen to hear more info re the handling of the 3D images.
Which model of glasses are you using?
I will look forward to your review updates.

[eazymann]

Are you using  16x9 or scope screen?  Thanks for you thoughts glad to see these are finally in customers hands.

[HyperReality]

blybo, on Nov 16 2011, 03:10 PM, said:

Also if you could give some reports on the lens memory functionality if you've tried it. I read somewhere it can detect the aspect ratio and automatically switch to that memory position. True?

I'm curious about how well the lens memory/motorised zoom etc goes - particularly as the reports I've seen are that for successful shift between 1.78:1 and zoomed 2.35:1 on a 2.35:1 screen the Panny cannot be mounted any higher than the top edge of the screen, which is problematic if you need to ceiling mount higher than the screen like I have to.

From what I can tell it appears that this is due to the Panny not having motorised lens shift, just motorised zoom and focus combined with digital image shift (and the manual joystick lens shift for those who don't want to swap AR's) - unlike the JVC X/RS's that appear to have motorised zoom, focus, and lens shift. However, no-one I've spoken to so far about the AE7000 appears to know for sure what the bounds are for mounting if you want to use poor-man's zoom 2.35:1 and 1.78:1.

[gobberon]

Some updates :
3D
Glasses are 3rd gen, very light, usb charges nice and quick.  Tint is fairly light and to my eye, neutral with a hint of green. They work very well. There is no crosstalk to speak of except for the most demanding scenes and even then not very noticeable. They are mediums and fit over my glasses fine, I don't consider my head to be large so they are fine even if you don't wear glasses. There is a switch on the top to flick it to 2D mode for those that don't like the whole 3D thing and everyone else can still watch in 3D - very handy.

As with all these technologies you do lose a lot of brightness and to get that back you can bump it up to one of the other non-calibrated modes and then yes, wow, an amazing picture. Avatar is just amazing in 3D. The 2D to 3D is, as you would expect and it does a reasonably good job at the illusion, just keep in mind that 2D is 2D and leave it at that.

Lens/Zoom/Shift
At this price point I did not expect a motorised lens shift and in my situation thats fine. The PJ is mounted on a shelf and the lens height is at the top edge of the screen and dead centre. There is plenty of lens shift and I found, that once I got used to the joystick, it was easy to get fine adjustments done.

The auto detect works fine to switch between 2 of the lens memories saved, the PJ needs to have a think and then switches, there are more you can save but there are only 2 aspect ratios to choose from so only 2 memories to auto-switch to. One minor issue, on the remote the [MEMORY LOAD] is supposed to pop up the lens memory menu but I can't seem to get it to work at all - Panasonic (if your'e reading), please explain, and no I'm not going to send you my unit   , no biggie for me anyhow.

The shift is achieved by allowing you to move the scoped image up and down. On a 16:9 screen I was able to shift up or down to the edge of the screen with plenty of adjustment left over. I can't speak for those with a scope screen.

Focus is ok, my Sony was better. Maybe thats a side effect of the smoothscreen tech they use, don't know, but at the distance I'm shooting its not a big deal. At the wide end of the zoom its better. There is some minor smearing and it may be within spec, the picture is sharp and clear though.

There is no screen door, I would say the pixel packing is quite dense and there are no convergence errors I can see.

And correction to ..

Quote

and external IR emitter for glassess sync so your pretty well covered. IR emitters are included.

should be ..

and a port for an external IR emitter for glassess sync so your pretty well covered. Internal on-board IR emitters are included.

Edited by gobberon, 17 November 2011 - 07:20 PM.

[blybo]

gobberon, on Nov 17 2011, 02:39 PM, said:

Lens/Zoom/Shift
At this price point I did not expect a motorised lens shift and in my situation thats fine. The PJ is mounted on a shelf and the lens height is at the top edge of the screen and dead centre. There is plenty of lens shift and I found, that once I got used to the joystick, it was easy to get fine adjustments done.

The auto detect works fine to switch between 2 of the lens memories saved, the PJ needs to have a think and then switches, there are more you can save but there are only 2 aspect ratios to choose from so only 2 memories to auto-switch to. One minor issue, on the remote the [MEMORY LOAD] is supposed to pop up the lens memory menu but I can't seem to get it to work at all - Panasonic (if your'e reading), please explain, and no I'm not going to send you my unit   , no biggie for me anyhow.

The shift is achieved by allowing you to move the scoped image up and down. On a 16:9 screen I was able to shift up or down to the edge of the screen with plenty of adjustment left over. I can't speak for those with a scope screen.

Focus is ok, my Sony was better. Maybe thats a side effect of the smoothscreen tech they use, don't know, but at the distance I'm shooting its not a big deal. At the wide end of the zoom its better. There is some minor smearing and it may be within spec, the picture is sharp and clear though.

There is no screen door, I would say the pixel packing is quite dense and there are no convergence errors I can see.

Thanks for that. Does the manual or your use suggest that the projector must be equal or below the top level of the screen for the lens shift memory to work as the predecessor did or guys who ceiling mount given more freedom now? If I have to hang my projector in line or below the top of our scope screen it would rule this fella out completely as I am about to build a riser for rear seats, and as it is without a riser somebody much over 6 foot tall would have duck to miss it if in line.

I also returned an old 720p Pana projector for my Sanyo Z5 because of the smoothscreen tech, it was like watching some aging diva who demands soft filters. Hope they are better now with 1080p, expect it would be.

[gobberon]

blybo, on Nov 17 2011, 09:43 PM, said:

Thanks for that. Does the manual or your use suggest that the projector must be equal or below the top level of the screen for the lens shift memory to work as the predecessor did or guys who ceiling mount given more freedom now? If I have to hang my projector in line or below the top of our scope screen it would rule this fella out completely as I am about to build a riser for rear seats, and as it is without a riser somebody much over 6 foot tall would have duck to miss it if in line.

I also returned an old 720p Pana projector for my Sanyo Z5 because of the smoothscreen tech, it was like watching some aging diva who demands soft filters. Hope they are better now with 1080p, expect it would be.

Yes I think that would still be true. However I could mount my projector higher and still hit the screen as there is quite a lot of shift available, how high I couldn't say. I think its the same as the previous model.

[MRCRIST]

gobberon, on Nov 17 2011, 09:59 PM, said:

Yes I think that would still be true. However I could mount my projector higher and still hit the screen as there is quite a lot of shift available, how high I couldn't say. I think its the same as the previous model.

someone who has reviewed this projector on this forum claims the picture looks soft. Sony pj have been renowned for  their picture sharpness.
How does this compare to your vw60?

According to Projector Central's review

Picture Quality in 2D. The AE7000 delivers outstanding image quality for conventional 2D home theater. Descriptors like smooth, elegant, rich, and natural come to mind. The picture has excellent dynamic range, good edge to edge sharpness, and a low level of noise even with the noise reduction filters off. These factors contribute to an exceptional clarity and depth.

The AE7000's image is just sharp enough to look clean and natural, without pushing sharpness to an extreme that it looks digital or artificial. Visible pixelation is non-existent, due in part to the SmoothScreen filters that have been deployed on Panasonic home theater products for many years. Though there is little noise in the picture with the noise filter off, the filter can be set to low to reduce what little noise there is. This is accomplished without any apparent compromise in fine detail.

Though HD source material looks pristine, the AE7000 also does an outstanding job with DVDs. The high contrast and low noise contributes to a natural rendering of DVDs, assuming the DVDs are good transfers to begin with. Our DVD of U-571, upscaled to 1080p/60 on a Panasonic Blu-ray player, looks as close to HD quality on the AE7000 as we have ever seen it on any 1080p projector

Edited by Crist, 21 November 2011 - 01:23 PM.

[gobberon]

Crist, on Nov 21 2011, 02:18 PM, said:

someone who has reviewed this projector on this forum claims the picture looks soft. Sony pj have been renowned for  their picture sharpness.
How does this compare to your vw60?

According to Projector Central's review

Picture Quality in 2D. The AE7000 delivers outstanding image quality for conventional 2D home theater. Descriptors like smooth, elegant, rich, and natural come to mind. The picture has excellent dynamic range, good edge to edge sharpness, and a low level of noise even with the noise reduction filters off. These factors contribute to an exceptional clarity and depth.

The AE7000's image is just sharp enough to look clean and natural, without pushing sharpness to an extreme that it looks digital or artificial. Visible pixelation is non-existent, due in part to the SmoothScreen filters that have been deployed on Panasonic home theater products for many years. Though there is little noise in the picture with the noise filter off, the filter can be set to low to reduce what little noise there is. This is accomplished without any apparent compromise in fine detail.

Though HD source material looks pristine, the AE7000 also does an outstanding job with DVDs. The high contrast and low noise contributes to a natural rendering of DVDs, assuming the DVDs are good transfers to begin with. Our DVD of U-571, upscaled to 1080p/60 on a Panasonic Blu-ray player, looks as close to HD quality on the AE7000 as we have ever seen it on any 1080p projector

After a bit more time with the PJ I can say that the VW60 was sharper. I don't know if this is an artefact of the smoothscreen tech but there is a definite smearing effect on text and lines. However it can be minimised to an acceptable point by adjusing focus and compromising a bit for center focus. Regardless, at the distances being viewed it does not impact overall sharpness. You really only see this at about 30cm from the screen.

I have also been playing around with some of the calibration tools available and it make for an extremely tweakable PJ. The frame interpolation works remarkabley well with little (to me, no) lag and is available in 3d mode as well.

Edited by gobberon, 08 December 2011 - 09:34 PM.

[MRCRIST]

gobberon, on Dec 8 2011, 09:55 PM, said:

After a bit more time with the PJ I can say that the VW60 was sharper. I don't know if this is an artefact of the smoothscreen tech but there is a definite smearing effect on text and lines. However it can be minimised to an acceptable point by adjusing focus and compromising a bit for center focus. Regardless, at the distances being viewed it does not impact overall sharpness. You really only see this at about 30cm from the screen.

I have also been playing around with some of the calibration tools available and it make for an extremely tweakable PJ. The frame interpolation works remarkabley well with little (to me, no) lag and is available in 3d mode as well.

Definitely Sony HW10 is sharper than my new Epson 9000. Just think this is a trait of licos tech.

[gobberon]

Some more updates ...

[ERRATA] I mentioned a gripe about the picture/lens memory not popping up when yiou hit it on the remote. It turns out you have to actually have an entry in the list before this will pop up  

I knocked up a HCFR colorimeter and with a bit of tweaking and to my pleasant surprise, once I got the hang of HCFR and the PJ controls, I was able to get the PJ to track to 6500K @ 2.2 Gamma almost as good as Rec709 mode. 0-10 IRE is out but I think I could get it in with a bit more tweaking. You can run out of red at 90-100 IRE if the contrast is too high but pull that down a hair and there is just enough to get a reasonable calibration.

I speculate that the Rec709 mode, with its filter, gives a stable calibration at 6500 over the life of the PJ whereas the unfiltered modes will largely depend on how the lamp ages. But for now I have a really well calibrated PJ at some of the nice bright modes except for Dynamic mode, which I might give a try, but there is way too much green and if I tried to bring it down I reckon it would simply match Cinema 2 in brightness anyhow - if there's interest I'll give it a try.

Also, I found that the PJ is not completely at 2.2 Gamma which is the recommended setting, but the richness of the controls you have at hand means you can bring it down to almost perfect, nice.

[709er]

Well I am a proud new owner of the PT AE7000 and thought it deserved some "talk time" in the projectors thread.
My better half is working on an adaptor for our existing ceiling mount (I will post some pics in my HT thread), so we just set it up on a trolley with the HDMI cable draped across the floor.
Hooked up to: Oppo 93 main out to HDMI 1 port, with sub to my non V1.4 amp.
Viewed on a 110 inch 1.3 gain screen.

The picture out of the box was excellent, though way too bright for our room/setting (full black out room), so quickly set the lamp to "eco mode". Left the picture on "normal", adjusted the "red gamma brightness" down to -3 (I can't tolerate bright reds) and voila... an amazing picture was beheld!

Tried a few 2D discs including Transformers 3 (which we had the chance of seeing side by side with the Epson 9000 at Yorac's Melbourne Christmas GTG) and were instantly pleased. Changed the 3D eyewear  setting to "light", threw on a couple of IMAX 3D doco's and likewise were awed by the incredible levels of immersion, depth and clarity/detail that the 3D image gave.
Fish swimming around infront of us - in and out of the credits - amazing!

I had been thoroughly happy with our 4YO Sanyo Z2000, but wanted to go 3D so chose the Panasonic primarily for it's touted superior handling of 3D, quiet fan, extra HDMI input and colour.

We have only watched one full film (last night) - Cars 2 3D and although it was definitely for the "under 15's", we couldn't have chosen a better disc to "premiere" as it was faultlessly clean, clear, full of depth and totally without crosstalk or ghosting. Wow!
The projector came with a starter pack of 2 pairs of 3rd gen glasses (and Avatar 3D  ) and I purchased a 2nd starter pack from JB Hi Fi so the whole family could get into the action.
The 3rd gen glasses are extremely light and comfortable. Our Sony 3D TV glasses (100's) are bulky and clunky in comparison.
I charged them using the front USB on our Panasonic DMR BWT800 and they each took less than 30mins.
The onboard transmitter easily reached us all - even my youngest who was at floor level on the bean bags.
We had a munchie break at the 50min mark and none of us had any eye fatigue whatsoever.... forgot they were on.

Nice, small remote too. Backlit, simple key structure and including an assignable function button, which though I haven't tried yet, I think can be assigned to any chosen menu item (for us it will be the BLANK screen for when we pile out to the kitchen for munchies/refills   ).

Even my better half was totally impressed the the PQ and connectivity. We will be connecting The Panasonic, Oppo and Sony 2400ES amp with dedicated 10m cables (no extra joins on the way), so we will maintain the purest video signal we can, but still be able to watch the old Sony 550 and the Toshiba HD DVD player through the amp.
The fan (in eco mode) was so quiet. It was around 600mm from my left ear and although I was aware it was there, it was totally acceptable.

I must say that I am surprised at the lack of talk on the forums with regard to this PJ. It is a classy unit with fantastic image quality. The move towards the Epson is so strong, though I am not quite convinced of why (apart from 2D brightness in lighter environments and perhaps warrantee)  

Anyhow, we are thrilled and I am really looking forward to getting our ceiling mount organized (probably Thursday - as we are on hols) and getting stuck into the amazing array of picture adjustment options and setting user/picture modes to suit our different media.

As with most, we will be mainly watching 2D (which the 7000 handles beautifully in all respects), but we know that when we spin up a 3D BD, we are in for a bonus ride!

A very nice Christmas present indeed!  

Edited by 709er, 28 December 2011 - 03:26 PM.

[bbar]

709er, on Dec 27 2011, 05:02 PM, said:

Well I am a proud new owner of the PT AE7000 and thought it deserved some "talk time" in the projectors thread.
My better half is working on an adaptor for our existing ceiling mount (I will post some pics in my HT thread), so we just set it up on a trolley with the HDMI cable draped across the floor.
Hooked up to: Oppo 93 main out to HDMI 1 port, with sub to my non V1.4 amp.

The picture out of the box was excellent, though way too bright for our room/setting (full black out room), so quickly set the lamp to "eco mode". Left the picture on "normal", adjusted the "red gamma brightness" down to -3 (I can't tolerate bright reds) and voila... an amazing picture was beheld!


A very nice Christmas present indeed!  

Congratulations,  great PJ!

Edited by bbar, 27 December 2011 - 04:11 PM.

[:)]

hey 709 great to see your enjoying. fantastic christmas present indeed. and one by the sounds whole family is enjoying.

re the pull to epson for me was just because happy with previous epson and previous being replaced when turned out to be a dud. maybe the group buy driving things, though there is the pana group buy as well and I suspect for a lot of people would be previous epson owners wanting to make the move to the latest model. I sense some burnt with pana support in the past. epson warranty of 3 years including bulb is good but I hardly think their customer support is anything to be raving about. far from it. at the end of it you have seen the epson and pana side by side and by all accounts not much in it. well their shouldnt be as essentially the engine behind them is the same. both offering some points of differentiation but really at end of it. great there is choice between them.

regardless of all that, congrats and look forward to reading more how your enjoying the new toy and 2D & 3D movies and the like putting through it

[709er]

bbar, on Dec 27 2011, 05:10 PM, said:

Congratulations,  great PJ!

Thanks bbar....very exciting!

:), on Dec 27 2011, 05:21 PM, said:

hey 709 great to see your enjoying. fantastic christmas present indeed. and one by the sounds whole family is enjoying.

re the pull to epson for me was just because happy with previous epson and previous being replaced when turned out to be a dud. maybe the group buy driving things, though there is the pana group buy as well and I suspect for a lot of people would be previous epson owners wanting to make the move to the latest model. I sense some burnt with pana support in the past. epson warranty of 3 years including bulb is good but I hardly think their customer support is anything to be raving about. far from it. at the end of it you have seen the epson and pana side by side and by all accounts not much in it. well their shouldnt be as essentially the engine behind them is the same. both offering some points of differentiation but really at end of it. great there is choice between them.

regardless of all that, congrats and look forward to reading more how your enjoying the new toy and 2D & 3D movies and the like putting through it

Thanks (..) We seem to be in the same boat. New PJ's and a new frontier in 3D viewing   ...

[bbar]

709er, on Dec 27 2011, 05:29 PM, said:

Thanks bbar....very exciting!
Thanks (..) We seem to be in the same boat. New PJ's and a new frontier in 3D viewing   ...

Well now you can leave the screen masking on and just use the Auto zoom on the PJ unless you prefer the bigger 16:9 image !

[MRCRIST]

Congratulations on your purchase. Wish I could watch 3D but gives me migraines so went for the Epson 9000 instead because of better native contrast ratio for 2d.
I came within a whisker of snapping the 7000 and being a Panny tv /sony PJ man it was a tad daunting buying the Epson at first. Thought there was an issue with mine but turns out it was a few tweaks in the DVDO edge that was the culprit.

Anyhow good point made that owners of the Pana should be contributing more to this thread. Found similar when bought my Sony HW10 a few years ago that in Oz was not a popular topic on forums whereas in the US and UK it was all the rage.

709er, on Dec 27 2011, 04:32 PM, said:

Well I am a proud new owner of the PT AE7000 and thought it deserved some "talk time" in the projectors thread.

[Quark]

Well done 709er - good to hear that it's lived up to your expectations.

[709er]

Had a great play with the 7000 yesterday morning and spun up several discs (both 3D and 2D) to experiment with the myriad of picture control settings.

Of course Avatar (3D) looked absolutely sensational (running in eco mode on "cinema 1")  

First tried the assignable "function" button on the remote (used the "blank" menu) which is a ripper idea!
Set up a few custom picture settings in the "memory" section, the first being for films that have too much red. I used Jurassic Park for this because the red paint on the Jeeps (when they first saw the dinosaurs) is so bright it's distracting.
The 2nd memory setting I upped the contrast which significantly improved Transformers 3.

We're out for a party tonight, but tomorrow - I intend to try the "calibrated settings" suggested by Projectorreviews.com which I have printed out. There are some serious increases to contrast (average of +9-+10), so it will be interesting to see how someone elses ideas turn out    
We are extremely happy with the PJ ATM.

[709er]

Back again after clocking up a few hours on the 7000.
Tried the settings recommended by projectorreviews.com, but found that my taste was different and prefer settings less "radical".
The only major changes I have made are to colour, which i have found too intense (to a degree), in all picture modes and to a lesser degree, the contrast which I have increased.
I now have 4 memory presets ( 2 for 3D and 2 for 2D), and am increasingly happy with what I see.
The light output in eco mode ( rec709 pic mode), is excellent for watching CG 3D films. I have left the auto iris off and have not felt it necessary for either 2D or 3D. I guess (as we have a full blockout room), that this may be expected.

[David1]

Is there any colour impurity on this model? For eg , on a white screen any pinkish(or blue) tinge/clouding.

Edited by David1, 08 January 2012 - 04:44 PM.

[709er]

David1, on 08 January 2012 - 04:38 PM, said:

Is there any colour impurity on this model? For eg , on a white screen any pinkish(or blue) tinge/clouding.

There is nothing that can't be adjusted.
At the December DTV GTG, members trialled the Epson 9000 and the Panasonic 7000 side by side.
In comparison(out of the box), the Panasonic had a greenish tinge in the white areas when watching the demo disc (Transformers 3). This was quickly removed with colour adjustment.
I am extremely happy with the natural colour the Pana can produce, though I am increasingly fussy with "getting it right", and find myself tinkering with the multitude of picture adjustments way more often than I ever did on the old Sanyo Z2000!

Another thing I am aware of is because of the increased brightness, I am way more aware of colour tone and intensity than ever before. There is so much more visual information, that it is easy to be ctritical and very easy to pick up on colour modes used by different directors..for eg. like James Cameron often using steely blues

[cashflag]

I had to bow out of the group buy for one of these babies earlier in the year when I had a few sudden financial obligations come up but I've sorted things out and am once again thinking of going the latest Panasonic.

There hasn't been much by the way of feedback on this model around these parts, however, which strikes me as rather odd considering how popular these seemed.

Anyway, anyone care to share their thoughts on the Panny AE7000 now that the excitement is over? I'm not asking for lengthy reviews, just interested in whether people were ultimately happy with their purchase or if they've got wandering eyes already...

Also looking retailer recommendations.

Thanks!

Edited by cashflag, 05 April 2012 - 04:58 AM.