Projectors

johncorleone

Anyone know where I can get a Panasonic PT-A100E LCD projector in Ireland ? Or indeed any reputable web-sites selling it ?? Ive had a good scour on Google but so far cant dig up much


Cheers,

J.

Kali

john post up a link to the specs for that model.. couldn't find info on it at all

lot of extra cost involved though with projectors:

lamp replacements (usually after 1000 hours of video).. work out about 500 quid a go... some makes have cheaper lamps tho.
a decent screen, ye can start with a simple pull down job, but your still talking ~€150 or so (what i wouldn't give for a motorised one with changeable aspect).
a ceiling cradle, you can get cheap ones, but specialist ones from the manufacturer are again at least 150.

then theres the whole process of darkening the room and preventing light leakage.. need to paint the ceiling forward of the projector black.. otherwise the whole room is ablaze with reflected light

The Cigarette Smoking Man

Don't think there are any shops in Dublin that sell Home Cinema projecters (could easily be wrong though).

Your best bet is to have a read of this:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=43

There seems to be some reliability problems with that one, but the ones that do work are a bargin!

BTW the lamps in those ones are supposed to last 5000 hours.

johncorleone

Nice link that avforums.com one Cheers,
Incidentally Richer sounds said they'd order in the projector for me which is pretty sweet , still waiting for a mail with availability and price tho. Incidentally any problems with the PT-Ae100E seems to be specific to the early models ... it's getting rave reviews in 99% of cases.

J.

Mutor_CS

Panasonic PT-AE100 is only €875 now on www.komplett.ie.
Shipping was around €18. I ordered on a Saturday and got it Tuesday morning.

Saruman

Thats pretty cheap.. the new one is €1300 or so.

How is it? I was going to buy one a while back but held off

raphaelS

You can also get the sonys in the sony shops around Dublin... they are a bit more expensive than the Komplett's Panasonic though...

However sony has a nice screen that doesn't need to be hanged but that lay on the floor... nice if you don't want any holes or like to hide or move your screen a bit...

Also the sony projector can project from a side of the room, they don't need to be centered...
You can see the screen in Dunloaghaire (in the shopping center) and in the one at the corner of the Green.
To be honnest I wasn't impress by their projectors but I guess the settings were not tuned as they should be...

Just for info... !

Fallschirmjager

well i heard all of the negatives before about projectors,lamps, ceiling, noise, quality 'is black really black' blah blah blah


got one and i am still regretting listening to the negatives and waiting so long...


once you sit back -- switch on surround sound, and watch gladitor, spr or the matirx...trust me you wont look back....i have mine at 90 inches across.....not diagonal...ACROSS...jesus i have no reason to leave the house at all LOL....


get a good screen and you can get a dalite on ebay -- i did.

yep you will need to darken the room, but you do that (well i do) with a tv anyway when a good movie is on...

now the next thing i need to do is get a long cable for progressive scan.....


anyone know a good brand that wont cost the earth?

Saruman

Which one did you get then?

Calibos

Have to agree with Fallshirmjager. Once you get a PJ you won't look back. It amazes me that people are still paying 5000 yo yos + for 40inch plasmas or even 2000 for a 32in WS when you can have a PJ for 2000 and have an 8ft screen!! A lot of the arguements about the costs or negatives of PJ's don't hold true anymore since last year when the market really exploded with the AE100's,AE200's Ae300's,HS10's,Z1's,X1's etc etc PJ's have reached a watershed were you now really get bang for your buck with few compromises. Bulb lives average 3000-5000hrs now and bulb costs have come down to 2-300. PQ on even these budget models have to be seen to be believed. Sure you can pay double, triple the price for PJ's but your only getting 5-10% PQ improvements.

Don't waste money on a TV....get a PJ!!:D









Oh yeah, and you can play games on them too!!:D

Fallschirmjager

jeeze Calibos, that is one cool setup you have there...all you nned is a popcorn maker!!!!

Calibos

This is why when I read about guys asking about plasma's or rear projection tvs or even big crt's I just cant understand it. Sure a PJ isn't going to suit everyone but there are so many people that would want one and could easily accomodate and afford one who just automatically go with a plasma because they believe thats the next step up in Home Cinema. They don't realise how affordable and good Projectors have become.

Heres what the room cost me:

Panasonic AE300 Projector - €1960 (Komplett)
Sony DB1080 (DD/DTS 6.1ex,DPL2 etc) - €650 (Peats)

---

Sony SLV700 Video (3 years old) - €160
Sony N305 Dvd (actually got it free) - €200
both to be replaced in Autumn with a HDD/Dvd Recorder - €700

---

Mission M74 main speakers - €450 (Peats)
Mission 73c Centre speaker (8 or 9 years old!) - €200 (Richer S)
Mission 70DS Rear Speakers (5 years old) - €200 (Richer S)
Mission M7C1 Rear Centre Speaker - €200 (Peats)
NTL Digital Ent. and Sports pack @ €45/m
Da-Lite Model B 80x45in Screen @ €250
Cables incl. 10metre fully wired and screened scart - €100
Quintro Scart Switchbox - €110
Xbox - €279
PS2 - €250?
GameCube - €150?

---

HiFi Rack - $250 (Local Furniture Shop)
Shelf Materials & cut to measure at local Diy Shop - €100
Paint for Entire Room - €100 (Woodies)
Double Recliner Leather Couch - €2000 (Reids)

---

A grand Total of €7609

(Taking into account 2 grand cause I hadn't a decent couch but most people would probably already have some decent furniture to put in the room. Also remember that this equipment was built up over a number of years)

So I kitted out my entire room for around 5 grand and you wonder why I raise my eyes to heaven when I read about guys spending 3-5000 on Plasmas or RP telly's etc

Fallschirmjager

JESUS H CHRIST!!!!!


OK< EVERYONE OVER THE CALIBOS, BRING YER BEER!!!!



good for you dude....

looks like a cooooollll setup to me.......

and dont get me wrong 5k is 5k but sweet baby jesus and the donkey...WHAT A 5 GRAND!!!!

Calibos

Oh........and 220 dvd's and 40 games for the consoles so thats..................another €7000


But....................................

The reason I could easily afford it is that I am a sad bastard who still lives with his parents and 3/4 of the dvd's and games were purchased by my siblings.

They're screwed when I move out and take my gear with me

Jaysus, come to think of it, I never really totted up the value of everything before....nearly €15000 in that room. Better get the old fogies to top up the oul home contents insurance!!:eek: :eek:

Kramer

Originally posted by Calibos
Better get the old fogies to top up the oul home contents insurance!!:eek: :eek:

Now that's not very nice now Keith - referring to your parents as "old fogies"

Yep, agreed on the house insurance thing - damn fire hazard them AE300s if you ask me (which nobody did ).

:ninja:

Krusty_Clown

That really is a great looking room Calibos..

Couple of questions for you:

1) how do you connect your equipment to the projector (being at other ends of the room)? Damn-long scart cable, or an AV sender/rceiver?

2) Seeing as the Projector is directly over your head, does the fan noise not piss you off?

I've borrowed a projector occasionally (cheaper than buying one!) but the shape of my room is all wrong (which is somewhat more expensive to fix!), so the projector ends up practically sitting on your shoulder.. Noisy!

I was also using an AV sender/receiver to get rid of the clutter (slight compromise on quality though)...

Saruman

Very cool looking.. where did you get the screen by the way? and i take it its a native 16:9 screen? Oh yeah and let us all know about the cables etc if you used any.

DaithiSurfer

I hjave a similar setup. Panasonic AE100 Projector
I use a long Yellow phomo lead for the video.
Sound goes through the surround sound amp beside the sky box.
The noise of the fan really does piss me off when i don't turn the sound up really loud (which i can't do often because i have neighbours. Even then its annoying in quiet parts of the movie.)

I have a friend with the same setup. He bought a really expensive screen. I use a white wall and i swear nobody i know who has seen both can tell any difference in quaility between a wall and a proper screen. So i'ld say don't waste your money on a screen.

Matt Simis

Originally posted by DaithiSurfer
I hjave a similar setup. Panasonic AE100 Projector
I use a long Yellow phomo lead for the video.
Sound goes through the surround sound amp beside the sky box.
The noise of the fan really does piss me off when i don't turn the sound up really loud (which i can't do often because i have neighbours. Even then its annoying in quiet parts of the movie.)

I have a friend with the same setup. He bought a really expensive screen. I use a white wall and i swear nobody i know who has seen both can tell any difference in quaility between a wall and a proper screen. So i'ld say don't waste your money on a screen.

Unless your wall coincidentally has some unique properties that make it perfect for a projection, you are grossly mistaken.
Considering you are taking about "white screens", when you should be using a gray screen with any LCD based projector, I think the latter. Using a gray screen will seriously improve LCDs piss poor blacks and contrast. Good screens also mean you dont need to boost the brightness which in turn means you get longer projector and more importantly lamp life.

After paying for a PJ, a screen is quite a minimal expense.


To answer a question above, people buy Plasmas as in many ways they produce a better picture than a projector. A good projector is good, but in pretty much every way the quality of the image is poorer than a decent Plasma. The screen is of course smaller, but depending on viewing room size there comes a point when anything over 42" is wasted.



Matt



PS: Ive had a LCD projector for around 4 years now.

slave1

wonderful cinema setup
you made me register in order to pay salutations:ninja:

one word of warning that you are already most likely aware
dvd recorded media will not be multi channel encoded, best you can get is stereo at present, so if you tape off say sky movies pay per view, you wont get dolby digital on the dvd you burn
its why I aint purchasing one yet

as regards why not get a projector
its space for me, my cinema setup is in the sitting room where I watch casual tv, with fireplace, radiators, furniture and shape of room a PJ just isn't practical.
However I was astounded by the picture quality of the Sony kp44px2 rear projector and bought one earlier in the year, huge 44" screen and fantastic features, well viewable to the left and right, have it hooked up to complete set of sony dvd/amp/video/speakers and it rocks

Your's however makes me droll a bit

How do you cope with the noise over your head?:(

Korg

I use a long Yellow phomo lead for the video

Are you just sending a composite signal up that cable? If your projecter supports it try send it an RGB instead (via the correct cable). There's a significant improvement in using RGB over composite even on a normal tv let alone a projecter.
Not as big as the difference using a proper screen rather than a white wall tho

The Ritz

Lots to disagree with here, I'm afraid.....

Considering you are taking about "white screens", when you should be using a gray screen with any LCD based projector, I think the latter.

No need to use a grey screen with LCD if it doesn't "float your boat" - grey screens are expensive beasts, in any case.

If the "white wall" is free of surface anomolies and is painted with a decent quality matt white paint, you'd be getting unity gain, perfectly adequate for any oof the current crop of home cinema digital projectors.

Using a gray screen will seriously improve LCDs piss poor blacks and contrast

"Piss poor blacks and contrast"....... there's a sweeping statement, now. Which LCD projector have you had for the last 4 years, out of interest, and does that statement refer to your projector or all lcd projectors ? Certainly, digital projectors are incapable of displaying correct black (absence of light), but the current home cinema projectors, properly calibrated (and filtered, if necessary) are capable of displaying seriously good images, far from the description used above.

Good screens also mean you dont need to boost the brightness which in turn means you get longer projector and more importantly lamp life

I'm afraid this is incorrect....... brightness control on a digital projector is a firmware based control affecting panel characteristics.... it has absolutely nothing to do with the brightness of the bulb. A number of home cinema projectors have an @eco@ mode, which reduces the light output of the bulb, giving a longer bulb life. The overall light output of the bulb is reduced in this mode, which tends to improve contrast.


Keith,

How many hours now....???


The Ritzzzzzzzzzzz.

Calibos

Krusty-

A Damn long scart cable!! I used to have an Ae100 before it melted on me and that had Component,S-Video and Composite video inputs. Back then the PJ sat on top of the equipment rack so it was just a case of using standard 1 metre composite and S-Video cables routed through my av receiver for video switching and then just single composite and S-Video cables going to the PJ. When I got my refund from Panasonic (3 months later) I got an AE300 from Komplett for 400 quid less than I paid for the AE100 the year before!

The AE300 is the first consumer projector to have a video standard as oppposed to computer standard RGB scart input. Thus consumer devices like dvd players, consoles etc can be hooked straight up with out the need for sync convertors etc. So I figured why not use it. I really wanted to get the best out of my NTL box which can only output RGB or Composite. I figured if I'm going to hook up the NTL box via RGB scart then why not the rest of the gear, so I bought RGB cables for the consoles and I already €40 scarts for the DVD player gathering dust. I then ordered a quintro 5:1 scart switcher and a 10 metre fully wired and screened OFC Scart cable. So video is routed via the switcher along the single 10 metre lead to the PJ. I haven't noticed any picture degradation or interference so the screening on the cable must be doing its job!

As for the fan noise. For normal mortals who would only use in a week, the amount of hours my family use the PJ in a day, the PJ can be put in low lamp mode with a barely noticable decrease in brightness, the upside being increased lamp life. The major upside especially with the AE300 is that in Low Lamp mode the fan is virtually silent........But I am not a mere mortal as Kramer and theRitz will agree. We average about 9 and a half hours a day. So I have the lamp on low but the fan on high which will hopefully help this PJ last longer than my last one. The great thing with the AE300 is that with the fan on high it is still a little bit quieter than the AE100 with its fan on low to which I was already happily accustomed.

Calibos

Saruman- Cheers m8!. Its a 16:9 80x45in DaLite Model B. I got it from a crowd called Meritec in Blackrock when I got my original AE100 in '02. They are a smallish company who seem to be more orientated to business presentation PJ's though and aren't really competative on price or availability with the likes of komplett etc. See above post for cabling info.

Daithi- With regard to sound. Like I said I am a sad bastard who still lives with his parents but I am lucky in that they are 'AV Friendly' parents, so no internal noise complaints. Externally I am also very lucky in that the old fogeys donated the converted garage to the Home Cinema cause! Thus I have the neighbours garage between my HC room and his house and I have the whole of our house between the HC and the neighbour on the other side. However, even at normal viewing sound levels and despite the double glazing the soundtrack can be heard clearly at the bottom of the drive so while the neighbours may not be able to hear anything, pedestrians certainly can. I have no idea how sub owners get away with it though!:D

You do have your lamp on low don't you Daithi?? If not then I recommend you do. It'll decrease fan noise and increase your lamp life for a neglible decrease in image brightness. In a blind test you wouldn't be able to say which mode the lamp was in, its that negligable. As for the screens I would definately go DIY if it had suited my room layout. My manual pull down has some wrinkles and unfortunately you have to pay at least 800 quid for the better quality screens which are less likely to curl and wrinkle. I would quite happily have gone for a smooth matt white wall or painted sheet of MDF.

Matt- Its never wasted!! No, I know what you mean:D I wasn't slagging plasmas BTW. They will suit a lot of peoples tastes and requirements. What I was saying is that a lot of the people who pay upto 5000 for a plasma might be thrilled with the idea of a projector but discount the idea not realising how cheap and good quality some of them are now. They are still visualising big bulky cigarette tar covered CRT projectors in pubs. While CRT PJ's are still the best, the pub application doesn't show them in their best light and by assosciation, LCD or DLP projectors either in the minds of some of these plasma buyers.

Slave- Yep aware alright!:D Although I hear one of the chinese manufacturers have a new recorder coming out with optical in and capable of recording multichannel. Course the only broadcaster broadcasting DD 5.1 and only on selected movies and only via a sky+ box is SKY. I imagine it will be a very long time before the cable operators or terestrial broadcasters follow suit. Anyway, I am thrilled with the performance of DPL2 on my receiver with 2 channel material so I'll be going for one of the new combi hard drive dvd recorders shortly with or without multicannel audio recording. Like I said to Matt, I wasn't slagging RPTV's either. Some rooms they will suit best. Some people like yourself wont be able to accomodate a projector especially in a living room unless you had a very..very... understanding missus!!:D

Sean- 58days @ 9.5hrs/day = 554hours!!! :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :cool:

Fallschirmjager

well, i agree with the ritz...i heard all this mularky about black being black and it a pile of poo basically. any recent projector has it pretty much sorted.

now to be honest i am not the type who sits and watches Gladiator and at the height of the battle scenes says 'jeeze that black is not really black, did you notice that...' cmon this is the 21 century lets leave those 1990 projector concepts behind...also one final thing -- buy what you want..it you want an flat screen -- good for you, go get it...lets be honest, this whole market is booming and you are spoint for choice at the moment...


personally i have a SONY VPL-VW11ht, primare dvd and pioneer amp with B&W front and rear and B&W subwoofer. good cable sand a good s-video cable (and i dont want to be a snob, but they do make a difference...you would not believe the difference between a good quality s-video cable and a poor one...really scary) and i think its is the dogs dangler...absolutely excellent...i still have a crappy tv but any movies (even on sky) i switch to the screen. its the only way for me. now if i could afford a flat panel...well i guess thats one for the lotto win...

if it aint for you then get waht you want...and can afford. this has taken me 10 years to afford and build up.

but make yer choices and take yer chances...


NOW i do want to change the cable to progressive scan between dvd and projector ...as i dont have a clue about progressive scan cables -- any help would be appreciated....

The Ritz

NOW i do want to change the cable to progressive scan between dvd and projector ...as i dont have a clue about progressive scan cables -- any help would be appreciated....

Fallschirmjager,

If the dvd player can output a progressive scan signal, then connect it to the Projector using a Component Video Cable - this will have three RCA connectors at each end, colour coded blue, green and red. Even if the dvd player doesn't output a progressive scan signal, you should still be using component video connection between then (that's if the dvd player has component video out, of course), as it's a better quality video signal than Svideo.

Svideo carries the signal as colour (chrominance) and brightness (luminance) separately.

Component video further splits the chrominance signal into the blue and red elements - a device which can accept component video "knows" that it should colour "green" anything which isn't blue or red in the incoming signal, therefore all the colour components of the video signal are separated.

Component video connection doesn't automatically mean a progressive scan signal - they're two different things - you can find lots of dvd players which have component video out, but they don't do progressive scan processing.

Hope this helps,

The Ritzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Hope this helps

Fallschirmjager

ritz,

you are a star my friend...thanks...guess i know what i will be doing on Saturday...

MartinHSabag

A little corection to The Ritz's post about the component:

Component video further splits the chrominance signal into the blue and red elements - a device which can accept component video "knows" that it should colour "green" anything which isn't blue or red in the incoming signal, therefore all the colour components of the video signal are separated.

That's not quite right, the component signal is made of YUV where Y is the luminance (Sync + B&W picture), the U is R-Y and V is B-Y (where R, G & B are the fundamental colors Red Green and Blue and Y is a linear combination of the three) , thus from the YUV you can get the Y and the RGB.

You can read a bit more here