# Panasonic PT AE4000u settings, What do you use?



## tonyvdb

Hi everyone, Me again. Hope no one objects to me posting another thread about the Panasonic AE4000 but I wonder if it would be good to have a dedicated thread on what setting people use who have this model?

It seems that right out of the box the Cinima1 mode seems to be the choice most recommend but there are so many adjustments on this projector that its going to take months before I get it tuned in without some opinions.

One option I have turned on is HDMI signal level to expand or should I leave this in normal?
And what about the High altitude level, would 1800ft be classified as high?


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## mechman

Tony,

TweakTV always gives settings that are a good place to start. If you're going to do a diy calibration with a disk, I'd recommend the Spears and Munsil Blu-Ray. :T

Well... I just checked TweakTV and they don't have anything for your pj. :foottap:


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## tonyvdb

Hmmm, I did find these settings at Projector review so I will try them.


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## RBTO

Tony,
I have the AE2000 so some comparisons can be made. I think your Cinema 1 is a good all-round choice. Like mechman said, get a calibration disc for your player and touch up the settings (Cinema 1) as needed. A lot just falls back to personal preference after that.

The altitude setting adjusts fan speed, the object being that more (thinner) air is needed at high altitudes. Anything below 4000 feet isn't going to require the higher fan speed. I had my projector at 6000 feet and used the high altitude setting. It creates slightly more fan noise, but it wasn't at all objectionable to me, so I left the setting on high altitude. It just provides better cooling and allows the projector to cool down slightly faster when turning it off. I also use the "Eco-mode" setting, since it didn't noticeably affect the brightness, and rumor has it that it gives longer lamp life. Normal HDMI level has always worked for me.

Other than the above, I pretty much went with factory defaults and am real happy with the results. Aside from the occasional dust problems these machines have, they are a great projector.


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## jjmbxkb

Applying other's settings seldom work as there are so many different factors in each room. I tried those projectorreviews settings. I prefer the results from making adjustments based on one of those calibration CD's.


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## tonyvdb

My room cna be made absolutly black with no ambiant ligt so the settings from the site above do seem to be quite good, At least its a good starting point. Im sure I will be playing with the settings for a long time before I get it right. I will be looking at getting a BluRay calabration disk soon I alredy have AVIA and Digital video essentials but only on DVD.


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## wruss64

What type of screen are you using? White or grey? I have recently been calibrating my 4000 with the xrite i1Pro. I worked mostly with Color 1 and got a good pic, but did have to calbrate the grey scale and color/brightness quite a bit, as well as gamma. I have recently calibrated Cinema 1 and was able to get my color gamut, gamma, and grey scale set easier and more accurate in less time and with less attempts. Cinema 1 is very very close to dead on 6500, gamma needed some adjusting, but depends on the individual and how you want to get LOL. I just bought the Stewart Studiotek 103 G3 is why I am calibrating, pretty much a pure white screen with only 1.3 gain. Leave HMDI in normal mode, lamp in normal mode (personal preference but for the sake of this post that is what I recommend). I use both AVIA and Spears and Munsel, have used them with past PJ's and plasma. I am finding that color and tint are not as close as I thought that they would be now that I have a calibration sensor, but they are a good starting point. I would say gamma was averaging around 1.8 out of the box with my setup and IRE greyscale low end was a bit warm, and high end was a bit cold, but not to far off and was easily adjusted to where all but 1, 10, and 20 are all below 3 for Delta E. Cinema 1 is very close as all the reviews have posted. I ended up in my batcave virtually no light at a brightness setting of +6, using AVIA and S&M, surprised me a bit, but does look better. I still cannot figure out contrast on these digital pj's with the discs, so I leave it at around 0.

You can download some software and burn to DVD for setting brightness and contrast. Do a search for calman HTPC, that is just one, there are others. If you have a blue filter you can also set color/tint with this.


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## tonyvdb

Im using a painted screen with a paint mixture that I created 3 years ago. Its more on the grey side of the spectrum but is in my opinion fantastic. I used a bottle of crafting silver paint and Bahr ultra white from Home depot sadly you cant get the crafting silver any more so I have no way of making a sample and getting it tested.


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## sga2

I got my 4000 over 4 months ago and still learning...

Some settings I learned to use (or not to use):

Color 1 as starting point for calibration (via DVE disk).
Lamp Eco Mode to save power and lamp life.
I DO NOT use the dynamic iris feature. It doesn't work well with dark scenes that have intermittent flashes of light. Example... during the beginning credits of Aliens, it would brighten/darken the whole image noticeably whenever a credit appeared/disappeared. I don't like the effect and am happy with it turned off.
I leave Frame Creation OFF or in Mode 1, depending on the material. It actually works very well, but it can make film look too much like home video.
I set the lens auto switching feature off. Dark Knight, with its switching between aspect ratios even within the same scene, wreaks havoc. That is an issue unto itself, but same can be true for commercials during HDTV programming.
HDMI signal level set to "normal". I am not sure when "expanded" should be used, but it seems to make black levels suffer (might be fixed through calibration, but I left alone).

On a side note, this thing has some very sweet features - lens memory, tons of user picture setting profiles, remote-controlled zoom and focus...

Regards,
sga2


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## recruit

I only calibrated the black and white settings on my PJ as my room is too bright, saying that it still gives a stunning picture when set to standard, I really do not think it will be worth tweaking the colors or do you guys think I should, I have the 3000 btw?


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## tonyvdb

Every professional review I have read on the 4000 says that right out of the box the Color1 setting is almost bang on so given the 3000 is very similar I dont think much adjustment is necessary.


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## recruit

tonyvdb said:


> Every professional review I have read on the 4000 says that right out of the box the Color1 setting is almost bang on so given the 3000 is very similar I dont think much adjustment is necessary.


Thanks Tony


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## KelvinS1965

I found my old AE3000 was pretty close in Colour 1 mode, but if this isn't bright enough be aware that the Normal mode is some way off due to the colour filter being 'out of circuit' so the green tends to be a bit too high and the colour gamut quite oversaturated. However, you should be aware that the lamp changes quite considerable over the first 100 hours (most reviews are within this time) so it tends to need redoing once beyond this time anyway which ever mode you chose. I've recently replaced the lamp in my current projector (HD350) and I can see that the colour temp is quite different to the old one (which I had only calibrated fairly recently before the lamp suddenly dimmed :hissyfit.


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