# Panasonic PT-AE4000U with Carada Brilliant White?



## RossMc (Dec 27, 2009)

I am narrowing down my projector choice and am debating between the Panasonic and the Sony HW15? It sounds like the Panasonic is a great projector, but I am somewhat worried about its limited brightness. I'm wanting to do a 120"-133" screen.

Based on what I have read, I think I could do the Sony with a regular 1.0 gain screen or possibly even go with a gray screen around .9 or .8. Or to help the Pani out I was thinking about doing the Carada in 126" in Brilliant White to get the 1.4 gain. 

The room these will be in will be completely light controlled.

My question is does the Panisonic have good enough blacks that it will still look good with the 1.4 gain screen or am I better off with the Sony with the 1.0 or possibly gray to get the best picture?

Unfortunately, I won't be able to demo the Panasonic, so any input helps


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

If your judging the projectors by there contrast ratio listed, dont. These numbers are all over the place and as there is no standard for measurement its tough to go by just that number.


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## mechman (Feb 8, 2007)

Is this going to be a 2.35:1 screen or 1.78:1? According to PJCentral's calculator the Panasonic should have a much brighter image than the Sony. :scratch: For a 120" 1.78:1 screen the Sony comes in at 10fL compared to 14fL for the AE4000.

Something to keep in mind is that the gain figures published for a lot of screens is generally a ballpark figure based on some sort of voodoo math at the manufacturer. The good thing is that Carada's figures are not based on that particular brand of math. :bigsmile: I measured the Brilliant White at 1.3 (1.25 and 1.26 to be precise) gain if that influences your decision at all. 

Visual Apex has the AE4000 at $1999. I've heard nothing bad about that projector at all and if I were looking for a pj at the moment I wouldn't hesitate to pick one up.


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## RossMc (Dec 27, 2009)

Mechman, thanks for the reply. Everything I have read has also been good. But then I saw the Sony in person and was tempted.

I was originally going to do a 125" 2.35:1 screen but I think I am now leaning towards doing the 126" Carada at 1.78:1 doing this I will only give up about 5" of width but have a much bigger picture on the 16:9 material.

I have been somewhat confused by the brightness on the Sony, because some of the reviews list it as very bright (up to 830 in best mode) while others don't.


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## RBTO (Jan 27, 2010)

I have the Panasonic AE2000, and use it with a 92 inch diagonal Da-Lite High Power screen (16:9), and I love it. My seating position is just behind and over the projector and the brightness on all bright scenes knock's your socks off. I decided on this screen since most of my viewing will be close to the axis, and from all my seating positions, the brightness is more than adequate. Contrast appears very good also. I've had no problems with this screen in terms of hot-spotting whatsoever and when the entire screen is white or gray it is extremely uniform in brightness. Blacks are good and comparable to movie theater blacks. They might be improved on, but not by much. I believe the AE4000 has better specifications in all regards (compared to the AE2000), so it should be an excellent choice. Interestingly, I've also used my projector with Da-Lite's Video Spectra screen but that screen exhibited some hot-spotting. The High Power backing appears to be more pliable and hangs pretty flat, but the Spectra backing appears to be less supple and wrinkles more. The wrinkles introduce the hot spots, and the Spectra screen is rated to be less directional, which ordinarily would be not as prone to hot-spotting. In any case, the Panasonic AE projector line is very good in my opinion and I have been very happy with the brightness & contrast in my setup. If you get a chance to see a Panasonic projector in person, take it. Then make the decision between Sony and Panasonic.


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## Southpaw (Jul 8, 2008)

I have an AE4000 with Carada BW screen. My screen is a 2.37:1 AR that measures 125" wide. I run my lamp in normal mode and it is plenty bright enough, especially at night. During the day, I have mostly light control. (dark curtains covering windows with blinds shut) I've been very happy with the decision. I got samples from all the major screen manufacturers and the Carada BW was the one I liked the best for both brightness and sharpness.
Let me also add that I LOVE my projector. I use the Lens Memory function all the time to switch back forth between AR's and mode 1 on the frame creation is a delight for sports and movies that have lots of camera pans. No complaints at all.


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## RossMc (Dec 27, 2009)

Thanks for the input. Now, I plan on ceiling mounting my projector. Because of that is the high gain even going to matter? I've ready I would need a reflective screen not a retro-reflective screen, but I can't seem to find anyone advertising a high gain screen for ceiling mount projectors. For what it is worth though, I would think the projector will be even with the top of the screen.


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## RBTO (Jan 27, 2010)

Ross,
I've used my projector ceiling-mounted with the high gain (retro-reflective) screen and I don't think you'll notice much difference. More of the light will be returned at ceiling level, which is not that much higher than viewer level. I could see a brighter image when standing (closer to the projector axis), but it was insignificant to me because the image was so bright to begin with. I forgot to mention that I run my projector (AE2000) on power-saving mode, and it is still quite bright. I think you'll be quite happy if you pick a screen that you're good with. As Southpaw mentioned, you can get samples of the screen materials to try (that's what I did with Da-Lite).


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