# On the market for 3d projector, < 3K$



## pmcneil (May 29, 2010)

I'm thinking about the Panasonic PT-AE7000, but neither of the relevant mags have reviewed it, despite the fact its been out over one year?! The online reviews are very positive however.

It would replace a Panasonic PT-AX100U, which lightening killed recently. Before that, I had to oil (WD-40) the thing. But the picture was great, so I'm not giving up on them yet.

Any advice, anyone? I'd like to go 3-D.

Or, should I wait for a while...:dontknow:


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

Hello,
The most impressive sanely priced 3D Front Projector is Sony VPL-HW30ES. It has won countless awards including from Sound & Vision Magazine and many others. I really think where SXRD excels is in Black Level and as this is the foundation to excellent Video Quality, it makes the 30ES the one to get.
Cheers,
JJ


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## pmcneil (May 29, 2010)

Thanks JJ,

The Sony VPL-HW30ES is the other main consideration. Are you just quoting the reviews, which I know about, or do you have actual experience with this guy?!

The one sales person I talked to, at ProjectorPeople, suggested that this Sony model was no longer available! But that was a sales person..

Thanks!


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

Hello,
I have recommended it to several friends who in turn set it up (rather they roped me into it) I have spent at least 100 hours watching Movies at HT's using this PJ.
Cheers,
JJ


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## pmcneil (May 29, 2010)

Well, JJ, that's a recommendation!
Cheers as well!


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

While I have never seen the Sony, I do have the Panny 7000. I have been extremely pleased with the contrast and colors.

When I first fired it up, we put in _How to Train your Dragon_. My wife, who cares not one whit for PQ :rolleyesno:, actually said at the end of the movie that there were things she noticed that she did not catch in the theater. 

That said, if I had it to do over again, I would probably take JJ's suggestion and give the Sony a go.


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## pmcneil (May 29, 2010)

Ok, the Sony is in favor at the moment. But ALMfamily, why do you lean towards the Sony despite your positive comments on the Panny 7000? JJ's authority? Or additional testimony?

Thanks, both, for the input!


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

pmcneil said:


> Ok, the Sony is in favor at the moment. But ALMfamily, why do you lean towards the Sony despite your positive comments on the Panny 7000? JJ's authority? Or additional testimony?
> 
> Thanks, both, for the input!


TBH, based on a few of the reviews I read since I purchased; but moreso, on JJ's recommendation - he recommended the 60GT50 that is now sitting in my living room which I bought sight unseen. I still have not done any calibration on it (much to my shame :R), and it is still by FAR the best TV I have ever owned. The PQ is absolutely stunning - again uncalibrated.


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## pmcneil (May 29, 2010)

OK, I'm thinking...about getting out the credit card!


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

My authority!? I have no authority. Just being utterly obsessed with the minutiae of all things Audio and Video since I was 16. I did work at a fairly High End A/V Store out of UGA. I will say Stereophile Subscription also provides an excellent education. Especially Jonathan Scull's "Fine Tunes" and Kalman Rubinson's "Music in the Round". In addition to HT Magazine, Sound & Vision, Soundstage, and whatever else I can/could put my eyes on. 

I also feel blessed that my best friend since I was 5 is a Professional Musician and Audiophile who owns a Recording Studio. It has been immensely helpful. As was Dealer Training with Paradigm, Runco, and others.
However, I have no authority. Just an unabated passion of AV.


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## pmcneil (May 29, 2010)

Unbiased passion is what I'm looking for! Thanks, JJ


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

pmcneil said:


> Unbiased passion is what I'm looking for! Thanks, JJ


That I can offer you. Unlike almost all AV Forums, we do not have a Storefront. As a Moderator, I am not shackled to any brand or what of the brands offered have the highest profit margin. It was this last part that made me stop working for an AV Store. 

I hated being tied to the brands we carried and being encouraged to speak ill of the brands offered by competing stores. This is why I spend so much time here. I hope this does not come off arrogant, but I cannot remember the last time I visited an AV Store and was not offered a job. I did seriously consider one which had offered me a General Manager position. I beg you to look back at my past posts as I have never mentioned this before spanning quite a few posts.

I aspire to be an advocate for the consumer. A consumer who is often misled by brands like Bose who by sheer force of marketing have done grave damage to High Fidelity Audio. And the forces of the Internet have radically changed most brick & mortar AV Stores who have torn down HiFi Showrooms in place of highly automated Home Theater Showcases.

It is because Custom Installation offers major profits and cannot be sold online. Sadly, it is now almost impossible in my cities to go to a store and audition a pair of speakers or other AV Component. Some are blessed to have traditional HiFi Stores, but they are under huge pressure due to the Internet. In addition, spurned by customers who have taken hours of Sales Associates time demoing equipment only to have them go online to purchase all these products, many customers are treated poorly. I have huge respect for Paradigm as they have made online purchases next to impossible which has protected their Dealer Network.
B&W, Rotel, and almost all Ultra High End Companies have similar policies.

Forgive the diatribe,
J


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## pmcneil (May 29, 2010)

Jungle Jack said:


> That I can offer you. Unlike almost all AV Forums, we do not have a Storefront. As a Moderator, I am not shackled to any brand or what of the brands offered have the highest profit margin. It was this last part that made me stop working for an AV Store.
> 
> I hated being tied to the brands we carried and being encouraged to speak ill of the brands offered by competing stores. This is why I spend so much time here. I hope this does not come off arrogant, but I cannot remember the last time I visited an AV Store and was not offered a job. I did seriously consider one which had offered me a General Manager position. I beg you to look back at my past posts as I have never mentioned this before spanning quite a few posts.
> 
> ...


JJ, 

I asked for a brand, and in this forum, was hoping there were no shackles, in recommending one, and you did that (thanks). Your post convinces me you have no shackles! It does suggest that I should listen to what you say though....!

And, I will buy online. That's a reality, certainly in a small southern town where I live (but please, no worries about Bose, which I loved as 901s in 1970, but please see my current equipment list).

I hope I will hear from others on this matter. It must be a big question now, what to upgrade to for conventional front projection, that will provide a 3D future.

Thanks, again,

Paul


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Are you interested in having lens memory? If so, the Panny is a great choice. When I bought my PJ, the Panny and the Sony were both frequently referred to as great buys... Perhaps the sony is better... I've never used it myself... Really comes down to what you really want the machine to do.

Check all the reviews on the two units... The 7000u is the 5000u in Europe. You can dig up even more dirt on it. Try a site called Trusted Reviews. Perhaps the Sony is sold under a different model number, also.

ALM - don't regret that 7000u. It's a great PJ!


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Paul - when you buy online definitely - DEFINITELY - factor in the Internet company's return policy into your decision. It might be worth spending a tad more to go with a company that is a little more lenient. The policies vary widely... And you don't want to get burned just in case you don't like the PJ. Just my 2 cents.

T


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## pmcneil (May 29, 2010)

27dnast,

I don't know what 'lens memory' is, I'm embarrassed to say! Please help.

I've taken your point on buying online with knowledge of return policy, thanks for the heads-up.

Paul


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Lens memory allows you to set you PJ up to fill a 2.35:1 screen (for widescreen movies) and 16:9 content (switching between the two at the push of a button). This really would only matter if you have a 2.35 : 1 screen. If you do, it's nice to have.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

27dnast said:


> Are you interested in having lens memory? If so, the Panny is a great choice. When I bought my PJ, the Panny and the Sony were both frequently referred to as great buys... Perhaps the sony is better... I've never used it myself... Really comes down to what you really want the machine to do.
> 
> Check all the reviews on the two units... The 7000u is the 5000u in Europe. You can dig up even more dirt on it. Try a site called Trusted Reviews. Perhaps the Sony is sold under a different model number, also.
> 
> ALM - don't regret that 7000u. It's a great PJ!


Oh, I do not at all. You are correct - it is a great PJ. I purchased it thinking I would be using the 3D capabilities more - I have not watched one movie in 3D yet......


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## pmcneil (May 29, 2010)

OK, who has watched 3D, with either the Sony or the Panasonic?

But maybe I won't either!


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

pmcneil said:


> OK, who has watched 3D, with either the Sony or the Panasonic?
> 
> But maybe I won't either!


I have. It is pretty impressive for what it is. I still have zero enthusiasm for 3D.


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## pmcneil (May 29, 2010)

I've only seen on 3D movie, in a commercial theater, Avatar, of course, and was very impressed.

That was the experience I was hoping to recapitulate at home.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

I'm not a fan of 3d and bought my PJ without considering it... But, there's a lot of folks out there that really love it. Maybe you can find a showroom where you can see it via Projector before you buy? Might not be a bad idea... ;-)


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## ansat (Apr 22, 2011)

One of the new Panasonic projectors due next year touts 4k for 5000. It is really hard to recommend any projector with the 4k's coming this soon.


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## auge.dog (Feb 13, 2008)

The reports out of CEDIA suggest that both the Panasonic 8000 and the Epson 5020 will be great choices. If there is a new Sony, I'm sure it will be a tempting option as well. If you can wait a month or so, both should be out.


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## ansat (Apr 22, 2011)

pmcneil said:


> I've only seen on 3D movie, in a commercial theater, Avatar, of course, and was very impressed.
> 
> That was the experience I was hoping to recapitulate at home.




Easily done. 

The technology used to create the active shutter is worlds above the polarized glasses. You just have to ensure that you have enough light coming out of the pj to compensate for the active shutter. 

I have the 3010 and have been happy with the 3d on a 120"


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

*`*



ansat said:


> One of the new Panasonic projectors due next year touts 4k for 5000. It is really hard to recommend any projector with the 4k's coming this soon.


Hello,
While there is no denying that 4K is amazing, it really is a question of when there is going to be source material. While Sony offers a $200 4K Upsampling BDP, the question really becomes when will there be any 4K Movies? I think it will be years before there is 4K offered from Cable and Satellite Providers. 

There is still a dearth of 720p/1080i on Cable. I will grant that Verizon and DirecTV are better in this respect, but it is just now that HDTV as it currently stands has reached a reasonable market penetration. Until the masses start purchasing 4K TV's, I am afraid it is going to be a niche format. However, unlike 3D, one that offers indisputable advantages.


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## ansat (Apr 22, 2011)

*Re: `*



Jungle Jack said:


> Hello,
> While there is no denying that 4K is amazing, it really is a question of when there is going to be source material. While Sony offers a $200 4K Upsampling BDP, the question really becomes when will there be any 4K Movies? I think it will be years before there is 4K offered from Cable and Satellite Providers.
> 
> There is still a dearth of 720p/1080i on Cable. I will grant that Verizon and DirecTV are better in this respect, but it is just now that HDTV as it currently stands has reached a reasonable market penetration. Until the masses start purchasing 4K TV's, I am afraid it is going to be a niche format. However, unlike 3D, one that offers indisputable advantages.


I completely agree with your assessment. With one advantage to add. Most modern good av equipment can do some pretty good upscaling of 480 content to 1080. Is it perfect.? No. Is it better? Most say yes. Given that you can take source content and blow it up 4 times the size and get improvment (sometimes subjective) Logic follows that the same can be done with a 1080 source x4 to a 4k output. I would also like to add that I believe that the new playstation will be 4k. Game manufatures will have a easier time getting a 4k source then the movie industry.


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## WRYKER (Jan 23, 2009)

I agree with JungleJack - I have the HW30 and it's an amazing projector: blacks etc and the 3D is amazing.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

I'd need to see evidence that - at normal seating distances - 4K is actually going to have a huge impact. the difference between 720p and 1080p is basically non-existant at normal distances. It's purely how we're built and what the eye is able to resolve.

This whole notion of 4K sounds great... but.. really... do we really need it? If you have a 108" screen, sitting 14 feet away, is the human eye even capable of resolving it??? In some ways it kind of seems like buying a Ferrari to commute to work in a busy metro area. Sure, it goes 0-60 in 3 seconds. Unfortunately, the traffic is so awful you can never get it above 45 miles per hour!


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## pmcneil (May 29, 2010)

By the way guys, I got the Sony (VPL-HW30ES).

Love it!

But now of course I'm thinking I should have waited for the new Pany 8000, which at least in the lumen output rating blows the Sony out of the water. 

However, this Sony is far brighter than my previous Pany 100Au that had a higher lumen output rating.

Do lumens matter?


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## Jungle Jack (Jul 28, 2009)

pmcneil said:


> By the way guys, I got the Sony (VPL-HW30ES).
> 
> Love it!
> 
> ...


Hello,
I am so glad you like it. I honestly think it is amazing and a fantastic value. While Lumens do matter, it is by no means the only criteria when judging the quality of a PJ. I personally prefer SXRD over DLP and LCD by a pretty large margin.
Cheers,
JJ


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