# Panasonic PT-AE4000U AutoZoom Feature



## 4U2NVME (Aug 20, 2010)

Good afternoon,

I am going to get the Panasonic PT-AE4000U projector and want to set up a 100 inch wide screen. I want to watch 2.4:1 and 16:9 on the screen with some occasional 4:3. 

The Panny has a auto zoom feature and if I understand it it tries to match the height or width of your screen. I figured out the dimensions on both the height for all three screen formats.

2.4/1 = 2.4: I would take 100”/2.4 and get a screen height of 41.667”
16/9= 1.778: I would take 100”/1.778 and get a screen height of 56 ¼ “ 
4/3=1.334: and for this one I think I would shrink the width to fit the 56 ¼ “ height. That would give me a width of 56 ¼ * 1.334 = 75.0”

So my question is, what screen height do I make my screen to minimize masking. The Panny should help with that, I just don't really understand what it does. Does it stretch out he Image or make the other ratio's smaller? 

Sorry to ask such a simple question, I'm a hands on guy, and I'm not visualizing it right now.

-NV


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## Alan Brown (Jun 7, 2006)

Just get a 16x9 screen. It's the best overall screen aspect ratio to average out all typical aspect ratio options in the programs you'll be watching. Since you already know what the screen width will be, you can easily calculate what the height will be on a 1.78:1 screen. To know how any display stretches/crops/zooms images, first check the owner's manual.

Best regards and beautiful pictures,
Alan Brown, President
CinemaQuest, Inc.
A Lion AV Consultants Affiliate

"Advancing the art and science of electronic imaging"


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## 4U2NVME (Aug 20, 2010)

So the Autozoom feature on the Panny, does it strech the image to fit both ways, or it just changes the one dimension and you mask the other?

-NV


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## gsmollin (Apr 25, 2006)

It's just a zoom, so it scales the picture in horizontal and vertical. The automatic part of it is that you can store several zoom ratios in the PJ, and on a cinemascope (2.35:1) screen you can zoom-out so a 'scope movie fills the screen. The pixels above and below the screen project on a dark wall, because the PJ is still native 1.78:1. For a 1.78:1 picture you zoom in and on the 'scope screen you have a pillar-box effect. 4:3 zooms in even further. This has been called a poor man's anamorphic setup, because you don't have to see the dark areas above and below the picture, IF you use a 2.35:1 screen. Otherwise it looks just like any other PJ. I don't consider this a reason to buy any projector. If you really want constant height projection, the Panny has a video processor, so you can add a panamorphic lens and get true CH performance.


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