LCD Projector Reviews

The Panasonic PT-AE700U LCD projector is not the best looking projector around, but if it can produce a great picture who’s going to worry about the box it comes from? Panasonic have made an effort to get away from the ugly industrial utility look. Thankfully the small efforts on the outside are more than offset by the big effort to get the inards of this LCD projector right.

Getting the Panasonic PT-AE700U LCD projector set up is very simple, in fact one of the simplist of any LCD projector on the market. Lens shift is achieved with a small manual joystick next to the lens, which is easier and more effective than a motor driven system. Focus and zoom are also manual, but have very fine controls so the pin sharp image you want is no problem. A simple, functional remote give you control of input and aspect ratio selection as well as the on-screen settings menu. This menu system also has no aesthetic design, but it does give in-depth control and fine tuning of just about every aspect of the PT-AE700U LCD projector.

Dynamic Iris

An emerging trend on the latest LCD projectors is an iris to help improve the contrast ratio. On the PT-AE700U the dynamic iris (Panasonic’s term) monitors the input video signal and makes constant adjustments to iris, lamp power and gamma. This means a bright scene will be brighter and a dark scene darker. The iris does increase contrast by up to 80%, depending on the projector lamp setting. It sounds impressive, but this is unlikely to make a significant difference to the image quality. The ANSI contrast ratio for this LCD projector is 161:1 and this is pretty much what you get. The iris does help, but this projector is stronger in other areas of picture quality.

LCD Projector Color

There is usually a trade off between light output and color accuracy: more light equals less accurate color. On the Panasonic PT-AE700U LCD projector a good deal of attention has been paid to getting very accurate color presentation. This means very natural, lifelike images. This quality is helped by the grey-scale tracking that is good enough not to be noticable, but is not perfect. As with the majority of LCD projectors black is not absolutely black, it has a slight hint of color, in this case blue. There are some projectors better in this department and plenty that are much worse.

A good number of LCD projectors have a real problem displaying smooth transitions in high contrast images from the dark shadow areas to the bright sections. The PT-AE700U is better than most at achieving a very smooth image. Whilst there may be some noise and stepping under test conditions, during a movie scene this is not an issue.

Image Quality

Image processing on the Panasonic PT-AE700U LCD projector is absolutely first rate. It is able to handle even the toughest video sequences with very few artifacts and good edge quality. Sharpness is subtly lower than LCD projectors of the same 1280 x 720 resolution (HDTV ready), but this is really not noticable except in side by side comparisons.

Another common failing with LCD projectors is what is known as the “screen door effect”. This is where the space between the pixels can be seen on screen giving the impression of viewing through a screen door. The Panasonic PT-AE700U is significantly better than the majority of LCD projectors in this regard.

Conclusion

The Panasonic PT-AE700U LCD projector has a simple, flexible setup and provides great color accuracy on a very bright image. Contrast and black levels are average, but image processing and overall image quality, together with a great price point for its features, make up for these minor shortcomings. The PT-AE700U is one of Panasonic’s best LCD projectors.

Features

Type: LCD
Native Resolution / Aspect Ratio: 1,280 by 720 / 16:9
Lamp Life: 3,000 hours
Different Lenses Available? No
Dimensions (H x W x D, inches): 4.09 x 13.19 x 10.63
Weight (pounds): 7.9

Connections

Inputs:
Video: HDMI (1), RGB (D-Sub 15) (1), component video (1), S-video (1), composite video (1)
Audio: none
Outputs:
Video: none
Audio: none
Additional: 12v trigger

Panasonic PT-AE700U LCD Projector product information

This is an outstanding multi-purpose LCD projector at a surprisingly good price, aimed at presentation professionals, but just as good in a home theater. Overall, the Panasonic PT-LC76U LCD projector produces awesome image quality from such a compact package. At just 4.8 pounds, with XGA resolution and rated at 1600 ANSI lumens, this great little projector punches well above its weight.

Its pretty easy to find very demanding video sequences that would usually expose the weaknesses any LCD projector. However, the fantastic PT-LC76U takes even the toughest scene changes in its stride with no loss of quality or clarity. Video reproduction is perfect, with no detectable motion-flicker and none of the colour cast often seen in the subtle mid-tones of higher priced machines. And high contrast highlights, often burned out, are produced with effortless accuracy. The image quality of this little LCD projector cannot be understated, comparing favourably to the most recent professional gas plasma units.

The colour reproduction and contrast levels of the PT-LC76U can be likened to that of theatrical display units. Obviously, the brightness can’t match such industrial strength machines, but this LCD projector is not short of brightness either. Panasonic claims 1,600 ANSI lumens for the PT-LC76U, but on a subjective level this appears to be low. This projector appears to produce an image as bright as an average 2000 ANSI lumens machine might give. And the contrast between it and something in the 1200 ANSI lumen range is nothing short of incredible.

Taking a closer look inside the PT-LC76U, the source of this impressive brightness and contrast is clear: the optical path has been extremely well designed to minimise light loss and leakage. A full size collector lens sits opposite the 160 watt projector lamp, and the projector lamp assembly itself has a thin pre-focus lens incorporated. If only all LCD projectors had this much thought and effort put into the efficiency of the light path, we might see better picture quality and longer bulb life all round!

In order to get this increased brightness and contrast Panasonic have used a short lens with little zoom and almost no lens shift. This means a short focal length, limiting the LCD projector to being quite close to the screen. You won’t be using this projector from the back of a large conference room and getting a usable image. Lens optics like this often mean difficulties in keystone correction, but the PT-LC76U copes with this quite well.

This is a great LCD projector for presenters with lots of demanding video to share. Its also going to make an ideal home theater projector, combining outstanding image quality with great value. The Panasonic PT-LC76U LCD projector is highly recommended for anyone who demands the best video image quality available.