My New HD Projector!!!

Villain

WOW

Thats what I thought after setting up my new Projector yesterday, just to give you a little history almost 3 years ago I setup my first projector a Panasonic AE100 I was blown away by the size and picture quality it cost €1300 at a time when 42" plasma's were around €3,000 or €4,000. It has never given a days trouble and got over 1000 hours up and the orignal bulb is still working.

My Sky+ box packed in a few months ago so I replaced it with a HD box, I wasn't planning on going HD for another year or so because decent HD projectors just seemed too expensive. However the Panasonic AX100 dropped in price about 2 months ago to €1,400 so I thought I'd take the plunge and purchase one after watching Sky Sports HD on a relatives 42" Hitachi Plasma.

So my projector arrived yesterday and my first impression was it's a lot bigger than the AE100 about twice the size its nice and white though compared to the old grey of the AE100. So it was time to connect it to my Sky box via a 7.5m Component cable and turn it on and honestly I was blown away, I have a 30" LCD TV in the corner of the room and when you had it on at the same time as the AE100 it became obvious how much brighter the LCD was however it was the other way round now, the AX100 made the LCD look dark.

So SD channels looked excellent but it was time to call Sky and get HD channels turned on, the first channel I watched was Discovery HD and I was just sitting there speechless looking at some nature program on about a 80" image and it was so so clear I can't really describe it.

However the real test for me was watching a Sky Sports HD for Chelsea and Wigan and OMG the picture is so clear its scary. I thought my AE100 was good but the picture from HD is amazing truly amazing.

If anyone is thinking of going the projector route I would 100% say get the AX100 the picture is bright and crystal clear and also the unit is almost silent you won't hear it all.

At the moment the projector is sitting on a table but I'm going to ceiling mount it over the next week and I'll try and post some pics up if anyone is interested.

Salmon

Looking forward to seeing a few pics of yer set-up! Im building at the moment and I have a room ready for a HD projector set up!

Villain

My setup is pretty basic actually, the house was only built 3 years ago and the sitting room was designed for a projector.

I have the main center wall painted white and the PJ simply points at it. I never ceiling mounted the old PJ but this one will definitely be. Screens are a waste of money and ugly imo.

Villain

Just to give a brief update after watching quite a bit of TV in the past week.

There is a known issue that affects some AX100's where some flickering is noticable when running in eco mode, I have noticed it a few times the recommended fix is to clock up about 50 hours in standard mode or return the PJ for a software upgrade. I'm running in normal mode for the moment.

I have to say I am still very much blown away with the display, watching King Kong on SKY HD and the picture is stunning. I have the image at about 7 feet wide and its excellent, the PJ along with my Marantz amp and Mission speakers really gives a cinema experience and all for under €3000.

slave1

go on, stick up some pictures, sounds good

Ghost Train

I've had a slight flicker once or twice with my infocus, turning it to high power mode for just an hour or two would fix it, also had a different type of flicker (not related to lamp at all) associated with certain firmware, but firmware was user upgradable so avoiding the flicker prone firmware till a fix came out was no problem.

congrats on the new projector

Villain

Its still not ceiling mounted but I'll take a few picks this evening and post them up.

One thing I find funny is when people call round and you show them the PJ's picture and they always say "God that must have cost a fortune" then you tell them it cost €1,400 and they are shocked, I mean the uncle paid €2,000 for a pioneer 42" TV and that was at a great deal but he saw the PJ pic and straight away said "I want one". I know you need a particular room for a PJ but it really does blow any size TV out of the water for picture and expecially for Value.

Tweeter

Where can you evaluate PJ's, you've definitely got me interested. Which electrical stores have them on display?

Villain

Not sure Tweeter, where abouts are you based, I know Harvey Normans in Naas have some Infocus PJ's running in their show room but they don't have the best setup and the price is a rip off.

Tweeter

I'm located in south Dublin.
I'm planning on buying a 50 inch Panasonic plasma in the next couple of months, but if I had the chance to evaluate one of those PJ's you bought for 1400 it could alter my decision if it was up to the job that is.

Villain

Well I'll post up some pics this evening and I'll have a quick look and see if I can somewhere for you to demo a PJ.

Tweeter

Thanks irish1, I appreciate it.

Villain

Heres the first 5 pics, not great quality but it may show easy it is to get a great picture, the PJ is still not ceiling mounted that should happen before the weekend.

Villain

Heres a few more

slave1

Nice, if only I had a room suitable, I'd have one in the morning....will have to make do with my 50"

Tweeter

Thanks very much for posting the pictures, certainly some food for thought there.
One other question for you, is the PJ effective in ordinary daylight or is it essential to get the room as dark as possible first?
Thanks again.

Villain

My old AE100 was not effective in daylight conditions at all due to only having 700 lumens however the AX100 has 2000 lumens at full lamp power and is effective in daylight, I'd say almost as effective as a Plasma or LCD, now obviously direct sunlight on the screen will cause a problem but thats pretty much the same for any display. The best viewing is always going to be in a darkened room but if you are worried about light just ensure the PJ you buy has 2000+Lumens.

Also a professional screen will help give a brighter image in a room with light rather than using a white wall like I do.

Tweeter

Nice one irish1, thanks again, your help is very much appreciated

Sparky

FYI: I've copied this thread (the good bits) to DIY. You can post up your photos there too (when you mount the PJ) irish1.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055035743

Nice setup.

Villain

I have updated the other thread with pics of the mount so far, no need to double post I think: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=52574863#post52574863