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Panasonic PT-AE900

Black is blacker

By Tony Davey

December 2005

Panasonic PT-AE900 video projector. $4495

It is often said that the only constant thing in life is change. Whoever coined this phrase must surely have been thinking about home theatre projectors, as this couldn’t be more applicable than with the latest front projection offering from Panasonic.

History always repeats

I have had the pleasure of reviewing the last four PT-AE projectors from Panasonic on an annual basis, from the PT-AE300 through to the 500, the 700 (which even inspired me to buy one myself) and now the 900. Each year they have left me bewildered at how much performance they offer for the money and how far Panasonic continue to push the boundaries of the technology.

The AE900 is utilizing the latest D5 1280 x 720 HD LCD panels with higher natural contrast and higher fill rate (less space naturally between pixels). The new panel technology (along with a dynamic iris) helps the Panasonic claim a 5500:1 contrast ratio.

As with virtually all LCD projectors, set up was a breeze. I didn’t need do more than hang the 900 up on my 700’s ceiling mount, a quick adjustment with the zoom, lens shift and focus ring and it was good to go.

Like the 500 and 700 before it, Panasonic have again gone to a Hollywood colourist to get the colour “out of the box” just right and wow, have they succeeded. Various forums and review sites shows colour to be measured fairly accurately to the ideal D65 colour temp. Unfortunately the AudioEnz writer’s budget doesn’t extend to any technical measuring equipment. However, subjectively I found the out-of-the-box colour to be excellent, with no glaring anomalies in the colour palette (natural appearing skin tones, a soft blue to the sky, etc).

In contrast...

The contrast rating has had the most significant specification change from the AE700, and now with its rating of 2000:1, the 700 seems lacking (at least on paper) when compared to the whopping 5500:1 published contrast of the AE900. You might expect that the blacks are three times blacker, and although that isn’t quite how it works. Out of the box, there certainly is a good boost in black levels with dark scenes from Hellboy and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith being “near black”. The improvement in black level isn’t at the expense of detail, with plenty going on in the dark scenes to keep your eyes busy.

The AE900 has a sharper picture than the AE700, this was particularly evident when viewing a PC desktop, the icons and icon names on the screen (and even the clock) were sharp and free from any blur. When watching movies like The Italian Job, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Hellboy and The Incredibles, the images were gorgeous with outstanding fine detail and sharp clear images. Panasonic has retained its “smooth screen” technology to eliminate pixel structure (screen door effect), so even though the images are sharp on screen, you can’t see the panel structure, adding to the sense of realism when watching movies (well, as real as the movie can be anyway…).

Another improvement on the AE700 is with fan noise. Although the AE700 was extremely quiet in low mode, when inverted on the ceiling in high mode, the fan got particularly rowdy. This is not the case with the 900 and, inverted on a ceiling in high mode, it is virtually inaudible.

The sample I had for review did have an issue with panel alignment, where the three LCD panels (Red, Green and Blue) were not converging perfectly on the screen. There were no effects visible under normal viewing (watching movies etc), however when displaying white text (subtitles, credits etc) there was a noticeable colour fringing around it (maybe ½ a pixel out). Researching various online forums shows this can be readily rectified by a technician and certainly wouldn’t be a deal breaker in my opinion.

We must surely be coming to a point where LCD technology has gotten as good as it gets, but then again, I thought that about the AE700. While I have done some tarting up to my 700 to boost performance, the AE900 fresh out of the box proved that LCD isn’t done yet.

Cheaper and better

The AE900 has launched $500 cheaper than both previous models (AE500 and AE700 both launched at $4999). With higher contrast, great colours and fantastic black levels, is certainly nudging on giving me a case of “upgradeitis”. If you have an LCD projector from even as little as 1–3 years ago, it may pay to check out the significant improvements that have come in the AE900. If you are new to front projection, what better time to dive right in with this amazing bargain of a projector.