PT-AE900U Features, Connections & Remote Control

Features and Favorites

There is a lot to like about the Panasonic PT-AE900U 3LCD projector. For starters, I had to rack my brain to come up with any negatives on this unit, given its price point and inclusion of some pretty excellent features. Let's get a quick overview of the highlights (those of you familiar with the PT-AE700U will recognize most of these). In addition to the D5 panel specifications shown earlier, the AE900U features:

• Horizontal and Vertical Lens Shift
  Keystoning is for office projection systems... For home theater you either need to install the projector flawlessly to line up the image to the screen (use an easily adjustable mount), or you'll want to get a model with horizontal and vertical lens shift. The Panasonic PT-AE900U allows 65% vertical and 24% horizontal adjustment. These numbers don't really do the function justice, so understand that the adjustment ranges (64% and 24%) represent the mount of "play' you have from center in each direction. That gives you well over an entire screen height of adjustment in total (130%).
  
• Smooth Screen Technology
  LCD panels have been associated with "screen door effect" - a phenomenon caused by the presence of a certain amount of blank space between individual panel pixels. This often makes the image appear is if you're watching it through a screen door if you sit too close to the screen (generally less than 2-2.5 times the screen width on most systems). Panasonic's Smooth Screen technology eliminates the gap between pixels, providing a smooth, film-like image. I would compare it to LCoS and note that no resolution or sharpness is lost using this technology. All 3LCD projectors should use this technology - screen door effect now seems to be a thing of the past.
  
• Fully Backlit LEARNING Remote Control
  It's unusual enough to find a projector with a fully backlit remote control, but to add learning functionality seems almost overkill (and I'm happy to find an overkill remote for once). This remote is a significant update from the one included with the former PT-AE700U projector and sports an LCD screen for source selection and setup assist. I had all of my components' basic functions configured on the remote in about 5 minutes using the preset codes.
  
• Dynamic Iris
  Taking its cue from the input signal, the Dynamic Iris system adjusts the iris, gamma and even lamp power to make dark scenes deeper and bright scenes brighter - enhancing the perceived range of contrast.

Some of these items will receive additional attention later, but let's just say that for a projector that has a street price of around $2200, Panasonic's PT-AE900U is a strong contender in the realm of competent yet inexpensive home theater front projection systems.

Basic Setup and Installation

The presence of a lens shift assembly makes this projector easy to mount, or if you prefer, place it on a tabletop. For this review we utilized a 100" diagonal Stewart Luxus Deluxe ScreenWall (with ISF-certified Studiotek 130 screen). This is a very high quality screen with very even dispersion characteristics and color uniformity and is optimized for excellent white levels while allowing for deep, rich blacks in a light-controlled room. For those considering the Panasonic PT-AE900U in their home theater room, take a look at the 16:9 throw chart:

16:9 Throw Chart for Distancing the Projector from the Projection Screen

If you want to do the exact calculations, use this (in meters):

Maximum distance (telephoto) = 2.4449 x diagonal screen distance (meters) - 0.056

Minimum distance (wide) = 1.2244 x diagonal screen distance (meters) - 0.056

Note: 1 meter = 3.281 feet

We are not particularly fans of gray screens, however if you are in a room that cannot be completely light controlled (or has a lot of reflective or bright surfaces) then you will most certainly benefit from a high contrast gray screen material. The Studiotek 130 screen has a gain of 1.3 meaning that on-axis it is about 30% brighter than standard matte white surface materials (the half gain point occurs at 40 degrees). It supports practical viewing angles of up to 160 degrees - very good for home theater use and one of the widest possible viewing angles for front projection screens.

We positioned the projector in a temporary, but workable location. It was centered horizontally with the screen and set back about 12' 4" - towards the minimum of the throw distance range. We faced the projector so that the image would not keystone on the screen and utilized the lens shift to make final adjustments, taking care to not extend the function towards any of the extremes.

Editor's Note: Digital Keystoning
As seemingly handy as digital keystoning may seem in a fixed pixel display, it results in loss of resolution and detail and should be avoided at all costs. Lens shift, which moves the entire lens assembly, is a much more effective, though more expensive, solution. Always try to relocate the projector before giving in to digital keystone adjustments. We personally would accept a slightly off-axis picture rather than engage keystoning. To understand the significance, simply place an image on the screen that possesses crisp detail or text. Then stand up close to the screen (you can see it from the seated position, but up close is even more obvious) and toggle keystoning on and off. You will immediately see the text/detail blur when keystone is in any position but the default. Keystoning is an easy fix, and is likely here to stay, but those who know better leave it alone whenever possible.

We ran two different cables to the projector for our tests. A well-shielded component video cable was supplied by Impact Acoustics and gave us an excellent analogue connection from the Denon DVD-3910 player's component outputs (we also tested HDTV). A well-built SHR HDMI cable, supplied by DVIGear, enabled us to compare the digital video connection from the Denon DVD player as well.

A couple things to note about the "starter" settings for the Panasonic include making sure you set the Picture Mode to Cinema1, leave Dynamic Iris On , and set Lamp Power to Low . This will get you in the ball park in terms of dynamics, color and contrast and enable you to have the best starting position from which to calibrate using common tools such as AVIA Guide to Home Theater or Digital Video Essentials .

Connections

The Panasonic projector comes with a remote, batteries and power cord - no cables are provided. Should you have the desire, however, you can fill up a composite, s-video, HDMI-HDCP, RGB/HD15, and two component video inputs to your heart's content. A serial connector is provided which, with an adapter (ET-ADSER) that is sold separately, allows you to connect the projector to an RS-232C-based control system. A pinout diagram and basic control signal info are provided in the manual.

As previously mentioned, we utilized the component video inputs (YPbPr) as well as the HDCP-enabled HDMI input for our tests. We sent 480i interlaced signal from the Denon DVD-3910 to the Panasonic projector and allowed the onboard deinterlacer to convert the signal to progressive scan, performing all deinterlacing functions as well as 2:3 pulldown (more on this later). The connections are almost ostentatiously spaced out and are much easier to utilize than some other projectors I've worked with.

Remote Control

I could just say that I didn't really find anything wrong with the remote... Then, after everyone picked themselves up off the floor I could go on my merry way and complete the review. But I guess I'll go over some of the highlights to explain my lack of criticism.

First off, the remote is completely backlit. This alone scores highly in my estimation. Add to that direct access to: inputs (toggle for component), ASPECT ratio, picture adjustment settings ( MAIN, ADVANCED, and C.C.M .), and MEM .LOAD to load memory modes - and you're starting to look really good. Continue by adding learning functions for up to 8 devices and you've just jumped well above average in my book. Learning can be input via device codes which are provided in the separate Remote Control Operating Guide or you can learn a completely custom set of codes in any of the three User settings. M y favorite quote from the manual: "Do not use the learning function to record remote control signals from other learning remote controls that have been learnt by those remote controls." Say what? Basically, Panasonic recommends using the original device remotes rather than, say taking another learning remote and shooting those codes into the Panasonic remote. One nice thing that is provided is a rather obvious, centrally located PROJECTOR button that quickly resets the remote back to the projector source - allowing you to quickly control the projector after having just entered commands to another device.

Then one thing I would have recommended to Panasonic - since this is a learning remote - would have been to rearrange the lower buttons such that a number pad could have been integrated. While I was able to program my cable box into this remote, I had to use the navigational pad to get around as there was no way to directly enter channels. But seriously, I think that both people who actually use the learning features of this remote will come up with a sufficient workaround.

The most commonly used functions will be the input selection and aspect ratio button, both of which are conveniently located. Once you enter the menu system, either through one of the direct-access keys or via the large MENU button, the directional keys can take you from there. This remote can only be criticized for having way more than it needs to - but I'm not prepared to dock an overachiever.