The summary for the viewing evaluations would be a simple, but firm: Wow. The system was ISF-calibrated prior to the viewing evaluation using Datacolor's ColorFacts 5.5 software. All calibration was done in the light-controlled Reference System 2 on the Stewart Studiotek 130 projection screen.

I sit pretty close to the picture in my theater room. My theory is that if you're going to do movies at home, they better be big. In most cases, the perceived image is bigger than the local movie theater. As a result you need a good quality display, lest you end up looking at lots of pixels, rather than the content on the screen. The Panasonic PT-AE900U's Smooth Screen technology is no gimmick. It really works, and the result is a 3LCD projector that more closely resembles LCoS. The screen door simply isn't there - it's gone. The edges of the pixels are instead blended to the next, creating a very soft edge. The results are more than a little impressive:

This is about as good as it gets regarding putting two pixels next to each other without spacing.

DVD: Honey
This hip, hip-hop movie stars Jessica Alba... I'm sorry, what were we talking about? Um, well anyway, this movie goes from club to dark alley, to music video - pushing lots of dark scenes and presenting a real challenge for meeting the required black levels. The Panasonic stretched itself and didn't seem to be afraid of the dark. Blacks can get deeper, and I am already looking forward to the D9 panels that should actually suck light from the room and make a cup of cappuccino on command, but for now the D5 panels seem to be a real step up from what I've seen to date. In the three captured scenes below take note of the shadow levels as well as the fine hair and facial detail.

HDTV: CSI: Miami
CSI: M iami is quite simply a beautiful show to watch. Even though I am watching it on cable TV's flavor of HDTV, it does not seem to be nearly as soft or compressed as what I've viewed on DirecTV. In contrast, the picture is quite vivid with plenty of detail and great spots for checking out white and black levels. I grabbed some clips below that show the excellent color and image fidelity as well as some white lab coats that could pose a problem for an uncalibrated display. David Caruso has some, shall we say, "detailed" skin textures and is always a good object for looking at skin tones (ok, tanned skin tones). As this show is a mixture of live action and CG, there is always something fun to be seen in terms of intricate models and scenic backdrops. Characters are well lit and a projector must be colorful and able to handle smooth gradients (in motion) for results to be truly pleasing. The Panasonic PT-AE900U didn't miss a single detail and I was able to get pulled into the story without distraction.

HDTV: House
I'm not sure if it's Hugh Laurie's sardonic style that attracts me to this show, or just seeing Robert Sean Leonard back in a decent on-screen role since he took a period of time to delve into theater. House is a show that is generally bright, similar to CSI: Miami but, if it's possible, even more detailed - with a propensity to show extreme close-ups of the main actors when delivering important lines. HDTV looks positively crisp on this display, even from my seated position which is only about 1.5x the screen width away. While the interior hospital scenes struggle to provide color and diversity, the occasional outdoor scene makes for a refreshing look at what the Panasonic can do when given the right source material.

Conclusion

Settling back in and enjoying the Panasonic PT-AE900U I realized that this just might be one of the best price-for-performance projectors I've seen in a long time. By far, the best attribute of this product is the Smooth Screen technology that puts the nail in the coffin for screen door effect. Add to those decent blacks, exceptional color reproduction and a slew of features like lens shift and user-calibration of RGB brightness/contrast/gamma levels and you've got a winner for its $2200 street price. I would have no problem recommending this projector to anyone in the < $2500 budget range looking for an excellent front projection system.