Panasonic PTAX200U - LCD PROJECTOR Manuel utilisateur

Panasonic PT-AX200U Home Theater

Projector Review: Overview

10-27-2007 - Art Feierman

ProjectorReviews.com

Panasonic PT-AX200U Projector

Highlights:

•Brightest projector in its class

•Excellent color, film-like quality, after minor adjustments

•Enhanced modes for gamers, for superior performance with game machines like Sony

PS3, PS2, X-box 360, X-box, and Nintendo Wii

•Wide range zoom lens, and lens shift for easy placement on tabletop, shelf or ceiling

•Invisible pixels thanks to Panasonic's Smooth Screen technology

•Overall, image is slightly softer than many 720p projectors

•Value proposition (price/performance) is excellent

•$1299 MAP, should represent the high, online pricing.

Reviewing the latest Panasonic 720p projector is a bit of deju vu, it seems. Every fall,

Panasonic rolls out a new 720p projector, and the PT-AX200U is simply the latest. Last year it

was the PT-AX100U, and before that... PT-AE900U, PT-AE700U...

PT-AX200U - This year's best seller?

I'm going to devote a few paragraphs here, on the nature of this segment of the home theater

projector market, in terms of what is popular. If this bores you, just skip down to the next

heading.

Every year I have to listen to Panasonic remind me that the model they are replacing has been

the best selling home theater projector in the market. Every year, they proclaim that they

expect the newly released Panasonic home theater projector to become the new best selling

projector on the market. And, it seems, every year they are right.

So, what gives? With competition out there from plenty of major players, from the likes of

Sanyo, Sony, Optoma, and Mitsubishi (to name just a few), you would think that sooner or

later, a more popular projector would show up from someone else.

So before we figure out in this review, whether the Panasonic PT-AX200U should be the best

seller this coming year, let's spend a few more seconds exploring why Panasonic has been

dominant.

It really is fairly straightforward. Until last year, Panasonic and Sanyo seemed to be in a

perpetual duel for best sales, but with the launch of the PT-AX100U and the Sanyo PLV-Z5 a

year ago, finally there was a major difference separating these two LCD home theater

projectors. The PT-AX100U is simply far, far brighter than the Sanyo, and that alone gave

Panasonic a huge edge (which should continues with the new PT-AX200U, since Sanyo has not

replaced the PLV-Z5).

As to the rest - well, brands like Optoma, BenQ and Mitsubishi, normally build DLP projectors

for this low cost 720p resolution market. Since LCD models like those from Panasonic, Epson

and Sanyo have far more placement flexibility, they are much easier for most people to install,

or just generally "fit" into their rooms, this gives a huge selling advantage to the LCD models.

And as a direct result, LCD projectors dominate sales.

Two other major players on the LCD home theater projector side, are Sony and Epson. Sony

however, seems to focus most of its marketing push on its much more expensive, higher end,

1080p projectors using LCoS technology (Sony calls it SXRD), and not their more affordable

LCD products.

Epson, on the other hand, has kept their sales channel for home theater projectors very

limited the past few years, but recently has dramatically expanded their lineup, and has been

altering distribution. So, of the competitors, I see Epson as the most likely threat, but, it may

take another year before Epson has the marketing and dealer network in place to slug it out

with Panasonic, for sheer volume sales.

PT-AX200U - What's new?

Ok enough of the marketing hype, let's get back to the PT-AX200U. Talk about deja vu, the

PT-AX200U is almost identical to last year's PT-AX100U projector. In fact, there are few

changes changes of note, except in the support of game machines. Other than that there are

subtle improvements in areas like contrast.

In fact, Panasonic has definitely focused much of its advertising at the gamers, touting the PT-

AX200U as the first and best projector for video game playing. While I'm not much of a game

player. I do have a Sony PS3 - mostly to play Blu-ray discs, and an old Dreamcast, but no X-

Box 360. I pop in a PS3 game every month or two, although I prefer to play my pinball

machine. At the CEDIA show, I listened and saw Panasonic's demonstrations as to how they

have enhanced the PT-AX200U to tremendously improve the game playing experience, but not

being a hard core player, I'll have to take their word (and the testamonials of top game

players like Tsquared) as to the full benefits. I'll comment more on the PT-AX200U's gaming

skills for game machines like the PS3, Wii, and X-Box 360, in the General Performance page.

After saying all that, the PT-AX200U has been slightly improved as both a projector for movie

watchers, and TV/HDTV/sports, and it remains the brightest home theater projector on the

market under $15,000! It also features Light Harmonizer 2, an adaptation from earlier

business projectors, that automatically adjusts most aspects of the image to compensate for

varying room lighting conditions.

Let's take a look at the basic specs. For more detailed specs, click here.

Panasonic PT-AX200U Projector: Basic

Specs

MAP $1299

Technology: 3LCD

Native Resolution: 720p (1280x720)

Brightness: 2000 lumens

Contrast: 6000:1

Zoom Lens ratio: 2:1

Lens shift: Vertical and horizontal (manual)

Lamp life: 2000 hours full power

Weight: 10.8 lbs. (4.9kg)

Warranty: 1 Year Parts and Labor

Click here for more complete Panasonic PT-AX200U specifications and brochure.

Panasonic PT-AX200U Home Theater

Projector: Physical Tour

We'll begin facing the front of the Panasonic PT-AX200U. The

manual zoom lens is offset to the right side. It has a 2:1 zoom

ratio, providing tremendous, front to back placement flexibility. To fill a 100" 16:9 screen, the

front of the Panasonic PT-AX200U, can be as close to the screen as 10.2 feet, or as far back as

20.4 feet. This makes shelf mounting the PT-AX200U practical in almost any room. Focus and

zoom are effected by rotating their respective trim rings around the lens. Just to the right of

the lens is the joystick control for adjusting both vertical and horizontal lens shift. Twisting the

joystick will lock your setting in place. The range of the lens shift allows the projector to be

placed anywhere from below the bottom of the projector screen's surface, to above the top.

Primary exhaust vents are on the front left, and blow the air out diagonally, so that hot air

does not pass in front of the lens, where it could distort the projected image.

An infra-red sensor for the remote control is located in the center of the front, near the top.

There are two adjustable front feet, at the far left and far right bottom.

Moving to the top of the PT-AX200U home theater projector, it is virtually identical to the older

PT-AX100U. As on the older Panasonic home theater projector, the PT-AX200U has a large

power button (press once for on, twice for off), in the center near the front of the projector. To

its immediate right (looking at the top, from behind the projector) is the Input selector button

that toggles you through the various inputs. Next is the Menu button and to its right, four

arrow keys in a diamond configuration, with an Enter button in the middle of them. Near the

Input and Menu buttons are three indicator lights (power, lamp, temp, etc.), and the Light

Harmonizer 2 sensor, which reads room ambient light so the projector can compensate. That

takes care of everything on the top of this Panasonic home theater projector.

Moving to the back, you'll find the input panel. The PT-AX200U is typically endowed, for a low

cost (but not "entry level) home theater projector. There are, most importantly, two HDMI

inputs and they are 1.3 compatible.

In addition, there is one other "high resolution" input, the component video input, which has

the usual three color coordinated RCA jacks. You'll also find both a standard composite video,

and an S-video input. There's also the traditional HD15 connector for a standard "VGA" analog

computer input, and an RS-232 connector for command and control of the PT-AX200U

projector from a computer, or a room control system.

Please note, additional images from HDTV sources, along with commentary, and a section on

the PT-AX200U's performance under varying ambient light, will be added over the next couple

of days.

The Panasonic PT-AX200U Home Theater Projector: Skin

Tones

This PT-AX200U, when set to Cinema 1 mode, arrived, out-of-the-box, with slightly too cool a

color temperature. Once corrected (really easy), the PT-AX200U produces excellent skin tones,

natural looking and I'll subjectively describe it as being rather film-like.

Quicktip: Before we start looking at photos, first, my usual warning: The photos of screen

scenes are here to support the commentary, not the other way around. There is so much lost

and altered info trying to get from what is projected on the screen by a projector, to your

computer monitor, that everything needs to be taken with a "pound" of salt (or at least more

than a few grains of salt).

Neither of my digital cameras, nor your computer monitor can begin to match the dynamic

range the projector offers. The camera and displays lose a lot of info (shadow detail, create

non-representative black levels, and crush whites and blacks) and also are not perfect in

terms of color accuracy. Still they can be helpful when taken with the comments. Certainly,

they make the review prettier, if nothing else. In the case of this Panasonic review, as with the

older PT-AX100U, for some reason, I encounter difficulties with the color balance captured on

my camera. Again, there is a visible shift to red. I'm not sure why, but I did something I

normally shun, which is to make a minor adjustment to the images to better reflect what the

projector actually projects. Enjoy!

Also, I should note, that on some displays, these images all appear too contrasty. If that's the

case, adjust your monitor, or graphics card controls. On the screen, these images definitely do

not look too contrasty.

We'll start with my two favorite images from standard DVD; Gandalf, and Arwen, from Lord of

the Rings - Return of the King, extended edition.

Moving to hi-definition, the rest of the images on this page, (except from Sin City) are all from

Blu-ray disk, using my Sony PS3. (My HD-DVD player is on vacation.)

Impressed? You should be, I certainly am. I spent a good many hours watching various

movies on the PT-AX200U in the Cinema 1 mode. The AX200U never disappointed when it

came to producing natural looking, film-like skin tones.

The PT-AX200U also performed well on "black and white" and sepia type tonal scenes, such as

these two. The first from the beginning of Phantom of the Opera, and the second from Sin City

(SD-DVD), which is basically a black and white film, sometimes looking black and white,

sometimes sepia or other shades, with spot colors added for effect.

Bottom line: The Panasonic does a great job when it comes to reproducing skin tones, to

provide natural realistic colors, and shades.

Panasonic PT-AX200U Black Levels and

Shadow Detail

As is typical for LCD home theater projectors, the PT-AX200U cannot match the black level

performance of the better DLP projectors it competes with. The PT-AX200U, however does a

very good job overall, one rivaling the best under $10,000 projectors - DLP or otherwise, of

just, say 3 years ago, when technology improvements such as the DLP Darkchip3, took hold.

This resulted in black level performance that reached acceptable levels, so that it no longer is

the most important performance criteria. I used to write that "black levels are the holy grail"

of projector performance. Today, though, even low cost projectors like the PT-AX200U do a

sufficiently good job at producing "blacker blacks" (blacks that come out very dark gray). As a

result, other aspects of projector performance now equal or exceed the importance of black

levels.

The PT-AX200U does a very respectable job on black levels, but more impressive, is its

handling of shadow details. Now these two are typically closely related. If a projector can't

begin to produce really dark blacks - as was typical of projectors just a few years ago, it can't

reveal the dark details that are supposed to be darker than the blacks it produces. Panasonic,

though, like many other projectors, deals with this electronically. The end result, is that the

Panasonic happens to be excellent at shadow details, rivaling most of the far more expensive

1080p projectors out there.

Let's look:

I'll start with this image from Aeon Flux. An excellent night scene with some bright areas

(which severely limit what the Panasonic's dynamic iris can do to lower black levels), the

blacks come out fairly black, easy enough to watch. The shadow detail, though is really very

good, with really no dark areas where all the detail is lost.

Below is a closeup of the building above. Look in the dark areas to the left of the bushes, and

the lowest part of the roof, the far right, and also the darkest area between the wall and the

ground in front. You'll find some details in all these very dark areas. Now, for comparison,

below that image, is a similar one from the lower cost BenQ W500, which, is definitely not a

good performer when it comes to shadow detail. The amount of difference between these two

projectors, is nothing short of stunning.

Above is the Panasonic, below, the BenQ:

Nothing like some good deep space scenes to show off black level performance. On these

images from Space Cowboys, the blacks, overall were good, but not that ideal "inky" or "jet"

black, that is ideal. There's always that awareness of a bit of gray, instead of pure black,

unless the screen is extremely large, and high contrast, to lower the visibility of the blacks.

The satellite photo above looks very good, but blacks are not quite as dark - "inky black" as

more expensive projectors, but do come very close to the comparably priced DLP projectors.

Most of the dim stars are easily visible.

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