Panasonic PT-AE3000E Full HD 3LCD Projector

Panasonic is one hardened professional when it comes to delivering some quality visual displays units, be it their acclaimed Vieras, or their respectable projector model array. Today we've got our grubby paws on a high end Full HD projector by them, called the PT-AE3000E. Now they have a new AE4000 model also, but this one is not far behind from that. It’s a home theater projector, it’s got very heavy spec ratings, and it looks menacing, like it will spit lumens and burn our screen.

Design and features
This model will have to be a permanent fixture at the house, no lugging around is possible due to the bulky size. It’s still very neat looking, with a straight edged rectangular chassis coated in black matte, slightly beveled finish. The top panel is bare except for 2 dials, 3 red LEDS and the Panasonic logo. The dials are for horizontal and vertical lens shift respectively. Control buttons are on the right side panel, protected by flap that clicks out. These tiny buttons are white push buttons, with a a nice firm tactile feel. The lens on the front is huge. Like a lens should be. Rimmed by a metallic accent, and covered with an attached black plastic cover.

The back panel houses connections in a central cut out window: 3 HDMIs, 2 components, one composite, one S-video and a RS-232. This projector is of the 3LCD kind, where each channel of R, G and B is individually transmitted and then overlayed. This is my current fav display technique, I find it brighter than DLP most times. The resolution is 1920 x 1080, while the brightness is rated at 1600 ANSI lumens. Contrast ratio is a healthy 60,000:1 with a proprietary feature called the Pure Contrast Plate technology. The video processing is further taken care of by Panasonic’s Detail Clarity Processor 2, all of which we will take a look at in the performance section. Also there is 100 Hz Frame interpolation, just like TVs.

The lens supports 2X optical zoom, also with a powered focus. Max projection distance is 12 m, and max screen size attainable is 200 inches across. As mentioned on their website, the AE3000E is the second projector in the Panasonic line up which was tested and optimized by the Panasonic Hollywood laboratories together with leading Hollywood colorists. It also has  lens shift feature that goes upto 40% shift on either side, up and down, for perfect screen-image alignment.