Panasonic PT-AE1000U Projector Review - Image Quality-5

however, people are paying over twice the price of a 720p projector, and I would think less willing to sacrifice sharpness. (Of course, it is sharper than typical 720p projectors.)

Below I have several comparison images, but first want to comment further. It's almost ironic. The Smooth Screen technology is so good, you can sit as close as you want, and no pixels, but the trade-off is, for the feel of an extremely sharp image, you need to sit further back.

I would put this forth as a guideline. For a 100" screen, if you are sitting more than 12 feet back, you should not notice the slight softness. At 14-15 feet back for that same sized screen, you probably couldn't tell the difference in sharpness between the PT-AE1000U, and a slightly sharper projector, like the Mitsubishi HC5000.

Below are four images. They are a closeup of the necklace from Phantom. (same image as shown above, but zoomed in).

The first image is shot on the Panasonic PT-AE1000U, the second on the Mitsubishi HC5000, the 3rd on the sharpest of the 720p projectors, the Sanyo PLV-Z5, and lastly, the new BenQ W10000, their 1080p DLP entry. (Basically a 1080p version of my PE-8720). Although the enlargement varies slightly from projector to projector, you should get the idea!

Please remember you are viewing a very small section of the full image.

Sanyo PLV-Z5 (720p projector) Note: The Sanyo, though very sharp, has very visible pixels. I certainly wouldn't consider the Sanyo to be comparable, because from a pixel visibility standpoint, you would need to sit much further back with the Sanyo, for the pixel issue to dissapear.

BenQ W10000: (This image will be added shortly, as will several direct side-by-side comparison shots of the PT-AE1000U with the BenQ W10000.)

Here is a closeup of a computer monitor from Space Cowboys (HD-DVD). I'm starting to use this for sharpness comparison in future reviews. Even what you see below is only about 25% of the whole frame