Panasonic PT-AE2000U Home Theater Projector Review

Posted on November 19, 2007 by Art Feierman

The PT-AE2000U originally received for this review was a pre-production sample, and as is typical, some "issues" were noted. I followed up with a request for a full production unit, expecting those issues to be resolved, and it turns out, they were. Click on the Update link above or at the top or bottom of each page of this review, to read my comments after working with the 2nd PT-AE2000U - a full production version of the projector.

Specs Preview

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Panasonic PT-AE2000U Specs
Price	2699
Technology	3LCD
Native Resolution	1920x1080
Brightness (Manufacturer Claim)	1500
Contrast	16,000:1
Zoom Lens Ratio	2.00:1
Lens Shift	No
Lamp Life	2000 hours at full power
Weight	15.9
Warranty	1 year

Panasonic PT-AE2000U Projector Highlights

1080p native resolution
Significantly brighter than its somewhat dim predecessor, the PT-AE1000U
Film-like qualities, most impressive for a LCD based home projector
Good out of the box color
Bright enough for screens up to 125" (room conditions allowing)
Extremely flexible in terms of placement in your room, thanks to zoom lens with wide 2:1 range, and lots of lens shift control
Initial pricing $2699, with free year warranty promo thru 12/31/07
Excellent price performance

What we have here, is a second generation 1080p home cinema projector. The PT-AE2000U looks like, and for the most part "cooks like", the PT-AE1000U it replaces. That said, while there aren't any earthshaking changes, the new PT-AE2000U is a better projector today, than the PT-AE1000U was when it was released a year ago. Most notably, the earlier version was underpowered compared to the competition, whereas the new PT-AE2000U is at least average in terms of brightness. Contrast has roughly doubled, to a claimed 16,000:1. That yields a significant gain in black level and shadow detail performance, to go along with the brightness improvement.

Click to Enlarge.So close

So, what we have here, is an LCD based 1080p projector with good film-like performance, invisible pixel structure (no screen door effect - period), and tremendous placement flexibiity. Out of the box performance is very good, needing only a quick click or three to make it really excellent.

All of that combines to make the PT-AE2000U worthy of our Hot Product Award. A couple of notes, however, before getting started.