Panasonic PT-AE3000 - Review Summary

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Art Feierman

A summary of the Panasonic PT-AE3000 projector's pros and cons and capabilities.

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Bottom Line

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The Panasonic PT-AE3000 is an excellent projector. It is certainly one home theater projector that should please just about everyone, especially when you consider its price performance. In fact, there are no serious downsides to this Panasonic projector. True, its average brightness in both best and brightest modes, will lose it some potential owners, including those who plan on larger than 110" screens or have more than the minimal amounts of ambient light to deal with.

Black level performance beats out all but a handful of projectors, most of which cost from fifty percent more, to three times the price. It has excellent color after calibration, (it's even really good right out of the box), excellent placement flexibility, and a host of innovative, performance enhancing features. We're not talking steriods here, but features for smooth high speed motion, the ability to optimize the projector for a 2.35:1 projection screen, so that there are no letterboxes when watching Cinemascope movies, and even a fast mode for gamers concerned about lag - the video trailing the game console and the audio.

Panasonic PT-AE3000 Projector: Pros

Excellent color and overall image quality, after calibration. Most folks looking primarily for movie watching will find it an excellent fit. An extremely watchable picture, that impresses
Extremely good black level performance
Very good shadow detail
Three HDMI 1.3 inputs, full support for 24 fps, Deep Color, etc.
Creative frame interpolation for smooth fast motion, with 96/120fps frame rate
Fast response for gamers
Support for an anamorphic lens
Sixteen savable memories
Well laid out menus
Savable zoom lens feature for 2.35:1 aspect ratio support and using a 2.35:1 screen
Excellent placement flexibility with 2:1 zoom and lens shift
Very quiet operation
Good manual, but thin on some explanations for many functions
Very good menus and remote control
Excellent price performance

Panasonic PT-AE3000 Projector: Cons

Sharpness could be a little better (it is about average though)
One year warranty only is standard, although Panasonic is (11/08) offering a mail in rebate for a second year
Physical styling is very plain (for those who care)
In most cases not bright enough for larger screens (over 110 inch diagonal)