This is my first venture into the projection market. I am upgrading form a flat screen. I've been reading the reviews on the epson 8500UB and the Panasonic ae4000u. If is was a horse race it seems the epson would win by a nose. Could anyone with experience with any of these two give me advice. I will be seating 15ft from the screen with a little bit of light in the viewing area. What size screen should I get with this distance and a good place to buy it from.
New to the forum...a TON of great info here ;)
I am in the process of building my dedicated home theater room. The room is 18x12 but the viewing area will only be 12x12. I would like a 100" (diagonal) picture out of this throw distance. The Epson 8500UB will allow for this big of a picture thanks to it's 2x zoom capability...but that is where my question begins.
Does picture quality degrade for each added increment of zoom? I would almost need to max out the Epson's zoom to achieve the 100" from such a short throw distance...will Blu-Rays be nowhere near 1080P by the time I zoom so far?
Thanks in advance!
just RETURNED MY PANASONIC 4000 NEW PROJECTOR FOE THE NEW MODEL 8500 WHICH JUST CAME OUT 4 WEEKS AGO EVEN THOUGH I HAD TO PAY ADDITIONAL 300(AFTER A 200 MFG. REBATE)FROM EPSON THE PRICE WAS WOERH IT.. MUCH BRIGHTER PICTURE,SHARPER,DARKER BLACKS, BETTER OVERALL QUALITY.. PANASONIC 4000 IS A JOKE COMPAIRED TO THE NEW EPSON 8500UB..
IF YOU CAN SWIP YOPUR PAN. FOR THE EPSON 8500UB JUST A GREAT MACHINE
[QUOTE=trek737|Dec 4, 2009 2:09:05 PM]
Thanks so much for the advice. I will paint the walls darker. I did not really want to drop that much money into a projector and screen. But I will not comprise quality just to save a few bucks when the theater is so important to me.
I guessing that you like the Espon 8500 over the Pandy AE4000? Do you know anyone that has a display I can see. I fly for a living and can get to almost anywhere pretty easy.
Thanks again for all of your valuable advice,
Jim
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The choice to me is simple so long as you do not plan on going ever to an anamorphic expensive lense the Epson 8500 UB is a better unit to me; I just got mine and it is incredible in clarity, color and black levels! If you might go with the expensive lense then the AE4000 is a contendor. If your are willing to strectch the budget you might get an JVC RS25 that list for 8k online for 5k that is the best projector under 20K!
Also I have the same B & K preamp as you running to (5) NAD amps and I would tell you to wait a bit if you can and wait for the new Outlaw Audio processor 997 that will list for $1399 and will be the firt non powered processor with the Trinov feature and it's specs are incredible! They still are dealing with tweaks in their beta version so it has been delayed but the Outlaw Audio 990 is a fraction of our B & K and I heard one and was blown away!
Hands down the best blu ray player is the OPPO Digital 83.
[QUOTE=AV_Integrated|Nov 30, 2009 5:08:06 PM]
I would go with the Epson personally over the Panasonic, but you should be fine with a 1.3 or a 1.4 gain screen which will deliver plenty of gain and light output.
Your screen size (130") is about 50 square feet, so at 16 lumens per square foot you do want about a 800 lumen projector, but a 500 lumen projector will give abut 700 lumens and you have plenty of range in the Epson to get a bit more power from it.
Also, if you move the Epson closer, you get a significant jump in light output which is worth noting. Put it at 14' and you should see significant gain in light output.
I will likely install a 161" screen next year with a Epson 8500UB and I am expecting it to be plenty bright enough.
I've also used the old AX100U with a 161" screen (1.4 gain) and it works absolutely great.
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Those are great bits of information! Mounting a 8500 UB closer is a great tip! I just bought the 8500 UB to replace my old Sanyo and used the calibration settings from projector reviews and am just blown away and the clarity, black levels, and overall performance! The projector is so bright that I can watch a good clarity/color even when the skylight blind is open! but when all blinds are closed, the picture is just fantastic!!!
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