Title: Panasonic AX200U Review Platform: Home Theater MSRP:$1999.99 (SPECIAL @ Projector People: $1299.99 +$50 Coupon) Editor: Nicholas 'bapenguin' Puleo
Panasonic AX200U Gaming Projector
When you are staring at a 92" image of Master Chief there's not a whole lot you can complain about. Those of you that read the site regularly know I've been promoting a deal with Projector People.com for the new Panasonic AX200U Gaming projector. I figured it was only fair that, you know, I suck it up and have to review the product. So with that, the kind folks at PP sent me a demo unit. I currently have a Panasonic AE700 projector that is slightly over 3 years old with about 3100 hours on the bulb. The picture has gotten a little dim, but I was perfectly happy with the projector...until I fired up the AX200U.
The biggest difference from the get go was the brightness. At over double the manufacturers quoted brightness of my previous projector (1000 Lumens vs. 2000 Lumens) it hit me at sort of a shock. Even when running the AX200U in "Economy" lamp mode vs. "High" lamp mode on my old projector the brightness was a huge jump. In fact, the projector is so bright that even with both sets of my theater lights on the screen lost no visible detail or clarity. This simply didn't happen with my old projector which is almost unplayable with the lights on. The AX200U also has a built in sensor, that when enabled, will adjust the projector's brightness and contrast to accommodate adjusting lighting conditions. This makes the projector great for your everyday living room where light control may be more difficult.
The projector has 2 HDMI inputs as well a component, s-video, VGA D-Sub and composite. It's a native 720p projector, but it'll support any standard HD resolution you throw at it and scale it accordingly. I could sit here and throw technical specifications and features at you to I'm blue in the face. This projector has everything from a dynamic iris to user adjustable per pixel color correction. But this is a gaming site, and what would this review be without talking about playing games on this beast. The good news is the projector has a dedicated gaming mode which is supposed to reduce lag times as well as enhance detail in games. Out of the box the mode required some tweaking from me, as it yielded more of a washed out image (think high gamma) than something with punch. After some minor tweaking I was able to get a gorgeous looking picture. Games like Assassin's Creed with it's blues and whites jumped off the screen. Halo 3's colorful surroundings and HDR were rich and deep. Best of all there was no noticeable lag time in the gameplay, not that this was a problem with my previous projector. Another bonus with gaming on a big screen is it's much easier to see details you may have missed on a smaller screen. While I won't go as far to say I feel that I play games better on a projector, I do tend to find things like sniping in FPS and concentrating on certain sections of the screen much easier.
As an AV equipment nut, I needed to put the projector through my usual battery of tests. First up is always the opening scene to Gladiator on DVD. The projector did a great job with the dark blue colors of the battle combined with the bright yellows and reds of the fire. The Fifth Element was up next during the reconstruction scene (the scene where they rebuild LiLu). Skin tones were a little reddish, but nothing too bad. The bright colors of the city looked gorgeous and there was plenty of detail with minimal motion blur. Finally I popped in the HD DVD of Serenity and looked at various different scenes. Some of the darker scenes, like the vault robbery, lost some detail in the blacks, but nothing out of the ordinary for an LCD projector. All and all I was pretty satisfied, and felt the projector did a better job of achieving a film like look than my previous one.
Like I said earlier, it's pretty tough to find faults when you are sitting there staring at a 92" image in hi-def. At a price of $1299 you can have big screen hi-def gaming for less than a price of a 40" flatscreen TV. Gaming on a projector is something everyone should experience, and while the AX200U isn't top of the line, it's a great mid-level projector that's sure to last you for quite some time.
The Good:
+ Tons of tweaking options for color, brightness and contrast - All in savable profiles
+ Dedicated gaming mode
+ 1080p input with expanded HDMI input support
+ Supports screen sizes up to 200"
+ Lens shift eliminates the need to use keystone correction
The Bad:
- Not completely silent
- To achieve dark blacks you'll trade off detail
The Ugly:
- All the people asking to borrow your projector
Do you have any rhythm games to test the lag-slash-AV-sync on? I am looking to get a new TV/projector, but it's got to work respectably for Rock Band and the like.
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Do you have any rhythm games to test the lag-slash-AV-sync on? I am looking to get a new TV/projector, but it's got to be work respectably for Rock Band and the like.
We did an informal test in the gaming mode, and it wasn't much different, although the dark areas and shadows were an improvement over previous model Panasonic's (AE900U) and may also be more dramatically improved on specific games (we understand they used Splinter Cell as a test game). We haven't heard complaints about response times for awhile, and though none of us are pros, we didn't notice a difference with the AX200U either. Maybe the top players can feel the difference where we couldn't. We suspect that most of the 1080p projectors will have just as good or better response times too, since they have more robust processors to carry the 1080p signal... but we have yet to put that theory to the test. We have only tested the 1080ps in HD video mode.
We have some video of the AX200U in action here in case you haven't seen it. Its youtube, so the video isn't the best quality. But you get an idea of the color definition and the size of the screen you can game on.
Can this actually be used for general TV use? What is the average lifetime of a bulb?
The average life span of a projector lamp varries based on a number of factors. With proper care (allowing the fan to cool the lamp before shutting down, keeping the intake away from dust, etc.) people usually see the manufactuer specified 2000 hours. The 2000 hour number is actually the lamp's half life, so it may go beyond 2000 hours, but it will be about half as bright as it was the first time you powered up your projector.
Quick and Easy Math
2000 hours = 8 hours of projecting a week = 4.8 years
2000 hours = 20 hours of projecting a week = 1.9 years
Sometimes lamps won't make it the full 2000 hours, which is usually due to overheating or dust issues that the user is not aware of. Manufacturer warranties are typically cover lamps for 90 days or a limited number of hours (whichever comes first). To replace a lamp is usually anywhere from $200 - $400.
You can also purchase a 'lamp warranty' that will cover you in the event of a failure outside of your manufacturer warranty period. You get up to 2 lamp replacements over 3-years.
A front projector is not really designed to be a replacement for a regular television. You won't want to use it to watch the news every night (the news is not fun in life size anyway). Although, when you factor in the hudreds of dollars you'd save on an LCD or Plasma image of its size, a few extra lamps is still saving money. Still, a 92-inch screen is overkill for watching some bad reality tv.
Hey guys, got a quick question.
Do these projectors work well in "small' room situations? I just recently bought a house and we have a room that will work PERFECTLY for a small theatre. Only problem is that the central focal point for the room is the gas fireplace (aka all the furniture faces that)
But with a projector screen that I could pull down over the thing (while it's off of course =P) a projector would be the perfect solution for me.
Now the issue from wall opposite where the screen would be, you're looking at only 12 feet across (not including how ever far the projector will stick out and the half foot the screen will be in front of the hearth)
Because of this the main couch will be about 4 feet away from the screen. Also the projector will need to be mounted higher and angled down slightly (if i remember correctly the angle isn't an issue at all because it can be adjusted by the projector itself)
Anyway, I guess that's more than one question and you guys usually give pretty straight forward and "varied" advice to consider.
One final note, this is either a projector will work and be worth the investment. OR I don't get to put electronics in this room =P
i snagged one of these recently and am pleased so far. Ive only fired it up a few times (soooo busy), but halo3 looks great (but you can see the jaggies more, i need to try r6 and gears), football looks great, and even as crappy a dvd as excalibur looks good.
I havent done any tweaks other than factory so far, but the darks are definitely gray, i could use tweaking later but im not that picky.
nice bonus is the extra warranty and the free blockbuster rentals.. if i can ever find the time to fill it out.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffool
As a gaming nerd I never thought I'd say this... "Dr. Wily is right."
Hey guys, got a quick question.
Do these projectors work well in "small' room situations? I just recently bought a house and we have a room that will work PERFECTLY for a small theatre. Only problem is that the central focal point for the room is the gas fireplace (aka all the furniture faces that)
But with a projector screen that I could pull down over the thing (while it's off of course =P) a projector would be the perfect solution for me.
Now the issue from wall opposite where the screen would be, you're looking at only 12 feet across (not including how ever far the projector will stick out and the half foot the screen will be in front of the hearth)
Because of this the main couch will be about 4 feet away from the screen. Also the projector will need to be mounted higher and angled down slightly (if i remember correctly the angle isn't an issue at all because it can be adjusted by the projector itself)
Anyway, I guess that's more than one question and you guys usually give pretty straight forward and "varied" advice to consider.
One final note, this is either a projector will work and be worth the investment. OR I don't get to put electronics in this room =P
4 feet is pretty close. Of course it depends on your screen size. At 4 feet optimal screen size would be about 70", but that might be overkill.
There is lense shift both horizontal and vertical so you'd be able to adjust it for the position.
Sure, though you'll need an external box like a DirectTV or Cable receiver.
Admittedly I don't watch much SDTV and only watched HDTV on it, but it looks gorgeous...especially my Red Wings.
Red wings are crap, Go Devils .. cough 1995 stanley cup cough.. ok thats all I had to add to this conversation other than cursing you off for having a gaming projector I only could wish to own
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