Panasonic PT-AE3000 home cinema projector
Panasonic unveiled its newest LCD home cinema projector PT-AE3000 with 1080p (1,920 x 1,080 pixel) native resolution. Designed for a premium home cinema experience, the AE3000 is the new flagship model in Panasonic’s award winning home projector line-up and complements the AX200 and AE2000 in the high-end segment.
The Panasonic PT-AE3000 delivers powerful 1080p images with 1,600 lumens and 60,000:1 contrast ratio with sharp and detailed reproduction of fast motion images with the incorporation of the new Frame Creation technology optimized for large screen viewing. For easy adjustment to different widescreen movie formats like 21:9 or 16:9 and best screen utilization, the projector embodies a Lens Memory feature which is capable of memorizing and restoring zoom/focus positions for different aspect ratio flexibility.
As an evolution of the PT-AE2000, the PT-AE3000, equipped with latest cutting edge technologies is opening a new high quality segment for LCD projectors to deliver home theater enthusiasts with a whole new level of high picture quality entertainment.
High Picture Quality with Astounding Reality
High resolution full HD images are displayed beautifully with a captivating brightness of 1,600 lumens and 60,000:1 contrast ratio with the PT-AE3000. The dramatic increase in the dynamic range was made possible by the newly engineered Pure Contrast Plate technology that effectively blocks unwanted light from the path of projection. This makes the projector the product of choice especially in home cinema rooms with large screens where apart from contrast the brightness is king. Together with a host of carefully engineered and perfected Panasonic technology, including the high precision optical lens unit, Dynamic Iris, Smooth Screen Technology which eliminates the black matrix inherent to LCD projectors and Pure Color Filter Pro for increased color reproduction, the PT-AE3000 truly distinguishes itself as a projector that many home theater enthusiasts will thoroughly enjoy.
“The PT-AE3000 is our eighth generation AE series projector. Each year with advances in high picture quality, we strive towards a “real theater experience.” To reach this goal our engineers have designed many innovative technologies, as well as side by side collaboration with Hollywood colorists and image experts to fine tune the projectors. I am proud to say that we have come very close to that goal with our new PT-AE3000,” said Hartmut Kulessa, Product Manager, Home Cinema Projectors, Panasonic Marketing Europe. “The AE series use in the actual movie production has increased significantly over the years, making our projector a true connection between the professional and consumer world. With growing availability of full high definition contents, the PT-AE3000 LCD projector enables users to experience filmmaker’s intent at their homes.”
Crisp and Clear Details for Motion Images
The PT-AE3000 now incorporates 100Hz Motion Picture Pro frame creation technology which is optimized for large screen viewing and interpolates an additional frame by analyzing the characteristics of two adjacent frames to create sharp and clear images for fast moving scenes in sports and action movies, especially for large screen viewing. Upon user preference, the frame count is increased to 100 frames/1sec from 50 frames/1 sec for 50Hz PAL signal, while 24frames/sec (24p) signals are quadrupled to 96frames/1sec by interpolating three additional frames to allow natural frame-to-frame transitions, which results in crisp motion images with high resolution.
The new and advanced Detail Clarity Processor 2 ensures faithful reproduction of highly detailed information, such as film grains in movies. An image consists of low frequency components characterized by flat, smooth surfaces without much change, to high frequency components, which is embedded with lots of detail. If you apply uniform sharpness to the whole image, you result in loss of three dimensionality and unwanted artifacts. With the Detail Clarity Processor 2, the digital processing engine is able to extract information of the low, mid, high, and even the super-high frequency component to apply different degrees of sharpness to reproduce natural, life-like images with exceptional clarity and three-dimensionality to the smallest details.
The PT-AE3000 also comes equipped with professional-level features that let users personalize the images they see on the screen. First, the projector’s Split Adjust mode allows users to split the screen into two halves, one to make picture adjustments and one to see those adjustments as a baseline reference. Second, the PT-AE3000’s waveform monitor ”“ seen mostly on professional video and film equipment ”“ measures the level of brightness output from a given video signal source. This feature also automatically verifies that the source device is outputting at full dynamic range, and quickly makes adjustments to optimize it for your home theater setting. Users can easily see a graphical representation of any changes made to the unit’s color settings.
Ease of Use
Many movie contents come in aspects that are even wider than the projector’s 16:9 aspect ratio, to match the image size (2.35:1) seen at movie theaters. More and more projector users are now using the 2.35:1 wide screens to mirror the immersive experience of movie theaters. However, projecting different aspect ratio contents onto the 2.35:1 screen was not always easy. To fully utilize the screen area with different aspect contents, it required the user to use an additional anamorphic lens or manually adjust the zoom/focus every time. With the new Lens Memory feature, the projector enables you to preset three different zoom/focus positions and enables you to recall those positions with a touch of a button.* 2.35:1 wide screen users can now enjoy their theater set-up with enhanced ease of use.
* When “Lens Memory Load” is assigned to the Function button on the remote control.
Initial set-up and installation are also a snap with the PT-AE3000, as the 2.0x zoom can cast a 120-inch diagonal image from as short as 3.6meters (about 11 feet) to 7 meters (24 feet) from the screen. The projector’s lens shift capability enables full 100 percent vertical adjustment and 40 percent horizontal adjustment so that viewers can suspend the projector close to the ceiling in a stylish fashion, or conveniently place the projector on a wall mount. The lens-centered design and maintenance features, such as the replaceable side filter and top lamp, make the ceiling mount very easy to install.
The projector also prides its abundant selection of connections, as it is equipped with three HDMI™ 1.3 inputs and two component input terminals. The three HDMI 1.3 inputs are all Deep Color and x.v.Color™ compliant. The Deep Color supports up to 12 bit (over 68.7billion) color depth for smooth tonal transitions and subtle gradations between colors, while the x.v.Color™ compliance realizes accurate reproduction of natural, lifelike images.
Eco friendly Intelligent Power Management
Additionally to the outstanding features the new PT-AE3000 also comes as an ecologically conscious product. The Intelligent Power Management is reducing the lamp power exactly to the required level depending on what content is displayed. Other than in scenes where full brightness is required the lamp is working with less power whenever the content is rendering dark scenes. This reduces the average power consumption of the projector.
The Panasonic PT-AE3000 LCD home cinema projector will be available starting in October at authorized home cinema projector dealers.
Source: Panasonic
