Front Projectors

Full-On/Full-Off Contrast Ratio: 2,843:1

Note: The white and black levels shown here, and the resulting contrast ratios, were obtained on a 78-inch-wide, Stewart Studiotek 130 screen, with each projector’s dynamic iris engaged. KD used a larger, 104.4-inch-wide Stewart Studiotek 130 for most of the other tests and viewing. The 78-inch screen was used for the contrast measurements in order to be consistent with other recent Home Theater projector reviews.—TJN

All the measurements here were taken in the Color 1 Selection (picture setting mode), through an HDMI input, with the display adjusted for the most accurate picture in a darkened room.

The Panasonic claims a very high dynamic contrast ratio, but this can only be obtained in one of its dynamic presets, which have no linear tracking in terms of color balance and gray scale. The Color 1 mode resulted in the best usable image in regards to gray scale and color tracking.

Out of the box, color tracking was quite good, but it emphasized green. When I used the projector’s user menus I obtained a nearly perfect balance.

The CIE chart shows the calibrated color gamut using the Theater 1 mode. This mode gave the best balance of contrast and gamma for movie watching, and I dialed in the gamut to near perfect ATSC standards with only some minor hue shift in cyan and yellow. Luminance tracking was excellent across the board, even after calibration.

The PT-AE3000U had no obvious rolloff using our full chroma and luma burst test patterns, and I only saw some minor rolloff using a chroma zone plate. This is most likely a result of the three-chip configuration and the required polarizing coupled with slight panel misconvergence. The projector still passed a 1080p signal pixel for pixel via HDMI.—KD