UsefulConcept

First a bit of backstory.  I have no TV.  No Stereo.  No home theater.  Instead i have a few PC's with Media Center installed on them.  I use them to watch tv, record tv, play music, etc. One really handy thing you can do with them is share the media with an extender.  For me, the extender is the xbox 360.  So how does the Panasonic PTAX100U LCD Projector fit in? 

If I have an xbox 360 i need to display it somewhere!  Plus I always wanted a big screen display.  So I went to my office to get our projector, connected it with a ceiling mount to my xbox 360, and presto I am streaming tv and such from my pc to my projector to an 80" wall space.

The original projector I used is an infocus X3.  It supports computer input as well as rca, has ok brightness and good color.  It worked fine, but it wasn't able to do the high rez that I wanted, and it wasn't bright enough during the day since I don't have a dedicated media room and thus light seeps in from everywhere.  Plus it is the office projector!

So I started looking around all our local shops for a projector.  Best Buy, Circuit City, Tweeter, just to name a few.  Turns out they cary very little and what they do sell they don't have in stock and know nothing about.  Next I start searching online.  I found the Panasonic 100u to have incredible specs and ratings.  So I give it a shot.  $1699 brand new off ebay (dented box).  It also comes with $400 cash rebate.  Sweet! 

Connecting the projector was a snap.  The inputs allow for just about everything.  My xbox 360 came with composite inputs for hdtv so that was the path I took.  When I first turned on the projector (set on platform, not hung upside down) it was shooting the image way too high.  Lucky for me the projector has a control to move the lens throw manually (instead of optically).  This means I can shoot the display down lower and slightly to the right.  Perfect!  The image didn't degrade at all. 

Next my xbox is only set to 480p.  Time to turn it up a notch.  I reset my xbox360 settings to 1080p.  Perfect.  Image looks fantastic!  It fills the 80" space I have very well. Much brighter than the x3 and better color.  It looks fantastic on my light green wall.  At some point I should get a proper screen to make it even better.  The zoom is up to 2x which doesn't sound like much, but holly cow that makes a huge display.  I had to scale it back to fit properly on my wall, and it was very nice to have that flexibility in case I move the projector later.  My old projector had to zoom all the way out to fill my space in comparison.

The remote is the surprise hit for me.  It will light up at night or in dark rooms, but only when in use.  Lots of quick buttons for power, adjusting light, color, etc.  Normally I had to go into sub menus for my old projector for this.

One thing to note is I had planned on spending a lot of time setting this up to look optimally.  While I probably could do that it looked so wonderful right out of the box I went directly to watching The Fifth Element instead.  There is a lot of control built into the menus of the projector, but it starts off set up pretty well for my needs.

All in all I love the projector.  I am not a videophile as this review probably indicates.  I do think, though, that my setup kicks butt.  Friends come over often now to see movies.  At some point I can buy an HD DVD player for the xbox.  Right now not enough movies are out that I care about.  And the movies look great as is.  But it is an easy upgrade option to really make the setup complete.

I recommend this projector to anyone.  It is a bit larger than my old projector and it doesn't have volume out (which would be very handy) but who really cares when watching Indiana Jones or Family Guy live? This is a great buy and a setup I am very proud of.

Like this entry? Subscribe to my blog.