Customer Reviews

Panasonic PT-AX200U 720p 3LCD Home Theater Projector

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Didn't think buying a projector would take as long as it did. I've been researching projectors off and on for the past 2 and a half years and have enjoyed the process of testing a virtually endless onslaught of manufacturers and different image quality. Finally decided on a Panasonic PT-AX200U due to a special running through HTmarket.com that had a mail in rebate for an additional 1 year warranty on the purchase of a Panasonic projector. I bought my projector for $1299 and have had about a month to play with the projector.

Initial highlights - good projector for the money if you have a good source (HD DVD/Blu Ray/upconverting DVD player). Very easy setup with image adjustments. I was up and running in 5 minutes.

Friends and family are stunned at the size of the screen images capable with this projector (I'm running a 110 inch screen). Clearly capable of more than that.

Good image for old format DVDs IF you have a DVD upconverter to 720p/1080i/1080p. I initially ran a couple of DVDs, the Incredibles, Lord of the Rings, the Matrix, Blade, into through my Denon DVD 2900 (originally a $1000 DVD player) and was somewhat disappointed by the pixelation and some noticeable Screen Door Effect (SDE).

My brother came over the following weekend with his Sony Playstation 3 and we ran one of his videogames through the HDMI cable into the projector to see if we could tell a difference - whoa, noticeable difference in image detail and elimination of the pixelation and SDE.

Went out to Best Buy the following weekend to buy a cheap RCA dvd up converter for $30 and now run all my DVDs through it.

Would recommend this projector if pairing to a high gain screen - the bulb brightness, while bright for stock, definitely requires a high gain (+1.3) screen to maximize some of the darker image films (Blade/Matrix/Lord of the Rings/Aliens).

I don't usually write reviews, but I strongly felt this is worth informing as many people as possible. I read all the reviews on the Panasonic PT-AX200U projector and they all looked good, so I bought one. For me, I wanted the best possible resolution and highest lumens without spending thousands of dollars. I bought this in May, 2008 for $1299. At the beginning of this January, I went to turn it on and heard a loud bang and it wouldn't power up. Now you should know that I am incredibly anal retentive when it comes to my electronic equipment. This machine has been cared for like a baby and has only been used for 525 hours (approx. Ľ bulb life) so it is impossible that I caused any problem with the machine.

So I called Panasonic Projector Customer Support. They were unsure what could be wrong, so they had me send it to their outsourced provider, Heartland Diversified, for repair ($130 diagnostic fee, but it goes toward any repair costs). Heartland notified me that the cost of the repair would be $1265 (recall the cost of the new projector, which by the way, can now be bought new for $999). Since this warranty just expired, they said any dispute would have to be with Panasonic directly.

This is where the disaster begins, if it wasn't already disappointing enough that it broke so quickly. Customer Service at Panasonic is a nightmare. You can never get past front line customer support personnel (who do not have decision-making authority)to management and all conversations end with the refrain "We will have to get back to you in 24-72 hours" which never happens, thus requiring yet another call to customer support. Bottom line is I wanted them to stand behind their product regardless of warranty because a projector should not completely break after a year and a half. They say they are escalating the request but then tell me that the request is going to the same original person, John Parks. They will absolutely not let you talk directly to anyone and will not give out email addresses or phone numbers (or last names, but one of the reps slipped, so I got this one). This issue has now been going on for two months and Heartland is threatening to take possession of the projector at the 60 day mark. I have even written to Robert Perry, the EVP of Panasonic Consumer Products, and have gotten no response.

After easily 20 hours of being on the phone with Mike (three times), Jabin, Ben, Tom, Leela, Ranita, and the people at Heartland, I am getting nowhere and feel incredibly frustrated to the point that I will not buy another Panasonic product and cannot recommend a Panasonic product to anyone. Even when I look back at other Panasonic products I have had (stereo, boom box, clock radio, microwave), every single one has had something break quickly. They haven't become unusable but there is always something - a button doesn't work, it doesn't turn off, a door doesn't close, etc.

In summary, I believe this is not just a poor product quality issue, but Panasonic has a major customer service issue to which I can only say "Buyer Beware."

I am the lead installer for a company that installs RealHomeTheaters, so hopefully my experience can be of some help. This projector has some great features not found on all projectors in it's class.

1. Great throw ratio. ( the zoom lens on this projector allows you to throw a 120" image from as close as 11' and from as far from the screen as 22'.)

2. Brightness. ( at 2000 lumens it is one of the brightest 720p 16:9 home theater projectors in it's class. This allows you to overcome ambient light that would "washout" dimmer projectors.)

3. Lens Shift. ( give you the ability to mount the projector off camber to the screen and in most cases higher or lower than normally possible with other projectors.)

But, if you have a normal room with controlled lighting and are able to install the projector at a normal height (7 to 10' off the floor) and centered on the screen. You will not benefit from this projector. Consider the Mitsubishi HC1500 and be sure to read my review on it as well. It will give you just as strong of an end result and save you some money. Provided you do not need any of the three features above.

Hope this helps get your RealHomeTheaters off the ground!

I purchased the PT-AX200U for my dedicated home theater room in Aug 2007 after much reading and reviewing all options. Projectorcentral dot com is one of the best sources of information such as placement as well as reviews (both professional and consumer).

About the projector: Sharp, clear and bright (2000 lumens is really bright). While this PJ is 'only' 720p several professional reviewers have dubbed this the 'poor-mans' 1080p. Panasonic has developed a technology called smooth screen that effectively minimizes screen door effect and it really works. I have my viewing area exactly 1.8x the diagonal (105" screen) and there is NO pixel distinction.

Setup: This was a snap. I used the much debated Avia setup DVD and the "Cinema 1" Mode was spot on out of the box. Looked great.

Gaming: While we are not a gaming family, we do have a Wii hooked up with great results. We also have the Fisher Price Smart Cycle and it looks awful - terrible resolution a la 1985. The PJ just exacerbates the lousy FP technology in the Smart Cycle - Don't misunderstand - the Smart Cycle is great - just needs real graphics.

Placement: This PJ has phenomenal flexibility with incredible lens shift and 2.0x zoom. To make a 106" picture unit can be from about 10 feet to about 20 feet away. Look carefully at zoom and lens shift before you buy.

Compatibility: This PJ accepts nearly all inputs (i.e. 1080p/24) and does not have to put the picture through 2:3 pull down. If you are considering a Blu-Ray or HD DVD be sure to check the signal compatibility of the PJ you are considering.
Noise: I sit under and just behind the PJ installed on the ceiling and it's barley audible with no other sound in the room. Very good dB rating.

Summary: Great value. Great picture. Easy installation. 2 HDMI ports. Highly recommended!

This projector is simply fantastic. DVD's look great and HD sources look even better. While very similar to last years model, this one has an additional HDMI input and, more importantly, is about $700 cheaper. Some benefits:

- Amazingly versatile placement options with wide zoom range and lens shift. I have this projector mounted on a shelf above my couch. This is perferable to a coffee table, and much less invasive than a ceiling mount. It's also very quiet - especially in eco mode.

- Extremely film-like "Cinema" mode right out of the box. I felt no need to calibrate this thing beyond the factory preset, although you can use a calibration DVD with color bars and adjust it yourself.

- LCD. It spite of what you might hear about DLP being more film-like, the image from the PT-AX200U is awesome. DLP projectors in this price range use a spinning color wheel which is usually louder and prone to requiring repairs. Worst DLP projectors can leave a rainbow trail / after-image detectable in a percentage of the population. Even if you can't see the rainbows, do your guests a favor and go LCD.

- Larger image and more flexible than a TV. If you're considering a plasma or LCD TV and enjoy watching movies (but don't necessarily leave the TV all the time), consider this projector. It's smaller, much easier to move, less expensive, and casts an amazing 106" image. If you have a room where you can control the light level (it doesn't have to have dark walls) this is the way to go for watching movies.

-This projector works very well hooked up to a computer. I have a Mac Mini that I use thru a DVI to HDMI converter and it works great, but you can also use a standard VGA connector. In the summer you can take it in the backyard, connect it to a laptop and project movies outside your BBQ or pool party.

Length:: 4:17 Mins

At about 450 hours the projector started to flicker erratically. It looked like the auto iris or light harmonizer was screwing up. I bought this from the Projector People and they told me that if burning in the unit doesn't solve the problem then I need to call Panasonic and they gave me the number. I called Panasonic and they told me to buy a new lamp first and see if that solved the problem. Well, while I was waiting for the new lamp I ran the projector for a whole weekend with the Winamp music visualtization running (quite trippy on a 125" screen in my one bedroom apartment) and I'm not sure when it stopped but the problem is gone. I had been running the projector for months in normal mode not eco mode so I thought it was already burned in. I guess the problem was that I had only been turning on the projector for 4 hour periods at the longest. I am an electrical engineer and I know this equipment needs to burn in I just didn't realize the length of time but come to think of it when Cleveland Browns Stadium first installed their changeable message signs they ran an intensely changing pattern for several weeks straight to burn in the electronics.

Well, I guess I have a back-up lamp now for when this one is used up.

By the way, I am looking at the completely white background of this website and there is not so mach as a blink. The projector is rock solid running on my laptop's 1080P HDMI output.

Hi, I have owned this projector for over a year now. Currently we have 1598 hours on our bulb, and we just ordered a new one to have as a spare when this bulb finally gives.

We use this projector to watch TV and movies. It is the only "TV" in the house and we watch movies/TV constantly (1598 hours in about a year, that says it all right there)

We have a 8 foot piece of polywall for a screen, and the room gets filtered light in the day, and we use an S-video feed for the direct tv (not hd yet!), an hdmi cable for the movies...and despite all this, the picture quality is amazing! We originally got the polywall piece from home depot as a temporary screen to use until we figured out placement and what size screen we wanted, but we have been so happy with the picture quality that we haven't gotten around to spending the money and replacing it yet. This week we are upgrading our direct tv to HD and I'm pretty stoked.

I spent months researching projectors before finally settling on this one. I am so glad I did, this projector has far exceeded my expectations in every way. Here are some of its best features:

--In terms of placement, its very flexible. I have it sitting on top of my book case in the rear of the room. I can easily zoom the picture in, make it smaller, and move it up/down/right/left. This is especially handy when switching from widescreen movies to the 4:3 TV format.
--This projector is really bright. I have the lamp on "natural" which is one the dimmest settings, and the output is good. I can see details in dark movies that I missed while in the movie theater! For example, DARK KNIGHT was AWESOME to watch with this projector because its a very very dark movie.
--I was VERY concerned about the lamp hours when I bought the projector. There was no "average" runtime given, so I was kind of expecting the bulb to go out around 700 hours. But here I am, at 1598 hours and the lamp is showing no signs of slowing down.
--The unit is very quiet. I live in a very warm climate and I was worried about having the projector mounted on my bookcase and overheating. The fan is located on the side of the projector and even after a 8 hour movie marathon, I have no problems with overheating.

Overall, I would recommend this projector to everyone. I am so glad I didn't waste money on a small plasma flat screen. My family was worried that we would be spending too much money on replacement bulbs. So far, even with our excessive use of the TV, we are only spending $350 a year on replacement bulbs. To be able to watch sports on an 8 FOOT SCREEN and have a theater style living room for movie nights, $350/year is SOOOOO worth it!

best projector under [...] hands down.

I was looking for a projector that would be able to play nice with my Mac via a digital connection, do HD, be able to hook up an HDMI source, as well as an SD source and haven't been disappointed at all!

NOTE: Not all DVD players are created equal and if you think your image looks kind of crappy, consider the source, I played a DVD through my PS2 onto this thing and it looked like crap, I could literally count the pixels, then I played a DVD through my Mac and I felt like I was sitting in a freaking theatre, it was pristine and clear and the colors were amazing.

I have mine hooked up to a receiver that up-converts my SD TV signal to 1080 and it looks alright (but what can you expect when you blow a 720x480 pixel image up to 92"!), though some channels I've noticed are better than others, it really shines when you play an HD source through it.

Sometimes you have to fiddle with the color/luminance options, but the good news is it has a ton options to tweak, and you can save profiles, so you basically tweak it once and load up different settings for different sources.

I play DVD's out of my Mac into the pt-ax200u onto a 92" screen via a cheap DVI-HDMI cable and it's like being at the movies. Playing HD content off of fox.com is even better than what you see at the theater no joke! You seriously have to see it to believe it. And it works as nice big monitor, even though it's native 1280x720, it'll do 1920x1080 which is actually more than my regular flat screen monitor. I do video production and I can't use it to accurately monitor the color and luminance levels of my photoshop projects and video projects, but it's nice when you want to just sit back on the couch and get the work done that doesn't involve tweaking colors or brightness/contrast levels.

A COUPLE OF THINGS TO NOTE:
I tried to the point of almost killing myself to get this thing to work right with a laptop running vista and couldn't get it to do the same thing twice, the problem might be on Vista's end (big surprise) but it's something to be aware of.

Also if you get it you SHOULD NOT ENABLE ECO-MODE RIGHT AWAY.
I did that thinking I'd extend the life of my lamp and after 30 or 40 hours of use and noticed extremely annoying flickering. After searching forums about it I read that your supposed to "burn in" the lamp for like the first 500 hours or something by leaving it in normal mode. I switched it to normal mode and after an hour or so of use the flickering went away and I haven't seen it back since almost 50 hours later.

ALso be aware of the lens shift difference between LCD and DLP projectors, the lens on this thing can move around a decent amount verses a DLP projector which can barely move the lens, if at all.

So bascially it's not a perfect projector, but it works great with everything, really shines with HD content and you can't beat the price.

I would have given 2-3 stars for picture quality. I still run my 14 year old SonyG90 CRT Projector through a Faroudja processor and nothing I have seen since can beat it. Not even close. Biggest problem with the picture really is poor reproduction of blacks which to me separates the good and the bad. The one star comes from build quality and customer service. I always believe the true test of a company is how they back a product. Well two lamps went down, the original in just about 100 hours. Arghh!! It's like buying a Gillette razor on sale knowing they will get you for 10 years on the blades. I purchased the product with an extended 1 year warranty and when the third lamp didn't work I realized I have a problem with the projector. Panasonic refused to honor the extended warranty and although I wrote them detailed descriptions of the problem customer service basically sent me a form letter denying the second year. I gave up and tossed it in the garbage. Many people seem to have posted similar comments about product build issues and customer service. My advice... .LISTEN!!!

I'd been shopping around for a new gaming display for Wii, PS3, Laptop through DVI, and movies, for a very long time, to replace my monster 36" 300lb CRT. First I went with a 46" LCD that just had too much lag, GHOSTING, grayish blacks, banding on the image, all these problems, and ended up returning it. Then a friend recommended I try the projector route. I was at first skeptical but eventually read a bunch of very helpful reviews on projectorreviews.com, and decided to go with this one, as it is marketed by Panasonic as a "gaming projector"

4 months of owning it and now I would never go back to anything else. Ever. Every one of my friends who sees this thing in action says the same thing - even one who has a massive 1080p 70" Sony rear projection set. This thing is just stellar, the image is sharp, very bright - even in a dimly lit room, and vibrant with great contrast and colors, no lag or ghosting, perfectly complements the high gain 100" gray glass beaded screen I bought for it (I recommend these over a plain white any day - see pictures)
There is no rainbow effect since it is a 3LCD projector, it is fairly quiet and does not have any sort of screen door effect, and ghosting is very very minimal - no more than a CRT or any other display. It also has a crazy amount of advanced image tweaking options that I've never seen on even the most expensive sony XBR LCD's.

The short throw lens is very flexible and can easily fill a 100" screen from less than 24 feet. I place mine in front of the viewers, on a table, angled slightly up with its adjustable feet, and found it gave a better picture than putting it behind and high above viewers. The viewing angle is very good - much better than the LCD it replaced, and is best achieved by placing it with the lens closer to the level of your head. The lens can be shifted all over the place with the little joystick and locked into place by twisting it, and the focal and zoom rings are very precise and have a nice feel.

Sure, it's not 1080p, and I wrestled with this issue a lot before buying it, but now I see that it really wouldn't matter unless i was trying to push this thing past maybe 150" or more. Also, most ps3 games only support 720p anyway, and the wii is only 480p - and taking into account the great value to performance ratio of this thing, I don't miss 1080p at all.

Even taking into account the bulb replacement costs (about $250 for each ~2000 hour bulb), I still feel it's worth it and cannot stress how much I love this thing. I beat Metal Gear Solid 4 on it and it was a transcendental experience to play through it on such a huge and beautiful display.

The only bad thing I can think of about this projector is that the lens cap is manual - you have to clip it on when you're done. I would have preferred a nice automatic one that shuts over the lens when you switch it off.

One final note - this projector is MADE IN JAPAN! How often do you see that any more? All the LCDs and Plasmas I looked at were all made in china, taiwan, mexico and all these other places that I feel have much much lower quality control standards than Japan. Made me feel very good about this product.