Your own Personal Movie Theater!
Written: Sep 18 '03 (Updated Sep 18 '03)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Reliability: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Display Quality: |
|
|
|
Pros: Huge pictures with awesome quality, Lots of inputs including DVI-D, Value Priced
Cons: Contrast/Black Level
The Bottom Line: I would definetely recommend this projector to someone, and actually a good friend of mine got one too on my recommendation. We both love em!
|
|
|
| -boss-'s Full Review: Panasonic PT-L300U LCD Projector |
I purchased my PT-L300U in July of 2003 and have been watching it with great satisfaction ever since. Pay no attention to the fact that my only TV prior to this was only a 20"!! :)
The Good:
Screen Size: You can project from 42" up to a 300" inch screen size with a 16:9 widescreen ratio. I am currently running mine at around 75-80" on a custom made screen. I went with an LCD Projector as opposed to a rear projection HDTV so I can set the size of the picture. If I ceiling mounted my projector, then I could easily fire up a 90-100" image.
Picture Quality: Picture quality is awesome, even on a blank wall... the projector throws out a 1/4 HD image at 960x540 pixels at around 800 lumens. By 1/4 HD you may be thinking "I want more than just one fourth of an HD signal!" But what you should realize is that it is more like 1/2 of an HD signal as it is a true HD signal halved in each direction. This makes for perfect scaling of an HD source that you wouldn't get even with a higher resolution projector. AND, You should note that most 42" plasma TVs don't even put out 1/4 HD, it is only in the high 800's wide. The PT-L300U also has a 800:1 contrast ratio, which is respectable, but not fantastic. Like I said above I use a custom screen, and I have it painted light grey to maximize the black levels. I could probably get even better performance if I dropped more dough on professional screen, but it looks good enough to me that I'm not going to worry about it. And finally, no color shifts like I see in DLP projectors!
Multiple Inputs: On the projector are hard jacks (as opposed to a proprietary cable) for, in order of worst to best: Composite (Video and Audio), S-Video, Component, Analog RGB (like most computer monitors), and DVI-D. There is one of each and it is recommended that you use a high quality audio receiver with multiple inputs if you have many sources to hook up. I only have DirecTV and a DVD player that I watch on the projector, so I do not need to route them through anything, they are direct connections. Use component video and a progressive scan DVD player for a nice signal... use a DVD player with DVI-D output for the best possible signal (or a Home Theater PC)
Size: The thing is about 1 foot by 1 foot by 5 inches high. I have built a small hutch for it on my coffee table and it doesn't take up too much room (plus I have a shelf over the projector on the hutch, so I really don't lose any real estate). It is also very easy to ceiling mount using an optional kit, or custom making one.
The Bad:
Contrast and Black Levels: This a downfall of LCD technology. You lose black levels... meaning the subtle shades of dark grey, but you gain true-ity of colors and there is no color shifting. Some people see a sort of rainbow effect with DLP technology, and unfortunately I am one of them. Also, when watching this in a room where there is ambient light (any light... sunlight, a light on in the room, etc.) then the picture quality is degraded. You lose lots of contrast because the darkest the image can get, is as dark as the screen is. Also, the colors wash out and aren't as vibrant. This is true of all projectors, but I believe LCD projectors are more suseptable than DLP or CRT. In a pitch black room, it is like being the in the movie theater though... its great.
Startup and Shutdown time: This is true of any projector, not just this one. It takes about 30 seconds to a minute for it to look pretty decent and a good 15 minutes before the picture is at its peak. When you are done watching, it takes around a minute or two for the fan to run (at high) to cool down.
Fan Noise: While the fan on this unit is fairly quiet at 28.0 dB, it is still noticable when the projector is located in front of the viewer. A ceiling mount would virtually eliminate this.
For a more comprehensive and professional review, copy/paste http://www.projectorcentral.com/Panasonic-PT-L300U.htm into your browser.
Recommended:
Yes
Purchase Price (if leased, monthly payment): 1725.00
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
-boss-
|
|
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2010 Shopping.com, Inc.