Product Description

PT-AE***0/AT***0 Home Projector

Now has introduced the PT-AE***0. The AE***0 is not as outwardly different from its predecessor as was the AE***0 from its own, but outward appearances mean very little. The AE***0 has significant improvements in all areas of picture quality, from brightness (both in 2D and 3D) to contrast (both in dynamic range and shadow detail) to color accuracy and the clarity of detail. Any one of these improvements can seem rather small, but taken in sum they constitute a major upgrade that will interest both videophiles and more casual users.

The PT-AE***0U full-HD 3D home theater projector delivers 2,**0 lumens of brightness and has an extremely high **0,**0:1 contrast ratio for an outstanding

The Viewing Experience

The AE****0 is newest home theater projector, offering several improvements over the AE****0 that will be of particular benefit in a dark room home theater environment.

We set up our AE***0 on a rear shelf above and slightly behind our seating area. The projector has manual H/V lens shift with a joystick-style adjustment mechanism. This system allows for a total shift range of three image heights by 1.5 image widths. In other words, you can move the picture one full image height either up or down from the central position, or a quarter of the image width in either direction. As always, the shape of the lens shift range is an oval, not a rectangle, so one cannot reach full horizontal and vertical shift simultaneously.

The AE***0 has received a brightness boost over its predecessor of *0% on paper, from ***0 to ***0 lumens. However, our actual measured increase is more than the specs indicate. The AE***0's Cinema 1 mode measured **9 lumens on our test sample, whereas the new AE***0 cranks out **2 lumens in that same mode, which is more like a *0% increase. That's enough light to power a **0" diagonal 1.3 gain *6:9 screen at *8 foot Lamberts.

Our AE***0 was set up for a **0" diagonal image on a Stewart Studiotek **0, a 1.0 gain screen, using Cinema 1 in low lamp mode with the lens at its widest angle setting. That produced **4 lumens, or *8 fL, and still left plenty of room to increase brightness when it came time for 3D. (Btw, Stewart doesn't recommend the neutral Studiotek **0 for home theater; the Studiotek **0 (1.3 gain), is usually preferred for home theater installations.)

Viewed by itself, the AE***0 is a stunning projector. However, viewing the AE***0 next to the AE***0 is when things start to get interesting. There's a clear increase in contrast, especially in low-illumination areas; shadow detail is better defined on the AE***0. The brightness difference is readily apparent to the naked eye. Detail appears more clear and sharp, though there is no sign of anything resembling an edge enhancement artifact. In 2D, these improvements combine to give the AE***0's picture a touch of refined elegance as compared to the AE***0, a quality that will be appreciated by dedicated videophiles. In 3D, a substantial improvement in brightness and stability may have specific appeal to those who view a lot of 3D material.

SPECIFICATIONS: