Panasonic PT AX 100 E

Updated review.

The picture quality is extremely good in a dark room and quite watchable during the day even with the curtains open for all but the darkest movies. In bright conditions the colours can become a little washed-out although there are various viewing options on the remote control to compensate a little. For some very dark films however you should wait until the room can be blacked out completely. The lens is large and of very high quality with a wide ranging zoom. Many home cinema projectors have just a wide angle lens with a small amount of zoom for fine adjustment, to allow big pictures from a short distance, but are less flexible, especially in big rooms where you may want the projector a long way from the screen. I used a 72" screen at a distance of about 18', but I could have used a far bigger screen or projected from much closer.

The projector has many of the usual inputs: HDMI, S-Video, composite and component, but not SCART, unlike previous Panasonic models. Most projectors do not have a SCART input anyway, but it is a shame that this has now been dropped from the Panasonic range too. I am using a good-quality S-Video cable instead of the RGB SCART I used with my previous projector and there does not appear to be any reduction in quality. Usually an RGB or Component source, which both have three separate channels for the picture, would be preferable to an S-Video, which effectively has just two wires to carry the three components (and far better that composite, which effectively has just one wire carrying the three signals) The HDMI input, which is digital, would be the best input if you are using a blu-ray or other HD source or an upscaled DVD (although the projector does have an upscaler built in, so you don't need to buy an upscaling DVD if you haven't got one) The controls are very simple, similar to any TV or display, and it was easy to get the projector working within a few minutes of unpacking it, although there are a few options that can be set to optimise the picture, which is described in the detailed setup instructions provided.

Projectors, like this one have advantages over other types of display, in that they can project a huge screen size, which gives a real cinema feel, even when just watching TV and yet disappear when turned off, unlike large flat-panel screens which can dominate a room. I use a 72" roll-up screen, but an even bigger screen could be achieved just by projecting onto a large white wall. Unfortunately attention should be paid to the bulb life, because the replacements are very expensive. During bright daylight, in some rooms, you may also find dark scenes in films difficult to watch, unless you have thick curtains. I cannot recommend this Panasonic projector, because they have been unable to fix mine, despite the fault being a a know design fault (see updates below)

I complained to Panasonic customer services, rather than trying to use customer support, and they immediately got back to me and said that they will look at the projector for me, despite it being out of warranty.