When you think of Panasonic video displays, you probably think of plasmas, and rightly so—it makes some of the best in the business. But the company also has a relatively long tradition of making LCD projectors. The PT-AE1000U is Panasonic’s latest model and the company’s first with 1920×1080 resolution. It has features galore and produces a fine pic¬ture overall, though not without a few caveats.

FEATURES Unlike many projectors these days, the PT-AE1000U is housed in a big rectangular box with a center-mounted lens. Two leveling feet on the front and manual horizontal and vertical lens-shift wheels make it easy to place and orient the projector. Even better, it has motorized zoom and focus controls that you can operate via remote control.

Speaking of the remote, it’s fully illuminated and surprisingly unclut¬tered, given that it’s a universal job capable of controlling up to seven devices other than the projector. Right below the handset’s little LCD display are three “soft� function buttons that can be assigned to do different things, such as select a particular input or initiate an auto-setup routine.

As with most universal remotes, there are no input buttons, though you could assign inputs to the three function buttons. On the other hand, there are several buttons that provide immediate access to commonly used controls, such as aspect ratio, picture mode, picture menu, and memory presets. I like the menu system a lot—you can see the most commonly used controls of the selected menu without having to drill down.

Of course, there are lots more controls than can fit on one screen—in fact, the PT-AE1000U has more than many other projectors—and each time you enter the system, it returns to where you left off last time, even as you dive down through the layers of param¬eters. Very helpful. Another nice touch is that when you make adjust¬ments, default values are highlight¬ed in green so you can see what you’ve changed at a glance.

PERFORMANCE The best focus I could obtain was just a tad less sharp than the other projectors reviewed in this group—I couldn’t clearly discern individual pixels when I was standing a couple of inches away from the screen. This is the result of what Panasonic calls Smooth Screen, a technology designed to reduce the “screen-door effect� common to LCD projectors.

Looking at Pearl Harbor on Blu-ray, the picture was plenty detailed—individual wheat stalks in a field were clearly visible, and each ship was sharp and well-defined in long shots of Pearl Harbor. There was a smoothness to the picture that some would say makes it look more “film-like.� Whether or not you prefer this to the razor-sharp image of other digital projectors is a matter of personal taste.

One thing that is definitely more film-like than the other projectors in this survey—and most displays made today—is how the picture looks when the Panasonic gets a 1080p/24 signal. After switching on the 24fps mode in the Samsung Blu-ray player, all motion in Pearl Harbor, from flying planes to camera pans, was much smoother at 96fps with none of the jerkiness endemic to movies shown at 60fps.

Colors were similarly excellent. The red crop-dusting biplane, deep blue sky, aqua ocean, and green grass all looked rich and vivid yet natural, and the smooth transition between the blue and orange/yellow of the Hawaiian sunset put me in the pilot’s seat of the plane as it soared over the island.

Background details in low-light scenes, such as planes’ insignias on the airfield at night, were more visible than on some other displays I’ve seen lately. As always, I turned to Chapter 8 of Mission: Impossible III at 1080i with its processor-torturing pan across a long staircase. The Panasonic’s performance on this scene was better than most but not as good as some, with a touch of wavy distortion in the stairs.

Switching to DVD, Star Trek: Insurrec¬tion was clearly not as sharp as Blu-ray, which is to be expected. However, it looked a bit softer than I’ve seen it on other high-def displays. The opening credits, bales of hay, faces, buildings, and everything else had a slightly indistinct appearance. Colors were still beautiful, with natural green foliage, blue lake, and skin tones. And the black of space was nice and deep, though not quite as deep as the Optoma HD80 also reviewed here.

HDTV from Charter Cable was just a smidgen less sharp than I’m used to. Cheetah: Race Against Time on Discovery HD Theater looked great, but I couldn’t help thinking it was a touch soft. Again, some would praise this as being more “film-like� than other digital projectors. The tan-to-white color of the cheetah’s fur was spot on, and the green trees and golden sunset put me on the African savannah along with the magnificent beasts. Regular (standard-def) TV, such as Crossing Jordan and Charmed on TNT, looked pretty soft, though the colors were vivid and natural-looking.

BOTTOM LINE As I said earlier, many viewers will appreciate the smooth, film-like quality of the picture pro¬duced by the Panasonic PT-AE1000U on high-def material, especially 1080p/24. However, standard-def images look noticeably softer than they do on other projectors. If you watch mostly HD, you’ll be very happy with the Panasonic’s picture.

The Last Word

Pros

• Gorgeous colors
• Smooth, film-like HD images
• Displays 1080p/24 at 96fps
• Good blacks
• Excellent shadow detail
• Extensive controls
• Great menu

Cons

• Slightly soft picture on standard TV
• Relatively low light output
• Universal remote with no input buttons

Specifications: PT-AE1000U
• Technology: LCD
• Screen-size range: 40�-200� (diagonal)
• Distance-to-screen range: 3.9’-39.3’
• Pixel resolution: 1920×1080
• 1:1 mode: Yes
• Accepts 1080p: Yes (60, 50, 24)
• Displays 1080p/24 at: 96Hz
• Video inputs: 2 HDMI (1.2a), 2 compo¬nent, 1 S-video, 1 composite, 1 VGA
• Other connections: RS-232
• Dimensions (WxHxD): 18.1� x 5.1� x 11.8�
• Weight: 15.9 lb
• Warranty: 1 year or 2000 hours (whichever comes first)
• Lamp life: 3000 hours
• Price: $5999; lamp replacement, $400