Panasonic PT-L300U LCD Projector
- Light Source Power: 120W UHM
- Lamp Type: UHM
- Light Source Life: 2000 Hours
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Better than any TV in existence
Pros
Can't see a screendoor effect when viewing 10' wide screen from 14'.
Cons
Panasonic needs to put out a DVD player that has DVI-D output.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Cheaper that a 65" big screen. Better picture than a TV. A personal movie theater for less than cost of TV.
I purchased my projector thru Visual Apex. Really nice, helpful people at Visual Apex.
After a lot of searching, I settled on a Panasonic PT-L300U. The only projector system available to view, within a 100-miles of my home, was a Yamaha LPX-500 that the retailer wanted to sell for $5200; so I had to rely on Internet research to make my purchase.
Now that the Panasonic is set-up in a compatible fashion, I can say that the Panasonic PT-L300U picture appears superior to the Yamaha LPX-500 based on what my eyes and my 28-year old son could see. Attack of the Clones, Ice Age, and Stewart Little were played on both systems for comparison. Both were set up as ceiling mounts at 14-feet projection distance, both projected to a 10'x8' screen with a 1.0 gain, both were projected from a progressive scan DVD player with all progressive scan switches on, and both were connected player-to-projector via a 4-meter component video cable. The DVD player supporting the Panasonic was a Panasonic DVD S35S purchased for $80 at Target. The DVD player supporting the Yamaha was a Yamaha DVD-S840 retailing for $400.
In my opinion, the Panasonic's graying out of the screen-door effect makes a huge difference in the finished product.
I did run the Panasonic 300U on standard Video, when it first arrived, and was pleased with the picture. Next, I obtained an S-Video Cable and the picture improved noticeably. After that, I obtained a Samsung HD-931 DVD player in hopes of getting the DVI connection to improve the projector's performance even more. After a lot of grief over this venture, caused by a horrible vendor named HypeAudio; I abandoned the DVI connection. Basically, tech-support told me I was over-my-head with the reprogramming necessary to get DVI-A/B to talk to DVI-D. (In fairness to Samsung, there is a good chance that HypeAudio sent me a damaged unit. I gave up in frustration and will never know for sure. HypeAudio is not an authorized vendor for Samsung.) Finally, I settled on the component video connection and the picture is splendid. It is noticeably better than the S-Video connection; though I had to call Panasonic Tech Support to get the S35S DVD Player to actually send the picture in progressive format. It is not enough to enable progressive video; you have to change the picture format as well.
I can either project to the far wall of the room or to the screen. My living room is 24' wide. Everyone who sees the image projected on the wall thinks the image is wonderful. I have to admit, it is a wonderful image that fills an entire wall 8'x13?' but the image on the screen is better, by a bunch, than an image on the wall.
If you're shopping for a projector and this is your first look at a projection system. You will be happy-to-thrilled with the Panasonic 300U.
I actually spent about $2500 total (includes shipping costs):
$1535 Panasonic PT L300U through VisualApex.com
$ 100 Monster MV3CV-4M through TheTwisterGroup.com
$ 80 Panasonic DVD S35S at local Target store
$ 450 Draper Luma2 8'x10' through USTechElectronic.com
$ 20 Local Home Improvement Store for shelf, wire covers, odds and ends
$ 300 Local Cabinet Shop to get ceiling cabinet built for projector
PS: I already had the surround sound system before considering a projector
After a lot of searching, I settled on a Panasonic PT-L300U. The only projector system available to view, within a 100-miles of my home, was a Yamaha LPX-500 that the retailer wanted to sell for $5200; so I had to rely on Internet research to make my purchase.
Now that the Panasonic is set-up in a compatible fashion, I can say that the Panasonic PT-L300U picture appears superior to the Yamaha LPX-500 based on what my eyes and my 28-year old son could see. Attack of the Clones, Ice Age, and Stewart Little were played on both systems for comparison. Both were set up as ceiling mounts at 14-feet projection distance, both projected to a 10'x8' screen with a 1.0 gain, both were projected from a progressive scan DVD player with all progressive scan switches on, and both were connected player-to-projector via a 4-meter component video cable. The DVD player supporting the Panasonic was a Panasonic DVD S35S purchased for $80 at Target. The DVD player supporting the Yamaha was a Yamaha DVD-S840 retailing for $400.
In my opinion, the Panasonic's graying out of the screen-door effect makes a huge difference in the finished product.
I did run the Panasonic 300U on standard Video, when it first arrived, and was pleased with the picture. Next, I obtained an S-Video Cable and the picture improved noticeably. After that, I obtained a Samsung HD-931 DVD player in hopes of getting the DVI connection to improve the projector's performance even more. After a lot of grief over this venture, caused by a horrible vendor named HypeAudio; I abandoned the DVI connection. Basically, tech-support told me I was over-my-head with the reprogramming necessary to get DVI-A/B to talk to DVI-D. (In fairness to Samsung, there is a good chance that HypeAudio sent me a damaged unit. I gave up in frustration and will never know for sure. HypeAudio is not an authorized vendor for Samsung.) Finally, I settled on the component video connection and the picture is splendid. It is noticeably better than the S-Video connection; though I had to call Panasonic Tech Support to get the S35S DVD Player to actually send the picture in progressive format. It is not enough to enable progressive video; you have to change the picture format as well.
I can either project to the far wall of the room or to the screen. My living room is 24' wide. Everyone who sees the image projected on the wall thinks the image is wonderful. I have to admit, it is a wonderful image that fills an entire wall 8'x13?' but the image on the screen is better, by a bunch, than an image on the wall.
If you're shopping for a projector and this is your first look at a projection system. You will be happy-to-thrilled with the Panasonic 300U.
I actually spent about $2500 total (includes shipping costs):
$1535 Panasonic PT L300U through VisualApex.com
$ 100 Monster MV3CV-4M through TheTwisterGroup.com
$ 80 Panasonic DVD S35S at local Target store
$ 450 Draper Luma2 8'x10' through USTechElectronic.com
$ 20 Local Home Improvement Store for shelf, wire covers, odds and ends
$ 300 Local Cabinet Shop to get ceiling cabinet built for projector
PS: I already had the surround sound system before considering a projector
