formica Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 Lets say you had the choice of the Panasonic AE900U for 2340$ (taxes, shipping, and rebates included) versus the Sanyo PLV-Z4 with an addition replacement bulb for 2165$ (taxes, shipping, and rebates included) ... which would you go for? Yes, I know they are available for less in the US, but in Canada those are the prices I'm faced with. I have seen the rumours that Panny may have a new unit in the works and will actually cut the current pricing, but I don't really want to wait 6mths to find out that it wasn't true. I'm tempted to save the 175$ and get the additional bulb, but the AE900 seems to be more popular. ROb PS: If I import a AE900 myself, I still have to somehow collect the 400$ rebate from a US address but it does become more attractive at about 1900$ taxes, duty, and rebates included. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougdrake Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 My vote for the Panny is not based on a comparison, but rather the fact I have a AE700 which I like, and the fact that I believe there must be a reason it is seems to be more popular than the Sanyo. I'm sure you could find a trusted friend here to buy it for you and handle the rebates and such and send it to you, but not sure how that would work for warranty purposes. For one, on these, I'd hate to be without a warranty. In this product set, new models come out each year - announced in late summer, available in late fall. You can bet there's a replacement in the works. In my case, I also bought about this time with the logic that I'd get that many more months of enjoyment out of it (versus waiting), and if I kept waiting for the next model I'd never buy one. I don't believe you're going to see prices fall that much on the 900 until they are shipping its replacement. IIRC, that's what happened with the 700 - the price was already a great deal with the rebate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 Formica What are you talking about? What is this Panasonic piece of equipment? Is Panasonic now considered good equipment? I owned some years ago and got pounded heavily for owning cut rate products. I'm in the dark here, shed me some light. Also I live about 3 hrs from the border, could meet you in Plattsburgh, if you chose to buy at my address, and save the money. I know you don't know me, and I probably wouldn't do that either, just a thought. OR my son will be graduating from Clarkson in a couple of weeks, could meet me there. Food for thought! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spongeworthy Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 Formica What are you talking about? What is this Panasonic piece of equipment? Is Panasonic now considered good equipment? I owned some years ago and got pounded heavily for owning cut rate products. I'm in the dark here, shed me some light. yes, Panasonic makes awesome projectors. Check it out [] www.projectorcentral.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssh Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 I purchased the Panasonic three months ago, & am satisfied with it. I still haven't received the rebate, but I only paid $1950 at Projectors.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfogg Posted April 16, 2006 Share Posted April 16, 2006 Rob, I went with the Panasonic for a few reasons... Smoothscreen... I sit at 1x screen ratio on 2.35 material. The less visible the pixels the better. You can just sort of make out SDE at 1x width but only on bright things like text. The Sanyo would have been a problem at the same distance. Operation of the Iris. Just from reports of others the Sanyo's IRIS seemed to be more noticeable in operation. I notice it once in awhile on the Panasonic but not often. Calibrated actual CR numbers seemed to favor the Panasonic. The big one to me was really the smoothscreen. SDE bugs me and coming from a 1365x1024 DILA (fill factor around 94%) and its very smooth film like look I didn't want a bunch of colored squares on the screen. Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blazemaster Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 If you don't see rainbows, have you considered the new Optoma H72? It's a DLP projector for the same price range as the 2 LCDs that you are considering. Less screen door than LCD, and better PQ. Something to think about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formica Posted April 17, 2006 Author Share Posted April 17, 2006 The big one to me was really the smoothscreen. SDE bugs me That's what i figured too... but at 500$ more (±175$ extra plus 325$ for spare bulb) i was trying to see if it's really worth the premium. I should be sitting at about 1.4 the width in 2.35:1 films... I will go and talk to one of my local retailers this week and see which he could get. Otherwise I live about 45min to the border... so I could always ship it to a border shop and pick it up (I've done this for some other stuff in the past)... but has anyone receive their rebates yet? If so... are they 1) mailed to the same address as the projector 2) limited in time to deposit check (ie: valid for 30days after the check is emitted) 3) deposit only in US account Ironically, handling the rebate is more complexe than the actual projector. ROb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfogg Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 Blazemaster, " Less screen door than LCD" Not less then the Panasonic. The Panasonic basically has a prism in it's optical path that works much like the IMX lenses did to greatly reduce SDE. Rob, " I should be sitting at about 1.4 the width in 2.35:1 films... " My backrow of seats is about 1.5x. At that distance the picture is very smooth. You should try reading some user reports on the Sanyo to see how visible SDE would be at 1.4x. I think 1.5x is around the limit most people give for the Sanyo. "(±175$ extra plus 325$ for spare bulb)" If you do go with the Panny don't buy the spare bulb right away. The bulbs warranties are fairly short and if you ended up buying a defective spare bulb by the time you actually go to use it it would long be out of its warranty. I haven't received my rebate yet so I can't give you specifics about the check itself. Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Adams Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 The big one to me was really the smoothscreen. SDE bugs me That's what i figured too... but at 500$ more (±175$ extra plus 325$ for spare bulb) i was trying to see if it's really worth the premium. I should be sitting at about 1.4 the width in 2.35:1 films... I will go and talk to one of my local retailers this week and see which he could get. Otherwise I live about 45min to the border... so I could always ship it to a border shop and pick it up (I've done this for some other stuff in the past)... but has anyone receive their rebates yet? If so... are they 1) mailed to the same address as the projector 2) limited in time to deposit check (ie: valid for 30days after the check is emitted) 3) deposit only in US account Ironically, handling the rebate is more complexe than the actual projector. ROb Of course, you know my preference being an AE900U owner. Like Shawn, the smoothscreen was important to me but to a lesser degree since I sit 2X screen width back from the screen. The things that sold me was the 2.0x zoom which allows the projector to be placed further back from the screen. And when ceiling mounting, this translates into a less steep angle which in turn means less pixel loss due to digital correction of the image. Hope that makes sense. The other thing that tipped the scales in favor of the Pany was that the dynamic iris was better than the Sanyo (based on reports, reviews, etc.). As for the rebate......... 1) It was mailed to the address I listed on the rebate form. 2) Yes 3) Don't know. It was a bit tough finding the darn rebate form on the internet website, but once I sent it in, I got the check exactly 6 weeks later along with a Blockbuster "check card". Was skeptical about the Blockbuster thing working, but it has so far. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raybart Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 Formica, I bought the AE700U about a year ago from a dealer in Edmonton. Double Diamond Electronics. Full warranty and a very good price (less than if I had it shipped from the US). There must be a dealer in your area or one in Canada that will give you a better price. I'm not sure what's been improved on with the 700 but I love mine. Raybart Calgary (Home of the soon to be 2006 Stanley Cup Champs) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thoriated_Tiger Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 I put my vote for the Panny -- I have a 700 and while I've had some lamp issues (as in, they're crap), I love the picture it puts out. Now, I'll throw this out there for your consideration: I've yet to hear of anything concrete (or even rumor-ish) for a 900 replacement from Panny. But, the tradition is that if there is a replacement, it'll be shown in September at CES, and it'll be on sale Oct-Nov. That's how it has been for most of their HT projectors. The new one, should it materialize, will hopefully have (and I stress hopefully) the new C2Fine panels from Epson, instead of the 900's D5 and 700's D4. Completely new panel, not a refinement of prior stuff. C2Fine's *supposed* to do Jet Black. However, by this time last year, we knew Epson was making D5 panels, in time for an October debut in the 900 and others -- so far, this year, nothing's been said about C2Fine. =o( This is all conjecture at this point -- but I was in this situation not too long ago -- buy an AE500, or hold out for its replacement -- I held out, and got the 700. I skip the 900, because I know panny will have something out by end of year -- and if it is C2Fine, I'll bite, oh will I bite. Otherwise, I'll wait -- I don't want an incremental upgrade, I want a quantum leap. [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Speedball Posted April 17, 2006 Share Posted April 17, 2006 I voted for panasonic because they are the maker of my smooth running rechargable drill.....[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formica Posted April 17, 2006 Author Share Posted April 17, 2006 Almost 100% in favour for the Panny... you guys want to make this difficult on me, huh? has anyone receive their rebates yet? If so... are they 3) deposit only in US account As for the rebate......... 3) Don't know. It was a bit tough finding the darn rebate form on the internet website, but once I sent it in, I got the check exactly 6 weeks later along with a Blockbuster "check card". Was skeptical about the Blockbuster thing working, but it has so far. True that it wouldn't readily show up on the check... except if the check was made out to you and included the rebate address on it. BTW, does the blockbuster card have a name on it... or do you think it is transferable? I know I'm asking a lot of detailed questions, but most of you guys seem to think that I should get the AE900 and find a way to make it work. I bought the AE700U about a year ago from a dealer in Edmonton.... Full warranty and a very good price (less than if I had it shipped from the US). There must be a dealer in your area or one in Canada that will give you a better price. One of the big drawbacks in Canada, this time around, is the fact that Panasonic decided to offer a US only rebate program... It would have been a no brainer for me had the rebate been available here too. I did do the calculation (with the 5% duty and additional provincial sales tax) and the Canadian bought unit would cost me (EDIT) only slightly more if it weren't for the 400$US rebate. ROb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
formica Posted April 22, 2006 Author Share Posted April 22, 2006 I will go and talk to one of my local retailers this week and see which he could get. Just thought i'd let you guys know that they carry Panasonic (and Klipsch Heritage ! BTW)... and the best they could do is equivalent to about 2250$US on the AE900U. It's a slight premium over the Canadian online retailers... but i wouldn't mind paying to get it from a B&M store. Unfortunately it's also 750$ more than in the US... which I do mind given it's pretty substantial. I'll have to give that a little more thought. I also got to see the AE900U in action and the image is very nice. In a room with 3 other projectors (Optima, Sharp, and another but I didn't note down the models) provided the best picture of the bunch and the only one with nearly invisible grain even at a couple of feet from the screen. I agree with the members who say that it is a definitive advantage. They do not sell Sanyo, so it prevented a side-by-side comparison of those two. ROb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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