The Panasonic PT-AE 4000 is a Full HD LCD projector that hit the market in late 2009. Online, the device currently sells from about 2,100 GBP in the UK and about 2,000 USD in the United States.

Reviewed by Florian Friedrich on February 19, 2010

Accurate colours.
Contrast-rich images.
Loads of video settings.
2x zoom and lens shift.
Excellent 24p reproduction.
Top motion clarity.

Slight discolouration in fine patterns.
Coloured fringes on moving edges.
Poor de-interlacing in standard TV.

In terms of light output, the PT-AE 4000 surpasses its predecessors. It also combines attractive colours with outstanding contrast, as well as versatile and professional features. Not so impressive, on the other hand, were the small colour fringes on moving objects.

Most Important Connections:

3x 1x 1x 1x

Features

The Panasonic PT-AE 4000 has three HDMI inputs but just one YUV.

Externally, the PT-AE 4000 differs from its predecessor, the PT-AE 3000, only in its lack of a second YUV input. The remote control’s “Viera Link” button replaces the former “Aspect” button, but, while controlling other devices via Viera Link is essentially a good thing, we still think an aspect-ratio button would have been better. The three-level “Frame Creation” setting was already present in the projector’s predecessor and deals with motion depiction in TV and films, generating intermediate frames of video.

The improved “Detail Clarity” processor claims to handle fine patterns even more accurately, as well as providing automatic adjustment. But the “Smooth Screen” technology can easily throw a spanner in the works: This uses microlenses to try and eliminate the LCD pixel raster from the image, but means that details don’t always look as crisp as on other projectors. On the other hand, the pixel raster is less visible on the Panasonic in images of more than 2.8 metres in width — buyers can choose for themselves which benefit they value more. As with the PT-AE 4000’s predecessor, we noticed slight colour fringes on moving edges — unfortunately, nothing has changed in this respect.

Nevertheless, the newly developed lamp results in a brighter projection. Whereas the PT-AE 3000 only managed a meagre 400 lumens, the PT-AE 4000 racks the output up to 600 lumens. Even in the quieter lamp mode, therefore, you’ll get a brighter picture than with the predecessor. Panasonic has added a load more video settings, and the waveform monitor is an excellent analysis tool that can even automatically optimise the picture (see box below).

Operation

There are extra controls under a flap on the side of the projector. These allow you to control all the basic functions, including the zoom and focus.

Thanks to the versatile lens-shift optics and a memory function, the Panasonic is also suitable for wider 21:9-format screens: You can store up to 10 different zoom and focus presets and then call them up later in order to fit various formats neatly on the screen. Only the vertical picture position requires manual adjustment.

Light and Colours

The Panasonic produces excellent colours in the “Colour1” preset, but dark greyscales tend slightly too far towards magenta.

Our colour measurements gave almost identical results to those we found with the PT-AE 3000 in late 2008. In the “Cinema1” mode, the colour space remains extended, and the colour temperature, at 7,000 Kelvin, is too cool. “Colour1”, on the other hand, displays correct primary colours with no extension of the colour space and an almost ideal colour temperature of 6,430 Kelvin. All further picture modes (five in total) are unsuitable for producing natural colours, but are capable of producing some very bright images: The “Normal” mode delivers 1,130 lumens; “Dynamic” even manages 1,460 lumens.

In terms of contrast, the new Panasonic slightly improves upon its predecessor’s performance: The dynamic contrast has risen to 8,770:1, while the in-picture contrast now measures 3,600:1. Scattered light is now filtered a second time, allowing the Panasonic to surpass even some DLP projectors, such as the BenQ W 6000 and the Samsung SP-A 600 B, which we reviewed at almost the same time; still, Epson’s recent Epson EH-TW 5500,  another LCD projector, beats the Panasonic in this discipline. Sadly, comparison with the Epson reveals significant colouration (shading) in the edges of the Panasonic’s picture and bluish tints in fine patterns. You can combat this tint, however, by setting the controls for sharpness and “Detail Clarity” to zero — but this doesn’t eradicate it altogether. Fine patterns in the “Pixel Phase” test pattern, on the other hand, look too reddish, but this isn’t because of convergence errors; rather, the RGB levels deviate slightly in fine structures.

Some blue and red colouration appears in fine patterns.

Picture Quality of Standard Signals

Flicker appears immediately on moving objects in films. And, sadly, even the “Cinema Reality” mode can’t help here. In principle, the Panasonic’s film-mode detection is acceptable, but it doesn’t work if the motion enhancement is deactivated. “Frame Creation” also fails to completely eliminate flicker. You can switch off overscan in composite and S-Video signals, producing images with virtually no cropping. Nevertheless, the de-interlacing leaves rough stair-step effects on slanted edges. The colour resolution in composite and S-Video pictures could also be better. Anyone considering buying the PT-AE 4000 should consider replacing any older satellite-TV receivers with new digital models that can accurately up-scale their HDMI output signals.

Picture Quality of High-Definition Signals

In HDTV films and documentaries in 1080i format, the Panasonic delivers accurate de-interlacing — with or without “Frame Creation”. Movies in 1080p format display in seductive contrast and natural colours — and the whole image looks extremely vivid. The adaptive iris isn’t even strictly necessary, as the projector manages to display the letterbox bars on 21:9 films in absolute black. If you activate the iris, the contrast increases in dark scenes, and the residual illumination in black drops subtly, without producing annoying noises or brightness pumping.

On the James Bond Blu-ray “Casino Royale”, we were impressed with the black-and-white night-time intro scene — the contrast is truly superb, and there’s no colour strobing like you’d see on DLP projectors. Still, there are red fringes on moving edges, and these become worse as the speed of motion increases. If you switch on “Frame Creation”, the effect becomes much more prominent in this contrast-rich scene because of the higher motion clarity. But this scene turns out to be something of an exception on the James Bond Blu-ray: The daylight chase scene in the building site, for example, has slightly softer edges because of the “Smooth Screen” technology; the fine patterns in the crane don’t look spectacularly sharp, but they’re still decently crisp.

If you switch on “Frame Creation” (in level one), the typical film look is mostly retained. In levels two and three, even faster-moving objects glide smoothly across the screen. Football in HD quality also looks crisper with “Frame Creation” active.

Ideal Settings

Picture Mode: Colour1

Contrast: 9

Brightness: 3

Colour: 0

Tint: 0

Sharpness: 0

Dynamic Iris: On

Detail Clarity: 0

Frame Creation: 1

Lamp: Normal

These settings apply to realistic playback of HDTV/Blu-ray material through the HDMI interface in a darkened environment. Manufacturing and HDMI playback device deviations might necessitate slight adjustment.

Lab Results

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please reply to the thread accompanying this review on avsforum.com.