Monday, November 17, 2008

What will it be: Panny 3000 or Epson 6500

The purchase of a new 1080p projector has been on hold all summer. The two main contenders are the Panasonic AE-3000 and the soon to be released Epson 6500U. The reviews of the 3000 are slowly rolling in, and they are mixed. They have made improvements in brightness and contrast, but it appears they haven't solved the dust blob issue. I have never had a dust blob on my SE-700, so I don't know if I have a cleaner environment, or if it is just luck of the draw.

The 3000 seems to have more user features, like the waveform monitor, zoom memory for 2:35 zooming, and color correction features. Some of these I would use, other features -not so much. If the Epson is quieter, less prone to dust blobs, and has a better brightness and contrast, I may be swayed to go that route. Predictions are that the Epson may be a few hundred more, but no street prices are available yet.

There is also the "Dark Knight" factor. I would like to have the projector installed and calibrated by the second week of December for the 'Dark Knight" movie night. The Epson looks like it will be delayed until around that time frame or longer. That might just be the thing that gets me to confirm the Panny purchase.

Until then, I keep reading and watching as all the information trickles in.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I went with the Epson 6500. Although the price drop for the 3000 was tempting, I wanted the better contrast ratio. Plus Epson has a heck of a warranty and the overnight replacement thing is nice.