PROJECTOR REVIEWS

The Panasonic PT-AE700U lets you define and save several combinations of gamma and color temperature settings to suit your viewing tastes. I started in Normal picture mode with an optimized gray scale and the color temperature set to D6500.

After calibration, I measured 758 ANSI lumens from a full white field, which is extremely bright for a home-theater projector of any kind. That measurement ran as high as 939 lumens in Dynamic mode (don't use this; it's intended for all-out brightness when making PowerPoint presentations), and as low as 350 lumens in Cinema 1 mode. Good news—you'll have plenty of light available for a long-throw setup.

Brightness uniformity across the screen measured 73%, about average for an LCD projector. But oh, those contrast numbers! With a 720p, 16 checkerboard test pattern, I measured contrast ratios of 272:1 ANSI (average) and 457:1 peak (the brightest of the 16 checkerboards vs the darkest), while a 480i checkerboard produced readings of 251:1 ANSI and 394:1 peak. With a 50/50 black-and-white pattern, I measured peak contrast at 896:1. All of those readings put the PT-AE700U smack into DLP performance territory. In other words: very, very, good for an LCD projector.

Using the middle color-temperature setting, this projector tracked a very clean gray scale right out of the box. After adjustment, I was able to shift the gray scale up slightly, but I can't say I made a substantial improvement on Panasonic's preset scale. So go right ahead and use the factory presets with confidence that you're right in the desired gray-scale ballpark.