The off-white finish will help the PT-AX200E blend into most living rooms, which is no bad thing as its huge and has none of the attractive curves of the Epson.
Like the Epson its very easy to setup in almost any space thanks to its big zoom and lens shift control. The latter is controlled by a handy little joystick on the front.
The remote is also rather boxy, though it has all the controls you need and lights up in the dark too.
Bigger, better, brighterAs well as being big, this projector is also very bright with a 2,000 lumens rating. We think its the brightest projector here, and you can watch programmes in any lighting bar direct sunlight.
Usually such a bright lamp will result in a low contrast ratio and washed out colours, however both this projector and the Epson use clever tricks to avoid this.
When a bright scene is displayed the projector uses the full power of the lamp, but then reduces this power in darker scenes to avoid eradicating fine detail.
This is why these projectors have such high contrast figures though in reality compromises have to be made with most scenes, and so the actual figure is lower than advertised.
Whatever the technology theres no denying that the results are excellent. The Panasonic looks head and shoulders above the others in a wide range of lighting conditions.
Colours look vibrant and punchy, with the default setting producing lifelike skin tones. The sharpness of the picture makes you wonder if youre actually watching a much more expensive 1080p projector. This highly defined look particularly benefits digital content such as video games.
Fast as lightningWith gaming in mind, Panasonic has added a special Game Mode to this projector. It cuts out the clever image processing inside the projector and gets the image on to the screen as quickly as possible giving you the best possible reaction times.
This projector also has two HDMI ports for connecting multiple HD sources, though unfortunately, theres no SCART.
Its easy to setup, works in the vast majority of lighting conditions, and projects an image that makes the most of highly detailed HD content. Its great value for money and is easily our favourite 720p HD projector to date.
Author:iGizmo
Copyright 2009 Dennis Publishing All Rights Reserved.
Panasonic PT-AX200E