Panasonic Debuts New HD Projectors October 22, 2007

Read more Blu-ray , Gizmodo UK , HD , HD DVD , Home Cinema , Movies , Projector

I was very impressed with the Panasonic PT-AE900U HD 720p projector last year – still am - and now the company has added two more to its LCD-based HD projector line-up.

The new PT-AE2000E is a full HD projector with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and price tag of just under the £2,000 mark. It looks all-business and comes with a bright 1,500 Lumens brightness rating and a claimed contrast ratio of 16,000:1. Sporting numerous enhancements over its predecessor, the identical looking PT-AE1000E, from new lens technology to better colour reproduction, the PT-AE2000E also has some interesting user features.

Most notable is a split-screen mode where you can tweak the image in one half of the screen while comparing it to the same ‘baseline’ image in the other half. It comes with a generous three HDMI inputs and don't forget, its £1,500 cheaper than the old one.

There’s also the new 720p PT-AX200E which boasts a special ‘Game Mode’ as one of its key selling points. The Game mode promises much faster game refresh modes than normal on many projectors which should make for smoother fragging.

It quotes 2,000 Lumens of brightness, 6,000:1 contrast ratio and sports a pair of HDMI slots. It costs £1,100.-Martin Lynch