Warranty conditions, warning if they are of concern to you please consider the Epson EMP-TW700 (almost as bright) or Sanyo PLV-Z5 (Cinema rooms)..

i.e.

4. This warranty does not cover the following items unless the fault or defect existed at the time of purchase.

(a) Original factory fitted Lamp with more than 500 hours usage
(b) Consumables including but not limited to dust filters, batteries etc.
(c) Optical block parts if the product is used continuously in excess of 4 hours, more than 3 times per week.
(d) If regular maintenance (every 200 hours) is not carried out (i.e.; cleaning and or replacing the dust filter as
required) or warnings noted, as described in the user’s manual.

[More]

From: davxxay@xxm.com [mailto:daxxy@xxxx.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 11:05 AM
To: Steven
Subject: Feedback on Sanyo PLV Z5

Just a short line to let you know that I am very happy with the Sanyo Z5 Projector. If you recall, I was originally wanting to purchase the latest Panasonic however you guys steered me towards the Sanyo. My friend has the Panasonic and he reluctantly agreed that the Sanyo has a sharper picture than the Panasonic. With the additional advice regarding warranty variations, your advice has proved to be excellent.

In addition, set-up was very easy and with the lens shift option, framing after mounting the projector to the ceiling was too easy and was achieved without keystone adjustment. The out of box default settings were also fantastic.The lens cover is also a great feature and the unit is quieter than the Panasonic. The lower lumens is not an issue as I don't require the unit to run in a well lit room.

Thanks for your advice in getting this result. [More]

Why buy a 40 inch plasma when you can have a 120 inch home cinema?

Review of the PT-AX200 by Home Cinema Central

The Panasonic 2000 ANSI lumens brightness PT AX-200 is the bees-nee's for anyone wanting to use a projector in less than ideal conditions, in other words where a fair amount of light enters the room.

The flexible lens shift and 2 X Zoom means you can probably use the coffee table or rear book shelf in place of the more expensive fixed roof mount.

While 2000 lumens is available in other projectors, this is the brightest 2000 lumens in the 16:9 - 720P LCD class. The AX-200 automatically adjusts brightness according to the room lighting so you're only running flat chat when you need to.

The reason all lumens are not created equal is LCD projectors are always brighter than DLP models (single chip) of the same ANSI rating because the light is not cut up into sequential colours (by the colour wheel) 3-LCD models project all the colours at the same time thus giving more punch and effective brightness and no "rainbows".

We've just seen one in action and our impressions can be summed up as WOW!

We turned the lights up full in our cinema room and the image was still totally viewable. With light shining directly onto the projection screen you knew it was better than a Plasma TV under the same conditions. The "Normal" setting was almost as bright as the "Dynamic" setting without sacrificing image quality.

After overriding automatic brightness and pushing the pedal to the floor we rated the PT-AX200 at 1854 ANSI lumens which is by far the brightest actual rating we've seen in this class. This test is done by measuring the light output on a 40 inch screen and taking an average of 9 sections, some sections were over 2000 ANSI. This is bright.

"Better than a Plasma Screen in a bright room,
in fact better than a Plasma full stop."

HCC [Link] - Review of the PT-AX200 by Home Cinema Central