Panasonic PT-AE700U - Thinking of selling...

[SHIBUMI]

I'm thinking about selling my Panasonic PT-AE700U front projector and moving to the AX-200U.

I'm just not sure what the going rate for a used FP is these days. I did a quick check on eBay for mine - but none were listed. Has anyone seen any of these for sale recently? I'm hoping to offset the cost for the AX-200U a bit!

*I* was thinking around $600 - $800 - but like I say, not sure what's realistic...

Any ideas?

I just checked the menu and it says it has 1252 hours on it. They *claim* 3000 hours life on it - but - I've seen ranges all over the place.

The projector itself was purchased back in Aug 2005 - so about 2 1/2 years old. Always been ceiling mounted - still have all original packaging - if any of that factors into price.

Thanks!

[SHIBUMI]

On a side note - has anyone ever seen anything about the Lamp Hours meter being wrong??!?!

1252 hours sounds like A LOT more than I would have thought I used it... I've always used it primarily for my Xbox... once in a blue moon for football games - and only a handful of movies. Like I say - it's mainly been my gaming projector.

So - if I were to take that 1252 hours - divide it by 12 hour sessions (which is extremely high and unrealistic) - that still comes out to 104 days of gaming!!!

Man - I don't think I've gotten in 104 days of gaming in the past 2 years!! I'm lucky to get in 3 nights a month!!

If I go w/ the a more realistic gaming session hour rate - 6 hrs - that doubles the days to 208... I'm not seeing it!

So - is my math wrong - or have these lamp hr log things been known to be wrong??

[BiffCo]

I tried to sell my Panny AE900U a few months back with no success. People just didn't/don't want to pay over $500 for it. Mine currently has 1400 hours on the bulb, but I know I haven't used it THAT much. I purchased it back in February of last year and it had 125 hours on it.

I still want to sell mine to go with something smaller for the time being. At first I was just going to use tax money to buy a Westinghouse, but that didn't make sense financially (all the money went to bills/debts). Problem is, I could probably only get $400-$500 for it.

-Brad

[BMC]

I have an AE900U also and when I do sell it the only cost I'll try to recoup is the cost of the new bulb plus a little extra, maybe $450 to $500.

[SHIBUMI]

Hmmmm - So I guess I'll have to target $500...

I was trying to get a decent amount to offset the move to the AX200.

I'm at the point where - I have a perfectly good projector, but the AX200 will probably suit my room better. I have 3 floor to ceiling windows on one side of the room and a double sliding glass door on the other side of the room - so - yeah - not your typical closed theater environment!! I'm thinking the AX200 lumens will be brighter and work better in my situation.

BUT - to drop $1200 to go from a perfectly good 720p projector to another 720p projector - doesn't make good fiscal sense right now.

Even an offset of $500.. hard to justify $700 on a mostly lateral move...

[MadBryan]

Exactly! I would not get another projector till 1080p and I'm just waiting for that price to drop alittle bit more. Have you tried a higher gain screen? Thats what I did to get alittle more "POP" out my picture as my bulb started to dim. The screens can get pricey but you'll have through several projectors or check out the diy threads over at AVS

[BMC]

Shibumi I know what you mean on room environment. My theater is in a room with two big windows and its open to our foyer with two windows on either side of the door. PQ is tolerable during the day and damn good at night, but I want to step up to a 1080p pj to get more lumens and sharper PQ. Like MadB said the 1080p pj's are too pricey at this point to move up and honestly I never thought about trying a different screen.

Off topic:
Do you guys think it would be worth it to try a whte screen? I'm using a Da Lite light grey screen at the moment, but I've always wondered what benefits a white screen could offer over the light grey screen. Do you guys have any insight about the differences between the light and grey screen? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

Sorry to hijack your thread Shibumi.

[SHIBUMI]

Originally Posted by MadBryan

Have you tried a higher gain screen? Thats what I did to get alittle more "POP" out my picture as my bulb started to dim. The screens can get pricey but you'll have through several projectors or check out the diy threads over at AVS

I've got a Carada Criterion High-Contrast Grey screen now - so I think I'm about as good as I'm gonna get screen-wise without dropping HUGE $$$$ on a firehawk or whatever they're called.

It really is a nice screen - and I think it squeezes the best outta the AE700 for my room.

BMC - I don't think you'd wanna go white. I think that you're supposed to go to the grey to help out w/ contrast and lighting situations (at least that's how I understood it back when I got my screen.)


Ya know - now that I think about it... I wonder whatever happened to Sony's black screens that they were going to be putting out. I remember reading about them a couple years ago, but haven't seen anything. Supposed to be major high-contrast - great pic even in daylight!

Edit: It was called ChromaVue - I don't see them for sale anywhere online right now... Sticker was $2000!!! Looks like there are some others out there that use this light absorbing technology. Outta my budget lol - Another one - Xscreen - no price though.

Guess I'll stick w/ concentrating on the brighter AX200

[BMC]

I definitely like the screen I have. It is very bright and the colors are vivid, so I am happy with it.

When I step up to a new PJ, I'm looking at the Sony Black Pearl or the DLP route. I like the Panny, but it's too soft for me. Other technologies seem to have better CR and are razor sharp without artificial edge enhancement.