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By Kevin Miller, CNET.com
Dec 31, 2007

Panasonic has been in the front-projection business for a long time, and has been aggressively pricing its home theater projectors for just as long, which has effectively driven prices down in the category as a whole. As a result it's now more affordable than ever to get a big-screen theater experience at home. The company's latest effort, the PT-AE2000, is a 1080p mode that promises to follow this value-for-money proposition. Like most offerings in its category, it isn't perfect, but it is better than most of its competition, such as the Sanyo PLV-Z2000. As is typical with these types of projectors, overall color fidelity is Panasonic's biggest issue, but in other areas of picture quality it performs surprisingly well. The unit offers great connectivity and a slew of helpful setup features, and it packs a solid 1080p punch for such a compact package.

Editors' note:

This review is based on evaluations conducted by our sister site. Review ratings on similar products may differ due to differences in regional market trends and competing product lineups.

Design

The PT-AE2000's external appearance won't turn any heads. It's a basic, rectangular-shaped box finished all in black, which means it should disappear when mounted on darker ceilings. All of the connectivity is located in the rear center of the chassis. A pull-down door on the side hides a menu button, the four-way arrows for navigation, and the focus and zoom functions.

As far as remotes go, the one included with the AE2000 is an excellent design. We liked its ergonomics, especially the easy thumb access to the most commonly-used keys. It is a fully backlit universal type capable of controlling other components. The internal menu system is fairly straightforward and easy to navigate.

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