Panasonic’s PT-AR100U, one of the manufacturer’s 1080p Full HD offerings, is a versatile piece of hardware. It hugs the line between home theater and home entertainment projector, doing triple duty in the family living room. With capabilities for gaming, movies and for watching sports and TV, the PT-AR100U provides a great range of functionality. Plus, aided by Panasonic’s Light Harmonization 3 technology, the projector’s ability to auto-adjust light output to a room’s ambient light boosts the projector’s ease of use.
Overall, there’s not much missing from the PT-AR100U. Although it was initially released in 2011, it holds its own against today’s home entertainment releases. The biggest downfall is the lack of 3D video. Plus, if you’re looking for a strictly cinema projector, you’d be better off looking at home theater designated projectors, as image quality is underwhelming in those situations. Yet, for the price, the PT-AR100U’s capabilities, its color performance and brightness, it’s a solid investment and high-quality A/V tool. Let’s take a look at some of the Panasonic’s specs:
- Powerful Brightness: The PT-AR100U delivers a bright, crisp image. It’s equipped with a 2,800-lumen light source that achieves a 50,000:1 contrast ratio. The bulb is capable of delivering great images in a range of lighting – from dark-room theater set-ups, to moderately lit rooms – although it’s ideally suited for the living room.
- Awesome Image Quality: Overall, the image quality is great for video games, sports and TV, and it performs nicely as a movie projector. There are 3 set modes: Cinema 1, Sports and Games. Compared to similarly priced theater projectors, though, the Panasonic slightly underperforms when it comes to pure cinema performance. It’s a quality, color-saturated image, yet the black level performance isn’t perfect.
- Smart Image Adaptation: The PT-AR100U is equipped with a range of automatic image enhancements, which help to provide that high-quality image. These features include Motion Effects – extremely useful when watching sporting events – as well as Dynamic Iris Pro, a Panasonic-specific feature that matches color output to the lighting. Light Harmonization is another useful adaptive feature, which auto-adjusts output to match the room’s lighting.
- Flexible Installation: Backed with a 2.0:1 zoom ratio, as well as vertical and horizontal lens shift, this projector’s image can be fit to the screen easier. This provides a greater range of set-up locations, as the image can be adjusted from wherever the projector fits. The only downside is that it’s not a portable projector. At 19 pounds, the PT-AR100U is suited more for permanent installations.
Panasonic PTAR100U Rear Inputs
What Are the Downsides of the PT-AR100U?
Compared to projectors in the price-range, this Panasonic truly holds its own. There are only a few features that go missing. For example, the movie buffs will miss the Full 3D capability – which is becoming an increasingly common feature in newer projectors – and there aren’t advanced wireless networking capabilities, another useful feature. Plus, the PT-AR100U is backed by a one-year warranty; traditionally 2-3 year warranties are the norm for similar set-ups.
Finally, another point of contention is the Panasonic’s shorter lamp life. In the projector’s Eco mode, the lamp – which is a 280-watt UHM lamp – achieves just a 3,000-hour lamp life. Although a replacement bulb for the PT-AR100U is relatively affordable – part No. ET-LAA110 – most high wattage, high lumens machines get lower average lamp life expectancy since they have a higher output. The trade-off is a brighter image.
Overall, though, the Panasonic PT-AR100U does achieve a lot: It’s versatile and can handle all forms of entertainment. The image quality is on point, bright and highly contrasted. Color performance is great. And the price is competitive. When it was released in 2011, the projector retailed for about $1,800; today Panasonic offers it for $1,145. In all honesty, the PT-AR100U is deserving of the investment.