Panasonic PT-LB20U LCD Projector

I love my Panasonic Projector.

Posted Feb 15, 2006 - I got this projector for Christmas and I wasn't immediately impressed with its performance. I had an Xbox and a DVD player connected through the LB20u's S-video and Composite connectors. On a regular size TV, these connections would have been sufficient to not display any lack of quality, but on an 8ft screen, movies and games displayed as if blurred and skin tones appeared purple despite the ability to fix them with an option in the menu. I would have given up, but I had some downloaded high definition demos which displayed wonderfully from my laptop through the vga connector on the projector so I knew it was capable of greatness. Then the final piece of the puzzle fell into place. I found a component to vga connector on monospace.com for less than $3 and it changed everything. My DVDs now display crystal clear with no unusual skin tones anymore and the Xbox games display at a higher resolution. Overall, I'm very very happy with my projector. My only request would be that Panasonic make it standard to ship the projector with a VGA to component connector.

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Panasonic PT-LB20U LCD Projector

Posted Sep 30, 2005 - The projector is a beautiful piece of equipment demonstrating Japanese engineering design and finished product quality. The brightness of 2,000 lumens projects well in a lighted room, even when the daylight view setting is "auto" instead of "on." In fact, almost everything can be set up automatically. However, the operating instructions are repetitive and somewhat disorganized because the same feature is explained in different parts of the book and there is no index. The fan is noisy but it is less so when the lamp power is turned to "low" and I do not see much difference in the luminance in this setting. The carrying case could be improved. It is not padded enough for this type of equipment. There is hardly sufficient room to put in the RGB cable, power cord, and optional full-function remote control. The so-called support at Panasonic is non-existent. Before I bought the projector, I tried to e-mail and call Panasonic several times to find out in which country this model is manufactured. My e-mail was never answered. As for the phone calls, I was either told to be on hold for more than 40 minutes, or I was given the name and phone nunmber of a regional sales manager to call. I called him twice before he returned my call and told me that he did not handle this line of product. I finally obtained the information from various other sources. I suppose as long as the projector is working well and I do not need technical support, it will be fine.

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Great Projector

Posted Jul 20, 2005 - This is clearly a great cross platform product. It's samll enough and light enough to take on the road and the image quality is better then most of the home theater units I've seen.

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Light weight, but poor performer.

Posted Feb 5, 2006 - The Panasonic PT-LB20U was on my radar for a long time before I decided to buy the InFocus LP-540 instead. I was drawn by the LB20U's design and the idea that the so called "Daylight Feature" would make it brighter than other 2000 lumen projectors. I decided on the InFocus over the Panasonic PT-LB20U simply because it was the only projector of the two I could actually see being demonstrated in the store where I made my purchase. You may be wondering why I am writing about the Panasonic if I bought the InFocus. About a month ago I made a second projector purchase and this time decide to give the Panasonic a try. What a mistake. The only thing that could possibly make this projector worth the money is its portability and relative ease of use. Other than this I would strongly urge anyone seriously looking at the LB20U to look elsewhere. I do not recommend this projector. The image quality is grainy, the color is under-saturated, and the "Daylight Feature" is nowhere near as effective as Panasonic claims. The Panasonic pales in comparison with my InFocus LP-540. In a side by side comparison the InFocus made the Panasonic look terrible. With the Panasonic's "Daylight Feature" turned on the image was less bright than the image projected by my InFocus. This was very surprising since the Panasonic claims to be a 2000 lumens projector and my InFocus is only rated at 1700 lumens. The Panasonic fells cheaply constructed and very fragile. Panasonic has clearly traded weight and compact size for the quality of the this projector.

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