Most dealers have lowered their price on the Panny and a $200 rebate is being offered for the next 60 days. Is a newer-better model soon to appear?
Anonymous
Posted on
Newer-better models are always on the horizon, however when you get 90% of the benefit at 10% of the cost - it makes the buying decision easy
Other than cosmetic changes and minor changes, only 1080p would be actually be substantially better and you would have pay a considerable higher price
With the AE700u, Panasonic really became the first manufacturer to effectively recreate the in-commercial theater experience at an extremely low price with a projector (due to its lens design and overall flexibility) requiring no professional setup - which can be a dealbreaker for many considering Front Projection LCD's
While rear projection LCDs have hit mass market level, the Front Projectors SO FAR have a limited amount of people willing to consider them, and I believe Panasonic wants to change all that -and the rebate is part of that plan to push the volumes through the roof
3 yrs ago it would take 25k to reproduce what the AE700u can do now for 1/10th the price
I would be surprised if 1080p LCD FRONT PROJECTORS, if and when they arrive, break the $2000 mark in price anytime soon
Anonymous
Posted on
FRONT PROJECTOR is going MASS MARKET with sales about to explode, which is great because prices will keep dropping
AE700U has now rock bottom buy status, with it now showing as a net $1850 (after $200 rebate) on some vendor sites
Also Sound and Vision magazine is now jumping on the hi def LCD FRONT PROJECTOR bandwagon in their latest issue - where they review 4 new generationz LCD units - basically saying that are now innate bargains relative to heavyweight rear projection TV's
Its clear now that Panasonic is setting up to move high volumes as more people people finally figure it out