Panasonic's home theater projectors have been one of the favorites here at TechTaxi for their good representation of value and performance. This trend looks set to continue, with the PT-AX200 delivering a few interesting enhancements.

Pros

This year, Panasonic has included a game mode to broaden this projector's appeal to those who like to like to game in large-screen proportions. Game mode improves signal processing for faster controller/screen response, and it also enhances gradation in saturated or dark scenes to show greater detail.

In addition to its gaming focus, the most notable features on the PT-AX200 include its 2,000 ANSI lumens brightness, and something Panasonic's dubbed Light Harmoniser II, which senses a room's light levels and automatically adjusts the image to maximize the brightness and sharpness levels. This is especially important when you want to use this projector in less-than-optimally dark rooms.

The projector has a resolution of 1,280 x 720 progressive and two HDMI inputs. It retains a lot of other features we liked about previous Panasonic projectors such as vertical and horizontal lens shift and seven picture modes. These help to reduce setup time to literally a matter of minutes.

Cons

This model may be considered more evolutionary than revolutionary, with this year's enhancements building on a good product. If you're already a Panasonic projector fan, there appears to be no real need to upgrade.

Bottomline

With its newfound gaming appeal, it looks like Panasonic may rope in a few more projector converts with the PT-AX200. The new model has also kept the picture quality enhancements and ease-of-use features that we've admired previously. We look forward to putting the PT-AX200 to a full review in our test labs soon.