WTH? Bulb goes Casper on 8 mo old set!

[topspeed]

Would you belive the bulb already burned out on my JVC G786 DiLA set?!? :mad5:

I'm so pissed I can't see straight! The estimated life of these things is supposed to be 4000 hrs according to JVC and I can gurantee you we aren't even close to that! At most, the set is on for 4 hours/day M-F and on the weekends it's less...so what's the dealeo? To their credit, customer service at JVC was incredibly easy to work with and they are shipping out a new bulb under warranty within 5-7 business days, but that still doesn't mitigate the fact that my HT is out for a week or so! I just got King Kong fer cryin' out loud!!! :incazzato:

Soooooo...

To all you dealers and knowlegeable ones out there, what is the REAL life expectancy of these bulbs in your experience? I *thankfully* bought the extended warranty for the bulb, but I'd still like to know if this was a fluke or something I can look forward to every year.

[edtyct]

TP,

Sorry to hear it, but you certainly aren't alone. I've heard of some JVC bulbs going even faster than yours (Panasonic's and Samsung's, too). I don't know which kind of lamp JVC uses. but I fear that many manufacturers are letting their customers' experience serve as research for the life expectancy of their bulbs. They're probably comfortable about giving a year's warranty on them but considerably less confident that they'll last 6000 hrs. It's like the early days of plasma. Makers had an idea of how long plasmas would last, but they had to monitor actual usage in the field for accurate data. Lamps improve, and companies like Sharp and Epson have already made strides. I don't know what JVC is doing. In general, these things run extremely hot and begin to deteriorate on first use. They may well undergo more stress the more that they turn on/off, especially if the rest period is short, and obviously the low setting, if the set has one, will prolong the life of the lamp. As much as I hate to say it, an extended warranty, if available, might be prudent, though for all any of us knows, the next lamp that you buy may last forever. I've had a Sony lamp going strong for about three years. Now I've probably jinxed it.

Ed

[topspeed]

Drummerboy!

I was hoping you would chime in (along with AVMaster, Evil Betty, and other dealers), although the information you gave was a bit disheartening. I hate being a guinea pig, but I suppose with every new technology there is going to be a learning curve. I followed the advice a friend with a Sony LCD to buy the extended bulb warranty, and it looks like I should probably buy him a beer this weekend.

Thanks for the info.

[Smokey]

I don’t know what type of lamp JVC use, but intensity of TV’s Contrast and Brightness levels might also be factor in lamp’s life (you probably already knew that).

So ambient light might have to be controlled to achieve good results for low above settings :)

[AVMASTER]

funny you should bring that up now, i just replace the lamp on my hd52g786 yesterday after exactly 7 months to date! Granted this demo unit is on 9 hours EVERY day and has not been calibrated but 7months, 7 months????
I haven't received an explaination yet but i tend to agree with ED; these days i'll start pushing the extended lamp warranty a little harder

[topspeed]

Thanks for the input, guys.

Since we have the same set AVMaster, is there a "low" setting for the bulb that I should know about? I remember going through the menus before I calibrated with the Spyder, but couldn't find one.

[edtyct]

Hey, Mr. Paradiddle,

The next big thing in lamps, if not microdisplays in general, for both rear and front projectors is lighting via LEDs. They are much faster than color wheels; they have an extraordinarily quick refresh rate that exceeds our standards by far; they turn on instantaneously; and, hold your breath, they last upwards of 20,000 hrs. This development, more than 1080p, may be the one that makes people kick themselves for buying too soon. A lot of companies have already adopted them, and they might start showing up in the next wave of displays. The invention comes from MIT, another innovation from the great state of Massachusetts (not that I'm biased).

Ed

[topspeed]

Paradiddle. HeHe!

If ever there was a word that fit the action, that's the one. That, and flam.

Anywho, how is this technology different from the new SED's?

BTW, 6 days without my main set have passed and I am beginning to realize how much my viewing habits differ from my wife's. For example, last night Discover Times had a show called Remaking a Legend, the story about the creation of the Ford GT. I was practically salivating. My wife walks into our room and says "Um, I don't think so."

We ended up watching something on the first Chinese Emperor. A fair compromise, but I really wanted to watch the show on the GT! :(

[edtyct]

I've always like flam--that caramel coating knocks me silly. Anyway, SED is no relation to LED. The LED lamps are just a better way to light the projectors that are already on the market. SED is the Canon/Toshiba new twist on CRT technology, in a streamlined package. Preliminary indications are that it will emerge in 2007, priced similarly to plasma. We'll see. The hold-up seems to be in the procurement of production parts. But I digress.

[GMichael]

I have a friend with the Toshiba 1080p rear proj TV. His bulb blew out in 4 months. They sent him a new one at no charge. Then he got a letter from Tosh saying that they found an engineering problem with their bulb. He should keep using the new one that he received until it blows. But they are sending him a new and improved bulb by the end of May.

[swicken]

Bulb life is more realistically 2-4k hours.

A bulb can go a lot quicker if you turn your TV off and on many times in a day, each time you turn on a bulb it takes 2-3 hours off the life.

[edtyct]

We need to know how long a bulb's life span would be under typical conditions to know how many hours are lost with each push of the power button, and that's precisely what we don't, or possibly can't, know for sure. Nor am I sure that toggling on/off should be removed from a bulb's user profile. Even though pushing the power button, especially in rapid succession, is a major stress, we can't separate a bulb's realistic living conditions from activating/deactivating it. Mfgrs count that rather routine maneuvre in their calculations, optimistic as they may be. We certainly don't want to imply that a bulb's actual life span includes the time that it remains unused or, on the other extreme, that its true benchmark is how long it would last if left illuminated continuously until it died. We want mfgrs to figure everything reasonable into their calculations. It would be funny if they said, "The lamp should be fine for 6,000 hrs if left on all of the time, or for infinity if never turned on. Otherwise, its life will fall somewhere between 0 and 6,000 hrs. For best results, leave the bulb in its current state indefinitely."

[topspeed]

Well, the bulb arrived yesterday. One thumbscrew on the access door and two Phillips screws later, the bulb was installed. It took me more time to reset all of my calibration settings from unplugging the set than it took installing the new bulb. The bad bulb was literally shattered. I guess when they go...they go! Little pieces of glass were welled up in the bottom of the housing. Interesting.

I was pondering telling JVC the new bulb was bad so they would send me a backup, but alas they want the bad one back. I've got a 4 year extended bulb warranty so it's not like I'm trying to rip them off. I just didn't like the week downtime! Hopefully, JVC will do what Toshiba is doing and modify the design for better life. 7-8 months is borderline ridiculous and at $200 a pop, you'd be a fool at this point to not buy the extended bulb warranty.

[AVMASTER]

it looks like Samsung will be first to hit the market with a 56" mircodisplay using LED in late May. Along with longer life expectancy the "turn-on" warm up will be shortened. For DLP this will eliminate the color wheel, but i wonder if it will affect the light output of LCD based microdisplays?

[edtyct]

In some ways, LEDs are perfect for LCD backlighting. In fact, Sony was working on implementing them two years ago for just this purpose. LEDs are brighter, and they allow better color saturation and a wider color gamut for a given color space (more hues). SInce they're also much faster than the NTSC refresh rate and current mercury-based lighting, they will also mark the death knell for motion blurring. Combining these benefits with eliminating the environmental hazard of mercury makes LEDs look awfully good. The drawbacks are that LEDs increase power consumption and that they add cost to a display, though their much longer life span will help to defray consumers' initial outlay. From what I hear, positioning them for best results is also a little tricky. But at this point, they look to be the coming wave.

By the way, Speedy, I've learned that JVC has already made steps to introduce LEDs in its DiLA sets.

[topspeed]

By the way, Speedy, I've learned that JVC has already made steps to introduce LEDs in its DiLA sets.Terrific. Unless they make it some form of upgrade for those of us stuck with bulbs, I'm not happy. By pursuing this new technology, it sounds like they're admitting that they are simply unable to obtain any form of reasonable durability from bulbs.

Looks like I'm SOL. :(

[evil__betty]

I have had nothing but trouble with any of the 2005 Toshiba televisions - broken mirrors, bad firmware that cause bulbs to go prematurley, the works. A word to the wise, read the warranty of your TV carefully - most only cover the bulb for 90 days from date of purchase. The other thing that people forget is - its only a bulb! How many times have you screwed in a new light bulb only to have it blow a week later? Yes, its a pain, and expensive to replace, but there are limitations on the technology. Don't want to replace a bulb? Look into plasma or LCD - you're paying for all the bulb replacements up front because of the higher sticker price, but you don't have to worried about an unexpected $300 lamp replacement when rent is due! The other thing is that manufacturers are smart and only will provide a one year warranty on their product - there is price to pay when it comes to getting the latest technology at the cheapest possible price. It wasn't that long ago that all tv's came with 3 or 5 year warranty out of the box. But at the same time, a 27" cost $1200 and was hand built in Japan with quality parts, now it costs $200 and built in China by machine using plastic parts. The price we pay for having the latest and coolest toys!

[superpanavision70mm]

You may want to keep a spare bulb on hand...most people that own projectors do...that way they don't whine when it goes out and they are waiting a week for a replacement. This is just one of the downsides of going with a projector.

[topspeed]

You may want to keep a spare bulb on hand...most people that own projectors do...that way they don't whine when it goes out and they are waiting a week for a replacement. This is just one of the downsides of going with a projector.
Ah, but then I would have to pay for it! I've got a 4 yr bulb warranty and at $200 a pop, I'd just as soon have JVC pay for it.

[superpanavision70mm]

Sounds like you are in good shape. I am responsible for all the projectors at work...I have a Sanyo HD ProWide and a few other HD Sanyo's that are smaller, but they all use 2 bulbs each...they are about $1000 for bulbs. Dang! Glad I don't have to pay that money!