DLP lamp

had to replace my DLP lamp
on my RCA 61" HDTV.
what i got was a small lamp
mounted in a plastic carrier case
with interlock plug.
this cost me $448 bucks and
1.5 month wait by the time it got
to my house.
i noticed when removing the old
one the element in the center had
obviously blew apart from his base
in the center and was just hanging
by the side wire with some loose glass
floating around inside the envelope.
in my opinion i didn't get that much time
on the unit, maybe 1.5 years or moderate
usage? is this normal life expectancy or
did i have a dud ? when i purchase this
HDTV, the first one only lasted 8 hours and
the lamp went out, i made the store deliver
a whole new TV set.

now, i noticed on the lamp there is a
Philips number that seems to be the part number
of the lamp only and not the carrier ! is it
possible for me to simply get the lamp and rebuild
this extra carrier unit ?, the lamp is simply held in
with Robertson type screws.
i don't remember the part number but its a small
mercury lamp of 100W/30W level, the tv has a high and
low power setting for the lamp.

 

You cannot substitute the lamp. The original lamps have a specific
luminosity, shading characteristics, power and voltage rating, and colour
temperature.

In reality, these lamps are lasting about 800 to 1000 hours if you are
lucky. I know some people that are changing these lamps about once a year.

What I would recommend, is to sell the set, and get a new flat panel LCD TV.
You will pay a little more up front, but the LCD should give you about
40,000 to 60,000 hours of service before it needs a new set of lamps and
ballast transformer. By then, you will be more than due for an upgrade
always. Under normal use, the new models of the LCD screens should last
about 10 to 12 years if used for only about 10 hours per day. This would be
a much more cost effective way of watching TV.

--

JANA
_____


had to replace my DLP lamp
on my RCA 61" HDTV.
what i got was a small lamp
mounted in a plastic carrier case
with interlock plug.
this cost me $448 bucks and
1.5 month wait by the time it got
to my house.
i noticed when removing the old
one the element in the center had
obviously blew apart from his base
in the center and was just hanging
by the side wire with some loose glass
floating around inside the envelope.
in my opinion i didn't get that much time
on the unit, maybe 1.5 years or moderate
usage? is this normal life expectancy or
did i have a dud ? when i purchase this
HDTV, the first one only lasted 8 hours and
the lamp went out, i made the store deliver
a whole new TV set.

now, i noticed on the lamp there is a
Philips number that seems to be the part number
of the lamp only and not the carrier ! is it
possible for me to simply get the lamp and rebuild
this extra carrier unit ?, the lamp is simply held in
with Robertson type screws.
i don't remember the part number but its a small
mercury lamp of 100W/30W level, the tv has a high and
low power setting for the lamp.

 

To generalize that the lamps are lasting 800 to 1000 hours is overly
pessimistic. Most are lasting much better than that. It is likely that
the RCA had the same problems that Sony and others did with Philips lamps
for a while. Those problems seem to have improved quite a bit. The Osram
lamps used by other vendors still seem to last longer, but recent Philips
lamps seem to be much improved over those of a couple of years ago. The
life of this type of lamp has a great deal of variability. Some don't last
long and some do. I know lots of people that have thousands of hours on
their DLP lamps.

LCD panels have their advantages, but even the best still have artifacts
that are likely to be noticed by many more people than would find problems
viewing a DLP unit. The picture on the better DLP products is stunning.
Even the RCA DLP is far more watchable than even the best LCDs IMO. You
also won't get the size out of a flat panel LCD that you will from DLP
products.

Leonard

 

My Sagem DLP has a warranty for 5 years which includes the lamp. 3 years
from the maker and an extra 2 from the store.