Sony RPV SXRD lamp issue

[madmac]

Hey all,

A weird phenomenon has been happening lately with my Sony RPTV (SXRD) lately. When I first turn it on, I get brightness fluctuations for awhile (Brighter then a little darker) and it's very noticeable. After awhile, it seems to stabilize and go away.

I took the lamp assembly out and sprayed it and the connections with compressed air but that did not solve the issue. The lamp is relatively new (2yrs) and I'm not sure what is causing this?. Any ideas?. Could the lamp be on the way out so soon?. Could it be a power issue?.

Let me know your thoughts on this?

Thanks!!

[madmac]

No takers on this one?.

[madmac]

Still no takers????.......what's up with you guys??.

[Hdale85]

Could be the end of life of the bulb possibly?

[madmac]

I find that hard to accept. I changed it two years ago approx. I sold my first RPTV to my brother after 5 years of use 4 -5 years ago and apparently he's running of off the same damn original bulb today!!. Good news is you can get them now for about 90 bucks so it's not so bad really.

[Hdale85]

Did you replace it with a real Sony bulb? Also it's all based on hours not how old it is, maybe your buddy doesn't use his TV as much or something?

[kcsun]

We change our bulb in our Cineversum Blackwing every year (at a stupid cost) but we do use the PJ alot and rack up the 2000hrs each year. Your Sony must have an hour meter - how many hours has the bulb done?
The worst pill we had to swallow was a bulb packing up after 4 months and 600 hours, no warranty and £500 down the drain.
On a good note, we have just bought our 6th bulb for the PJ and it has now reduced down to £280
We will replace the whole pj next year but are waiting for the new LED ones to become available as the bulb lasts 20,000 hours apparently
They are already selling small pj's with led bulbs but do not have the throw and size we require
kc

[Hdale85]

I doubt the LED projectors are going to fall that much in price, there is the new RedRay Projector that is laser based and lasts 20k or so hours as well (estimated likely long even but they gotta put a number on it). I don't know if I'd believe there is an LED projector that'll be cheaper then it but I have to say I haven't really looked into it.

[kcsun]

I am not so concerned about the price of the LED pj's falling, but more about choice of machine and quality of picture. I believe in a "buy it once" philosophy so get annoyed at paying £500 - $700 a year replacing a bulb that probably is only worth £40 - $60
kc

[Hdale85]

Yeah, just the current LED projectors are something like what 20k? There is that Infocus unit that came out but it's got pretty bad reviews from what I see. The RedRay one will be 4k and have the same "bulb" life as the LED units but also the picture quality is supposed to be top notch and the 3D experience is said to be "completely new" saying that it doesn't cause the fatigue experienced with previous technologies. I don't know it's what I'm seriously considering as it's going to be 10k seems like a good deal I just got a JVC DLA-RS40 about 4 months ago and already about halfway through my first lamp....lol

[madmac]

Did you replace it with a real Sony bulb? Also it's all based on hours not how old it is, maybe your buddy doesn't use his TV as much or something?

I bought my replacement at "lamp projector source" and it was apparently a OEM replacement complete with the housing. It's a plug and play kinda' deal. The funny thing was how much better the picture was when I replaced it. Brighter (Of course!!), more vivid color...sharper....all around better picture. I guess these bulbs are like a slow burn kinda' thing and then they finally fail. Interesting thing is, my TV has a 'replace bulb' light indicator on the front which did not come on the first time the bulb started to fail. The TV would simply shut down. I would re-start it and it would work for a few minutes and then shut down again. No replace bulb warning at all!!!???.

[Hdale85]

Yes all bulb based display product dim over time and even lose some color and what not.

It could be something else, I had some issues with the last sony RPTV I had which was an SXRD as well. So I'm not really sure? Maybe the power supply is failing? Maybe a bulb ballast or something?

[kcsun]

We have only had one bulb failure and that kept shutting down after 5 minutes, we was told that the PJ is continually checking the resistance of the bulb and if it falls outside the parameters it will auto shutdown.
We just replaced all the other bulbs at between 2000 and 2100 hours , when we then started the new bulb the difference in brightness was chalk and cheese, you cannot believe how you get used to the dimness over time

Our Cineversum cost £20k ($28k) back in 2007 so we are expecting to pay a similar price for our replacement next year. The depreciation on these pj's is horrendous, but then if you get enjoyment from something.............

kc

[madmac]

Funny thing is mine seems to stabilize after about 45mins with no more fluctuations in brightness. For fun, I changed the bulb setting from "Power Saving" mode to regular mode. We'll see if that helps the situation.