Last night, when watching my 1.3 year old Epson HC 1080, the lamp will go bright, then dim a little, then back to bright. I can't seem to figure it out! Bugs the crap out of me.

Do I have a defective projector?

On a related note, the Epson can't do keystone correction, can it?

how many hours you got on your bulb? try running bulb on hi power for awhile, usually the bulb is on its last legs when its flickering

I have 693 hours on the lamp.

It shouldn't be going out this soon, should it?

Try pulling the lamp out and reseating it. That might help.

Also, if you are having Keystone problems (which the 1080 can't adjust for) then you don't have the projector level. The 1080 doesn't need keystone adjustment because it has so much vertical shift ability. Once you have it level, then you use the vertical shift to get the picture in the right spot on the screen. If the top of the picture is wider than the bottom, then you need to lower the front of the projector and vice versa to get it level

Dan

I've had lamps in other projectors start to flicker in the middle of their lives. This happens because 2 points on the cathode / anode have become equidistant, and the arc is jumping between them.

As rmccormac suggested try running the lamp on high power ( or low power if you normally run on high ) for a few hours. This has always cured the issue when I ran into it.

Jonathan

yeah and as far as the hours go, thats the unfortunate thing with bulbs, no guaurantee, some can get magical bulbs that go past 4,000 hrs no problems, others you will see here on this forum usually with explectives in the subject whos lamps blow at 500 hrs.

As far as the keystone goes - the projector is level, but its off in the top left corner of my screen. Everywhere else, its good.

What is the correct setting to get a lamp to run at high or low? Can't seem to find it! Thanks all for the help!

The two lamps that I had flickering issues with, both on Mits projectors, went on to long and happy lives beyond their rated hours. The first one, on an old Mits HC3 happend twice. Once at about 600Hr and then again at about 1300 hours. It's rated at 1800 hours and is now beyond 2000. The other was on a Mits HD1000. Started at 600-700Hrs, and the same lamp is over 2000 hours ( mostly on high ).

All 3 incidents were cured with a few hours in the opposite mode.


Jonathan

As far as the keystone goes - the projector is level, but its off in the top left corner of my screen. Everywhere else, its good.

What is the correct setting to get a lamp to run at high or low? Can't seem to find it! Thanks all for the help!
For the keystone issue, make sure your projector is also parallel to the screen (which is difficult to know with the Epson 1080's blob-shaped cabinet). If you have an adjustable mount, tilt the projector left/right and up/down a bit, correcting the lens shift each time, to see if the problem goes away. If it is truly only in one corner, check to see if your screen is flat in that area.

For bulb high/low settings, try the different modes (Theater Black 1, etc.). Some modes use high power (and a higher fan speed), others use low power and fan speed.