I am wondering how much lamp life people are getting out of their ae700.

Mine burned out around 550hrs (5 months). I use it as my only display device so it gets turned on and off up to a few times a day. I've read that this can decrease the life of the bulb. But 550hrs is still very short and makes owning the projector very expensive.

On the ProjectorCentral reviews, many users have posted that their bulbs burned out around the 500hr range as well. This leads me to think there may be a trend. However, there may be a selection bias since people who have long lasting bulbs aren't posting this fact.

I know there was a poll on AVS about lamp life but it was somewhat flawed because you had to have a bulb burn out before you could make a selection. It was also a general projector poll not specifically for the ae700.

I was wondering if people would be willing to post their Panasonic ae700 lamp life. If your lamp is still going strong, just post how many hours it is currently at. This will give a more reliable representation of how many hours one can expect from an ae700 bulb.

My second bulb is at 100 hours. I've already ordered a 3rd bulb just in case. If there is an alarming trend that these bulbs tend to burn out fast, I (and I'm sure many ae700 users) will begin to consider switching projectors. If there is no such trend, I'll just keep buying replacement bulbs and hope my luck improves.

I've been waiting for such a thread. I have 430 hrs and noticed a slight drop in brightness at about 390hrs. It is still quite viewable in my area withouth ambient light and white rear and side walls. My screen is two coats of behr silver screen.

I am now at 1022 hours. No lamp issues to speak of. Seems like completely normal lamp wear so far.
I use video mode, dynamic iris, never (very rarely) hard power down. I use a ups and power conditioner on the pj. Clean filter religiously. Been using the BW filter for several months. 1.05 firmware. Silverstar screen, 92".
Maybe I'm lucky because I use a high gain, relatively small screen, and don't have to crank up the light output? I also calibrate religiously and use a fairly conservative white level.

Im at 1021 hours.... been about 6 motnhs now and still running strong.

jagouar
What are your settings and screen?

i'm at 550 hours in just about 5 months. my bulb seems to be going strong...although my girlfriend did ask me the other day if the projector was dimmer. personally i think it was just the programming we were watching...but i have to say i have become a little paranoid.

545 hours and kaput. :(

Not completely out, but too dim to view anything. tsteves, you don't get any vb leaving it in standby? Doing a hard power down or just leaving it in standby after the fan turns off shouldn't affect the bulb life, correct?

I'm close to 2000 hours. I did do the reset on the lamp and regained a light bump.
It's been smooth sailing and I'm grateful for it. Those lamps are expensive.

I'm in the middle of construction of my theater and was leaning towards the AE700, but I read somewhere about the bulbs not lasting long. Now I'm not sure what to do. What are the average cost of a replacement bulb for the AE700? I'd hate to have to replace the bulb every 6 months at 400.00 a pop (or whatever it is).

If you had known you'd be replacing the bulb frequently, would you have considered another projector? Which one?

I like the bang for the buck you get with the AE700, but when you factor operation costs in there, is it worth it? Thanks.

Bud

My first replacement bulb cost $350. Since I had no working projector, I wanted to get it fast and was willing to pay for it. I had to get it from one of the projector resalers because they had it in stock.

As a backup, I then placed an order for a bulb on buycom for $290 (including coupon). They list it as on backorder, and I received the bulb about 1 month later.

I have no problem replacing 1 bulb per year at $300. Any more frequent than that and I'll have to think about it. We'll see what happens over the next 1-2yrs. The thing about the ae700 is that it is such a great initial value that even with frequent bulb changes, it may still be worth it.

Checked last night and my projector has 1283 hours and still going strong. The projector is used each evening and in a completely light controlled setup. The filter is cleaned every 100 hours. I am very satisfied with projector. I have used the KR-6 (8lEF) filter and now am running the machine without it. I like the picture either way. It maybe makes a difference, but I only turn the projector on once a day and it usually runs for 4 or 5 hours. Other than that the projector is not used.

I'm at 430 hours in about 5 months, I have definetley noticed a decrease in light output, but it is still watchable. I'm hoping I won't see much more of a drop in light output over the next 1000 hours :)

I have over 600 hours on my lamp and the only thing I noticed was a substantial drop in light output after about 200 hours. Since then it has remained stable up to now. I watch my films at very low contrast anyways so it suits me perfectly.

Not to get off topic here but I wish I had the same problem as the 4805 owners where I needed a filter to bring the light output down.

Well I guess you cant have it all. :D

holyc0w
"tsteves, you don't get any vb leaving it in standby?"
Well, that's a long story, but after a long while I have very little anymore which I very infrequently feel the need to adjust for. I rarely do the flicker tweak anymore at all, and find things just very slightly off when I do. It seems like either the more I adjusted the more I had to adjust, or maybe, things just settled out over time.
"Doing a hard power down or just leaving it in standby after the fan turns off shouldn't affect the bulb life, correct?"
As long as you wait for it to completely shut down and cool off before turning off the power, I would think not. I don't know how long the fan runs after shutting down, or if it cycles on and off at a low level afterwards, etc. It is interesting that a pj everyone felt the need to power off after shutdown to avoid vb ended up having bulb issues. I'm not saying they are related, though. Just kind of interesting.

800+ hours and had it replaced. i think i had a bugger bulb. it would flicker pretty bad. i had to fight with the repair shop and panny rep to get a new bulb. they settled on having me pay an hour of labor for a new bulb. fair enough. about 150 hours on this one. it is our pimary upstairs tv so it's on a LOT.

432 hours and still running, but with very dark picture now:-( ....better order a new bulp soon...
My Panny is build into a case with heavy duty ventilation, 300m/3 airflow into the case. The air can only escape the case through the Panny`s inlet and outlet ports. The outlet temperature is always below 34'C/93'F and I`m somewhat disappointed that the lamplife still is that short, with that amount of cooling. Very strange.
Video Mode, High Lamp Mode, Dynamic Iris On.
Regards Sweagle.

Bulb Blew At 317 Hours. Called Panasonic And They Said The Warranty Was Only Good For 90 Days And Mine Was 110 Day Old. My Projector Was Set To High Lamp And Normal Fan. With The New Bulb I'm At High Lamp And High Fan. $350 For 4 Months Of Movies. If It Blows This Early Agian, My And I Will Go To A 6 Movies A Month For The Same Price.

Mine has a little over 500 hours on it and still working good. I've had it almost 10 months and always run it on the high lamp setting. I'm sure the light output has decreased some, but its been so gradual I can't tell.

How often do you guys replace the filter? I didn't change mine, so I'm wondering if it lead to the premature failure.
I had 862 hours on mine when it failed, but I thought that the filter was supposed to be changed every 1000 hours.
My environment is not very dusty, so I thought this would be fine.
$350 for a filter is expensive and I don't want to have to do this yearly.
Are DLPs any better?

I think the manual states to clean the filter every 100 hours, not 1000.

I think the manual states to clean the filter every 100 hours, not 1000.


Hmm, I'll have to check on that. I know the hs-51 that I have is definitely 1000 hours per the manual.

I might ad, that the Panny is only 2½ month old. I`m not shure what firmware version this unit have, where do you see that? In the Self Check menu it says R1.07 A1.03 P1.05 ??!

Today I`m running it with full brightnes, full contrast and in High Lamp Power mode just to see anything at all, and I must admit that I`m not very satisfied with this product so far. A new bulp every 3 month is way over my budget.

If all this "dark picture" problems people are havíng, really is a related to the bulp, it might be wise to ensure that the bulp is reaching 5-600 ours within the 3 months warenty period. Panasonic seems to have a problem admitting that there IS a problem with this unit, or at least some of them. It`s really a shame, for the projector have a great picture.

My filter is cleaned for every 100 our or so.
Regards Sweagle.

I've had my Panny 700 for over 10 months now (original firmware) and over 400 hours on her. Bulb has been perfect. No loss of light and no flicker. Clean the filter every 50 hours and run on low-bulb. Hard power off every night. Of course reading these posts makes me nervous- but I'm knocking on wood with my fingers (and toes) crossed.

June '03 AE300, low lamp/high fan got 5000hrs from first bulb and am at 4400hours on my second bulb.......just to rub salt into your wounds guys :D :D

June '03 AE300, low lamp/high fan got 5000hrs from first bulb and am at 4400hours on my second bulb.......just to rub salt into your wounds guys :D :D

Assuming you bought it on June 1, 2003 ... That's an average of over 12 hours a day since that time. Do you really use the projector that much ? Or do you just leave it on ?

A skeptic.

2 parents and 3 siblings also using PJ so its pretty much just left on because there is always someone who will want to use it within an hour or so of someone else so there is no point in turning it off.

Long hours and low number of ON/OFF cycles seem to be good for lamp life but long hours are bad for LCD panel land polorizer ife but this is mitigated by running high fan all the time.

I figure that I am getting more value from my bulbs by leaving the PJ on even if there is no-one watching it for 2000 of the 5000 hours than someone who 'wasted' no bulb hours by switching it on and off everytime someone entered or left the Cinema room but ended up blowing their bulbs after 2500hours for example.

I figure that I am getting more value from my bulbs by leaving the PJ on even if there is no-one watching it for 2000 of the 5000 hours than someone who 'wasted' no bulb hours by switching it on and off everytime someone entered or left the Cinema room but ended up blowing their bulbs after 2500hours for example.

possibly, but how much did it cost you in electricity to have it on for the 2000 hours when nobody was around to watch it?

At 180W power consumption for the AE-300, that's about 1700 kWh total for 9400 hours . I have no idea about the rate for electricity in Ireland .

what is the correct way to clean the filter?

Why do people run in high lamp mode anyway? Do you have really big screens or are you brightness maniacs? To me high lamp = high fan, and I can do without the noise or the extra bulbs you would expect to need to buy if you go with high lamp, low fan.

900 hours, no problem. All of 'em on low lamp. I vacuum filter itself and the entire projector every 2 weeks (about 75 hrs, 25 shy of the 100 stated in the owner's book.)

At 900 it is as bright as it was at 250, when I fitted a ND filter to knock down the brightness by one stop. Even on low lamp it was frying my eyeballs.

I don't turn-on-turn-off-turn-on-turn off. That's the quickest way to ruin a lamp or vaccum tube. Even flourescents hate being cycled many times a day.

Why do people run in high lamp mode anyway? Do you have really big screens or are you brightness maniacs? To me high lamp = high fan, and I can do without the noise or the extra bulbs you would expect to need to buy if you go with high lamp, low fan.

I agree completely, hence like you, I run low lamp.

A case can be made for high mode though, as some reviewers found greater calibrated ON/OFF in high. This was attributed to to peculiarities of the Dynamic Iris, which makes sense if you give it some thought (which I don't ;) ).

ted

I dont own a ae700 but Every pj I have ever owned including the hs51, I always run in low lamp and high fan ( or high alititude mode on the sony pj, same thing ) the absolute lowest hrs I have ever gotten on a bulb has been 1800. Maybe its the low lamp high fan combo who knows but that what i always use. I never really cleaned the filter much maybe every 500 hrs just my 2 cents jeff

390 hours when it blew. About 380 hours when it dimmed dramatically.

100' altitude
Low Lamp mode/dynamic iris
Normal
Low fan/Hi fan when it get's hot
Never once shut down before the cooldown period

just replaced my bulb for the second time. first time was at 880 or so, this last one was at 1330. the bulb didn't blow, but i was getting pretty tired of the low light and crappy contrast. i run high lamp, no iris and i put a lot of hours. in fact, 2100+ in just 11 months. i'm having some other problems though. i think i'm going to take it back in. i may have a problem with the blue polarizer and i've got until the end of the month until my warranty is up. i'm not surprised to hear a few of you in low lamp mode, but i am surprised to hear you be surprised that others' don't. ;)

I'm at 8 months and right about 1200 hours. Things look good, brightness is not an issue. I like the idea of having a spare bulb on hand just in case. Can someone please PM the name of the company with the best deal they've found on a replacement bulb?

Thanks,

I.

I had my bulb dim and then a small explosion happen after about 300 hours. Took it in for repairs under waranty. Now at 670 hours it's dimmed again. Not too happy about the further investment so soon.

and speak of the devil, 674 hours and it just blew.

My bulb failed at 432 hours. I have about 130 hours on new bulb. So far, so good. :)

Stace

1228 hours here ( still going strong ) I use low bulb and high fan and always clean the filter.

Can anyone here answer my question on my other thread please.

Thks.

I have about 1700hrs. on mine. I have it set to low lamp,fan normal. If i have friends over i turn the fan on low. I have a white screen so i have my brightness,contrast lower than someone with a darker screen.

I have one of the first ones out. Do i need to get the firmware upgrade? Sorry to jump off subject.

magnum441
I have one of the first ones out. Do i need to get the firmware upgrade? Sorry to jump off subject.
Yes, if you have an early one there is a firmware upgrade that needs a shop update (no diy).
It gets rid of the hdmi white flash problem and helps with some other issues. Flicker tweak settings "feel" different to me. (better*)

I started this thread and now I'm back with an update on Bulb #2. Remember, that my original bulb blew at 550hrs, and I switched to Bulb #2 around June 05.

Bulb #2 significantly dimmed at 857hrs. It is so dim that it is barely watchable. The dimming occurs pretty rapidly within a few hours. The bulb looked great for the Super Bowl and now 6 days later, looks horrible. This dimming behavior seems to foreshadow a bulb burst based on personal experience from Bulb #1 as well as other user posts.

I have had Bulb #3 waiting in the closet for this circumstance, so I'm going to switch bulbs and use #2 as an emergency backup.

So Bulb #2 didn't do much better than the original bulb. If Bulb #3 flames out early as well, I'm ordering a Sanyo Z4 immediately. Even if #3 has a nice long usable life (>1500hrs), I can't see myself buying another replacement bulb. I'll just get a new display device. Maybe 92in plasmas will be cheap by then.

i'm still on bulb #1. have 1150 hours on it, all on low power, low fan. i've cleaned the filter twice. maybe i should purchase a spare bulb now? where are people getting them?

If you are at 1150hrs with no dimming, maybe your bulb will last the stated life span of 2-3000 hrs. You may want to run in high fan and clean the filter more but then again, why mess with success.

Unless you can't survive without a bulb for a few days, I would just wait until your bulb blew to order one. You can always express ship it.

I kept a backup bulb because of football season. I didn't want to risk missing a weekend because my bulb blew.

If you are at 1150hrs with no dimming, maybe your bulb will last the stated life span of 2-3000 hrs. You may want to run in high fan and clean the filter more but then again, why mess with success.

Unless you can't survive without a bulb for a few days, I would just wait until your bulb blew to order one. You can always express ship it.

I kept a backup bulb because of football season. I didn't want to risk missing a weekend because my bulb blew.

i'm torn on buying a replacement bulb now...on the one hand i just know that if it goes it will be on a friday night where i'll miss big games over the weekend before i can get a replacement bulb in time. on the other hand i'm thinking about upgrading to the AE1100 or similar this fall...so if the current bulb can survive to around 2000-2500 hrs. i may already have a new model, and i'd rather put the $300 towards that instead. what's a guy to do?

Man I got 2200hours on my first bulb and my second has 800 so far. I keep the old bulb as a backup.

Hi,
I've had my 700 for just over a year. At just over 2200 hours, I had problems where the bulb would come on for a few seconds, then go off. I thought this was the result of a bad bulb, so I got a new bulb, installed it, and same thing (even tried resetting the bulb timer to no avail). Since the new bulb made no difference, I reinstalled the old bulb, and I sent it in for warranty repair.

They replaced the lamp power supply, and it worked properly again for about a month, when the bulb failed to light, with a red lamp LED on the top of the unit (@ 2532 hours). I put the new bulb back in and all was well again. One thing I noticed with the new bulb was the increased brightness. The old bulb had gradually lost much of it's brightness, the new bulb gave the picture back its 'pop'. About a month later I started having big problems with the blue LCD panel in the lower right corner of the picture.

I sent it back in for more warranty repairs. They replaced the blue LCD panel and polarizers. Two other things that got done were to update the firmware to the latest revision, and it appears that a full ISF calibration was done (I suspect it was the first 700 the tech had to really dig into, to replace the LCD panel, and he 'learned' on it by doing the ISF cal), as the picture is now MUCH better than it has ever been.

I also noticed that the bulb timer has been reset, although I don't know how it was done. The total hours is now back to just over 100, with no resets...:)

A pleasant side effect of the timer reset is that my extended warranty is now back in place. I found out after reading the fine print that the 3 year extended plan I got also had a time limit of 2500 total hours, which I exceeded during the first year when the original warranty was still in effect, making the extended plan worthless. It was over the hour limit before it ever started. Now I have it back...:)

My .02 worth,
Peter

I got to 847 hours on my first bulb, all on Low, and it started to dim significantly. Sent it in under warranty and got a replacement bulb free of charge. So far I've got 293 on the new one and going strong.:)

I believe I have about 1100 hours on mine in about 9 months. It just started getting really dim before I upgraded, right after I got my 100" dia Firehawk. Have not watched it in the last 3 weeks at all, but know its time for a new lamp soon, then it will retire to my bedroom. Mostly set on normal with lamp power on high, but over the last couple months been using the dynamic setting a lot. Noticed a lot of color fringing lately even from normal setting distance.

I made 580 hours in one year on my first bulb, almost always on low lamp, normal fan. It started to get dim at 550 hours, at 580 it was so dim you could barely see something. Cleaned the filter regularly, never had a hard shutdown.
My second bulb is at 120 hours right now and I really hope it will live for at least half of the specified 2000 hours :mad:

1228 hours here ( still going strong ) I use low bulb and high fan and always clean the filter.



Jinxed myself there.

A week or so after typing the above my bulb dimmed badly and i replaced it.

I had maybe 500 hours on my first bulb. Like others, it became too dim to watch. Now on my second bulb, and I'm at around 700 hours. Lamp power: low, fan control: normal the whole time.

Panny gets seriously negative marks from me on the whole issue. Seriously pissed off about it.

Jinxed myself there.
I ain't sayin nothing more until....

Just to add my own $0.02...

I bought my AE700 almost exactly one year ago, from ProjectorPeople. Got it, played with it for a little bit (this being my first PJ), decided on screen size and PJ placement and whatnot, and all told it was about a month before I started using it "in earnest," after building my hyrbid poplar/Da-lite HCCV screen doing the Chief ceiling mount (also both bought from ProjectorPeople after deciding what I was doing) and running cables through the ceiling & walls.

Fast forward to last weekend, with ~690 hours on the lamp, 95% of it in low-lamp/fan-auto mode. I watched a few episodes of something I had recorded, and I started to feel like things were a bit dim and eyestrain-y. It had gone from "normal" to "something's gotta be wrong here" inside of about 2 hours. I also noticed the bulb doing the slight flickery thing at the time, and come to think of it, it had started flickering about a week before that. Trying to read filenames in the Windows UI was far more difficult than I remembered, because contrast was down so much. That's what I noticed most, rather than absolute bright or dimness (since your eyes adjust so much). I pulled the 81EF filter, put the lamp on high, tried some different color settings, and things were just still way too dim.

I got online, found this thread, found similar threads in a UK and an Australian forums, and figured I was in the same boat. I tried resetting the lamp counter and running it in high mode to "refresh" the element, and for a little while I was able to get a decent image tuned out of it, albiet having to use no filter and very different color settings. Then, last Friday, total of 695 hours on the lamp, just as I'm finalizing some color settings and writing things down, I get the loud POP and the PJ kicked into busted-lamp-blinky-light mode.

Took the lamp out, vacuumed out the glass bits, and this morning called up my salesguy Todd at ProjectorPeople, almost exactly a year after buying the unit. Obviously the Panasonic bulb warranty is up (90days), I had not bought any other sort of bulb warranty, but he listened to my story and very kindly sent me a new bulb anyways, out of their own pocket. That's grade A customer service right there, if you ask me. On top of a great price on the PJ originally, plus price matching a great price on the Dalite material, now this, I'm completely ready to go back there next time I need something, and would advise anyone else to do so also. Maybe he'll be able to get Panasonic to eat it on his end, maybe he won't, but he kept me out of that hassle and got me squared away first thing, and I completely dig that level of service.

For reference, in those 700 hours I'd cycled power exactly 200 times (service menu counter), never ran the unit longer than 8-10 hours at once, never turned it on/off rapidly or more than once or at most twice in a day, it was ceiling mounted so no physical shenanigans, air conditioned, power conditioned, filter vacuumed every 100 hours, etc...

Also for what it's worth, talking with folks that see a lot of projectors, aside from the obvious stuff about how environment and number of on/off cycles affects lamp time greatly, I'm also told that the 2000-3000 hour lamp life that most manufacturers are quoting is exceptionally exaggerated. Yeah, I think Panny has a dud in their driver circuit making for a lot of 500-800 hour dead lamps, but a lot of other manufacturers "3000 hour" lamps end up kicking the can inside of 1500, or by 1000 hours have gotten so much dimmer than new that people replace them for eyeball enjoyment reasons. Hearing that from impartial 3rd parties makes me feel a little better and a little less like selling the AE700 on eBay for a new Sanyo Z4 ;) There are always people out there that get 3500 hours, just like there are people that pop inside of 100, but my feeling based on what I've heard and read is that the real-world life on most of these guys is more like 1000-1500 hours.

Anyways, there's my $0.02 (or $200 for those that are counting words :D): ~11 months of active use, 700 hours of low lamp, popped bulb, freebie replacement from excellent service at ProjectorPeople.

Just an update on the bulb life on my Panny 700 which is now in my brothers house. I upgraded to the 900 recently.

1400+ hours on the bulb and still going strong.

I may be one of the lucky individuals who has never received less than 3000+ hours of bulb life from any projector I have owned. ;)

Just an update on the bulb life on my Panny 700 which is now in my brothers house. I upgraded to the 900 recently.

1400+ hours on the bulb and still going strong.

I may be one of the lucky individuals who has never received less than 3000+ hours of bulb life from any projector I have owned. ;)

Ditto.

3500hrs on my AE100. (5000+4970) on my AE300 and currently 1490hrs on my AE900

My Panny 700 has a build date of Oct 04. I got 372 hrs and the bulb went dim almost overnight an popped. What a joke. I am gonna pony up $284 for the new bulb. If it doesn't make it to at least 1000-1200 hrs, then this projector is gone.

I agree that ProjectorPeople has great service (bought my 700 from them), but my bulb popped even sooner (after only 6 months), yet no free bulb here.

My Panny 700 just lost its bulb at 560 hours. Just ordered my replacement ... yikes. Ran low power, didn't cycle on/off often. Clean, dust free environment. Started to lose a lot of brightness around the 500 hour mark.

Disappointing. If my replacement goes out anything shy of 1000 hours, I am done with Panny projectors. :mad:

Well, I'm about 1400 hours now on Bulb #1. Had my projector for 15 or 16 months. It's getting pretty dim though.

I'm thinking about doing a lamp reset to get some brightness back. What are people's expierence with this?

You guys should state what the room temperature (and room, since basements run cooler) is where your FP is located. I would not be surprised if that is a factor (elevation may also be a factor, although someone said he was only 100 ft ASL).

Good luck.

Room temperature is a 'huge' factor in the projector life. Most projector manufacturers want 68 degrees or cooler.

1000 hrs and still goin, I've lost a little brightness, but it is still very watchable. 68 degree room temperature, all hours on low lamp.

I got my new bulb from ProjectorPeople last week and put it back together - total down time was about 5.5 days (two of those being "helpless" days as the bulb popped late on a Friday night, no way to get anything sorted until Monday morning). Egads I had forgotten how extremely bright a new bulb is! B+W filter is back on, settings are tweaked back, and it's still so eye-poppingly bright. So I guess that's good, for a little while until the initial burn-in dropoff, and then the eventual Black Death (due in another 500-800 hours if the standard holds true :p)

Mine's in a basement that's typically mid 60s, but the air temp near the ceiling gets noticeably warmer when I've been running the PJ for a couple hours (and occaisionally a room heater in the wintertime). Nothing "warm" but it's probably mid-high 70s in those cases. Low lamp/normal fan speed.

One interesting observation... playing around with the new bulb, toggling between low and high lamp power, normal and high fan speeds, and dynamic iris on/off (basically just seeing all the different light output combinations), I found that in high lamp mode, light output actually DROPPED significantly when I bumped the fan from normal to high speed. That's totally contradictory to what I'd expect. I toggled it back and forth a number of times to confirm (static image), and yeah for some reason the electronics turn the bulb driver down when you use the high fan mode. Very weird. Also, fan speed in low lamp/high fan is faster/louder than high lamp/normal fan (and both are less obnoxious than service mode "fan fullmode on").

theJrod - Did you contact your sales guy that you bought the PJ from when your bulb popped? And did you explain how many months and hours you had on it? If you just called up and said "I need a new bulb" then I would expect they'd sell you one, but if you called up and said "I only got 6mo and 500 hours out of this bulb and I think that's pretty poor" then I'm surprised they didn't get one for you. I actually found out that my bulb was billed to the local Panasonic rep ProjectorPeople deals with, so... ?

Just for information, my projector bulb just passed 2200 hours. I always clean filter every 100 hours. Projector is located in basement with fully controlled lighting conditions. Lamp has always been run on low with normal fan speed. Being in Michigan with basement door always open to upper level, temperature is generally cool, running about 70 degrees. This is the original lamp that came with the AE700. Has never been updated. Undoubtedly the lamp has diminished im brightness, but due to lighting control, I have so far been very satisfied with projector. I use a self manufactured screen (in other words a paintbrush), and also set up my own "poor man's" theatre. All in all, I am very pleased with the situation at hand. Just offering this in thoughts that maybe some of you would be interested.

I have 2750 hours on the original bulb. I run low lamp mode and clean the filter every 100-150 hours. I made a slot in my projector shelf so I can pull the filter out the bottom without disturbing the alignment of the PJ. I also run the PJ on a 325VA computer battery backup to allow the fan to run if there is a power outage.

Only recently I have noticed flickering of the light level. I am not sure if it is the bulb or something goining flaky with the auto iris.

Ambient room temperature in basement 68-72 degrees F.

theJrod - Did you contact your sales guy that you bought the PJ from when your bulb popped? And did you explain how many months and hours you had on it? If you just called up and said "I need a new bulb" then I would expect they'd sell you one, but if you called up and said "I only got 6mo and 500 hours out of this bulb and I think that's pretty poor" then I'm surprised they didn't get one for you. I actually found out that my bulb was billed to the local Panasonic rep ProjectorPeople deals with, so... ? Yup sure did. Voiced my serious displeasure with the situation and inquired about the bulb warranty, being that I was only a few months past it.

theJrod - Hrmph, that's pretty crappy then, I'm sorry :( I wonder if it's a new policy Panasonic started implementing due to customer complaints or something, which you were "too early" to benefit from? Either way, that sucks, and even with the lamp I got I'll probably be inclined to shop competing products in the future when there's a Panasonic/Sanyo "tie" like there historically has been.

sawmill - Incidentally, do you work at Quality Hardwoods? Given your handle and your location, that'd be my guess. What's funny is that I live just down the road in Brighton and I'm one of the engineers doing sensor design for USNR. We're the guys that built your LASAR! ;)

ETTsiAWD: Sorry, but not same person you refer to in your inquiry. I never worked at Quality Hardwoods. I do have an occasional flicker on my AE700, but never bothered me enough to send it in for software update. I just wanted to send the message that not all bulbs are expiring early, although crossing fingers that my luck holds on this.

I've started a lamp life poll here...please vote...

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=656161

Brendin

1600hrs going pretty strong with a filter on.

I would be interested to know if the users with 500 hour lamp failure use subwoofers *loud*.

And if those with 1000 hour plus lamps don't use subs.

I'm working on a theory that says that irrespective of the projector brand, that dynamic soundtracks and extended bass and projector lamps don't work well together...

I have 2750 hours. My projector is near the corner where my sub is located, but I do not listen loud most of the time. A bigger concern to me is that I shelf mounted the PJ next to a door that sometimes gets slammed by the kids when the projector is on. In spite of this occasional abuse, the lamp is still good. I sort of hate to get a replacement because I wonder if it will hold up as well.

I would be interested to know if the users with 500 hour lamp failure use subwoofers *loud*.

And if those with 1000 hour plus lamps don't use subs.

I'm working on a theory that says that irrespective of the projector brand, that dynamic soundtracks and extended bass and projector lamps don't work well together...

I have an SVS PB Plus/2 subwoofer and play it loud..... the guys at SVS told me they have never seen a problem related to a subwoofer and projector but then again who knows..... I actually have my projector isolated from any vibrations though .... last bulb lasted just short of 1300 hours.... what i have noticed though is that i always switch off at the mains now ( after fan has done its cool down run ) i only switch on once a day and so far absolutely no flicker from the bulb.... last bulb flickered a lot at times ( didn't always do it ) but i usually sent the unit into standby and did switch it on several times a day ( after giving it a rest ) hopefully switching my unit on less and always switching off at the mains will help my bulb live longer.

Im wondering if it has more to do with ceiling mount vs table mount. If you notice the guys getting 2000 hours or more are self guys. If you think about it, hot air stays at the top of the room, and the projector is just recycling the hot air over and over. I know alot of people have heat ceiling problems with there crt projector and have to have havac vents installed to suck the heat out.

Nice to see some theories rather than just people bashing. Not that I doubt that there may be bad bulbs, just that more data may help explain why some have gone bad.
I have an SVS sub as well, 25-31PCI which is across the room and on a concrete floor. The projector is mounted on the concrete ceiling. I get a bit loud at times but would have to say I am in the "minimal vibration from subwoofer catagory".
My pj is ceiling mounted since the first 100 hours or so. I have about a 3 foot space from the projector to the ceiling and about 10 inches from the rear wall. Heat recycling should not be a factor for me, I would think.

I use conservative lamp and fan settings. (Lamp power - Low, Fan Control - Normal, Fan Fullmode - Off, Dynamic iris - On, and Brightness and Contrast are +2 and +8 respectively)

I do think some may have tried to use this thing as a light canon. Bad idea.

Im wondering if it has more to do with ceiling mount vs table mount. If you notice the guys getting 2000 hours or more are self guys. If you think about it, hot air stays at the top of the room, and the projector is just recycling the hot air over and over. I know alot of people have heat ceiling problems with there crt projector and have to have havac vents installed to suck the heat out.
I use a ceilling mount
I frequently check de temp of the lamp from the service menu,
the lower the number is, the higher the temp is.... I never get less than 140 et more then 155...

Fan normal mode
Lamp low

Ceilling mounted = 140 to 155

What about you guy?

i have 3600 hrs on original bulb. using it like a telly - 5-8 hrs a day every day !!!

its on high fan lo o/p

BUT

see my thread on the blue screen of death - i have bad polarizer or worse the lcd - and its out of warranty

Please pm me or post a cryptic link for the cheapest best place to buy a bulb. I'm just over 900 hours and have styarted to notice dimming. The wife is eager for a new bulb so let's do it.

Please pm me or post a cryptic link for the cheapest best place to buy a bulb. I'm just over 900 hours and have styarted to notice dimming. The wife is eager for a new bulb so let's do it.

PM'd.

In the meantime you could try a RESET and see what happens - no promises.

ted

Well, I'm disappointed. My bulb popped on Sunday night. Looking back, it had been a little dim recently. With lights off it looked ok. I was watching the Masters in HD and loving it. Then when that was over, I switched to King Kong and halfway through....Pop! Blinky blinky blink. Crap.
I can't see the hours now, but believe I had no more than about 540 hours total. My basement is cool, around 64 degrees. It's ceiling mounted, and I'm the only one in the house, so I know it's not had any abuse. I have no subwoofer yet. I typically watch it for a while on the weekend, but rarely during the week. I don't cycle it on/off in sittings. I've only run it on high lamp probably 30-40 hours total, though I had bumped up to high lamp during Kong to counter the dimming effect. I've had no problems with VB or anything else since startup.

I've called Visual Apex and left a message and they left me one today, and mentioned the Panasonic warranty service number, so I'm not sure that they'll do anything. I like this PJ, but I have to say I'm disappointed. We'll see whether they'll do anything, but I doubt it.

And just as I had finished setting up my gear in a closet location making for a very clean theatre room installation....Now the room looks great but you can't watch a movie worth a damn! :)

Choots

Well I thought I'd report back on my bulb experience. I talked to the Panasonic engineer and told him my situation, and he told me he'd pay for the repair, as long as I'd ship it to him. He gave me the service center address and I sent it the next day (two weeks ago yesterday).

I got it back on Wednesday last week, and just set it back up yesterday. I was a little disappointed to see a number of small scratches on the case, probably from the bench service. They are pretty minor, but there's a number of them particularly on the bottom and very front face (my PJ was in pristine condition before). :( I'm assuming they swapped out the bulb, but I got no report back saying what they did. There is a sticker over one of the case screws on the bottom, I guess to tell them if you opened the case.

I watched SW Ep III last night, without my filter, but it still looked quite good. All my settings were still intact there. However, the hour meter was still at the original value; 575 hours ( I guess I had a little more than I remembered).

Shouldn't that meter be reset back to zero now that there's a new bulb in there? How is that done?

Choots

Yes it should.

I believe you hold enter for 3 secs when over the bulb counter. Be aware that you must be ready to turn off the projector at that point as only that will confirm the reset.

Has anyone noticed an improved color uniformity with a new bulb?
I recently removed my B+W filter and recalibrated. I have a definate blue cast to part of the left side of the screen and a red cast on the right. I guess this could be the polarizers, but I have a spare bulb, and I'd throw it in if I thought it might make a difference. I have Exactly 1800 hours on my first bulb!

I get that effect (old and new bulb) when I use the vga input. Is that what you are using? I also get that on my pc monitor so it could be the vga output or other interference from my htpc.

I'm approaching 2000 hours in high lamp mode on the original lamp and the darn 700 still looks really good. I ordered a new lamp Monday and it arrived today. Sure hope the new lamp is as good as the old one.

All in all I've been very pleased with this relatively cheap FP. It amazes me to see the pricing and rebates on the AE 900. That is one true bargain. Other than a trip to Heartland to fix the HDMI flashing issue my 700 has been as reliable as a anvil.

I asked my wife if she thought the picture looked significantly dimmer now than it did when new and she said she didn't think so. Surprisingly neither do I, and this is on a relatively large Carada BW 118" screen.

A buddy of mine has the new Samsung 710 and while I have to admit it does have a better picture, its not enough better to make me run out and buy one. Hopefully the 700 will hang in there until 1080 machines become the bargain that the old 700 has been.

By the way, I believe I'm seeing some slight color uniformity issues as well (slightly pink sides on a white field) Hope the new lamp cures it but I doubt it.

John

mine as of monday had around 2300 hours in about 13 months or so. It had been getting dim over the last 3 months. I pulled the trigger and ordered a new bulb on monday for less then 300 dollars. A couple of places selling them under 300 now.

The dimming did sneak up on me, it hapened so slow.

I watch it in low lamp/low fan mode. Im horrible at doing required maint. Ive cleaned the filter at most 2 or 3 times since Ive had it. I did put in the replacement filter that came with the new bulb I recived yesterday. Live in Phoenix so its a very dusty area.

We use the projector as main tv, it gets turned on 6 to 10 times a day. Sometimes runs for a half hour to an hour, or can run for 6 to 8 hours at a time. I turn it off by the on/off button on top of the projector. I never unplug it. No verticle banding, no screen door. Sit 13 foot back from 129inch screen.

With an AE700u, I run on high lamp - have 1500 hours with flawless performance, and religiously follow the shutdown procedure (which amazingly some people either skip or don't know about)

High Lamp in theater dark mode with a 96" matte white screen gives it an extra kick - makes it close to IMAX in peformance. I generally use the projector for only true HD material, which in my case now derives from COMCAST HD and more recently HD-DVD discs

I also have a (2nd TV) small direct view LCD (setup next to it) which is used for frequent on/off situations, and for DVR setup and miscellaneous viewing - thus avoiding taxing the bulb unecessarily

I usually only turn on the projector ONCE per day and turn off ONCE - on the days I use it - which might average 4 to 5 days per week - with average run time duration about 5 hours

By the way, on the issue of brightness, I don't notice any issues after 1500 hours and I have multi-HD Tv's in the house to compare it. Apollo 13 for example looked incredibly bright with HD-DVD - way beyond in-commercial theater levels. Same with shows on DISCOVERY HD - which has lots of brightly lit scenes shot outdoors.

mine just now popped at 772 hours. 3000 hours yea right. BS!

My lamp is at 2400 hours (14 months) use, and is now very noticably dim during the day. It's still usable at night, but it's time to get a new one. I run it at high power all the time, and I think the fan is on auto. I've been very lazy, and only cleaned the filter once.... So, I guess I've been pretty lucky judging by other comments here.

mine just now popped at 772 hours. 3000 hours yea right. BS!

You followed the shutdown procedure each time?

You followed the shutdown procedure each time?

yep every single time. only really watched movies/games, so not a lot of one and off. rarely > 1 time in a given day.

yep every single time. only really watched movies/games, so not a lot of one and off. rarely > 1 time in a given day.

ok, just a bad bulb then

I just hit 3923 hours on the original lamp and got the "REPLACE LAMP" message. Picture has dimmed a bit since new, but is still perfectly watchable. I am thinking about doing a reset on the lamp hour meter because I think this lamp still has decent life in it. It probably has as good a chance of going another 1000 hours as would a replacement lamp, that I've read might not even make it to 1000 hours.

Am I running any risk of PJ damage if the lamp finally blows after surviving to very high hours? Do old 4000-hour lamps blow more violently than newer lamps that blow after coming up short on hours, for example after only 800 hours?

I wonder if Panasonic tests and sorts the lamps according to quality, puts the best ones in the new (warranty) projectors, then sells the marginal testing lamps only as replacements...

1700hr low lamp, high fan, so dim I could barely see in complete darkness actually. Getting a replacement now. Started flickering at around 1300hr. Not too impressed by the fact that warranty is broken if I replace the bulb myself, and this service just cost me another $100.

Temp1 ~ 140, Temp2~170 (checked consistently), filter cleaned (is in fact in a heavily cooled & filtered big hushbox).

I just hit 3923 hours on the original lamp and got the "REPLACE LAMP" message. Picture has dimmed a bit since new, but is still perfectly watchable. I am thinking about doing a reset on the lamp hour meter because I think this lamp still has decent life in it. It probably has as good a chance of going another 1000 hours as would a replacement lamp, that I've read might not even make it to 1000 hours.

Am I running any risk of PJ damage if the lamp finally blows after surviving to very high hours? Do old 4000-hour lamps blow more violently than newer lamps that blow after coming up short on hours, for example after only 800 hours?

I wonder if Panasonic tests and sorts the lamps according to quality, puts the best ones in the new (warranty) projectors, then sells the marginal testing lamps only as replacements...


I am speaking from a toshiba, but some times when the toshiba bulb blows it takes out the ballast. Mind you this is a dlp tv set so it might not apply. I would say its always better to replace a bulb rather then have the bulb blow on its own (henz lamp timers). Ah the good old non sealed bulb days when if the bulb blew it sucked all the glass all over the insides. YOU do not rist any more dammage from an old bulb blowing vs a new bulb. But you do rist dammage if any bulb blows.


We are to the point that we are replacing 1 light engine a month because thats the only way we can get the ballast under warranty. I hope we get rid of all these bad batch bulbs soon...

Well, found this thread this morning after thinking my 700 looked dim last night.The bulb popped this evening, 908 hrs., just over 1 year of use. Love the projector,not so happy about this bulb issue. Always shutdown properly,and in a cool basement room.Rats!

I've been getting nervous about approaching 4000 hours, and to top it off the lamp noticeably dimmed in the last week. I purchased a new lamp and will install at the end of this week when it arrives. I sure hope it is another "lucky" 4000-hour unit!

HMenke,I see you have some concerns about the bulb blowing,the lamp it self is pretty well self contained.Mine left some small glass pieces in the lamp area after I pulled it out but nothing a vacuum couldn't fix.Please make your own decision as always but what blew on mine was the element area inside of the actual bulb,the bulb itself is still intact.Probably not explaining that very well,but maybe when you put in the new one you will get a better feel for it.At least now you will have a back-up lamp for the next time(hopefully 4000 hours away)

Well my lamp blew monday night. 1 year old and 579 hours. What a crock.

Matt

I was surprised when my new lamp arrived yesterday (Wed) direct from Japan after only ordering on Saturday night USA time. Pretty dog-gone good delivery by the US Postal Service global express!

I immediately performed the replacement. I was surprised to see that the old lamp had a milky/smoky coloration to the glass envelope. I think this was probably the result of vaporized electrode material being deposited inside the glass. I imagine that those deposits contributed to the increasing dimness. I'll bet they also cause a heat buildup when they block the IR light coming out of the lamp. This heat is probably what can cause the envelope to fail explosively.

I'll be back to report if any premature failure happens with this new lamp. You're right KeysZ, at least I do have a spare to use in a pinch. I always used to wonder what I would do if I planned to have guests over for "movie night" and had the bulb blow in the middle of the show!

Hmenke,I was looking at buying from a "direct from japan" seller on Ebay but chickened out, LOL, price was very good,but I found a US sold one for $50 more than theirs.They did have 2500 positive feedbacks though.....Oh well, new bulb is in and darn they look good when they're new. I'm sure there is probably better projectors out there these days, but I am still impressed when I fire it up! The bulb thing is still irritating,but if it lasts a year it is still less than a dollar a day,and I spend more than that on beer per day(on average),oops, never mind,happy viewing!

I made a post back in May about replacing my first bulb with over 2k hours because it was to dim. On my second bulb I already have 1600 hours and this bulb is just now starting to dim a bit. Still very watchable.. Hummm 1600 hours in less then 6 months, I must be watching way to much lol.

Hmenke,I was looking at buying from a "direct from japan" seller on Ebay but chickened out, LOL, price was very good,but I found a US sold one for $50 more than theirs.They did have 2500 positive feedbacks though.....Oh well, new bulb is in and darn they look good when they're new. I'm sure there is probably better projectors out there these days, but I am still impressed when I fire it up! The bulb thing is still irritating,but if it lasts a year it is still less than a dollar a day,and I spend more than that on beer per day(on average),oops, never mind,happy viewing!

I ordered one from buy.com to get overnight delivery and decided to order one from ebay as a back up. It should be here Monday. As soon as I ordered it and paid, the seller sent me emails with tracking and thanking me for the order. Seems like it is going to be a good purchase. Will report back when it arrives.

Matt

KeysZ - just be glad you don't have to choose! Beer...lamp...beer...lamp...oh, the humanity!

My seller was "buyfromjapan" on eBay and I can't say enough positive things about his professionalism, reliability, and speed of delivery. 2900+ positive feedback 100% is no accident.

Yep, that was E-bayer I was looking at,like you say that many positives does not come by accident.Glad to hear your experience was a good one as well.

Yep, that was E-bayer I was looking at,like you say that many positives does not come by accident.Glad to hear your experience was a good one as well.

My lamp came on Friday.

OK my story then.

First globe died at 800 odd hours, after a LOT of jumping up and down Panasonic reluctantly agreed to prorata a new globe.
So it cost me $280 instead of $600!! (Aussie dollars)

Oh and a 2 month wait.

The PJ is powered via an UPS, shelf mounted, filter cleaned weekly, proper power down to stand by, low lamp, on-off once a day strictly enforced.

Second globe is now at 2150 hours almost all in high. I decided after the premature first globe to just go for it. Curious that.

The polarizer and blue LCD need replacing, but that's going to cost me over $1000 AND I'm looking at a new globe soon.....

Unfortunately, last weekend, I had a bad fall in the kitchen and ended up in hospital for a day. Severe bruising, I'll be ok.
The PJ which I was carrying inside for a clean did not come off so well though. It landed lens down on a slate floor.

Fortunately I have very good insurance cover and they will give me new for old.

So Panny AX100?

No "fing" way mate.

Z5 this time, 3 year warranty and a MUCH better bulb history.

Last Panasonic product for me.

So many sad stories here, I don't blame anyone for being p'd off.
Me? My first bulb made it to around 2000 with no problems when I replaced it. Keeping it for a backup. New one is around 500. Some of us just got lucky with bulbs or pj's. I do have a bit of "cyan blob" color uniformity issues at this point, though. I will live with these until spring and go to a DLP FP or plasma.

So many sad stories here, I don't blame anyone for being p'd off.
Me? My first bulb made it to around 2000 with no problems when I replaced it. Keeping it for a backup. New one is around 500. Some of us just got lucky with bulbs or pj's. I do have a bit of "cyan blob" color uniformity issues at this point, though. I will live with these until spring and go to a DLP FP or plasma.


I wonder if it was just a bad batch of bulbs? Here's to hoping my second goes longer.

Matt

We've been hearing about bad bulbs for so long, it seems like much more than one batch!
In any case I hope for the best for all of our bulbs....

Another contribution to this AE700 lamp life poll:

About 850 hours over two years of regular use, in low lamp mode. No problem, and hard to say if it is dimmer than at the beginning.

A happy guy (so far)

My bulb popped and went out at 950 hours. Low lamp, high fan, cleaned the filter every 3 or 4 months, did not restrict myself to on-off only once per day so maybe that had some effect.

I love my 700 so I have no regrets. An extra $350 a year is a cost I can handle but when I do upgrade, I would consider a projector that has a better history for bulb life. There are other projectors out there.

My first AE700 bulb lasted 2000+ hours, but I replaced it since the image had become very dark and lost a lot of detail. My second bulb is at 800+ hours with no loss of brightness. However, after 4100 hours of total use (I think high power mode counts double or something), my AE700 overheated and melted part of the optical components, causing nasty blue splotches to appear everywhere.

Luckily I had purchased an extended warranty and got it fixed just before the 2-year window expired. However, after getting mine fixed I found out that Panasonic's extended warranty only extends the years from 1 to 2, not the hours. So, I was really lucky since the original warranty is for only 2500 total hours of use, and hence the extended warranty is also limited at 2500 total hours. I am still amazed that Panasonic would sell an extended warranty that does not extend the hours.

Beware! If your AE700 is nearing the 2500 hour mark, make sure that there is no melting or burn marks around the bulb housing!

So many sad stories here, I don't blame anyone for being p'd off.
Me? My first bulb made it to around 2000 with no problems when I replaced it. Keeping it for a backup. New one is around 500. Some of us just got lucky with bulbs or pj's. I do have a bit of "cyan blob" color uniformity issues at this point, though. I will live with these until spring and go to a DLP FP or plasma.
When my AE700 suffered from those cyan blobs, it was from melting damage. They wanted $1000 to fix it, but I convinced them to cover it under warranty. Even after fixing it, there is still one cyan blob in the middle, which is apparent when you display a red test pattern (the cyan blob is from lack of red). Check your unit for burning or melting ASAP if you are still under warranty.

OK my story then.

First globe died at 800 odd hours, after a LOT of jumping up and down Panasonic reluctantly agreed to prorata a new globe.
So it cost me $280 instead of $600!! (Aussie dollars)

Oh and a 2 month wait.

The PJ is powered via an UPS, shelf mounted, filter cleaned weekly, proper power down to stand by, low lamp, on-off once a day strictly enforced.

Second globe is now at 2150 hours almost all in high. I decided after the premature first globe to just go for it. Curious that.

The polarizer and blue LCD need replacing, but that's going to cost me over $1000 AND I'm looking at a new globe soon.....

Unfortunately, last weekend, I had a bad fall in the kitchen and ended up in hospital for a day. Severe bruising, I'll be ok.
The PJ which I was carrying inside for a clean did not come off so well though. It landed lens down on a slate floor.

Fortunately I have very good insurance cover and they will give me new for old.

So Panny AX100?

No "fing" way mate.

Z5 this time, 3 year warranty and a MUCH better bulb history.

Last Panasonic product for me.
Just be careful with the Sanyo warranty. This is a quote from Ross at ProjectorPeople:
"Sanyo does have the 3 yr warranty but no DOA policy so if it fails 2 weeks
after purchasing it, you have to send it off for repair. Sanyo is also
very strict re: dust filter cleaning. I've heard of cases where they
would not warranty a projector because the owner didn't clean the filter
regularly."

I just replaced my lamp on my ae700 a few weeks ago, when the pj was almost exactly 2 years old. The lamp had about 2300 hours on it, and the "replace lamp" message was starting to appear. This is my first lamp replacement. I ran it on low lamp for about the first 300 hours, then high lamp thereafter. It had begun to dim quite a bit, but still ok for video games. It did develop a flicker at about 1500 hours, but just barely noticeable. I have had the DI turned off the last year or so for everything except movies -- it started making a fairly loud clunk noise when the scene transitions from bright to dark back to bright quickly (eg, commercials). Fortunately this sort of scene transition seems to happen very rarely in movies. Other than the DI, the projector seems to be ok so far.

warranty is way over.
I opened it and saw nothing like "melting", but not sure what you mean by that. I think its something else. The new LCD panels will improve on this, but I'm leaning to dlp anymore.
Vertical banding - fades to Color uniformity issues - fades to black. Go back, Jack and do it again...

I noticed on Sunday that within two hours, mine became very dim and almost unwatchable. I took the bulb out and noticed the filament had a dark spot on it. I don't know if it had always looked like that or not. It had a total of 719 hours running time, about 95% on economode with high fan (because I live at 6000 ft).

I have a 3 year bulb warranty but it doesn't cover dimming. I put the bulb back in the projecter and left it running another hour and POP, it blew while I was ordering a new one off the internet! (The bulb insurance will re-imburse me for the new bulb or send me a new one after I return the old one. It sounded like it would be faster for me to order a new one myself and then send them the bad one.)

My first lamped poped at 580 hr in eco.

Does someone have a poped or dimmed lamp for free for me?
I will pay the shipment.
=> PM
Thanks

My first lamped poped at 580 hr in eco.

Does someone have a poped or dimmed lamp for free for me?
I will pay the shipment.
=> PM
Thanks

What are you going to do with a popped lamp?

I got 870 hours out of my lamp for the Pany PT AE700. My picture is very dim and I am told the bulb is about to go out. I called Panasonic and they said too bad it's out of warrenty but we will be glad to sell you one for $425.00 Panasonic should be more willing to discount or prorate the bulb replacment based on the hours used out of the 3000 hours they claim.

Just remember that brush-off from Panasonic the next time you need to buy a new PJ.

I got 870 hours out of my lamp for the Pany PT AE700. My picture is very dim and I am told the bulb is about to go out. I called Panasonic and they said too bad it's out of warrenty but we will be glad to sell you one for $425.00 Panasonic should be more willing to discount or prorate the bulb replacment based on the hours used out of the 3000 hours they claim.

Jump up and down, yell and scream, most importantly write letters to "The customer care manager".

I had to go through all that just to get pro-rata for mine at 798 hours. I ended up paying au$280 instead of au$600(ish)

Second globe made it past 2000 hours.


Just remember that brush-off from Panasonic the next time you need to buy a new PJ.

Yup, indeed.

Last Panasonic I buy, regardless of HOW good they get. Bloody useless support and warranty here in Aussie.

What gets me is the issues with the 700 have carried over to the ax-100 - globe life, flicker, whining fan.(I only had 2 outa 3 of these problems.)

Epson tw700(810) or Z5 for me next week.

Originally Posted by mokk
My first lamped poped at 580 hr in eco.

Does someone have a poped or dimmed lamp for free for me?
I will pay the shipment.
=> PM
Thanks



What are you going to do with a popped lamp?

I am going to do a xenon mod. I will compare it to my brand new original lamp.
I got a poped lamp so i can start in a few days but if someone can offer me another poped lamp please let me know => PM

I am going to do a xenon mod. I will compare it to my brand new original lamp.
I got a poped lamp so i can start in a few days but if someone can offer me another poped lamp please let me know => PM


So what is this xenon mod? Links?

Yeah....what's the Xenon Mod?
Sounds interesting.

If someone could please PM me the good $ource for new lamps, I'd sure appreciate it... :cool:

You guys would crap if you knew how long my original lamp has lasted.
I'm just planning ahead, asking this question....I know I'm on borrowed time.

I'm goin' to say that cleaning the filter is what's messing you up...
I've never done it. :eek:

Mine is mounted upside down, to my home made ceiling mount....like most of you probably.
If you have to get to the bottom of the unit to clean it, you're beating the thing around to take it down/take it off it's mount all the time.
(I liked the one guy's idea of the hole for access..I'll be doing that to my mount)
Wonder if that has anything to do w/ the short life?
I'm sure you're careful as you can, but just putting a screwdriver in the slot causes a shock to the thing.

JMHO

Again, could someone please let me know where to get the bulb??? ;)

What is the consensus on settings to use on the Panasonic AE700U to achieve optimal bulb life. I am a newbie to the projector scene and purchased this from my brother-in-law with 320 hours on it. He had no idea how to configure it and now I want to make it last. Should the Dynamic Iris be set to on? What color modes are people using? What video settings (sharpness, brightness, contrast, etc...) are people using and finding the best. What is this B+W filter people are talking about? So sorry for all the questions, but you guys seem to be the best place to find this out. Thank you all in advance for your help!

I got a replacement on eBay from BuyFromJapan (or a similar user ID). I think it was $270 or $280 for the bulb, including Global Express shipping. I ordered it on a Thursday night and it was delivered Monday morning. Not thinking it would get here that fast, I ordered one from a US retailer as well. It cost $70 more and arrived later than the one from Japan (even with upgraded shipping).

Well just blew the bulb tonight. Picture has been getting dim for the past couple of days, happened really fast. Total time on orginial lamp was 739hrs. Just ordered a new one tonight, "factory sealed orginal". Hopefully this "factory sealed orginal" lasts longer. I love the PJ, but come on... Located in basement, shelf mounted, filter cleaned regularly, cool environment, always operated on low lamp/high fan. Always waited for fan to shut off for bulb cool down before turning master power switch off behind PJ.

Well just blew the bulb tonight. Picture has been getting dim for the past couple of days, happened really fast. Total time on orginial lamp was 739hrs. Just ordered a new one tonight, "factory sealed orginal".


Where did you order from? I like the idea of factory sealed.

Also, are these easy to install? Any precautions etc...

thanks.

dave

Anybody ever try replacing the AE700 bulb with one for a AE900?

Where did you order from? I like the idea of factory sealed.

Also, are these easy to install? Any precautions etc...

thanks.

dave


Dave,

I ordered the lamp from PCnation included free shipping and no sales tax (bonus). Replacement is a snap, just follow the projectors manual. For what it's worth My first bulb blew at the base of the filament.

Kyle

I'm now at 2739 hours on original bulb. I turn my on/off with remote, and never touch the power switch. I now have a "replace lamp" message so I've ordered a new one from buy.com.

I think I'll replace the new one when it comes in and use the old one as a spare.

1348 hours in after 3 years use and I'm realising that my constant dissatisfaction with the image is down to a dulling bulb.

It looks as if www.*************** can get one to me for around £140 inc shipping, which is certainly better than buying from the UK. However, after 3 years with this unit I feel it's time for an upgrade anyway, so a 1080p model beckons.

I will have a heavy heart when my old AE700 is taken out of action though, it is without a doubt the best bit of consumer electronics I've ever bought. *sniff*

Got 900 hours out of the original lamp. Have over 2300 hours on my new lamp and still going strong.

I run the fan speed on high now, clean the filter regularly, and try to avoid turning the projector on and off. If I turn it on, it stays on for the day or until I go to bed.

Not sure if the things I am doing differently are helping or I just got a bad lamp the first time that somone my have put their fingers on.

Provantage has the AE700u replacment lamps for under US$320. If anyone has found them cheaper, please share the site with us.

Happy Holidays!!!!

I guess I lucked out, I am still on my original bulb with 4660 hours.

I have a new bulb waiting, but I have expirienced no dimming and
no other issues. I guess I got lucky.

No dimming or any other issues, but my power supply or ballast or something went out, so i'll repost when the bulb goes.

mine is at 2099 hours on original bulb. received unit from price japan. always on eco mode. also run through 100/120 converter (left over from initial ae100 when we didn't know if power source was an issue!) but doubt that it contrinutes much. looking for new lamp now but may consider upgrading.

Mine is stationary on the roof. Never use the manual switch to turn off only on standby. Power is clean and regulated through a APC ups. Cleaned it a couple of times. Always in low power mode. Normal fan. 4681 hrs, waiting for it to go until I swap the new bulb.

xbc, when my hours got that high I decided to go ahead and pull the bulb rather than risk the glass envelope shattering or the ballast getting blown when the lamp fails. I now keep the old lamp as a "spare" in case the newer one ever fails unexpectedly at a bad time (Super Bowl, etc.)

With my bulb I seem to be lucky too - approaching the 5000 h mark didn't blow yet but it seems to have darkened lately.
With the rest of my AE700 I wasn't all that lucky - had the "blue haze" thing after ~2800 h and the on/off thing (defective P-Module) just now.

Anyways, I ordered a new bulb and was wondering: When you received your replacement bulb: Was it in a sealed bag?
Mine was in a normal unsealed plastic bag. The packaging around it was ok, but I have no way of knowing weather the bulb is brand new or if someone else used it already and returned it or something like that...

[QUOTE=goosecat;5959713]I am wondering how much lamp life people are getting out of their ae700.


FYI. I have obtained a lamp life of just 510 hours under ideal conditions: room temperature, low power, max cooling amd a small number of 2-6 hour sessions (weekly video night only.)

When it comes to Bulb life, this thing has a real YMMV factor, eh? I have two bulbs over 2000hrs, both still working.

I am at 4265 hours after about 2 1/2 years and the "REPLACE LAMP" just came on. It's used in HIGH lamp, HIGH fan in a basement that is kept fairly cool, and I always just send it to standby, I haven't unplugged it...ever. It is on it's own ciruit in the basement, and I clean the filter about every 800 hours. I should clean it more often, but it's not very dusty down there. And to be honest, I need it to die before my 3 year bulb replacement program is over in July. I love this projector, and have nothing but good things to say. So I'm a happy camper! Good luck guys.

Mine had 1950 hrs and was dimming slightly. Then yesterday the thing just shut down. Think it's the well documented power supply board problem. Oh well, I guess I try and sell it now.

Mine lasted 2300 hrs mostly on high with fan set to low. Brief periods of operation on low bulb setting. purchased in May of 2005

after 4 years 1040 hour of use (weekends only) i started to notice a little dimming, so I ordered a new one, got one of those stripped down bulbs from a seller on E-bay for $170US after taking the bulb out of the projector, it as easy to remove the reflector from the bulb housing and replace just the bulb, no need to replace the rest of the plastic that is still working fine. it saved me over $100 by doing it this way. Only draw back is the projector will not recognize a new bulb so you need to do a manual reset Menu - Options - Lamp run time - Press enter for 3 sec. Lamp runtime will change to lamp reset power off. (don't press menu button again or this will cancel the whole operation). Turn off the projector.