Official Planar PD8150 Owners Thread - Page 4

I absolutely love my DLP (can't comment on other DLP models). I am just afraid about being able to buy a bulb in the future, so I am asking questions now. I was looking mostly at Sony and JVC projectors for the longest time, and then at the last minute I discovered what I really wanted was DLP when it came time to make a purchase. Perfectly sharp and aligned RGB pixels, vibrant image, perfect colors, great black levels, what's not to love? It's like Plasma on the huge screen. Long live DLP.

I'm a DLP fan too. I have the Planar and a Samsung rear projection DLP TV. I've been very happy with both.

I bought a spare bulb the day I bought my projector and immediately took out the 350 hr dealer demo bulb to keep as a future spare.

here are some pics, first the bulb. I don't see a N



Now a broad lay of the land.

A pretty big housing (black) and an inner bulb cradle (metal)



I think the cradle is secured by the 3 silver screws forming a V. I think the bare bulb can go in without taking the cradle out of the housing. In any case there is some play in the mount and perhaps the bulb is aimed and the cradle placement in the slots is important.




I think this is an aiming screw and that it shouldn't be touched



One side is open and you can see a spring loaded screw holding the bulb in the cradle



The other side is covered with a spring loaded cover.





I think we can get the bulb out by loosening the two spring loaded screws.

Awesome post! Thanks for sharing the info!

I've been changing just the lamps for a while now it's easy to eyeball how to dismantle and install the bulbs. One time the replacement had screws for the contacts they normally do. Yet the original lamp had fixed contacts. I was able to work off the fixed contact and drilled out the loop holes on the wire ends to use the screws of the new lamp. Make sure you use rubber gloves.

This planar is at the top of the DLP chain. I've always understood the DLP chip having the ability to have mirrors on and off at the same time is a good thing. That's why the ANSI contrast is so good. If I scaled my screen down to 92" diag I could fit this projector or even an Optoma HD8600 which my friend said he'd give me for just 2 grand. Always tempted

The last picture? are those contacts fixed to the bulb? You may have to do what I mentioned in the last post.

I have a 163" screen I made with Stewart Studiotek 130 material and it works great. My room is completely dark (black material over all the walls and the ceiling). Love my Planar!

Tom, just took a look, the leads are attached with slip on compression fittings.

Ok, lately for a JVC RS1 the Hong Kong lamp had the wires already on it with screw attachments, but the plug part didn't match up with the JVC. What I meant was I pryed those fixed connections off the dead lamp to use the correct plug part on the Hong Kong lamp.

Looks like the lamps are comming with the wires on it, you just have to hope it matches up.

Wow.. thanks for posting the picture and information, that's great. I'll need to bookmark this page for future reference.

mortisemaker-

Thanks so much for the pics and directions. Both you and BIGmouthinDC have been very generous with your time and efforts to help in this process. I placed my order for the replacement bulb and will use your directions as my guide.

Thanks again
Ron

Well I have been "successful" in replacing my bulb. I "think" I did everything correct...had the had time getting the clip on the back end of the bulb attached...but I got it on and secured it with a tweak of the pliers.

Here's my problem. I can't get the housing back in place. I get it to a certain point in the projector and try to give it a little extra push...but I am really scared of damaging the projector....I'd rather buy a whole new unit housing/bulb unit then damage the actual projector. Any idea's for those who have reinserted the housing unit? Tricks of the trade if you will?

Thanks
Ron

Thanks very much for the advice. I'll review the tabs on my lamp housing. Yes, like you I assumed the tabs should be all the way to the right, espcially since the lowest screw opening alligned up with the tabs being on the far right.

BigmouthinDC said he thought the male/female electrical slots were probably slightly out of line. I know the internal projector side of that equation has no play..so it can't be out of line. The bulb housing would be the problem side of the equation....but one would think they've designed the tracking to work so the electrical components line up. I can get the housing within about an half inch or so of being all the way in...it's the last umph that has the resistance.

I've got a call into Planar CS, but I don't expect much help...I sure their answer will be to send the projector in for service. I'm not going to mention that I replaced the bulb myself....just that I removed the housing to verify the parts number.

Ron

Well customer service acknowledged their is an issue with the housing relative to insertion into the projector. He said it requires the customer to "jiggle" the housing to manuever it into the projector. He said they designed it to fit in more than the 8150 model, inwhich he was alluding that is doesn't have a perfect design fit.

I do recall that when I first removed my factory bulb and housing I thought WTF and stopped. The next day after consulting the manual one more time and determined to succeed I gave it much harder tug and it came out.

I'm going to reposition my tabs tonight and give it one more try. I'm just worried about trying to force a $500 replacement item into a $6k projector and doing some damage. Again, thanks to both of you for your instructions, support and first person insights....you both are great examples of the stellar AVS community.

Thanks
Ron

Success!! You were right on the money. Moving the tabs even the slight bit did the trick. The housing with a little push moved right into place. Did you notice a very slight smell powering up the unit? My wife claims she can't smell anything...so maybe it's my imagination.

I imagine that the first time a bulb gets hot it is going to off gas something.

In retrospect, the smell might have been coming from my son's movie choice of "Dylan Dog". As suspected, it would seem to have been a little gas coming from the bulb, which within a reasonable amount of time went away...though the movie still stunk up the place.

So the bullet points from my experience would be...

1) Take some pics of the bulb in the housing including the tab placement.

2) Expect resistance when pulling the housing out and putting it back in.

3) Make sure to wear the plastic gloves provided by Pureland Supply

4) Be careful when lifting the original bulb out of the lamp housing, keeping the spring/screw in place.

5) To reapply the hardware clips and screws that hold the lamp in place against the front of the housing, you'll need a screw driver with a magnetic end. The screw on the inside of the housing is recessed in the corner of the housing and too hard to get to with one's fingers (this took sometime-I felt like I was playing the game "operation").

6) I had a tough time reattaching the clip (at the end of the electrical wire) to the bulb prong on the base of the bulb. The prong is bent towards the bulb and leaves little space to use my fat fingers to reattach the clip to the prong. PPL with slender fingers may not have this issue.

7) Again, use your picture taken before you've started the replacement process to check the placement of the tabs to ensure the same position after reinserting the internal bulb housing into the external housing.

I printed off a copy of both BigmounthinDC's pics and Mortisemaker's pictures and instructions (huge help) to refer to when making the change out. I can honestly say, I may not have been able to do this project without their pictures and help....thanks guys!!

Let me know if anyone has any questions? I'd feel much more prepared and confident making another change out down the road. The cost diffence between the bulb only and the housing the bulb is huge....I am more likely to keep my planar for a longer period of time, now that I have an cheap option to replace the bulb vs weighting the cost of investing $550 (shipping and tax) into a used projector vs using the cash towards a new one.

Ron

A little late for this discussion, but might help someone down the road. I bought my PD8150 in Aug '08 and after over 6100hrs the lamp wen out in Oct '11. My replacement "bulb" (which I bough over a year ago) came already installed in the cradle. So all I had to do was pull out the old and pop in the new - or so I though.

The old one came out with a little effort. The replacement just would not go in. As was mentioned, I was leery of trying to force a $500 part into a $6k projector. I called Planar to see if there was some "trick" to this. The technician told me he had replaced many of these, and there was no real trick.

Basically, he told me to grab hold tight to the front and push like hell on the cradle in the back - and don't be afraid of breaking anything, that I wouldn't hurt it. I actually made a fist and pressed "like hell" against the back of the cradle while holding it steady on the front (left it in its ceiling mount). The cradle popped right in.

I asked my wife to come down and help with the realignment (her eyesight is a little better than mine). She noticed right away that the PQ was much better with the new lamp. I'm set for another 6000 hrs.

Thanks for the info, that's a lot of hours.


Any word if they'll be producing a newer model? Not that there's anything wrong with the current model, but I was planning on buying a second for another place. I'd like to get one with built-in anamorphic capability.

Runco does not have any native widescreen PJs yet. You would have to go to Sony, DP, DPI, or SIM2.

Hopefully they will release a few more new ones in the near future.

I was wondering if anyone knew where to purchase a short throw lens for this. I asked my local Runco dealer about a LS-5 short throw lens, but with wanted $995 for it. IIRC the MSRP was only ~$700. Can anyone help? Maybe there's someone here looking to sell theirs?

Have you called AV Science to see if they can help you? I bought my Planar from Jason.

Unfotunately they aren't planar or runco dealers anymore. I already asked.

Did you call Runco and see if they sell them directly?