Planar 8150 follow up impressions - Page 25

Runco is now their only HT brand as mentioned.

I have not seen this one in person, but for an apartment it would be perfect.

My 8150 is still going strong.

What have folks been doing so far as bulb replacements ?

Is the Runco LS-3/5 bulb compatible ?

There is a company on eBay that sells a bulb minus housing - has anyone gone this route ? Any tips for recycling the housing ?

There are detailed instructions, including pictures and part numbers extra in this thread...starting with post #93

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...1086099&page=4

I've replaced mine last summer and will do it again this summer with a new aftermarket bulb using the same housing. I used those instructions linked above and added some observations of my own in that thread.

Ron

I got this:
http://www.planaronline.com/catalog/...G.x=0&btnG.y=0

It was actually cheaper/faster than AVS could get it when I checked. And IMO it's just not worth the trouble/uncertainty to go with something else to save maybe $100-200 over the course of a year or two. Not when it costs almost $100 just to fill up my truck once

Actually it's over $300 difference...but still your comparison to the high cost of filling up our vehicles was a good one to put things in perspective.

Thank you very much for this.

If you're looking for a deal on bare bulbs check here:

http://www.dlplampsource.com/planar-...ment-lamp.html

I bought two about a month ago for my PD8150. They are the real deal, ie Osram genuine bulbs. They are great to deal with. They had my bulbs out the following day in the AM and UPS Second Day Air is included in the price. Follow that guide posted and you're set. It's quick and easy. Just make sure you wear gloves when changing the bulbs out.

Thanks. As i am in the UK i need to factor in customs charges. But if anyone can recommend a seller in the EU, that would be useful too.

In the UK, the full assembly lamp is the equivalent of over $1,000 including taxes unfortunately. To fill my tank with diesel is the equivalent of $160 incl tax which hurts .

I might just get the full assembly once , then recycle the housing on the used lamp with a new bulb as a back up. The photos posted are great but I probably won't fully understand until confronted with taking it apart.

I found a EU seller btw.

BTW, are there any 'bricks-and-mortar' stores in US cities that sell these bulbs ? If so , where please ?

The seller that was recommended says custom fees are included in their flat shipping rate of $50 US

http://www.dlplampsource.com/faqs#

Hi,

Check out this link, they have very good prices:

http://www.myprojectorlamps.eu

Best regards.

I'd think a Runco seller would be able to get one. I'd be shocked if anyone had any in stock, or if any big box stores would even know what you're talking about.

I meant independent stores like B and H Photo in Manahattan for eg.

Thanks for the other suggestions above guys. About the custom charges being included in their shipping fee, I am not sure if the UK Customs would honour that- they charge a tax on the shipping charge combined with the item's value, as well as the value of the item again.

I have had my 8150 for almost 2 years probably and it has seen pretty light use TBH. Actually I checked the number of hrs on the lamp and even I was surprised to see its only 136 ! But I will definitely rebulb when the time comes and with all the above info, I will be well prepared as far as sourcing and doing the rebulb.

Should or shouldn't i get a bulb now ... ? I may never need another but I ought to use my PJ more I think. I use it with a vertical compression anamorphic lens, the oil filled obsolete panamorph p752 , its great though.

The osram bulbs in these projectors last a long time and don't lose brightness like the JVCs. I had a bulb at 1600+ hours and it was still bright enough for my 106" screen. I only replaced it because I finda good deal on bare bulbs.

With that said, your bulb should last a long time still. Its purely your decision on buying a new one but you don't need one for a while.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this

With only 136 hours on your bulb, it's still in it's infancy stage, not even a toddler yet. Most calibraters tell us not to calibrate a projector until you have at least 100 hours on the bulb. I would say you have more than a couple of years at your current rate of usage. You'll probably sell the projector before you need to replace the bulb.

A while back I moved house, and after remounting my PD8150 I found that the remote does not work anymore.

Of course I'm out of warranty, but I called Planar Tech Support and he said to replace the remote. Well the remote is behaving properly with the backlight and activity light, but I went ahead and replaced the batteries. Still no good.

As the Planar Tech immediately said 'replace the remote' I figured there was a known problem with them. As everything seemed to be working OK I figured the LED went out, so I replaced it (with a known correct one). Still didn't work. So I got my cameraphone and looked at the LED with it, and sure enough it is firing like it should,

Well in the User Guide it says that maybe there is an "IR code set mismatch between unit remote projector". So I held Light and Enter as it said, until the backlight flashed, but that didn't fix it. I did it once more to put it back to default, in hopes that there are only two IR codesets. I can't find in the menuing where to change the codeset, and changing it on the remote doesn't help.

This leaves the horrifying possibility that it's something in the projector. The fact that it happened on a house move, speaks to a loose connection. But I'd opened it up and didn't find anything glaringly wrong with the front or back connections.

Any advice? Where can I get a schematic?

PS - Can we install the Runco firmware in the 8150? I recently upgraded to the newest (2011) 8150 firmware and it really helped PQ, but newer is (almost) always better.

Never mind, don't worry about my question anymore...
I fixed it.

A few weeks ago, I replaced an Optoma HD81-LV with a Runco LS-3. I had planned on buying an LS-5, but the small size of my HT room necessitated the addition of the $995 short throw lens, which made me rethink the LS-5 vs. LS-3 due to budget constraints and concerns over buying 2008 technology. I was happy enough with the Optoma image, but I literally went through over a dozen units under warranty due to failures of all sorts.

I demoed the Runco LS-5, 750 LED and a 3-chip model. I liked the LS-5 better than the LED (didn't like the color), the 3-chip was too expensive and way too bright for my 100" wide 2:35 Stewart Studiotek screen. I also demoed the latest JVC LCOS model and was underwhelmed as I had been in 2006 when I bought my OptomaHD-81 DLP, before trading for an HD-81LV in 2007. I guess I'm just a DLP junky! I had looked at an Optoma HD8200 a couple of years ago, but found the smaller DMD to be a bit soft, more like the JVC's apparent sharpness.

The LS-3 seems to be pretty close to the LS-5, certainly a big step in CR over the Optoma, whose DI never worked. Overall, the image seems to look more "sophisticated" for lack of a better word, with better motion. The color is more accurate, low light scenes are more believable as far as black levels. There is less overall image noise and fan noise is lower when in economy mode. Source switching processing is much faster than the Optoma. The HD81-LV was too bright with new bulbs, but luckily had a manual iris. I have yet to see any rainbow artifacts with the Runco, whereas I did fairly often with the Optoma. I also seem to see less 8-bit artifacts with the Runco for some reason. Optics are quite good, no apparent chromatic aberration is evident to me, sharpness is good edge to edge. I use a Panamorph 480 which softens the image a bit and reduces contrast, but still offers a very compelling image.

My installation not only required the short throw lens in full wide and vertical shift as far as it would go, the projector had to be so close to the rear wall that I left the rear cover off!

Now for the things that are a bit problematic with the LS-3:

Light leak from the lens around the right side of the image, much like my Optoma had on left and right, albeit more subtle.

Adaptive Contrast unusable due to crushing of blacks.

Don't like SATCO, didn't like Brilliant Color on Optoma either.

Constant Contrast seems to work well most of the time, but I have seen flicker in flat field areas several times, including a green screen scene from camera original files that I was playing right out of a Canon C300 at 50Mbps, 4:2:2. This scared me for a moment, making me think there was something wrong with the footage I had shot that day, until I turned off Constant Contrast and the issue went away. I also see a slight color temperature change with CC on.

I'm uncertain at this point whether I will continue to use Constant Contrast--while I haven't seen picture level pumping or too much crushing of the low or high end, the flicker is unacceptable when it occurs infrequently. I know I will lose CR with it off, but the LS-3 is still much better in the blacks than the HD81-LV, even with CC off.

Overall, the LS-3 is a nice step above the Optoma, which are only about a year apart on model year release(the Planar 8130 debuting in 2008, I believe, the HD81-LV in 2007), both having the same price point originally. As a director of photography, I often watch footage that I shot during the day, monitored on broadcast LCD displays on set, then with the LS-3 at night. The Runco image is very close to what I saw on set. This is important to me. I'm certainly hoping for better reliability as well. I previously had 13 years of reliability from a Sony 1251Q CRT projector, so the Optoma experience was a shock.
Edited by Jeff Regan - 7/23/12 at 3:27pm

Hey guys, where is the cheapest place that I can find the runco ls-5 or planar 8150? Does AVS have them? I'd like to know what price range its going for brand new or slightly used. Thanks!
Edited by SED <--- Rules - 7/28/12 at 11:40pm

I bought mine from AVS, but that's when it was Planar. I would imagine they carry Runco, but I don't know for sure.

I wanted to purchase another one or my new home since the other one was left in the last, but was hoping for a newer model.

Thanks. I guess I'll find out. The projector is that good that you wanted to purchase another one huh? I'm hearing a lot of good things from this projector. Runco should make a new model with 3D...

Picture quality out of the box is excellent. The picture was more natural looking than I've seen from any tv out of the box.

I don't think AVS sells Runco anymore, unfortunately. It is certainly possible to get a good deal from Runco dealers, I did on my LS-3 and short throw lens--it cost less than the projector alone, including the $995 lens. I know somebody on the forum who paid $10K for a $15K Runco LED projector. I've seen 8150's and LS-5's at Videogon, there's one there right now that is 6 months old with an asking price much lower than retail.

I looked 12 minutes after you posted and couldn't find it, but lots of others.

It's there:

http://cgi.videogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?projdlpa&1344137203&&&/Runco-LS-5

It's pretty impressive 8150/LS-5 can still command $7K retail after 4 years. I saw the LS-3 this weekend. Pretty nice picture but can't say it's better than RS45/ VW95 though. I am RBE sensitive but can't see a darn rainbow with the LS-3. I don't know how they do it but I am impressed. No 3 chippers needed !!

Thanks... Not sure why I couldn't find it. Search Runco and LS.

Is there anything like a Runco ls-5 but with 3D coming up? Its been a long time since there has been any upgrade of the ls-5. I would love to get the ls-5 but without 3D, I will feel like I'm missing something. Give me a upgrade to the ls-5 with better blacks, frame interpolation, and 3D and I'm buying. Otherwise, I have to look at something else.