Official JVC RS25/HD950 Owners Thread! - Page 31

You're lucky it was under warranty. If you're JVC, you don't "fix" anything, you just replace the optical block. However, if they had to pay "their own price" for an optical block, they wouldn't be so quick to replace it.

Fortunately, here in the U.S., the RS25 has a two year warranty and the RS35 has a three year warranty.

We're not the only ones that are at the mercy of these companies when it comes to repairs. I was recently told a story about an NEC DCI compliant projector in a theatre in Nebraska. They had installed an NEC 2K projector in their theatre as part of a complete DCI installation. When you install a DCI compliant projector, you're not allowed to open it up past a certain point (unless you're certified by the company and the MPAA), so that you can't gain access to the unencrypted digital stream. In any event, the NEC service technician had to come all the way from Omaha, where NEC authorized service is located. As is usually the case (90% of problems are optical block problems), he replaced the optical block. Because it was still under the warranty there was no charge. As the technician was leaving the owner asked "how much would this repair have cost me if it wasn't under warranty?" The technician responded coolly "about $25,000.00". The owner remarked to the technician "I've operated this theatre for over 30 years running 35mm film and only spent $5,000.00 on parts and service in all that time". The following day and still in shock, he inquired about purchasing a service contract with NEC. It's a new world. A world where nobody repairs anything, they just replace assemblies.

LOL yeah it's so true hey. Tech gear these days, no one repairs. I moved back to my home town and phoned up the old tech repairman to see if he could modify my behringer amp for home use - new quieter fans etc, and he said that he doesn't do repairs any more because it's cheaper to replace. Sad but true.

Just purchased a replacement lamp from Apex Lamps. Generic housing; supposed OEM bulb...

My throw is ~18', lens is zoomed to fill a 110" 1.0 gain screen and I'm getting ~6.5fL. Zoomed all the way in, I get around 9. All measured on a freshly calibrated PR655. Iris set to wide open, in both cases.

I bought the pj with a bulb that had app. 200 hours on it and I seem to remember having to stop the iris down to hit 14fL.

Also did a factory reset, to make sure nothing in the software was affecting output. Light path appears to be free of dust (though it'd take a lot to knock the output down that much).

Could a cheap, generic housing cause the bulb to be poorly aligned?

Any thoughts?

Did you check the condensor to see what condition it was in?

Hello,

Scott has described to a "T" the exact same problem I am now having with my Anthem LTX 500 projector. This is a re badged JVC RS20U. The LTX 500 has only 1,039 hours of use on it but is outside the 2 year warranty.

Techman 707..... after reading your response I was wondering if I would be able to disassemble the unit, access the chips and attempt to fix by pressing on the copper tape? Would this take and special tools? Any words of wisdom would be appreciated. At this point with the Projector being out of warranty I have nothing to lose as it is not cost effective to buy a new optical block.

Thanks Gerry

I would only do that as a last resort. If you're VERY GOOD with working on this type of equipment you can try it, BUT, be VERY careful becuase the way they connect the wires to the chips is VERY delicate, so if you're not careful you could damage MORE of the connection.

Getaway,

The purple strip down the side is a 'known fault'. I ended up getting my HD950 replaced with an X70R for free, even though my projector was 2 years old (we only get 1yr warranty here in Australia). What I would do is give them a call (JVC) and alert them to the fact that other people have been receiving replacements on a case by case basis.

Best of luck..

Scott

Gentlemen,

Thank you for your feedback. I will begin the task of trying to get a replacement. Fingers crossed on this one. Gerry

Scott... Who at JVC did you speak to? Gencom in Sydney sent me to a local repairer in Adelaide who told me to bring it in and they will quote me on repairs. Lady in Adelaide said my HD950 is outside of warranty and she can't do anything about it. Gencom in Sydney said that they deal with the current model projector only. So not sure where to go next. BTW, my HD950 is 18 months old and has just developed the dredded magenta stip on the left of the screen. Any further advice would be very much appriciated. Thanks
Also, my lamp has done 1005 hours

Keep us informed on your progress Gerry as I'm in the same boat as you are so will be keen to know. I'm busy over the next 2 days but will attempt to contact JVC again from Wednesday onwards. I do hope they come to the party...after all it's an expensive bit of kit.

Well all. I ran every option possible and to date have struck out on all of them. As mentioned I have an Anthem LTX500 projector which is a re-badged JVC RS20U, I can tell you there is no Lemon Law at work at JVC Japan or Anthem. Get a bad unit.......your tough luck. I contacted my Anthem dealer, & Northwest sales representative for the USA who contacted Anthem's Product manager, Customer Service Supervisor and also forwarded my issue on to the CEO & founder of the company. The back pedaling began immediately with the first email response from the Product Manager. He said they did not purchase the units from JVC America but JVC Japan. He said he forwarded my email to JVCJapan describing the issue but did not know what their response might be. JVC Japan's response........yes they have these failures but they are at an acceptable level (number). Since my unit is out of warranty they will not help. ( from what I have been reading this magenta strip seems to show up around 1,000 to 1,200 hours so try and get that many hours on your projector before it goes out of warranty).

I went back to Anthem to see if they would replace the projector. After all it has their name on it. The Anthem product manager gave me the excuse it was out of production and did not offer a comparable model as a replacement. I have made multiple purchases through my local Anthem/Paradigm dealer. This latest purchase that included the LTX500 projector was in the neighborhood of $45,000. I say that only to emphasize that Anthem/Paradigm sticks to the hardcore "Party Line" no matter how much you spend on their products. In the Product Manager's last email he said if there was anything he could do he would but was out of options. I asked him to forward the complete email thread to the CEO. The Product manager said he would but warned me against any false hope. That was the last contact, June 28th. Since then silence.

Gerry

When did you buy it? Sorry don't want to fight back through pages of posting...

I purchased the projector new from Anthem in May 2009. Put 1,039 hours of use on it by March 2012 when the Magenta strip appeared on the left side of the screen. Ten months out of warranty.
Curious as to why you are asking about the purchase date.

Gerry

I really feel bad for you and can sympathize with the problem you're having, especially since you paid a premium to have the "Anthem" nameplate on it. Personally, I've never understood why people pay a premium for rebadged equipment to begin with. I own an RS35, which comes with a 3 year warranty, however, I have very low hours on it because I haven't had much time to use it because of illness, so I haven't seen the problem first hand. What's more troubling though is that it seems to have appeared at around the same amount of hours, according to the people posting.

Did the product manager at Anthem give you any hint, besides telling you that JVC says the defect is at acceptable levels, what they believe is the cause of the problem? Because I'm retired and no longer do any service work, I really haven't been following any service bulletins, etc., so I don't know if they have even acknowledged any problem in the bulletins. Other than seeing the occasional similar problem on a few earlier models (which was a result of the delicate connection to the chips), I was totally unaware of any problems on later models, or the possibility that it might be more widespread. If it is a connection problem, the only solution (other than trying what I previously said) would be the replacement of the optical block that contains the chips and wires assembled. However, to buy the optical block as a "part", could exceed what many people paid for the entire projector.

In any event, I hope you have a favorable outcome.

Wasn't sure how old it was... Does Anthem give a 2 year as well?

OK, I've just had it confirmed it is the optical engine that has gone wonky on my HD950, now waiting to see what can be done about it. I am in contact with JVC and at least my initial conversation was encouraging however no promises made as one would expect. Will keep everyone posted on future developments.

I don't have tons of time to read all these posts but can anyone break this down for me:

1. Purchased Rs-25 February 2009
2. June 2012 dreaded MAGENTA strip appeared left side
3. Called JVC, they acted as if they have never heard of this before, out of warranty, if it is optical block $ 4,300 repair

Does that about sum it up? I have no choices but to buy a new model or go for an expensive repair?

Has anyone seen the new models that will do 4k, how do they look at 1080p?

Your reply is very much appreciated!!

Hi there

I would like to ask HD950/RS25 owners what you are doing with your lamp settings when the light output has dropped too much for an ok viewing experience, did you change to high lamp output and accept the increased fan noise, or did you change the bulb.

Another matter, will the increased heat from the lamp make any change to the lasting lifetime of the projector or in other words make a shorter lifetime.

So far I have run my HD950 for 690 hours and suddenly it’s clearly to my eyes that it have dropped so much in light output that I need to run it in the high lamp mode.

Hope to hear from some of you who still are the happy owner of this for me, satisfying projector.

If the light output has dropped to the point that it's objectionable, you have no choice but to set it to high for the remainder of the bulb's life.

Hi kcrow

Just want to ask how you have got your RS25 in February 2009, in my opinion it's only released in September 2009.

Just curious.

That's a good point you make and has got me thinking. Although I believe that Anthem released their re-badged RS-25 (or 35, I'm not sure what kind of a deal they had with JVC) early, I don't remember the official JVC release date for the RS-25/35. I don't think it was as early as February 2009. I know that I didn’t get my RS-35 until December 2009, and I didn't think it had been out that long. In fact, the RS-35 came with a 3 year warranty instead of the 2 year warranty that came with the RS-25. My warranty expires this month. Unfortunately, because I've been ill since I got it, I haven't put very many hours on the unit, so if the magenta stripe turns out to be an actual design flaw (as opposed to just a run of the mill random defect), I probably have a long way to go before it might materialize on my unit.

I wonder how many people here on the forum have actually experienced the “magenta stripe” problem....and what, if anything, JVC’s official response is? ---other than possibly GFYS.

Second unit with "magenta strip". Have around 900-1000 hours. Thank god I bought heavy extended warranty from my retailer that covers me for 5 years and includes current model replacement in the event of "no stock". I don't want to touch another hd-950 with a ten foot pole.

Amazed to see so many reports of these things dying. I was racking my brain to see what the problem could be on my end to be causing these problems. Glad to see its nothing I am doing wrong...

Also wanted to point out that I have one brand new bulb and one with 40 hours that I will be selling if I get a replacement other than a HD-950. Shoot me a pm if anyone is interested.
Edited by turtletrax - 12/30/12 at 11:10am

1. Model HD-950. First unit was bought in December 2009 and failed around one year later. Don t have manufacture date. Second unit was received in April (roughly) of 2011. Noticed the problem a few months ago and decided to wait to see if it got worse and how quickly, if it did. Will be pulling it off the mount in a few days and will add manufacture date to this list when I do.

2. First unit had almost 2000 hours. The wife was on mat leave and wasn't aware she was running it pretty much all day when I was at work. Kinda thankful now as I may have never put enough hours on that one to expose the problem and get the second unit with enough hours on it to realize they have serious issues. Second unit showed the issue around 640 hours and has just over 750 hours now. (had to think back to when I reset the meter and do the math)

3. First unit was original bulb, and bought a replacement thinking the bulb had calved. When I replaced it the problem persisted. Replacement bulb was OEM. Second unit was original bulb and tested with the new bulb I bought to be sure. Was sent a spare OEM bulb with my replacement so I have two new bulbs essentially

4. Always OEM

5. Ceiling mount

6. 18-21C

7. 1.5 to 4 hours. With the kids there are times when it is less. Try to keep it to a minimum though.

8. I was seriously racking my brain to see if there was any conditions that would bring on a second failure as in any electronics troubleshooting, a second failure usually points to some form of user error, but am unable to think of anything. I have a dedicated circuit run from my panel to my Tripplite true sine wave HT UPS then run a cable from that to my projector so it is run clean 60hz, uninterrupted AC. The unit is ceiling mounted and other than kids running around upstairs sees no movement at all and I have 2x10" joists at 12" on center with a 2x10" scabbed between the joists to make fixing a mount a breeze. Room is cool and filters cleaned. Seriously leaning to some form of defect in the design itself. Pretty confident that I will be getting a replacement from a more current JVC offering as I dont see them shelling out to fix this one if it is just going to fail again, and I still have 2 years warranty from my retailer. If I do I will be using the hell out of it for the remainder of my warranty just to see if it happens a third time.

Hope this helps.

Damon

Thanks for the info Turtletrax, it a good start. Hopefully, other people with the “magenta stripe” problem will also post information. One of the things I'm looking at are bulbs types. Although the problem with the Sony light engine was different, with that problem I noticed that it appeared that problem seemed worse when generic bulbs were being used. Some brands (aka, China ROC- ) also seemed to draw more current and run hotter than oem bulbs. However, since many people only bought the bulb w/o the holder, when they put the bulb into the holder themselves and didn’t check to make sure all the connections were tight, it caused the connections to heat up and sometimes burn, also taking out the power supply in some cases.

With these JVC projectors, one of the things I’m looking at is heat from long running cycles (4 hours or longer) in a higher than normal temperature environment. Also, whether some generic bulbs might also be exacerbating the problem.

Hoping others chime in on this problem. I am pretty sure that the issue would eventually spread the point of making your projector useless. In three months mine has gone from the strip alone to the strip plus a fading green saturated distortion that now covers about three feet across the left of my 106" screen.

There is most definitely a design flaw, information is the only way to prove it.

My RS20 (Dec 2008) has magenta strip down left side (ceiling mounted). Drove it to JVC repair in Long Beach. Cost $3500. to repair so sitting in my attic right now. Occurred 2 1/2 years after purchase at approx 2500 hours. Recently bought used RS35 hoping problem was fixed by 2009 model roll out. From these posts evidently not. However I'm running my RS35 on high-altitude mode so it runs a little cooler. Running my Theater Room cooler too. I really think over heating may contribute to optical block failure on these units. Anyway I'm at 1200 hours now and all is good. We shall see.

To see the response to the problem, it’s hard to believe the problem could be that widespread. If it wasn’t for the fact that you’ve had TWO projectors with the problem, I wouldn’t have thought it was a serious problem.

btw- Did you run the two projectors in the “Normal” lamp brightness mode?



There haven't been many people with older "RS" models to post about the problem, although I saw it as far back as the "G" models (G10, 15, 20 etc.). At that time, I was sucessful repairing a couple of units. On those units, it was caused by defective connections of the fine wires that connect to the D'ILA chips. Until toward the end of this thread, I wasn't aware that it was even still a problem. If I had known about the earlier "RS" units having the problem, I probably wouldn't have bought a new RS35.I

Yes, always ran in "normal" mode. Also ran my second unit in "high altitude" for about half of the hours it accumulated.

Not sure if heat played much of a factor on my second unit. The first may have because of the extended runs and the wife had the hot room warmer as she was in it much more.

My HD-950 went for warranty today, so I guess time will tell what happens. Looked allover the unit for a build date and there was none. Not sure what was up with that. There was even a empty spot on the serial number badge, but not sure if that was for build date or not.

Hoping that it doesnt get repaired, but if it does, it is going to see major hours before my warranty expires in the end of '14. Rather have to get a new projector because of use than failure at this point. I have two new bulbs to wear out