Official JVC RS40/X3 Owners Thread - Page 304

Well I've joined the RS40 B-Stock club and received my projector on Friday. Has the 002 lamp installed with about 4 hours on the clock when I powered it up.

Very impressed with the picture quality, even with just using a white wall in my soon to be theater room. Have a few screen samples which makes things a bit interesting.

Hopefully my lamp doesn't blow too soon..

Be thankful JVC has stated there is a problem with the lamps and is working to find a solution. I am confident they will figure it out.

Just FYI, JVC is replacing my second bulb after a year with it and only 378 hours. I will say they seem to be standing behind the projector. That said, a total of 520 hours on two bulbs is really terrible. They need to provide free bulbs to 2,000 shours.

I did have to argue with the technician when he said the best he could was offer me a new lamp at a discounted rate. He tried to tell me there is no known issue with the bulbs. I then said, "yeah that's the reason you have gone through 3 different designs - the latest having an entirely new piece to enhance air flow." After saying that and reminding him that the specs suggest 2,000 hours on a bulb, he offered to send me a new one if I could send him a picture of the projector displaying the current # of hours. I did so and a new lamp is on its way. Kudos to JVC.

I'm glad to see them standing behind the product. The Rep I talked to told me the same thing. I just laughed at him.
So far my second lamp seems to be holding up well. At 50 hours and aperture closed all the way down -15. It is still blistering the screen! On certain scenes it is almost too bright on my 120" screen. Contrast and black levels are superb! Sherlock Holmes and Haywire look fantastic!

On another note,
I was talking to a good friend, who is a store manager at a local audio/video shop. He discovered certain DVD players crush the blacks with his RS40.
We tried for hours to calibrate the contrast and brightness of the unit. It was either to dark or washed out. After swapping Denon BD players. The unit looks much better! This leads me to believe the color space output of certain devices can give you the wrong impression of this projector. Robbing it of its dynamic range.

So far a WD TV live has given me the easiest to calibrate output. Using it I can get the pluge pattern for brightness to flash all the way down to 17 without 16 flashing at all. I've never been able to do that with any other output device I've used. For some reason YCbCr 4:4:4 output from the WD gives me greater accuracy on the pluge pattern. I have no idea why though?

Im stoked too, it has been for the most part a pleasure speaking with the JVC reps over the last two bulbs. I just wish I never had to do it in the first place. On another note, ive decided to sell my rs40 once I get the new bulb. If anyone is interested, it can be found in the classifieds, with 6 prs of glasses, emitter, and some 3d titles for a decent price, and obviously with a new bulb I just realized that I need something that throws more light out as I host quite a bit and almost always keep the lights on while doing so. Ill have to sacrifice the inky blacks, which sucks really bad, but in the long run, I think it will be a good decision. I hope I dont regret it...

I haven't gone through what you have yet (though I am sure I will with an 002 bulb currently installed). But for me, it would be REALLY hard to go back to a PJ with lesser blacks and contrast....and almost as hard to go back to a DI. I got used toa DI, but now not having it, it would probably bug me. I do understand your frustration and wish you Good Luck finding your next PJ!

Just to give my experience with my European X3, 380 hours of viewing, shooting distance 5.5 meters screen 16/9 of 127 "and I still work in normal lamp mode with the lens opening to -13 brutal blast of lumenx am very, very pleased with the machine.

Just got my new bulb, flapper installed. looks like the bulb is a little different too, but I havent pulled the other one out to compare head to head yet. As no one has put in a bid on buying the rs40, I have no choice but to pop the bulb in and use it for a bit haha. Remember yall I still have it for sale

Has anyone logged a decent amount of hours on one of the new "flapper" 003 bulbs?

I can't even get JVC to send me a new bulb without them wanting my old one first. Called three times. Maybe I'll try again this week. grrrrr

Based on your experience, JVC in Canada appears to have a different policy for lamp replacement than the JVC USA. JVC USA was originally required the old lamps to be returned before they would send out a replacement one, but that policy seems to have changed a few months ago as the recent experience of several AVS members (myself included) is they only require you email them photos showing the old lamp with it's serial number and part number visible.

I am in Canada, bought the projector in the US (AVS), so normally I don't even have a valid warranty and JVC sent me a new lamp (via AVS) without me having to send in the old one or pictures of the old one.

I suspect some of it comes down to who you get when you call them. You can generally ask to speak to a supervisor if they're not telling you what you expect to hear.

Hello friends as you bear your X3 RS40? I already I have 410 hours of viewing without problems of lack of light.

Just received my replacement bulb via this method, ie photos of the bulb.

Hey guys. Is there much difference between the RS40 and newer 45. Overall I would assume the 45 to be a better projector since it is newer and probably brighter, but I do like the electronic lens cover on the 40. which one seems to have the better out of the box color? I'm curious if dropping the price with the 45 that the overall projector can't be much different.

They shouldn't be any different in 2D image. However, my RS45 did seem to have better contrast and black levels by a large margin. I believe this is due more to the video output from the playback device and possible sample to sample variances. Just make sure you get the newest lamp if going with the RS40, as this seems to have made a difference in mine for the better.

My belief is it takes a good 400 hours of use for the projector/panels to settle in, not necessarily 400 hours on the lamp itself. I have roughly 70 hours on my newest lamp. I had under 400 hrs on the older lamp and projector when the lamp blew. My image now is punchier and more contrasty than I saw it the entire time on the first lamp. I'm using -15 aperture on low lamp with a 120" screen. Images are still bright and colorful. In the darkest scenes with light, black looks black not grayish.

I never had my 40 and 45 side by side, BUT I would say the 2 are virtually identical for all practical purposes for 2d PQ IMHO. 3d is certainly not any better on the 45 either (both have ghosting/flicker issues).

The biggest reason to get a 45 over the 40 are things like lens memory, being able to do the stretch if you have an A-lens and a few others I am probably forgetting. Pure performance though there is no differences worth mentioning from what I have seen between the RS40 and 45 I have owned. I would say if 3d is very important to you, dont get either. These projectors main strength is definitely 2d.

Thanks guys for the feedback. Is there an easy way to tell which lamp version is installed?

3D is not something I care for personally and I don't think the lens memory is a feature I would use right now. I'm just trying to figure out if the RS40 will work for me.

There are pictures of the newest lamp in the thread and in the RS45 thread. It will be the 003 model with the metal fin in the air duct.

well I am around 350 hours in my bulb, and it took over an hour for the image to become stable watching Underworld 3d.

I had to let the projector warm up before it became watchable with a minimal amount of ghosting.

Which bulb do you have in your projector? (sorry if I missed that).

Joined the blown lamp club today. Purchased RS40 June 2011 , approx 600 hours, generation 2 lamp "002". During start up I heard a loud pop, projector lights started flashing and it was done. Spoke to JVC today and they asked I send a picture of the front and rear of the lamp as well as a copy of my invoice when purchased. In their court now.

Has anyone else watched Hugo or any of the Toy Story movies in 3d on this pj? Man, the ghosting is ridiculous. Even my wife who usually doesn't notice anything couldn't stand the ghosting either. Too many strong contrast scenes for the rs40 to handle. This is the 3rd rs40 I've seen and this one ghosts worst than the others.

Sorry to hear that did u notice drop in brightness lately or the pop came out of the blue?

Where do you get the 003 model?
My RS40 is getting dimmer and I have to run in high lamp mode to get enough brightness.
JVC replaces only the broken lamps? Or can I ask them to replace the dimming lamp?

They replaced a dimming lamp for me.

I emailed them and got no reply. Should I call them? What if I provide them a calibration report on the brightness of my RS40 with my dimming lamp.

002.

This is my second bulb.

Normally I have around 20 minutes for the lamp to warm up and 3d is pretty good. But it was brutal.

JVC should be ashamed to call these machines 3d.

I watched Hugo last night absolutely no ghosting 650 hours on the bulb

I watched Hugo a couple weeks ago (first 3D movie with new bulb) and there was barely any ghosting. Only a bit in the beginning when the projector wasn't warmed up enough.

JVC has been replacing dimming lamps as long as they don't have high hours on the lamp. I don't know what is the max. number of hours for which they will replace a dimming bulb. I helps if you can give them specific numbers for the amount of dimming based on your measurements, but this should not be necessary if there is really significant dimming (e.g., greater than 50%) that is very obvious visually. You will need to call their support phone number. After the phone call they normally require you to email them photos of your current lamp assembly (once you remove it from the projector) showing the model number and serial number.