AVS › AVS Forum › Display Devices › Digital Projectors - Under $3,000 USD MSRP › bulb replacement costs , why are they so expensive?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

bulb replacement costs , why are they so expensive?

post #1 of 24
3/15/12 at 10:56am
Thread Starter 
Figured I would throw this topic out and get your perspective on it.

I'm thinking Bulb replacements on PJ's is a way to bring in more money for company selling the PJ. Agreed?

It seems like same reasoning for companies selling printer cheap and charging a lot for ink replacement for printer. Same thing as bulb replacement. Paying 30 dollars for super small amount of ink is very overpriced. Same concept.

Now, if companies made the bulb very cheap, I think they would sell a ton of these PJ's. Many people see 2,000-3,000 hours on bulb with 250-400 dollars for bulb replacement as a ripoff. And sometimes the bulbs POP way before the 2,000 hours and a person just spent a lot of money for very little use.

I don't think it costs 400 dollars to make a bulb, do you? The markup must be 500 percent.

If they sold tons of PJ's they could make tons of bulbs too, so cost could come down.

Let's have a nice discussion about this topic. I'm thinking if they can't get bulb costs down, LED PJ's will eventually be the norm, bulbs a thing of the past. But it doesn't have to be, if companies can make cheap bulbs around 50 dollars.

My HDTV has 50,000 hours life on screen, none of us worry about using it 10 hours a day or more.
Reply
Reply

AVS Top Picks

post #2 of 24
3/15/12 at 9:07pm
Good thinking sir but the truth is, bulbs are very expensive to make and in fact cost so much because there are few manufacturers. This is not a case where the companies are finding a way to make more profits from bulb sales at all. The bulbs are just flat out difficult and very expensive to make. Prices are slowly coming down, but more often than not, companies are seeking other ways to illuminate the screen because this particular method will never be cheap.
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 24
3/16/12 at 3:39am
If do some searching you will find several lengthy posts on how the UHP lamps are manufactured, focused assembled, focused and tested. This not a simple, fully automated process and as such, costly to be able to mass produce within exacting specs. This is why the cheap-o no OEM lamps don't work, don't work well if at all and never last anywhere near as long as the higher priced OEMs.
Lets face it, TVs that were $3000 6 years ago are going out on the curb, my 7 year old projector is like new. Yes, the I have to spend $300 every 4000 hours but that is a drop in the bucket compared to a new $3000 TV every 5 years.. Not to mention all the other advantages of a big screen. Lamp technology is changing and eventually they may find something better that last longer. For now it seems to me if you can't afford to buy the gas, dont' buy the Hemi! Nothing really to talk about, you want a good bight image for the longest possible amount of time, buy the OEM expensive lamp, fire up the BR and enjoy!
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 24
3/16/12 at 6:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by airscapes View Post

Lets face it, TVs that were $3000 6 years ago are going out on the curb, my 7 year old projector is like new. Yes, the I have to spend $300 every 4000 hours but that is a drop in the bucket compared to a new $3000 TV every 5 years..

Not exactly the fairest comparison. 7 years ago $3000 got you a 52" LCD...now they can be had for roughly $1000. In another 7 years you'll be able to get a 100" LED for $3000, and have a PJ sized viewing area in something that is out of the box ready to rock.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 24
3/16/12 at 7:52am
Replacement bulbs for my Benq W1200 run around $250. Not too bad in the grand scheme of things. Even if I need one every couple of years - it works out to only a few bucks a month.
PLUS - I get the enjoyment of a 106" screen!! And, not to forget, the projector only cost $1200!! I use it everyday, and get to enjoy a 'cinema' picture on everything from sports to movies! Even the new 80" Sharp just doesn't cut it for me! Toooooo small!
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 24
3/16/12 at 8:15am
People tend to equate projector bulbs with ordinary light bulbs, and of course they are totally different. Projector bulbs are really a highly complex opto/electronic system. They are actually high voltage arc lamps with an extremely high internal gas pressure. Safety alone dictates that they be manufactured to exacting specifications.
I have yet to replace a bulb. My Panasonic AE700 is 7 years old and still running with 4,200 hours on the original bulb. Can't complain about that! Yes, it needs a new bulb, but the existing bulb has really outlasted the projector which is now showing some polarizer problems. Rather than buy a new bulb for the AE700 plus the repair cost of about $600.00, I opted to buy a new AE4000 and keep the AE700 as a back up.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 24
3/16/12 at 3:50pm
Had a Panny as well. First bulb went @300hrs. I thought maybe there was something wrong with the PJ. Fortunately, it came with another bulb which was still going when we sold the condo and theater two years later. Same model bulb.

As to cost, add up the $100 or so per month that you may be paying each for your cable and cell phone bill and the cost seems more than reasonable to me.
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 24
3/18/12 at 2:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rmf View Post

.. As to cost, add up the $100 or so per month that you may be paying each for your cable and cell phone bill and the cost seems more than reasonable to me.

Yes, tell me about it. The great cable rip-off. Pay thru the nose to get 300 useless channels when all I want to watch is about 6 of them.
Same thing with the cell phone. I have a pay as you go plan to minimize costs, and I only really need the cell phone for very occasional use - I am not a cell phone addict. So I pay for a Net 10 Phone card which gives me 300 minutes or 60 days of use. Well I now have 5000 useless minutes to my credit but I stll have to buy a phone card every 60 days!
They get you coming and going.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 24
3/18/12 at 7:12pm
I think it woukd help a lot if manufacturers standardized on bulbs. I bet just 10 types could cover 90% of consumer projector needs. Instead, every single pj model has its own custom made bulb.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 24
3/19/12 at 4:30am
This is very true, but there are a lot of reasons that won't happen. But the real change is in lasers. Casio started it and and BenQ is intrucing it too. Bulbs, as they exist right now, are on the way out. They simply have no way forward unless they can find some non-mercury way to make them so bright. The technology is not really making strides. IMO
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 24
3/19/12 at 4:58am
Anyone want to speculate why Gasoline is $3.98 a gallon? That's $77.80 for 20 gallons.. Seems that is a WAY bit more expensive than a projector lamp considering we buy it just a wee bit more often.. Wait a minute, gasoline is a commodity which is driven by Speculation, fear, emotion, greed and sometime.. but not to often, actual supply and demand!
I am very happy with the projector lamp prices, the lamp I bought almost 3 years ago which has about 2500 hours on it now is still the same price it was when I bought it!
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 24
3/19/12 at 5:13am
Perhaps than we need to invade a country that has a lot of projector bulbs.
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 24
3/19/12 at 6:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkVenture View Post

Perhaps than we need to invade a country that has a lot of projector bulbs.

I,m in!!
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 24
3/19/12 at 7:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkVenture View Post

Perhaps than we need to invade a country that has a lot of projector bulbs.

HA, that didn't work so well with gas, now did it!
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 24
3/19/12 at 7:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by rgtaa View Post

My HDTV has 50,000 hours life on screen, none of us worry about using it 10 hours a day or more.

Your HDTV is 13+ years old? Come on now...

The way I've seen things lately, many of these flat panel televisions do well to last 3 or 4 years. It almost makes it pointless to spend over $1K on a TV with such a short lifespan. And by short, I mean compared to most CRT televisions that can last 15-20 years. My 6-year old Sony WEGA 30" widescreen still looks excellent, and my 6 year old InFocus SP4805 480p DLP projector is still on its original bulb (although light tunnel is failing).

We watch a lot of movies, but I would say in 6 years my 4805 probably has less than 3K hours on it. $300-$400 for a new bulb is a hell of a lot less than $3K+ every 3-4 years for a display that even comes close to the size of your projector screen with a 1080p projector.
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 24
3/19/12 at 7:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by PatrickGSR94 View Post

Your HDTV is 13+ years old? Come on now...

The way I've seen things lately, many of these flat panel televisions do well to last 3 or 4 years. It almost makes it pointless to spend over $1K on a TV with such a short lifespan. And by short, I mean compared to most CRT televisions that can last 15-20 years. My 6-year old Sony WEGA 30" widescreen still looks excellent, and my 6 year old InFocus SP4805 480p DLP projector is still on its original bulb (although light tunnel is failing).

...

My 36 ins Sony Vega CRT TV was purchased in 1998. It still runs flawlessly, and in my opinion the PQ is far superior to any flat panel TV, even the 1080p flat panels. No flat panel that I have seen can come close to the contrast, color, and sharpness of a high quality CRT TV.
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 24
3/19/12 at 1:02pm
LEDs will be the future of pjs they offer allot more like contrast, color and 30,000 lamp life.
In around a year they will be coming out with 2500lm LED pjs that will out do the bulbed ones.

:http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/03/ace...ght-projector/
Reply
Reply
post #18 of 24
3/19/12 at 1:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by taffman View Post

Well I now have 5000 useless minutes to my credit but I stll have to buy a phone card every 60 days!

Why do you need to buy a phone card every 60 days? I use T-mobile prepaid. It's $100 for 1000 minutes; valid for a year. Now I am thinking switching to Pageplus. It's $50 for 1000 minutes for a year. But the phone costs $50. So it's a wash.

______________________________
Cable & Satellite free since 2009
Commercial free since 2002
Projector since 2005
Reply
Reply
post #19 of 24
3/19/12 at 1:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tythebuilder View Post

LEDs will be the future of pjs they offer allot more like contrast, color and 30,000 lamp life.
In around a year they will be coming out with 2500lm LED pjs that will out do the bulbed ones.

:http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/03/ace...ght-projector/

Your link is a laser based unit .. not an LED ..
Reply
Reply
post #20 of 24
3/19/12 at 1:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by taffman View Post

My 36 ins Sony Vega CRT TV was purchased in 1998. It still runs flawlessly, and in my opinion the PQ is far superior to any flat panel TV, even the 1080p flat panels. No flat panel that I have seen can come close to the contrast, color, and sharpness of a high quality CRT TV.

What about resolution .. ??
Reply
Reply
post #21 of 24
3/19/12 at 1:47pm
says it's a laser LED hybrid or something
Reply
Reply
post #22 of 24
3/19/12 at 2:03pm
yes it is hybrid but its a example out what is to come.

" LED lasers can provide 20,000 hours of usage versus the 3,000 hours from regular projector lamps."
Reply
Reply
post #23 of 24
3/19/12 at 2:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by taffman View Post

My 36 ins Sony Vega CRT TV was purchased in 1998. It still runs flawlessly, and in my opinion the PQ is far superior to any flat panel TV, even the 1080p flat panels. No flat panel that I have seen can come close to the contrast, color, and sharpness of a high quality CRT TV.

not my 30" Sony WEGA. Sure it looks pretty good for sports, but the 46" Sony Bravia 1080p I had for a short time completely blew it out of the water, when it was working properly, in terms of picture quality and sharpness. No comparison whatsoever. I don't believe there were any, or only a very few, CRT HDTV's capable of 1080p native resolution.
Reply
Reply
post #24 of 24
3/19/12 at 3:32pm
LEDs have been coming for a long time and they are still only first maybe second gen in projectors. Lasers have been coming to a theater near you for almost as long and besides Casio have not done to well. Just my opinion but it will be a few more years before LED is main stream and even a few more before Lasers will work. If RED gets their laser PJ working on schedule it will be amazing.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › Display Devices › Digital Projectors - Under $3,000 USD MSRP › bulb replacement costs , why are they so expensive?