My Unofficial Guide to Samsung HLN Series DLP Sets - Page 78

My thoughts are as follows.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. I'm not sure about thrice and on.

Samsung replaced light engines when they could have replaced color wheels. Somewhere in this thread there are a couple of examples of owners replacing their own color wheels.

The problem is that the HLN color wheels, based on your experience, are still failing. You need to figure out how the cost of repair, if parts are available, compares to the cost of a new TV. With prices dropping it's getting harder to justify the cost of repair if it includes a $1000+ light engine.

Yeah, if it costs me $1k then it is a no brainer. But if I can get the part for $150 or $200 and fix it myself, then it saves me the hassle of trying to get rid of the thing and it should buy me another year or two.

True -- if you can get it installed and running. It's been done.

Where do I start... I bought a HLM 5065w in Dec. 02. First question what is the difference between a HLN and HLM (probably some of you laughing right now). Secondly my Onkyo DVD receiver just died and I want to get a new DVD recorder/receiver. Any recommendations on the best kind, make , model to go with an HLM 5065. I've been dazzled by some of the new Plasma and LCD's but hate to dump my DLP after just 4 years. Thanks for any input.

Go to the first post in this thread and you can find out everything about the 2003 HLN sets. You've been living with an HLM for four years. It should be easy to figure out how they are different. You will not find any major differences except that most of the HLN sets have discrete commands that you can use with a universal remote.

Thanks. A wealth of information and help!

You're welcome. This thread was started by a very special person.

You will find that some of the external links no longer work.

My HLN5065 went through the dreaded color wheel high pitched whine problem. Since I could correct the problem by powering off the TV and powering it back on, I delayed reporting it through my extended warranty company. I know, dumb. So one day the color wheel noise went away and has not been back for months. Now I have a problem on cold starts (after being off for several hours) where it takes 45-50 seconds for the picture to show when turning it on. Any ideas? Could this still be a color wheel issue? I have less than 4K hours on the bulb. Picture quality is still great.

If the only problem is it takes 45-50s to get a picture I wouldn't worry about it. I've never timed mine but I bet it takes 30s or so to get a picture on a cold start. If you're still covered by a warranty and it's free that's one thing, but if you're asking is it worth spending cash for a service visit whereas all you can tell them is it takes 45s for it to warm up, I say let it go and enjoy the great picture once it does come on.

Quick update on my color wheel issue:

I ordered the color wheel part from Herman Electronics and followed the instructions on this page: How to Replace Your Color Wheel in your Samsung DLP.

I did the surgery yesterday, and it wasn't all that bad. The only real tricky part was pulling the connector with the white/white/blue wires that is connected to the color wheel out of the the main board. But my wifes smaller hands got the job done. If you do attempt these surgery, take the suggestion mentioned in the instructions of just leaving that wire in there, and taking it off of the color wheel side.

I got everything put back together and booted it back up, and thought I really broke something, because it wasn't making any noise... But the picture came up and all was well. It is nice not to have the dentist drill sound anymore.

As the lamps age it takes them longer to "strike" and come up to full brightness. As long as your image isn't getting a lot dimmer you are probably OK.

Hey Aaron -- Glad you were successful. Can you say what the new colorwheel cost and how long it took you to do the replacement? Was getting the focus and geometry very difficult?

It was $113 for the part plus another $6 for the shipping. I got it from Herman Electronics which was mentioned much earlier in this thread. It looked like it was going to be cheaper from Samsung Parts, but they tacked on a shipping charge and a handling charge. The handling charge put me off and it made it a little more expensive in the long run, so I decided to boycott that site.

I think it took me somewhere between 2 and 3 hours. I had lunch in the middle of it, and spent a while trying to find a tiny screwdriver and pliers to try to get that little white connector out. So it really isn't all that bad. Just keep good track of the screws you take out, and the wires you unplug in the process. The instructions on that link I gave earlier were pretty good. The only thing that I would do different is reuse the white/white/blue cable from the older color wheel. I was afraid to do that this time, because you have to break part of the connector off, but after seeing which part breaks off, it is a non-issue.

The other somewhat tricky part was getting the foam to go back over the lense. I had my hands at an awkward angle and ended up touching the lense. It was dusty anyway, so this forced me to go get a microfibre cloth and clean the thing.

As far as focus and geometry go, I didn't have to do a thing. I am not really sure what you could mess up in the process that would cause you to have to change this. Everything either gets plugged back in, screwed in, or pushed in along a track. I know you have mentioned in previous posts about the potential for things getting misaligned, and this was one of the things I was worried about, but there were no issues during the process.

I came pretty close to giving this set away when the whining started again. But this fix was so cheap and easy enough, that even if this color wheel goes bad, I won't mind replacing it again.

I bought my HLN507W back Jan. 2004 and have been very happy with it. However, I've had an issue that I haven't seen mentioned here even after a quick search. Every few months when I hit the power button the set doesn't give me a picture for over a minute. It seems to reset itself and then gives me a sort of checkerboard pattern (with rectangles instead of squares). Usually it works fine after I restart the set but this weekend it wouldn't reset for me. I got audio and the checkerboard pattern but no useful picture. I also don't get the sound of the colorwheel spinning up. When I tried again on Sunday the set worked fine.
I have the extended warranty so I got a guy to come out to the house. But he refused to do anything until the set completely fails.

Does this sound familiar and/or consistent with a color wheel problem?

Thanks in advance.

No, it does not sound of the color wheel. That sounds like a processor (board) issue, not a mechanical issue like the wheel.

After fixing the color wheel, I got about 5 days out of my set before it decided it wants more work done. I hope it is just coincidence, but I lost the picture last night. I heard a very faint pop, then all went black, then we got the three blinking lights. I got it to come back on somewhat, but the picture was super dark.

I am hoping this is just a bulb and not related to the fix I implemented over the weekend. I went ahead and ordered up a new bulb last night. I was happy to see that the the current going rate for these is under $200.

Good times.

A "heads up" for anyone ordering a replacement lamp for their set: Samsung's documentation makes clear that several different and non-interchangeable lamps are used in these sets, and you should go by the sticker on the case near the lamp access door when you order your replacement.

HOWEVER, if you have ever had the entire Light Engine replaced as a unit, it is possible (as happened to me!) that the lamp assembly in your current Light Engine is different from the lamp assembly in your previous Light Engine, rendering the sticker on your case incorrect (unless your service tech thoughtfully updated the sticker -- which mine did not).

My suggestion, therefore, is that you actually pull the lamp and examine it before ordering a new one, if you have had your Light Engine replaced and this is your first lamp replacement.

Depending on which lamp is called for, you may also discover that one of the lamps Samsung originally used has been superseded and a different (but compatible) part must be ordered.

What exactly should you examine? When I had mine apart last week, I noticed there was a sticker on the lamp case that had a part number that matched the sticker on the outside of the set. Is this good enough or do I need to actually look at something on the bulb itself?

I replaced mine over a year ago now and my memory about it is getting a little fuzzy, but I think the number on the lamp holder assembly should be correct.

Anyone have a more recent experience they can relate (or have a memory sharper than mine?)

My HLN507W1 is over three years old but going strong. 7,000+ hours on original bulb, no repairs except for color wheel upgrade under warranty at 13 months. I visited my daughter and son in law last weekend and observed that the picture on their new Sony DLP was much crisper with superior contrast to my old Samsung.

This weekend I did a close evaluation of my HLN and determined that my picture was slightly hazy with internal light reflecting and bleeding from light to dark areas of the picture.

I then pulled out my trusty power screwdriver and proceeded to dismantle the front screen to examine the condition of the projection lense cover and rear mirror.
Both were quite dirty with dust and a hazy film appearance. I cleaned both with a damp microfiber cloth followed by a dry cloth. Reassembled everything and fired it up. Picture is outstanding!

I guess over the years I had not noticed the gradual degradation in picture quality. IMHO it is now superior to the Sony DLP.

How many screws did you have to remove and where were they located?

People have also lined the inside of the cabinet with dark cloth, forgot what it's called. But they do it so there's not as much light bouncing around inside, making the "black" areas blacker.

This originated with the big CRT RPTVs.

Good information, though. I might check that out and see about taking mine apart.

It should be. Sony has never built a DLP set.

What is the typical time for a bulb. I have a HL-N5065WX and the bulb (oringinal) has 13,000 hours, also have had no problems, "knock on wood". Sticker on TV says bulb is a BP96-00224C(P), which is no longer available. The new p/n is BP96-00224J.

You are way over the expected life span. Initially Samsung rated them at 10,000 hours. Then they reduced their estimate to 5,000. I would get a new lamp and use the old one as an emergency backup.

There is the possibility that a HLN set will also need a ballast change to work with a new version of the lamp. You might want to check with Samsung and see what information they have for your serial number.

You got over 2 times the hrs that I got out of my first bulb on my HLN-5065 (6000hrs)

Don

Thanks htwaits and Don1959 for the feed back. I guess I got a good one.

Arun Gupta started this thread over four years ago. It's been a little over three years since we lost Arun, but his desire to help others goes on in this thread.

Best wishes to all those who have contributed.

Greetings HT,
Nice of you to remember and keep this thread going. Arun would be pleased.
This was the first thread I read on AVS many moons ago and have been hooked ever since.
Time does in fact fly...
YMMV,
b.