Panasonic PT-50LC13 - How many hours on your bulb? - Page 11

These directions assumes you are going to replace the lamp, so I don't know if powering down the TV first signals a microprocessor this was done. Press the POWER button to turn off the TV. Listen and wait until the cooling fan stops. Unplug the power cord. You would then replace the lamp at this point.

1. Plug the power cord back into the properly grounded wall outlet. Then press the POWER button on the projection display or the remote control to turn the power on.

2. While pressing the VOL- button on the projection display, hold down the PIP or SPLIT button on the remote control simultaneosly for more than 5 seconds.

3. Whe the lamp time reset procedure is complete, the screen will display "LAMP TIME WAS RESET TO 0." When the lamp time is reset, the LAMP indicator will go out.

To Reset the lamp meter hours on a PT-50LC14: Hold the Volume Down button on the TV and press PIP on the remote.

Thanks bobg3723. I figured out how to reset the hours.

This is an odd question I know. But I ordered a lamp for my pt50lc13 for a spare in case the lamp i'm using now fails. I always like to have a spare on hand b/c I hate waiting for them to send me one. Well I got my spare today took it out of the box and tested it and it worked fine but for the life of me I cant remember how to pack it back. Does anyone remember if the lamp if placed in the box with the bulb part face down or face up?

Thanks

I just want to advise Bulb Solutions customers that the replacement lamp they installed in my original housing has gone dim in a little over three months. 877 hours and 100 or so turn ons. The original lamp went four years plus and almost 9000 hours before picture got dim and I couldn't take it anymore.

I'm going to call Bulb Solutions but I doubt I have any recourse against them.

Well my bulb finally went out. Last time I check i was at about 8xxx hours and about 3xxx LON count. Fortunately I was still under the CC extended warranty and it was swapped out. I did not realize how dim the picture had gotten. Tech is coming back out this week to swap another part since my component 4 stopped displaying red for some reason.

Just had my second bulb go, after 14 months. Called Panasonic and they would not accommodate the fact that it was only 2 months past warranty. They claimed that the class action lawsuit court order required them not to make any additional accommodations for these units. Looks like I had my third failure about 5 months too late.

Ballast board replaced after ~15 months
Original Bulb 5207 hours (37 months)
Replacement 2146 hours (14 months)

Just installed a 'bulb only' replacement form Bluestar (bluestar-online.com) which appears to be working just fine - note that they did not include the required screw/washer/nut to install the new bulb into the old housing. Warranty is the same as Panasonic full assembly (12 months) at significantly less cost. Has anyone tried the Phillips aftermarket bulb assemblies? They're much less than a Panasonic as well - perhaps Phillips was able to make them more robust?

Just got a message saying my air filter needs cleaned and my temp light started blinking to I turned off my TV. Consulted the manual and it says call for service. I have a 5yr extended warrany from this chain named BrandsMart USA but when I called them they said cleaning of air filters isnt covered. What a scam. So I did a google about the air filter and was able to locate it but the bottom one is impossible to clean b/c of it's location. Any advice or feedback here on what I should do would be appreciated. Otherwise I guess i'm gonna call a local Panny authorized repair center and have them come over and clean it for me.

Greg

OK,
First THANK YOU ALL for setting me straight!
I have a PT-44LCX65
I thought I was doing the right thing when the lamp light turned on and I bought a new one (before I had no TV).
I purchased a new lamp from Panasonic for a total with shipping of...$348 (very very angry)!
HOWEVER here is the stats
Total Lamp: 10,292h
OSD: ON
LON COUNT: 1,735
I think the TV is 2.5 years old.
Not sure the lamp has done me wrong... and I WILL RIDE THIS PONY TILL IT DROPS!
Then install the new lamp.
If anyone needs it I have pictures to prove it!

Again Thanks

PT50LC14

Since I could not find a thread for PT50LC14..I thought of posting my numbers here in this thread ( lazy

After 4 years (15 more days for my Performance Service Plan from Best buy to expire
I ended up replacing the first lamp. The replacement lamp was from Philips.
I forgot to check the lamp time before I reset the lamp timer.

So I am not sure if the following info is still right or not.

Service 1/3 screen
Current lamp: 0 hr ( this is right )
LON : 3203
[some number is displayed here..i am guessing that's the lamp unit]

when i used the down-channel button, it went to screen 2.
There I had (along with some other digits blinking like matrix)

Total : 6000+

I am assuming that's my old lamp's lifetime.

When i read horror stories about people replacing lamp with 3-6 month..
it Looks like I turned out to one of the lucky few.

back to my 50" htpc

I have also had a PT50LC14 for almost 4 years and am still on my first bulb.

I'm using a bulb thats been working for about 4 years, like some of you. I have a spare one, too. I feel like my picture is kind of dark, and brightness is at its top setting. I wonder if swapping out the bulb with my spare will give me a noticeably brighter picture. Have any of you noticed?

Anyone?

The bulbs as they age, get dimmer. Best thing is to try out the spare bulb and see for yourself the difference.

I just replaced it. BIG improvement. Much brighter. I could see the reflective part of the old bulb had been melting away-- maybe 40% of it!

My first lamp lasted three years if I remember correctly and eventually got so dim I replaced it.

My second lamp got dim in a few months...watchable but noticeable dimmer. I replaced it with a spare in February 2008 and it appears to be dimmer than it once was although acceptable.

I don't find that fiddling around with brightness, contrast etc can improve a bad lamp's performance that much.

Checking in again after a long absence. Two years after my bulb replacement (8080 hours), things are still looking good.

LAMP OPERATION TIME
TOTAL : 11858
CURRENT LAMP: 3778
LON COUNT : 2679 (Total)

All in all, after 5 years I'm still happy with the Panny.

Your picture hasn't dimmed at all, Ken? Your night scenes are still acceptable? If you get the LMC check it against the analog version. My analog is much brighter.

I'd buy a new TV but what am I going to do with the current one? It's too blasted big to put anywhere else in my house and I have a 3000 SF house!

update:

looks like i celebrated too quickly..

after replacing my lamp..(with phillips one)..it was working for 10 days.
And then it stopped working.
BestBuy geeksquad came and installed it again and it started working..but only for a day.

i am not sure if this is becasue of phillips replacement lamp or improper-installation or i-screwed-some-tv-parts-during-installation.

Appreciate your suggestions..


ps: good to know that pt50lc14 has worked for 4 years for many people.
yes..the picture does become brighter with a new lamp

In all honesty, I haven't tinkered with Video Essentials and made adjustments for some time. There might be a slight dimming, but for most of our usage it has not been noticeable. What do you mean by "LMC"? I'm thinking I should know but can't come up with it.

My original lamp went out finally. Lasted 5 years and had a total of 14532 hours on it! 3324 LON. I'd say that was pretty damn good. Almost 50% over max rated time on bulb. New bulb is much brighter though I noticed. Was kind of a pain to replace, since I bought just the bulb (much cheaper only $105 compared to $299 for full replacement unit). You need LONG narrow phillips head screwdriver if replacing just the bulb.

Can't complain with 5+ years on a single bulb, hopefully this one will do as well. Then by that time I'll buy a new 70'' LCD or whatever new technology comes out by then.

That's great if you don't mind watching a dim picture for a lengthy period. I've never had a lamp burn out but there comes a point where the picture quality is so poor you just have to replace it. At least that's the way I see it.

I hope you didn't buy your replacement lamp from Bulb Solutions. The one I purchased from them dimmed noticeably in three months and efforts to get a reply from them were fruitless so I replaced it and moved on.

I have a PT-50lc14 and the warning light just went on for the 1st time that I need to replace my lamp. I have 10,001 hours on it and LON count is 3471. This is the original bulb from 11/04 so 4.5 yrs isnt too bad. I see no loss in Pic Quality so Im wondering, can I get some more time on it or is the warning programmed at 10k hours? My main question is how do you remove the housing containing the bulb? I read it is located on the front behind the cover. There are 2 covers, 1 behind a warning sticker and one right in the middle? Does anyone know which one? I saw the videos about replacing the bulb only, it doesnt look too hard. I may try. I did some research on the bulbs and come to find out the genuine Phillips bulbs are supposedly the best on the market now (although there are counterfits going around cheap that dont last) Does anyone know who sells authorized Phillips bulbs? Thanks much BP

First time poster here....I too have a PT-50LC14 that I bought in October of 2004. Never had a problem until today when the replace bulb warning popped up. I've been reading through here and see that most of you guys are still using your original bulb and all you did was reset the warning indicator. I see how to do that but, I also see you guys giving your bulb life. How do you check that? Other than that warning I haven't seen a difference in picture at all. I'm not a huge TV watcher, so it rarely gets used. I mean outside of the occasional movie nights with the family, football season or the playing of video games (PS3). I'm rather dis-heartened to read all the troubles most of you have been going through. Got my worried about replacing my bulb.

Update
Ok....figured it out.
LAMP OPERATION TIME TOTAL : 10000
CURRENT LAMP: 10000
LON COUNT : 2959 (Total)
* roughly my set has been turned on 51 times a month for the last 58 months. Not Bad!!! Other than the picture possibly getting dimmer over time, is there any other drawbacks for resetting the timer rather than replacing the bulb or lighting assembly?

I have a PT-50LC14, and my replace bulb warning came on about 4 months ago. I had an extended warranty on my set that included bulb replacement, so I had them come out and replace the bulb. I didn't notice any difference in the picture with the new bulb. It wasn't brighter.

PT50-LC14 from Sept. '04...I have no idea how many hours it has been going but today it won't turn on and the lamp bulb is a flashin'. I didn't get any message about lamp replacement before but given the time, I guess she was due. Ordered a replacement off ebay with housing and will try it when it gets here. Going to upgrade in a few months to a new 52" LCD, possibly a Sony XBR9 so didn't want to spend much on the bulb for now.

I replaced my lamp for the third or fourth time a couple of weeks ago and the set is as good as new. The latest blew in a little over a year but the picture was dim for quite a while.
I hate to toss the thing but next time it blows...maybe sooner...I'm replacing the set with a Samsung LED.

How does one access the bulb hour reading on a Panny 61LCX65?

I just registered for this forum for this THREAD!!! Amazing numbers!!! I had heard that a lot of people had some issue with Panasonic bulb times.

I wish I new about the timer before hand!!

I have a Panasonic PT-LC5014. I searched anf got this forum. I got the message that the bulb might need replacing. I ordered one and it will be here in a day or two. But I found this thread and see that a lot of people are getting some crazy numbers.

I reset the timer to 0.

But logged into service today. I still have the original bulb in the set and I am at 10012 hours!!!!! I guess I will have a bulb on hand when it does go. but WHOOPEE!!!!!!

I'm having better luck with my latest lamp which is a Phillips. The picture is just as good after four months.

I've never gotten a "replace lamp" message but my picture has become so dark at times it was barely watchable.

This set goes to the dump the next time it needs a lamp.