Pg-m20x 2 year review - Page 2

Hi all,
My 3 year old M20X has encountered a serious problem. When turned on for 5 minutes or so, it goes completely to green or red/magenta. Bulb is still on but no picture whatsoever. After a minute or so, all three red lights illuminate on the projector and it powers off.

From my limited knowledge, I'm thinking this is a color wheel issue and that its most likely terminal. I've had the Sharp "shut-down" fix done and not had any other problems.

Anybody got any ideas.
Cheers,
Brian

Have had this projector at work for about 2 years now. Don't know how many hours are on it but it is rarely used so I would guess under 1000. Today it won't display anything. It powers up and I have green lights on Power and Lamp but no light is coming out. Any ideas. Can a lamp die but the projector not recognize it?

Sometimes mine will light up but the DLP part only shows a black screen. The solution is usually to turn it off, wait for the fan to stop, then turn it back on.

My bulb has just croaked, after just under 3 years and 1950 hours of use. It began to get so it wouldn't light on the first try, and now it won't stay lit...so I've had to order a replacement. Hopefully I can get 2000 or more hours out of the next one and then at that point think about a new projector.

hey, hello. I´m from Germany. Maybe someone can help me - I´ve got a Sharp PG-M20X.
Since 3 days POWER-LED is blinking. I don´t know what it mean. The Manual PDF has no answer. Another Manual of a Sharp-Beamer said, if the Power LED is blinking I should send the Beamer to a Sharp-Service station.

Can someone help me? What are you thinking? - Please help....

The same thing just started happening to me. What did this turn out to be? Did you have to take in your M20x for repairs?

Thanks,
Kevin

Hi everyone,
I'm new to the group.
We've had our M20X for 3+ years, (out of warranty), and love it.
I found this group while trying to figure out my problem.
My timer apparently shut me down at around 1950 hours, so I installed a new bulb and reset the timer. It worked for 1 night for about 2 hours. The next night, I started having the "power up" problem. Comes on for 5 minuets or so and shuts the bulb down. Continues, without success, to re light. No controls work on the remote or the unit. Only way to shut it down is to unplug it.
I shipped it off to Sharp today.
Thanks to this group, I let the Sharp repair people know that I'm aware that it's a common problem. They told me it MAY not cost me anything, if it's the common "firmware" problem..... We'll see!
Thanks for sharing info here so we can all benefit.
Kevin

Hello,
I have the same problem with the PG-M20X. Plug in the power cord and get nothing but a blinking power light. Opened it up to check for visuals (burnt stuff) found nothing obvious, all fans are working. Reseated most of the connections still does the same thing so I am thinking about sending it in to Sharp for repair. The diag will cost $50 which is not bad but I don't know what the repair will cost. Last time I had a Samsung repaired (power supply A and B) it cost $600.

Any one out there have any knowledge on the repair cost for this?

So I sent my projector in for repairs.
8-29-06, Sharp sent me this, "Estimate".
Keep in mind that my warranty expired 01-06.
Labor $125.00
New lamp $406.48 (Although I didn't need this, it's the best price I've seen)
Parts Kit $17.02 (Turned out to be the firmware repair)
Color Wheel Motor $279.22
Total with shipping... $847.72

All of this for a projector with less than 2000 hours on it! I argued that the firmware issue was a manufacture's defect and they gave me that. (Wow... I saved $17.02!)
I told them I had a new lamp but didn't send it with my unit, so they removed that from the estimate. They sent a new Estimate, (9-07-06), including the color wheel motor and labor. $424.22. I again argued that my projector has low hours and should not need a new color wheel motor... to no avail. The robot on the other end on the line would only repeat the same thing over and over. "Your projector is out of warranty". I approved the charge and received my projector back 9-15-06.
I think I irritated them because of the way my projector was returned.
After installing it and turning it on, I had to reset several things. Now I know they have to test the projector but couldn't they return your projector with the same settings you sent it with?
I had to flip the picture, change the input signal from RGB to component and even adjust the keystone!
I don't believe I needed the color wheel motor but they had my projector and I couldn't prove otherwise.
From the past postings, most of you are happy with the service from Sharp. I am not.
Kevin

I would have dump the broken PJ, bought HD70 for less than $1K new, and get 720p native, better contrast, less noise, cheaper bulb cost, longer bulb life, HDMI, and excellent scaling.

Huey,
The HD70 lists 1000 lumens?
Isn't the m20x almost twice that? The room my projector is in does have some sunlight coming in. I wouldn't want less than what I have.
The HD70 is WXGA 1280 x 720
m20x is UXGA 1600 x 1200 (however, this is referring to computer screens and on the specs page is says 1024H x 768V)

The thought of going to a newer projector did cross my mind, but I don't know enough about these things to know if I could simply plug a new, (different), one into my system or not.
My cable uses an adapter at the projector. A friend told me it is going from digital to analog, because of this adapter. He said they probably did that to save money. The correct cable may cost more. Anyone know about this? I think my picture is great! but if it could be better???
Kevin

has anyone done this?
my projector is at 1920 hours and it seems fine.
i really don't notice much of a difference in brightness or anything.

will the bulb explode and/or render the projector useless if i reset the timer and don't replace the lamp?

and where do people buy their replacement lamps/bulbs?

i found one for $350 , but can't tell if it's a refurb.

at s1computers

dot

com

http://www.s1computers.com/ProdDispl...18&ExportID=27

now i'm met my 5 posts and i can include a url.
(sorry for the useless posts)

I'm doing it now. I have 2300 hours on it and I'm not worried about the "exploding bulb" thing. I believe there is someone with over 4000 hours and still looking good.
The exploding bulb is a possibility but it's not the usual way the bulb goes. They usually just burn out.
Sharp just had to firmly warn you so it's not on them if it happens.
At the price of these bulbs, I'm going to take my chances.
Kevin

My Last post was over 2 years ago! I am now on my second lamp with my PG-M20. I went about 2500 hours on my old one and got nervous. I move to a new house and still have it installed in a large spare bedroom., Still not what I want for my dream home theater but you cannot have everything. I have a plasma in the Living room now for daily use so the Projector is for Movies and big games. I really don't want to shell out another 400 bucks for a 4 year old projector. I will use this lamp until it's done. Then I will have the old lamp that still works as a spare. Not sure what's I 'll do next. Seems like other users out there are faced with the same dilemma of finding something better or just as good for around 1000 dollars. I welcome any suggestions. BTW, my projector is running strong, especially looks good at 1081i. Still get lots of ooohs and ahhss ...from anyone who sees it in action.

I'm just over 4 years on my projector. There's about 1300 hours of bulb use and the projector has worked almost perfectly. I did send it back when they had the first little recall with the bulb not turning on (I had it happen once). I think since then only about 2 years ago did the power LED flash green for a bit when i tried to turn it on, I hit the power button again to turn it off and once more to try to start it and it went on, but that's the only problem I've had -- nothing in the last 2 years. The bulb still seems very bright and I think the projector looks nearly as good as the newest projectors as for color and brightness. There is something to be said for this projector even in todays world. I'm moving soon and I'm keeping this projector for a new home theater. I think there's a good chance that when I need a new bulb I'll buy one and keep this projector. I have a 119" screen and this projector is extremely bright on it. When 1080p projectors with over 1500ansi lumens reach under $2k I'll then think about getting a new projector but until then this one is staying in place.

I also have a sharp, although mine is the pg-m25x. I wanted to chime in and let any other pg users that I have two brand new bulbs that I do not need. If anyone is in need of one and is not interested in paying full price, drop me a line.

thanks,

my pg-m25x works when i plug in the DVI to VGA cable. but when i plug in the DVI to DVI cable it works for 30 minutes, then gets staticy then shuts off and the power light and bulb light go sold red. if I unplug the power cord and plug it back in, it resumes to normal again. any ideas?

I am able to turn on my projector and it works for about 5 minutes. Then after 5 minutes is starts to "get static" looking, it starts to flicker. Then it shuts off and the power and lamp light go red. I have to unplug it to turn it off. Any ideas?

Hey any time you have a fixed time electrical issue, it normally indicates there is a thermal short some where.

As things heat up, they expand or move around and possiably causes a short condition.

i just started getting this as well.
is doesn't seem like the bulb...i can run it for 15-20 minutes before it happens the first time.

bought a new bulb at amazon and the problem persists.
anyone know if this is a firmware issue?
overheating?

the projector is unusable at this point (for more than 10 minutes).

weird it has cropped up after 4 years of use in the same spot. i guess that sorts of stuff just happens!

Anyone fix this problem? I just suddenly had the same issue. What a wierd coincidence...

i called sharp and it's basically $90 for them to check it out.

i ended up with a optoma hd72 to replace it (bought for $875 from a avs forum member...double the estimated repair cost).

but i can't see throwing out the sharp.
so i think i'm going to send it back. a nice extra mobile projector to have around.

mine is 5 years old (or more?).
it seems like it must be overheating. idunno.

i'll post when i hear back from sharp.

My M20x has less than 600 hours on it (I bought it new, but have only used it infrequently). However, after moving to Texas from Wisconsin and hooking it up, I have a weird color problem. I think one of my colors on the wheel is damaged. A blue computer screen shows as aqua and some colors just do not appear at all. What is really weird is that some blues do work (like the splash screen, and certain darker blues). The brightness is still fine, so I know that it is not the bulb. I'm going to try hooking the PJ up through Svideo instead of the DVI connection and see if I still have the color problem.

Note, I have tried changing from RBG to Component and back again. The colors change, but not to anything that is correct.

Hi all,

Mine is second hand, and when I play video for about 10-20 minutes, it starts flickering and change the colors.

Since it's been a couple of years since the last time anyone has posted in this thread, I thought someone might have solved this issues... any ideas ?

My M20X is now six years old and has experienced the image jitter and then the unit's temp and lamp red lights come on. Just before this I replaced the bulb after about 2100 hours. I've sent it in to Sharp (after warranty was out) and they fixed it. The fix only lasted about a year. For awhile, I could unplug and reboot(?) the unit and it would work for about 30 hours, now it's doing it again and is not lasting very long, maybe 10 minutes. The first repair cost about $900 and I don't think I'm going that way again. Any ideas or suggestions?