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What is your ae700u lamp life?

post #1 of 154
7/30/05 at 9:12am
Thread Starter 
I am wondering how much lamp life people are getting out of their ae700.

Mine burned out around 550hrs (5 months). I use it as my only display device so it gets turned on and off up to a few times a day. I've read that this can decrease the life of the bulb. But 550hrs is still very short and makes owning the projector very expensive.

On the ProjectorCentral reviews, many users have posted that their bulbs burned out around the 500hr range as well. This leads me to think there may be a trend. However, there may be a selection bias since people who have long lasting bulbs aren't posting this fact.

I know there was a poll on AVS about lamp life but it was somewhat flawed because you had to have a bulb burn out before you could make a selection. It was also a general projector poll not specifically for the ae700.

I was wondering if people would be willing to post their Panasonic ae700 lamp life. If your lamp is still going strong, just post how many hours it is currently at. This will give a more reliable representation of how many hours one can expect from an ae700 bulb.

My second bulb is at 100 hours. I've already ordered a 3rd bulb just in case. If there is an alarming trend that these bulbs tend to burn out fast, I (and I'm sure many ae700 users) will begin to consider switching projectors. If there is no such trend, I'll just keep buying replacement bulbs and hope my luck improves.
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post #2 of 154
7/30/05 at 12:40pm
I've been waiting for such a thread. I have 430 hrs and noticed a slight drop in brightness at about 390hrs. It is still quite viewable in my area withouth ambient light and white rear and side walls. My screen is two coats of behr silver screen.
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post #3 of 154
7/30/05 at 4:14pm
I am now at 1022 hours. No lamp issues to speak of. Seems like completely normal lamp wear so far.
I use video mode, dynamic iris, never (very rarely) hard power down. I use a ups and power conditioner on the pj. Clean filter religiously. Been using the BW filter for several months. 1.05 firmware. Silverstar screen, 92".
Maybe I'm lucky because I use a high gain, relatively small screen, and don't have to crank up the light output? I also calibrate religiously and use a fairly conservative white level.
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post #4 of 154
7/30/05 at 4:42pm
Im at 1021 hours.... been about 6 motnhs now and still running strong.
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post #5 of 154
7/30/05 at 4:53pm
jagouar
What are your settings and screen?
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post #6 of 154
7/30/05 at 10:40pm
i'm at 550 hours in just about 5 months. my bulb seems to be going strong...although my girlfriend did ask me the other day if the projector was dimmer. personally i think it was just the programming we were watching...but i have to say i have become a little paranoid.
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post #7 of 154
7/31/05 at 12:30am
545 hours and kaput.

Not completely out, but too dim to view anything. tsteves, you don't get any vb leaving it in standby? Doing a hard power down or just leaving it in standby after the fan turns off shouldn't affect the bulb life, correct?
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post #8 of 154
7/31/05 at 6:42am
I'm close to 2000 hours. I did do the reset on the lamp and regained a light bump.
It's been smooth sailing and I'm grateful for it. Those lamps are expensive.
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post #9 of 154
7/31/05 at 7:06am
I'm in the middle of construction of my theater and was leaning towards the AE700, but I read somewhere about the bulbs not lasting long. Now I'm not sure what to do. What are the average cost of a replacement bulb for the AE700? I'd hate to have to replace the bulb every 6 months at 400.00 a pop (or whatever it is).

If you had known you'd be replacing the bulb frequently, would you have considered another projector? Which one?

I like the bang for the buck you get with the AE700, but when you factor operation costs in there, is it worth it? Thanks.

Bud
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post #10 of 154
7/31/05 at 7:54am
Thread Starter 
My first replacement bulb cost $350. Since I had no working projector, I wanted to get it fast and was willing to pay for it. I had to get it from one of the projector resalers because they had it in stock.

As a backup, I then placed an order for a bulb on buycom for $290 (including coupon). They list it as on backorder, and I received the bulb about 1 month later.

I have no problem replacing 1 bulb per year at $300. Any more frequent than that and I'll have to think about it. We'll see what happens over the next 1-2yrs. The thing about the ae700 is that it is such a great initial value that even with frequent bulb changes, it may still be worth it.
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post #11 of 154
8/1/05 at 7:12am
Checked last night and my projector has 1283 hours and still going strong. The projector is used each evening and in a completely light controlled setup. The filter is cleaned every 100 hours. I am very satisfied with projector. I have used the KR-6 (8lEF) filter and now am running the machine without it. I like the picture either way. It maybe makes a difference, but I only turn the projector on once a day and it usually runs for 4 or 5 hours. Other than that the projector is not used.
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post #12 of 154
8/1/05 at 7:15am
I'm at 430 hours in about 5 months, I have definetley noticed a decrease in light output, but it is still watchable. I'm hoping I won't see much more of a drop in light output over the next 1000 hours
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post #13 of 154
8/1/05 at 11:26am
I have over 600 hours on my lamp and the only thing I noticed was a substantial drop in light output after about 200 hours. Since then it has remained stable up to now. I watch my films at very low contrast anyways so it suits me perfectly.

Not to get off topic here but I wish I had the same problem as the 4805 owners where I needed a filter to bring the light output down.

Well I guess you cant have it all.
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post #14 of 154
8/1/05 at 2:59pm
holyc0w
"tsteves, you don't get any vb leaving it in standby?"
Well, that's a long story, but after a long while I have very little anymore which I very infrequently feel the need to adjust for. I rarely do the flicker tweak anymore at all, and find things just very slightly off when I do. It seems like either the more I adjusted the more I had to adjust, or maybe, things just settled out over time.
"Doing a hard power down or just leaving it in standby after the fan turns off shouldn't affect the bulb life, correct?"
As long as you wait for it to completely shut down and cool off before turning off the power, I would think not. I don't know how long the fan runs after shutting down, or if it cycles on and off at a low level afterwards, etc. It is interesting that a pj everyone felt the need to power off after shutdown to avoid vb ended up having bulb issues. I'm not saying they are related, though. Just kind of interesting.
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post #15 of 154
8/1/05 at 3:52pm
800+ hours and had it replaced. i think i had a bugger bulb. it would flicker pretty bad. i had to fight with the repair shop and panny rep to get a new bulb. they settled on having me pay an hour of labor for a new bulb. fair enough. about 150 hours on this one. it is our pimary upstairs tv so it's on a LOT.
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post #16 of 154
8/18/05 at 4:27pm
432 hours and still running, but with very dark picture now:-( ....better order a new bulp soon...
My Panny is build into a case with heavy duty ventilation, 300m/3 airflow into the case. The air can only escape the case through the Panny`s inlet and outlet ports. The outlet temperature is always below 34'C/93'F and I`m somewhat disappointed that the lamplife still is that short, with that amount of cooling. Very strange.
Video Mode, High Lamp Mode, Dynamic Iris On.
Regards Sweagle.
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post #17 of 154
8/19/05 at 7:57am
Bulb Blew At 317 Hours. Called Panasonic And They Said The Warranty Was Only Good For 90 Days And Mine Was 110 Day Old. My Projector Was Set To High Lamp And Normal Fan. With The New Bulb I'm At High Lamp And High Fan. $350 For 4 Months Of Movies. If It Blows This Early Agian, My And I Will Go To A 6 Movies A Month For The Same Price.
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post #18 of 154
8/19/05 at 9:46am
Mine has a little over 500 hours on it and still working good. I've had it almost 10 months and always run it on the high lamp setting. I'm sure the light output has decreased some, but its been so gradual I can't tell.
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post #19 of 154
8/19/05 at 11:16am
How often do you guys replace the filter? I didn't change mine, so I'm wondering if it lead to the premature failure.
I had 862 hours on mine when it failed, but I thought that the filter was supposed to be changed every 1000 hours.
My environment is not very dusty, so I thought this would be fine.
$350 for a filter is expensive and I don't want to have to do this yearly.
Are DLPs any better?
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post #20 of 154
8/19/05 at 11:40am
I think the manual states to clean the filter every 100 hours, not 1000.
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post #21 of 154
8/19/05 at 11:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by m@rkus View Post

I think the manual states to clean the filter every 100 hours, not 1000.


Hmm, I'll have to check on that. I know the hs-51 that I have is definitely 1000 hours per the manual.
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post #22 of 154
8/19/05 at 12:04pm
I might ad, that the Panny is only 2½ month old. I`m not shure what firmware version this unit have, where do you see that? In the Self Check menu it says R1.07 A1.03 P1.05 ??!

Today I`m running it with full brightnes, full contrast and in High Lamp Power mode just to see anything at all, and I must admit that I`m not very satisfied with this product so far. A new bulp every 3 month is way over my budget.

If all this "dark picture" problems people are havÃ*ng, really is a related to the bulp, it might be wise to ensure that the bulp is reaching 5-600 ours within the 3 months warenty period. Panasonic seems to have a problem admitting that there IS a problem with this unit, or at least some of them. It`s really a shame, for the projector have a great picture.

My filter is cleaned for every 100 our or so.
Regards Sweagle.
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post #23 of 154
8/19/05 at 1:48pm
I've had my Panny 700 for over 10 months now (original firmware) and over 400 hours on her. Bulb has been perfect. No loss of light and no flicker. Clean the filter every 50 hours and run on low-bulb. Hard power off every night. Of course reading these posts makes me nervous- but I'm knocking on wood with my fingers (and toes) crossed.
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post #24 of 154
8/19/05 at 4:35pm
June '03 AE300, low lamp/high fan got 5000hrs from first bulb and am at 4400hours on my second bulb.......just to rub salt into your wounds guys
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post #25 of 154
8/19/05 at 5:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by calibos View Post

June '03 AE300, low lamp/high fan got 5000hrs from first bulb and am at 4400hours on my second bulb.......just to rub salt into your wounds guys

Assuming you bought it on June 1, 2003 ... That's an average of over 12 hours a day since that time. Do you really use the projector that much ? Or do you just leave it on ?

A skeptic.
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post #26 of 154
8/20/05 at 5:34am
2 parents and 3 siblings also using PJ so its pretty much just left on because there is always someone who will want to use it within an hour or so of someone else so there is no point in turning it off.

Long hours and low number of ON/OFF cycles seem to be good for lamp life but long hours are bad for LCD panel land polorizer ife but this is mitigated by running high fan all the time.

I figure that I am getting more value from my bulbs by leaving the PJ on even if there is no-one watching it for 2000 of the 5000 hours than someone who 'wasted' no bulb hours by switching it on and off everytime someone entered or left the Cinema room but ended up blowing their bulbs after 2500hours for example.
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post #27 of 154
8/20/05 at 9:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by calibos View Post

I figure that I am getting more value from my bulbs by leaving the PJ on even if there is no-one watching it for 2000 of the 5000 hours than someone who 'wasted' no bulb hours by switching it on and off everytime someone entered or left the Cinema room but ended up blowing their bulbs after 2500hours for example.

possibly, but how much did it cost you in electricity to have it on for the 2000 hours when nobody was around to watch it?
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post #28 of 154
8/20/05 at 3:31pm
At 180W power consumption for the AE-300, that's about 1700 kWh total for 9400 hours . I have no idea about the rate for electricity in Ireland .
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post #29 of 154
8/20/05 at 8:30pm
what is the correct way to clean the filter?
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post #30 of 154
8/21/05 at 4:23pm
Why do people run in high lamp mode anyway? Do you have really big screens or are you brightness maniacs? To me high lamp = high fan, and I can do without the noise or the extra bulbs you would expect to need to buy if you go with high lamp, low fan.
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