Toshiba 50HM66, 56HM66 Discussion - Page 40

I would like to know how to clean the mirror on my 56HM66. The picture is becoming dark so Im waiting for a new lamp. In the meantime Id like to clean the mirror as well.

Pop.

Purchased my 56hm66 back in Nov '06 and the lamp finally went out.

Just bought a new one, plus housing for ~$100, should be here next week. Any tips?

Use this stuff but get it as a single can for about $3:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

...along with a microfiber towel. The front bezel needs to be removed to gain mirror access. Clean your light engine lens also while in there as well as the entire cabinet cavity.

Just to clean the mirror, interior cavity and light engine lens is the best suggestion in my opinion.

Thanks, I'll do that. I've changed my front projector's lamp (also DLP) and that was fairly easy, from the looks of the manual, this seems like a piece of cake too, but figured you guys might have some additional tips.

It's tits man. Ezy peazy. Clean the dust out of the vents too. If you have nerve remove the LE and clean ALL the dust/dirt that has accumulated over the years. 2 screws and a couple of connectors is all it takes. 99.99999% idiot proof even.

And the lamp I bought lasted a whole 3 weeks. UGH

Really? Well, the lamps have a 6 month warranty so you can get it replaced. I just put a new lamp in after thanksgiving and it is going fine.

Yeah, it popped while watching football yesterday afternoon. I know it's under warranty and I will get it replaced, but I'm wondering if this was a lamp defect or is there something in these TV's that causes lamp failure (like a light engine that needs to be replaced that could cause that, and perhaps the first blow out, and will continue to kill lamps???).

I don't have a problem throwing $100 at an old HDTV to give it a new lamp, but I won't spend any other money on it to fix it if there's something else wrong. I'd rather spend a little more and just get a new 1080p 55" DLP HDTV (Dell had those 3D Mitsubishi's for $599 a couple of weeks ago in that size).

Personally, I think you have discovered the difference between a $100 and a $200 lamp. I am getting well over 4k hours on genuine Toshiba replacements, and that makes it worth my while.

(yes, I am still around, although I haven't posted in this thread in a couple of years. The Toshiba now has well over 10k hours on it, but it is relagated to third TV status these days behind a Panny plasma and an Epson projector.)

Yeah, I went with an OEM lamp on my front projector, got 4000 on my original bulb, and have 2000+ on the next one, but on this rear projector I didn't want to invest that much in a new lamp since I could have gotten an entirely new HDTV for just $599 a few weeks ago and had massive upgrades to boot (3D, 1080p, larger size, etc).

I already sent back the defective lamp, hopefully the free replacement will work more than 3 weeks, if not I'll just dump it and buy a new TV.

I only swapped mine out because the old one was getting noticeably dimmer and with Christmas and all the holiday programming on TV that is so colorful and bright, I wanted the best for my family. The old lamp still has abit of life left and I have had it for approx 4,320 hours give or take a couple hundred hours.

And the "upgrade" will end up costing alot more to use that 3d like a new blu-ray player and don't forget the 3d decoder and glasses you need to buy for everyone. Not to mention it uses lamps also. I wrestled the new TV idea too during the good prices. 55" plasma for $795? Crazy! But I resisted and glad i did. TV is paid for. Every 4000 hours I pay $100 and have what effectively results in a brand new TV.

Wait for 3D if that is what you want, for the non glasses models to come to market and see if they even take off or will it be HD DVD all over again? Meanwhile, I have 2 different blu-ray players that have internet apps and I watch streamed Netflix and Youtube no problem. And I saved money.Yup, glad I resisted temptation...

Also, remember that 3-D is the next big thing. It has been the next big thing every ten years or so since 1955. Nobody wants to wear the glasses once the novelty wears off.

Yeah, I'm not biting on the 3D thing either, that was just a silver lining... I was thinking of replacing it simply based on 1080p > 720p and 60" > 56".

Of course, that 60" Mitsubishi won't be back down to $599 until Super Bowl time I'm guessing.

Today I was cleaning the screen of my 56HM66 and up close I saw what looked like a long strand of hair that was stationary yet moving around on the inside of the screen. This leaves me to believe I need to clean out the entire inside of the set. I have ordered the microtowel and the cleaner. As you mention there are 3 areas of cleaning, the cabinet, the mirror and the light engine.

1) Is access to the interior from the rear of the set ... does the manual have instructions or can I find them somewhere in this thread?

2) Will the placement of the mirror and light engine inside of the set be obvious when I open the set?

3) Can the light engine also be cleaned with the cloth and cleaner?

4) A poster right after your post says the light engine must be remove and to clean?

Like many others, my set was purchased Black Friday 2006. Still on the original bulb and whenever the set has a hiccup (only a couple of times), I just unplug the set. The original bulb probably has over 8,000 hours, however the set has always been in a dark room so the brightness setting has always been turned down and the lamp has always been set to "Low Power" mode. The only complaint would be there is only 2 HDMI inputs as my receiver does not have HDMI switching. This is still my #1 set and I will be going OEM when the bulb pops.

Just a great $1200 investment that resulted in me having to buy many other HD devices over the past 4 years, including two other smaller HD sets (both LCDs), 1 HD-DVD player, 3 Blu Ray Players, WD TV Live Plus, Seagate Home Theater Plus. an XBox 360 that has HDMI out (previous one did not have HDMI) and a laptop that could play and stream HD.

.

1) No. interior is accessed by removing the bezel/screen assembly. PM me your email addy and I can email a copy of the service manual that tells how to remove the bezel/screen.
2) Yes.
3) Yes
4) Doesn't know what they are typing. The ONLY thing you can clean on the LE is the lens which is readily accessible once the bezel has been removed.

The whole thing shouldn't take you 30 minutes.

PM sent - thanks!

finally replaced bulb after a little over 4 years. Got one delivered for $129.99, that had a 6 month warranty, and supposedly was OEM.

Went thru the diagnostic menu, and got power on time of 3761, lamp on/off of 4545, and 2711 on/off cycles.

I thought power on time would be a little longer than the lamp on, due to the standby mode. How could my lamp on time be LARGER than my power on time?

In standby, the lamp is still lit if instant on or whatever it is called is on.

Where did you get your bulb? I am working on 50 months with the original and am starting to scout where to buy a new one. Also just curious if the lamp came in a toshiba box or had any toshiba paperwork included?

Your instructions worked perfectly. After 4 years, the light below that shines on the mirror was caked with dust. I cleaned the mirror, the light, the screen (outside and inside) and the interior and the whole thing took 20-30 minutes as indicated.

My picture is brighter and the colors seem more vibrant. Even the "screen door" effect seems less pronounced than prior to the cleaning. How often do you suggest this level of cleaning.

Oh and Thanks.

Once a year is sufficient.

Projectorquest.com out of NY, but fortunately not from the NYC/Brooklyn area...

Ordered Monday morning..received in Seattle on Wednesday with the free shipping...

The 2 HDMI ports are being used by an Xbox and PC input, so we have moved our older, by upconverting, HDMI DVD player to the Component input. Everything I have read states component cables can carry 720p, and likely even 1080p...however the TV says it is recieving 480i from component. Shouldn't it be getting 480p from the DVD player? could the DVD player or TV be broken? I DO get 720p from the DVD player via HDMI...

I believe the TV manual says it is cable of receiving a 720p input via component...

May upgrade to Blueray, and still use the component cables. Is anyone successfully getting a 720p (or 1080i) from a blueray to this TV, via component? I have also read some things about possible copy protection preventing blueray from transmitting >480p over Component, even though technically, it will work...

Technically, it won't, as you have discovered. Set the DVD player to output 480p. The TV will upconvert to 720p regardless. Blu-ray works well over component. DVD upconversion does not. HDMI is the ONLY way to upconvert DVD thru the player. But, again, why bother when the TV will convert to 720p (its native resolution) regardless?

But you should get BD anyway. You will see what your set is truely capable of. On my set I have the player output 1080i and I let my TV do the conversion to 720p as it looks better than the player supplying the conversion to 720p.

I guess I don't see it.

I would put the XBOX on component as it will still output 720P or 1080i just fine. That leaves an HDMI port available for the DVD.

Look into an HDMI switch for $30-40 and get rid of the limitation altogether.

You probably ought to be looking soon to add a receiver, and then everything will switch through it, along with the big bump in sound quality.

I second the BluRay recommendation. Players are findable for under $100 these days and the improvement is dramatic. BTW, the component limitation still exists when upconverting DVDs through a BluRay player.

Our XBOX is newer, and has ONLY HDMI, no component out...

We use a decent 5.1 surround sound receiver, but normally only for watching movies...also it to is older, and doesn't have HDMI..we simply run audio out from DVD player. Don't really want to spend $400+ for receiver with HDMI switching...also don't really see the point in turning on full surround mode ever time my teenager plays XBOX or watches TV.

I'm confused ... 480p coming out of a BD player shouldn't look any better than 480p from a regular DVD???

I have just discovered cheap HDMI switches (with auto detect) for under $20...

However, going back to my original question...with my existing regular DVD player...Shouldn't the TV be able to get a 480p (rather than 480i) input via Component ?

As far as getting a new BLUERAY, does the DVD copy protection limit Component output to 480p? IF yes, is a blueray 480p picture goign to look any better than a DVD 480p picture? and if not, no point in buying a BD, unless I also get an HDMI switch..,Our XBox already supports Netflix and other streaming options...

Yes. Set the DVD player as I said in my first post.

First off, I am not trying to be argumentative here, so please don't take anything I say as trying to change your mind in any way.

My son just upgraded to the newest black case XBOX 360 due to a RROD issue. He still connects to his main TV using the older component cables. He will sometimes disconnect that and connect to the projector over HDMI. I believe the new XBOX will still support the old cable. Could be wrong, as he does all the maintenance there.

Not $400. You can get pretty good HDMI switching 5.1 receivers for under $200 these days. Check out entry level pioneer VSX-520 and Denon AVR-391. Of course, that's still $200 instead of $20 for the switch.

The answer is a solid "maybe". They mostly haven't been limiting component output resolution till now, but it is a flag that is set in every individual disc. A couple have and there is talk of turning it on soon. Also, if you want component outputs on a BluRay player, be prepared to jump quickly. New rules say HDMI only on new players. The component outputs will only be there until they finish selling the 2010 models. (ref: http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...ill_Do_HD/6144)

I still say your best bet overall is to go all HDMI, either through receiver upgrade or through HDMI switch. Not sure why you want to limit sound on TV and XBOX. The XBOX makkes better use of surround than most DVDs.

Also Splicer is correct. 480p is possible on DVDs over component, but no higher.

I looked at the back of the Xbox yesterday, and there is NOT a component jack. It now appears that it uses a proprietary-to-component cable, rather than a regular cable. I don't think that cable came in the box, but I guess I should check tonight!

OK, I understand regular DVD cannot output above 480p via component, and of course anything higher (ie 720p) would be an upconverted signal anyway...which yields the age old question - is the upconvertor in my Toshiba DVD player better than the one built into the TV, or maybe they are literally the same, as same manufacturer!

If my understanding is correct, TODAY a BLUERAY with component CAN output 720p (or even 1080p, though with this TV, wouldn't matter), but in the future many BD will be encoded to not allow this, so not a good long term solution.

and it looks like monoprice or meritline I can get cheap XBOX component cables or HDMI switches!