Optoma HD 72 Bulb just went... I Think... - Page 8

Awesome. You've made a wise decision!

well, needed to change my lamp as well; at only 1350 hours.
For canadian customer, here's Optoma's reply (my projector is still under warranty) :

Here is your repair estimate:
Parts $379.99 plus tax
Total Cost: $398.98
Lamp needed to be replaced.
Please fill out the attached form and returned it to us. Don't forget to sign the form.
Thank you
Regards,
OPTOMA

Phillips only guarantee's their bulbs for 90days, if Phillips gave Optoma a 3yr warranty they would pass it on. 1350hrs isn't too bad considering all the variables in ways that preserve and hinder bulb life.

Try to find just the Phillips UHP bulb part, search Ebay for projector lamps that match your numbers, watts/UHP/Phillips. Also search projector central for data projectors that use your bulb type, like Dell, infocus etc. Then search Ebay for lamps for the models you find.
Happy hunting and better luck, keep your PJ cool don't bump it around or slam doors near it.

~50% of expected bulb life isn't too bad?

Ummmm .... ok.

Based on my experience, getting 50% of expected life is EXCELLENT.........for the HD72!

After 90 days, there is no guarantee you will ever get the maximum projected hours from your lamp. There are other PJs that have blown their lamps after only 500 to 1000 hours.

You're trolling, right?

1. the 90 day warranty on bulbs is a joke; ridiculously too short.

2. manufacturers should state real-world bulb life instead of up to 3000 hours for the HD72 bulb. I got ~1500 hours for my bulb.

"Other PJs that have blown their lamps after only 500 to 1000 hours" --- this is supposed to make us feel better??? Tell that to all the other HD72 posters who have had premature bulb failure.

Note that if you had read this entire thread, the general consensus is that there may be a problem with the HD72 itself and not just the bulb necessarily. Not to mention the fact the Optoma's customer service in handling this problem is nothing short of incompetence.

There's no guarantee you will get the "Expected" hours from a lamp. It's a best guess. I'm not convinced that the lamp driver didn't speed up the lamp failure a bit, but there's no proof that that is the case.

I am not disputing whether there is a problem and my comments are not intended to patronize HD72 owners who are experiencing lower lamp hours.

I simply wish to make sure that newbies who stumble into this conversion don't get the idea from reading the last page since they won't spend the time to read the whole thread that PJ lamps always last 3,000 hours and if they don't, something is wrong.

If PJ manufacturers make a PJ that routinely blows its lamps far sooner than most other models, they should expect to lose business if they won't even attempt to do something to satisfy their customers. Unfortunately in this thin profit margin world, customer service has taken a big hit everywhere.

I just wanted to follow-up on my previous post. Just got my pj back and it works! They replaced the lamp driver chip, no whining, no lame excuses, no mention of needing a new lamp. I must say I'm pleasantly surprised. I didn't have to argue with them to get an RMA and they turned it around pretty quick. I'll have to keep you posted on how many more hours I get out of the original lamp. For now, good on ya' Optoma.

I got my new lamp inhouse yesterday. Seems to be working fine for now.

Good luck with that. They will replace the lamp driver at first as they did with mine and other posters here without a problem. But in a couple/few months when you have to send it back in for the same issue that's when you'll get told you need a new bulb.

Enjoy while it lasts!

I experienced the same problem last night.

My bulb has 1511 hours on it. What is the general consensus? Should I send to Optoma for repair or just buy a new bulb, since I have over 1500 hrs on it. I can get a new bulb for $350. Ir sounds like Optoma charges $400. I would also be out shipping and the time it takes to ship it and get it back.

This is almost exactly the same way my HD72 was returned in Jan, after I sent it in for problems described throughout this thread. To this day, I still have no idea what was worked on the PJ because there was zero paperwork inside the box.

It's been almost 3 months, hopefully there won't be anymore problem with it.

Add me to the "never again" club. My 2nd HD72 will be heading back. So far, I have the throbbing color issue (both HD72s), a dead DVI port and the lamp sensor issue.

Might be a non-Optoma 1080P projector under the Christmas tree..

I bought mine in 2/2006 so the 2 year warranty expired and it's now doing the black out thing. I'm guessing the bulb has around 1600 hours (it resets itself to zero every week or so) so could this be normal bulb failure?

Most of us have this chain of events:

bulb starts turning off
RMA to Optoma
Optoma replaces the lamp driver
bulb works for another few hundred hours before going dark again

I personally wouldn't want to just buy a bulb and change that the lampdriver they've been replacing is really part of the problem (even though they say it's not). You should at least RMA it once. If nothing else you get a few more hundred hours out of it.

you forgot to add:

RMA to Optoma again
Optoma tells you that you need a new bulb and sends back without doing anything else
Swear you are done and promise to never buy Optoma again
Cut losses and get new 1080P non Optoma projector

Well, I've just had the same lamp off problem. Mine is HD6800 bought in August 2006 from Costco.ca. 788 hours on the lamp. I had it in Bright mode and Image AI was on. I turned them off and it's working again so far. Will see how much more I can get out of it.

i just returned my b/c the problem ... to bad i loved that pj.

I bought an HD72 from Costco last year - the bulb failed at 500 hours, and I just took the unit back to Costco and returned it for a full refund. Then I bought an HD7100 from them, thinking that Costco's fantastic return policy would protect me.

Tonight my bulb started cutting out after 1 minute - I have about 1600 hours on it. But I'm not going to return this one, as it's been close to a year and I don't think it would be really fair to Costco to return it, even though I'm sure they'd take it back. I'm not happy about a 1600 hour lamp life, but at this point the path of least resistance is to simply order another bulb, try to get another 1500 hours out of it, and hopefully by then there will be a good replacement projector available for a reasonable price.

Hopefully I can play around with the bulb or use the projector on a table instead of the ceiling and get enough life out of the bulb to last me until the new one arrives. I hate being without my projector.

I am new to this thread. I got the lamp problem with my HD6800 last sunday (600 hours of use). I don't want to read every thread about it, but does some one here consider one of these options after the problem occurs:

- Buy Optoma extend warranty?
- Submit a complaint to the office of consumer protection?

return the pj

I did but in case the problem comes back and I am out of warranty...
Do people here bought the Optoma extend warranty...
And what about he office of consumer protection

Is there someone here on AVS that successfully replace the controller chip?

I bought mine in Nov 2006. In May 2007, bulb went black with no warnings/lights. I sent it in with RMA and they replaced a part...and they accidentally replaced my bulb as well.

Worked fine until May 2008. Same exact problem with 1300 hours. I sent it in this time and they say it is the bulb. They SAY they put a new bulb in my unit and it worked. They then took my bad bulb and put it in known good test unit and my bulb did the same problem on the test unit. This seems like good troubleshooting (swap-tronics)...leading anyone to believe it is the bulb.

HOWEVER...why is this happening to so many folks?

I think the balast (or some other component) is way out of tollerance (or just plain crap) and the pj just cant operate with an aged bulb...like it should.

Optoma needs to stand behind their product and find the root of this problem.

Sully

BTW...onsale.com has the bulb for $318.00.

I suppose that if we had time we would go for a class action...

Finally they (optoma Canada) want me to pay 400$ for the lamp even if my pj is still on warranty and only has 600 hours of use!!!

Suckers!

I'm not sure if you didn't notice, but the warranty on a bulb is only 90 days.

It sucks that we got a batch of failure-prone bulbs, but it's always a risk in with projectors and bulb-based RPTVs.

Probably there was a bad few months of production on them from whatever factory in China or wherever was making them. Hopefully newer-produced bulbs are better.

Yes I did notice, but one can't say that their lamp last 2000-3000 hours but only gives 90 days warranty... it's too easy.

If the new lamps are better, good for everyone!