Optoma HD 72 Bulb just went... I Think... - Page 4

Well, mine is doing it again. 255 hours on the bulb before it repeated it.

They did say it needed a new bulb, so it looks like I'm going bulb shopping. I was hoping it would last longer, long enough to maybe upgrade projectors to a cheap 1080p unit instead.



So the bulb has done, total, a little over 1000 hours. Maybe 1100.

Add me to the list too...

I have a HD6800 exactly the same thing as the HD72, just renamed as it was bought at costco.

539 Hours on the projector, screen goes black with about 30 seconds of turning on. I have tired reseating the bulb, celing mount, mounted on a table, pulled the power, everything you imagine I have tried.

A good friend of mine has the same projector he just recently bought from costco, so I am goin to try bring my bulb to his house and give it a try to see what happens.

will let you know the outcome.

P.s. Talked to optoma service, they didnt even want to hear what was wrong... the guy actually cut me off mid sentance and just said send it to us it sounds like a bulb problem.

Let us know if your "bad blub" works in your friends projector. As I'm on the fence right now (previous posts) I'm hoping they have "fixed" the blub cut off circuit

Good news bad news...

The bad news is that nothing I did could get this thing working again. I never did get to try it in my buddies projector. he was out of town and it just didnt work out.

the good news..
being that i bought it from costco.. i went back tehre to return the thing, and with almost no questions they took it back and gave me a full refund. Good on ya costco!!

Sorry I could get more info on changing the bulb with a friends unit.

Does HD70 have this bulb issue?

All I was able to get out of them was a discount bulb for $275.00 I referenced this thread in my e-mails to Optoma and when I was finally able to speak to a supervisor on the phone. He assured me the only problem was the lamp and it has absolutely nothing to do with the projector, its just a lamp failure. I still don't believe them but I had no choice so I said go ahead with the new lamp for $275.00. I am certain this thread will continue to get bigger as more people have the same problem and optoma keeps denying it. I will never purchase one of their products again and I encourage other people to speak with their wallets and do the same.

Add me to the list of bulbs-gone-bad.

1511 hours ...

running at normal altitude setting and econo mode for its lifespan.

Does anybody have any advice on where to buy these in Canada?

well, add me too
mine goes black in about 15 seconds
i've had it for about a year
don't know how many hours on the bulb because i don't have time to look before it shuts down
i have an e-mail in to optoma and hopefully will get a response tomorrow
i ain't taking no for an answer
this sucks

jibster

For me, I barely have enough time to navigate to the Lamp Settings menu before it turns off. That's how I know it's 1511 hours.

If you don't mind, PM me with the answer you get from Optoma.

Well I sent mine in too for the same problem. Bulb has 600 hours on it. I will find out this week what is happening.. The projector has a really good picture, but if they don't stand behind there product, I will never buy optoma again and definitely not recommend it to anyone. It would be worth it to fix the problem then to have projector sale dip in the years to come.

also did anyone try the bulb in another projector to see if it works.

I think I can see what is going on here and why Optoma is blaming the lamps.

The bulb after so many hours wanders out of the tolerance range, voltage wise, and thus the projector is turning off.

They replaced the lamp driver module last time, AND said it was a bad bulb. Probably both true.

Either the bad lamp driver modules are making the bulbs go bad early (which Optoma insisted wasn't the case IIRC in my paperwork)
or

we just have a bad batch of bulbs, which the tweaked lamp driver puts up with for a lot longer, but ulimately the bulb still goes out of range.

My concern is, I get a new bulb and this recurs again in another year or so. My concern is really on the 2nd one - we don't know how widespread the bulb problem is.

Man, this really sucks. I just got one and haven't even got time to install it. Now you guys got me thinking if I should return it. I got with a $200 rebate and an extra bulb (I wonder why).

Any advise to what should I do?

Best,

Just started getting this Friday night. I invited a bunch of friends over that haven't seen the setup yet and wouldn't you know the projector that's been working for 13 months decides not to work at all

Anyway, I just got off the phone with George in Tech Support who actually mentioned both the Lamp driver module and units going out with bad bulbs.

At any rate I'll be sending mine in soon. Well at least I'll get that firmware update so I don't lose my settings every couple months.

I just got off the phone with Robert @ Optoma Tech Support. He informed me that these units have a two year warranty. I informed him of the problem and he asked if the LED indicated lamp failure. I told him no and that I had been doing my own research and had learned through various online forums that there seemed to be a problem with the lamp drivers and or bad bulbs.
He said, "I will e-mail you a RMA form. Fill it out and send it back to us and we will take care of it."
It was never mentioned that the bulb was probably bad and there was no warranty on bulbs.
I asked about turnaround and he said it would be sent back to me within 3-5 days after they receive it.
I will post again.

jib

George told me they sent some out with bad lamps but that what I was describing was not lamp failure, at least he was honest about that. However, he didn't tell me how to do the RMA (he just told me to fill out a form and mail it along with my receipt and projector to Optoma - which I knew was wrong) so I called back and talked to Robert who straightened me out on what to do.

Add me to your club folks! Bought the HD72 in Aug 2006. Had to send in March 07 when the unit would just power off with all 3 LED flashing.

Then in July 07 would doing the run for 30 seconds then just go black. I put in a new bulb and that seemed to fix it until Nov. Going black again after 30 seconds. Sent in for repair and they fixed the lamp driver.

End of Dec, exact same thing. Sent in for repair and got back today. Their eval...Bad Bulb!

Going to unload this thing on ebay, get what I can and get a non Optoma 1080p projector.


On the bright side they are quick to issue RMA and turn around time is fast. But I won't keep doing this. Having to send in twice in a month and a half with a bulb with 600 hours is unacceptable.

Has anyone tried to write the corp address about this issue?

Man, this is bad. Has anyone with one of these units hasn't experience any trouble with their bulbs? I just bought one and still in the box. I think I better return the damn thing before I even try to open it.

Since Aug 2006 I've spend $300 on a new bulb and $175 on shipping/insurance sending the unit back to them a total of 3 times. Not to mention the down time not having the unit working, hauling out an old TV, packing it up and getting it shipped, never knowing when the unit is coming back from repair (RMA tracking on the optoma site is poor). Having my wife give me grief about it! Plus even finding a replacement bulb in stock is not easy!

My unit is having the exact same problems described here. New bulb only lasted a few months! My advise, return it, period. There is obvously a problem here Optoma is not addressing properly. You may set it up and it will work for awhile but give it time. For the price I paid and the problems it has given me this thing tops my list of purchases I've regretted.

by the way, for those that are wondering
RMA means "Return Merchandise Authorization"

jib

Doesn't everyone who owns an HD72 know that?

turn off Image AI and bright mode

I had them both off the entire time. Didn't make mine last any longer than anyone else.

Mine were off. Your point being ... ?

my lamp went out at 1400 hours took out the bulb then put it back in then turned off image Ai and bright mode been working for a 100 hours now sorry if it doesn't work for you

It's not a good sign if features have to be disabled for product to work.

I'm glad I found this thread. I was about to buy a new lamp and give it another go. But I think that is only going to get me a few months based on my own experience and those on this board. Even if the repair eval is correct and I need a new bulb, something is causing the bulbs to go bad prematurely. Either Optoma can't or won't fix it.

My new Epson projector arrives via overnight tomorrow. I'm not going to miss watching the Packers beat the Giants in all it's big screen HD glory!

Sorry Optoma, you've lost a customer for life after giving me this lemon.

Mine was sent back to Optoma yesterday. When I filled out the RMA request form, it asks for "Problem Description - Be Specific".
I wrote, "Bulb shuts off after appx. 30 seconds. Problem believed to be lamp driver".
When Optoma e-mailed me the RMA#, the problem was written as "Light shuts off after approx. 30 seconds".
They did not include my comment about the lamp driver.
Wonder why?

jib

I wish you luck! Replacing the lamp driver only got me about 6 weeks of use before I sent it back in for the same problem!