[Robert_Lopez]

I had a Panny AE900U for almost 18 months (1700) hours before the lamp burned out and the lamp circuit went bad. It's way too costly to repair, and unfortunately I'm enough of a sucker to buy another projector. Are all budget HD projectors so prone to breaking? Which projector is likely to last at least twice as long and would be a nice upgrade from the AE-900U? (I am looking for DLP only.) I am not fond of shelling out $1k for something that lasts only a year and a half. Please help. Thanks.

 

[mjg100]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert_Lopez /forum/post/14168479


I had a Panny AE900U for almost 18 months (1700) hours before the lamp burned out and the lamp circuit went bad. It's way too costly to repair, and unfortunately I'm enough of a sucker to buy another projector. Are all budget HD projectors so prone to breaking? Which projector is likely to last at least twice as long and would be a nice upgrade from the AE-900U? (I am looking for DLP only.) I am not fond of shelling out $1k for something that lasts only a year and a half. Please help. Thanks.

Look for an older high end 720p DLP projector. The build quality will be better. You might also want to consider an extended warranty.

 

[frank456]

I would consider a sharp DT-510. Excellent reliability and phenomenal picture quality.


Any 1080p DLP model is way over a grand.

 

[mjg100]



Quote:
Originally Posted by frank456 /forum/post/14168606


I would consider a sharp DT-510. Excellent reliability and phenomenal picture quality.


Any 1080p DLP model is way over a grand.

I was not aware that the DT-510 had excellent reliability. That would be a good choice.

 

[BuffaloJim]

All projectors should last more than a year and a half although the lamp life was probably acceptable in this case.


It always astounds me how a DLP can keep on functioning. It reminds me of RCA's original color TV from 1940 or so. The DMD is itself an electo-mechanical device with moving mirrors, and then light is sent through a spinning color wheel. It just seems like ancient technology. But here it is 2008, and we're still using it, and thoroughly happy with it as well!


Jim

 

[Green Chemist]

The Marantz VP8600 is listed as having a 4000hr bulb life. This is in contrast to many PJs that are rated for 2000. Will you get 4000? Never can tell. But it's got to last longer than a 2000 rated bulb, one would assume. You can pick one up for under $1K as well.

 

[imjay]

Before you switch to DLP single chip projection be certain sure you or a family member are not in the minority of folk subject to RainBowEffect (RBE) which is an unpleasant visual reaction to the color wheel. I and a family member are affected and so are happy to have the LCD alternative of our 900U.


So far as the poster who referenced the "spinning wheel" as simple and marveled that we are still using it in 2008 the Color Wheel is used in DLP projectors because DLP manufacturers cannot offer true DLP 3 chip RGB projection at a cost that is consumer affordable yet but chip prices are slowly falling.


The color wheel is a temporary fix to allow a single dlp chip to create a full color spectrum image and an added layer of complication that can fail just like the premature failure of your lamp.


Sounds like by the simple luck of the draw you had an untimely failure with your 900U. Ours is still going strong and we love it but don't assume that this is proof that all LCD projectors are not as good as DLP re performance or that Panasonic makes unreliable stuff.


It's interesting that one can do an online search for problems with all makes and models of projectors and find long lists of people who have complaints and problems yet they are a very small percentage of total owners most of whom are very happy and achieve long product life with their PJs whether DLP or LCD.


Who knows what flaw causes a component to fail before its' time. I build our home desktop computers and prefer Sony DVD read/write drives and Western Digital HardDrives and while the majority of them work for years and years one will fail after short use (ha, ha - often right after the warranty expires) so don't banish Panasonic from your considerations due to one episode of bad luck. (IF you really want to go crazy over unexpected component failure try having a few pinball machines in your house!! - better know how to use a multi-meter and soldering iron!!)


Sorry - got off topic a bit - don't give up on projectors cause if you do you'll never enjoy watching movies again. There isn't a Television available today that can begin to offer the AWE and WOW of a 10 ft Home Theater screen experience. Final thought on the luck of the draw thing we are all subject to suffering from. I bought our 900U at a outlet store (it was a return to CostCo) for $600 almost two years ago - no warranty at all - and it just keeps going and going and going and we watch a lot of movies. Go figure!


Remember that chips can fail and color wheels break and God Help Us more and more of the stuff we buy is made in China so as already suggested if it lets you sleep better at night pay the $$$$ for an extended warranty but remember that stastically they almost never pay off.

GoodLuck

 

[BuffaloJim]



Quote:
So far as the poster who referenced the "spinning wheel" as simple and marveled that we are still using it in 2008 the Color Wheel is used in DLP projectors because DLP manufacturers cannot offer true DLP 3 chip RGB projection at a cost that is consumer affordable yet but chip prices are slowly falling.


The color wheel is a temporary fix to allow a single dlp chip to create a full color spectrum image and an added layer of complication that can fail just like the premature failure of your lamp.

I fully aware of why the color wheel is still used. My point in the post was that today's consumer DLPs are very similar to the original technology of RCA's color TVs from six decades ago. Texas Instruments invented the DMD chip over 20 years ago. Although prices have fallen for the chip, it is probably the case that consumers will never see a 3-chip DLP projector. Instead, they will be buying projectors with LED or Laser light sources and no color wheel.


It is odd that in this day and age of fully electronic devices, we are still using electro-mechanical components in our DLP projectors. But despite this, they remain very reliable. Mirrors don't often get stuck on DMDs and relatively few color wheels explode.


Jim

 

[jrwhite]

Small point, but, the colourwheel TV system was actually CBS. RCA had the competing fully electronic system, which evolved into NTSC.


Jonathan

 

[reconlabtech]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Green Chemist /forum/post/14169628


The Marantz VP8600 is listed as having a 4000hr bulb life. This is in contrast to many PJs that are rated for 2000. Will you get 4000? Never can tell. But it's got to last longer than a 2000 rated bulb, one would assume. You can pick one up for under $1K as well.

This idea has been advocated in several threads now but is going to cause problems for people when their lamps blow before 4,000 hours. There are several PJs that advertise 3,000 and 4,000 hours BUT lamp life is almost never warranted past 90 days and in some cases that is also followed up by a number of hours ie... 500 hours.


There are plenty of people who have achieved 2,3,4,6,8,10K hours on lamps only projected to last 2,000 or 3,000 hours. I would hesitate to advocate a PJ just because you believe the lamp will last maybe 4,000 hours but definitely more than 2,000 hours. There are not definites in PJ lamp life other than it will definitely fail, and if possible under inconvenient circumstances.

 

[BuffaloJim]



Quote:
Small point, but, the colourwheel TV system was actually CBS. RCA had the competing fully electronic system, which evolved into NTSC.


Jonathan

Correct. Thanks for pointing that out. Although I remember learning about some of the competing color systems, obviously, I had my companies mixed up.


Jim