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JVC DLA-X550R Lamp Replacement

2218 Views 13 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Azekecse, Jun 13, 2021

SimpleTheater

Discussion Starter · Jun 10, 2021

From what I've seen on AVS, the verdict is that original JVC lamps are substantially better than 3rd party.

That being the case, does anyone know of a retailer that discounts genuine JVC Lamps (and I want the housing as well, not just the bulb).

Thanks.

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SirMaster

· #2 · Jun 10, 2021

Depends on how you define substantially.

I find that they could be up to 20% brighter, but they cost 4x as much.

So is 4x the price worth 20% brighter.

Depends...

But the brightness is initially. All bulbs dim.

You could buy a brighter one and use it for 2000 hours, or you could buy 4 cheap ones and use each for 500 hours and probably end up with a higher average brightness over the 2000 hours even if they each start dimmer.

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SimpleTheater

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jun 10, 2021

SirMaster said:
Depends on how you define substantially.

I find that they could be up to 20% brighter, but they cost 4x as much.

So is 4x the price worth 20% brighter.

Depends...

But the brightness is initially. All bulbs dim.

You could buy a brighter one and use it for 2000 hours, or you could buy 4 cheap ones and use each for 500 hours and probably end up with a higher average brightness over the 2000 hours even if they each start dimmer.

I've seen people complaining that the 3rd party lamps aren't uniformly white (e.g. a little yellowing around the edges). Where did you get your bulb and what projector do you use?

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SirMaster

· #4 · Jun 10, 2021

I am not sure how they could be non-uniform since all the light comes from a small point.

Maybe if the mirror surface inside was improperly shaped or something, but the bare bulbs I have seen look identical to the OEM ones.

PK-L2615U//PK-L2615UG Projector Lamp Bulbs For JVC NSHA250JK / NSHA250-265W | eBay

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I bought a bulb from there for my NX5 and it looks normal uniform white.

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rwestley

· #5 · Jun 10, 2021

It is also possible that there could be variations in the original lamps so possibly 20% at a low price is not a bad option since the difference in cost is so much.

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SirMaster

· #6 · Jun 10, 2021

rwestley said:
It is also possible that there could be variations in the original lamps so possibly 20% at a low price is not a bad option since the difference in cost is so much.

Very true.

My NX5 stock bulb measured 29 ftL when new.

The ~$100 bare bulb I bought from SNLamps on eBay measured 23.5 ftL when new.

But the spare bulb that I got direct from JVC in a free bulb promo measured 26 ftL when I put it in right after testing the bare lamp.

So either my NX5 as a unit itself is has dimmed and is no longer capable of 29 ftL with even a new bulb, OR the bulb variation is just that, and one official JVC bulb did 29 ftL and the other did 26 ftL.

This would make the cheap bulb either 19% less than the stock JVC, or 10% less than stock JVC, depending on which stock bulb I compare the cheap one to.

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Jackson.

· #7 · Jun 10, 2021

I recently purchased a new bulb for my RS600 from @Dominic Chan and have been very pleased. Great price and communication. USPS just dropped the ball with delivering on time.

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rwestley

· #8 · Jun 10, 2021

bomt697 said:
Know of any good instructional videos on how use the app?

SirMaster said:
Very true.

My NX5 stock bulb measured 29 ftL when new.

The ~$100 bare bulb I bought from SNLamps on eBay measured 23.5 ftL when new.

But the spare bulb that I got direct from JVC in a free bulb promo measured 26 ftL when I put it in right after testing the bare lamp.

So either my NX5 as a unit itself is has dimmed and is no longer capable of 29 ftL with even a new bulb, OR the bulb variation is just that, and one official JVC bulb did 29 ftL and the other did 26 ftL.

This would make the cheap bulb either 19% less than the stock JVC, or 10% less than stock JVC, depending on which stock bulb I compare the cheap one to.

It just goes to show how great the variation can be. I have heard other stories that original bulbs can have a 20% or more variation. I think the same is true for some of the cheaper lamps. Wondering if it depends on the batch they are from. There is really no way to know without testing each one. The key to me would be how much brightness they loose after 100 hours or so. It would be interesting to compare the original and others at this point.

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SirMaster

· #9 · Jun 10, 2021

rwestley said:
It just goes to show how great the variation can be. I have heard other stories that original bulbs can have a 20% or more variation. I think the same is true for some of the cheaper lamps. Wondering if it depends on the batch they are from. There is really no way to know without testing each one. The key to me would be how much brightness they loose after 100 hours or so. It would be interesting to compare the original and others at this point.

Oh yeah, and that stock bulb that was 29 ftL when new was already down to 23 ftL after only ~300 hours on high, so it was already on par with the cheap bare bulb.

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robbyc30

· #10 · Jun 11, 2021

I recently bought lamps for my 4910, from two online retailers that I thought had good reputations for lamps. That being said, their customer service was on point, but their product was sorely lacking. Both were Ushio bulbs in aftermarket housings. One was a little over $100 and one was a little over $150. Both lamps brightness measured drastically less than my original JVC lamp, with close to 1000 hrs. They also had 40-50% uniformity error across the screen, so the left side was a little more than half as bright as the right, which was 20-30% dimmer than my old lamp. Both lamps were replaced, and the second round was no better for uniformity, but one lamp did approach the brightness of my old lamp...on one side. I got a ful refund from both companies and ended up getting a genuine JVC lamp from Mike Garrett, here at AVS. Much more expensive, of course, but 30% brighter than my old lamp, with nearly perfect uniformity.

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Vern Dias

· #11 · Jun 11, 2021 (Edited)

robbyc30 said:
I recently bought lamps for my 4910, from two online retailers that I thought had good reputations for lamps. That being said, their customer service was on point, but their product was sorely lacking. Both were Ushio bulbs in aftermarket housings. One was a little over $100 and one was a little over $150. Both lamps brightness measured drastically less than my original JVC lamp, with close to 1000 hrs. They also had 40-50% uniformity error across the screen, so the left side was a little more than half as bright as the right, which was 20-30% dimmer than my old lamp. Both lamps were replaced, and the second round was no better for uniformity, but one lamp did approach the brightness of my old lamp...on one side. I got a ful refund from both companies and ended up getting a genuine JVC lamp from Mike Garrett, here at AVS. Much more expensive, of course, but 30% brighter than my old lamp, with nearly perfect uniformity.

The positioning of the lamp within the housing is critical. It may be the same physical lamp, but if it's not exactly in the focal point of the reflector, (or the reflector is not perfectly shaped) light output and uniformity will suffer.

Back in the days of the carbon arc lamp that was used for film projection, a typical lamp house had an 16" or 18" reflector located roughly 24" from the film plane, and if the gas plasma ball that existed in the crater of the positive carbon was as little as 1/16" out of position in any axis (X Y or Z), the results on the screen (uniformity and / or color temperature) were painfully obvious.
Read this: Shedding Some Light on Classic 35mm Film Projection – Ben Model for a description with some great photos and imagine shrinking it down into your JVC's lamp.

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rwestley

· #12 · Jun 11, 2021

Vern Dias said:
The positioning of the lamp within the housing is critical. It may be the same physical lamp, but if it's not exactly in the focal point of the reflector, (or the reflector is not perfectly shaped) light output and uniformity will suffer.

Thanks for pointing this out. As you said the "positioning within the housing is critical." I once ordered a lamp with housing and the bulb was loose inside.

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SimpleTheater

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jun 13, 2021

robbyc30 said:
I got a ful refund from both companies and ended up getting a genuine JVC lamp from Mike Garrett, here at AVS. Much more expensive, of course, but 30% brighter than my old lamp, with nearly perfect uniformity.

So how do you contact Mike? I tried PM, but it says I can’t start a conversation with him. Thanks.