Front Projector Bulb/Lamp life

[Petee_C]

yeah.... and I got the spare bulb deal when I bought it.....

I guess no new projector for me for at least 5 yrs......

what will it be then? 2160p?

[aburns]

My first Optoma HD64 Bulb only lasted 300 hrs.......Not happy at all...

[osijek1289]

I hit paydirt on my BenQ W500 bulb. Yes, I'd posted before on it's progress, and, am revisiting to update: same original bulb, is now at the equivalent of over 5300hrs based on my counter. Funny thing is, I meant to buy a bulb, oh, thousands of hours ago. I can't tell any difference with the image - there's no degradation. Let's see how long it goes. Hope no one minds the update ... I guess bulb miracles are possible.

[kable2]

I have an Epson EX70 and currently have 4300 hours on the projectors original bulb. The projector is about 8 months old, I am going to use it until it dies

[kable2]

4700 hours woo hoo.

My bulb started flickering a couple hundred hours ago and then got brighter. I looks as bright as a new one again

[Mike Osadciw]

I think the real question should be "how long are you willing to let your bulb dim at the expense of enjoying good video?"

bulbs don't stay the same brightness until the "end" and then just die.
they get dimmer and dimmer as time goes on. such a loss in video dynamic range. image is dull. 2-D and flat.

to me, it's not worth keeping a bulb in until the end.

replace it half way...and you'll be surprised how dark of an image you were watching.

[jumpy27]

I have a Hi-Power screen with a gain of 2.8 and the image still is very watchable after 5500 hours on a Sanyo Z4. My first lamp lasted over 7000 hours. If I had a screen with a gain of 1 or so I would have to replace the lamp before it failed because the image would be too dark to watch.

[Michael TLV]

Greetings

Some tests have shown that bulbs at 80% of projected life are effectively 50% as bright as when new. That's a drop of 50% in the dynamic range of the image.

Some use a rule of thumb called the 60/40 rule. When a bulb reaches 60% or 70% of the rated life, it is time to swap out the bulb.

What is the cost of your enjoyment and free time worth ... versus the cost of a bulb?

Mind you ... if one does not have a problem with the light output of their projector on well worn bulbs ... then the more power to you.

Regards

[kable2]

Well I used low power mode for most of the bulbs life, now I switch between high and low. The bulb started to get dim and flickering for a while, but I put it on high power for a week and the flickering went away and it got brighter, even on the low power setting.

so now I go 50/50 high and low power

I have a new bulb sitting here in the package for when the old one bites the bullet.

/at 9000 hours I am going to replace it whether I need to or not

[JimmyFace]

5300 hours on my HC1500 now and still going.

[kable2]

5300 hours and it went pop.

Got the new bulb put in. A lot brighter and better picture.

[osijek1289]

Originally Posted by osijek1289

I hit paydirt on my BenQ W500 bulb. Yes, I'd posted before on it's progress, and, am revisiting to update: same original bulb, is now at the equivalent of over 5300hrs based on my counter. Funny thing is, I meant to buy a bulb, oh, thousands of hours ago. I can't tell any difference with the image - there's no degradation. Let's see how long it goes. Hope no one minds the update ... I guess bulb miracles are possible.

Was on the forums re something else, and thought I would update this years old post of mine on bulb life. Same original bulb, still going strong. My bad to have completely forgotten the hour count (to closest 100 hours), but given the reset/change bulb warning kicks in every 2000hrs (or is it more?) on this projector, that warning has happened at least once since my last post, thus putting the bulb hours well over 7500, and very likely over 8000 hours.

I have run it at low for it's entire lifetime; flipping it to high brightness today still gives a much brighter picture, essentially too bright, as I have a completely darkened room (basement). There may be some color dullness at play, but, IMO it is overall far less problematic than a poorly encoded or poorly ripped HD source. In other words, I easily see very vivid and seemingly full spectrum colors, evidenced by aerial landscape overflys of the various HD nature shows I watch, as well as still being stunned by TV manufacturer's HD demo disc video.

Hopefully I've not jinxed things with posting about bulb life.

[Jake]

You should tell BenQ. I bet they would be interested in dissecting it to see what contributed to its longevity. That is if they would be interested in giving you a replacement.

[Inzane]

Hello all,

I have an Epson 8700UB projector that was purchased and installed in Oct 2011. I have ~ 1050 hr on the original bulb and I noticed just yesterday that the picture seemed really dim. Definitely dimmer than normal.

There may have been a gradual decline over time, but it was strange that I just noticed a difference yesterday (perhaps a sudden step-change drop in performance?). I've been playing a couple hours a night of Black Ops 2 in my theater room fairly consistently over the last couple months and it really seemed like I was struggling last night to see opponents (online multiplayer) due to the dim/darkness of the picture. I have never felt like my gaming has ever suffered like that before now.

My projector is ceiling mounted, so no airflow restrictions. It also was never ISF calibrated. Its just been running at its default settings.

I've got an email in to Epson Canada's tech support (couldn't find a Canadian 1-800 for tech support. ???). Apparently from what I've seen on various forums (projectorcentral, etc.) Epson has extended warranty on bulbs within your projector's warranty period and thus will offer free bulb replacements for bulbs failing prematurely (much less than the claimed ~ 4000 hr life expectancy).

Does anyone know if Epson Canada has been honoring that or is that just in the US? (Guess I'll find out if/when they respond to my email inquiry).

[Inzane]

Update: Epson is sending me a replacement bulb! Whew.

I'm pretty happy about that. It won't likely get here in time for Superbowl, but I'll live.

Thank you Epson!