OEM Projector Lamps - Places To Buy

[Waboman]

My projector will be 2 years old this Sept. The original bulb has approximately 2300 hrs on it. Gonna need to replace it soon. After searching the net, the bulbs are priced all over the map. With eBay being the cheapest. However, with eBay you're rolling the dice that you'll actually get an OEM bulb. I thought this could be a good place for members to suggest retailers that sell OEM bulbs at a decent price. Anybody here have experience buying new projector lamps?

My lamp is the JVC BHL5010-S.

[Show spoiler]

Suggestions? Opinions?

[Waboman]

Lol. Apparently talking about projector lamps isn't very exciting.

[PurpleJesus74]

Originally Posted by Waboman

Lol. Apparently talking about projector lamps isn't very exciting.

Haha,guess not.I havent had to buy a lamp yet for my Sanyo,but i just googled it and found a few online retailers that seemed reasonable for lamps.You might try that.

[Flatnate]

I haven't bought a lamp yet for my JVC RS20 so I'm kinda in the process of figuring this all out as well. I bought my projector from AVScience.com and I know they should have the lamp if you give them a call (the lamp is not listed on the site). Phone number for them is 1-877-823-4452. Let us know who you end up going with. I know the JVC can be finicky with the lamp and it will completely shut down with a flashing error light if something isn't operating within parameters. So stick to the OEM lamp and rest easy after you order. If you do find a better deal on OEM please tell.

Oh, and lovin Quagmire by the way man.

[Roy_Batty]

A good website to check is apexlamps.com, they have great selection and
reasonable prices. Good luck

[Waboman]

Originally Posted by PurpleJesus74

Haha,guess not.I havent had to buy a lamp yet for my Sanyo,but i just googled it and found a few online retailers that seemed reasonable for lamps.You might try that.

I foresee a good year for number 28. I did google my lamp model and several places came up. My concern is paying for an OEM lamp and getting an aftermarket lamp instead. It's hard to tell with all the Chinese knockoffs out there.

[Waboman]

Originally Posted by Flatnate

I haven't bought a lamp yet for my JVC RS20 so I'm kinda in the process of figuring this all out as well. I bought my projector from AVScience.com and I know they should have the lamp if you give them a call (the lamp is not listed on the site). Phone number for them is 1-877-823-4452. Let us know who you end up going with. I know the JVC can be finicky with the lamp and it will completely shut down with a flashing error light if something isn't operating within parameters. So stick to the OEM lamp and rest easy after you order. If you do find a better deal on OEM please tell.

Oh, and lovin Quagmire by the way man.

I checked out their store website and the only bulb they have listed is for a Sony. I may shoot them an email or call 'em if I have time. You bought your projector thru them? How were their prices and customer service? Also, how many hours do you have on your current lamp?

Giggity-giggity.

[Waboman]

Originally Posted by Roy_Batty

A good website to check is apexlamps.com, they have great selection and
reasonable prices. Good luck

Thanks, Roy. I will check them out. Have you purchased from them before?

Edit: I just looked up my lamp at apexlamps and wouldn't you know it, they're out of stock.

[Flatnate]

Originally Posted by Waboman

I checked out their store website and the only bulb they have listed is for a Sony. I may shoot them an email or call 'em if I have time. You bought your projector thru them? How were their prices and customer service? Also, how many hours do you have on your current lamp?

Giggity-giggity.

Hey Wabo, I'm often on the AVS forums which they sponsor and are the sister company too as well. They had a sticky thread posted asking people to private message them for pricing on A stock JVC closeout projectors a few months after the RS25/RS35 was introduced. I messaged them and picked up the now discontinued RS20 for $3K! The projector took a solid week to arrive and I was told it was held up in customs from the shipment from Japan, so I know JVC must work very closely with AVScience stateside. They were pretty helpful and very easy to call and communicate with. A+ there really. Prices for in stock items I believe to be very competitive but probably not quite on par with a warehouse style wholesaler, I figure your paying a small premium for the good warranty support and excellent manufacturer relationship. I also figure that if pressed they would probably price match projectorpeople.com or visualapex.com as they are also both authorized resellers.

Almost immediately after I had bought my projector in the first 10 hours of running the lamp; the projector would shut down with a flashing bulb error message. I called them and they said it was most likely due to the lamp throwing out a parameter that was not within tolerances. This was possibly due to the first few hours of the lamp breaking in. I turned the fan to high mode for some time and since then have not had a problem. If the problem persisted they were going to send me a new lamp as that would fall under the lamp warranty. Apparently the machine must monitor voltages and temps to do this, and this was why I was leary of anything other than a true OEM JVC lamp and housing (but I know mine was straight from the factory in Japan and it did that lamp issue anwyay so who knows... maybe "OEM replacement" is just fine and its all the same factory and dumb luck for me). I guess where I'm going here is "bulb warranty" dude. Yeah important for the first 20 hours, as that is when the issues are going to come up.

I am probably coming up on 500 hours or so. I'm gone alot with the airlines so I don't get to play with it as much as I would hope.

Good luck, let us know where you go, and how the change out and break in goes on the new one. Oh, and you may want to search the AVS forum or this place as well about cleaning inside the machine while you have the lamp removed.

[Waboman]

Originally Posted by Flatnate

Hey Wabo, I'm often on the AVS forums which they sponsor and are the sister company too as well. They had a sticky thread posted asking people to private message them for pricing on A stock JVC closeout projectors a few months after the RS25/RS35 was introduced. I messaged them and picked up the now discontinued RS20 for $3K! The projector took a solid week to arrive and I was told it was held up in customs from the shipment from Japan, so I know JVC must work very closely with AVScience stateside. They were pretty helpful and very easy to call and communicate with. A+ there really. Prices for in stock items I believe to be very competitive but probably not quite on par with a warehouse style wholesaler, I figure your paying a small premium for the good warranty support and excellent manufacturer relationship. I also figure that if pressed they would probably price match projectorpeople.com or visualapex.com as they are also both authorized resellers.

Almost immediately after I had bought my projector in the first 10 hours of running the lamp; the projector would shut down with a flashing bulb error message. I called them and they said it was most likely due to the lamp throwing out a parameter that was not within tolerances. This was possibly due to the first few hours of the lamp breaking in. I turned the fan to high mode for some time and since then have not had a problem. If the problem persisted they were going to send me a new lamp as that would fall under the lamp warranty. Apparently the machine must monitor voltages and temps to do this, and this was why I was leary of anything other than a true OEM JVC lamp and housing (but I know mine was straight from the factory in Japan and it did that lamp issue anwyay so who knows... maybe "OEM replacement" is just fine and its all the same factory and dumb luck for me). I guess where I'm going here is "bulb warranty" dude. Yeah important for the first 20 hours, as that is when the issues are going to come up.

I am probably coming up on 500 hours or so. I'm gone alot with the airlines so I don't get to play with it as much as I would hope.

Good luck, let us know where you go, and how the change out and break in goes on the new one. Oh, and you may want to search the AVS forum or this place as well about cleaning inside the machine while you have the lamp removed.

Hey Nate.

Nice score on the RS20! That's great to hear their customer service is top notch. I still haven't bought a new lamp yet. When you have time can you PM me with your salesperson or someone you recommend over at AVscience? I've read the thread about how to clean your "prism" and I've cleaned it once so far in over 2300 hrs. I know, I need to do it more often. When I replace the lamp, I will give both the "prism" and filter a thorough cleaning.

Only 500 hours on your lamp? That's not right. We gotta increase your movie watching allotment. Do you work for Delta? I sure could use a couple vouchers to Hawaii.

[Flatnate]

Hey Wabo,

Yeah Mesaba, not Delta unfortunately for me. I could finally get that anamorphic lens and curved scope screen I've been fawning over if I worked for the big boys. Too bad we don't still get buddy passes to give away, although flying standby to Hawaii is next to impossible these days. I would have hooked you as a trade on a good McIntosh Martin Logan demo. Not to mention those Fathoms dude... nom nom nom.

I'll drop you a PM here with the rest.

[tilallr1]

In the process myself, for the JVC RS2 (Lamp: BHL-5009-S) and saw this website:

http://www.projectorlampsource.com/
http://www.projectorlampsource.ca/

Which seems to have pretty cheap pricing, claims to be OEM, 150 Day Warranty, and located in Canada. Anyone ever deal with them?

Their warehouse is located in Mississauga, ON in Canada, and they allow local pickup. So I could go and get it as well, and double check by taking my original with me.

[srinivas1015]

I'm looking for a website that ships internationally. I'm in India.

[pmac]

I have bought off an eBay retailer 2 bulbs once (the only time I have bought bulbs) for my Optoma projector, and am on the second one now, they were knock offs not OEM, but they worked just fine and fit perfectly. I bought just the bulb not the housing like some sellers have, as my bulbs take about 3 IQ points to change one in my projectors case. The first one lasted a bit longer than the recommended 2000 hours I think we got about 2500 hrs before it would shut off periodically on it's own. We soon realized it was the bulb needing replacement. I don't know how many hours we have on this one but it's time to start looking again for another couple.

[Waboman]

Originally Posted by Flatnate

Hey Wabo,

Yeah Mesaba, not Delta unfortunately for me. I could finally get that anamorphic lens and curved scope screen I've been fawning over if I worked for the big boys. Too bad we don't still get buddy passes to give away, although flying standby to Hawaii is next to impossible these days. I would have hooked you as a trade on a good McIntosh Martin Logan demo. Not to mention those Fathoms dude... nom nom nom.

I'll drop you a PM here with the rest.

Hey Nate.

PM received. Muchas gracias.

Lol. Yeah, an anamorphic lens and curved screen would be nice. But it's not in the cards, for me. I know you would have hooked an A/V brotha up.

[Waboman]

Originally Posted by tilallr1

In the process myself, for the JVC RS2 (Lamp: BHL-5009-S) and saw this website:

http://www.projectorlampsource.com/
http://www.projectorlampsource.ca/

Which seems to have pretty cheap pricing, claims to be OEM, 150 Day Warranty, and located in Canada. Anyone ever deal with them?

Their warehouse is located in Mississauga, ON in Canada, and they allow local pickup. So I could go and get it as well, and double check by taking my original with me.

Thanks for the links, tilallr. Unfortunately, they don't stock my lamp (BHL-5010-S). Let us know if you buy from them and how it goes.

[Waboman]

Originally Posted by srinivas1015

I'm looking for a website that ships internationally. I'm in India.

Not sure if this helps or not, but My Projector Lamps has an European office.

[Waboman]

Originally Posted by pmac

I have bought off an eBay retailer 2 bulbs once (the only time I have bought bulbs) for my Optoma projector, and am on the second one now, they were knock offs not OEM, but they worked just fine and fit perfectly. I bought just the bulb not the housing like some sellers have, as my bulbs take about 3 IQ points to change one in my projectors case. The first one lasted a bit longer than the recommended 2000 hours I think we got about 2500 hrs before it would shut off periodically on it's own. We soon realized it was the bulb needing replacement. I don't know how many hours we have on this one but it's time to start looking again for another couple.

I may start looking at eBay. I was really hoping to get an OEM bulb for less than $399. I'm over 2300 hrs on my current bulb. I wonder how much more life it has to give? With football right around the corner, I'd sure hate to be bulbless.

[tilallr1]

Originally Posted by Roy_Batty

A good website to check is apexlamps.com, they have great selection and
reasonable prices. Good luck

Has anyone bought from these guys? Their pricing is really good.

[MovieFanatic2010]

Originally Posted by Waboman

I may start looking at eBay. I was really hoping to get an OEM bulb for less than $399. I'm over 2300 hrs on my current bulb. I wonder how much more life it has to give? With football right around the corner, I'd sure hate to be bulbless.

I am at about 1000 hrs and i am already getting panicky about my bulb dying on me I hope i can get 2300 hrs like you have..........I am dreading the day i see that evil red light on my projector go on