Two Questions about Projectors Bulbs - Blu-ray Forum

lv426 · 07-04-2008, 11:26 AM

Q1. in regard to bulb life, if its rated for 2000 hours, is that like based on full brightness to half brightness (ie how they rate plasma TVs).

Q2. What if you get a new bulb and after 100 hours it packs in, due to price of the bulbs, what sort of guarantee do you get.

Cheers.

AlaskaDon · 07-04-2008, 06:52 PM

There are many factors that go into determining how long a bulb will last. In general, a bulb will lose half of it's brightness after approx. 1000 hours of use. That doesn't mean necessarily that it should be replaced after 1000 hours. It will depend on the specifics of the installation. You could possibly get away with switching back to full power mode when you notice any dimming. Where it becomes most problematic is in situation where you have a lot of ambient light and need to squeeze out all the lumens that you can. Note that bulb/projector manufacturers never give any details on how they arrived at their estimated bulb life. It's just too variable.

How you use the projector has a huge effect on how long the bulb lasts. For example, lets say that I sit down and watch 3 movies today, one right after the other, and I put about 6 continuous hours on my bulb. Then the next day I watch another 3 movies but I watch them all at different times throughout the day. I put another 6 hours on the bulb. In the second scenario I've actually put more wear and tear on the bulb as I had to warm it up 3 different times and also cool it down 3 different times. You'll get more bulb life keeping this in mind and trying to limit the number of times that you cycle the projector off and on.

As to your second question, I don't have any experience with bulbs failing in that short of a time period, but would guess that any reputable dealer would take care of the problem if that happened.

lv426 · 07-05-2008, 01:32 PM

Cheers for the info, its interesting about the scenario you described, I probably would have done the second scenario, watch one film, wait 30mins or 1hr then watch the other.

jomari · 07-08-2008, 03:42 AM

excellent response from alaskadon.

remember, its not the turning off and on that damages your bulb, its the amount of time before you turn it back on again that greatly decreases its lifespan.

i wouldve done the former, and just watch 3 movies straight up, instead of turning it on and off constantly within the day.

i would also suggest to use the 'economode' feature it would have, and calibrate it based on those settings. that greatly increases the bulb life and of course the amount of time to enjoy watching bigger than 42 inches.

Seiko1 · 07-09-2008, 12:34 PM

The BenQ PE7700 had problems when first released ( I have one)
The firmware didn't allow adequate cooling (revs) particularly at shutoff and Lamps (globes) were lasting around 100-500 hr's.
There was such a furor that they upgraded the firmware and replaced all the short life Lamp's for free.
I'm at 1350hr's now and counting (upward I hope)

07-04-2008, 11:26 AM	#1
lv426 Member Member since:May 2008 Location:UK 4K collection:18 Blu-ray collection:89 DVD collection:17	Two Questions about Projectors Bulbs Q1. in regard to bulb life, if its rated for 2000 hours, is that like based on full brightness to half brightness (ie how they rate plasma TVs). Q2. What if you get a new bulb and after 100 hours it packs in, due to price of the bulbs, what sort of guarantee do you get. Cheers.

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07-04-2008, 06:52 PM	#2
AlaskaDon Special Member Member since:Jan 2007 Location:Tennessee Blu-ray collection:-	There are many factors that go into determining how long a bulb will last. In general, a bulb will lose half of it's brightness after approx. 1000 hours of use. That doesn't mean necessarily that it should be replaced after 1000 hours. It will depend on the specifics of the installation. You could possibly get away with switching back to full power mode when you notice any dimming. Where it becomes most problematic is in situation where you have a lot of ambient light and need to squeeze out all the lumens that you can. Note that bulb/projector manufacturers never give any details on how they arrived at their estimated bulb life. It's just too variable. How you use the projector has a huge effect on how long the bulb lasts. For example, lets say that I sit down and watch 3 movies today, one right after the other, and I put about 6 continuous hours on my bulb. Then the next day I watch another 3 movies but I watch them all at different times throughout the day. I put another 6 hours on the bulb. In the second scenario I've actually put more wear and tear on the bulb as I had to warm it up 3 different times and also cool it down 3 different times. You'll get more bulb life keeping this in mind and trying to limit the number of times that you cycle the projector off and on. As to your second question, I don't have any experience with bulbs failing in that short of a time period, but would guess that any reputable dealer would take care of the problem if that happened.

07-05-2008, 01:32 PM	#3
lv426 Member Member since:May 2008 Location:UK 4K collection:18 Blu-ray collection:89 DVD collection:17	Cheers for the info, its interesting about the scenario you described, I probably would have done the second scenario, watch one film, wait 30mins or 1hr then watch the other.

07-08-2008, 03:42 AM	#4
jomari Moderator Top contributor Member since:Nov 2007 Home Theater Gallery:18 Blu-ray reviews: 2 Trading Score:2	excellent response from alaskadon. remember, its not the turning off and on that damages your bulb, its the amount of time before you turn it back on again that greatly decreases its lifespan. i wouldve done the former, and just watch 3 movies straight up, instead of turning it on and off constantly within the day. i would also suggest to use the 'economode' feature it would have, and calibrate it based on those settings. that greatly increases the bulb life and of course the amount of time to enjoy watching bigger than 42 inches.

07-09-2008, 12:34 PM	#5
Seiko1 Active Member Top contributor Member since:Jun 2008 Location:Craigieburn,Vic Australia Blu-ray reviews:4	The BenQ PE7700 had problems when first released ( I have one) The firmware didn't allow adequate cooling (revs) particularly at shutoff and Lamps (globes) were lasting around 100-500 hr's. There was such a furor that they upgraded the firmware and replaced all the short life Lamp's for free. I'm at 1350hr's now and counting (upward I hope)

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