HDTV bulb died

[glenn22]

I have a 62" Toshiba (yes I know) HDTV, the model is 62HM196.

Anyways, the bulb was going dim over the past week and finally last night it died altogether right in the middle of watching Ratatouille....

The TV is only about 6 months old... is it common for the bulbs to burn out so soon? or is this yet another example of Toshiba's shoddy products?

[BeLikeU]

Yep...can happen..my parents bought a Mitsu DLP and the bulb went out in well under a year...luckily they bought an extended warranty and it allows for two bulb replacements in 5 yearss time.

So no it's not Toshiba only problem...

[tron3]

Aside from bulb life, I think your TV just could not stand the awesome quality of Ratatouille on blu-ray and finally choked on the devastating bit rate.

Hey, it could happen.

[glenn22]

Originally Posted by tron3

Aside from bulb life, I think your TV just could not stand the awesome quality of Ratatouille on blu-ray and finally choked on the devastating bit rate.

Hey, it could happen.

Haha, I believe it. I was able to watch a bit of Ratatouille and some of the extras before it went, and man did it ever look fantastic.

[Brandon B]

My RPTV lamp went at 600 hours, the day after I left on a 2 month business trip. Fortunately, they made the thing user friendly enough that my wife had no trouble replacing it, so I am still married.

Seriously though, the lamps are not made by Toshiba or any other CE company, they are supplied mostly by Philips and Ushio. These used to be primarily used in front projectors. Then the digital RPTV market took off, and demand for the lamps skyrocketed. Manufacturing capacity has still not caught up, and I think the only way they have stayed anywhere near meeting demand was to slip QC standards.

We have seen some evidence that this is more true of replacement lamps than those that ship with new displays (for front projectors, which I install in my work).

Regardless, I wouldn't blame Toshiba, it is virtually out of their control,unless they want to get into the lamp manufacturing business (Panasonic is actually doing this).

This problem should go away as flat screens eat the RPTV market for lunch, and factory cpaacity increases.

BB

[glenn22]

Originally Posted by Brandon B

My RPTV lamp went at 600 hours, the day after I left on a 2 month business trip. Fortunately, they made the thing user friendly enough that my wife had no trouble replacing it, so I am still married.

Seriously though, the lamps are not made by Toshiba or any other CE company, they are supplied mostly by Philips and Ushio. These used to be primarily used in front projectors. Then the digital RPTV market took off, and demand for the lamps skyrocketed. Manufacturing capacity has still not caught up, and I think the only way they have stayed anywhere near meeting demand was to slip QC standards.

We have seen some evidence that this is more true of replacement lamps than those that ship with new displays (for front projectors, which I install in my work).

Regardless, I wouldn't blame Toshiba, it is virtually out of their control,unless they want to get into the lamp manufacturing business (Panasonic is actually doing this).

This problem should go away as flat screens eat the RPTV market for lunch, and factory cpaacity increases.

BB

When looking at TVs I heard about lamp replacement and I guess it got played down a bit. I obviously didn't think I would need to replace the lamp after only 6 months.... It's not really even on THAT much, I'd say less than 600 hours total.

[glenn22]

Originally Posted by BeLikeU

Yep...can happen..my parents bought a Mitsu DLP and the bulb went out in well under a year...luckily they bought an extended warranty and it allows for two bulb replacements in 5 yearss time.

So no it's not Toshiba only problem...

Well that's reassuring at least. I do have the extended warranty plan also from Best Buy, so I should be fine for free replacement, I just thought this was rather soon for it to die.