Light tunnel problems

[Ulvinn]

My current PJ has reached the age where the light bulb doesn't cut it anymore. I'm thinking about finding a new PJ instead of replacing it, would be good to move up to either 720 or 1080. I've had a few infocus PJ's during the last 6 years, all of them have had a common problem, the light tunnel has collapsed after roughly 6-700 hours use. I even had one where the colour wheel shattered after only a couple of hundred hours.

Is this a common problem with DLP's? If any of you could give some recommendations to medium-priced PJ's with good quality build, please toss off a comment.

 

[BMXTRIX]

It is not typical for this to happen, but the LCD displays don't have this issue. So, the Panasonic AE4000 and Epson 8100 and 8500UB models won't have this issue and range from under $1,500 to $2,300 with quality matching price.

 

[Ulvinn]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've had a look at some of the Epson PJ's, and they do look like something that could hit the magic spot on the pricerange I'm looking for.

Could be that I've just been extremely unlucky. Temperature around the PJ is quite cold, so I can't pinpoint why it happens. What I did spot on one of the older PJ's i've had is that the glue on the light tunnel had turned into a hard crystalized mass, so they've either been using something a bit too cheap, or I have some sort of severe overheating going on that I haven't been able to spot.

 

[BMXTRIX]

If you have good airflow around the projector with no blocked vents or anything, then you really shouldn't have an issue. InFocus, I believe, has the light tunnel issues that I read about all the time, and I would expect that they may have a solution to this issue in place by now, but I can't tell you for sure. If Sheridan comes on here, he may have better information about what DLPs won't have this issue.

Color wheels are a continued issue that I hear about at least as often as I hear about LCD polarizers going bad. The newer, better LCDs use inorganic panels which help to eliminate yellowing issues. The 8500UB and AE4000 both use inorganic LCD panels.

Lots of options out there for sure, most of them are pretty darn good.

 

[jostenmeat]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've had a look at some of the Epson PJ's, and they do look like something that could hit the magic spot on the pricerange I'm looking for.

Another great thing about Epson is the decent warranty, at least here in the US. 2 year limited, 2-day home shipping, covering many things including dust blobs.

Myself, I added a 6 yr warranty that includes two free bulbs, for only about $260, if that, (from Mack/AVS powerbuy) and that's for a JVC.

If Sheridan comes on here, he may have better information about what DLPs won't have this issue.

I looked him up, and saw that he blames you for even having been on here. Who is he?

 

[BMXTRIX]

I looked him up, and saw that he blames you for even having been on here. Who is he?

I moderate over at the Proejctor Central forums (very slow forums) and when people have audio questions I generally send them here for more depth to the answers. He is very much a projector guy with technical work experience in projector repair and access to deep knowledge and actual parts when it comes to projectors and their repairs. I've gotta dig up an email from him to remind myself specifically what he does, but he can get color wheels and light tunnels as available which means he's got some real service background and access. It also means he knows what products he sees fail all the time.

He's been phenomenally helpful when people have had service/tech questions over at Projector Central's forums which have been outside of my scope, or have furthered my beliefs on issues and problems people have run into.

It always seems like the people who are projector repair technicians never make it into forums like these to give normal people real answers, and that bugs me. I'm just an engineer for an A/V company who really likes projectors, so I don't get to experience the daily reality of projector failures or get into the guts to really see how they work. Nice when someone with experience joins these types of forums and then actively participates.

Sheridan is over a the PC forums daily typically, but I think he only comes here once every few days as this specific section holds the most interest for him, but is kind of slow.