Panasonic AE900u problem... looking for recommendations, stat :)

[Rahdo]

Hello. Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give me, as I'm under kind of a time crunch. I live in the UK, and am getting on a plane to make a trip to the States tomorrow, and I'll be there (in New York) for a week. I figure this might be the time to finally replace my ailing Panny, but I've got almost no time for proper research.

Enough preamble: my situation is that my ae900u has been making a loud grinding noise for months now. Really loud. WHen I turn it on, it happens, and if I turn it off and let the fan go into cooldown mode, it'll eventually stop, but this is becoming a less reliable solution over time. It's gotten to the point that every time I want to watch a movie now, I have to go through a 5 to 10 minute dance of 1) start and hear grinding 2) turn off and wait for cool down. 3) start and fingers crossed no grinding... curses, grinding. 4) go to step 2 over and over until I eventually get lucky.

I'm not technically saavy at all, so I don't know if this is something I can fix, or if it would need to be taken to a repair place. I'm also not sure if it's worth getting repaired, or if I should just upgrade.

So, if the recommendation is to get it repaired, any suggestions about how to go about this? It's well well out of warranty of course.

If, otoh, the recommendation is to just get a new one, well, that's where my time crunch comes in. If I'm going to get a replacement projector, I'd like to do it while I'm in the states, to save literally hundreds of pounds, but with limited time, I have no idea which one to get. I haven't done any research in years. I guess here's my situation, in case anyone has any recommendations:

• hope to pay under $1000

• only to be used for 720p and/or 1080p movies, in a totally darkened room

• low fan noise is hugely important to us

• same basic throw distance as the ae900u, I suppose

• we're not rainbow sensitive

• don't have to worry much about lens shift

• I'll have to order it today or tomorrow at the latest, fed ex, so it can get to my hotel by thursday or friday before I get on return flight

So if the consensus is that I should replace, any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Also, what should I do with the ae900u if I do replace it? is there a market for parts? replacement lenses? it needs a new bulb anyway so there's no value there. Again, suggestions most most most heartily appreciated!

Sorry for the wall of text, and again, thanks in advance for any help you can give!

 

[TLS Guy]

Hello. Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give me, as I'm under kind of a time crunch. I live in the UK, and am getting on a plane to make a trip to the States tomorrow, and I'll be there (in New York) for a week. I figure this might be the time to finally replace my ailing Panny, but I've got almost no time for proper research.

Enough preamble: my situation is that my ae900u has been making a loud grinding noise for months now. Really loud. WHen I turn it on, it happens, and if I turn it off and let the fan go into cooldown mode, it'll eventually stop, but this is becoming a less reliable solution over time. It's gotten to the point that every time I want to watch a movie now, I have to go through a 5 to 10 minute dance of 1) start and hear grinding 2) turn off and wait for cool down. 3) start and fingers crossed no grinding... curses, grinding. 4) go to step 2 over and over until I eventually get lucky.

I'm not technically saavy at all, so I don't know if this is something I can fix, or if it would need to be taken to a repair place. I'm also not sure if it's worth getting repaired, or if I should just upgrade.

So, if the recommendation is to get it repaired, any suggestions about how to go about this? It's well well out of warranty of course.

If, otoh, the recommendation is to just get a new one, well, that's where my time crunch comes in. If I'm going to get a replacement projector, I'd like to do it while I'm in the states, to save literally hundreds of pounds, but with limited time, I have no idea which one to get. I haven't done any research in years. I guess here's my situation, in case anyone has any recommendations:

• hope to pay under $1000

• only to be used for 720p and/or 1080p movies, in a totally darkened room

• low fan noise is hugely important to us

• same basic throw distance as the ae900u, I suppose

• we're not rainbow sensitive

• don't have to worry much about lens shift

• I'll have to order it today or tomorrow at the latest, fed ex, so it can get to my hotel by thursday or friday before I get on return flight

So if the consensus is that I should replace, any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Also, what should I do with the ae900u if I do replace it? is there a market for parts? replacement lenses? it needs a new bulb anyway so there's no value there. Again, suggestions most most most heartily appreciated!

Sorry for the wall of text, and again, thanks in advance for any help you can give!

You can't use a projector sold in the US in the UK!

It sounds as if your TV needs a new fan, and pronto. That should be fairly easy and inexpensive.

 

[Rahdo]

You can't use a projector sold in the US in the UK!

It sounds as if your TV needs a new fan, and pronto. That should be fairly easy and inexpensive.

Yeah, I can provided it takes UK power, which almost all projectors do (as does my Panasonic, which I also bought in the states years ago). And after reading threads where people are talking about searching all over the place for fan replacements that will work (only for it not to fix the grinding it if they do find it), or dissembling connections to the motherboard to turn features off, I realized that this problem seemed beyond my simple caveman brain.

Hence my question about replacements recommendations vs repair shops...

 

[BMXTRIX]

I would try to repair it myself if it is out of warranty. The cost for any repair is likely to be $300-$500 and the only thing that CAN be grinding in that projector is the fan. It's the only thing that moves. The LCD panels don't, and nothing else does either that I'm aware of. So, you have a bad fan. That's like a sub $20 part. Just a bit of effort to take it apart and get a new fan installed. But, the way I would go.

If serious about a replaement, the Epson 8350 is the closest to the AE900 across the board and is a solid unit with good lens shift and zoom range with a solid image to go along with things.

 

[mozi121]

Projectors have some way of sensing the state of the fan and if it's bad the unit won't even try to power up (ignite the bulb or spin up the fan),
If you go for the replacement of lamp, then ther e isn't any better place than this, Projector Lamps.

Thanks
Moiz