I have an almost 3-year old Mitsubishi 62" DLP (WD-62525). The lamp it came with gave me its first yellow warning a couple of months ago (probably within normal specs considering usage). Maybe this was a huge mistake, but instead of ordering direct from Mitsubishi I ordered from a place called DLP Lamp Source (www.dlplampsource.com). It seemed reputable enough. Price was about 20% cheaper, plus free 2-day shipping (Mitsu's site said the order processing alone could take a week). Unlike ordering from the manufacturer, they just send the lamp (not the housing), along with simple instructions to swap it into the current metal housing.

Seemed simple enough, but now after a couple of months my tv wouldn't even turn on, giving me a solid red light for "Lamp". No warning or anything ... one night all is fine, the next completely dead. Of course it happens on a Friday, so I'm stuck the weekend with no tv (a tough transition when you're used to a 62" HDTV).

The lamp is still under warrantee (still waiting to hear back from them about a return though) but it's a hassle. Has anyone had similar problems with lamp replacements? Maybe it was a mistake going the cheaper/faster route? Or maybe I'm just having normal bad luck? I guess I could've done something stupid when doing the install, but it worked fine for a few months and seemed easy enough at the time.

Did you tell the TV that you had changed the lamp? On my Sony, there is a spot buried in the setup menus where you basically reset the TVs brain to tell it there is a new bulb, thus restarting the clock. I don't know if Mitsubishis work that way or not.

So, it's just the bulb part? You really should just get a new lamp, which means the whole assembly. Unless the Mits RPTVs are different from other lamps I've seen.

Part of the wiring in the housing could be old and dying, too. Not just the bulb itself.

I've been wondering if anyone had any experience with these bulb-only replacements. Foy my Sony SXRD, the bulb is made by the same manufacturer, but the difference is $140 for the bulb only, versus $200-$250 for the entire unit.

Yeah, it's just the bulb only - the specs for the bulb I got from dlplampsource are exactly the same as if I got it from the manufacturer. Just no housing. But it was pretty simple to install. I had to cut through in a couple of places a cardboard grid around the old bulb (to get to it). Unloose a couple of screws and its out, and the new one went right into place. Screw it in, secure the cardboard, plug it back into the tv, tell the tv I installed a new bulb. All went well, and continued going well for nearly 5 months. Until the early failure.

Oh well ... I'm returning the bulb for a replacement (it'll be another bulb-only, because that's what I paid for in the first place). So another week without my tv, which sucks big time. I guess I should be thankful its not (HD) football season yet. Just wondering if anyone else had experiences with this kind of thing. I supposed failures can happen, though next time I think I'll just pay the extra money and get the bulb + housing from the manufacturer. In retrospect, it seems silly to scrimp over < $100 savings when dealing with a multi-thousand dollar HDTV.

No one probably cares, but an update

FINALLY got the replacement bulb. Installed it again. Still doesn't work Exact same red light lamp error. So I'm biting the bullet (and the wasted $) and just ordering the replacement from Mitsubishi. The tv is under a 5-year warrantee, so if something really is wrong with it I'm covered. But I don't want the service guy coming, seeing what I did to the bulb (using a 3rd party vendor), and claiming I violated the terms of the warrantee (which technically speaking, I suppose I did). So my story will be the "official" bulb I get from the manufacturer will be the only one I ever ordered.

Lesson learned ... I'm never messing with 3rd party stuff for my HDTV.

Keep us updated. A lot of us are going to have to go through bulb replacements at some point, and I for one would like to know what the best options are.

Yes, I am dreading the eventual need to replace the bulb in my 5 year old Sanyo PLV-60 front projector. I paid over $4,000 for it back in 2002 and I don't know if I can justify another $500 when I see whole projectors costing close to that now.

Final bump!

My HDTV is finally up and running after more than a month of down-time. It turned out that one of the fuses (a little $1 part) blew on the circuit that is responsible for lighting the lamp. Of course, the first time the serviceman came to my house he didn't have the replacement part with him. So it was another 2 weeks waiting for the part, and to find another time in his schedule.

Makes me really glad I got the extended (5-year) warrantee. Though the part was cheap, the labor alone (I would've been billed for his travel time) would've been at least a couple hundred dollars. Chatting with the guy, who services a number of brands, he said these kind of failures aren't uncommon. Sometimes it can be a cheap nothing-part, or it can be something that runs in the hundreds of dollars. Even for the cheap parts, these suckers are so huge that in-home visits are the only possibility for many (which means lots of extra labor charges).

Should have listen to your post. Just purchased a lamp XL-2200 for my sony lcd projection tv. This business is a fruad!!! I received my shipment to find out it was a made in China generic. You can actually notice the picture quality! Be warned...do what you want. But I would pay 30 bucks more to buy it from Sony! Feeling like a idot right now...should have known when I realized they were not an authorized sony dealer. {dlplampsource.com} is a fruad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I actually ordered my bulb for my FP from Amazon of all places. About $30 less then from Optoma. Well when I got it, my PJ would not turn on. So I sent my PJ to Optoma (just barely still in the 2 year warranty) and sent the bulb back to Amazon. I was afraid it was a bad bulb as I had no way to trouble shoot. Return to amazon was quick and painless.

Turns out the blower motor went out pj. The repaired for free. So re-ordered bulb from amazon. All should be there when I get home on Tuesday.

I would have paid a few $$ for bulb from Optoma when I had PJ fixed. But they wanted $100 to install it! Which pissed me off....so I went with Amazon again...

Nobody mentioned this, so I will............
Remember, don't touch the bulb with your bare fingers. The oil they leave on the bulb will cause a hot spot and shorten the life of it.

Hello:

My name is Dan Buchbinder and I am the President of DLP Lamp Source. I wanted to respond to this post - we do not, and never have, sold generic replacement lamps for Sony. The lamps we sell are Osram, which along with Philips, are the two OEM providers of lamps for Sony. Sony does not make their own lamps - they buy/bought from those two manufacturers only. Currently, both Philips and Osram do assemble their lamps in China, but it is from components made in Germany and the Netherlands, respectively.

I invite the poster of this post as well as any others who have questions regarding our legitimacy to please contact us at 866-764-5822 and we would be happy to assist and clarify any other questions about replacement lamps in general.

There is a lot of misinformation out there - please beware. Claims that Osram is better than Philips or vice versa are simply untrue. Compatbile lamps (those made by companies other than Osram and Philips) due tend to have reliabilty issues. Again, we do not sell these.

Thank you for your time.

Regards

Dan
DLP Lamp Source

Ordered a replacement lamp for my Sony TV. The lamp failed to work. After contacting DLP LampSource they refused to send me a replacement and insisted that it was a Balast issue and that I have a Sony tech come out to troubleshoot the problem. Before I did this I asked them to send me a new lamp, JUST TO BE SURE that the lamp was not the problem... they refused.
Needless to say that when an AUTHORIZED Sony tech came out and installed a "FACTORY" lamp it worked perfectly and of course the Balast on my TV was not a problem.
Although they agreed to give me a refund on the lamp they refuse to compensate me on the over $100 additional expense for an original lamp and a factory rep as they recommended.. Hard to believe I know..
Don’t waste your money.. get a Factory Lamp!

The customer was initially offered a replacement lamp - he declined and opted to call a technician. He then requested that we offer him compensation or else he would post negative comments online. The customer was given a complete refund. At the DLP Lamp Source we only offer 100% factory original parts and the highest level of knowledgable and friendly customer support available.