soundman2

My Hitachi 50 inch HDTV LCD rear projection - LAMP finally gave out. The red lamp light in on, plus now that I recall - the picture had been dull for last few weeks. Well it lasted good 7 years.

I have looked at lamps - the original ( made by Philips ) cost about $100, while those made by others cost about $50.

Does any one have any experience with this. I was thinking of just going with original one - or can I trust the cheaper ones. I want to get 2 to 3 years out of this set - since there is nothing out there in new TVs that I really want. Hopefully by then I can decide - about 3D/backlight LED/ Plasma/OLED something else etc.

I do have a 42 inch Panny plasma as my backup TV.

Thanks for your help

E Unit

I had a Sony 52" 1080i for several years, finally gave it to my parents when I upgraded a few years ago. With my luck, the bulb died a few weeks after they got it. I went ahead and got the manufacturer bulb since the cheaper option was only $20 difference. But after I installed it, it blew out about a day after. I called Sony and actually got a replacement for it. So while it may be a little more expensive, it may pay off should anything happen with replacing the bulb.

Spiky

Original. Some of the problems I have had with knockoffs for projectors:
Slow warmup (like 10+ minutes instead of 1)
Poor lifespan
Poor color
Flickering

I didn't trust advice from others and tried the crap lamps once. Never again. Don't be like me. Learn the easy way. If it was just the poor lifespan, it might be ok. Half the price for half the time. But it was much worse for me.

slappypete

I replaced the bulb on my Mitsubishi HDTV a little over a year ago. After reading a lot about the different options I went with the original Phillips bulb with the new casing so I wouldn't have to touch the bulb at all. it came with a 1 year warranty instead of 60 days for off brands, which was the deciding factor.

I can't speak to the quality of cheaper options, but the picture quality of the new bulb made me realize that what I thought was a good picture before replacement had obviously greatly deteriorated, so I was very happy with he change and haven't had any problems since.

soundman2

Thanks for the suggestions - I will go for the original lamp