How long a PJ is expected to live?

[mutley]

Hi,

Since my 21 month old HS10 got a prism block problem that looks like too expensive to repair, i'd like to see what do you think it's a reasonable period of life of a PJ...

Not talking about lamps or filters that we know that have a limit period of usage but the machine itself.

I've paid 3000£ for this 21 months ago and now will have to replace it? (first lamp, less than 600 hours on it - no smoking in the room, not even a candle, UPS)
It's too much of an expense for 2 years...

If PJ's don't last that much maybe i'll move to something else like a plasma, even if it's half the size...

What do you think about this?

[Maff et1]

Maybe it's more a problem with the HS10. Theres an AVS thread on it aswell isn't there? I don't know much about PJ's, but in looking on here and AVS to figure out what to buy (went cheap on an ET1 in the end) the only references to prism block failure I saw were HS10s, and about 5 of those. I'd presume the failure is stress (heat most likely) related as it always seem to grow from one point.

I take it you've checked the guarentee, as some places suggested these may have had 2 years, and what about home contents insurance?

[PJTX100]

I think this is a interesting question.

My expectation is that it won't last more than 5 years, if I get more than 5 years I'd be happy, if I get less than 3 years I'd be fairly unhappy.

To put this in perspective though, I rented a TV before the PJ and spent nearly as much renting for 2 years as I spent on the PJ.

...PJ

[mutley]

5 Years is still much less than the expected lasting period of a Plasma or LCD TV...

When we look at PJ's and think "it's cheaper and bigger" and think that the main problem will be the lamp and filters that have to be changed from time to time, it looks like it's not true...

I'm not talking about my particular situation, the question i made it's from PJ in general, we all know that HS10 has more problems than Microsoft Windows...

[Gary Lightfoot]

I had a Davis DLP for 3 years, an NEC HT1000 DLP for 2 years (still have it), and now an Optoma H77 DLP. I only had one warranty issue with the Davis but that was resolved without problems, and I assume it's still going strong with the current owner.

You may have just been unlucky with your particular pj, or maybe it's endemic to the model or technology, but I don't think that kind of failure is common.

I hope you have better luck with your next pj.

Gary.

[Timh]

I had a blue lamp on my Sony Rear projection set fail after 18 months.
I contacted Sony through thier site and complained about it failing prematurely and they ended up aggreeing to supply the parts free of charge
I only had to pay for labour.