Question JVC DLA X30 Wired Lamp Shutdown

[Zenist]

I have a wired situation for my JVC DLA X30. It was brought in 2012 and never replaced bulb (still the original bulb). The bulb is at 1400h, about half of its claimed life (3000h).

Recently my DLA X30 projector stopped projecting while I am playing Blu-Ray using my PS3. The symptom is that it will shut lamp down after a few min with Lamp indicator (orange) flashing twice, Warning indicator (Red) flashing once, and Standby indicator (Red) stay on.After a while the Warning indicator stay on, and lamp indicator continue flashing twice.

You can repeat this cycle by shut it down, and turn on again, playing blu-ray for 2 min, lamp shutdown. For this two min of playing, the quality of picture seems normal, no sign of that lamp is dying.

You may suspect it is problem of lamp life. However I can use the same PS3 to play 1080P video game, playing Netlfix or youtube video which is also 1080P. I can use Chromecast to play netflix, google movie for 1080P, There is no problem at all for my projector to work for hours. And the quality of picture seems no difference from before.

Only if I switch to play blu-ray, the lamp will shut down as I described before.

I am thinking, does blu-ray required more power comsuption because of its high quality picture, somehow that triggered a lamp or circuit protector which shut down the lamp? Or it is actually the lamp is dying.

Have any of you ever experienced that?

 

[Zenist]

I am updating my troubleshooting result.
Consulting with JVC technician with no progress. They replied really fast and very polite. But they suspect it is the setting of some frame rate, which I never changed since I started to use my PS3 and projector. I can understand they cannot trouble shoot without test it or check the log. So they suggest me to send for service. Their local subcontractor seems not have a good customer service reputation online. It is not worth for all the driving and labor without knowing if it can be fixed. The machine is 6 years old and out of warranty. Why not trying fix it yourself for fun and experience.

After reading some similar problem online, I highly suspect it is the lamp's problem. Although the picture of playing netflix, google video and 1080p game are perfectly fine as usual, and the life of my lamp is just 1400h, less than half of its expected hours (I am always using it as normal power and setting, never overkilled it). But I see a lot of online case that their bulb are not working for even 1/3 of their life. After they changed lamp, weired problem solved.

Of course I don't want to risk $400+ to get a Genuine Lamp. If it is not the problem of the lamp, I am screwed. I found an same part number of non-geniune lamp from amazon for just $60. The review said its quality are not good and some example are just lasting one month. Well, more importantly, I want to trouble shoot my problem and one month is acceptable (considering if you sent to service and the labor that will charge you). If I get a lucky lamp and it last longer, I won.

So I ordered it anyway and replaced the original one with this. Guess what, mysterial problem solved. It played everything including blu-ray perfectly. So it is the problem of my original lamp which is dying gradually. Why it cannot play blu-ray but can play netflix, my best guess, the blu-ray required much higher data rate and lamp power to display (better picture quality). An old lamp simply cannot handle it and shut itself down to protect it (for example, overheat when playing blu-ray for a few min). How is this protective machnism is working, I am not sure. Maybe someone who know project system better can help explain it.

Now I am just watching the life of this new lamp. Based on its price ratio to the Genuine Lamp and the life I have experienced for genuine lamp, it is fair if it can last for 1 year for around 200h. Anything more than that is a winning for this product. Even it is dead, I have no worry to buy just a genuine lamp. Actually, these days I seldomly watched blu-ray, most of time using online stream, so I can still use my old original lamp (maybe for another 1600h). I just feel unconfortable without knowing why I cannot play blu-ray anymore. Now I am settled.

Overall conclusion, for your projector trouble shooting, first thing to consider is alway the lamp, the most vulnerable part in any projector.

By the way, this forum is so hard to use. I cannot find the thread I posted in my own profile and I cannot update it after I posted (some kind of warning said it is a fraud).