JVC X3/X7/X9 Owners Thread - Part 2

Hope its fixed with the lamp, but it does sound identical to symptoms i had when my X3 psu fault occurred.
Regards,
Rob (making do with a pair of svs subs!)
 
Thanks guys - fingers crossed! If it's more than the bulb it doesn't seem economical to repair really. Might have to get another JVC - but the prices are very steep today!

I'll report back.
Cheers,
Rob.
(making do with a single Velodyne DD+15 sub!)
 
Well sadly, I can report that it was not the lamp. Despite reading the required (as far as I know) 380V from the ballast, there must be a faulty elsewhere in the power supply or somewhere else entirely in the projector.

So, will have to decide on professional repair or new projector...
 
sorry to hear Rob. i think you are looking at £500 all in or a little less, as i had the front IR fixed at the same time.
 
Thanks Rob. That's the price I expected - but only if it's the same fault as yours - it is still possible it is something else and it is for that reason, plus the fact that the project os 5 years old, I'm reluctant to bother with a repair and just sell it on for spares.

I think it might be a new projector for me. Trouble is, those new JVCs seem to have gone up in price a lot over the last few years. The main difficulty is getting the idea of such money being spent on a projector past my wife! The X3 was a very low hours demo unit for way less than the RRP!
 
Hi
Yesterday I was watching netflix and suddenly the screen went black. The Power and Warning LED was Red and the Lamp LED was flashing Orange. The X9 did not respond to any buttons and I decided to pull the plug. When plugging it back in, then the Power LED was back to Green - but when powering up the X9 then everything was back to previous state. The lens cover is stocked in open.
I do have a spare bulb for it, but I have a feeling that the bulb is not the reason for the problem - my fear goes more towards the Ballast Board. Have anyone encountered the same problem? Is there a risk in adding my new bulb, would be rather sad to destroy it.
Hoping that someone can give me some good advice, I still like my X9 and dont really have the budget for a new projector at the moment :-/
 
Without the knowledge to open it up and test the Ballast Board, the only way to check if it's faulty is to try your other lamp. If the Ballast has gone, it won't kill your new lamp, it just won't work. It does sound like the Ballast.
 
Thanks Gary :)
Last question in hear, before starting the repair process. Does anyone know where the cheapest place is for spare parts for JVC projectors in EU? I got a quote on 350€ for the ballast board (no installation, just the board) - but I have see it at 165$ on the other side of the ocean, so was wondering if there is a good place to shop spare parts in the EU.
 
It's not normally the sensor itself. It's usually a small chip capacitor on the sensor board. Some just fail, and a few were actually fitted the wrong way round. If you have a good competent local engineer, they can probably sort it, but if not, your best option is Sontec in Norwich. I guess they would probably charge their minimum fee, probably around £100, but of course you have carriage both ways, which can be expensive and a bit risky. JVC were covering the cost of the ones fitted the wrong way round for a few years, but I don't know if that's still the case.
 
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Thanks Gary. I spoke to Sontec today and I emailed requesting a costing for the repair.

Just a thought, is it possible to use something like and IR link or similar which can be placed at the front on the PJ to trigger the rear sensor ? That would save a load of aggro.

Gary, I think you set up my PJ as it was one of the very first X3's that came in for Sevenoaks in Poole just before Christmas (2010 I think). What ever you did was certainly awesome, the picture is superb as its been brilliant since it went in, with this being the first issue I've had, bar the duff lamp.
 
If you have an IR extender that uses a simple IR Receiver/Transmitter, that should work fine. The projectors use standard RC7 codes, so any extender should be able to handle them.
 
Hi,

Sorry to be bumping an old thread, but seems like I have a very similar problem. I have an X3 that has apparently had it's bulb + ballast changed (to X30 or less buggy versions anyhow?) by its previous owner. It currently clocks about 600-700 hours from what I recall (couldn't check last night - menu froze).

Anyhow, last night I suddently noticed some minor flickering. No biggie to start with. Went back 10 seconds in the film to check... Nope. Definitely not the source, flickering appeared in different scenes this time. Quickly got worse, about 1min later it became massive, even my girlfriend started wondering what was going on. I was worried the lamp might go. So, I was off to check the number of hours of use, and the menu was laggy like never before. The picture (film) carried on in the background, but menu unusable. In each menu a line (button / or whatever) took a good 10seconds to appear. Needless to say, useless. I quickly thought I'd try double tapping the power button. It work but took a long time to do so (who knows, 45 seconds maybe?). I have not tried the physical buttons on the projector itself.

I gave up for the evening and starting looking things up. Now, I do use a harmony remote. But seems unlikely that could explain it.

The big question is - have you ever found out what caused this? Expensive to change the parts?
How often did those problems occur?
Have you fixed this 100%?
And more importantly - if so, what was the fix? Did HDMI2 do the trick, as you later mentioned in another post?

That was the first time this ever happened, but needless to say I'm a bit worried about it...

Many thanks for your input.

Tony


Right all, sorry for resurrecting an old thread but I'm giving this one last shot before I throw the X3 out of the window and I march out and pick up the new Sony HSW40...........
My work arounds for my lock up/freezing issue now appear to randomly not work, so I'm trying one last time to suss out if its worth me sending my pj back to JVC for fixing. Here are my issues:

1. Random freezing at the black start up screen (the one where it says "D-iLA" in white letters). I use a programmd Logitech Harmony Ultra remote and about 75% of the time, it switches the equipment on in the following order - PJ, BD player, amp - and everything switches on fine. For the remaining 25% of the time, it freezes on the start up screen - I started turning off the pj after its cool down at the mains every time after use and this cured it or a time but recently, the lock ups have started again and its random as to why - sometimes, its after being turned off at the mains, sometimes it isnt, sometimes everything switches on ok when NOT being turned off at the main, other times it doesnt.

2. Again for about 10% of usage, the image produced by the pj flickers in brightness - its similar to the effect of a dynamic iris, but obviously this pj dosnt have one. Every time I get this brightness flicker, the pj stops responding to commands from either the logitech, its own remote or even the controls on the unit itself. I can try spamming the 3D button to kick it into high lamp mode to cure it, but its random if the pj will actually respond to the command or not. It wont even turn off - when the other kit is turned off, I'm left with the pj frozen at the screen shown below. When i DONT get this flickering issue, the remote works 100% of the time so dont think its the common IR sensor issue mentiond by a number on here.

I've followed countless threads on this and other forums and I'm left with a feeling that there's not a lot that can be done. GaryB above mentioned that it might be fixable, and if so, then I'd like to send this off to JVC if possible (obviously out of warranty as on 3rd bulb and over 3 years old, but happy to pay to be fixed). Its just that I've read too many examples of units getting shipped to JVC and coming back after being told there's nothing wrong......frustration point is getting reached as when it works this pj is amazing.

Thanks in advance all,

Mark
 
My JVC X3 has stopped working again. I had the Ballast board replaced back in 2015, it now looks to have the same problem again. Have JVC mentioned anything about these boards being unreliable? It doesn't take much browsing forums to see many owners with ballast board issues. I don't particularly want to pay hundreds of dollars again to replace the same part I only replaced a few years ago...
 
From the description, it should do the job.

Just to say that this IR extender worked perfectly, so immediate problem solved although having a duff board for the front IR is not great and I'd like to get it fixed. I was referred to Sontec Electronics by JVC for the repair. I'm pretty disappointed with how unresponsive Sontec were. It took two days to get a quote and that was just for an inspection cost for £55. I requested an estimate for the board cost as I've no idea if its likely to be £100 or £500. They didn't even bother to reply. Does anyone have experience of dealing with them ?
 
I was referred to Sontec Electronics by JVC for the repair. I'm pretty disappointed with how unresponsive Sontec were. It took two days to get a quote and that was just for an inspection cost for £55. I requested an estimate for the board cost as I've no idea if its likely to be £100 or £500. They didn't even bother to reply. Does anyone have experience of dealing with them ?

I took a dropped X3 to them for quote to repair at my insurers request; took close to a month to get a quote (and I was dropping off / collecting in person, so I know it wasn't delivery times). Ended up being a write-off as the repair was more than the cost of an x5000 - I kind of expected that, but they could have let me know sooner.
 
Sorry to resurrect and old thread, but I just changed the bulb in my JVC x3 and the difference is amazing!

I got the projector with about 760 hours on it and 3d was okay, but lots of ghosting. Gradually got worse and worse until it you couldn't see anything with the glasses on.

The bulb finally had 1030 hours on it and it was a 003 bulb - is this good? I replaced it with an official 004 bulb. Should I expect around 1000 hours again?
 
The bulb finally had 1030 hours on it and it was a 003 bulb - is this good? I replaced it with an official 004 bulb. Should I expect around 1000 hours again?

Sounds like par for the course. I think the only people who get much more than that on X3 / X30 chassis and lamp setup are prepared to put up with very dim images.

My last X30 rev 4 lamp (same as your new lamp) took a severe and noticeable two-step instant brightness fall at around 1000hrs; it recovered some of this over a few hours of high lamp use. Apparently the rest might be recoverable by running it in high lamp for a couple of days - I've kept it safe for when my current lamp goes and I might consider using it then.

My opinion is that running these lamps to the end of life probably increases the risk of you seeing a balast failure too (the balast does seem weak in these units) so it is probably to be avoided if you can.
 
i’ve just sold a lamp to a jvc owner which had done 2400hrs and it was still bright he says

a lot depends on how it’s used tbh
 
Sounds like par for the course. I think the only people who get much more than that on X3 / X30 chassis and lamp setup are prepared to put up with very dim images.

My last X30 rev 4 lamp (same as your new lamp) took a severe and noticeable two-step instant brightness fall at around 1000hrs; it recovered some of this over a few hours of high lamp use. Apparently the rest might be recoverable by running it in high lamp for a couple of days - I've kept it safe for when my current lamp goes and I might consider using it then.

My opinion is that running these lamps to the end of life probably increases the risk of you seeing a balast failure too (the balast does seem weak in these units) so it is probably to be avoided if you can.

I will remember those little tips, so thank you!

In another note, changing the bulb has totally transformed 3d viewing! There used to be a lot of crosstalk, but now, with the new bulb, it is amazing! As a result, I am now ploughing through my collection of 3ds movies and wishing I bought more!
 
i’ve just sold a lamp to a jvc owner which had done 2400hrs and it was still bright he says

a lot depends on how it’s used tbh

Will definitely be coming to you for a new bulb!
 
i’ve just sold a lamp to a jvc owner which had done 2400hrs and it was still bright he says

After going to see a couple of 4-6FtL used projectors that the owners assured me were plenty bright enough I've given up believing what most people say about brightness unless they can measure it. The lamp dimming issues are quite well discussed for these units, even with the newer lamp revisions. Still not a bad value proposition though.

In another note, changing the bulb has totally transformed 3d viewing! There used to be a lot of crosstalk, but now, with the new bulb, it is amazing! As a result, I am now ploughing through my collection of 3ds movies and wishing I bought more!

I'm pretty sure that from the brighter lamp the panels will be being heated up a bit more, which apparently improves their response time and hence reduces crosstalk.
 

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