Legal Bill

My Sony Bravia SXRD Projection Screen TV needs a new lamp. To replace or repair, that is the question. I decided to repair. Paid $88 for an OEM lamp shipped. Says it will take two days to arrive. It looks pretty easy to install. I know the new TVs have better pictures, but when I'm watching it in my house with nothing to compare it with, it looks great to me. Plus getting rid of this thing would be a real pain. So the big question is, will this fix it? Everything I read says yes, but with my luck I'll find out something else is blown. We will see....

S2KRAY

Go with the tube. If you like the TV who cares. I just replaced my 22 year old Sony. It died, good reason I suppose. Took it to the recycling dump and almost got a hernia. It weighed 240 Lbs. Picked up (pun) a Samsung flat screen HD smart TV that weighed about 8 lbs. Still trying to figure it out.

dlq04

I had a big Sony the wife use to watch in the basement while sewing. I was pulling my hair out trying to figure out how to get it out of the house. Thank goodness they do not make them like that any more, where you need someone who lifts weights to remove it. Hope your bulb is the fix.

boltonblue

whatever you do, do not touch the glass portion of the bulb.
the oil from your fingers cause a temperature spike where ever you touched it and the glass will blow out.
rather annoying to have the bulb blow out minutes after you put it in.

Legal Bill

Thanks everyone. When I "selected" this TV I was using Marriott reward points and picked it out of a catalog. I did go to a local store to look at the picture quality before ordering it and I thought the picture looked great. This was 2007 and the flat screens (LEDs, LCDs and Plasma) were gaining in popularity while the projection screens had reached the peak of their development and were on a sharp decline. I elected to go with the well developed dinosaur rather than picking among a bunch of competing flat screen technologies that all seemed to have some limitations, questions concerning longevity, or ridiculously high prices (beyond what I could get with points). Now that flat screens are dirt cheap, it seemed that the failed lamp was another decision point for me. But for $89, and in light of the difficulty with disposal, I figured I'd give the fix a try.

Jerry, I saw the warnings about touching the bulb on line, but thanks for the heads-up. It looks like it is pretty easy to avoid touching the bulb, but I'll put on a pair of latex gloves first just to be on the safe side.

Scooterboy

If you do happen to touch the lamp glass it can be cleaned with alcohol (not bourbon).

boltonblue

Something to stick in the back of your mind for next time Bill.
The efficiency of the LED TV's is dramatically better than the older projection style TV's.

SheDrivesIt

His isn't quite as bad as the old CRT projectors (or plasmas for that matter) but that lamp DOES draw a fair amount of current.

Heyitsgary

I had an issue with a Samsung DLP TV I bought some time ago. Thought it was the lamp, but it turns out there was a recall on one of the boards. So, I have an extra bulb - similarly, $60, $80, something like that.

The TV sits in our main room where we watch it most. I'm so interested in moving to something modern, but the picture is fine. Plus, replacing it with something wall mounted means I'll probably need a new component rack, some kind of storage thing for the +1 and who knows what else. Maybe even new paint and furniture...

I'll wait til it really dies before I replace it. I think that's the right choice. Plus, we have newer TVs in the basement and our bedroom.

Legal Bill

Lamp installed, TV on. Everything looks good. I hope it lasts another 10 years.