LCD Rear Projection Bulb? (1 Viewer)

[Jim*P]

I am seriously considering buying a Sony Grand WEGA KDF-42A10. It is a rear projection television which I have no experience with. The salesman is trying to sell me on their extended warranty (of course) which normally I find to be a waste of money. The pitch he is using is that these TV's use bulbs similar to the front projects and the bulbs burn out every 2000-4000 hours. If I purchase this extended warranty (2 years = $219.99/ 4 years = $399.99) then the chances are it would be the same price as just one bulb with installation. His final pitch which he was not willing to put in writing is that just before my warranty ends if I still have not needed a bulb they will send me one for free! My question is, do these bulb burn out as frequent as the front projectors? Would you purchase the warranty?

Thanks as always!

Jim

 

[Steve Berger]

While lamp failure tends to be rather random, Sony estimates that a lamp will drop to half brightness at about 8000 hours. The RPTV lamps are much lower wattage than front projectors; about 100 watts rather than 200 or more; giving them much longer lifespans. (in theory)

The lamp for your set lists (full price) for $199 and is a user replaceable item. (door on front)

 

[Leo Kerr]

It's a bit surprising, too: generally warrantees don't cover lamps, or if they do, they're really limited.

Most of the lamps we have at work have the following sort of conditions applied:

1. Warrantee claim must be made within 1 year of purchase. Not opening the box, but actual purchase. (As we have 7 projectors that all use the same lamp, and estimate using 21 lamps/year, we stock spares.)

2. Lamp warrantee covers replacement for "premature failure" - less than 500 hours, and then prorated down to 1200 hours or so. (Nominal 2000 hour lamps. We've never gotten more than 1600 useful hours out of 'em.)


We discovered Point 1 when we had a lamp die at 68 hours. We weren't terribly amused by that...

Leo

 

[Mary M S]

The KDFE42A10?

Thats commonly called a V generation GW?. Warrenties are personal calls, in our family we have 2 GWII generations, 1 GWI generation, purchased extended warrenty on two of these units and never used them before expiration.

so ...a waste for us. I have seen some owners of various models (very rarely) having had the light engine replaced (approx 1500.) 2 of those (at least) were under Originial manuf warr. One was not, I know he was glad he purchased extended...you roll your dice

I'm assuming your price includes the whole display(not just bulbs) for extended; if this is a bulb rider only run away. Sony sells an extended on these units approx 268? NOT including lamps. Salesmen are notorious for stating policys cover lamps, but if you don't have it in writing the fine print on many polices exclude lamps. As regards your freebie lamp for non-use of the policy at end of term, you should instantly realize that your salesperson is not being above board if he won't a: sign for it b: submit a policy form which states this fact.

My lamp on a GWII went at 16,000+ hours, I have only seen one posters last longer at 17,000+. The average is 4+6K or so, depending on how you cycle your display on/off.
One plus for the Sony's is that on average their RP models have the longest lamp life of all manuf.(they need to PR this).
Two items you should be aware of is a heat problem with this model, whereupon the lamp overheats the cable card causing it to require rebooting or it ceases to function. As I can see it - Sony has not retrofitted current units shipping but just repair as requested since a percent have the issue. If you ever think you will run a cable card in this unit, be sure to test yours before manuf warr. expires and if your unit has issues request the heat shield be installed under warranty.
The second is a software upgrade (I can't remember the specifics) you can check your serial# on Sony's web site to see if your purchase needs it. If so, do your homework as the local service tech's pd by Sony, have on occasion fubared the whole unit, if they do not follow manuf directions explicitly during the upgrade. ..you'll get a replacement or repair but could be in the dark for a few weeks.