In every industry, there are good companies who get a bad rap. Doing business the right way is sometimes lost in the shuffle of making money. This is not the case with Projector Lamp Center. Did you know that ProjectorLampCenter.com sees more than 15,000 new visitors each month, many of whom become loyal customers? Yet, the world wide web is more able to show snippets written by the not so frequent customer that had a bad experience with PLC. There are safeguards in place to protect every customer who buys from ProjectorLampCenter.com, like product warranty, special discounts, and live customer service.

Do not be fooled into thinking that ProjectorLampCenter.com is a bad place to buy your replacement lamp. It is a great place and a good company. The lamps are competitively priced, shipping charges are clearly stated, and our customer service is ready to answer any questions should a problem arise.

Be sure to sign up at Projector Lamp Center to get special discounts and get email updates on promotions and special offers.

The Lamp Life Team

A projector lamp costs more than a conventional light bulb. A small projector lamp usually costs between 200 to 400 dollars. This may sound outrageous but there are some understandable reasons for projector lamps being expensive.

Reasons Projector Lamps Are So Expensive

• Unique Design
• Scarcity (Manufacturers produce lamps in small batches)
• Difficult and Expensive Materials
• High Quality Standards

Let us review these reasons together and discuss how to get the best value on a projector lamp.

Unique Design

There are multiple projectors on the market all composed of differently shaped parts and most require different lamps. Each manufacturer will design proprietary projector lamps to be unique from the rest, only fitting their assigned projectors, by molding the casing for the bulb, and holder for the lamp, to be curved a bit differently than others.

Scarcity (Produced in Small Batches)

Also, different types of projectors require different wattage. For example, home theatre and business projectors require between 150 watt to about 300 watt lamps. Because many lamps are composed of different amounts of watts, this limits each lamp’s compatibility with various projectors.

Due to these two factors alone, there is a limited amount of each lamp produced each year, therefore causing the price of each lamp to inflate.

Difficult and Expensive Materials

More specifically, projector lamps and the bulbs themselves are expensive to make and produce in large quantities for multiple reasons. Many lamps are made with UHP bulbs, developed by Philips. These bulbs are expensive to manufacture because they are made of borosilicate glass and fused quartz. Because quartz is so tough to work with and is so hard, special equipment, which is highly expensive, is needed to heat and mold the quartz.

Also, the glass in the lamps is typically hand made by glass blowers, adding to the expensive nature of producing even a single lamp. A lot of time and effort is put into creating each lamp that is manufactured because they can not be mass produced like most products.

High Quality Standards

The high price and scarcity of projector lamps drives their price even higher. Manufacturers protect their investment in expensive materials and time by enforcing high quality standards. At 200 to 400 dollars each, every lamp has to work.

The highest acceptable failure rate in the projector lamp industry is around 0.4 percent lamp failures per batch. When a sample of lamps is tested in most manufacturing facilities, and the sample demonstrates a failure rate of higher than 0.4 percent, then the whole batch has to be inspected by hand or discarded.

A higher failure rate is acceptable in less expensive items like clothing. Think of how often you have seen loose threads, stains, and little tears in a garmet for sale in a nice department store. That makes it easy to understand that the acceptable failure rate in the mid priced clothing industry is closer to 3 percent, or more than seven times higher than the maximum acceptable failure rate in the projector lamp industry.

The costs related to quality assurance (labor, equipment, equipment, and failed product that never reaches the market) increase the cost of projector lamps. In a way, this is good for customers. The extra cost for high quality standards protects everyone from paying $200 for a broken, useless lamp.

In the end, many factors lead to a seemingly high price for these lamps. When you consider that a replacement lamp is the most important renewable resource for your projector or tv, paying a slightly higher price for a quality product is just as it should be.

In the world of e-commerce, sometimes price means everything. Replacement Projector Lamps can be purchased very easily on the internet, but how does one know what prices are fair, and real. Online lamp buyers often notice just an advertised price for a lamp, and have little or no recourse when they buy product that is being sold for a low price and ends up being something they can’t use. Here are a few things to know about replacement lamp pricing and why some advertised prices on the web are less than a bargain.

There are only a few actual manufacturers of replacement lamps. Lamps that have been made by the manufacturer of your brand of projector or, Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Lamps are usually the best option for replacement lamps. Even though there are only a handful of OEM lamp makers on the market, there are even fewer direct distributors of these lamps. Because there are only a small number of distributors who have direct relationships with OEM producers, the “buy rate” is about the same for all direct distributors. In addition, re-sellers who buy from direct distributors and mark-up the lamps before selling them to the public keeps that pricing segment within a few dollars of each different re-seller.

In theory, if direct distributors have similar buy rates, and re-sellers have similar wholesale buy rates, then there should not be a giant range of prices in the replacement lamp market. This system of buying and selling replacement lamps creates a built-in pricing regulator of sorts.

The introduction and availability of “Compatible” lamps has thrown a curve ball at the established way replacement lamps are sold.  Compatible lamps are basically copies of the OEM lamps. They are reverse engineered to meet the exact product dimensions as your OEM part. The difference is, compatible lamps can be made by anyone who has the facilities and materials to do it with. It does not take a genius to figure out that fluctuation in price to market on compatible lamps will be a regular happening. Re-sellers can also generate compatible lamps by shipping the manufacturing process to Asia and other off-shore production facilities. This adds yet another layer to an already cloudy replacement lamp picture. The reliability of compatible lamps has been reasonably consistent to date, but the difference in price between a compatible and it’s OEM counterpart are 15%-20% or more in some cases.

OEM Lamps and Compatible lamps are different solutions to the same problem, a projector in need of a replacement light source. Know that when there are large differences in price, this simply shows differences in types of lamps. Projector Lamp Center does offer compatible lamps, but does not attempt to pass them off as OEM parts. When shopping on the web for lamps, look for, or ask about OEM lamp pricing, and don’t be fooled into buying a compatible lamp when you really wanted an OEM.

Multi-Media and Home Theater projectors have become an invaluable piece of technology for everyone. However, each projector on the market has a renewable light source, a projector lamp, that actually makes the images come to life. Advances in projector technology have traditionally been made in the hardware of the projector and not the lamp. With the introduction of DLP projectors, tech has made its way to the light source.

Now, the key behind any projector technology is the light source. It must be bright enough (measured in ANSI lumens) to project the images to a screen, and clear enough (no yellow) when beamed through the light processing system to produce accurate colors. The lamp that has been developed for DLP projection is a xenon gas lampwith a quartz envelope. Because of the rarity of the gas and expense in manufacturing the lamp, it is costly to replace. Even so, DLP lamps have improved to give, in most cases 2000 hours of lamp life and more.

Most projectors range from 650 to 5,000 lumens in brightness, and generally most are in the 2000 lumens range. Panasonic has just come out with a model that sports 12,000 lumens. More lumens, or a brighter light source is not always a good thing. Ambient natural light or artificial light in a room also affects the clarity of the images no matter what scale of Lumens are being projected.

Most projectors in general have a built-in lamp life saving feature. The terminology of this feature may vary by manufacturer, but most will be expressed as “economy mode” or “energy saving mode”. This process allows the lamp to operate on lower voltages of 25%, 50% or 100% of maximum output. By operating in economy mode whenever possible, lamp life can be improved by 15% to 20% more than the expected lamp life.

As the tech behind DLP projectors and xenon light sources continue to become more mainstream, the cost of a xenon lamp should trend downward and be priced closer to traditional replacement lamps. Remember the energy conserving tips and replacement lamp buying should be a lot easier on your wallet.

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A hidden cost in owning and operating a home theater system is the eventual need to replace the lamp in your projector. Projector lamps, because of their precise construction and use of the rare gas, xenon, can cost as much as $350 to $500.

Here are some tips that can help you extend the life of your projector lamp.

• Avoid moving, shaking or bumping your projector as much as possible.
• Do not move it when it is still hot; let the cooling fan turn itself off before moving it.
• Do not touch the lamp glass with your fingers; oils from your hands can cause a burn out or explosion.
• Clean the air filter periodically (1-4 months) by blasting it with a compressed air can
• Place the projector where it has room to “breathe”, away from the wall or other objects
• Avoid extreme changes in heat or cold, as sometimes happens when left in a car. Allow the projector to warm up to room temperature before turning it on.
• Some projectors have an Eco-mode, to reduce the brightness. A lamp at 2000 lumens of brightness may last 2000 hours. But powered down to 1600 lumens, it can last 3000 hours. Try to get by with the Economy mode whenever possible.
• Projector lamps are not environmentally friendly. They may contain mercury, hazardous gasses and other non-decomposable materials. Check with your supplier’s office to see how to properly dispose of expended lamps.

Projector lamps are often covered by manufacturer warranties. Read the manufacturer’s literature when buying your replacement lamp. Following the above tips can greatly increase the use of a very expensive, consumable item in your home entertainment system.

]]> http://projectorlampcenter.wordpress.com/2008/08/14/hidden-costs-in-projector-ownership/feed/ 0 techsoulbrotha http://projectorlampcenter.wordpress.com/2008/07/31/replacement-lamps-going-green/ http://projectorlampcenter.wordpress.com/2008/07/31/replacement-lamps-going-green/#comments Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:24:56 +0000 projectorlampcenter http://projectorlampcenter.wordpress.com/?p=25 ]]>

The troubled global economy is not the only concern that faces the world today. Global Warming, greenhouse gasses, fuel emissions, and even waste or by-products from products that are used daily are all examples of strains on mother earth. How does the electronics industry, in particular, the replacement lamp section contribute to the awareness of environmental concerns? Re-Cycling.

Many companies have jumped on the big “green” bandwagon by touting a replacement lamp re-cycling program. These programs are said to be a huge success in reducing the damage that discarded replacement lamps create when simply thrown away. A closer look reveals that most of these green initiatives are thinly veiled re-lamping programs.

Projector Lamps do contain mercury in the filament portion of the lamp. An entire industry has come from groups that purchase, or take for free, expended lamps, and then re-lamp and sell them to replacement lamp buyers. On the surface, these programs seem to serve a need and provide a benefit to the lamp consumer. The industrial re-lamping tools needed to safely accomplish the process are extremely expensive. A large number of re-lampers do not have the financial backing to afford the equipment, which puts the customers who buy thier parts at significant risk.

Do the benefits of re-cycling just part of a lamp and putting them back on the market outweigh the obvious risk involved? While it is true that the price difference between a new original equipment lamp and a re-lamped part may be great, the benefit to the environment is marginal at best. Quality, safety and lamp life concerns regarding re-lamped parts have been eased. Still, there are no warranties available for these types of lamps. In fact, placing a re-lamped light source in your projector will in most cases void the warranty for the projector. In all, the financial risk of buying a “green”, re-cycled lamp is surely too much for the savvy consumer.

Owning a projector can be a great deal of fun when the projector is meeting or exceeding performance expectations. The light source, also known as the replacement lamp should be kept fresh in order to ensure the best picture possible. Often, outside factors influence the cost and availability of replacement lamps, and here are a few examples of how and why that happens.

Often, replacement lamp manufacturers and dealers are willing to offer free ground shipping in order to win your business. Small package carriers (we all know the big two) raise their transportation charges approximately 2-3 times per year. In addition, the carriers charge a fuel surcharge, at times in excess of 20% on top of the basic package charge. That means that as the cost to ship items increases, it may eventually be passed on to the lamp buyer, either through a higher sales price, or a flat rate charge for ground packages.

As the cost of fuel rises, dealer purchase prices rise as well. This happens as Manufacturers incur additional shipping costs from overseas to U.S. ports. Overseas lamp makers also turn to sea-going freight as a way to limit transportation costs. This will affect the availability of product in the U.S. due to the longer transit times to our distributors.

More and more consumer electronics are made from plastics in some way, and replacement lamps are no exception. One of the base ingredients for manufacturing plastics is oil. It takes no rocket science to figure how that can take a toll on production costs, regardless of industry. Throw in the increased cost to operate automation and machinery at production plants and one can easily see how prices rise.

In the end, replacement lamps are and will continue to be available. As the global economy continues to fluctuate, be sure to pay attention to warning signs of lamp life failure in your current projector. This will allow you to forecast when a replacement is needed, and secure the best price and shipping method.

Some of us have not yet made the switch to an LCD or Plasma flat panel television. Most television owners have upgraded to rear projection tv, and very few have tube televisions anymore. Here’s the problem, watching sports on a rear projection tv or RPTV can be a great experience, so long as the light source/replacement lamp is operating at full capacity.

In the RPTV world, the brighter the light source, the brighter the picture. It will be very obvious to the human eye when your lamp dims, and may need to be replaced. Watching sports on a tv that needs to change the replacement lamp is very frustrating, so make note of these tips to making sure you don’t miss the big game.

First, try to keep a log of how much time you have spent watching the television. Most RPTV lamps are rated for about 1000-1500 hours of use. Keeping a log sheet will give a pretty good indication as to when your lamp should be replaced.

Next, pay attention to the brightness of the picture on your RPTV. If the color seems to diminish, or the picture apears yellowish, this is also an indication of a needed lamp replacement.

Last, do not wait until the picture goes completely out before ordering a new lamp! By being  a little pro-active, you should be able to accurately predict the end of your RPTV lamp’s effectiveness. Order a replacement a few weeks before you aould actually need the lamp. One note though, projector lamps may diminish in usefullness if left sitting on a shelf for several months. This is not a normal occurance, but it is possible. We recommend only having a replacement lamp on hamd for no more that 30-60 days.

In closing, remember to pay attention to the indicators of poor lamp performance, and be prepared! Enjoy the games!

Shopping for a replacement lamp for your projector or television is generally no fun. What may get to you even more would be having a new lamp in your hand, putting it in a few months after you bought it, only to have the retailer tell you that you are stuck with it because you are past the standard 30 day return warranty!

A product that you may not know about is the 6 month extended warranty , which is available here at Projector Lamp Center. This is a very useful tool for protecting your investment on replacement lamps. There are some restrictions regarding this warranty, and it is not available for all lamps. Remember that the warranty runs for 6 months from the time of purchase, not from the time you open and install the lamp.

Be sure to forecast the lamp lafe of your existing lamp, as in when it will be time to replace it. You can get close on this prediction if your projector has an “hours indicator” on it. When you approach 1000 hours of usage, it is about time to buy the new lamp. By the time it arrives, and your existing lamp dims or burns out, you should still have almost a full 6 months of warranty protection for the new replacement.