# Sony Pearl Lamp life



## Guest (Oct 3, 2008)

Hi I have a Sony VPL VW50

It's been great! I've had it for about a year and have one year left on the warranty.

About 1 week ago I was doing some electrical work down stairs and caught an arc. The outlet was on different circuit than the PJ. 

A few days ago I went to watch a movie and noticed the image was very dim.

There were probably 500 hrs on the lamp 

I did not have a line leveler or surge protector on the PJ.

Someone said this may be a ballast problem, any one have any experience with this? I don;t mind getting a new lamp actually I hope thats all it is. But before i spend the dough to get the lamp I figured I'd ask around.

Sony will take the PJ back and give me a refurb but it's gonna be a pretty penny to ship it. 


Any insight is welcome. 

thanks guys!


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## tenzip (May 4, 2007)

I'd say get a lamp and try it, then if that isn't the problem, you can send it back for repair or replacement, and you'll have a spare lamp.

I'd also suggest getting a small UPS for the PJ, as it will keep it running if you have a power blink, and will also do some to smooth out bumps in the line voltage.


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## Blaser (Aug 28, 2006)

adguy said:


> Hi I have a Sony VPL VW50
> 
> It's been great! I've had it for about a year and have one year left on the warranty.
> 
> ...


Before getting a new lamp, I suggest you try other movies (animation for ex.) to check if there really is something wrong. BTW, what you're describing above would hardly lead to dimming of the bulb. Some movies that are filmed in very dark conditions may give the impression lamp has dimmed specially when FP is equipped with an IRIS.


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## Guest (Oct 5, 2008)

Hey Guy's thanks for the help.

I have tested several different types of films, and sources; and the image is very dim on all.

I hope that this is just a bulb thing, I"ll be ordering one tonight. If not I'll have to send it off to sony for dissection. I'll update either way.


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## Guest (Oct 21, 2008)

Hi,

turns out it was the lamp, I had a new one I found for under $300 and all is well. form colamco (sp) 
they we're really great and customer service friendly.

Thanks for all the help!


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## thxgoon (Feb 23, 2007)

Good to hear. Also good to hear that you found a lamp under $300! I've been wanting a pearl for a very long time and a big turn off for me was lamp replacement cost. I pay about $300 for the lamps in my current projector. Thanks for the update!


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## blackhook (Jan 5, 2009)

Hi,

Newbie here! I have a Sony Pearl, almost two years old, with 2100 hours on the original bulb. I think it has dimmed slightly -- maybe 20% or so -- so I have to watch with my theater room more darkened than before. But it is still very watchable.

I highly recommend the Pearl. If you're buying new now, you would have the advantage of the newer & *supposedly* improved VPL-VW60, for the same price. I say *supposedly* because it's hard to imagine a projector much better than the original Pearl that I have. Everyone who sees it is blown away.

I think the Denon 3910 does a fantastic job upscaling standard DVDs to 1080i, then the Pearl does a great job deinterlacing. Some of my favorite demo DVDs are North By Northwest (incredible for a 50-yr-old film), Ultimate Bonds such as Goldfinger (stunning detail...check out the text on the battery in the pre-credit sequence when Bond is making the plastic bomb), The Sopranos... Blu-ray discs look awesome on the Pearl (e.g., 2001: A Space Odyssey, Casino, Donnie Brasco, Boraka, Jethro Tull @ Montreau 2003, Godfather Restoration I & II). 

I have a Stewart Firehawk SST screen, which is optimized for the Pearl, and I do think this screen makes a difference. My screen is 88" & I watch from 9' away. Even at that close distance, I never see individual lines or pixels, only a seamless, vibrant, film-like picture.

I did have the projector professionally calibrated, which did make a nice difference. One thing the calibrator found is that I had the Comcast box set to only 480i. It turns out that Comcast hides the resolution setting in the service menu (that is nutty!), and when it was properly set to 1080i, I was blown away by Comcast HD such as Planet Earth, Mojo (R.I.P.!) & of course sports.

I'm interested in trying the new Oppo player w/ the Anchor Bay scaler -- anyone know if this is available yet?

Anyway, I've been thrilled with my Sony Pearl from day one. There may be marginally better projectors now (Panasonic?) for a similar price, but the Pearl has such a natural, film-like image that it is easy to love.


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## Blaser (Aug 28, 2006)

That's good to hear. The pear is definitely a great projector :T


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