Thread: Ok, so here is the dilemma..

I have a 50" Toshiba DLP tv as my main tv in my living room. I bought this tv used a while ago, Feb 08 ish, and a little while after buying it (June-ish 08) the bulb went out, i replaced it to the tune of $160ish, and it went out again at the beginning of this year in February-ish, so i replaced it. And yesterday it went out again.

Now here is the dilemma, do I put yet another bulb in the tv, or is it time to upgrade to either plasma or lcd? I hate to keep replacing this bulb, cause at this point it seems like a recurring problem.

lol you know what I voted!

Make sure your TV is set to "LOW LAMP" mode. It's probably set on "HIGH LAMP" mode. I have a 63" Toshiba DLP and 6 months after i bought it, the lamp busted. It has now been over a year and the lamp is still good. My buddy has a 60" and had the same problem you have. I switched his to low lamp back in april and he has had no problems. The problem is that on high lamp, there's too much heat where the bulb is sealed up in very thick glass. By switching to low lamp, you won't notice a difference in brightness unless you are trying to watch the tv in really bright lighting conditions. The only way it needs to be on high lamp is if you have the brightness turned up all the way on low lamp and it's still not bright enough. On you menu screen, go into video settings, scroll down to "Theater Settings". Go down to "Lamp mode" and change it to "Low Power". You should be set. Hope this helps. I bet the internal bulb is shattered. Not black and burnt out.

Originally Posted by JoelW98GTP

Make sure your TV is set to "LOW LAMP" mode. It's probably set on "HIGH LAMP" mode. I have a 63" Toshiba DLP and 6 months after i bought it, the lamp busted. It has now been over a year and the lamp is still good. My buddy has a 60" and had the same problem you have. I switched his to low lamp back in april and he has had no problems. The problem is that on high lamp, there's too much heat where the bulb is sealed up in very thick glass. By switching to low lamp, you won't notice a difference in brightness unless you are trying to watch the tv in really bright lighting conditions. The only way it needs to be on high lamp is if you have the brightness turned up all the way on low lamp and it's still not bright enough. On you menu screen, go into video settings, scroll down to "Theater Settings". Go down to "Lamp mode" and change it to "Low Power". You should be set. Hope this helps

It does, and if i remember correctly it is set to high lamp, I figured that by having that i would have better quality and whatnot. You know? Plus that's what the tv was set on when I bought it and i don't like messing with the setting to much. The bulb on the last two times I changed it the bulb was shattered.

Originally Posted by joshua_arndt

It does, and if i remember correctly it is set to high lamp, I figured that by having that i would have better quality and whatnot. You know? Plus that's what the tv was set on when I bought it and i don't like messing with the setting to much. The bulb on the last two times I changed it the bulb was shattered.

There is 0 quality difference between high and low lamp settings. Switch the setting to low power on the lamp after you get a new bulb. From what i've read, when set to low power over high power, the bulb will last between 3 and 5 times longer. I last replaced my bulb in october '08 and it's still good. Try changing the setting. All TV types have their positives and negatives just like anything else. Plasmas need "recharged" after long periods of use but have the best color distinguishing capabilities with a middle price range. Large plasmas are VERY pricey. LCD lasts the longest, but can't give the best "black" or "dark" color ranges as well as the others and have the highest price when it comes to larger screens. DLPs have bulbs and can't be mounted on walls like the others. I prefer the DLP since I already have one and have figured out the key to making the bulb last and I'm very satisfied with the picture quality. You already have the DLP and buying a 50" plus plasma or LCD would cost 8x what 1 more bulb would cost. JMO

LCD ftw