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Projector Torture Test: LCD versus DLP
An anonymous reader writes "A ten month torture test of five LCD and two DLP projectors shows LCD images deteriorate during extended use." Not surprisingly, if you run an LCD projector for 4000 hours, it deteriorates... of course, if you're staring at a projecter 8 hours a day, for 500 straight days, maybe you should go outside ;)
Ten months...500 days...something's wrong here.
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The article mentions that TI believes the degradation is due to the intensity of the heat and light used in projectors. After all, a projector requires many many many times the candlepower of an LCD display's backlight. So I think we're safe :)
--matt
> if you run an LCD projector for 4000 hours, it deteriorates... of course, if you're staring at a projecter 8 hours a day, for 500 straight days, maybe you should go outside ;)
But there are plenty of applications for these things where the display is permenantly turned on - think of a store display - or an airport information system - or high end adverts. In those cases, running 24 hours a day is very likely - and having the damned thing fail after a mere 166 days would suck badly!
It would have been nice to see the lifetime of large plasma panels in the survey too.
www.sjbaker.org
then again if you think about it, most educational places (schools, colleges, uni's) usually use projectors alot.. So.. figure that projector is in use for 8 hours a day for a year its going to die off pretty fast..
Then again, anything that displays gets a bit.. dirty after a few years of use..
I've left to find myself. If you happen to see me, please, keep me there until I return.
Ink jet printers have very different running costs due to different costs for replacement ink cartridges. Does anyone know of a breakdown of running costs for different projectors or at least can share some experiences?
Annoying eh Jimbo ? whatever TI's motives, maybe you expected to grab marketshare with slightly crummy cheap projectors, not telling anyone about the flaws, then sell everybody new projectors after the old ones have become obviously tainted, pretending you didn't know about the defects in the first generation ?
It almost sounds like what a certain OS manufacturer has done years back.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
According the to article, "TI and Munsell ran the projectors continuously 24/7, replacing bulbs as needed. Each projector was stressed continuously for thousands of hours."
There really wasn't much information provided on the methodology in this article. Did they leave just the one image or did it shift thru? Were any of the projectors shut off at any point (besides changing bulbs)? What were the conditions of the room/area in which the projectors were stored - ventilation, sunlight, etc.?
How many purchasers of projectors are going to use them non-stop? Just imagine such a stress-test of your Intel or AMD processor - 8000 straight hours of 100% CPU activity. I'm sure that could burn out a processor that would survive 8000 hours of activity without a hitch. The longevity of the LCD monitors may be much better than this implies -- which could be better tested under "normal" conditions.
My last thought is that I don't completely trust a "scientific" test done by a company to show the advantages of their own system.
I was taking one day at a time, but then several days got together and ambushed me. (from a Rhymes with Orange comic)
That is because the owners don't care for the projectors correctly. Also if pool hall allows people to smoke that is dramatically reduce the life of any projector.
For some pretty honest feedback from projector owners and experts, check out avsforum. Check out comments from owners of dlp, crt, and lcd projectors. The folks in the forums are not afraid to either praise or pan a particular projector (or manufacturer or reseller), and they have been a great help to me in sorting out the various factors during my seemingly endless quest. (Actually, I'm just a bit too chicken to drop the $$$ right now.)
And there are quite a few factors worth noting. For instance, some people may be bothered by the "rainbow effect" that is generated by dlp projectors. Others may not be affected by that, but may be bothered by the "screendoor effect" of lcd projectors. Still others may be affected by the "pocketbook effect" of purchasing these things. I may well end up purchasing an LCD for around $2000, and then throwing it away after 4000 hours. (Which for me would be many years, since I watch less than 10hrs of TV per week.) Or I may spend around $4000 on a DLP and plan on keeping it a bit longer. In any case, I don't think I can make a bad choice since South Park will be kick-ass on 100" screen.
Something worth noting is that Sony does not produce any DLP projectors. They do produce CRTs and LCDs. While I'm not a huge fan of Sony, they do kinda have a decent reputation in the consumer electronics field. So to me, their presence in the LCD market lends a bit of credibility. (The HS-10 is getting killer reviews, and it's only around $2500.) Also worth mentioning is the fact that DLP projectors can suffer from image burn-in, while LCD projectors do not. It doesn't mean that LCD is better than DLP. But these are some of the differences worth knowing before dropping several thousand $$$ on a projector. Again, check out avsforum for lots of insight into the different technologies.
If you are interested in purchasing a projector, do your research. You'll probably find that there isn't any one "best technology" to go with.
Splotches are actually particles of dust blocking some light on one of the color panels. Take the projector far out of focus and the dust particle will come into perfect view. Just attack it with a can of compressed air. Also, really old projectors are going to look like hell if for no other reason that the new ones look really good.
Well, except for CRT projectors. Those things are still cherished even if the unit is 10 years old.