Well I've had my LG LG 52SZ8R 132cm RPTV for over 12 months now. I thought it might be time to re-calibrate as the lamp has surely lost some brightness by now, so I grabbed my copy of DVE and discovered that re-calibrating was not required. The PQ appears to be as good as when I bought it.

The TV is used about 4-5 hours a day and fortunately I've only had one issue with it. Sometimes the response to the remote is sluggish. Push the button on the remote and then about two seconds later the TV responds. I have noticed this 4 or 5 times in the last year but it only does it for a minute or two then its back to normal. Rainbow effect was apparent when I first got the TV but I hardly notice it now. No-one else has ever mentioned the rainbow effect.

LIKES:
Outstanding picture when calibrated
Works well as a HTPC monitor (great for gaming)
Picture is great even with all curtains drawn on a sunny day.
No distracting reflections off the screen

DISLIKES:
Choosing inputs (AV1/Component?HDMI etc) is very slow and clumsy.
Picture off in-built analogue tuner is atrocious (NEVER used)
Blacks could be blacker

Overall, I'm still very pleased with the display and would recommend DLP technology to all. Although it's early days yet, reliability seems good. I still think the 5 year warranty I took out at the time of purchase was a good idea.

Alfred,we have this model also.And we only have had one problem when some dust got onto the lens.The tech came and cleaned it in 5 mins.So far we are rapt with it and reckon it was money well spent.Paul

I've had one of these for a year now as well. Who needs plasma? This thing in true 720P craps all over Plasma!
Q: Where do you get replacement globes, and how much? Anyone know?

*bump*


Anyone?

I'll bump too. Had one of these for 14 months now and it must have averaged about 8 hours use a day. Only problems i've had so far was it not wanting to turn on with the remote and freezing when changing to HDMI. It did both a few times in a few week period a few months back (is that enough fews?) but hasn't missed a beat since. It actually turned out that the HDMI lead wasn't plugged in 100% properly at the time though because the picture started going funny occasionally and after starting to worry I thought to check it out. Since all the problems stopped i'd say it all just somehow centred around this.

I bought a spare lamp on e-Bay a few months back for $250. I only bought it because it was so cheap. The woman who had them still lists them every now and then. The on-line sites that offer the projector lamps are asking $600+.

I would be very interested in the actual lamp life of these things. I've read that although LG quote 6000 hours, life is more like 4000. At 5 hours a day (typical usage here), that would work out to 2.2 years. Nowhere near as good as 3.3 years!

I've done 1600 hours, if you hold the mute button on the remote for about 5 secs then push the menu button on the tv at the same time, a menu will come up showing you exactly how many hours the screen has operated. Be careful as you can wipe the figure, going back to 0, but you still have a total at the bottom.

Can you give a link, so I can go investigate? Also, what is the type of bulb, make/part number?

Thanks.

Edit: see below.

Your procedure doesn't appear to work with my TV. Have you missed something?

Search e-Bay under electronics for LG DLP lamp and make sure the TV model no is correct.

Sorry my stuff up.

From last page of manual:

1. Press the OK or enter button on the front panel and MUTE button on the remote control simultaneously ( about 5 seconds).

i was never going to buy this model due to lg rptv dlp history but because of the price,size,picture quality i had to but i did get the 5 year wty and i cant say there has been a day i regreted it the only problem i have had is the same as all switching between the inputs
so i got an component switch box with a remote works perfect every time and get just as good a picture as hdmi.

globe wars! im upto 2748
can anyone raise me?

Globe wars?

Are you suggesting that I have a built in game on my TV and I have never realised?

I checked mine tonight and its done 2806,consider yourself raised.

well it was good while it lasted most of that was disney channel anyway.

would be intresting to see if anyone has got over the 4000 hour mark!

mmmmmmmmmm

Perhaps you could elaborate.

Maybe 'Homer Simpson' like. "mmmmmmmmm, rich creamery butter!"

I have the LG DLP 52SZ8R since July 2005 and I was watching the TV a week ago and then it went bang then nothing. I could get was turn the TV on and the green led light would just keep flashing. Then I would hear an intermittent hissing sound.

BEWARE: I took out the 4 year extended warranty also as was told by the salesman that the globes were covered. WRONG. But when I contacted the company they told me that the globes were not covered. The policy had been changed 2 months prior to my purchase in end of July 2005. No help from the major company I purchased the TV from, but guess what today they still didn't know about the change in the extended warranty info about the lamp not being covered……Who would’ve guessed. They did find a price for a replacement lamp for $250 after looking on the net and Ebay that’s a damn good price, so I ordered one. I picked up the lamp 3 days later…..very good service as direct from LG to Frankston Vic...

Got home and fitted the new lamp and still nothing on the screen except black, and that damn flashing green led. Not happy Jan…#%@$$@&

Is there anything else that I can try before calling in the techs’

Sparkz181



About the globe hours for the LG DLP 52SZ8R, I found that the LG info in Australia when I purchased the TV was 4000 hrs and still is but when I was looking for info about globes I found that the TV in Canada has an 8000 hrs rating …….. yes amazing twice that of OZ.

Where did you get the globe?

Bought the TV and got the replacement globe from "The Good Guys" in Frankston. Vic

Thanks.

If your set is still no-go after the globe replacement, there is obviously still something else wrong with the set. You have an extended warranty, exercise that warranty and get your set seen to. Ring up good guys, and seeing they have sold you the set on behalf of the manufacturer, and sold you a extended warranty on behalf of the finance group who provide that extension, get them to either recieve the TV at their store for repairs, or they get repairs organised for you.
They either fix or replace your set of an equivalent model, or your money back.

Go get'em tiger...Grruff.

Thanks for your help and support, I will be chasing it. It is as I suspected.

Thanks

Sparkz

Come back and drop us a line, when all's said and done. Am always interested in the outcomes of consumer V's retailer sagas.
You never know, you may end up with a later generation set, with less probs.

Quite certain your apples as you have VCAT to fall back on, for a nominal fee of $38.50 they will certainly always back the consumer even with it just being over the reg 12 month period of warranty.

hi guys, 1st post..
i have the lg132cm dlp also and am really happy with it., until the other day, when the lamp indicator light flashed red and the lamp went out.
turn the tv back on and it work for 5 to 15 mins and turns itself off!!
the picture quality is totally fine for the timne that the telly is on but the lamp just flicks out and it makes the clunky noise that they make when you turn them on..

rang lg and they say i need a new lamp. i dont believe them because the lamp indicator is not orange, its flashing red!

tv is only 4 months old.

any ideas? i pulled the lamp out and had a look, nothing visibly hanging off!!
put it back in and all back together and same problem is still there..

hope someone can help me with this problem, cheers

1408 here...

My manual doesn't have this information. Perhaps its because my TV is one of the first ones sold (16/7/05) . So I tried the lamp check thingy as you described and horror .... shock ..... 3446 hours! It looks like I under-estimated my usage a fair bit.

For those of you who may be interested:

Lamp is a Philips UHP 100/120W, part no 6912B22007B and it is available from

LG Spare Parts Distribution
Ph: 1800 005 220
Fx: 1800 620 603
lgspares@statewideapp.com.au
http://www.statewideapp.com.au

Cost: $ 269.00 + freight
ETA: 2-3 Days

If you want to try your luck overseas on e-Bay & etc, LG, Philips & Zenith all use the same part number above.

Philips, who designed and manufacture the lamp, claim lamp life is 8000 hours.

thanks for the link, but the order form on their website wouldn't load for me.
anyone else with this problem?

I didn't use the order form. I e-mailed them.

Thanks Alfred.

okay guys,
i've had some good service from lg!!!
today the wa service guys came out, pulled it completely to bits and put it back together..
the problem was still there so he put a new globe in..... for free!!!
was quite impressed as i've had the tv for 7 months (not 4 like i said before) which puts it out of warranty for a globe.
i was impressed!
i still think that something else has caused this problem though..
my stb seems v receptive to power surges and the tv is constantly fickering when lights are turned on around the house etc. does anyone else think that this may be having an effect on the globe??

on a side note, can someone give me some guidelines on how to get the best picture? i find that blacks have a red tinge, and to get rid of it i have to turn the brightness down to an unacceptable level, making the picture worse!!
anyone keen to share their setup

Digital TV reception is highly susceptible to the interference you are experiencing. I had similar problems with picture breakup and pixellation until I got a new antennae and RG6 coax throughout. I am sure that has no effect on the lamp. The lamp just runs flat out in these TVs and the DLP mirrors control the actual picture. The lamp output is the same whether the screen is all black or all white. Some DLP TVs allow you to adjust lamp output in two steps but not this one.

My setup was calibrated through the DVI/HDMI input with the DVE disc and an Oppo player:

CONTRAST: 100
BRIGHTNESS: 45
COLOUR: 45
SHARPNESS: 40
XD: Off
PSM: User
CSM R: 0
CSM G: -3
CSM B: 0

thanks for sharing that setup!
seems better than my old setup even through component..
cheers again

hi again guys..
was reading in another thread about holding the menu button on the tv and remote at the same time brings up another menu which allows you to adjust gamma etc..

there is way too many options and i cant find the gamma settings..
has anyone adjusted any of these for anything??

thanks again..

Thats the service menu by the sound of it. Word of advice, dont adjust a thing in there unless you write down the default values first! Very important as you could wreck your set if you dont have a record of those settings.

Now we know how to get in the service menu, all we need is a service manual to decipher the settings.

Do you mind me asking why you wish to "adjust" the display gamma?

i read in another thread that it may help with getting rid of the red tinge that dark scenes have..

i also am having trouble because my blacks are pretty grey when i turn the brightness up to an acceptable level..
the red blur gets much worse if i turn the brightness down enough to make the blacks look good..

if im completely on the wrong path let me know

i tried the settings you posted and it works well in some instances but really lacks in others..

also when trying to use my stb via rgb the picture was set off centre too much to adjust with the normal menu. is there any way i can change this?

i think the other thread that i read was to do with a lcd rear pro so they probably dont apply here hey.

thanks for all your help on the topic btw alfred!! much appreciated

also what is the upgrade port on the back for?? are there firmware upgrades available for this unit or am i on the wrong track

Some tips (ignore the one's you may have already tried):

You will never get a good picture using the analogue tuner that is built in. Just pretend it hasn't got a tuner. PQ=3/10

Picture quality off Foxtel via component is lousy except for the movie channels where the quality is just acceptable. PQ movie channels 7/10 - other channels 4/10

Picture quality off a FTA digital STB via component is really good. PQ=9/10

DVD PQ AFAIK = 10/10

You must get a calibration DVD like the DVE one and use it. I cannot emphasize how important calibration is for setting the display's black level (brightness). Setting up using the calibration DVD also eliminated a slight green shift

The display is not at its best in a completely dark room. Blacks look dark grey and the rainbow effect becomes apparent. The display looks better during the day than at night in a dark room.

I find using a backlight behind the TV (20W 6000K BC fluorescent) in an otherwise darkened room makes a HUGE difference.

thanks for the tips.. i dont use the analogue tuner as i have found it is no good too..

where would i find one of these DVE calibration dvd thingos?

i have been lucky as i havent seen the rainbow effect yet!

probably not for this thread but my dvd player is 576p and im using it via svideo.. obviously i should try to use the 2nd component in for this as the player doesn't have hdmi or rgb.. but movies (eg castaway) are average at best.. the blacks were really average and ive watched better bali movies at relatives houses..

does anyone know about the upgrade port or wether there is anything i can do to move the picture across for the rgb input frim the stb?? when using this the picture looks better, albeit over to oneside..

thanks again alfred, v helpful mate

Look for "Digital Video Essentials" PAL version. I bought mine from JB Hi-Fi for about $30. When I used the test disc on my system the display was centred perfectly with both component and DVI connections at 576i and 576p. It showed about 2.5% overscan. Upscaling to 720p caused the pic to move a little to one side but I was able to adjust that using the TV's controls.

The upgrade port is for connection to a PC for firmware upgrades. I think only techs would do this as LG aren't very forthcoming about any info on their range of TVs. My owner's manual doesn't even describe how to change the lamp.

I really think that using your DVD player via S-Video is the cause of most of your problems.

new component cable this weekend then! thanks

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I've own a 142cm lg dlp, 52sz8r-tb. Had it for about 2yrs, had no big probs only like others have said about it being sluggish to go through the hdmi and rgb channels with the remote, but no biggy. Just yesterday a message came up saying "lamp life over", and the lamp light flashing yellow. The picture is still good and operates fine. It all goes away in about 30secs. I done the hold down ok and mute at the same time and to my amazement it had clocked up 7911 hours!!!!!!!!!! Pretty damn good. So now im on the lookout for a new globe.
found 1 for $297.85 at http://spares.bigwarehouse.com.au/product_...ducts_id=705260

If anybody knows of a cheaper place i'd love to know, thanks

Hey that's great news. Looks like the 8000 hours that both LG and Philips claim is attainable. I bought two spare lamps from some some bloke in the USA on eBay. They cost me $AU299 for two including freight and got here in about three days. The part number you require is 6912B22007B. If you are interested here is the eBay link for his current listing: Philips Bulb on eBay. But they are more expensive now at $AU151.38 plus freight. I'm sure he told me last time that the freight for one lamp was the same as two.

I phoned a local technician about changing the lamp, and he said that it needed to be done by a pro because they need to set the voltages and adjust the filters. Is this correct? because he quoted me between $500 and $600 supplied and fitted. I can get the lamp for $170 odd which sounds much better than $600. Any info would be great.

DLP filters are on a rotating wheel. I cannot see what they would be adjusting if it is working perfectly now. They may check the lamp ballast voltage but as you got nearly 8000 hours from your last lamp that would suggest that everything is fine.

The lamp that the technician is selling you may be the complete housing that is usually offered as a replacement lamp. The actual lamp sits inside a metal and plastic housing. These allow a lamp change in two minutes. Just remove the two screws on the lamp cover on the side of the TV. Remove two more screws on the lamp housing. Slide the housing out. Slide replacement in and attach screws. Replace the cover, put two screws in and you're done.

Replacing just the lamp, which is obviously the cheapest option, requires dismantling the lamp housing. I did this as a test to see how difficult it was and it took me about 20 minutes to get the lamp out of the housing and put it back together. Next time I'm confident I could do a complete lamp change in under 10 minutes. I really cannot see the justification in charging $500

could other owners who have posted also post up their colour etc settings when using component input, pretty please?

I'm 18 months in with this set, just about to go and pick up the 2nd replacement globe - 6mths per globe doesn't seem good - even if the telly was on 12hrs a day it would be just over 2000hrs per globe.

Have called LG and they suggested the engine may have a fault that causes this, anyone else experience such short globe life?

Other than that, very happy with the set and I will post my settings as soon as I get the thing up and running again (hoping it's just the globe).

replacing the globe has cured my problem of the tv only turning on for 10mins at a time max, and it was less than 2000hrs old. i dont think the problem (tv turning itself off) is directly linked to the globe, but it has stopped it..

not sure how long the current globe has been in but the lg repair guy had no problem changing it for free out of the warranty period for globes..

as posted in my other thread i have a problem with half the screen not being black, but im not sure if that has anything ot do witht the globe.

may i ask what is your tv doing to indicate that it needs a new globe?

My lamp life indicator thingy says 4400 hours. Unit purchased on 16/7/05 so its nearly 18 months old. Judging from current usage pattern, if I get another 12 months from the original lamp I'll be happy. Coz we've got heaps of spare lamps (cheap off eBay), we're using the TV a lot more, the HTPC is getting a flogging and we got a Wii a few weeks ago that's hooked up to the LG as well.

Hi Alfred,

I own an LG RT-52SZ8TBRQ model Television.
Worked for 18 months and now I have a lamp life indicator message.
I also have not been able to check the lamp life inidactor using the OK and Mute instructions... hmm...

That aside, would you be willing to sell some of your excess supply of lamps to me?
I think I'll try and avoid the technicians.. seems like they don't know much more than us.
only concern obviously is that the "reset" feature that the techo's have or the calibration
and alignment that might be required as well?

Your thoughts?

Cheers,

Thomas

You need to press "OK" on the TV front panel and "Mute" on the remote at the same time for about 5-10 seconds for the lamp life indicator/reset to come up.
I now have 3 lamps but I only paid $149ea for them so I think I'll hang on to them. If I was you, I'd try eBay (use search in description and worldwide) for replacements. I got mine in 3 days from the USA.

LAMP PART NO: 6912B22007B
120W UHP lamp

Lamp suits the following TVs:
LG 52SZ8R
LG 52SX4D
LG 62SX4D
Zenith Z44SZ80
Zenith Z52SZ80

Good luck