What happen if the projector lamp is not good?

Question

I have a Dukane Pro Image 8247 projector... just bought it used, and now it has like a red tint at the upper right quarter of the screen (projected image), and to be honest the image contrast and brightness are not very good... So my question is: could that be because of the lamp? I mean is there a possibility to work better if I change the lamp?

Lamp is expensive so I won't buy it if it won't solve the problem.

Answer 1

Lamps generally just grow dim (or can fail outright or even burst), but should not give significantly uneven brightness or colour non-uniformity.

Lack of brightness could be because of an aging lamp, and the poor contrast could simply be a characteristic of the projector (It's only rated at 400:1 (while low, that may be a more valid rating than many newer projectors that have inflated ratings!).

It's hard to say, but the red tint sounds like a panel problem more than a lamp issue. Was it dropped or jarred? Maybe one of the panels has been moved slightly .. which could cause focus/convergence issues. On the other hand it could be a panel is starting to "go".

I really don't know what to suggest. If there is a lamp use counter that may give an idea of lamp life. A new lamp should certainly give you brightness (at 2000 lumens rating you should have lots of brightness with a good lamp!), but the red tint issue is not really user fixable and I suspect as service call may be expensive. Given the cost of a new lamp and a service call it may not be worth it ... particularly given a new projector with better specs can be purchased for $1000 or so.