Optoma HD70 projector flickering crazy colors, then whimpering out

March 30, 2009 9:15 PM

Optoma HD70 projector flickering crazy colors, then whimpering out - just over a year old, with a brand new bulb installed 6 months ago -- tech support not very helpful. Anyone have ideas, or sympathy at least?

I live in LA, but it's not even hot enough to overheat the lamp yet. I am getting an amber lamp light however, and customer service says it's the lamp. But they just replaced it, and they're expensive! Warranty no longer an option. Hmmm...

posted by icetaco to technology (3 answers total)

The HD70 is a DLP projector. There are a few high-stress components in a DLP projector that can go bad: lamp, color wheel, and mirror assembly. If the lamp overheats, usually the projector just turns off.

But the "flickering crazy colors" suggests to me that the color wheel might have gone bad. I wasn't able to find out much on Google about where to find a replacement color wheel, but you might start there.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:22 PM on March 30, 2009

Bad color wheel. You probably mounted the projector at a bad angle, and the heat went backwards and damaged the unit. So like aiming it "down" too much can do this. Usually there's a fail safe shutoff in better units to prevent this kind of damage, but if you tilt it just right you can put it in a damaging position without triggering the "shutoff".

blazecocks right. I bet its the color wheel.
posted by 5imian at 1:58 AM on March 31, 2009

Might want to pose this question on the AVScience forums. I've had good luck there in the past with similar issues.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/
posted by xotis at 9:01 AM on March 31, 2009