Frustrated with my Sony KDS 55A3000 – Need New Lamp, where to buy?

KillaB3E

Hello All,

I am in need of a new / replacement lamp for my 55” Sony SXRD TV. I’ve had the set just under 3 years now and what do you know, they freaking lamp / bulb goes out. I played Xbox 360 on it Thursday night for about 2 hours and everything looked fine. I haven’t noticed any dimming or loss of picture the last few weeks. Come Sunday, I turn on the TV to get ready for football and what do you know, nothing, the TV turns on and then the green light flashes, then the red “replace lamp” LED starts to flash. Long story short, I’m pretty disappointed that the lamp went out the way it did, it’s almost like the lamp reached a certain magical point and then it died because it was time to die.

We have a 65” DLP Mitsu in the living room that my wife mostly watches, I know for sure that we’ve logged 100s of more hours on that TV than what I’ve logged on the Sony. The Mitsu is usually on from 6pm to 10 or 11pm every day. We bought the Mitsu and the Sony around the same time when we bought our house 3 years ago. I’m wondering how my Sony, that I only watch say 10 hours a week, vs the Mitsu that gets 30+ hours a week could die so much faster?

I called Sony yesterday and told them I was unhappy, in hopes that they’d send me a new lamp for free, but didn’t have any luck. The guys said that the TV is past its warranty and so they can’t help me. I’m thinking I’ll call them one more time and tell them how much I love my Sony (which I do) and explain to them that the Mitsu is still kicking strong, and see if they can hook me up. If not, I’ll have to buy a new lamp. Sony is charging $250 for a new lamp (crazy) but I’ve found a lamp on Amazon.com for $120 (Don’t know if I can post the link to Amazon, if I can, I will if it’s allowed on the forums).

So, if I do have to buy a lamp, where do you guys get your lamps from? Thanks for reading my venting, I’d love to know if this has happened to anyone else or if you have been able to notice your lamp fade before it died. Just seems strange to me that it would die all of the sudden. Any advice on trying to score a free replacement lamp from Sony would be much appreciated.

Thanks in Advance,

ChuckF.

I've had good results from rivervalleyelectronics.net. Always go for the Philips option.

Life of these lamps is not a simple matter of hours, the startup process is supposedly hard on a lamp. That means a lamp in a tv watched four hours at a time will last more hours total runtime than a tv watched two hours at a time.

KillaB3E

Thanks for the reply and reading my vent(ing). Good point about the start up process, I often do just watch TV for a half hour here and there. Guess I'll go ahead and order a new Philips bulb / housing.

deadlydayne

also i would try ebay, usually the cheapest place, but make sure you buy it from a store, or its factory sealed in the box. thats normally where ive been buying the bulbs for my Infocus 61" dlp. to buy the bulb from infocus they want like $500!!! thats crazy, on ebay i can pick one up factory sealed for just under $100 and so far out of the three ive had through one store they all have lasted a long time. after work i go home and play some xbox so tvs usually on from 3pm-11:30 or midnight and weekends its almost 24-7 with people coming over.

Kiwiaudio

Chuck, would you please elaborate why you feel the phillips lamps are always the best choice.
Kiwi.