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Topic: Best Bulbs?

Keith Peticolas
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 108
From: Eagle River, Alaska, USA
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 10-13-2001 07:01 PM

Riddle me this. Who makes the best bulbs for the Christie lighthouses? I use 2k &3k. Need to start getting new ones and want the best I can get. Thanks.
kp

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William T. Parr
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 823
From: Cedar Park, TX
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 10-13-2001 07:05 PM

What vintage are your Christie Lamphouses? Personally I have had better luck with Christie Bulbs in other lamphouses like Strong's and ORC's. I would highly recommend using replcement Christie lamps in your lamphouse. If cost is a big issue the cheapest bulbs are usually the Perkins-Elmer (Formerly ORC) but again personally, I had bad luck getting these to make it to there warranty period in a Strong Console.

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 10-13-2001 07:06 PM

Christie lamps, hands down over all others!!!

Perkin-Elmer lamps are shit. I am seeing them literally SAG at the envelope by half life. Removing them is sad, yet borderline hilarious as to how "out of round" they become. I must post a video of this. Stay away from them, unless all that matters to you is saving money and presentation doesn't matter.

OSRAM makes a very good bulb too, which would be my second choice, but I hear horror stories about them not honoring their warranties on those rare events they do fail.

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Keith Peticolas
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 108
From: Eagle River, Alaska, USA
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 10-13-2001 07:15 PM

Thanks guys. Christie it is. Brad this site rocks. Good work keeping in up.
kp

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Paul G. Thompson
The Weenie Man

Posts: 4718
From: Mount Vernon WA USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 10-13-2001 07:32 PM

I have had very good results from Christie Xenon bulbs.

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Will Kutler
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1506
From: Tucson, AZ, USA
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 10-13-2001 07:59 PM

My company insisted on using Perkins-Elmer bulbs in Christie SCL consoles. Was lucky to get 2500hrs out of them with proper routine maintenance for 2500Watt bulbs

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James R. Hammonds, Jr
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 931
From: Houston, TX, USA
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 10-14-2001 04:41 AM

At the beginning of the summer, we switched our big houses using Christie 7000 watt bulbs to Perkin-Elmer 4500 watt bulbs. Two of them were previously switched over to Christie 4500 watt bulbs and one still does until we burn out the remaining used Christie 4500 watt bulbs out then it will switch also.

The Perkin-Elmer bulbs are shit in my opinion just as Brad said.
Ive changed a few of them out at the end of their warranty life and had trouble getting them to strike.
I had to raise the power up HIGHER than we were supposed to just to get them to strike and sometimes they dont even strike by the time the film hits the screen so some of our projectionists resort to striking the lamp manually EVERY TIME they start a movie.
So now I have to worry about blowing something out due to the power running too high (like the contactor in the rectifier maybe which I've had the pleasure of changing before).

I was told after we use these up we are to change over to OSRAM bulbs for any house over 3000 watts.
We'll see how those work.

But I can tell you that I do not like the Perkin-Elmer bulbs.

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Don Sneed
Master Film Handler

Posts: 451
From: Texas City, TX, USA
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 10-14-2001 07:56 AM

I don't know about you guys in the states, but here in Japan we have Christie & Strong consoles, The LTI & Osram bulbs we are only getting 700 hrs from them (if we are lucky), Strong came over here twice to check these console & all is fine with Consoles, The Christie bulbs seem to be the one to use in both consoles....to me Christie bulbs wins hands dowm, case close !! (just my 2-cents worth)

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Ken Lackner
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1907
From: Atlanta, GA, USA
Registered: Sep 2001

posted 10-14-2001 11:55 AM

My last theatre used all Osram bulbs with 3K and 4K Strong Highlight II consoles, and we had no problems.

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Jeff Skallan
Film Handler

Posts: 65
From: Littleton, CO, USA
Registered: May 2001

posted 10-15-2001 03:35 AM

We've been getting well over 7,000 hours using 2k Christie bulbs running them in our Neumade XCN-35 lamp consoles. Anyone have any extreme endurance records?

By the way, this forum is the coolest ever! Long Live Film-Tech!!

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Andy Bergstrom
Film Handler

Posts: 44
From: St. Cloud, MN
Registered: Feb 2000

posted 10-15-2001 11:01 AM

Anybody have any experience with the Hollywood Lamps and Bulbs LTD company located out of Eau Claire, WI? They are very aggresive in the upper midwest claiming to supply many theater chains located there.

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John Spare
Film Handler

Posts: 4
From: Bridgeville, PA, USA
Registered: May 2001

posted 10-15-2001 12:09 PM

I have been dealing with Mark from Hollywood Lamps and Bulbs for about the last ten months. He is still trying to work out the bugs in their bulbs, but swears that he will have the best bulbs in the industry in the next couple of years.......we'll see......

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Brad Miller
Administrator

Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99

posted 10-15-2001 05:26 PM

Jeff,

8500+ hours from a 2000 watt Christie lamp in a Christie SLC console.
4000+ hours from a 4000 watt Christie lamp in a Christie SLC console.

That's the longest record I've ever personally seen, and the light output on the screen was still excellent when they were removed. No trouble striking, no blackening and the arc was still stable. This was par for that complex, as all of the machines there got approximately the same results.

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Barry Hans
Film Handler

Posts: 92
From: Minneapolis, MN, USA
Registered: May 2000

posted 10-15-2001 06:44 PM

My old boss pulled an Osram 1000 out of a Xetron lamp with 10,000+ hrs. It was the darkest thing I've ever seen. It was put in a coffin and hung the thing up on the booth pegboard. Any verdict on the Superior bulbs?They have some relation to the old Duro- Test if I am thinking of the right bulb.

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Joe Redifer
You need a beating today

Posts: 12859
From: Denver, Colorado
Registered: May 99

posted 10-15-2001 07:24 PM

Brad- what was the oldest bulb at the Chinese? I worked there for over 2 and a half years and there were at least a couple 2K bulbs that were NEVER changed in that time, and they still looked pretty good. I assume you changed them eventually.

Christie bulbs do indeed kick much ass. Best light... especially in a Christie SLC lamphouse. And no, Christie did not pay Film-Tech to endorse them)... they really are that good.

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