|
This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
|
Author
|
Topic: Life Span of DPL Chips
|
|
Carsten Kurz
Film God
Posts: 4340
From: Cologne, NRW, Germany
Registered: Aug 2009
|
posted 11-16-2013 10:06 AM
The DLP chips themselves are pretty stable. TI has some impressing statistics. Stuck pixels, though are usually not a matter of defective pixels, but board/formatter wiring, these are high density flatwire cables/connectors, leadfree, under high temperature loads.
So, DLP chips fail hardly ever, but that doesn't mean you won't have stuck pixels sooner or later. I have seen quite a few newly installed DLP machines with some stuck pixels.
If warranty/budget allows, this will usually mean a lightengine swap, and I guess most of these defects can be repaired in the factory.
- Carsten
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
|
posted 01-03-2014 07:09 PM
Without some hard numbers, this is just a guess.
Fact is, a 3 chip DLP projector is actually more prone to DLP failure than a single chip solution used in almost all home and office DLP products. If just one pixel in one of the three DLP chips gets stuck in the "on" position, this will produce a red, green or blue colored dot in darker scenes, which can be really distracting.
There are other things that are just due to fail after 10 to 15 years of operation, like cooling fans or in case of Barco projectors, stuff like heat exchangers, etc.
And let's not forget that all first generation digital projectors are already slowly being obsoleted by pushing stuff like HFR and 4K.
| IP: Logged
|
|
Steve Guttag
We forgot the crackers Gromit!!!
![](http://www.film-tech.com/ubbmembers/268e.gif)
Posts: 12814
From: Annapolis, MD
Registered: Dec 1999
|
posted 01-03-2014 07:30 PM
Ahem...first generation? Not to be confused with "Series 1"...the First generation are the Barco DP50, DP40, Christie's equivalent models. Those have already been obsoleted. I know we retired our DP50s...but only just a few months ago...they made it 10-years. As DCinema machines, they were essentially obsolete once the 2K machines came out but one could still get 1.3K content for them for a couple of years.
The Barco DP100 came out in 2004, as I recall...it is hitting 10-years now...the same with the CP2000 from Christie. About all that they can't do is the 3D stuff (well).
As for heat exchangers, cooling pumps, fans...big deal...that isn't such a high price or unreasonable service. However those modules will drive you to the poor house pretty quickly. Just about every PCB in one of these things is on the order of a few thousand and the Digital companies WON'T REPAIR them...got a ballast go bad and its out of warranty...buy a new one. Rectifier repairs that were done for for under $100 in parts are now going to cost a few thousand to replace...not because it isn't repairable but they are refusing to. I think there could be a market on some of this stuff for a company that is willing to take on servicing DCinema equipment.
Then again, with some of the PCBs...if it is a board related problem, there are so many layers to them, they may not be practical to repair...especially if it is intermittent in nature. How many potential solder joints could be partially failing (just enough to causing a timing error)?
| IP: Logged
|
|
Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
|
posted 01-05-2014 06:57 AM
I was indeed mostly referring to the "Series 1" DCI projectors, not those "pre-DCI" projectors, like those Kinoton consoles and lamphouses with diagonally mounted DLP head Barco sold for a while (DPx0). They will never do HFR 3D and yes, they're capable of playing 4K content being scaled to 2K, none of them are upgradeable to 4K (although the usefulness of upgrading a 2K projector to 4K can surely be debated).
Also, you never know for sure if the studios come up with some new security demands, that either requires expensive upgrades or won't work at all on "older" equipment.
The DP100 was indeed released in 2004 (and most of them are probably still in production), although a few of them already showed up in 2003 as prototype in a few complexes in Belgium.
In general, you would expect the stuff that has moving parts in it to fail first...
Repairing a PCB, even if it is one that has a multi-thousand-dollar list price is just not cost effective. And doing it yourself is also practically impossible, because of lack of diagnostic tools and repair manuals. Replacing a multi-pin SMD is also not something you can do without some good training. Maybe if the damage is obvious and visible, like a blown capacitor, you can still do something yourself.
I haven't seen much failure in multilayer PCBs itself (although, who can say for sure...), besides some cheap Chinese no-name stuff that had some lamination issues (layers actually letting loose), probably due to not built to sustain the heat.
The market for DCI equipment is considerably smaller than many others, but even then, there will be a lucrative market for refurbished equipment.
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
Marcel Birgelen
Film God
Posts: 3357
From: Maastricht, Limburg, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2012
|
posted 01-05-2014 11:38 AM
Having worked a couple of months for a PCB production facility about 15 years back (I'm aware a lot has happened since then), I know that many of those high-end multilayer PCBs don't come cheap (some of them cost a few thousand bucks a piece WITHOUT any components). Still, the price of even those "high end" PCBs for the likes of Cisco, Sun, IBM, etc. went down fast and it was no longer viable to have any kind of mass production in any western country, so that got moved to Taiwan.
I'm not denying what you're saying, but I would rather be surprised if Barco, NEC, Christie, etc. will actually repair their PCBs instead of just swapping them with a "refurbished one", which is all to often, just a still working component that has been pulled from an otherwise defective machine.
A broken blind via will in any regards trash your PCB, if you're even able to diagnose it as such. Maybe you can still recover some of the components from those boards, as long as they're not covered in some nasty epoxy resin.
But, I don't need to explain to you why most manufacturers do not even offer you the option to repair a broken board or otherwise easily repairable component like a PSU or ballast...
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
All times are Central (GMT -6:00)
|
This topic comprises 2 pages: 1 2
|
Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classicTM
6.3.1.2
The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion
and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.
|