ASL lamps

[Nerijus Marmokas]

Hi guys,

Does any of you use ASL lamps nowadays (6.5kW and 4kW for Barco preferably) ?
Would like to hear feedback / comparison with the other brands.
They're quite cheaper, but is the quality equally lower?
Warranty issues?

Regards,
Nerijus

[Steve Guttag]

ASL is the descendant of the Optical Radiation lamps. They passed through the Perk and Elmer phase on their way to ASL. ASL can make a good lamp but they have a notably higher explosion rate than say Ushio. We have not used them much since digital cinema became the norm. We did try to continue using them for their film lamps...until one let-loose in a Kinoton lamphouse, shattering the reflector, heat filter...etc. That cut down our already limited use for them. I can't speak to how they may be making lamps now but, as I indicated above, they are no Ushio (the best lamps I've worked with) but they have/can make a good lamp and there was a period where they were continually improving (less darkening) and they have made a wide variety of lamps too.

[Marcel Birgelen]

Especially for those high-powered 6.5kW lamps, I would not choose anything other than Ushio. I agree with Steve that Ushio is by far the most consistent manufacturer on the market and has been so for years. For smaller lamps in the 2kW region, I've seen decent results with OSRAM too, but having had all kinds of weird stability issues with their higher powered lamps, I've settled for Ushio as the standard.

As for ASL: Check what their warranty coverage actually entails. Will they pay for repairs if one of their bulbs explodes and takes your reflector with it?

[Jack Ondracek]

As I've noted much earlier, Plusrite has given me performance equal to what I received from Ushio, but for substantially less. They easily perform up to warranty and their customer service has been first-class. I've used them since 2014 and, frankly, don't understand the affinity people have with spending more on the other brand. Other than extracting more money from my checking account, I see no advantage to using them over the Plusrite lamps.

Since few, if any people here discuss this brand with any objectivity, I'd be interested in knowing why that is. They've certainly been very good to me.

[Jason Sharp]

Another vote for Plusrite. We switched exclusively to them in 2016. From our experience the bulbs produce very steady illumination, no flicker. We haven't had a single failure. We're confident enough in the brand that we routinely run the bulbs past warranty.

[Emmanuel Nwokafor]

I choose Osram over Ushio. We use run Osram lamps Barco/NEC DC projectors far above the warranty period without any issues.

[Stefan Scholz]

Lamps are not really expensive and difficult to make.
There have been Chinese imports for show tech applications of bulbs up to 10 k, that cost a fraction of the ones sold for theatres. A theme park operation I know used these before switching to LED in their show tech effects. Quite reliable, according the technician in charge (he's among my friends).
But, they come without customer service or warranty. The more warranty you want (explosion fully covered, full replacement with new bulb) the more you end up paying.
For an operation with several screens nationwide, I have found one to directly import bulbs without warranty. Over a large number of screens the fail cost is still way lower, than the added extra of a full warranty lamp.
For those with a few screens, or even single/ dual screens, "insurance" might an important option.
Many, really many years ago, Ushio was the brand only few trusted. They felt Osram or Hanovia were the lamps to trust...
Ushio has quickly improved, and delivered consistent quality since then. Osram has undergone cycles, of bad and good product.

Actually I doubt ASL is any worse. They also use highest grade materials, and employ a sealing technology known for decades to work. And they also back their product by a "100%" warranty. So, as long long as they provide high level end customer service, go for it.

[Steve Guttag]

I've used them since 2014 and, frankly, don't understand the affinity people have with spending more on the other brand. Other than extracting more money from my checking account, I see no advantage to using them over the Plusrite lamps.

Since few, if any people here discuss this brand with any objectivity, I'd be interested in knowing why that is. They've certainly been very good to me.

Jack, how many hundreds of lamps do you use a year? It is fine that you have found a lower cost brand that works for you. But how big is your sample pool to determine a quality statement that crosses many lamp sizes and with enough quantity to make a general statement? We've certainly had good lamps from many manufacturers, including brands that are more towards the value side of things. But that does not necessarily apply across a large quantity of lamps. You haven't had to answer for numerous Osram lamps causing striking issues in numerous theatres at the same time.

Ushio's most common failure mode is a an out-gas, not an explosion, which gives it a leg up on many others because nobody wants to lose the reflector (which are now glass) because getting back on screen will be more than a simple lamp change if the lamp explodes.

Have you tracked the initial brightness/watt on the new lamp? How about how it decays over its life? Even within a brand, including Ushio, not all lamp models are built the same.

Ushio is one of the big xenon lamp manufacturers so they will tend to have a very wide offering of lamps models/sizes, which certainly make it easier to support a large variety of projectors (including film). As such, for a dealer, this also makes them attractive as does their stocking policies.

If Plusrite is treating you well, more power to you. You have your own experiences.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

As I've noted much earlier, Plusrite has given me performance equal to what I received from Ushio, but for substantially less. They easily perform up to warranty and their customer service has been first-class. I've used them since 2014 and, frankly, don't understand the affinity people have with spending more on the other brand. Other than extracting more money from my checking account, I see no advantage to using them over the Plusrite lamps.

Since few, if any people here discuss this brand with any objectivity, I'd be interested in knowing why that is. They've certainly been very good to me.

Jack, Does Plusrite cover the glass reflector and heat filter if one of their lamps lets go under warranty?

[Jack Ondracek]

Jack, how many hundreds of lamps do you use a year? It is fine that you have found a lower cost brand that works for you. But how big is your sample pool to determine a quality statement that crosses many lamp sizes and with enough quantity to make a general statement? We've certainly had good lamps from many manufacturers, including brands that are more towards the value side of things. But that does not necessarily apply across a large quantity of lamps. You haven't had to answer for numerous Osram lamps causing striking issues in numerous theatres at the same time.

Ushio's most common failure mode is a an out-gas, not an explosion, which gives it a leg up on many others because nobody wants to lose the reflector (which are now glass) because getting back on screen will be more than a simple lamp change if the lamp explodes.

Have you tracked the initial brightness/watt on the new lamp? How about how it decays over its life? Even within a brand, including Ushio, not all lamp models are built the same.

Ushio is one of the big xenon lamp manufacturers so they will tend to have a very wide offering of lamps models/sizes, which certainly make it easier to support a large variety of projectors (including film). As such, for a dealer, this also makes them attractive as does their stocking policies.

If Plusrite is treating you well, more power to you. You have your own experiences.

I understand a dealer's perspective can be different.

My brightness/watt tracking is likely crude, by a professional tech's standard. I use Barco's CLO feature and, over time, found settings that would give me consistent light levels on my 6.5kW lamps from installation-to-warranty (I don't run my lamps past warranty). My 4kW projectors start at about 80% and only just reach 100% by warranty. Over the lamps I've run through, though small by a dealer's standards, I've found them to perform consistently. I check alignment from time to time and log available readings when I do. Those logs go back to when I bought the projectors.

My observations aren't meant to disparage Ushio lamps or their use by anyone else. In my theatre, I found them to perform comparably to the Plusrite lamps I use now, with price being the only major difference, so far as anything directly affects me. I just didn't perceive any more bang for the buck (pun not intended).

Jack, Does Plusrite cover the glass reflector and heat filter if one of their lamps lets go under warranty?

.

Yes. I also had that backed up in writing from them when I started using their products.

[Leo Enticknap]

Agreed with Steve about the dealer's perspective. A failed bulb and warranty claim impacts our reputation as well as the manufacturer's, because we sold the thing. That is one of the reasons why we supply Ushio by default (i.e. if a customer simply asks for a bulb and doesn't specify a brand), but in the last year have occasionally provided LTI bulbs when specific Ushio models have been unavailable. Agreed also with Steve about the failure mode. The very few we have had warranty claims on have started to flicker or refused to strike: they didn't blow up.

With careful consideration of warranty issues, a bulb exploding in a digital projector for which parts support is still available is less of a risk than in one that is no longer supported, or in a film projector lamphouse. If an explosion takes out the reflector, UV filter, and triaxial gearbox in an NC3240, for example, all three parts are readily available, and either the lamp's warranty will cover them, or, if I have made the decision to run a lamp not covered by a warranty (either beyond expiration or a model that came without one), I will. But for an older Series 1 projector or a film lamphouse, the parts might not be available, and this would make me more cautious about my choice of lamp model.

[Steve Guttag]

Parts availability are one thing but, if a lamp takes out a reflector, you are down unless you keep a spare reflector on-site. So, you are losing business there. There is the cost of getting that reflector in and aligned too. Furthermore, availability of ANYTHING right now is not a given. It may be current but it doesn't mean they are on the shelf and you might be facing a long lead time getting it.

The larger lamps 6500W are inherently short life lamps so yeah, the cost per hour can seem pretty different. I get that. Again, if you found a lamp make/model that works for you, more power to you and thanks for bringing them up as I'll take a look at them (well, not at them when they are lit). We are finding that Christie lamps are hard to come by right now so alternative lamps could be key.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I have insisted that all my customers stick with Ushio. I only had one Ushio lamp explode, and it was not the fault of the lamp. It was a bug in the projector software. The only lamps that consistantly exploded were the Chinese lamps. An occasional way over hours ORC lamp would occasionally let go. Never had a Hanovia blow either. Of course these were all back in the film days.

[Steve Guttag]

Hanovia and ORCs definitely blew up. Hanovia also had "different" stem size so the lamp adapters were always special to them. When ORC transitioned away from their tape seals they had a rough go of it but that did settle down.

[Leo Enticknap]

The only two kabooms I've personally witnessed were both Osrams, and neither unprovoked. One was in a theater on the bank of a river, as it reopened after a month-long closure when the river burst the bank and flooded the basement. The building was still thoroughly damp. We were powering up and testing everything for the following day's reopening, and struck the lamp in one of the two projectors. About 30 seconds later it blew up. When we later inspected the other projector, we found the interior of the lamphouse to be very damp, including condensation on the bulb envelope itself. The other was when what I later discovered to be a failed ammeter on the back of the lamphouse caused me to crank the current up way above what the bulb was designed for. I personally haven't been in a booth when a bulb exploded totally spontaneously and without any aggravating factor, though I've heard many war stories from projectionists and techs who have, especially from the early days of xenon arc lamps.