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Philips LC7181… Long Lamp Life

We’ve all heard of the famous 6000 hour projector lamp, but has anyone heard of a projector that actually employs such a lamp? Well, it has been out of production for over two years now and no one can understand why, but the Philips LC7181 did indeed boast a 6000 hour projector lamp.

It came out of the gates with a price tag of nearly $3000 US, but nobody in America knew because it seems as if it was only released to the rest of the world. Now that it has had time to cool down, you might be able to get your hands on a used model that is floating around.

However, with such long lamp life, the original owners are probably still waiting for their projector lamp to burn out. Yes, on the specifications it does mention that the projector lamp lasts 6000 hours, and at the same time it delivers 1100 ANSI lumens.

There must be something funny going on here, because it is a 200W projector lamp, and the LC7181 has an noise level of 27db. Usually if you have a 200W lamp, it is going to get very hot because it is trying to maintain a high lumens output.

When you require higher wattage lamps, you require a stronger fan to keep it cool, and therefore it results in a louder noise level. I just couldn’t figure out how Philips could maintain the best of both worlds?

The LC7181 must have its power efficiency tweaked to make sure they are getting the maximum brightness out of its 200W projector lamp, while still keeping it at a level where it is not using up too much life. I equate the scenario to the one of gas mileage. They say if you travel at roughly 55 miles per hour, you are the most efficient for conserving gas, but you are still traveling at a decent speed.

According to the people I knew who owned a LC7181, none of them had experienced problems either. It gives a crisp picture with a contrast ratio of 500:1. There is great color saturation, but the resolution is 854x480p, which seems a little unconventional. Of course, it is a native 16:9 aspect ratio, and this could explain the strange resolution.

You will probably never hear a sound out of the LC7181 because of its low noise level unless you neglect to clean out its filter. The LC7181 offers picture-in-picture for TV lovers, and all the inputs necessary except for DVI (I guess it really hasn’t caught on yet!)

The LC7181 is a European machine with many twists and turns, and if you don’t live there, go on vacation!