Will a New Lamp Fix The Weird Color On My Home Theater Projector
You’ve been the envy of your friends. They are all rocking 50″ TVs while you have a huge projection screen! When they want to watch the game, they always want to come to your house. But now you have a problem. Your projector has started to display some weird colors. Part of the image is discolored and nothing you’ve done has made a difference. What’s the fix? Will a new lamp fix that weird color on your home theater projector or is it something more? Let’s discuss!
The Bad News
Most people will have already tried all the normal things. Turning it off and back on. Going into the settings and making sure something didn’t get messed up by someone sitting on the remote. Unfortunately, the problem is almost certainly your worst fear: Your projector is broken.
We’ve seen a number of projectors do this and there is no “fix” for the issue. Often, one edge of the screen will be discolored (or one-half of the screen, which happened to me!). Sometimes you’ll see a red strip (as we’ve recreated in the image at the top of this article) but it can take many forms. The short answer is that your projector is most likely broken. If you are under warranty (and, honestly, even if you aren’t) it is time to reach out to the manufacturer and see if there is anything they can do. Otherwise, it is upgrade time!
The Slightly Less Bad News
If you are seeing discolorations on all the edges, it may be that some internal panels have gotten misaligned. This can happen if the projector is jostled or dropped (yikes!) or during a bulb change. Again, the “fix” is the same. You call the manufacturer and they will almost certainly recognize the issue. Depending on your projector model and design, this may be something you can fix yourself (with some help from tech support). It may be that you have to send it to a shop for a professional repair. Either way, it will be much cheaper than buying a new projector.
Take Away
When we see weird colors on our home theater screen, we often think the fix is to change the lamp in our projector. This is nearly never the solution. If your image is getting dark, then you need a new bulb. The lamp is putting out a white light. As it dies, that light doesn’t really change color (especially in one part of your screen). It simply dims. If you’ve ordered a new bulb, hopefully you can easily return it. It won’t help your problem.
