Crisp image
Well-Known Member
It proberly does but I don't want it to do it. I want consistant colour if it is at 10% or 100%
Tungsten to LED upgrade
- Thread starterKrispyduck
- Start date
Dad jokes rock!Here in the UK I'm seeing people posting on forums saying things like despite what manufacturers publicly say about continuing production, the tungsten lamps we have always used are becoming scarce and expensive so we're forced to look at LED. One even specifically mentioned Osram.
We certainly found that the supply of Sylvania lamps we used to use in pur house lights completely dried up. Regulations lumped 'em in with d0m35t1c lamps so no more 75 or 125W PARs
We certainly found that the supply of Sylvania lamps we used to use in pur house lights completely dried up. Regulations lumped 'em in with d0m35t1c lamps so no more 75 or 125W PARs
DELO72
Well-Known Member
House lights are General Lighting, General Service lamps (ie. Sylvania branded product). Those are and will be phased out. Tungsten Halogen Lamps for special purpose markets (OSRAM branded for use in Theatre, film, Microscopes, Rapid-thermal-processing, Airports, etc.) are all exempt (and will continue to be). Those are NOT becoming scarce, and the only thing making them more expensive is because you folks keep buying less of them because you are buying LED fixtures. YOU, the customer, are making them more expensive. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Buy more and the price will go back down. Economics 101Here in the UK I'm seeing people posting on forums saying things like despite what manufacturers publicly say about continuing production, the tungsten lamps we have always used are becoming scarce and expensive so we're forced to look at LED. One even specifically mentioned Osram.
We certainly found that the supply of Sylvania lamps we used to use in pur house lights completely dried up. Regulations lumped 'em in with d0m35t1c lamps so no more 75 or 125W PARs
That said- Yes, some companies are leaving the market (Philips, GE, now Tungsram, etc.). USHIO (from what they tell us) and OSRAM are here to stay for the long term, as long as it's a viable business. And- as GE and Philips go away, their demand switches to the remaining players, and as a result our volumes have been surprisingly consistent and stable the past 5 years as a result of the competitors leaving.
Thinking about this, the big pro houses will probably be OK for for the time being as they're probably using current fixtures, so the likes of HPL lamps or maybe larger GX/GY based lamps will their fare. Its the smaller amateur and community groups who might fall down the cracks. How long will they still be able to get T17 lamps to keep their pattern 23 and 123 stock fed? Likewise all their old sils, that need somewhat rarer lamps - FEP I think?
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Weighing in from the community theatre perspective, I've been having problems with HPLs post-COVID. The sample size is a single box of HPL 575/115 so take my story with a grain of salt. I've experienced a 50% failure rate so far due to leaking seals at the quartz envelope. The telltale sign is an audible hiss the first time they are powered. It's possible they were mishandled in shipping but I'm concerned about QC issues at the factory and worried that the next purchase will be as bad or worse.
That said, I like incandescent S4s and don't see us having the money to replace them any time soon. We're operating at a loss and likely will be for a few more years due to lower seat sales and inflation pressures that cost us more on the expense side, and more so on the revenue side as our patrons cut entertainment spending to balance their own budgets.
That said, I like incandescent S4s and don't see us having the money to replace them any time soon. We're operating at a loss and likely will be for a few more years due to lower seat sales and inflation pressures that cost us more on the expense side, and more so on the revenue side as our patrons cut entertainment spending to balance their own budgets.
techieman33
Well-Known Member
We've bought over 100 HPL's and GLDs over the last couple of years and haven't noticed any premature failures. You may have just gotten a bad batch or as you said they had a rough time in shipping.
Our main worry is EVR's and EHT's that we use in our house lights. We had been getting them from Eiko, but they're no longer making them. We're also worried about the BVW's disappearing, but at least we've aquired enough S4 pars and parnels that we can work around that when it happens.
DELO72
Well-Known Member
BVWs, BVTs, and BVVs are once again available. For a year or more OSRAM and USHIO both lost the ability to manufacture them when the one company who made the P48s bases that we both used went out of business (during COVID). We have a new source we brought online and paid for tooling at, and we have the lamps available once again. Making more every month, so if we are out now, we'll have more soon.
DELO72
Well-Known Member
Leaking press seals, especially when it's a bunch of lamps all out of a single box- is 95% of the time related to the shippers tossing the box about or roughly mishandling it. That type of jarring force creates micro-cracks in the press area, and the lamps tend to then degass once they heat up. It can also be caused by a single technician not handling them correctly, and holding them by the quartz (vs. pushing down on the metal base) as they push them into the socket. That kind of pressure on the quartz can also cause micro fractures.
DELO72
Well-Known Member
I've seen a lot of the bigger rental houses selling off their "older" inventory, or donating it to the smaller community theatres-- who for them a 25 year-old Source Four is a huge performance upgrade (for relatively little money) from their 1970's Colortrans or Lekolites. So the "Hand me downs" are keeping a lot of the better TH fixtures viable for longer, as the really, really, old stuff that you can't get parts for anymore go by the wayside. We are seeing consolidation and a decline of the older lamps, far more than the more common ones.
