Anybody have experience with this? I found some old threads like this one that indicate that some dopers have this same TV.
If you Google “kdf 50E2000” you get plenty of links for bulbs. The official Sony offering costs $199, whereas others are as low as $72.
Should I spend the extra money to get it from Sony? Or are the others just as good?
Thanks
I had a Sony Bravia where I had to replace the bulb. I could have bought a complete bulb assembly from Sony for about $200 or so, or I could have bought the complete assembly on the internet for about $160. Instead I bought the bare bulb on the net for $70 or so. It was easy to remove the bad bulb from the existing assembly and replace it with the new one. They even provided gloves so you’d not touch the glass envelope.
Do a search for your bulb number and save some money.
Judging by the pictures from my 2 links, it looks like what I could pay $70 or so for is the same as what I could pay $200 for, so my situation seems a bit different from yours. I haven’t looked inside the TV to see what I’m up against, but it seems that it’s not hard to replace, and only requires an allon wrench.
Since I’m assuming that your replacement went well, I’ll count this as +1 for “buy the cheapest one you can find.”
Update: I bought the cheaper bulb for about $72 from PureGlare.com. It came in a week, but didn’t have any instructions. After looking around, I found them here: [Operating Instructions](http://www.kb.sony.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=KDF-465055E2000pdf&sliceId=pdfPage_12&docTypeID=DT_MANUAL_1_1&dialogID=362540007&stateId=1 0 362538455) (If that link doesn’t work, and you don’t still have the paper manual that came with the TV, you should be able to find it online.)
Check p.76 for very simple instructions. I don’t know why Sony’s site for the bulb says it needs an Allen wrench, all I needed was 1 hand. Picture looks great. I’m looking forward to another 5 years with this TV.