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I have a Samsung DLP that will turn on without a problem. But, at random times I lose video, audio stays on. Sometimes this happens after a short period of time (minutes, seconds) and sometimes it's after several hours of use. I changed the lamp in '05 and I just changed the ballast.

Any ideas? Thanks

Hello rtg4171.
It sounds like the lamp is about to expire, normally the UHP lamps (like the one inside your TV) lasts from 6000 hours, under normal usage that’s 2 – 3 years. So you got a pretty good run on it. Despite the fact that that the lamp may need replacing, have you looked inside of the TV and checked if the lamp shuts off, while the audio is still hearable. If the lamp is dead then that proves that a new lamp might fix your problem.
How ever if the picture goes out and inside of the tv you can still se the lamp turn on, then there is a very strong possibility that the DMD or video (analog or digital) board might be defective.
Keep me posted for any new issues.
Good luck.

Thanks for the reply NightKid. As I was reading your response, the picture on my DLP went out. I checked and the lamp was still on. How can I be sure it's the DMD or the video board?

Thanks

Hello again rtg4171.
Unfortunaly the only way to be 100% sure is that you have oscilloscope, open up the tv and check all of the boards mention in my previous post.
How ever out of those three the most probable is the analog board, since it receives the signal from the tuner, sends it to the digital board to convert the signal so the DMD board can understand. So its really a mater of trail and error, we discard the less likely of the options and go with the most probable.
If you do plan on buying the analog board I recommend that you look online, and search buy part number. Another tip is that you buy in websites that only have a photo of the product they are selling, I’ve already had a bad experience because I thought I was getting an exact part; don’t let it happen to you.
Good luck.

Thanks for the 411. I may just dump this thing and get another TV. I'll keep ya posted.

do you loose control of the tv when this happens? like can you hit power and it doesn't power off. change the tv channel? if you loose control I would say didgital board since these sets are known to have digital board issues. video can go out and lamp stays on and then it comes back over and over again and again. Try the VGA port and hook a computer to that input. If it works then its the digital board.

go to http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/samsung/ to see more info on this issue.

If you don't loose control of the tv then it could be the dmd board.