Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Christie extended hardware warranty opinion

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Posted by Trevor Cable (Member # 6086) on 03-11-2014, 11:26 AM:

Hi,
I have three Christie projectors (CP2220, and two CP2210's). I have been purchasing the extended hardware warranty for all three of these each year. I thought I'd ask this forum's opinion as to if paying for this is worth it. I'd imagine with one project it would be worth it because the cost isn't too bad. But with three projector it seems that I could just save that money and when a part needs replacing I could just eat that cost. I don't imagine all three projectors will have large part costs in the same year.

Does anyone have an opinion on this? I know my old Barco DP100 had a lamp engine that was something like $20K but can the parts for the CP series get into the high thousands?

I can't imagine theater's pay for hardware support when they have many projectors.

Thanks for any input regarding this.

-Trevor Cable

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 03-11-2014, 11:42 AM:

The fewer screens you have, the more useful this becomes. The more screens you have (such as a big chain), the more of a waste of money this becomes. It's all a balancing act based upon the odds of things failing, the cost to repair a few machines when they do break vs. the money spent on the warranty. There is no easy answer, but I will point out the obvious, the odds of things failing in the first few years is slim. 5 years down the road? Oh yeah.

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 03-11-2014, 11:48 AM:

I imagine having to pay out-of-pocket for one series 2 light engine would probably zero out the extended warranty costs on the three machines. Five-figure items there...

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 03-11-2014, 01:45 PM:

Again, it all depends on your budget. I side with Brad that it's a better deal for the smaller plex. It also depends on how your cash reserves sit. At 2K a year typical cost per warranty extension it gets pricy and the cost per year goes up with age.

Mark

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 03-11-2014, 05:13 PM:

I once ran the numbers...3-screens is the tipping point. Typical warranties are in the $2,500 to $3,000/year range...though some of the S2K stuff is now in the under $2K/year.

Lets say you are at the low end...$2,500/screen/year. That is $7,500/year. So a light engine, depending on company and model will set you back in the $20,000 range. In three years time, you could have bought it. In 5-6 years time, you could have bought an extra projector and either rob it for parts or put it on line while you fix the bad one.

One could keep an NC900C around just for that purpose (it is barely over $20K)...not as bright as you would want, but yo wouldn't be down.

But lets say you are an average 8-10 plex...it is far cheaper to just buy an extra projector than to have an extended warranty.

Now the next thing will be is just what will be considered satisfactory once warranties expire...things like stuck pixels (when they are on, particularly)...in-warranty...even one is cause for light engine change...when you have a $20,000 bill to fix that pixel (at least the first time).

Thus far, all of the DLP companies will fix a bad light engine but that takes time and you don't want to be down. I hear turn arounds can be upwards of 8-weeks.

Most all other parts are going to be in the low-thousands so the extended warranty makes less sense for them.