I had ordered an assortment of thermal pads on Ebay last week and got a notice that the vendor did not have stock. They were like 17 bucks, so no big deal and they refunded it. So another vendor had the exact same thermal pads and I reordered theirs. Three days later, I got the same notice... Sorry, no stock. And they also refunded. So I ordered a bunch of small 1" square pads that were 1mm thick, but before I did, I contacted the vendor to be sure they actually had stock. Those arrived just fine. Nashville has zero decent electronics parts stores. It was the opposite when I lived in Salt Lake City where you could walk in and literally buy anything you needed right off the shelf. There were two large Electronics Parts places, and a Vacuum tube place that literally had any tube you needed." Oh, you're looking for the Farnsworth Image Dissectors. Those are in Aisle 5", and indeed there were two sitting way up on a shelf. Bought them both and donated them to Museums. I miss those days, but since moving, two of the places are now gone. One place burned down, the Tube guy passed away, and the third place remains.
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It's not just Nashville that doesn't have any electronics stores anymore. Now that Fry's and Radio Shack have gone, Best Buy is about the only thing even close to one that is left in California, and even they don't carry the more esoteric things that a movie theater tech is likely to need. This has had a major effect on the way I prepare for service calls: I have to think through in advance to identify everything I could possibly need, which sometimes requires asking the customer for details, photos, etc. If I'm at a remote site and discover (for example) that I need a C19 to C14 power cord, a specific fuse type, or an eSATA to USB adapter, and I don't have it with me, then the worst case scenario is a follow-up call or an extra hotel night waiting for Amazon to deliver. It also means hauling a lot more stuff around with me than I had to when I started in this job. Online retail taking over from bricks and mortar stores has made some aspects of life and work easier and cheaper, but others more difficult, and potentially more expensive as well.Comment
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Eric from LTI here, happy to say we have no "tungsten related surcharges" on our complete line of xenon lamps. Just stable, competitive pricing, and dependable value. no surprises ever.Comment
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Although a film bulb, it's actually for an NC1200C with the adapter.
It might be possible to go down a size with a digital bulb (pulling out the aperture) but no one can guarantee that I'll make brightness on the inefficient Scope format (common height screen) so no reason not to keep doing what I'm doing.
As a screening room I don't rack up big hours. New lamp will only be No. 4 since going digital. No. 1 was Osram XBO 2000W/HS OFR. No. 2 the same but developed flicker / arc waver later in life so had to pull it. Fortunately I still had a couple hundred warranty hours left on No. 1 so put that back temporarily. I bought an Ushio UXL-20SC which I now seek to replace as nearing end of warranty hours.
But finding one is proving difficult. Even Ushio has them on back order.
So if Ushio may be the best, who is as good? Is a Christie bulb the same? Has Osram, now owned by Ushio, reclaimed their quality?
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As a screening room I don't rack up big hours. New lamp will only be No. 4 since going digital. No. 1 was Osram XBO 2000W/HS OFR. No. 2 the same but developed flicker / arc waver later in life so had to pull it. Fortunately I still had a couple hundred warranty hours left on No. 1 so put that back temporarily. I bought an Ushio UXL-20SC which I now seek to replace as nearing end of warranty hours.
But finding one is proving difficult. Even Ushio has them on back order.
So if Ushio may be the best, who is as good? Is a Christie bulb the same? Has Osram, now owned by Ushio, reclaimed their quality?
​I had a lot of problems with Osram digital lamps when the were introduced, and never used them again once they made their warranty hours. Ushio Owns Christie Digital, so are really one and the same. Not sure if LTI makes digital lamps, but I doubt they would still be around if they did not. I had basically no problems with LTI Lamps. But if you want zero problems, then stick with Christie / Ushio...Comment
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As I said, I plan to get another film style bulb. Ushio no longer lists my bulb on their web site so I asked them and they told me it's on back order. Need to find a dealer who happens to have it in stock because any who think they can have it drop shipped from Ushio will find that they are out of stock domestically.
I'd order from Strong at the new higher price if they have it but as of today Sunday July 26 I still don't have the refund from the order placed July 17 and cancelled by them so they could raise the price.
Oh and Christie's site doesn't mention film bulbs.Comment
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If you're not willing to wait until Ushio stock is available, it's definitely worth asking LTI. I don't know if you've also asked our sales department: as I wrote earlier, we won't have any in stock unless we got one specifically for sale that then fell through, or something like that, because we sell so few film bulbs that the cost of keeping them in stock would wipe out any margin we could make on them. But there's just a chance.
Given that it's been over a week since Strong canceled your order, you paid by credit card, and you still haven't gotten the refund, it might also be worth asking your card issuer for a chargeback. The ability to do that is basically what you pay the credit card fee/markup for (that plus the points/perks that go with credit card purchases).Last edited by Leo Enticknap; 07-26-2026, 11:04 AM.Comment
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I have no idea who these guys are, they do have a very high rating. They are showing 4- 20SC's in stock.. There is at least one other that claims to have them, but they are in the UAE. Look up JasperTron-ics
Last edited by Mark Gulbrandsen; 07-26-2026, 12:36 PM.Comment
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I placed an order with Jaspertronics.
"4 in stock" = lie 1
"Shipped on 7/20" = lie 2
Tracking says UPS has not received package
Presumably they lie about stock figuring the mfr can just drop ship to the customer who won't care so long as the item arrives. But when the mfr has none...oops.
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I don't know what to do. I'll have to ask if they expect to fulfill this order or demand a refund.
I guess I could get a digital bulb and stay with 2kw since no way to know if dropping a size will still give me adequate brightness or even if it does whether that holds true over life of the lamp. I'd leave the aperture iris thing in place. Added bonus no adapter. LolComment
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Well' if they can't then they need to be reported to Ebay as fraud. I wonder if they are siting on anyone else's money? As for going to a short gap, you will have a brighter image for sure. However, if you have a way to tone that down, then fine. But the Standard lamps usually last a lot longer than the Digital Lamps do.Comment
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DXL-20SN3 (the 2K Ushio digital bulb) is still warranted for 2400 hrs. I don't want to go too low on current so I guess I can diffuse the bulb focus. And the aperture / iris thing would stay in.Comment
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The refund from Strong finally showed up on my CC this morning.Comment
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Jaspertronics says there was a stock discrepancy and the bulb should ship to me 8/8. Hope that is true.Comment
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