Hasta La Gadget!

Last week, a federal district court in New York approved a settlement declaring that people who bought certain models of rear-projection DLP TVs from Toshiba between January 1, 2004, and September 18, 2008, are eligible for cash refunds.

The class-action lawsuit, Ersler v. Toshiba of America Inc., had a claim that Toshiba ‘knowingly misrepresented the life span of the bulbs in the lamps contained in the lamp assembly component of its 2004 and 2005 DLP television models.’ If true, this would mean the sale of the TVs had brought about a ‘breach of express and implied warranties,’ and a violation of the State’s consumer Fraud Act.

In DLP TVs, the lamp provides the light source, and is placed in between the DMD chip and the color wheel to create images.

During sales, Toshiba had estimated the life of the bulbs to last almost 8,000 hours. Instead, many people found them to burn out after only 300 hours, about 4% of the estimated life, or two months of normal use.

That had to be truly infuriating for many, since the sets at that time were seen as a fairly good deal, at a price of about $2,500 for a 50-inch set. Apparently, the replacement bulbs cost about $300 each.

By settling in court, Toshiba has agreed to provide six-month warranty extension for replacement bulbs to anyone that purchased a 2004 or 2005 model Toshiba DLP television in the U.S. If anyone that owned this TV had to go out and buy replacement bulbs in order to extend the life of the TV, they are also eligible to submit a claim for cash refunds.

If you own one of the TVs and know have the right to the claim, you can go to the site created for the settlement at www.dlplampsettlement.com, or you can call the toll-free 1-800-894-1766.

It’s easy to forget how popular DLP TVs were early in the decade, especially since they were overtaken by Plasma TVs and then LCDs in the last five or six years.

For many, DLPs TVs were the best large screen TVs available for the best price early in the decade and Toshiba, Panasonic, and Hitachi were among the leaders. By the first quarter of last year, though, they were hardly moving: only 124,000 rear-projection TVs were sold worldwide, a pittance compared to LCDs, which sold over 20 million units in that quarter alone.

By the start of this year, Toshiba was no longer selling rear-projection TVs and neither, it seemed, was anyone else. The only company currently selling rear-projectioners is Mitsubishi, with its newfangled Laser technology that is quite different and more highly developed than the old DLPs from the mid-2000s.

Check out all of the models eligible for the Toshiba refund after the jump:

Owners of the following 2004 or 2005 model Toshiba DLP televisions are eligible to receive the refund:

• 44HNHM84
• 46HM84
• 46HM94
• 46HM94P
• 52HM84
• 52HMX84
• 52HM94
• 52HMX94
• 62HM84
• 62HM94
• 62HMX84
• 62HMX94
• 62HM194
• 46HM85
• 46HM95
• 46HMX85
• 52HM85
• 52HM95
• 52HMX85
• 52HMX95
• 56HM195
• 56MX195
• 62HM85
• 62HM95
• 62HMX85
• 62HMX95
• 62HM195
• 62MX195
• 62HM15
• 62HM15A
• 62HM15B
• 72HM195
• 72MX195

Photos: FixYourDLP.com/flickr, horaceko/flickr