The call: 11 PM, event in 14 hours
Short answer: A wedding planner's Epson projector was dropped from a table during venue decoration setup, cracking the green LCD panel. The projected image showed a large pink-and-black distorted region. The bench replaced the cracked panel and had the unit back by 9 AM the next morning. The wedding slideshow ran without a hitch.
The message arrived at 11 PM. A wedding planner described what had happened during venue decoration setup at a banquet hall: the projector had been placed on a folding table while someone moved furniture, the table was bumped, and the projector fell approximately 90 cm onto a marble floor. The unit still powered on and the lamp was working — but a large distorted region in the lower-left quadrant of the projected image showed pink and green blotching with visible fracture lines. The event was in 14 hours.
Identifying the fault
Step 1: Confirming panel damage versus lens or mirror fault
A drop from 90 cm can damage several components: the LCD panels, the lens element, or the dichroic prism (the glass block that splits incoming light into red, green, and blue paths for the three LCD panels). The fastest diagnostic is to check whether the distorted region moves when the image is zoomed or shifted. If the fault is fixed on-screen regardless of input or zoom, the LCD panel is cracked. If the fault shifts with the image, the lens or a mirror is misaligned. In this case, the distortion was fixed — panel confirmed.
Step 2: Which panel cracked
LCD projectors (the kind Epson, Panasonic, and Canon make) use three LCD panels — one for each colour channel. The pink cast in the distorted region indicated the green panel had cracked. When a green panel breaks, the affected pixels pass unfiltered white light rather than filtered green, producing a pink-and-white blotch (because the red and blue channels are still working). The bench confirmed this by slightly defocusing the projection and observing the colour separation at the fracture edge.
Step 3: Replacement
The Epson EH-TW series green panel (part: ELCX05, compatible with several EH and EB series models) was in bench stock. Replacing an LCD panel requires dismantling the optical block — the assembly containing the three panels, the dichroic prism, and the lens mount. It is precise work: the panels must be aligned to within fractions of a degree, or the three colour channels will be visibly misregistered as coloured fringes around fine lines in the projected image. Alignment took about 45 minutes of the total repair time.
The repair also revealed minor dust contamination inside the optical block from the impact. This was cleaned with a blower and optical-grade cleaning cloth before reassembly. Total time: four hours and twenty minutes. The unit was ready by 3:30 AM. Repair cost: ₹7,200 — compared to the cost of a replacement projector, which for an equivalent Epson model would start at ₹45,000.
What event AV professionals should know
Protection matters more than speed during setup
The single most common cause of physical damage to projectors in India is venue setup carelessness — projectors placed on unstable surfaces, carried without cases, or handled while other furniture is being moved. A projector that takes 3 minutes to unpack from a proper carry case saves hours of emergency repair. Hard-shell carry cases with foam inserts for the specific projector model cost ₹1,200 to ₹3,500 and are standard equipment for any event AV professional. The panel replacement this story describes cost more than most carry cases.
For event planners and AV professionals who run projectors regularly, the projector service care pack is worth considering — it includes priority booking for urgent repairs and covers labour on covered faults. Our guide on projector LCD panel repair has the full technical background on panel types and replacement scopes. For same-day emergency repair in Hyderabad, WhatsApp the model and a photo of the fault to 7702503336 — we confirm parts availability before you make the trip. See also the corporate AV story on 14-projector fleet audit findings for a different angle on pre-event projector preparedness.