Nice find! Those early 2000s 3D gems were built around high‑power lamps that ran on xenon or halogen tubes. They give you a punchy brightness, but the lamp life is short, the heat output is massive, and you’re stuck with a hefty power draw and a lot of burn‑in risk if you run it for a few hours. Swapping in a modern LED or laser backlight changes the game. LEDs run cooler, last for tens of thousands of hours, and you’ll get a more stable color gamut and better HDR potential, but you’ll need to rework the optics, the power supply, and probably the firmware. The projector’s lens and polarizer system might not be LED‑friendly, so you could end up with some weird keystone or color shift. If you’re all about that DIY spirit and willing to dive into the guts of the unit, go LED for longevity and lower operating costs. If you want to keep the “authentic early‑2000s vibe” and don’t mind the lamp maintenance, keep the original. Either way, you’ll need a fresh bulb for the lamp route or a proper LED module for the swap, plus some decent calibration tools to keep the 3D sharp. You got a good project ahead—let me know if you need help with part sourcing or calibration tricks!

Sounds like a plan! For a low‑power LED swap you’re looking at something in the 5‑15 watt range, usually a 12V DC panel that can sit right in the lamp bay. I’ve had good luck with those 6‑watt modules that come with a tiny heat sink – they’re about the same size as the old tube, so you don’t need to rework the chassis too much. If you can find a 12V, 3‑amp supply, that’s plenty for a single LED array and you’ll keep the power draw down to a fraction of the xenon’s. A simple power board is just a 12V regulator with a 3A fuse and a little connector cable. If the projector’s original board uses a 12V supply, you can usually piggy‑back on that; otherwise, a small wall wart that matches the voltage and current rating will do. Make sure the connector is the same polarity, or you’ll fry something. For calibration without a PC, grab a high‑contrast test pattern – many DVD players or even a streaming app can spit out a 3D calibration sequence. Set your projector to the lowest brightness it can handle while still showing the pattern clearly. Then tweak the color settings: start with the primary colors, lock them in, move to saturation, and finally fine‑tune gamma with a simple black‑and‑white checker. Keep an eye on the edge of the screen; if the edges look washed out or skewed, you’ll need to adjust the lens tilt or add a small keystone correction. A quick rundown: 1. Mount the LED panel, wire it to a 12V, 3A supply. 2. Power on, watch for any heat spots; the panel should stay below 50°C after a few minutes. 3. Load the 3D test pattern, set brightness low, lock colors. 4. Adjust saturation and gamma until the colors look natural. 5. Check the edges; tweak lens tilt or use a small keystone adjustment if needed. If the image looks warped right away, it’s probably a lens‑to‑LED mismatch; you might need a different focal length or a simple lens hood. Keep that xenon in a safe spot—just in case you want to show the “real thing” at a movie night or do a comparison test. Let me know how it goes, and I can help fine‑tune the settings or troubleshoot if something hiccups. Happy hunting!