I have a Mitsubishi HD 1000u and the bulb is at 2908 hours... it says its gonna end at 3000, and yet from what i've read, i'm surprised its lasted that long. Anyway, where should i buy the bulb... I've read that some places sell less than standard bulbs.

I got mine shipped straight from Japan for about half price. Do a search on Ebay.

Bulb prices are highway robbery. It's nuts.

I got mine shipped straight from Japan for about half price. Do a search on Ebay.

Bulb prices are highway robbery. It's nuts.
I looked at one of those on ebay.... just not sure if I trust it. How many hours have you logged on your neew bulb from ebay?

I bought my last bulb from ***************. They were on ebay.

It took about three days to get here - I was amazed.

I have a Mitsubishi HD 1000u and the bulb is at 2908 hours... it says its gonna end at 3000, and yet from what i've read, i'm surprised its lasted that long. Anyway, where should i buy the bulb... I've read that some places sell less than standard bulbs.

Dont mean to hijack your thread but just wondering what you did to achieve that long of a bulb life? Also have you noticed if your picture has gotten darker as the bulb got older?

Dont mean to hijack your thread but just wondering what you did to achieve that long of a bulb life? Also have you noticed if your picture has gotten darker as the bulb got older?

I'm thinking it mst have something to do with the projector itself, it must be a reliable model. My brother also used it for hours on end at at a time to play halo and he never turned it off, which i hear helps. I also adjusted the settings a lil, I'm gonna check and see how i did it. There doesnt seem to be any brightness problems with the lampp either.

I didnt even relize how lucky i had been with the hours on the lamp until i came here to ask about getting a new one lol.

...it's been running STRAIGHT for 2900 hours? Or he just left it on for a lot of straight stretches.

My brother also used it for hours on end at at a time to play halo and he never turned it off

It's a well-documented fact that those that watch their units for longer periods at a time will enjoy far more hours out of their bulbs than those that use their PJs in one to two-hour busts, as every strike of the lamp is the equivalent of 2 hours on the bulb.

Another less-documented "secret" is that a hard shut-down via a rocker switch, as opposed to a soft shut-down seems to extend the life of the lamp, as you are not forcing a quick cooling of the bulb with the fans.

It's a well-documented fact that those that watch their units for longer periods at a time will enjoy far more hours out of their bulbs than those that use their PJs in one to two-hour busts, as every strike of the lamp is the equivalent of 2 hours on the bulb.

Another less-documented "secret" is that a hard shut-down via a rocker switch, as opposed to a soft shut-down seems to extend the life of the lamp, as you are not forcing a quick cooling of the bulb with the fans.

Do you have anything to back this up? Projector companies have gone through a lot of trouble and expense to set up projectors to have fan cooling after shut down. Also many people install UPS systems just so that power is not cut instantly from their projectors so that the fans can cool them. Also what do you think all that heat build up does to the projector.

If I posted links to all the AVS posts I've read over the years on this matter, it would literally take me days to find them all again, and it would fill entire pages on this thread. The nearest I can figure on HTPJs is that the soft shut-down fan cycle is simply an antiquated "safety" relic from years past, or a carryover from the business-class model PJ. In the case of the latter, one would actually want the bulb to be forced to cool at a rapid rate once the meeting is over, since the unit is going to be packed up and immediately moved. With a HT setup, that seems highly unnecessary, since the unit isn't likely going anywhere. As to the former, it would only be necessary if one were considering using the unit again within a short time period of somewhere within 30 minutes or less.

Think of it this way...Would you shoot a can of compressed air at a hot bulb?

As to the "heat buildup" I consider that to be a complete misnomer, as there isn't any heat "building up" once the unit is turned off. Whatever leftover heat that is contained within the unit merely dissipates in a natural manner, not a man-made one.

From personal experience, we've had 4 different units where the lamps all went over 5,000 hours by employing this method. In comparison, we only got 2,700 hours out of the lamp that we allowed fans to cool down, ala the "suggested" method.

If I posted links to all the AVS posts I've read over the years on this matter, it would literally take me days to find them all again, and it would fill entire pages on this thread. The nearest I can figure on HTPJs is that the soft shut-down fan cycle is simply an antiquated "safety" relic from years past, or a carryover from the business-class model PJ. In the case of the latter, one would actually want the bulb to be forced to cool at a rapid rate once the meeting is over, since the unit is going to be packed up and immediately moved. With a HT setup, that seems highly unnecessary, since the unit isn't likely going anywhere. As to the former, it would only be necessary if one were considering using the unit again within a short time period of somewhere within 30 minutes or less.

Think of it this way...Would you shoot a can of compressed air at a hot bulb?

As to the "heat buildup" I consider that to be a complete misnomer, as there isn't any heat "building up" once the unit is turned off. Whatever leftover heat that is contained within the unit merely dissipates in a natural manner, not a man-made one.

From personal experience, we've had 4 different units where the lamps all went over 5,000 hours by employing this method. In comparison, we only got 2,700 hours out of the lamp that we allowed fans to cool down, ala the "suggested" method.

What you say seems to make sense and although I have never heard of this before certainly your experience speaks for itself. At my rate of use I can afford to buy a bulb once (which will be around 2 1/2 years). I do not plan to buy more than one so I'll continue to use the recommended shut down method.

I have my projector connected to a ups just so that if the projector is on and the electricity goes out I will have several minutes of power left to let the fan do its thing. I've heard over and over that this is the "suggested" way to let the bulb cool even though your experience contradicts this notion. After five years I will upgrade projectors and no matter the method for cooling, I'm sure no bulb will last that long with original brightness. I don't pay attention to hours anyway. When the bulb gets too dim to suit me I buy another and the second time around, I'll upgrade. Technology is going too fast in the projector/HT world for me to fool with too many bulb replacements.

To answer the OP's question, I did a search and it looks like the best price (ebay not withstanding) is from PC Nation, which sells it with free shipping and no tax. Wolf Camera also has a decent price but since they are everywhere you may have to pay tax even if ordered on-line.

He's right. Hard shut off after prolonged session is best. Also helps to keep insides of machine clean regualrly with vacuum, preferably one with long nozzle and good Hepa filter. Also filter your room with Hepa filter air cleaner so that dust is avoided in first place. Mine lasted a good bit over 3000.

I have to chime in here on this hard-shutoff thing. I have been taking care of 25+ projectors for a bit over 5 years that are in sports bars. They cannot do hard shutoff, they're mounted 15' in the air. Every single one is controlled either with a Crestron system or by the handheld remotes, depending on the setup at the location.

Most of the projectors achieve their rated lamp life, some go beyond by as few as 500 hours to as much as 2000 hours in one case. Once in awhile we have one fail prematurely, but that is not the norm.

Now, I will also add that these projectors are run 16/7. So, in my experience, using the remote shutoff, AS DESIGNED BY THE MANUFACTURER, does NOT impact the life of the lamp negatively.

And this bit about so-called "quick cooling", where did that come from? This is the fan that is ALWAYS running when the projector is on and continues to run until the lamp cools if shutdown by the remote. The air is NOT cold, so I do not see how anyone can claim it is "quick-cooling". These projectors are DESIGNED to have a normal cooldown period when shut down. Using the hard shutoff bypasses that.

A silly question: what's a hard shutdown? You just yank the power cord out while the projector is showing a picture?

That's pretty much it. Most projectors have power switch that completely shuts proejctor down, no standby, nothing. And some advocate using the power switch to shut off the projector without letting it go through a cooldown cycle that it would normally do if shutdown with the remote.

What I have a problem with is the reasoning in this thread that a hard shutoff is better for the lamp. I don't buy that for one second and my 5+ years of maintenance experience with over 20 projectors is what I have to go on.


A silly question: what's a hard shutdown? You just yank the power cord out while the projector is showing a picture?

i used PCNation for a bulb---back a while ago
cheaper than Infocus....same bulb (Infocus packaging)

i just hit the ON/OFF on the Remote and let the PJ do it's thing
my 1st PJ Infocus LP350 did a Hard OFF....(those units had early Bulb failures)
when i complained to a TECH about that 1 at INFOCUS...
he agreed it was BETTER to put it in Stand-By for 1-2min (Fan Running) then OFF
since then Infocus went back to 60sec Fan cooling for the SP4805 - IN72 - SP7210

i think it's really about LONGER duty cycles
i, however, only watch MOVIES...so it's 2-5 hrs at a time (?Double Feature?)

I have to chime in here on this hard-shutoff thing. I have been taking care of 25+ projectors for a bit over 5 years that are in sports bars. They cannot do hard shutoff, they're mounted 15' in the air. Every single on is controlled either with a Crestron system or by the handheld remotes, depending on the setup at the location.

Most of the projectors achieve their rated lamp life, some go beyond by as few as 500 hours to as much as 2000 hours in one case. Once in awhile we have one fail prematurely, but that is not the norm.

Now, I will also add that these projectors are run 16/7. So, in my experience, using the remote shutoff, AS DESIGNED BY THE MANUFACTURER, does NOT impact the life of the lamp negatively.

And this bit about so-called "quick cooling", where did that come from? This is the fan that is ALWAYS running when the projector is on and continues to run until the lamp cools if shutdown by the remote. The air is NOT cold, so I do not see how anyone can claim it is "quick-cooling". These projectors are DESIGNED to have a normal cooldown period when shut down. Using the hard shutoff bypasses that.

The "long" lamp life you're referring to is, no doubt, achieved primarily due to the extended viewing times of the projector(s) you've mentioned. It is without hesitation that I can assure you that, given the means by which you allowed the units to shut-down, you would have likely accumulated far more hours in employing a hard shut-down method. Sadly, you have never tried this alternative, hence we are left with no control study in your assertion.

Running a fan on a lamp that is generating its own heat is vastly different than forcing ambient air that is significantly cooler than the intended target, i.e., a heated bulb in stasis. Where the former is simply allowing for the bulb to maintain a constant temperature, the latter is forcing the bulb to change temperature in an unnatural and highly expedited manner.

That said, one should still offer congratulations in your extremely good fortune. Running 25 projectors as glorified air filters in a bar environment with even the moderately positive results you mentioned is a noteworthy accomplishment. Regardless of (and despite) manufacturer design, you have somewhat incredulously cheated them of their sole intent in making further profits from overpriced and strategically created bulb replacements. Kudos.