I'm trying to understand the "lamp settings versus lamp life" thing . If I use Cinema Gamma with the Standard (High) Lamp setting am I burning the lamp life faster than if I was to use the Low lamp setting and tweak the brightness up (Sports Gamma, A few clicks of Brilliant color, etc..) ?

I realize I'm changing the image quality...but this is just question is just to understand lumens versus lamp life. So, another way to say this is.. the brighter the image...the faster the bulb burns...no matter what lamp mode is set?

The only thing that will shorten lamp life is setting the lamp to high vs low. The gamma will not have any effect. The contrast, gamma brightness etc.. will just let more or less light through at the low or high setting.

Well then...sounds like a good idea (for lamp life) to try and always use the low setting and tweak for the brightest picture without sacrificing too much quality.

Right. My HD1000 has about 1500 hours on it, and I still use low power mode.

Well then...sounds like a good idea (for lamp life) to try and always use the low setting and tweak for the brightest picture without sacrificing too much quality.Low on the HD1500 is really bright. You should be fine.

I ran my HD1000 thru 2300 hours on Low till the Lamp pop-up started at 2200 hours, then ordered a new bulb and a HC1500 ... running both on Low with the original lamp held in reserve. I moved the HD1000 to the Bedroom with the new lamp so couldn't compare Brightness between old and new very well...

There is a nag screen about hours? Can you turn it off and keep using the same bulb?

Yep just reset the counter and you can continue using the old lamp. I ran my Z2 to 6000+ hrs and just decided that with the HC1500 I would replace the lamp at 3000 hrs as the projector requested. Otherwise you don't realize how dim it is until you get a new lamp. They all dim little by little and I kept thinking my Z2 looked great when it looked really dim at 6000 hrs compared to the first 3000 hrs.

I'm probably pushing 4000 hours or so on my second lamp in my HD1000 and really don't plan to replace it anytime soon (I still have my first lamp in reserve). In my opinion, the overall image quality actually increases as the lamp dims, but the brightness of the image is way down. I used to be able to run the projector with several room lights on with minimal problems, now, depending on the light, the projected image all but disappears. Luckily, I have complete light control in my theater. I actually wish that Misubishi had included a "super economy" mode for the lamp, because I think it would have given a noticeable gain in CR, while saving some lamp life.