I just bought a replacement bulb for my Epson Powerlite 720C. Instead of buying it from Epson for $500 i bought it from an internet vendor for $199.00. It seems not quite as bright as I would have thought--my judgement is impaired by having been watching a MUCH BRIGHTER projector for about two week while waiting for the replacment bulb. Am I imagining things, or would a $199.00 bulb (had exactly the same part number as the Epson reorder number) be of poor quality/brightness compared to one bought from Epson for $500?

Yep.. unfortunately this seems to be one item where you get what you pay for... Was the replacement made in china?

Yep, Made in China--

The original was likely made in China as well.

Look on the bulb itself. Verify that the markings are the same, that it is the same bulb from the same OEM. If not, then there is likely a difference. I recommend only using the same lamp that came in your unit. It might be available from many distributors. In some cases there are substitutes that are known to work identically, but I know of none for this unit.

A projector lamp today is itself a high tech precision product that greatly affects projector performance. The arc needed for a micro-display projector is very short and also needs to be precisely aligned with a precision reflector and to get adequate light to the screen. But that final alignment needs to be done by hand with each lamp at full operating temperature. And this final alignment is no fun.

During alignment the bulb is cemented to the reflector while it is outputting a blinding, burning light. The lamp also is operating at extreme high voltage, and outputs lots of UV, etc. As far as I know there still is no automated alignment process because it is so difficult, there are too many degrees of freedom, and the variability in the the bulbs and reflectors themselves is still too high. And even with all this attention many lamps still may not work that well when the rest of the lamp assembly is put together.

The lamp manufacturing process produces a range of lamps, some with off axis or diffuse focus that may run fine, but may not produce the same lumen output. Think of it as A+ through C or D quality with some percentage of the lamps being rejected by the OEM. I suspect that many of these low lumen output lamps are what find themselves into the secondary lamp market. They were assembled with new components and should last as long as a regular lamp, but if the bulb and reflector are cemented together a bit out of position there may never be any way to get the full lumen output from the projector. If you do not need the highest brightness from your projector they may be a bargain. But do not expect the full performance of a first quality lamp. At least not in brightness.

Tsaksa, your post should be in a sticky at the top someplace!