Hi, hoping someone can confirm what the problem with my PJ is: PJ is a Hitachi Home 10.

Does the lap burn out slowly or "all of a sudden"? Watched a movie on it Tuesday the 6th and all was fine. Tried to watch one last night (2/10)and the brightness seems to be WAY DOWN. It's now unwatchable! My brightness is normally set at + 15 out of 30. I bumped the brightness up to 30 and it made no difference at all in image brightness. Bad part is I only have 230 hours on the bulb (not sure about this though, PJ was a refurb with what was supposedly a new lamp. Lamp hours were at 0 when I purchased it, but you never know with "refurbs").

QUESTIONS:
1) is this how lamps usually die, kind of just fade out?
2) could turning the PJ off at the light switch(without the standby cool down time) cause this? My mother in-law watches our kids sometimes and has been guilty of this. She "forgets" how to turn it off properly, even though I've told her 1000 times.
3) should i replace the bulb or take this opportunity to upgrade? willing to spend approx. $1000
4) 230 hours is pretty bad for lamp life- correct?

Thanks in advance for any help offered!

All imo since it's very subjective.

1. I think so. The glass on the filament stem just melted/gave way. You just lost a ton of lumens. If you get a lamp that goes the distance you notice change over a long period of time and then you consider if you want to get that pop back sooner or later and your discretion, the choice in your case was just made for you. I've seen exactly what happened to you.

2. Yes possibly, imo. Usually fans run a bit longer after a normal shutdown for proper bulb cool down. I'd take it off the switch.

3. I would upgrade.

4. 230 is very bad. I had two go under 350 and it was looked as a bad lamp in both cases. I however changed all of my bad habits that could have an affect and never lost another since. Voodoo I don't know but I wasn't chancing it anymore.

#2 is very bad and I'm sure would void any warranty.

Never do this again.

2) could turning the PJ off at the light switch(without the standby cool down time) cause this? My mother in-law watches our kids sometimes and has been guilty of this. She "forgets" how to turn it off properly, even though I've told her 1000 times.
You should never plug a projector into a switched outlet. Not allowing the fan to cool the bulb at shutdown will undoubtedly shorten the bulb life significantly.

If you are looking to upgrade, take a look at the Mitsubishi HD1000U.

I know about the cool down, and i was always the one that started/stopped the PJ. My mother in law can't say no to my little ones so she wanted me to show her how to start/stop the PJ movie process. Like an idiot I explained it to her so she took that as permission to use it any time she wants. I told her DO NOT touch the wall switch. She'd even called me on my cell phone asking "how do i shut the projector off again?". Push off on the remote twice!! It's not that complicated! She used it this past Thursday and claims she shut it off properly but I don't know if I believe her. Last winter she rear ended our minivan in our driveway and claimed she stepped on the brakes and her car slid.(UP hill mind you).

Definitely not under warranty, 1&1/2 yrs. old. How much is an average lamp?

I'll probably take the PJ off the switch. I read alot on installations and most seem to be on swithed outlets.

thanks again all!

On last question: could something else, other than a lamp issue, be causing the decrease in brightness?

I found a new replacement lamp on the internet form a place that sells replacement PJ & RP lamps, for $169.00 w/free shipping. i assume that this is an excellent price, right? If it's only $169.00 I'll just replace it as we only use it for DVD viewing once or twice a week.