I was watching my projector yesterday, I heard a loud pop and the picture went out. I pulled the bulb out and found that it was completely shattered. It was around 3200 hours on the bulb at the time. Has anyone ever had this happen?

Now I am worried that there is something wrong with the projector itself. Does anyone have an old bulb or partially used bulb that I could buy? I would like to make sure it still works before I pay 350 for a brand new bulb.

Thanks in Advance,
Dan

3200 hours on one bulb? Sounds pretty good to me! :o

Thanks for your helpful feedback. I know it was 200 hours pass the lamp timer but the image still looked good. Plus I have been on the fence about upgrading.

The bulb has exploded for many users, it's fairly normal. The bulbs are designed so that the pieces stay in the lamp housing so that it does not shatter pieces into the projector.

BlackHawk77, I didn't intend to sound sarcastic, if that's how you interpreted me! It's just that I've been reading countless stories of bulb explosions and failures at as low as 300 hours. 3200 is actually pretty impressive -- I sure hope my new IN72 can hold out that long. :)

Thanks for the help guys, I had done a bit of reading on the forums but I guess I never did search on bulbs exploding :) So I am assuming that there is a good chance my projector will still work?

Now I need to choose whatr direction to go in, infocus sells a refurb 4805 for less then the cost of a new bulb! I wonder if the refurbs have fresh bulbs in them.

Or do I just punt and order a HD1000.

It sounds like you just want a replacement or an all-out upgrade, but Infocus also carries IN72 refurbs for the price of a bulb, FYI.

Is the IN72 pretty much just a newer model of the SP4805?

Is the IN72 pretty much just a newer model of the SP4805?

From all that I've read about the IN72 over the last couple months, it absolutely is. General consensus is that it outperforms the SP-4805 in most (if not all) areas. Looks cool to boot. :)

Here's Art's review of the IN72 from Projector Reviews:

http://www.projectorreviews.com/infocus/IN72/index.php

My bulb just blew at 640 hours :( Total waste of $300.
HD1000U is on the truck for delivery.