Epson 720 Needs Bulb, replace or upgrade?

Hi -
I haven't been very active here since finishing my HT ... but I knew this was the best place to come for this kind of advice:

I'm really enjoying my Epson Home Cinema 720 projector. I use it in a dedicated home theater on a 120" 2.40:1 screen. My screen is DIY Center Stage material from Seymour. It's a perf screen with speakers hidden behind.

My projector has over 1800 hours now and it's telling me to replace the lamp. Picture still looks good, probably has lost some brightness but theater room is completely free of ambient light.

I watch 60% DVDs, 40% football / HDTV / blu-ray. For DVDs, I like everything about the picture quality except plugged up shadows. I've tried calibrating it, and I'm happy enough but that's the main area I'd like to improve when I get a new projector.

My question is, have there been major changes in projectors in the past 18 months? Particularly to black level? Noise is the other area I think my HC 720 could be probably be improved upon.

I know at some point I'll probably want to upgrade the screen too, but I like the look of the current one installed in the room and not itching for another project at the moment.

Whats the best course of action, with an eye on bang for the buck?
1) Replace the lamp and wait another 18 months for projector evolution?
2) Spring for a new projector? Possibly Epson Home Cinema 8350
3) Replace the screen?

Thanks Vracer, those are encouraging statements about the HC 8350. It's looking like a worthwhile upgrade.

I did read a review of it at Projector Central, which raved about it. Only problem, they compared it to the Panny AE-4000 and mentioned some features I hadn't even know about. Particularly the AE-4000's power zoom and focus, and it's memory to quickly switch between settings (ie 16x9 vs 2.40:1) ... but, it's almost 2x the price. I can probably tolerate standing up and manually zooming a while longer and hope this feature can come down to the $1000-ish projectors.

I love my Seymour screen. I'm sure there's probably another small percentage you could wring out with a really high priced screen, but the performance has been great for the price and it was a pretty simple DIY project after polishing up my handy skills on the rest of the build.

My previous web host (1&1 Internet) lost my entire website last year. For over a month they promised restoring from various backups but in the end, they couldn't recover the data. I had a lot of my HTML pages stashed locally but not all the photos of my build so they are wiped out of my build thread. "Someday" I might dig up the original photos and summarize it, because I did take a lot of pics, but there are so many other projects plus a HT to enjoy now

My room is almost completely black. It wouldn't be for everyone but I really like the look. It's modern and clean. I went with dark gray carpet and a dark gray ceiling. My walls are floor to ceiling Black GOM. No windows. Light is totally controlled. To make it look nice when the lights are on, I went with 8x 4" can lights in soffits with nickel trims.

Most of the time I used "Theater Black 1" IIRC, but now that my projector has over 1800 hours on it, I've switched to "Natural" to boost the brightness a bit.

I'm leaning towards the Epson HC 8350, but if I do go for a bulb for the time being, any recommendations on where to buy? I'll check the sponsors, but wondered if there is conventional wisdom about the best outlet for replacement Epson bulbs.

Just wanted to say thanks for all the replies! I lurked for a while and also waffled on the decision.

Yesterday I decided to buy a new lamp since I do like this projector and it's a lot less expensive in the short term, I can always upgrade late in the year or possibly next year when I've racked up many more hours on this projector.

Received my new bulb today and it was easy to swap. BIG DIFFERENCE! I'm back to watching a brighter picture in Theater Black 1 compared to Natural mode with the bulb at 2000 hours. And I forgot how quite the projector is in too. Nice

A bit under 2 years ago, I paid $235 for my 120", 2.40:1 Seymour audio transparent screen fabric, shipped.

That was a terrific bargain based on the performance I've had from the screen ever since. It was a DIY project though, so I had to also buy 1x3s at the local home improvement store and Fidelio black velvet to wrap the frame. I think I bought an upholstery pneumatic stapler and staples (already had the compressor) for the project as well. As I recall, after honing my skills in all the other parts of the build, building the screen was easy.

I realize this is an old thread, but I'm going to be in the same situation again later this year, and all the original comments are still relevant: Still using HC720, Seymour perf screen that's 120" diagonal in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Completely light controlled theater.

I'm looking to upgrade my projector this year and I definitely want to go 1080p. In addition to a blue ray player (that I rarely use), I have DirecTV and watch a lot of football, but outside of football season, the vast majority of viewing is DVDs or streaming content via HTPC.

I like Epson, but one thing I was REALLY looking forward to was lens memory and remote controlled zoom and vertical offset for switching between 16x9 and 2.35:1 formats. The Panasonic AE-4000 had that, but I now that I'm in the market, I can't find that projector anywhere.

I have absolutely zero interest in 3D and the premium and complexity it's adding to projectors.

I took a look through Projector Central but didn't find a good fit. Hope I overlooked something! Can anyone recommend a good 1080p projector with lens memory/automatic zooming and great blacks and color?

Thanks, looking into that now. Price range looks on the high side though and it may be due to 3d which I won't use.

Saw some comments that Panasonic may be coming out with 2 more projectors this year. Any new news on that or any likely shows coming up where they would announce?

Other question is, are there any 2.35:1 native projectors yet, particularly in the sub $3500 price range? That would be awesome and would eliminate the need for motorized lens/automatic zooming.