OEM bulb vendor

According to your owner's manual you are looking for the VLT-HC3800LP lamp assembly. Two preferred OEM lamp resellers are Provantage and B&H.

Try here:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/715276-REG/Mitsubishi_VLT_HC3800LP_VLT_HC3800LP_Replacement_Lamp.html

Although I would buy from them again, I am not recommending them but just reporting that I have had good luck with Pureland Supply.(Not to be confused with horrible PureGlare lamps) I am not recommending them because I have only bought two lamps from them...however the ones I bought are working fine. One is in a training room and has been used several times a week for a year and the other is in my Epson 8500UB and has 1100 hours on it with no problems and still going strong.

Your lamp is here, it is the same lamp are OEM but they use their own housing:
http://www.purelandsupply.com/hc4000-mitsubishi-projector-lamp.html

How many hours did you get on your Mits bulb?

Possibly because that one at Pureland is not really an OEM lamp. It's worded " Lamp Assembly with High Quality Original Bulb Inside" --> Does not say it's an original manufacturer bulb that would have come in the projector (Mitsubishi VLT-HC3800LP), just that it's not a "used" bulb. I would bet that you could sell anything as "original" just like you can sell anything with the description "natural".

The Pureland one says "Mitsubishi HC4000 Video Projector Lamp Replacement"
Vs. "Mitsubishi VLT-HC3800LP Replacement Lamp " on the B&H site.

I could be incorrect but I'd suspect it's just a generic lamp and they purposefully word it to be confusing and misleading.

The other possibility is they wrote down the specs wrong on the Pureland site and just happened to not clearly word it that it is a Mitsubishi OEM lamp, but to me this seems less likely. Maybe someone with more experience would have some input.

If you look at the genuine bulb on B&H, it also lists
a warranty of "1-Year or 500 Hours Warranty" vs 90 days on the pureland site.

Go with Provantage, I am at 3300 hours on my OEM Mitsubishi lamp from Provantage and just reset the counter. If your image is still looking good, buy the NEW OEM lamp from Provantage, replace your lamp and put the old one in the box with the number of hours you have on it written on the box.
When the new one gets to 3000 hours, just reset the counter if the image is still bright enough as you have the original as backup if the one you are using fails. With your usage model I expect you can get 6000 or more hours from a lamp.

I have spoken with them on the phone in the past...for the way they worded this listing for the Mits lamp they are saying that the actual lamp is sourced from the same factory and is indeed the same lamp that is in the OEM replacement...however the housing is not. The housing is an exact copy of the OEM housing. I have ordered 4 "compatible lamps" in the past. The first two from a different company died at 80 and 400 hours respectively. The 2 Purelands I have bought work great and the one I am using in my 8500UB has over 1100 hours so far. I am not recommending them because an experience of 2 lamps is not a big sample. The have 247 reviews on ProjectorCentral with a 5 star rating:
http://www.projectorcentral.com/dealer_ratings.cfm?dealer_id=8224

Those non OEMs may be just fine, but for my money, $60 more for the OEM is a no brainer.. Taking a $239.00 gamble that you will get 3000 hours instead of spending $298.00 just makes no sense. Yes, it is true, the OEM could fail after a couple hundred hours as nothing is perfect, but odds are in your favor that the OEM will last a full lamp lifetime.

I agree....I'd prefer the OEM in most cases...but with Epson it might not be worth it...my original lamp lasted 1400 hours in eco mode...second lamp was an Epson lasted 1900 hours in eco mode...supposed to get 4000 hours in eco mode....so I decided it was just not worth it and so far I've got 1100 on the Pureland lamp. I think if you have an old 720P projector and a new OEM lamp costs between 300-400 then either replace the projector or get a cheap compatible lamp and hope for the best. In most other cases the OEM lamp is the better purchase.

Good point.

Ha, I have a sanyo PLV-1080HD (same as Sanyo PLV-Z700) that was my first projector purchase as a display model from Best Buy. It's rated at 2000hrs lamp life. It showed 3500 hours on the bulb when I purchased it (I know, that's a lot... but I paid under $500 including 4yr BTP warranty at best buy in late 2009. I suspect it also counted hours when connected in their system with RS232 control and the bulb either off or in a lower power mode with the lens cover closed). I reset the lamp counter about 500 hours later. It now shows 2000 hours on it and the "lamp replace" light is lit again -- I think it lights up just after XX00 hours as it was lit when I purchased it. Still going... decent brightness with a 106" 2.8gain Dalite HP screen and low lighting -- I only kept it as backup but my Epson 8100 developed colored bands so I've started using it again.

My epson 8100 also failed at lower hours, something like 1400 and 2400. The epson was so much better than the old sanyo I had though.... Very versatile with huge difference from brightest and best modes. The sanyo had an unusable brightest mode (Green), but the epson's was fairly good.

Let me save you a lot of trouble. the replace lamp light is on a countdown timer. if you got 3500 hours AND another reset on the lamp you are doing great. If you go with a replacement lamp make sure the Lamp itsellf is made by philips. Many companies buy the lamps and put them in thier reflectors and they work just fine. Just make sure the actuall lamp is a Philips. ALSO when you do replace the lamp Run the projector in ecomomy mode for the first 1500 to 2000 hours. The chances are pretty good that a new lamp running at full power will cook the Blue LCD Panel and the projector will be useless after a short time. Let me make this even simpler. The brighter the lamp/light the quicker the UV rays will break down the Blue Polorizer and the blue LCD panel. I'm not talking about turning down the brightness in the menu control. I'm talking about choosing the Lamp option that reduces the actual power going to the lamp. Also if you have a power saving option that shuts it down into standby mode when it see no signal make sure to choose that

Good Luck

Bohanna

These sellers are very tricky. There is no guarantee that this is a genuine Mitsubishi lamp as in the replacement lamp that is sold and branded Mitsubishi. First of all they have the part number wrong...the real part number is VLT-HC3800LP....NOT VLT-HC3800LP-OEM as the questionable seller shows. No where in that ad do they list Mitsubishi as the manufacturer. Here is an example of how an ad should be written if you want to know for sure you are getting a genuine Mitsubishi branded lamp:

http://www.supplysale.com/Item.aspx?sku=0052150423OP&sgd=321d319d318d312d316&zmam=63922997&zmas=1&zmac=5&zmap=0052150423OP

You can see the ad specifies Mitsubishi as the manufacturer and uses the correct part number. The other ad does not...You can bet if that seller was selling a real Mitsubishi branded lamp they would proudly state that in their ad.

Taken from their Ebay Feedback:
"CAUTION! bulb shattered 1st use! Prompt refund, but still not a quality product!"
"bulb did not fit perfectly. not an OEM product."
"I Had the item 10 days and it exploded in my projector"
"Product is not original"
"item does not appear to be original mitsubishi but works very well, well package"
"Bulb not EIKI manufacted made in china,not willing to work with me"
"Buyers Beware. Bulb arrived DOA, had to fight hard to get refund. Caution all"
"Horrible experience. got a Damaged lamp, still going through hell to return it"
"This item was used. The lamp had hours already. Need to return for refund"
"Item was used/refurbished - Posting refelcted a new item"
"sent defective bulb/poor communication/poor return time"
"Working, but poor quality item and poor quality communication. Won't buy again"
"blub was no good and would not stand behind, would never buy from again"
"bad bulb.. poor customerservice...i feel ripped off"
"Defective item sent - Seller didn't return my calls to fix issues."
"Sent me lamp with broken tray, claimed to not know me when I tried to exchange"
"Didn't work in our tv. Spent almost $100 in return shipping & restocking fees"
"lamp was used&description of lamp stated "Condition:New " when the lamp was used"
Edited by leckian - 3/20/13 at 11:10pm