What is your experience with bulb life?

Well... I am at about 780 hours on the HD70 Bulb and the dim factor at this point is making it very difficult to enjoy SD DVDs now.

I find that on quality HD feeds, the PQ is still very good... but on SD DVDs and lower res Divx material, I am not very happy. Everything that used to be white is now... almost gray.

I am using the 92" GWII screen in a completed light controlled environment. I have been advised to get a White Matte screen to compensate for this... I hope it helps.

You must have your projector ceiling mounted. If so that screen is not ideal. If floor or table top mounted that graywolf II is very bright, I'm sure you know this already.

Optoma really needs to describe the properties of this screen better. They are good for the DV10 but for any ceiling mount they stink. This would be a good screen for LCD projectors self mounted just above your head.

Yes keith, it is ceiling mounted.... the Lens is centered approximately 30" above the viewing area.. (some keystone needed)...

Anyway, the picture used to be very vibrant and brilliant with this same setup... but now, much to my dismay it is dim and the PQ lacks any real life.

I am going to purchase a Matte White screen this week from Accuscreen and see what that does to help. My setup is just not ideal for anything besides a Ceiling mount.

I have about 3,000 on my x1 and am looking to upgrade because the picture has gotten so dark. I'm suprised its lasted so long.

3800 hours on my Panasonic AE700. And still going.

I had 3,000 hours on my X1 bulb. And while I noticed a very slight dimming, I still actually had the brightness turned down a touch.

I went ahead and upgraded to a HD70. First thing I did before really calibrating was turn down the brightness.

To the OP, remember 4,000 hours is just the latest bulb rating for the X1. If I remember right as originally released the X1 had a bulb life of 2,000 or 2,500 hours. Then when I bought mine it was up to 3,000. I guess if you are correct then it is up to 4,000 now. I seem to remember some debate on if anything really changed or Infocus just gained more experience.

Over 5000 hrs on my original Sanyo Z2 lamp and still counting.

4400 on my L200u. Looked dim, bumped up brightness at about 3000 hours, looks fine.

Right on, man....I went over 4k on mine, and it was still going when I went ahead and replaced it. I have it here as my spare The damn things were only rated to 2k, so we're getting some sick value!

So what is the failure mode of these bulbs? Do they usually burn out, fail to strike, just continue to dim, or EXPLODE!?

I'm trying to decide whether to replace mine with a new one and use this one as a back up. Did you notice a big difference in brightness when you replaced your?

Seriously?!?! Never heard of a sanyo buld going over 1000!!

heard of 5 z2's and 850 was the longest. I have a Z1 and have had 2 bulbs both die at 350!!! Has put me right off Sanyo forever.

Also you should look into a Da-Lite high power with 2.8 gain

I have a matte white optpma screen and i'm glad i got that instead of the GWII, first i was pissed i didnt recieve a GWII from my DV10 and after buying one to find out if it was better i promply returned it next day.
Right now i'm using a 106" DIY rubberized canvas i bought off e-bay for $15 with a 1.3 gain.

I have my HD70 set in low lamp mode as it's too bright with it on.

Even trry hanging a white sheet up and see if that looks brighter till you get a new screen.

pan ae900u 1500 hrs since 500 hours intermittently not lighting I have to take the bulb out shake it put it back then it lights. Have to leave on high power else it will never light. Would never buy a panasonic again.

There's plenty of Z2 over 1000 in the Z2 threads. I own a Z2 but I dislike Sanyo due to their support and will never buy another Sanyo anything. I've been REALLY lucky with my lamp and 5000 hrs is a blessing.

I got 2500 hrs on my Z3 bulb, original, wow 5000 on the Z2, you got the magic bulb Legairre

Whats the story with Sanyo, i have never had to deal with them, but i am happy with my Z3

I'm told that using the "high altitude" setting on the fan can extend bulb life for those of us not at altitude. Does anyone have any data on this?

Bud-Man thanks alot for your input... I pulled the trigger on an Accuscreen 100" screen. It wasnt expensive at all and the reviews were ok from members of this forum.


If that doesnt suit my interest, then I will get a High Power.... However, I am being advised that because I have a completely dark room, a Matte White with moderate gain will suffice. I sure as hell hope so.

I have that same "rubberized canvas" from ebay it was just thick blackout cloth and the gain is really only 1.0 to 1.1....as are most matte white screens if it was 1.3 gain you would notice a slight viewing cone and I had none...I still have that screen and it is exactly the same as my joanne fabrics screen I built using thier BO cloth. BTW at 108" my hd70 is still plenty bright enough and the crazy whites are gone at 150hrs so oviously it has dimmed a bit.

just because of one defective bulb?.....Wow tough crowd. Or is it because of thier lack of support on this issue? I think you could find somone on this thread Who has had a bad experience with just about every brand out there. I've heard Infocus is bad as well as sanyo especially

I had my Z2 in for service once, but thanks to all the people that sent theirs in before me I knew how to answer their questions and had zero problems dealing with them. Since then I've been trying to help others deal with Sanyo so they don't get hosed like so many others have. Sanyo denies service for pretty much everything that's supposedly covered by warranty and claims it's th eowners fault. They even went so far as to switch filters on a custimer and claim a dirty one that looked like it had been used on a furnace for years was his. Here's a few link that will help you to understand. You may want to skip to the middle or end to see how things turned out. Also if you search the archive for 2005 you'll find even more unhappy owners due to Sanyo service.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...8&highlight=z2
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...1&highlight=z2
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...5&highlight=z2

In general I'm not pleased with bulb life and the decrease in brightness. I've got a BenQ PB6200, and while bright with fairly accurate colors when new, by about 500-1000 hours the picture dims so much that you have to crank the brightness and contrast to near 75%. At about 2000-3000 hours the picture on this "light canon" is whacked because without cranking brightness and contrast to 100% every movie looks like it's night. When you do this colors are totally off and whites and blacks are crushed to insane levels.

I've gone through 2 pj's and 5 bulbs in 3 years. My bulbs last about a year and the second half of that year the image isn't pleasant.

I'm hoping that laser or possibly LED will present a more pleasing image when they hit the market.

I may be a customer costco doesn't like, but if my projector (panny 100u) looks crappy after only 1000 hours, you can bet it's going back.

My SP4805 is at 2,200 hours (low power mode) and counting....

I have heard some people in the 4805 threads say they got upwards of 4,500 hours on their bulbs. A few others reporetd clsoe to 4,000 hours as well.

I have not noticed a really pronounced dimming of the bulb yet.

5 bulbs in 3 years, man maybe its your projector, im on the same bulb after a year and a half on the z3 and its still bright, at 2500 hrs too

I'm on my third Panasonic (300, 500, 900), and for each one, I've run the projector on the "low" setting. For each of the projectors, the brightness level has been noticeably reduced to me at around 2000 - 2500 hours. Up to that point, the image was sufficiently bright to not cause concern. I'm displaying on a 92" screen (45x80).

I was going to make a new thread for this, but I think it can jsut as well go in here. I'm a new projector owner (I've had mine since Labor Day), so I'm still on my first bulb. I know that excessive strikes can shorten its life, but what I don't know is where I should draw the line. For instance, if I know I'll be back in an hour or two, is it better to just leave the projector on, or should I turn it off and back on when I get back? Is there a good rule of thumb I should follow?

Guys,
As much as I enjoy reading these posts of >3000hr bulb life, it troubles me to think so many of you would sacrifice image fidelity for economy. There's no getting around the fact as bulbs age they dim, they have not made one yet that doesn't. Just my 2 cents.