Am i the only one?

[blitz6speed]

Im a huge projector person. Ive owned several projectors, from 480p to 1080p, dlp to lcd, and loved them all. The problem was the bulbs. I just couldnt stomach the bulb life anymore and went flat screen and have been waiting for LED projectors that do not blow a bulb out of nowhere to come out.

Am i the only one out there waiting for this transition? I mean, a LED projector means tens of thousands of hours of life, not 3000 if you're lucky. It could be used as your main display for everything. Bulbs are what keep projection out of the mainstream, once they're done for and that ancient technology is finished, we'll see projection become way more popular. I myself am waiting for it to happen so i can dive back in. And i know there is one LED projector out now, but its overpriced like mad. Once other companies join in the bandwagon, it will become dirt cheap real fast.

[FilmmakingFiasco]

Originally Posted by blitz6speed

Bulbs are what keep projection out of the mainstream, once they're done for and that ancient technology is finished, we'll see projection become way more popular.

Several other factors keeping projectors from being mainstream are room space (for the screen) light control and low lights (my parents hate watching a movie with all the lights off) and the constraints of mounting/positioning the projector (kind of goes with space).

[Suntory_Times]

OP, check out lumenlab, they solve your main problem (though imo diy whilst impressive and gives cheap bulbs falls behind a good commercial 1080p projector). Though I currently have a diy 720p projector I use for computer use (eg, right now), and I have a commercial projector for watching movies.

[bajor27]

definitely not the only one. Just hit 2000 hours on my current projector and I'm not looking forward to being forced to upgrade or replace in the near future.

Would love to basically throw out all my thoughts of how many hours I have left.

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by blitz6speed

I just couldnt stomach the bulb life anymore and went flat screen and have been waiting for LED projectors that do not blow a bulb out of nowhere to come out.

You must be using the hell out of your PJs. But have you done your research in terms of the shortfalls of LED bulbs when mounted in a PJ?


fuad

[blitz6speed]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

You must be using the hell out of your PJs. But have you done your research in terms of the shortfalls of LED bulbs when mounted in a PJ?


fuad

Im aware of LED shortfalls, and id accept them to not have to go through bulbs every 3k hours (and thats if you're lucky). I used my projectors as main displays, PC, PS3, etc. They had thousands of hours in no time and became a nightmare upkeep wise. LED will fix this issue. My main concern after all this time is a huge screen, i can take a quality hit so i can watch something on a projector and regret every minute because its costing so much to watch due to bulb usage.

[Grevlin]

I see bulb lives usually around 3000 hours.

8 hours per/day for 365 days per year = 2920 hours

That's 8 hours every single day of the year...

At that rate its a bulb/year - $400 each give or take. (With most likely a whole new projector after two years)

That being said, I've considered the electric screen that lowers down in front of the wall mounted lcd tv - to save bulb life from day to day viewing. I just wonder about all the raising and lowering hassle- and the viewing quality of the hanging screens.

1. Can I use up a bulb in one year?
2. Is the $400 per/year going to kill me?

[Trogdor2010]

Go for a CRT front projector, the tubes last much longer (about 10,000- to 20,000 hours) than the bulbs of digital projectors, although you need to replace all three tubes once they all go out (or if one of the tubes burn out, replace the individual tube based on the color, but you may as well replace all three tubes) and they are huge, but they have an extremely deep black level (think Pioneer Kuro deep, and it's an emulation of a CRT itself), and has the best quality picture, and those with larger tubes can accept higher resolutions (the Sony G90 about $5000 on ebay, has 9 inch tubes that accept resolutions up to 2500*2000, about 2.4 times the resolution of 1080p) and you may find some on Ebay for relatively cheap. Just check the size of the CRT tubes, 7 inchers accept about 480p or 1080i (720p if they are in good care), and 8 inchers can accept about 720p (1080p if the tubes are in good care), 9 inchers can easily show all the details of 1080p (and beyond), if you give a higher resolution than the CRT guns accepts, it will accept it, but it will appear smeared and less detailed, this case go for lower resolution (1080i though should be easy for a projector to accept), you may also need to buy an adapter to use certain video sources (HDMI, DVI, component, which needs a RGB converter). If you can get through the inconveniences, it is definately worth it, and it will last longer than digital projectors.

[blitz6speed]

CRT projection is not friendly technology, huge, loud and not easy to use. Im thinking more mainstream here, something cheap, small and last a long time. Not something that needs its own enclosure to keep the noise level down.

[Blaumann]

I'm actually (trying) to wait for the LED DLP pj's, before i'm going to upgrade again. Just want a very good, stable, long term product that doesn't start losing light output after 150hrs. Sort of like a G90 of the digital world.

Right now i'm keeping my Marantz VP12S4 720p DLP which works very well for my setup and seating distance. But i'm afraid i'm gonna get another bulb-thingy before LED DLP's are affordable and past their teething problems....