Well, I went down to my home theater, turned everything on, and I heard this odd "electric" buzzing sound. If it was louder, I would have thought that I was in Dr Frankenstein's laboratory.

Anyway, it turns out that the sound (which lasted for about 3 seconds) was coming from my Sanyo Z3 projector... And then the "replace lamp" light came on right before it shut itself down... I waited 5 minutes, tried again, and same thing... Buzz sound, and "replace lamp" light....

Argh... This thing has probably 1000 hours or maybe a little more on the "2000 hour" bulb... I know that it might have never hit "2000" hours, but 50-55% of that seems short.

So, is there any respectable place online that I can get a replacement bulb for less than $290 (plus shipping) like I saw on eBay and B&H photo? I'd love to get a new projector, but that is out of the question right now, so it looks like a new lamp is my only option...

Any ideas of places to shop with reasonable prices?

I got my backup bulb here:

http://www.purelandsupply.com/

Speedy service, and reasonably priced.

$251 plus shipping here Advanced Lamps

I am notlooking forward to the day that my bulb gives out on my lcd rp...

I was reading the manual for our Infocus 7205 the other day and it mentioned that once it reaches a pre determined hour mark it will display replace bulb each time at startup. I imagine its via a predetermined hour mark unless its measuring current usage or something...

Anyway that led me to believe you could just reset the lamp timer and get more use out of it until it really did burn out. I'm not sure what risks there are in this but those bulbs are not cheap!

No. That warning would come up for a minute and then go away as it continues it's power-up. My Epson has been warning me for about 8 months, but, yes, resetting the lamp hours would get rid of the annoying blue screen of impending death.

David, the only good news is that a lot of the LCD RP TVs make replacement very easy. It does cost a few hundred dollars, but on my 4-year old Panasonic, I just opened a door on the front, grabbed a handle, yanked it out and then slid a new bulb in. I expected far worse when it went out on me (Superbowl weekend last year... of all times).

Jason

yeah, I think I just have a single screw to remove on the back of the set. last time I went into the service menu and checked the bulb time was at about 2000 hours or so (after 2 years of use). I *think* my bulb is rated at about 6000 hours.. and I just looked online and saw the bulbs coudl be found for $150 to $200. I plan on getting a new TV and moving this one into the bedroom where it will be used much less... so I guess it could still be a while before I need a new bulb.

Nick, I'm sorry to hear about your Z3 bulb. If it makes you feel any better, my Z2 bulb is still going strong.

Have you, or anyone here, ordered from them before?

Sorry to hear that your bulb has dimmed.

Dimmed? I could live with dimmed, this dumb thing is shot. (Can you sense my frustration? Not with you DG...)

I haven't bought anything from them, but they are a 5 star retailer on NexTag.

I cant’ believe you aren’t exploiting this bulb failure as an opportunity to buy a new projector…..

I got my bulb from Projectorquest. Looks like they have three different options for this lamp: from $67-$202

https://projectorquest.com/product/sanyo-plv-z3-projector-lamp-module/

Reviving a 9 year old thread doesn't happen every day. LOL

I'm just surprised people are still using projectors, though i guess beyond 75" screens, that is still a requirement.
Thankfully, in part, our room is limited to 75" max or i wouldn't have anywhere to move the speakers.
Luckily most new large format LED and OLED now have the 75" range as a fairly common option at most big box stores.

Waiting on that OLED to pickup steam..come on industry competition...

An Epson 2040 plus screen will run about 1200$. Perfectly respectable performance, not reference, but pick your size in a lit room even. Lamps $99.

Once LED/lasers roll out..... Ultra short throw with laser under $2k..... Who knows?

Yeah, someday when OLED rolls out (pun intended) with "sheets" of OLED material that you can put on your wall to make virtually any size image (it is a technical possibility), I have no other choice but a projector to get my current 138" image. Outside of needing a dark room (which better simulates a theater for movie watching anyway), and when thinking of "pre-4K" technology, the projector has almost always been the cheaper way to get a really large screen too.

The biggest downfall of the future of having the ability to put a massive roll of OLED material on your wall, outside of potential cost, will be not being able to put the speakers right behind that display like you can with a screen and projector, but that image would be REALLY cool.

Then again, there is already a push for something that I saw coming years ago... Personal displays. By that, I mean headsets that you wear that simulate a massive screen. It is out there and starting to make headlines.

We'll all be living Cronenberg's Videodrome.

What's reality? Did I forget to take off the headset again?
"Long live the new flesh"

Damn V.R. Tech and kid hackers.{uber rich kids home alone with nothing else to do}.

Watch out... This could be next...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW0WRqnLYMw

Interesting comment. I had certainly assumed that a very large physical screen would be a lot more expensive than the corresponding projector/screen combination but I admit I haven't checked for a while.

Then again I am still running a ~104" screen with what must now be a 10 year old projector (Sanyo Z4) so I guess I don't count anyways