[Bob in St. Louis]

I've had my Sanyo PLV-Z2 (720p/1080i) projector for about five years. The only maintenance I've performed is replace the air filter (once), and cleaned the filter out (three or four times) with compressed air, and a couple quick video calibrations. Other than that, the $1,000 I paid for it five years ago and the $20 or so for the air filter has been some of the best money I've spent.

After 3,046 hours of "on time" it's time for a new bulb/lamp. Movies have been getting increasingly dimmer over the past couple months to the point where it's become a distraction. Dark movies (like the two most recent Batman films) have gotten to the point where there's times where it's difficult to make out what's going on.

In five years I could count on two hands how many days went by the unit didn't get turned on at all...ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration as we've have a couple vacations sprinkled in there, but you get the idea. Having the projector run for 20-25 hours on the weekends is not uncommon as my house has been voted by the neighborhood children as the first choice to spend the day (source inputs include an XBox360, a PS3, a Wii, and a DVD player).

The other day I finally decided enough is enough...It's time for a bulb.
$290 including shipping. That's a lot of money for a light bulb. This single factor is why most people are afraid of buying a projector, and it's hard to blame them.
But, if you look at the numbers:
$290 = Bulb
3,046 = Hours

That's about 10.5 cents an hour, or 0.21 cents for a two hour movie, it looks much more attractive.
Put a quarter in a piggy bank every time you watch a movie and you've more than paid for the bulb on the day it dies.

In the back of my mind I've (almost) been hoping the unit blows up so I could get a 1080p, but honestly, the 720p/1080i looks great.

The ETA for the bulb is the middle of next week. If I remember, I'll take a before and after photograph of the screenshot to see what the difference in brightness is.

Bob

[ajzepp]

Bob: I had a Z2 for two years and loved it. I couldn't believe how much value I was getting out of my $1000 investment. I've since upgraded to 1080p, but I have very fond memories of my Z2. My brother uses it currently, and even though he's just projecting onto a white wall, the image quality is surprisingly good. Truly a great projector!

PS I remember when I was ready to replace my lamp, I had put nearly 6000 hrs on it! The rep at projector people said that was one of the highest numbers he'd ever seen for a Z2. I remember reading before I bought the pj that it was the on/off action that had the biggest impact on the lamp, so I tried to restrict the number of on/off cycles to only one per day. If it was on, I left it on until I was done for the day. So I got some serious value out of that first lamp! lol

[Phil Taylor]

I had (still have) my BenQ PB6100 for three years and when it was time to replace the lamp I decided to get an Optoma HD70 instead of replacing the lamp. The lamp for the 6100 was like $225 and the HD70 only cost me $425 so for $200 more I got a 720p native unit where the 6100 was only 800x600 = no-brainer. 

[Bob in St. Louis]

The lamp has been replaced.
Overall I'm very happy, the picture is brighter, more vivid, and crisper.
I've got some before and after photos (as promised), but looks are most definitely deceiving in this case. Personally, i've always thought the obligatory screen shots proving how good of an image you've got on your display devise has been a futile attempt. For the first time, I've succumbed to the this very futile attempt as showing you what my picture looks like does NOT convey the true image I'm seeing in real life. Well, it all looks like crap, so my apologies for that. There's actually very little you can see that means much.
So...that being said, the first image is the Sanyo's "house picture". A button on the remote allows you to display this image. Not sure why you'd need it, but it's cool to look at. In this case, it's the best "A/B" comparison I have of the difference between the old lamp and the new.
The second series of pictures is a paused screen shot of the movie "Bad Boys II". A particularly dark scene that's hard to make out what's in the foreground, namely the face of the guy on the phone sitting in a dark car inside a parking garage. The new bulb actually looks worse as there's a lot of "Bloom" (Glow around bright objects). In reality, this 'after' image looks better than what's depicted here.
The last image is my projector laying like a turtle on it's back with the lamp access door open, the new and old bulb, and the air filter.
I'm very happy with the final product. I think it was $290 well spent. Although, I really need to borrow a calibration DVD. Somebody I used to work with borrowed mine, then promptly quit their job...leaving me without a calibration disc. I hate to spend the money again, but oh well...


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