Is there anyway to tell how much longer the bulb will last in my TV? I think it's losing brightness but it's very hard to tell. It seems darker than it used to be but sometimes it seems ok. HD material is ok but SD content looks darker. Is there any way to tell what the life is at? Or how many hours are on the TV?

Mine has been telling me to replace the bulb for more than a month and I bought an extra one. However, I'm waiting until the original bulb dies before I swap them out. I have also been looking for signs other than a built in timer to tell me that the bulb is really near death.

It should tell you the time used or something somewhere in the menus. Mine (Panasonic) changes the time in the menu from white to red when it gets close, then starts blinking the time when it gets closer, and then when it gets really close it shows me a little warning sign every time I turn it on (no menu needed).

Mine shows the warning every time that I turn on the set. However, the picture quality isn't any different than what it was when I first bought it so I'm not sure. I guess I'll just wait until it doesn't come on anymore and then switch the bulb. Is there any danger in waiting until the bulb actually burns out?

A lamp could explode, possibly causing damage to something else. So you have to decide what is worthwhile, pushing it further or not. My first lamp started really having issues. Not always firing up, flickering when it was on, noticeably dimmer, etc. That's besides the warning I described above. So it was pretty easy to know when to replace it. But each lamp is different, let alone different TVs, so you can't assume it will always behave a certain way.

It is best to know the rated life of your lamp, usually something like 5000 for RPTVs, then find the spot where it tells you the time used for the current lamp, there's gotta be a place, possibly in a service menu.

The bulb in my front projector exploded and damaged the unit. Luckily still under warranty.

When mine blew this Saturday, I had no warning at all. Just waiting on the replacement and nervous that it may have damaged something inside. Should know by Thursday at least.

I don't know of a way to tell when a bulb will die, but I know how you can tell how many hours are on the bulb in a Sony HDTV. These instructions are for an SXRD, but probably apply to other Sony HDTVs as well:

Don't mess with any settings in the service menu.

So I purchased a replacement bulb but not the housing for my Sony SXRD 50". How difficult is it to open up the housing and replace the old bulb with the new one? Is the whole bulb replacement process easy?

I believe there are youtube videos showing how to do this. It isn't hard but you might want to wear some gloves so you don't get any oil from your hands on the bulb itself.

I finally got around to changing my bulb this morning. We bought a replacement a few months ago but I was wanting to get as much out of my original bulb as possible before the switch. The set seemed to be getting dim the past few days and with the in-laws coming I decided to go ahead and make the swap. While watching the video on youtube I opened the cage up and changed the bulb. It wasn't as easy getting the bulb in and out as the video makes it seem but it wasn't all that difficult either. After reading horror stories about other sets having broken sensors when replacing the bulb I was a bit worried about that happening but it works just as good as new. The bulb I replaced it with is supposedly the same one they put in the sets out of the factory and not an off brand. I'm hoping to get a year or two out of it before having to replace it.

Approximately how long did you use the original bulb?

2 and a half years.

Damn, the original bulb in my Samsung HL-S5687 has logged over 5300 hours. I think I'll order a replacement just in case. I've had the thing for over 3 years so it's probably about time anyway.

Heck my first Toshiba bulb lasted 3 hours and blew up and I mean blew up. This was a know issue with the Toshiba DLP TVs. I have been going strong for 3 years on the replacement.

i replaced my Sony LCD RPTV bulb last week. it lasted 3 or so years. It cost about 160 bucks shipped (next day shipping) and only took a few minutes to swap. You can get just the bulb or the bulb in the housing. if you get it with the housing, its a lot easier to swap (thats what i did). the picture is now nice and bright. i hadnt noticed how dim it had been getting until i replaced it. new bulb made the room smell like burning dust for an hour or so.