120inna55

Well upon awakening yesterday morning, the Samsung HLN617W DLP had a blank/black screen and the three blinking lights (indicative of dead lamp).
I'd been thinking lately that I may need to have my eyes checked as some of the HD wasn't as "popping" as usual, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Also, some broadcasts seemed "dark", but it didn't seem consistent. I just blew it off as differences in network HD.
Then during one commercial Friday night, my wife (who never really critiques the pic quality) said, "that comercial sure was dark". Now I see that as an omen. Later while watching "My Name is Earl" off the DVR, the image seemed to "step down" to a slightly lower brightness. I actually saw it happen, so I backed-up the DVR to see if I could catch it again, but no luck. Hehehe...that's 'cause the phenomenon had already occured and remained constant. It's just that insidious.
So after waking to a black image yesterday, I called my Circuit City extended service company and had 'em send out another bulb. I was told the order would be processed Monday, then it would take 2-4 days after that to arrive. I asked if I could pay for expedited shipping. So $18 later, it'll be overnighted to me and should arrive Tuesday.
I've no idea how many hours were on the bulb, but we've had the set since June 2004. I leave the set on for the entire weekend most weekends, though. Then it gets at least 7 hours per day on weekdays. So I suppose it's lived its expected life span.
I sure wish I had a spare lamp, though. A while back, I told my wife that I'd like to call-in to the extended service company and tell 'em my bulb was out, just so they'd send me a spare, but she rightfully frowned on the dishonesty. I think she's re-thinking that strategy now, however.

matome

Yeah, you were probably pushing the limit on that bulb. How many bulb replacemnets does that warranty cover? The bulb goes for $200 from Samsung. I'm still on my original bulb from my old 12/2002 Samsung HLM-5065. I would say it probably has around four thousand hours on it. Haven't noticed any brightness issues yet. Just bought a Sammy HLR-5667, so I hope the bulbs last as long for that one.

Spiky

You'll want to reset the hours immediately anyway, so check them out once it the new lamp is in.

120inna55

That's my intent...

120inna55

The salesman at Circuit City assured me that there is no limit and that "it's possible that you'll go through 2 bulbs in the 4-year contract". Given that at the time, the lamps were selling for $300+, the $500 extended service contract would more than pay for itself. Interesting times in which we live where the expendable nature of a high-tech product becomes a "selling point" for an extended service plan. But I took the bait, and still feel I made the right decision (based on my personal nature and my need to have "peace of mind")

Even after reading the fine print on the extended service contract, I find no mention of a limit of bulbs. Of course, if I went through 5 bulbs in the 4-year contract, I'm sure they'd eventually send out a repairman to "check it out" to make sure that I wasn't selling the bulbs, or that I didn't have a precipitating factor such as poor ventillation leading to increased heat causing early bulb failure or a bad ballast, etc.

It's interesting that they don't ask for the "broken part" back as has been my experience with computer parts under warranty. When I replaced my color wheel, they didn't ask for that back, either. I assume that with a bulb, there's no thought of refurbishment as with, say, a malfunctioning hard drive. But I would still think they'd want it so as to deter dishonesty.

120inna55

Replaced the lamp today. All is well. When I went into SM to clear the lamp hours I noted that I'd used 6832 hours on the old lamp. I suppose that's expected. The lamp's rated for 5000 hrs.