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Is there a cheap solution for projector bulbs?


Question: It's a real pain to part with $500 for a bulb just so that I can watch some movies. However, it's still tempting to have own movie theatre at home. How can this be resolved? Is there an alternative to the projector bulbs? I know they're expensive to make, blah-blah-blah, but can this be done? Or, maybe, there's a projector, bulbs for which only cost under $100?
Answers: I highly doubt it. The cheapest bulb I've heard of was still about $300. The problem is that the required bulbs are both small and very high output. That costs $$. Like Xenon bulbs for car headlights ... cool looking, but $hundreds to replace.

I suspect any home made bulb or adapted bulb would seriously degrade performance and probably void any warranty. I don't think it would be worth it.

It may help to consider that even at $500/bulb if you get the rated 3000 hrs of use, it costs less than $0.20 / hr to run. At 2-3 hrs/day a new bulb is only required every 3-4 years ... and many of us will trade the projector first. Also consider that most of us pay $1+ for a cup of coffee or $5-10+ for lunch and don't blink ... is the cost of a bulb that intollerable given the experience of a big screen home theatre?

Maybe if you throw spare change in a box at the end of 3 years you will have enough for at least one, and maybe 2 bulbs.

It makes sense to maximize bulb life by a) cooling down the lamp properly after use, b) avoiding rapid on/off cycles (never use a bulb for less than 5 minutes, c) employ a UPS to be prevent bulb damage in the case of power failure (reported to cut bulb life by as much as 20%), and d) keep filters clean and avoid cutting off cooling air by, for example, blocking cooling vents.
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