I have been seeing alot of DLP big screens on some of the shopping channels. They look fantastic. But, I've heard that every year or so you have to replace the lightbulb in them. It is easy to do but, it is very expensive. Can anyone tell me if that is true? Thanks

The bulb in *most* DLP rear projection sets runs 2000 hours or so. Cost runs in the neighborhood of $200, as they are available at discount from various web based vendors.

Samsung makes a couple models (HL61A750 and HL67A750) that use three LED light sources instead of a bulb. The LEDs are supposed to last somewhere between 20K and 80K hours. As noted below, I've got one of the earlier 61" LED powered Samsungs and at just over a year of service it's doing fine.

The biggest problem with the conventional RPTV bulbs is that most of them lose luminance slowly over their lives, so when they go out, it's at the tail end of poor performance. I know that LEDs will dim, albeit very slowly and not noticeably, and last as long as CRTs. Panasonic introduced LiFi lighting in their RPTVs last year, which are (supposedly) good for close to the life of the unit and (supposedly) do not degrade.

If you want to buy an RPTV, if it has a bulb (a few still do), compare the price of it to the LED/LIFI versions including at least 1 bulb (if not 2). Service contracts used to include replacement bulbs for cheap, but these days it's less likely that you're getting a good deal on them, if they're included at all.

I have a hl61a750, it's a LED DLP and presents a remarkable picture. That being said I have only had it for about 45 days. AVS has a thread on these TV's and it seems to be the best value per square inch.