Telly on the blink.

[Paul Carmel]

900 bucks for a light bulb .......I am in the wrong game.

Sue, His name is Kat Cobain.

[A-two]

I'm told the cost of bulbs depends on your projector. They go up to something like 4,000 Lumens, whereas the one we used at the vineyard is 2,500 - 1,500 with a bulb cost of about $350, but the life of the bulb is about 2500 hours and they have a timer on them. The reason for the timer is so that you don't run them to the end of their life, otherwise they can shatter inside the projector (are you warming up to this idea yet?).

By my rough calculation therefore, one bulb would last for 2 movies per night or 3.5 hours of TV over 1 yr and 11 months. Skip the movies every other night, and you have almost 4 years to go before you need a replacement . Put another way, the cost is 21 cents per movie or $12.60/$0 per month depending on your addiction to LMH and how little time that leaves for anything else. Even adding an online movie subscription package, that's still a 75% saving on current cable/ satellite subscription cost. This is very good for someone who only wants one TV in the house, otherwise everyone has to move into one room and watch the same thing.

Still not convinced? Me neither, so I'll just add it to that other pile of useless information to be reinvestigated soon/ later/ sometime/ never.... great for recreating the old drive-in-movie nostalgia though and you can set it up it in any old field with a clear sky above, a power source, a portapotty and unlimited quantities of wine. Quite an attractive combination for guests when presented as Movies under the Stars. The kids bring a tent and set up at the back with flashlights and plenty of cookies. Roll on next summer....

Sorry Paul, didn't mean to hijack your thread. Is the cat singing Kat Dreams?

[Paul Carmel]

Sorry Paul, didn't mean to hijack your thread. Is the cat singing Kat Dreams?

No worries Joanna, I thought it was a rendition of What's New Pussycat, but in a Ramones kind a style.

[vrooje]

$350, but the life of the bulb is about 2500 hours and they have a timer on them.

I didn't know about the timer, but it does make sense.

If we would only use the projector for movies, that'd easily be worth it. But I know us -- we'd watch DVD sets of our favorite TV shows, and my husband would play his video games on it -- and a good video game can be 80-100 hours' worth of playing, over a few weeks. So we'd probably be the equivalent of a movie or two a night.

Still, when we start seriously thinking about a new TV, I will bring this up as a definite option. If we found a model we liked and then purchased it on eBay, we could probably stock up on replacement bulbs for what it would cost us to buy a new (big, husband insists on big) LCD.

But either way (just to pretend we're still right on topic), I wouldn't suggest a projector at a rental property! Too much fiddling may be required -- and I'm also of the opinion that most people don't go on vacation (at least not where my property is) in order to watch TV, so top-of-the-line is not necessarily required.