It's simple. if your lamp is broken then you can't find your remote to turn the TV on.

 Stof wins!

Shit. This scares me. I bought a used DLP TV. But I got a 56" for $480. Seriously. Top that fucking super deal.

The catch: the speakers don't work, boohoo, so the guy threw in free external speakers and a receiver! Booyah!

I think I remember him saying he put a new lamp in it before he sold it to me, but... how long do they last? I use it all day every day for movies and games.

The bulbs are "rated" for something like 8000 hours, which is what many CFL light bulbs are rated for. Unfortunately, while the CFLs actually do last 8 years or more, this isn't really the case for the DLP bulbs; it's more like 2-5 years.

This was a floor model, which is why I bought it... I was actually hoping the lamp would go out within a year... and it lasted about six months. I just wish it wouldn't have done it on a Sunday morning when I had absolutely nothing else to do.

Anyway, I ended up finally finishing Phantom Hourglass (got to the last dungeon and then quit playing after I bought it) and played some PSP games (Echochrome demo and Mega Man). Overall, not bad but with SMG, Z&W, Rock Band, and Warhawk calling my name all day, it was a little annoying.

Never NEVER buy floor model at a store. when you only get less than 10K bulb life, you've wasted a lot of that already while it's been turned on for 12 hours a day on the floor.

If I remember correctly, LCD has about 300K hours?

I would never buy a floor model LCD or plasma but with the DLP, I was just crossing my fingers in hope that the lamp would kick off before the warranty was up. That way, I get six months of use and a new lamp... Besides, I paid a ridiculous $610 (pre-tax) for a 50" Toshiba DLP. I knew there was a risk but in the end, it will have paid off.

^^ but rocket pig happens to win out because it burnt out within the warranty. But I would agree that buying the floor model usually isn't a good idea.

Honestly, I don't know if your warranty would cover the bulb, Most manufacture warranty are "limited" (actually, all of them are) and they only cover "defects", I would hardly consider a bulb that died of natural cause would be considered "defective"

but, definitely give them a call.