Lamp life on Sanyo PLV-Z5

May be users of projectors can report how long they actually use their lamps.
I just replaced the lamp in the Z5 after 3,339 hours as I wanted the best picture possible for the Olympics.
The picture is bright again and grey and white screens are more uniform again. Prior to the replacement the left side was more greenish while the right side more reddish. But in a movie, it was not obvious, only when the titles ran at the end. My wife didn't notice the change in her dvd-viewing.
Over time, I have increased the brightness to make up for the dimming, i.e switched from the "brilliant cinema" to the "natural" setting. I'm back at brilliant cinema again.
At about 10 cents an hour, not too bad.

Good to hear you have gotten so much life from your bulb. Did you calibrate your projector since the bulb change?

I had adjusted it at the beginning with the test DVD and only increased the brightness over time. I left all the settings the same and it looks fine, the green/reddish tinge is gone.
There was more life left in the lamp, if you weren't picky.
But hey, it's the Olympics in HD, better than being there, actually.

I would suggest that you re-calibrate as the new bulb may be of a different intensity and/or color temperature even though it is an exact replacement.

I don't have a PLV-Z5 but I am at 1,500 hours on a Panasonic PT-AE900U and it is not as bright as it was. I hope to get to 2,500 on mine before replacement, but I would be surprised at this point. I think over 3,300 hours is much better than average.

Chris