What kinda Life can I expect out of the Sony XL-2400 Lamp?? (1 Viewer)

[widescreenforever]

Bought a Sony KDF46E2000 set this past week,, extremely happy with the picture and features., But was warned before I bought about the life expectancy of the projection bulb or in my case the Sony XL-2400 Lamp .

Good to see that you can maintenance this bulb by yourself, but was thinking about stocking up on a few bulbs for the future. Questions now come to mind:
1. Is my 1 year warranty on my TV cover the bulb?
2. Is 8000 hours being too conservative ? or is 3000 hours more realistic?
3. How many years do you think this size bulb will be available for my model of TV ?
4. Sony and other Bulb retailers want up to $300 for the bulb, but I can find the same bulb or style close to it, for half that on eBay and the like.
Can they be dependable?
5. Is stock piling a few bulbs really that necessary?.. I mean There must be millions of compatible Tvs that depend on this bulb, would the industry stand behind us?

What is your projection bulb stories for me with your own situations??

Thanks for reading

 

[widescreenforever]

well here we are almost 2 years later I just bought my first replacemnt bulb , in anticipation of failure of the lamp projection bulb. I see here i never got any answers to my well placed questions from Nov '07 ., but will keep the new bulb handy so I won't be without projection images on a dark and stormy night ...