Well, I fixed the issue almost 2 weeks ago myself -- but haven't gotten around to updating my dead quiet thread on it -- so hopefully, I won't run into more trouble w/ it for years to come. The red LED part ended up costing only ~$90 (from a wholesale parts dealer in Amazon Marketplace)...
Hey, Ed. I like that yawn... looks like that cougar could use some teeth whitening... http://www.hometheaterforum.com/t/314199/dead-led-in-samsung-dlp-rptv