DLP lamps

I have a Panasonic LCD Projection TV and the warranty was increased by Panasonic to 18 mos up from 12mos as per an insert in the owners manual. The tv is only a month old so no failure so far. Seems the life of these bulbs varies poorly unfortunately throughout the brands.
I would encourage all who have had premature failure to write to their respective manufacturers regarding the failures and the related costs, and post opinions on this Forum, Epinions, CNET, Audioreview etc. If enough people make an issue with the manufacturers perhaps the problem will be recognized and warranties will be extended. Sometimes a manufacturer will quitely make an extension of a warranty to those who speak up.
Just my humble opinion.

There is a class action suit for this lamp problem. I wonder why every owner wasn't notified about this problem. Do a google search on this. I don't think you will be happy with the outcome though. I bought a 52" at the end of 2005 and have gone through 3 bulbs so far.

I think this is a common problem with DLP's generally. Two co-workers of mine have Hitachi and Mitshubishi sets that have the same issues.

Cruz123 - No it's not the common problem with DLP. I have Samsung 42" DLP with over 6000hrs on the bulb (rated 8000). Previous bulb burned after over 8000hrs. I'm using this TV since early 2001 more than 6hrs every day (I'm an addict)

My 57" Mits is going on 2.5 yrs old and still have the original bulb in it. I do have another on hand when i eventually fails.