I have an infocus lp350 data projector that I got off ebay. Though I
was happy with the picture I am not happy with the bulb life. The bulb
was rated for 2000 hours, came with about 50 on it, and only lasted to
about 200 hours before it burned out. It may have burned out because
of excess heat as it was sitting on top of a dormatory "wardrobe" that
had computers running inside of it. Much to my surprise it will cost
likely in excess of $300 to replace the bulb. My question is what I
should do in this situation.

The options I see are:

1. Sell my current projector (in which case I will likely want another one)
2. Buy a new bulb for my projector (in which case I will want to
maximize the bulb life)

I suppose the information that I am lacking that I want answered is this:

If I replace the bulb, what is the likelyhood that I will need to
replace the bulb prematurely again for this particular brand of
projector, assuming I do a better job keeping the projector cool and
the bulb clean? Any information from someone who has owned an infocus
340/350 projector would be helpful here.

If I sell my current projector and buy another one, will I get any
better results, and which one should I buy?

My requirements for a projector if I were to buy a new one are as
follows: I want a projector that is at least almost as bright as my
current one (1300 lumens), has the same high 1024*768 resolution, I
would want one that can accept a DVI input (though this is not a
dealbreaker), has a high reliability or a low cost of bulb replacement
(<$100 to replace a bulb rated for at least 500 and preferably at
least 1000 hours), and costs less than $1250 used (or ebay'ed) or
$1500 new.

I would like at least 3 different projectors to be recommended,
definitely no more than one from any particular company. Also I need
to compare this to the prospect of spending $300 to repair my current
projector that cost me ~$900 on ebay.

As an additional piece of information, there apprently is a firmware
upgrade for the projector that I have that is supposed to make it run
cooler. It would be nice to know how effective this upgrade is
supposed to be in extending bulb life. Since the bulb on my projector
does not work, I have no way to tell if this upgrade has already been
applied. It should be noted that it will likely cost $50-100 in the
cabling required to upgrade the firmware.

So in all, I put a lot of money towards a projector that looked really
nice but I can't afford to keep replacing $300 bulbs. I think I can
either afford to replace this bulb once, or possibly upgrade to a
somewhat more expensive projector after selling the one I have sans
bulb. What would be of most use is information from someone who has
had to deal with these issues before, either from someone reviewing
it, or otherwise.

I hope $20.75 is enough for this question, it's what I have as
earnings from answering other questions. A tip will be left for a
particularly helpful answer.

I don?t know if you will like my comment, but I do data walls with 20
plus projectors and a ton of lamps?  I will make an assumption that
this is a UHP lamp.  You probably just had a bad lamp. If you like the
image quality that you are getting then keep the projector and replace
the lamp. If the lamp is installed in a protective cover inside the
projector, do  not worry about the lamp hours, just use it until it
dies. If it does not have a safety cover then make sure you replace it
when it hits its 2000 hour life. Sometimes they will explode and they
can take your projector out. I have lamps that last 10,000 hours and
some that die after 200. It?s just luck. BTW Philips lamps are good,
and heat is always the enemy.

Thanks for the tip. The projector works well, but that bulb cost is a
lot to swallow. I'm fairly sure I was dealing with a heat issue, at
the time I had the projector on top of a 6' dormatory wardrobe (kind
of like a movable closet), and the wardrobe, instead of having clothes
in it, was full of computers running 24/7. If I closed the wardrobe
doors for more than an hour, it would get to some rediculously high
temperature in there, at least 120 degrees, probably more.

Even in the middle of winter in fairbanks alaska (known for -40
temperatures), I had the window open with a box fan blowing cool air
into the room at all times, and still was lucky if the room
temperature was lower than 75 degrees.

When you say philips lamps are good, do you mean lamps for philips
projectors, or philips brand lamps for all projectors?

And where would be a good place to buy a projector lamp online? Or if
not online, who would I contact?