Holy crap! That is a great deal. I bought probably the exact same model as you and it cost us $3K... where did you find yours?
I think it depends on wear and tear of the bulb, but I think Ken has is spot on to expect to replace it every 2 years or so.
The life of the set is expected to be 40000 hours all together (LCDs/Plasma's are about 60000), but both of these are probably more than you will ever need it for. I have not heard of an LCD or plasma lasting for that long, problem free, either.
All of these TVs are relatively new technologies, so I would consider investing in an extended warranty. I didn't get mine when we bought it with the intent to extend it before it expired (spread the cost out).
So far, the picture on our set has been phenomenal. When we were shopping, we did notice a slightly better picture in the high end LCD/Plasmas out there but you could not beat the price of the rear projection for the screen size and overall picture quality.
Regulator, what CRT unit are you running that looks as good as a rear projection LCD?
I've never heard of one that can handle a 1080p resolution.
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