Recently I mentioned that my older Infocus X1 projector's lamp has about a zillion hours on it and I had to do a reset of the timer to keep it running. Also, a month and a half ago I discussed my research into 1080p home theater projectors as I thought about stepping up in quality and capability to replace the X1. The thing that's been holding me back is price relative to what you get in the high-def world. I have the Xbox 360, HD-DVD and a satellite receiver that does 1080p images, so that's what I have been looking into. Sure, you can spend like $5,000 and get a pretty incredible projector, and just a couple years ago you couldn't buy a 1080p projector for less than probably $30K.

I know I want to replace the old projector I have. But I really don't want to spend $5K. Maybe half that amount would be okay, but not much more. So I put my research hat back on today and discovered Epson recently released their PowerLite Home Cinema 1080 projector for home theater. It's super-bright, has a great picture, it's a three-LCD setup, and gets some great reviews. It's practically identical to the 'pro' model of the same line but costs literally $2,000 less. Most notably the retail price is just under $3,000 and for the next few days (til the end of July) there's a $300 mail in rebate from Epson.

Needless to say, I am considering making the move. I'll take some more time to weigh my options and keep researching. I do wonder what (if anything) Epson will do for an incentive once this month's rebate period runs out, but hey who knows...

As I type this, my X1's fan is starting to make a noise like the fan bearings are going bad. Not a good thing. Murphy's law, really. It may be time to break that thing open and clean it out so I can make it last as long as possible, but from the sounds of it I think it may be on its last legs.

Anyone have any experience with the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 1080 projector? Or have a good alternative I should be considering? Let me know!

UPDATE: I ordered one, so the Epson is my choice for a new projector. Review to come after it arrives Wednesday (Amazon Prime rocks) and I get a little time with it.