Projector accessories can add on to the cost of your home theater, more so than a television set that comes already assembled, requiring little more than an entertainment center to set it on.

Similarly, you’ll need a projector wall mount to hang your video projector onto the ceiling, as well as a screen to beam the image onto. These screens may need mounts too. You may also need connector cables, a universal remote, air filters and lamps.

Projector lamps can be a major investment. Just ask the people who purchased Toshiba lamps that dimmed out after a few months, forcing customers to purchase new $300 to $400 bulbs!

LCD projector
Those people won a class action lawsuit, thankfully, and that event is, by no means, the norm; although, short bulb life and the continued expense of these LCD projector is a complaint for many current home theater enthusiasts and a deterrent for prospective home theater builders.

Of course the manufacturers clued in to this and they’ve come up with new technology involving LED lights and laser light technology to power your video projector for its entire lifetime (or about 60,000 hours, they say).

Since lamp bulbs are probably the only replaceable projector accessories you’ll have to buy, you should know a little bit about them. First, many multimedia projectors use mercury-vapor-containing lamps (ultra-high pressure lamps).

These lamps generally cost between $300 and $400, and need to be replaced every 500 to 1,500 hours or so. Another type of lamp used on bright, high-end projectors is the Zenon lamp, which gives the projected image a better color range.

While the cost of your bulb is high ($1,000), you will also get more life out of it, from 1,500 to 5,000 hours. To get this lamp life, you should use your video projector no more than 3 to 5 hours per day in a clean, dust-free environment and change your air filter every 3 months.

digital projector
To buy projector lamps and other projector accessories, you can try highly-rated merchants like Projector Point, B& H Photo Video, Visual Apex Inc, Projector Superstore and pcRUSH.

The price for some of these lamps is finally starting to come down a little, with the increased competition from LCD panel television sets and new LED/laser light technology. The universal remote control is one of the least mentioned projector accessories, yet it’s also an important one.

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