The Day Our Projector Died

For the past year, I have been on my soapbox declaring the wonderful benefits of an HD projector. The possibilities of a screen that could literally be "just your size" seemed endless. Sure you would have to sacrifice having natural light coming through the windows to be able to see the screen, but who needs sunshine? And who cares if it's not 1080p? At least it looks better than my old TV! So quit whining about the cords being across the floor! Just watch where you step. You can easily put them away when you're done using the projector. For the past year, if you asked me about HDTV's I certainly would have highly recommended that you get an HD digital projector. It is indeed a nice alternative to those expensive TVs, especially if you're on a budget. I will continue to stand by that, HOWEVER...this weekend before last, I went to turn on my projector to watch the NFL playoffs and I heard a loud pop. I thought to myself, "Oh God, no!" I had heard a similar noise earlier last summer and Cirila and I had thought it had broken, but 5 minutes later it came on. I hoped this was the same thing all over again so I waited to see if it would turn on. Nothing. It just sat there. I got off the couch and got on the phone and called the manufacturer. Luckily I still had my receipt and the one year warranty hadn't expired. They ran me through a bunch of troubleshooting senarios and then they gave me a couple of options.
1. They could send me a new bulb for the projector that I could install myself, but there was no guarantee that would fix the projector...or
2 . They would send me a box to put the projector in to send back to them and they would examine the projector to try and fix it. If they couldn't fix it then they would send me a brand new one. The only thing is, it could take up to 8 to 12 weeks. 8 to 12 weeks!!! Needless to say I was disappointed but I decided to go with the second option and send it in to them. My warranty runs out in February so I figured I ought to maximize it's use. Even still, this sucks. Cirila and I still have a television, but I probably won't be using my Xbox 360 or Wii for a while. If anything this will give us more time for other things. Though we will still wind up with a projector in the end, we have decided we are going to start searching for a new HDTV, for our own reasons.
1. No one likes to sit in the dark ALL the time.
2. True HD
3. HDTV's have a longer lifespan.
Whenever we get the projector back, we'll still hold on to it for when we get a house, but it seems a bit hypocritical and ironic having spent the last year, in a way, rooting for the wrong team.