I don't think they are the Edsels of HD. The light bulbs are used in all projection formats on the current TV's, so that problem has not changed. The color wheels cost less than a light bulb and are very easy to replace if they go out (by a tech). I have found that the light bulbs last anywhere from 2000 hours to 12,000 hours. It varies so much, most likely due to manufacturing variations more than anything. Even LCD panel TV's have light bulbs (flourescent) behind them and if they fail, you have to replace the whole screen on most of them which is big bucks.
At least once you change the light bulb, your back to the original quality picture that the set had when new, unlike the old CRT projection TV's that get dimmer and blurry with age from day 1.

I believe about 5 years is the replacement time for the 3 color guns(bulbs) in a CRT projection set . I probably won't even have mine by then , as I am planning on moving up to 1920 x 1080p for a full 2 megapixcels of HD resolution within 2-3 years . What exactly does the color wheel cost(ballpark figure) as I'm kind of interested in the DLP front projectors , which seem like an unadvertised bargain to me in a huge screen home theater experience !

The Sony and JVC LCoS sets use bulbs that fail in similar times to those of rear projection DLP's and rear projection LCD's. Samsung is shortly putting in an LED to light one DLP model. These should last a minimum of 20,000 hours and give a much broader and precise color pallette. In the next year or two many of the rear projection sets will undoubtedly offer the LED backlighting (albeit at a more premium price).

No one is talking about the cost to replace the LED light engine ,even though that Samsung set is due out next week . That would be something good to know and a must know for me before dishing out around 4k for a set . The quality control of the current bulbs seems awful as some go in a few months , while others last years . Toshiba in particular had a recent slew of bulbs going bad in new sets within a few hundred hours . It's ironic now that plasma once believed to lose picture quality within 5 years or so is now rated at 80K hours . Now if only the price of the 60+ inch plasmas would drop to a more reasonable level .

Looks like DLP's are on their way out . With Samsung soon leaving the market , only Mitsubishi will remain . From what I've heard of their new Laservue set , it still has limited viewing angles as well as a ridiculous price of 7K for an outdated DLP technology . In 4-5 years rear projection sets will be gone , although the tech may still live on in front projectors .