BenQ PB6100 DLP Video Projector

I confirm that this BenQ projector has either a crappy bulb or bad color wheel. I have used it for about 2 years, only watching movies on the weekends. The recorded bulb usage is 337 hours, and the picture already starts to flicker. At first I thought it might be the 25 feet long signal cable, so I disconnected the cable and just watched the blank blue screen, still flickers! Its promised bulb time is 2000 hours in video mode. If it is only me, I can blame it on probability and statistics. But it does not seem so.

I have not yet called BenQ, but since I have used it for two years (I have to check the warranty), and people here already complained about their bad support, I don't have high hope on it. The best thing you can do is not to buy it.

Low-budget home theatre owner here. Was happy with my unit. Pretty nice picture on a blank white wall. I have a dedicated cinema room that is pitch black so was very happy...until one hour ago. After 300 hours of use my bulb blew. And I never watch more than 2-3 hours at a time, so definitely not a high traffic user. I'm all the way in Hungary and that bulb is about a month's wages for this school teacher. This is a shoddy product, built-in obsolesence to the extreme. Now I have a useless room with a BenQ wart on the ceiling!

Word of Warning. I purchased a BenQ projector and had it for a month before it started to fail and turn itself off. I sent it to BenQ for repair and have not recieved it back. That was over two months ago. I phone them every couple of days and get only lip service, they keep saying it is coming. So before you purchase a BenQ product think about the possibility of it getting repaired...or should I say never seeing it again.

You have been warned!

Component DB15 to 3 RCA was a real problem to find out.
Online you can easily buy something around $200-400 but it
would be a waste of money. I found out only two options at the moment - buy a budget Steren 253-525IV cable ( 25' long) - price varies from $20 to $60 online , thus spend some time to shop around ,
second option was to build a custom made cable out of shielded Cat5e cable. Do not know which one would be a better one
for 25' run. Some people might try to use 3xRG6 cables - and
a short breakout DB15to3RCA/BNC cable

I did a lot of shopping around for a projector on a budget. The Benq 6100 has been great so far. It is very easy to use and the menu is easy to navigate. I actually prefer the picture on the economy mode to any others. This is great because it extends the $400 lamp by 50%.
I have my theater set up in a 100% dark basement and the lumens are great. However I didn't have to add much light to see that you may not be happy if you can not control ambient light. The only complaint I have with the picture is flesh tones. They appear a bit green, but it is not enogh to be to distracting.
If you want to utilize this projector for HDTV be prepared to spend some extra money. You have to find (and good luck) a 15 pin to vga connection/conversion cable. I live in a fairly big city and had no luck finding one locally. I finally found one on ebay. A 25 foot length with shipping was about $50. This should be included with the projector but it is not. I would have rather paid $75 or $100 more at the time of purchasing the projector and not had the hassle of chasing down this cable! That is not to mention it delays you watching HDTV for a week or so.
Over all this is a great value. If you are in a budget and don't mind chasing the cable I spoke about I really recommend this projector.