Never replaced the bulb. All the presets have the contrast up pretty high too. I think that's just the way this tv is.
The reason the presets are so high is so that it will catch your eye on display in the store. I have a 56" Samsung DLP and the very first thing I would recommend is setting it to movie mode if you have it on the RCA. I have my contrast at about 60 and brightness around 40. Sharpness never goes over 20. It's ok to have a little on HD channels but all the way to 0 is alot better on SD channels. Also, to much color can oversaturate your picture. Mine is set to between 37 and 40.