I recently purchased a Sony VPL-FX50 off of Ebay. The seller indicated that the “unit is barely used” and has only 312 hours of use on the lamp.

Anyway, when I turned on the projector for the first time yesterday, there were at least four different problems with the display. First, there was the appearance of a squiggly line that appears yellow when displayed on pictures. It is large and significant in size (pictures below). Second, there is a large burned in rectangular box in the lower front center of the screen. Third, there are large areas of faded yellow discoloration found around pictures, especially in the lower left hand quadrant of the picture. Fourth, the picture looks either washed out or missing an entire part of the color spectrum.

http://www.morris.umn.edu/~gthorson/sony3.jpg
http://www.morris.umn.edu/~gthorson/sony5.jpg
http://www.morris.umn.edu/~gthorson/sony7.jpg

Any ideas on what might be wrong with the projector? I’d be glad to offer more pictures and/or try any tests that you’d recommend.

Polarizer panel has gone bad. Can't be fixed.

Correction. They can replace the panels for a hefty price..

Ouch. Any guess at a repair price?

Unfortunately, I also bid and won a long throw lens to go with this projector. I don't see any others for sale.

Is there any chance that the yellow splotch and discoloration is just dust?

I recently purchased a Sony VPL-FX50 off of Ebay. The seller indicated that the “unit is barely used” and has only 312 hours of use on the lamp.
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Very risky purchasing a used projector off ebay unless you can view it first.:(

Just say no.