I purchased my HC5000 last May and have been very pleased with it until the problem that began about a month ago. I was waiting until the end of football season before digging into the issue. :)

About a month ago I turned on the pj and noticed a translucent brownish-red streak/bar along the bottom of the image. It is almost uniform in thickness going across the entire bottom of the screen, but not quite. It is ever-present. I will attach a photo for reference.

Has anyone ever run into this? What is the problem likely to be? It's still under warranty, but I don't want to have to send it in if it's something simple to rectify myself.

Thanks in advance.

I think I had the same problem. Blue and gren panel was very dark at the bottom of the picture, causing white to turn red.

I sent it back to Japan for repair and when it came back they had fixed the green and blue panel and messed up the red panel next to the right edge instead.

When I come to think about it. The new problem looks almost exactly like shown in the below post and they were both sent to Japan only a few weeks apart. Hmm... I wonder where they put his damaged panel? :rolleyes:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=11689892&postcount=1782

Edit: Just reread your post. If the brownish-red bar is EVER present(including black picture) then it is NOT the same problem.

Thanks for the info. Certainly sounds like the same sort of problem. Hopefully I don't get one problem replaced by another as you did. :)

By "ever-present" I really mean whenever there is some light/color coming through. I'll have to check to see if I can notice it at all when displaying black.

BTW, how long did it take round-trip when you had to send it in?

I got mine about the same time and have the exact same problume. I am almost ready to send it back!!! I have a VSX-84, PS3 and SA8300HD. Everything is connected HDMI. I get the same results with the picture no matter what signal I throw at the PJ.

PLEASE HELP.

Mine displays the problem regardless of whether the input is via HDMI, composite, or DVI.

It took 8 weeks + 3 weeks in customs office.
If it had not been for christmas/new year and inbreed custom officers it would probably have been 6-7 weeks.
The easy way in your case to rule out any source/cable realted problem is to select video or any other unused input and then toggle "Back color" (menu --> installation) a few times.

I believe this is LCD panel burn. My first LCD (12 years ago!) began to develop a similar look after many hous. I had it in a hush box, and discovered too late that I didn't have quite enough ventilation. When I sent it in for diagnosis and repair, panel burn was the diagnosis, but the repair cost was more than brand new purchase of 3 generations newer PJ :confused:

Basicallt, since it was out of warranty, it was a loss, and I bought a new DLP and never looked back.

DLP all the way, since.

A red band was recently developed on the right hand side of the screen. I am just waiting for the VW60 to arrive before I send the HC5000 in for repair. I hope that the time it takes to repair the panels will not be 8 weeks. I though the HC5000 has 2 years warranty..

twawsico, I had the same problem as I said before. I called Mitsu., they knew exactly what was causing the problem. I sent the PJ from OHIO to CALI. on 2.05.08 and got it back 7 days later or yesterday. Happy to say it works great, NO more bars on the top or the bottom.

FYI - The rep. said that we can order a filter for the HC6000 to replace the crappy on that come with the HC5000.

Thank You Mitsubishi for the fast turn time...

Apologies for the late reply. I sent my unit into Mits (from TX to CA) and they fixed the problem, replaced my air filter with the HC6000 version (for no charge - I asked about this via email before shipping it to them) and I got it back within 7 or 8 days round-trip.

Excellent customer service.... thanks Mits!