Without actually being aware of what caused the problem, I’m loathe to make a recommendation. That said, if I am right, and it’s an immediate problem, then if you open it, and it’s fine, no harm, no foul. If it were me, I and the projector was already at my house, I’d open it. If I hadn’t yet ordered it, I would, however, want to get one with the new firmware. -a

If my unit does work ok for a week or a month etc… will Mitsubishi honor the repair and pay shipping both ways if it shuts down in a year?

What would you do if you had just ordered one and find out this week that “fixed” models will be available next week?

Just wanted to let you know that I received my new unit from Mitsubishi… It came with software version 3.0 vs. 1.0 on my original unit. The serial number is around 5000 (old one was near 1400). It seems to be working flawlessly. I’ve also noticed that the color wheel syncs a little quicker/smoother when changing scan rates/resolutions.

Thanks again for your help in resolving this!

-Jens

Well, in deference to manufacturers in general, it takes a bit to recognize a real problem. If I understand correctly, the first HC3800′s didn’t ship out until early November, and even then most dealers didn’t get many to start. That means it’s probably no more than 3 weeks from the very first call in.

The other point is, you call, you first hit customer support – ground floor. The problem is they don’t know. In Mitsubishi’s case, you’ve got a support team handling some 40+ current model projectors, and hundreds of older models. It’s going to take a little time to “notice”, report, product management needs to investigate, find out what the problem is. Once they have that nailed, then support should get brought up to speed, and a fix created, but until there’s a fix, for a problem, they are still “skating” on thin ice. That’s just the way it is.

I’d like to go a touch further to say that in general, I’m rather proud of our projector industry. While not every company has the same level of support, I’d have to say that our industry is particularly good at taking care of problems and taking good care of customers. Of late, besides the HC3800, there’s a BenQ W6000 iris issue – again, new product, again, very fast to finding a fix, and again, just getting it out, into the field. Epson did a first rate job last year, with their CFI issue, BenQ – about 4 years ago had a serious lamp problem, and ultimately upgraded every projector including covering all costs and a new lamp. (it was a serious problem – most projectors blew their lamps in 300 – 500 hours).

And so on. Compared to the computer industry (Apple, probably excepted), cars, and most other industries our “guys” do great! We complain when there are initial problems, and sure, they are best avoided, but hey, you guys demand the latest and greatest and have “forced” these manufacturers mostly to go to annual cycles to keep you happy with the latest. For that reason, it’s a constant crunch. it’s amazing sometimes how fast a projector has to come to market. I’ve had engineering samples that could barely turn on, and yet full production projectors start arriving in hundreds 4-6 weeks later. I’m blanking now, but either the HC3800, or the BenQ W6000 samples I got didn’t even have a working component video, but since I don’t test using it, not a problem. So, while when they screw up, it’s a pain, for those affected, all considered, I do think they’re doing a good job. (OK, I’ve brown nosed them enough). -art

And thanks for the info. anyone else? That is, let me ask this. Let me know if you 1. have the shutdown problem, AND only if it took more than 10 hours to happen the first time. So far it seems the problem is almost immediate. -art