glad to hear you figured it out. my hitachi also has difficulty with brightness settings, though i have not seen what you describe as a halo... the only defect i had on a hitachi was these circular rings on one set i had (took it back for new one) that were where the lenses reflected onto the screen. it looked like a piece of glass that someone had cracked with a round object and these rings radiated from the center points... it was a like that brand new, took it back and got a bigger newer model and no problems except for setting adjustments and it becoming older and older technology.