Understand the desperation and frustration. Did not mean to beat you up.

This whole contrast issue is something that I've not yet seen reported. Could be firmware related bug but if so, I'd expect others to report it. PENG cannot cause this issue.

Maybe, it's the LCD on your remote going bad. Who knows?

Try holding down the backlight button on the side and using Page Up/Down. Does that adjust the contrast? Or is there a wheel on the side of the remote? I don't own a 3000 and hence am asking these questions.