Dead pixel policy

DonkeyStyle \o/

Does anyone else hate this whole idea?
Yes it saves the manufacturer money, and maybe you get your monitor cheaper as a result... but do you buy a brand new monitor with the expectation that it might have 6 malfunctioning pixels? Or do you just assume it won't have any, and hope that you're right when you get it home.
And how many dead pixels are acceptable to you?
Do people really have such low standards? Or are they just being screwed by the small print?

I found an old article from 2007, that goes into each manufacturer's dead pixel policy and some of the numbers are laughable.
If I'm dropping a grand on some fancy 30" display, there'd sure as hell better not be any pixels stuck on bright f*cking purple, let alone 6 or one right in the middle of the screen.

As if buying an LCD monitor wasn't already enough of a mine-field of ghosting, input-lag, crap viewing angles, poor contrast and colour reproduction, backlight bleeding, 6-bit dithering, and the occasional panel lottery... we have dead pixels to worry about!

I personally blame the purchasing power of people with absolutely no standards.

NothingMan

Wow there, I think this post belongs in Ranting and Raving!

But I have to agree with you, I spent €800 on a laptop with a dead pixel right in the middle. Annoyed me at first, I tried all that flashing crap, but now I don't even notice it.

Unfortunately we just gotta live with it. It would cost way too much for a company to have a zero dead pixel policy.

DonkeyStyle \o/

NothingMan wrote: »

Wow there, I think this post belongs in Ranting and Raving!

I was thinking that too
But people aren't allowed to disagree with the OP there... I'm not just venting either, I'm curious about how happy people are with it... or if I'm some kind of freak.

NothingMan wrote: »

It would cost way too much for a company to have a zero dead pixel policy.

Yeah I can understand why they do it, but I get the feeling a lot of people don't know about a companies dead pixel policy until they've bought a monitor with dead pixels and try to return it... if the manufacturer finds it acceptable, but the user doesn't... something went wrong, don't you think?

NothingMan wrote: »

Unfortunately we just gotta live with it.

Yeah we have to live with it now that the people with no standards stopped buying CRTs... God I miss gaming at 100fps... it was so smooth

NothingMan

Yeah but I don't think I would swap my middle of the range lcd for a bit bulky CRT. Just don't have the space.

Overheal

Got my laptop screen replaced for $200. Did the work myself. I figured a 90 day warranty and a 1-2 pixel policy was better than a 6 pixel policy 12 month a lot of them were advertising.

I wound up with one dead grey pixel, which is unnoticable 95% of the time. Could be worse.

NothingMan

Overheal wrote: »

Got my laptop screen replaced for $200. Did the work myself. I figured a 90 day warranty and a 1-2 pixel policy was better than a 6 pixel policy 12 month a lot of them were advertising.

I wound up with one dead grey pixel, which is unnoticable 95% of the time. Could be worse.

An extra $200 dollars on top of what you were paying for your laptop already?

What kind of screen was it? A 15.4" only costs about €80.

Overheal

NothingMan wrote: »

An extra $200 dollars on top of what you were paying for your laptop already?

What kind of screen was it? A 15.4" only costs about €80.

Depends on the spec, and whether its WXGA, the dead pixel warranty, shipping speed, etc. And this was also 14 months ago.

The laptop fell about 11 months into the warranty and I already needed to send it in for repairs. I just did the screen replace myself before shipping it off. So yes on top of what I paid for it. Considering the laptop was already worth $1300 or more to me at the time, totally worth it.

Trojan

It's the one good reason to buy an LCD in a shop. I've had the 2 experiences.

Bought a Dell Inspiron off the Outlet store - it had 2 dead pixels, one almost dead centre. Obviously the reason it had gone to Outlet. Knowing some folks in the support centre, they told me to complain, concentrating on the location of the dead pixel (i.e. dead centre of screen). I shipped it, they returned it with new screen, no dead pixels.

Recently I got 2 Samsung Syncmaster 940nw's (entry level 19" lcds). One of them has a dead pixel that can't be flashed out. It's not dead centre but close enough to be annoying. It shows up against every colour background (black, white, blue, etc). I rarely notice it when working on the PC, but do when either gaming or watching DVD or something. I just use the other screen as primary. If it was my primary, I might have tried to push for replacement.

In conclusion, I understand the policy (especially as a business owner), I just don't like ending up with 'em (NIMBY!). Hypocritical of course.

Orion

If a laptop/lcd arrived with a dead pixel I'd immediately ship it back. No RTM - just cooling off return. And then I'd order a new one. Never forget you have 14 days to return anything on mail order - and that included internet orders.

AlmightyCushion

Yeah but you have to pay for postage back and they don't have to re-imburse you for the postage you paid. So you're paying postage twice, kinda limits the benefit of the cooling off period for something like this.

If I received a monitor/screen with a dead pixel and the company refused to take it back, I'd bring them to the small claims court. Having come into contact with absolutely shed loads of tvs, monitors and laptops in my time of all different makes and ages I have to say it's pretty rare to see a dead pixel. Hell, I've rarely seen a stuck pixel. I can't see a reason why something like this can't be covered under warranty.

Overheal

its the numbers. failure rates on lcd manufacturing are staggering. as of 3 years ago when i last read the research, the best success rate of LCDs of any significant size (monitors, tvs etc) was no better than 40%. Meaning 60% (often more) of the LCDs manufactured were unmerchantable. When youre talking about 60" LCD TVs, the Cost of Goods Sold really, really adds up. Those units had to be broken back down and painstakingly recycled, very often with plenty of waste.

If a company can get away with salvaging the sale of one of these units for the sake of 1 or 2 stinking pixels, they'll do it.

Im sure that percentage is much better now and thats why cost to own is coming down, but its going to be a while yet before i think youll see dead pixels 100% covered under most warranties.

JohnK

I'd do my nut if I had a spot like that in the middle of the screen and I just know it would really start to eat away at me even if it was virtually hidden in the corner somewhere. In fact, it was the idea of dead pixels that put me off buying laptops & lcd screens for a good while.

alansweeney100

I've never seen a dead pixel on a lcd tv. Why does it seem to be more prevalent in monitors? I have a dead pixel in my cheap BenQ monitor, its not somethin which usually shows up, its green tho so u'd think it would (hey, im not complaining) Are dead pixels more common in monitors, if so does anyone know why? Are the lower grade salvaged lcd's the ones they use for monitors? Will OLED screens have this manufacturing problem as well?
Sorry for all the questions, I tried googling but didn't find anything conclusive.

kaizersoze

Trojan wrote: »

Bought a Dell Inspiron off the Outlet store - it had 2 dead pixels, one almost dead centre. Obviously the reason it had gone to Outlet.

Outlet systems don't come with monitors as standard.
If you choose to add one to the order they supply new ones.

DonkeyStyle \o/

Overheal wrote: »

If a company can get away with salvaging the sale of one of these units for the sake of 1 or 2 stinking pixels, they'll do it.

Oh aye, they'll do a lot of things if they can get away with it.

SeanW

My current monitor has a dead blue subpixel. I was using it for 6 years before I noticed it (only saw it by accident when I was working on a blue dominated image) and rarely notice it now. But about a year ago I ordered a big-ass 1600*1200 monitor and it had a hot red subpixel, really sucked in some of the darker video games I play. I returned it.

Swamps

Macros42 wrote: »

If a laptop/lcd arrived with a dead pixel I'd immediately ship it back. No RTM - just cooling off return. And then I'd order a new one. Never forget you have 14 days to return anything on mail order - and that included internet orders.

Would this work though? On alot of retailers websites they state for to return an item with cooling off it has to be unopened and unused?

Though on the consumer website it states this

Q24. Can I order goods and then use them before cancelling the contract under the “cooling-off” period?

You should take good care of the products until such time as you decide whether you want them or not. Goods returned under the “cooling-off” period should be in a reasonable condition and should not have been abused by the consumer.

WHich doesnt mention anything about being unopened or unused. So what would happen if the retailer seen that the tape sealing the box was opened and resealed? Would they have a case or would it go by our law?