'Acceptable' Dead Pixels on LCD Screens = An Outrageous Scam?

I was thinking of buying one of these new DVR media players things for
Christmas but have been put off by the fact that, apparently, most
manufacturers still believe it's okay to make/sell devices with dead
pixels on their LCD screens.

Well, I dunno about you - but I don't. AFAIC an LCD screen with even
ONE dead pixel is a faulty screen, and in the past I've always
insisted upon, and been successful in obtaining, refunds/replacements
for any devices - monitor, photo viewer, portable DVD player etc. -
with one or more dead pixels.

Okay. Maybe so far I've just been lucky in getting my way here. But
considering this latest purchase has kinda revived the dead pixel
issue in my mind and I'd like to know what reasonable people think
about it.

I mean - you wouldn't accept a brand new car with even a slight
scratch on the paintwork - would you? Or a sofa, carpet or set of
curtains with even small, barely imperceptible stains. Meanwhile,
whether anyone else might notice these imperfections or not seems
irrelevant. The fact that you - the owner - can see them is probably
enough to make them very annoying and therefore deleterious to the
pleasure you might otherwise have enjoyed from owning those products
WITHOUT imperfections like those.

It also seems to me that this logic applies especially to luxury goods
like DVR players which people buy to increase their pleasure as
opposed to serving a basic personal need. In other words a DVR player
is non-essential to healthy living. It's only an 'extra' to lighten
one's life (and I can think of several other ways to do that for free
without involving pixels - dead or alive).

Conversely, a second-hand lavatory with a few chips on the bowl might
be okay, provided the plumbing works fine and, all other things
considered, the toilet is fit for the purpose for which it was
designed. This assuming, of course, that you're 'hard up' and cannot
afford a flaw-free WC in the first place. After all - when you gotta
'go' you gotta 'go' and a few ceramic chips wouldn't put me off buying
an item that so readily facilitates the answering of nature's little
calls. For us grownups chipped cans are better than perfect potties.

But DVR players with defective LCD screens...?

Personally I think that's crazy, and until these guys get their acts
more together my money's staying in my purse.

Therefore, if you are fairly new to LCD technology, please be aware of
this dead pixel anomaly and make your buying decisions accordingly.
Particularly if you usually buy mail order/online. My advice is to buy
from a local store where you can actually test the very unit you
intend to buy (before buying it). Don't just buy a sealed box. You
dunno what's inside before they've got your cash.

As far as I am aware it IS possible to make LCD screens that are 100%
dead-pixel-free with certain manufacturers' guarantees to that effect.
But this means more quality control in their factories - hence more
cost on the shelves.

But why should we pay for sloppy quality control?

Is it not better to pay a more for something that's 'right' rather
than 'less' for something that ain't?

I definitely think so and would like to know what YOU think?

Karen

BTW - Leading manufacturer Archos have just told me that 2 dead pixels
are okay for their AV500 gizmo...? But that's way too many for me...

I'm just a 'no dead pixel' girl and there's nothing to be done about
it ;-)

 

What does your (rather long-winded) rant have to do with Window Media
Center, which is what this group supports?

 

Just buy your screen from PCWorld.
They replace them if you take them back.

 

There are almost 4 million sub-pixels on a 1280x1024 LCD panel. The
problem is that when they are manufactured, many (perhaps most) of the
panels will have a least some dead pixels, no matter what the
manufacturer does. If everyone took your perspective, all of those
panels with a bad pixel would have to be discarded, but those panels
cost the same thing to make as the "good" panels. So, if half of all
panels have 1 defect in 4 million pixels, what you have just done is
double the cost of an LCD panel. If that's what you want, fine, but
there are lots of people who would rather buy a $300 LCD monitor with a
few bad pixels than a "perfect" $600 monitor.

 

Karen Smith ()[Fri, 25 Nov 2005 15:15:54 GMT]:

The conventional wisdom is that if every LCD were
100% through the warranty period, the cost would
increase. Would you rather pay X clams more and be
assured of the perfect LCD? At which point is X
clams too many? I've had around, oh, a dozen color
LCDs. Two have had one dead pixel, and only seen
when the screen was all black (so, a stuck pixel).
I had a CRT with a dead pixel, too, but it was at
the very top. I didn't mind because it was about
half the price of a "new" one. A dead-center dead
or stuck pixel, now that's another story. I
wouldn't call it a scam. Cell phones... now there.

 

Not to mention the ecological impact of throwing away every LCD produced
with a single dead pixel.

Bill

 

To add to this -

The monitor I'm using here (19" LCD) has a stuck pixel.

I didn't notice it for the first month or so I had it.

Later, when I wanted to show it to someone, I couldn't even find it for
a while, and obviously I knew roughly where to look...

I guess I could try to be as picky as the OP, but it hardly seems worth
it.

Gino