Dead pixel policy

[dale1uk]

Hi, the time has come to ditch the crt and move to a tft but what is the policy now on dead pixels?? A while back when i thought about a change I read there is a minimum number of dead/lazy pixels you have to have in certain areas of the screen before the monitor is deemed as faulty, is this still the case and if so can someone shed some light??
If I'm paying a couple of hundred quid on a new screen and it had 1 dead/lazy pixel I'd deem that faulty and expect a refund/replacment. Why is this (or was this, if its changed) not the case??

 

[manoz]

It varies between companies. If they are dotted over the screen then that's acceptable to them and will replace if it goes past 5 or 7ish. If they are in a bunch then it's usually less. Some etailers offer dead pixel checks for 15 squids. Some TFT manufacturers have professional models which guarantee no dead pixels but these are more expensive. Dead pixel are an issue which I hear on the boards but I'm yet to come across a TFT screen with a single dead pixel on it!!! I've seen lazy pixels but not dead ones.

 

[dale1uk]

Some etailers offer dead pixel checks for 15 squids.

Yeh I've seen that, but why should you have to pay for a new item to be checked to see that it works 100%?? Just to me it seems strange that its acceptable for a screen to have a few dead pixels and still be classed as not faulty. I see some people say things like "I have 2 dead pixels but there off to the side not in the middle so I don't mind" but I just wouldn't accept that.
To me 1 dead pixel = faulty screen and should be replaced.

Dead pixels are an issue which I hear on the boards but I'm yet to come across a TFT screen with a single dead pixel on it

I understand that its a lot less likely now to recieve a screen with dead pixels than it used to be when tft's where relatively new, but just wanted to know what the situation was if you do get one. I just can't get my head round why you are expected to live with it if there is clearly even only 1 faulty pixel.

 

[manoz]

It's a question of yield I think, for instance all cpus on a wafer are not guaranteed to work. They test them and take out the dud ones cos frankly you can't do anything with a dud cpu. If the monitor is a total dud then they won't sell it. It's very hard for panel companies to make 100% dead pixel free 100% of the time. It's too expensive for them to simply throw away the panel if it has 1 or more dead pixel, if they did then it would push the price up.

If I were you I'd stick to CRT if you are that worried or be happy that some etailors offer a dead pixel check, shame OCUK don't

 

[Humate]

if they check and find dead pixels... then they just send u monitors with no dead pixels??? because surely that means the e-tailor must negotiate sending monitors back with dead pixels rather than the customer. e-tailors im sure have more clout than a little old customer... however, i wouldnt offer this service if it meant that i had to foot the bill for every monitor with a dead pixel.

 

[fish99]

Well most people don't pay for the optional dead pixel check, so when they find a screen with dead pixels, they sell it to someone who didn't pay for the check. That means if you order from somewhere that does dead pixel checks and you don't pay for the check, you're more likely to get a screen with dead pixels than just ordering from somewhere that doesn't do checks.

I hope SED and OLED don't have these problems in the future, because I also regard a dead pixel as a fault and I think consumer are getting ******* on by manufacturers and retailers with dead pixels on LCDs.

Anyone who says prices would go up if they only sold 100% screens, yes it's true to some extent, but you need to look at the profit margins on these screens. OcUK were able to bring the 2007WFP down to £300 in their TWO sale, then took it back up to £375 and it was £411 about a month ago. I'm sure they're still making a profit with the screen at £300 though.

When the VX924 first came out, the first 3 ms screen, it was like £330, but now a comparable 19" TFT with DVI is around £160 or less. Clearly a lot of people have been making an awful lot of money out of TFTs. Eventually competition has kicked in and we've got decent prices thankfully.