Viewsonic Announce Full Zero Dead Pixel Policy on VP Series

Baddass · 22 Apr 2006 at 11:07

Taken from Viewsonic Europe (April 2006):

Zero Bright Dot: Improved provision for pixel errors

"Anyone purchasing a 17”, 19”, 20” or 21” model from the ViewSonic Professional series will now also benefit from an improved regulation for dealing with pixel errors. Purchasers can return the product up to 15 days after purchase – even if only a single sub-pixel is constantly bright on a dark background. The limited timeframe for return is calculated on the basis of the fact that 99% of such types of sub-pixel errors result after a single normal thermo cycle (i.e. after the display has been on for a period, then off for a period and then on again - hot, cold, hot)."

Above is Viewsonic's press release about this new policy. At the moment, this only covers their VP series (including the VP930, VP2030B etc) and not only covers fully dead pixels (black / white) but also any dead sub pixels (red/green/blue). This is excellent news and hopefully the other models in their range (VX-- models for example) will follow soon. Other manufacturers will surely have to release a similar policy to keep up, but there has always been caution over policies like this for obvious reasons. Viewsonic fail to mention in their release that nearly all pixel defects are caused during the manufacturing stage and are quite rare if they develop over time with normal use. As such, you have a couple of weeks to use the TFT and check for pixel defects to ensure it arrived to you in perfect condition.

Delvis · 22 Apr 2006 at 12:57

Shame the VX series isnt under this

igors · 22 Apr 2006 at 14:06

That policy is interesting, no doubt. As you mentioned, we really have to be careful about such things. OK ... I understand that you have 15 days to review the existence of the dead/sub pixels (even the single one) and swap the monitor, but what will happen if your screen develop the dead or lazy pixel ?! We've seen many cases around that people do develop dead or lazy pixels, sometimes after few weeks, sometimes after few months, sometimes even after one year. If it's the black one, I wouldn't bother so much ... but dead white or r/g/b lazy sub pixels are much more problematic, I guess. Not to mention that sometimes panel uniformity problems are simply more distracting that maybe one or two dead pixels.

I'm not sure if it's possible from the business logic pov, but strict panel manufacturing control (including the backlight bleed / dead pixels) and better qos would be definitely "something" to have or wish for

... and I wouldn't mind to pay even the price premium for the manufacturer with this type of policy.

Anyhow, yes, good news. Hopefully, other manufactures will accept such shift in warranty policy and hopefully it would not be just another marketing gimmick.

sparkster · 22 Apr 2006 at 14:12

Fantastic news!

As the policy spans TN, MVA and PVA panels it really throws down the gauntlet to an industry that has IMO hidden for far too long behind an arbitrary and disgusting ISO 'standard' that sanctioned satisfaction-crushing defects.

I received my own VP930 about a month ago. It arrived with zero-defects at both the pixel and sub-pixel level. Can't tell you what a relief that was!

Still no defects. A brilliant piece of kit.

paul172 · 23 Apr 2006 at 17:06

Pity this doesn't cover the VX series, I'm having to return my brand new VX922 due to a stuck pixel.

Delvis · 23 Apr 2006 at 19:00

Hah, thats exactly what im gona be trying to do this monday

Cant get rid of this one red pixel, wont budge at all, oh well, sods law.

FrankJH · 23 Apr 2006 at 19:51

I am really impressed ( being synical I wonder what the average extra % is on cost between lets say a VX and a P series of the same size)

Ether way its a really good first step for the industry

sparkster · 23 Apr 2006 at 20:14

paul172 said:
Pity this doesn't cover the VX series, I'm having to return my brand new VX922 due to a stuck pixel.

Sad indeed paul172 that you've suffered the satisfaction-crushing pain of no-quality.

IMO, after many years of cross-TFT-industry obfuscation, Viewsonic seem to have taken the first step towards stating that (TFT) quality IS NOTHING OTHER THAN ZERO DEFECTS.

And that QUALITY, (i.e., zero defects) IS ACHIEVABLE - albeit at a price.

It will indeed be interesting to see how Viewsonic themselves respond to the challenge they themselves have set down...that QUALITY IS ZERO DEFECTS...and that anything other than a zero-defect product IS CRAP.

One small step for mankind?

We'll see...

:cool:

Delvis · 23 Apr 2006 at 20:48

Well no, that how all TFT's should be...With no defects, you dont buy any other pc hardware product going...hmm, i wonder if this ones slightely defective?

Tft's on the other hand...You buy it, and go, wonder if this will have a stuck pixel? Wow if not i guess im lucky...It should NEVER be like that quite frankly, especially when they costs so much more over theyre CRT counterpart, which you dont have to worry about the latter

FrankJH · 23 Apr 2006 at 22:50

Delvis said:
Well no, that how all TFT's should be...With no defects, you dont buy any other pc hardware product going...hmm, i wonder if this ones slightely defective?

Tft's on the other hand...You buy it, and go, wonder if this will have a stuck pixel? Wow if not i guess im lucky...It should NEVER be like that quite frankly, especially when they costs so much more over theyre CRT counterpart, which you dont have to worry about the latter

Actually I am pretty sure that hdd are allowed to have a certian amount of bad sectors ( or they certainly used to)

and while the consumer doesnt actually pay the price, cpu's are tested to one standard and then degraded if they dont make it ( ie you could look at this as though a part has "failed" but still good enough for sale in a different respect)

Its all about how you look at it - I am sure there are other examples but in principal I agree with you but otherwise TFT's would have been rediculously expensive with absolutely perfect screens before now

igors · 23 Apr 2006 at 23:09

sparkster said:
It will indeed be interesting to see how Viewsonic themselves respond to the challenge they themselves have set down...that QUALITY IS ZERO DEFECTS...and that anything other than a zero-defect product IS CRAP.

Well ... yes. That 0 dead pixel marketing hype is really going strong here but I would like to see also perfectly uniform panels and without other deflects or side effects (apart from the dead pixels). Let's face it, I would be rather more annoyed to have the crap panel uniformity and that may include also serious backlight bleed then one or two dead/dark pixels out of 5.000.000 which are mostly unnoticeable in higher resolutions and with the decent pixel pitch. That 0 dead pixel sing-a-song is just part of the story. Company who offer zero-defect product with excellent qos rate is the winner in my eyes.

igors · 23 Apr 2006 at 23:35

Delvis said:
Tft's on the other hand...You buy it, and go, wonder if this will have a stuck pixel? Wow if not i guess im lucky...It should NEVER be like that quite frankly, especially when they costs so much more over theyre CRT counterpart, which you dont have to worry about the latter

Problem here is not the price, but technology "complexity" and fragile components (at the current stage) and usually that comes with the price and consequences. As I already mentioned, excellent quality of service is the key here to minimise that lucky or unlucky situation. LCD screens are more expensive simply because the manufacturing process is, again, more expensive. If any company would eventually add 5% - 10% to the monitor price and for the return give us the great post-manufacturing control, I would be rather happy with that.

Dead pixels problems *may* possibly develop on the screen (luckily it's not so frequent) and Viewsonic policy is not particularly clear about such situations. Extending that rather short 15 day error-trial period for the time until the monitor warranty is valid ... is maybe more attractive & fair to me.

Delvis · 24 Apr 2006 at 08:59

Having one bad hard drive sector makes almost no difference to performance...And you dont notice it unless you specifically look for that error (As its not physically visable)

A stuck pixel on the other hand is completely different...

**I would be rather more annoyed to have the crap panel uniformity and that may include also serious backlight bleed then one or two dead/dark pixels out of 5.000.000 which are mostly unnoticeable in higher resolutions and with the decent pixel pitch.**

Unoticeable in higher resoloutions? You mean 1280x1024, the native Res, I think not, its Red, its in the midde of the screen, and in a dark game...IE one without white backgrounds darted all over the place, trust me, its completely visable.

Waiting for emails today, to see if my e-tailor will replace the monnitor, if not, im going straight to viewsonic, its defective, it has a physical error with it, and i was not able to check the thing before i brought it, so im liable for a replacement in my books

, Oh wells.

igors · 24 Apr 2006 at 10:01

Delvis said:
Having one bad hard drive sector makes almost no difference to performance...And you dont notice it unless you specifically look for that error (As its not physically visable)

But you know it's there

Delvis said:
A stuck pixel on the other hand is completely different...

Yes, definitely. It was just example in my previous reply, let's say better option of the problem. However, point was that apart from the dead pixels obsession, manufactures should also consider the better control of other screen aspects and probably extend that 0 dp policy as long as monitor warranty is valid.

Delvis said:
Unoticeable in higher resoloutions? You mean 1280x1024, the native Res, I think not, its Red, its in the midde of the screen, and in a dark game...IE one without white backgrounds darted all over the place, trust me, its completely visable.

Definitely. If you have the dead/white or lazy r/g/b pixel things can be even more complicated. When you have, let's say, 1680x1050 or higher resolution and fine 0.258 pixel pitch ... usually they are not so distractive (if they are not bright). Smaller monitors and resolutions are usually more affected, I guess. Only bright side of this situation is that *sometimes* lazy pixels are fixable.

Delvis said:
Waiting for emails today, to see if my e-tailor will replace the monnitor, if not, im going straight to viewsonic, its defective, it has a physical error with it, and i was not able to check the thing before i brought it, so im liable for a replacement in my books , Oh wells.

As long as you are unhappy with the screen visuals and defect is distractive for you and for your work ... you have every right for the replacement.

sparkster · 24 Apr 2006 at 20:35

igors said:
Well ... yes. That 0 dead pixel marketing hype is really going strong here but I would like to see also perfectly uniform panels and without other deflects or side effects (apart from the dead pixels). Let's face it, I would be rather more annoyed to have the crap panel uniformity and that may include also serious backlight bleed then one or two dead/dark pixels out of 5.000.000 which are mostly unnoticeable in higher resolutions and with the decent pixel pitch. That 0 dead pixel sing-a-song is just part of the story. Company who offer zero-defect product with excellent qos rate is the winner in my eyes.

Couldn't agree more!

IMO there is no such thing as approximate quality...there is either quality, or there is crap. There are no in-betweens. Any compromise on quality - such as current ISO 'standards' - is IMO, an attempt to con innocent 'suckers' into parting with their hard-earned in exchange for a piece of crap.

The question I ask myself is: 'Is parting with my 'hard-earned' in exchange for a piece of no-quality crap a good thing?'

The answer to me seems to be 'No'.

I agree with what you, igors, appear to be saying i.e.; that to qualify as a 'quality panel', a panel must achieve absolute standards (i.e., quality) in several significant dimensions - not just in the one or two dimensions that a particular manufacturer's PR/Marketing department wishes to promote (on a particular moment/day/week/month...and so on)!

Rock on!!

igors · 24 Apr 2006 at 22:42

sparkster said:
Rock on!!

It's all rock & roll anywayz

OK, ladies and gents who is willing to write the petition ? My top picks are:

1. Baddass - as he is our dearest friend and very nice guy
2. Richdog - as he has wonky experience
3. Raymond Lin - as he is the law student

Let's send one nice mail/e-mail circular to all our dear manufactures, rise our voice and do something for the industry. We can sign ourselves as "dead pixels society".

paul172 · 25 Apr 2006 at 16:51

Out of interest, what is OCuk's policy on Stuck pixels. I'm a bit wary after receiving my VX922 with a stuck green pixel. Was thinking of buying another one but don't want to go through the hassle of what I'm having to go through now to get my money back/exchange.

Baddass · 25 Apr 2006 at 17:53

they dont have a policy as such, the policy is with the particular manufacturer of the screen itself

paul172 · 25 Apr 2006 at 18:30

Ok, so, as I've found out with ViewSonic they won't replace the screen if it's a stuck pixel, and OCUk wouldn't exchange it? Basically I'd be stuck with returning it via the DSA!

sparkster · 25 Apr 2006 at 20:19

igors said:
It's all rock & roll anywayz OK, ladies and gents who is willing to write the petition ? My top picks are:

1. Baddass - as he is our dearest friend and very nice guy
2. Richdog - as he has wonky experience
3. Raymond Lin - as he is the law student

Let's send one nice mail/e-mail circular to all our dear manufactures, rise our voice and do something for the industry. We can sign ourselves as "dead pixels society".

Yep, the experience of quality ain't all rock and roll.

And before your light-hearted cynicism erodes my ability to "Sieze the Day", I reckon there are two options:

1) Compromise on quality e.g., by accepting someone else's (crap?) 'definition' of 'quality';

2) Encourage quality by not volunteering to pay for crap.

** gets me coat and exits forum **