Dead Pixels? Worry no more! Well almost

[kaybertoss]

I was checking out the latest sale from the place where I had originally bought my LCD from 20 days ago and stumbled upon their new dead pixel policy.

http://www.ncix.com/article.php?mode=expresscoverage

Now, I don’t know If there is an extra charge for this (or all the details yet) but if we can expect this retailer to stand up and take back LCD’s with a zero defect policy in the first 30 days, it should be just a mater of time before they all may have to. Other than I guess the large chains (such as Best Buy, Future Shop) where you have a certain no hassle exchange period, the smaller specialty resellers will eventually have to adopt this zero dead pixel policy as well.

So good news for everyone.................... hopfully!

Wow! This sure would take the grief and anxiety out of any LCD purchase.

I just wish they had this policy earlier as it would have made my buying decision a whole lot easier.

 

[steviep]

It does appear that you have to pay for the 'extended coverage' or whatever it's called... I wonder how much... if anything. Either way, I think Samsung has started making LCDs with a zero-pixel defect policy, so I hope it's only a matter of time, as well.

All the other LCD-makers are saying "it would cost too much to make perfect LCDs". I wish that wasn't the case, as it's so hard to buy one right now.

 

[j4zzee]

I priced an $840 19 inch and the coverage was $42..

 

[Firebot]

Purchased my 19inch Benq 937S from NCIX.com on boxing day, and while I did receive a monitor with no dead pixel or defect and did pay for their express rma insurance option, I was worried if I did come up with issues because previously LCD monitors were marked as non-returnable on their site, and being very picky on what meant as 'defective' (8 or more dead pixels). I know that many people probably did not buy LCD monitors from them. The change on policy is a good thing, and I assume they believe that increased sales from people who would not have bought from them due to the LCD policy should more then cover the cost of such a policy. Not to mention that the extra cost of getting the express coverage is extra money in their pockets if the customer keeps the monitor.

One thing to realize is that this is the reseller's call and has little to do with the manufacturer's dead pixel policy. Many of these LCD monitors that they are now accepting as DOA will not be returnable to most manufacturers and will be a pure loss, so it's somewhat of a gamble for them.

 

[belfert]

Monitors Direct tried a no hassle 30 day return for any reason including dead pixels, and guess what, they went out of business! They didn't specifically charge extra, but the prices tended to be %5 to 10% higher than elsewhere.

Amazon's return policy for computers/electronics seems to be pretty liberal. No exclusions for LCDs I could find. The prices are not always great, but they seem to have a good price on the VP191b. (I'm waiting for the new 8ms version.)

Brian Elfert

 

[iamtherat]

i dont think this is a smart idea...great only for buyers who are willing to pay the price, and a lot of buyers aren't.

so they better hope they have good base prices...because dead pixels is only a problem for a small portion of actual buyers. newegg is a good example of a business that understands this, just look at their sales and shitty return policy.

only like a small percentage of people care for or know of dead pixels. and these people who care for dead pixels, care for price too.

at the current rate of dead pixel free monitors - they or the consumers are going to get hit hard with shipping fees (are they taking full responsibility?).

i bought the hyundai screen from outpost, returned 3 times...they took care of shipping charges (if you remember to fax it in). so that was close to a dead pixel policy...they had no problem with my returns.

dell, as we all know, is great and offer pretty much a no dead pixel policy. as a lot of members here have reported success of exchanging even for one dead pixel, with a little work though.

 

[kaybertoss]

I priced an $840 19 inch and the coverage was $42..

Hmmm. I guess ultimately the focus is still on Samsung’s Zero dead pixel policy for South Korea at this time while we patently wait for it to make it’s way over here to North America.

So yeah, I don’t know if I’d want to spend the extra $ to guarantee a defect free LCD. I did however buy my BenQ FP931 for it’s sale price of $399 after a mail in rebate, so adding an extra cost would have made the decision that more difficult

Interesting tho, It’s the first I had heard of a policy like this.

 

[roncomatic]

I don't know why a QC person can't just count the number of dead/stuck pixels a particular monitor has, and then put that particular LCD monitor in a "grade". Like A, B, C or D grade and then let the consumer decide if they want to pay a premium for a Grade A monitor with zero defects. Some organizations (big corporation or university) or individuals would be satisfied with a monitor that has some defective pixels and would rather pay less.

 

[peacetilence]

Perhaps this isn't the right thread but I think Samsung's a top notch company after owning one of their CRT's the last 6 years and still having it function nearly perfectly, that zero dead pixel policy reaffirms that. Only one problem though, I haven't been able to find any LCD's they make with a response rate lower than 25ms. If they made an 8ms 19" LCD I'd snatch it up in a second, and this is after saying I would not buy the Sony 19" 8ms/Viewsonic 19" 8ms panel. I can only hope that 8ms will become the new standard for all companies very soon!

 

[belfert]

nearly perfectly, that zero dead pixel policy reaffirms that. Only one problem though, I haven't been able to find any LCD's they make with a response rate lower than 25ms. If they made an 8ms 19" LCD I'd snatch it up in a second, and this is after saying I would not buy the Sony 19" 8ms/Viewsonic 19" 8ms panel. I can only hope that 8ms will become the new standard for all companies very soon!

Samsung has a 19" 8ms LCD monitor available in February. There is a press release on their website somewhere. Viewsonic also has an 8ms in February. If I do anything I will probably get the Viewsonic because the stand is adjustable.

Brian Elfert

 

[Mojo]

I just ordered my Benq Fp937 from NCIX tonight. I didn't get that express coverage though, the fine print of it was gay. In order to access the deal, when you get your monitor and realize it has a dead pixel you have to haul off and spend another $500 on a monitor and wait until NCIX ships it back (probably like 1 month because it's free shipping which translates to slow shipping and I live on the other end of the country compared to NCIX which is in BC). I don't know about you but I don't like $500 of mine floating around across Canada. Just doesn't feel secure at all, they should just send you another one out after you return it or something. What if yours got damaged on the way back? You'd be screwed. Just not a logical way of having a policy like that, so I wasn't inclined to donate the $30 it would cost to that little idea.

Anyways after reading all the reviews on Newegg and everything I realized that like 80% or more of the FP931 have no dead pixels on arrival, so I hope to be in that category. And of all the FP937/FP931 reviews I've seen, I've only seen about a handful of monitors with 2 or more dead pixels. So I think i'll live, even if it has a single dead pixel.

 

[Decelerate]

Samsung has a 19" 8ms LCD monitor available in February. There is a press release on their website somewhere. Viewsonic also has an 8ms in February. If I do anything I will probably get the Viewsonic because the stand is adjustable.

Brian Elfert

Samsung stands are adjustable iirc. I just ordered a 710t for my cousin and the stand was ajustable.

As for the ZDP policy Samsung has implemented, I heard that March is the time when it hits North America.

As a consummer first and foremost, I don't care what the yield is, a dead pixel is a dead pixel. One, two, six, ten, whatever the amount can't be justified because I shelled a few hundreds for it.

Dead pixel policy stalled or totally chased away many potential consummers to LCDs. If you've read the news over the past years the manufacturers were oversupplied through most of the year, and you can bet that dead pixel policy is at least part of the reason for it.

Response time, depth of color, contrast and brightness are issues we have to deal with, but dead pixels, backlight problems are issues we shouldn't be hassled with.