Advice needed on LCD TV predicament

Flaccus

Need some advice here. Sorry for the long post but not sure what to do with this 40" LCD TV I have.

I basically flogged my Dell 2405FPW 24" widescreen monitor recently (which happened to be dead pixel free and perfect for PC and Xbox 360), to buy a large LCD TV. Idea is to put have a media center pc (*mainly for downloading stuff*), along with my 360, and my DivX/DVD player. So I ended up first with an LG 32" widescreen from Curry's (1500 euro). Paid half in cash, half finance. Also took out insurance. Because it had a dead pixel they swapped it out (since the insurance expressively covers this sort of thing). Went through 3 other LCD's in store hooked up to their PC (LG, Samsung, Hitachi) till I found a Sony Bravia with no dead pixels. That will be another 250 euro please. Fine. But that also had a fault (* the bottom of the screen was pinched where the bezel is clipped on *) which I noticed when I got home. And it smeared badly on 360 games despite the advertised 8ms respone time. Brought that back the other day, and they *agreed* to swap it out as a goodwill gesture (the engineer reckoned there was no fault). This meant they took the hit for the cost of the TV and they said their better be something realy wrong with the next one.

What the hell. I always wanted a huge LCD TV, so went for the Samsung 40" model. That's another 250 euro. So at this stage I have paid 2000 euro (1250 euro cash, and the rest is finance).

Today it developed a dead pixel...definitely dead. A red dot showing up on white background. And shows up black on every other colour background except blue and red. Went back to store. At this stage they were getting annoyed but once I brought up the insurance they said I have 2 choices. I can return it, engineer looks at it etc.. and they order a new one to my house as they have none in stock. Not ideal as I could go on forever looking for a panel without a dead pixel. Option no. 2 is to cancel the loan agreement and refund me the cash. Trouble is, no store I went to after I left Currys has agreed to let me see the LCD TV I would intend buying in action as once it's out of its packing then they can't resell it as new. What to do ?

cooperguy

As far as I know a TV can develop a certain number of dead pixels before it is considered faulty. I think its something like 0.002% can be damaged which is about 5 or 6 dead pixels (depending on the size of the screen obviously)

FX Meister

I've "heard" this too but surely if it has dead pixels it's no good and you are entitled to your money back? If it was a regular TV with a similar looking problem I would have no problem returning it and asking for a replacement or a refund. Why should it be any different with LCD tvs.

Idleater

To be honest, can you actually see the dead pixels when watching TV/DVD etc normally? I have 1 stuck red pixel on my screen (26") and can only notice it when I stand within half a metre of the screen.

Are you sitting the requisite 40"x3.5 recommended viewing distance from the screen?

If it is as bad as you complain about and it is something that you are not willing to live with, haul the thing back to curries, try to get your cash back, worst case you get a credit note and then you buy yourself a nice CRT tv and then you wont have anything to complain about. (Apart from the size, lack of HD connectivity, weight, colour.........)

L.

Maxwell

Not trying to be smart here, but if you are worried about the dead pixels, why don't you change to a Plasma. No worries of dead pixels on mine and you can get your extra 2/3 inch's: 42"in or 43"

ffocused

did you try any of the dead pixel fixers available online? i read about one that was adapted for a PSP, i think it was here on Boards.

Snake Plisken

I don't blame Flaccus here if you are going to lash out two Grand you want no fault with the tv, thats what puts me off LCD the dead pixel problems It doesn't matter if you can't see it from distance the problem is you would know it was there! and that would bug the crap out of me!!! Its the same with Plasma I would be worried about buying one incase the crappy Sky logo would burn into the screen!!! I think I'll wait for SED next year

Rgds

Snake