[Brent Madden]

Just got my new Panasonic 50" 7UY today and I'm absolutely blown away by the picture quality of this panel. I can honestly say that it's even better than I had expected. It does have one dead pixel, however, and now I'm trying to decide if it's worth going through the hassle of getting a replacement. At my seating distance(approx. 9 feet away) I can't even see it. In fact, it's only noticeable from about 3-4 feet in which is pretty insignificant since I'll never actually be sitting that close to the display. In my obsessive compulsive mind I know it's there, though, and I'm trying to decide if that is going to drive me nuts or if I can just forget about it and enjoy the plasma. Has anyone else encountered a situation like this and if so, what did you do?

 

[technofan]

If you cannot see it at the usually distance, why bother exchanging it. Just don't look for it with binoculars at 10 feet . Enjoy your new toy and stop looking for faults! One or a few dead pixels out of 1,049,088 is considered acceptable by all plasma manufacturers and not considered a defect.

 

[MikeNorman]

I would not take it back for one dead pixel for it is rare not to have one to four dead pixels. If you do decide to take it back make to the place where you bought the set open up the new one and hook it up in the store for you to examine to insure it does not have any dead pixels.

Mike

 

[Paul Bigelow]

If it were me I would exchange the TV. The fact that this thread is present indicates to me that there is some desire to return the set. Like any picture defect, different people have different thresholds as what's "acceptable". To me, even one bad pixel or subpixel is not acceptable.

 

[lacv75]

I guess it would depend on where you bought it.....If you did so online, think of the length of time you'll be out of your display while you get the new one, the shipping charges you may incur, and the possiblity of getting another one with 2 dead pixels instead!!! Only 1 dead pixel is considered as acceptable by most manufacturers (as technofan said...).


Now if you bought it in a B&M store....hmm....different story, I would rush back to store today and try to exchange. Just make sure you as MNorman said: Have the store open up the new set and test it before taking it home...


Doesn't it bother you guys having one dead pixel after such a capital expense??? I guess it does...but if you can't exchange, or if the process is very difficult, I'm sure you won't notice the pixel after a while...


Good luck and enjoy!!!

 

[Gooddoc]

Quote:

Originally posted by Paul Bigelow If it were me I would exchange the TV. The fact that this thread is present indicates to me that there is some desire to return the set. Like any picture defect, different people have different thresholds as what's "acceptable". To me, even one bad pixel or subpixel is not acceptable.

I could not agree more with that. Manufacturers may find "3 or 4 pixels acceptable", but as a consumer it is not acceptable to me. It's like saying 3 or 4 scratches on your new car is acceptable because it is only a total of 1/8 square inch of area on a total paint job with an area of 200 square feet. No scratch is acceptable when I drive my car off the lot, and no dead pixels when I accept my TV. But, I suppose your right, everyone has their own threshold

 

[technofan]

Quote:

Originally posted by Gooddoc I could not agree more with that. Manufacturers may find "3 or 4 pixels acceptable", but as a consumer it is not acceptable to me. It's like saying 3 or 4 scratches on your new car is acceptable because it is only a total of 1/8 square inch of area on a total paint job with an area of 200 square feet. No scratch is acceptable when I drive my car off the lot, and no dead pixels when I accept my TV. But, I suppose your right, everyone has their own threshold

On your way home with your perfect new car the pickup truck in front of you kicked up a tiny pebble and scratched your paint, what are you going to do then. Pull the guy over and demanded a new paint job, return the car to the dealer or just accept it as a fact of life like most people do.

 

[Paul Bigelow]

I would mark that situation up to "c'est la vie" -- and try to fix the ding or scratch. There is no method that I'm aware of to fix a bad pixel.


However, if my perfect new car has the engine light popping on for no apparent reason....

 

[dsmith901]

If I buy locally I will definitely return it for one bad pixel. But spending a couple hundred dollars to replace it mail order would cause me great heart burn, and I would probably live with it if it were not noticeable for normal viewing as is this one.

 

[Gooddoc]

As I said everyone has their own threshold. Let's be friends

 

[Brent Madden]

Quote:

Originally posted by technofan On your way home with your perfect new car the pickup truck in front of you kicked up a tiny pebble and scratched your paint, what are you going to do then. Pull the guy over and demanded a new paint job, return the car to the dealer or just accept it as a fact of life like most people do.

That's exactly what I was thinking last night when I went to bed. You can go buy a $150,000 Ferrari and get a rock chip right on the front bumper or hood of the car. Is it logical to repaint the entire car or trade it in because of this one small flaw or do you just learn to live with it? It's a little bothersome that I know the one dead pixel is there, but when I sit down to watch the plasma I honestly can't even see it so basically I'm obsessing over something I'll never actually notice unless I walk up 2 feet away from the screen and look for it. I just don't know if it's worth the trouble to swap it out for another one(which may end up having one or even more dead pixels). Paul, I honestly didn't start this thread with a great "desire" to return the set, but rather to see if other people have encountered a situation like this and what they did about it. Right now I'm leaning towards just keeping it and accepting that this is a flaw inherent in plasma technology. If it had 3 or 4 dead pixels that were noticeable from my seating distance there's no question I would be getting a replacement panel, but in this situation I might be better off just living with it and enjoying what is otherwise a fantastic display.

 

[CrocD]

Brent,


Where did you buy it?

 

[Brent Madden]

CrocD,


I bought it from an online dealer that I've dealt with in the past(not a forum sponsor so I won't mention the name here). The owner has already told me that he can probably get Panasonic to authorize a replacement if I choose to go that route, but at this point I don't know if I even want to bother with it. I'm concerned that I'll end up getting a plasma with even more dead pixels or some other problem that is more noticeable than what I currently have. The way I'm looking at it right now is if I can't see it from my seating distance(even if I squint), why let it bother me? I should probably just accept that this happens with plasma TVs and forget about it altogether.

 

[ml2316]

what you're perceiving to be one dead pixel is more likely a group of dead pixels, i'm guessing. pixels are pretty small. one dead one i think would not be noticeable at all.

 

[igreg]

Where is the dead pixel? If on the border much less significant than if in the center of the screen. Manufactures do not consider one dead pixel a defect. Have you done any of the white screen tests to assure it's just one dead pixel?


What color is the pixel? Note that a pixel cell that is always green, or always red will eventually use the relevant gases over a few months time and become black. A black pixel is barely noticeable on a plasma display from a respectable distance. Can you see the pixel in normal viewing or do you really have to look for it, to the point that you often have a hard time even locating it? Would a friend visiting notice it?



Check out a standard manufacturer policy at:

http://www.dtvcity.com/help/perfectpixel.html


I am having my 50PHD7UY installed shortly, and I have wondered what I would do in such a case. You could consider yourself fortunate to have such a great display; perhaps the next would have other problems. And to keep it all relative, many people have eye disease or corneal scarring and always see "dead space" in their vision. We should consider ourselves fortunate.


At least live with your set for a week or two, and see if it's still a problem for you. What do you think?

 

[Jerry Gardner]

IMO, one dead pixel is not worth going to the trouble of exchanging a plasma.


If, as you say, you can't see it, then what does it matter? Is absolute perfection that important to you?


Considering all of the crappy signals you'll be feeding the plasma from poorly encoded DVDs, SD analog TV, overcompressed satellite TV, or whatever, that have plenty of obviously visible noise and artifacts, worrying about one dead pixel you can't even see is silly.


(My Fuji P50 has two dead pixels, which, I'll admit, I did worry about at first, but after the first week I stopped worrying and started enjoying.)

 

[newguy2]

I would not return a plasma for one dead pixel because a) it would not be noticeable in normal viewing, b) it is likely that a replacement would have one or even more dead pixels and c) it is not worth all of the hassle to demount, box, ship, wait, remount and recalibrate a new one for something that I couldn't really see in normal viewing. The spec for a plasma is not perfection and if you try to set the bar there you are more likely than not to be disappointed (the place where I bought mine tells me that a majority of panels come in with 1 or more dead pixels).

 

[Dgnr8]

So what you guys are all pretty much saying is that it is OK for a dealer to give you a sub-par plasma at FULL PRICE? I'm sorry but if I'm paying that much for a plasma it better be PERFECT!

 

[Brent Madden]

Quote:

Originally posted by Dgnr8 So what you guys are all pretty much saying is that it is OK for a dealer to give you a sub-par plasma at FULL PRICE? I'm sorry but if I'm paying that much for a plasma it better be PERFECT!

Nothing(and I repeat nothing) is perfect. It's the nature of the beast and if you can't accept it you should probably look at DLP or some other technology instead. After living with the plasma for a few days, I don't even think about the dead pixel anymore because I can't see it from my viewing distance anyway. It definitely doesn't take away from the viewing experience one bit.

 

[DADoES]

My Panny panel has one dead pixel that isn't noticeable unless I put my eye right up to the glass at the right spot. It has been that way for getting close to 1.5 years. I didn't notice it until a couple months after I had the panel, and happened to look at the right place in the right way, and I felt no need to have it exchanged. Now if there were several dead pixels scattered around, I might consider an exchange. If there are several dead pixels all together, that would likely be noticeable at normal viewing distances and I'd definitely exchange.