OT: PSP - dead pixels galore!! got bilked??

FrigidNDEditing wrote on 2/25/2006, 10:02 PM
I'm about to send back my second PSP to sony for replacement due to too many stuck/dead pixels. To which they always like to tell me - well, it's an LCD with 'MILLIONS" of pixels and it's just not feasible to keep the displays from getting a few stuck pixels.

HOLY CRAP - I've gotten 2 PSP's and neither of them were dead pixel free - and now a third will come - and I can only hope that I will have *less* of a problem.

If I were going to play games on it - it wouldn't be a problem (more than likely) but I only have one - and it's arcade classics that I hardly use. This is for showing clients vids and demos etc... - how great that looks - nice glaring white line (like a crack or something) in my LCD that just Shoots right out at you in dark areas of my video, the last thing I need to do is have my potential clients distracted by a string of dead pixels on my screen and not paying attention to my video.

I have a screen with 1920x1200 rez - LCD, and it has one, ONE semi stuck pixel that sometimes is stuck and sometimes is not. This PSP has at least 10 - maybe more that are pretty substantial and I fear that I may be one of the lucky ones.

I do not suggest the PSP to anyone for the purposes of displaying to clients - and if it were up to me ( I shudder to say it ), "THIS DESERVES A CLASS ACTION SUIT!!!" - there are PLENTY of LCD makers that can make a screen of that rez w/o having dead pixels in it. Sony (not Sony media software - the fine & wonderfull makers of Sony Vegas) BLEW IT BIG TIME!!!

And the store I purchased it from doesn't even let me return it - LAST TIME I EVER buy anything from Gamestop, didn't even know it was them (used to be a local store, they kept the name, but aren't the same).

Sorry for the semi OT - but BE WARNED!!!

Dave

Comments

farss wrote on 2/25/2006, 10:20 PM
Actually you raise an interesting point that's been a bit in the news down here. Apple have copped a few blasts over telling retailers not to replace faulty iPods, they have to be returned to Apple. While I can see some sense in this it is in violation of our consummer protection laws.
Simplest suggestion then if buying a PSP is to check it out in the store BEFORE you accept it. Still doesn't protect you against pixels dying later on. From the fault that you're describing it might not be the LCD display itself, possibly it's the connections to the display. I've heard of problems in several hand held devices where the connections to the screen simply relied on pressure to make contact, loose the pressure and the contacts oxidise and fail. I think a few models of Nokia phones were affected by this problem.

Bob.
TheHappyFriar wrote on 2/26/2006, 5:40 AM
how old's the PSP? Most stores won't take anything back after a certain timeframe, no matter what, unless you purchase a seperate warrenty. I don't think gamestop offers any type of warrenties (EB Games, on the other hand, offers warrenties on ALL products for an extra fee, yes, even dammage done by the consumer to a degree, AND all their used stuff has a 30 day exchange policy. But they got bought out by gamestop. :/ )

what kind of warrenty/replacement does sony offer? The nintendo DS has two LCD screens (one touch & one normal). It says on their support page that any dead pixel's/line on screen (NOT resulting from customer missuse, a nice reason to get a store warrenty) will be replaced/fixed for free within one year from the puchase date.
FrigidNDEditing wrote on 2/26/2006, 6:31 AM
let's see - the first one was about 20 hrs old (of course Gamestop won't accept it for exchange/refund because it was opened) when I had a bunch of pixels going out and the D-pad would not respond (had to MASH it down to get it to do anything). The second one - was from the first moment I turned it on - but it's getting worse and I'm packing it up tommorrow - to go back (ahh yes - more and more money being spent on this video display system to just to ship and ship cuz SCEA sony can't get it right).

Dave
TheHappyFriar wrote on 2/26/2006, 9:46 AM
those bastards... EB & Circuit City (even WalMart & Target) ALWAYS take back stuff for exchanges! Most of them will do re-funds if it's within a few days!)

If you don't want it I'd recomend getting the "new" one (could just be a re-furb) & selling it on e-bay. If you want games buy a DS. but you don't so buy a portable DVD player instead. From circuit city & get the extra warrenty for ~$15.