Dead PSP pixels will be handled by Sony

What confuses me about this is this clause:

"If one or more of the above identified products is determined to be defective during the Warranty Period"

Nintendo had said that any dead pixels constituted a defect and would be replaced. Sony sidestepps the question of what constitutes a defect here.

Honestly, I understand that dead pixels are common in such devices, but what worries me is the reports that the number of PSP dead pixels have increased after purchase.

http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=143875&threshold=-1&commentsort=3&tid=212&tid=207&mode=thread&cid=12057841

I think there is a group of people that dont even know they have pixel problems - perhaps thats best? In any case I found these images useful for inspecting my screen, expecially the Black one: http://pspmedia.ign.com/psp/binary/.../DP_Checker.zip

Follow what instructions?

#2, the link you provided is dead. Try this:
http://psp.ign.com/articles/599/599236p1.html

It's just a bunch of colored JPGs. Nothing special.

Actually if you call Sony they will tell you that they do not guarantee that they will send you back one without any dead pixels, since their policy is that 3 dead pixels or less is not a defect.

Now, I kid you not, but I had bought my PSP on friday from my local wal-mart. Got home, found one stupid dead pixel, no biggie right? WRONG! It was right in the middle of my screen! So, I return it and buy another at my local Circuit City, It has 5, yes 5 dead pixels. CC was cool about it and replaced it without asking the next day. I decide I need to check the damn thing out before I get another piece of crap. This one has 3. So I return it and now I have 2 dead pixels, they're not so bad, but if they really start to irritate me, I'm going to give up on PSPs all together. Trust me, it's a great product and all, but... Is it worth it???

Yea, that is ridiculus. I had heard rumors that Sony was allowing panels with more dead pixels to pass inspection than usual to save money, but this pretty much confirms it. Guess they had to find some corners to cut. I wouldn't be surprised if this put Sony much closer to breaking even with the price at $250 than most people thought. If, lets say, they throw half the amount of panels they normally would on any other lcd product, that saves them many millions. $250 isn't such a bargain when you come to think about it.

this sounds like a "decibel policy" to me...i.e. the louder someone screams and complains to them, the more lenient they are about considering it a "defect".

Taking a real good look at my PSP screen I see that only one of the pixels is a dead one. The other is, I think, covered in dirt from the inside out, so I can't repair it myself. If I'm not mistaken, PSPs are supposed to be manufactured in a "clean room" (ie anti static, masks, etc). It seems like Sony is really cutting corners to meet demand. Their square is starting to look like a pentagon. In your guy's opinion, should I return this one and get a refund? I was thinking that I should just wait for the second shipment. Maybe they'll clean up a bit?

My brother-in-law brought one to our Easter dinner. It had the same problems you hear about everywhere: dead pixels (2) and dust inside the screen. The only reason he kept it was to show off at Easter. Today, he's returning it.

Maybe when the unit has better quality control and comes WAY down in price, it will be worth it.

It's really weird too because I fell in love with Nintendo products as a young lad. I became disenfranchised when my PS and PS2 crapped out on me (the PS kept on overheating and the PS2's case broke out from under it, not my doing mind you). I decided that the PSP might redeem Sony in my eyes. Guess not, eh? I think I'll keep on exchanging the product at my local Circuit City until I get a PERFECT one.
That pisses me off, because everyone should get a product that is without imperfections when you purchase it as NEW. The fact of the matter is I smell as class-action suit brewing. I'm joining up when it does. Nintendo has never and I mean EVER screwed me when it comes to quality control issues.
I'm torn, however. I love the PSP, but it's built rather shoddy and I don't know whether I should give up on the Playstation franchise. Grrr, Sony has failed to meet my expectations in quality again.

Well, don't forget that *ALL* first-run Sony products have had issues. Gaming ones, I mean. The first Playstation's lense was directly over the CPU. It would get overheated and would eventually break... which is why some units would play better upside-down (yes, seriously). The PS2 had that disc-reading problem and suffered from slippage of the disc. The PSP is the same. All early-adopters (such as myself; mine has *ONE* dead pixel, but no dust) will encounter these issues. As long as you purchase an extended warranty from wherever you get yours, you should be fine. Remember, it's a portable with moving parts. Pretty much a first. It *WILL* need to be repaired at some point, but more than likely, it'll be *AFTER* Sony's one year.

I had to to return two PSP's with dead pixels and eventally they had no more to exhchange. They gave me store credit and told me to wait till the next shipment. I was curious if the 2nd shipment will have less or none of the 1st shipments defects.

Well I was at my local EB the other day when there was a guy from Sony there doing product checks or something. He said something about the PSP's being repaird free of charge. That it is covered by their warranty. But he never said anything on how many dead pixels are required for them to fix it. I have 1 in the upper right corner that you cant notice unless the screen is really dark, so it doesn't bother me much.

Oh and this one made me laugh. He said that the disc read error was a valid error that was covered by sony for the life of the ps2. Yet I hear so much that sony wont fix it without a charge.

Well I will add my complaint to the wall. I have a PSP, (P.ixels S.houldn't be a P.roblem - but they are), and yes I have one dead pixel, I am trying to live with it but it buggggggs the crap out of me knowing that I paid $270.00 for this unit. When I bought my Nintendo GameBoy Advance I had a dead pixel, returned it and no problems. I tried to return the PSP to the GameStop and they told me that since I did not buy the extended warranty they would not exchange it, and told me that Sony would not replace it if it was only one pixel. I don't have the money to send the unit away to be fixed even if Sony was willing to fix it. This truly sucks and yes I have a PS2 and I am feeling like a sucker right about now. (PS2 SUCKS!).

I have two black spots on the screen and I bought mine yesterday, could someone tell me...dead pixel or dust?

Im was supposed to be getting a psp this week but after wat u all have said i don't know if i want to

plz email me with any helpfull input into this at gamertrmpt@woh.rr.com

No, they are not honoring the warranty regarding the LCD problem. I just talked to their customer service people today explaining the problem on the PSP screen and was told it is not included on the warranty.
I will not recommend PSP to anyone. They do not want to honor the warranty that was specified and their customer service.

Emailed sony, and I got a plain old reply, straight from the manual that said:



Hello Cole,



Thank you for writing us.



Red, blue, green, or white spots, or dark spots, may appear in certain locations

on the LCD screen.

This is normal with LCD screens and is not a sign of a malfunction. A very

small number of dark

pixels or continuously lit pixels may exist on each screen.



For more information on the LCD screen on your PSP(TM) portable entertainment

system, please refer

to page 13 of your Owner's Manual.



If you need additional assistance, please call our Consumer Services Department

at (800) 345-7669.

Our representatives are available to assist you Monday through Saturday 6:00

a.m. - 8:00 p.m., and

Sunday 7:00 a.m. - 6:30 p.m., Pacific Standard Time.



If you have further questions regarding this message, please refer to your email

case

number:30636



Regards,

Karl

Multimedia CSR

Sony Computer Entertainment America

Consumer Services Department