Anyone who knows me also knows that I am a bit of a compulsive contingency planner. This is a good thing for work -- it lets me manage big complex projects that "work every time" -- but can be a burden at other times.

Before I bought the projector, my first thoughts were "OK, I'm buying at the end of the sales cycle for this model, but these prices seem a bit better than they should be even after factoring in the strong US dollar".

Couldn't think of any major "gotchas" so went ahead and ordered.

Last night it hit me... Sanyo's factory warranty says "99.99% of pixels will work properly, ie about 92 pixels can be bad", while most customers tend to be unhappy if there are any visible pixel defects in their $3000 pride and joy, and end up going back to the dealer for replacement.

That gap (factory vs. retail requirements) implies that there is probably an ever-growing inventory of projectors somewhere in the retail supply chain with enough dead pixels to be annoying but not enough to trip the factory warranty. At the end of the sales cycle for any product, when prices are dropping anyways, that inventory tends to appear in the lowest priced sales outlets...

... like the one where I bought my new Z4.

Has anyone had experience with dead or stuck pixels on an LCD projector, particularly a 720p ? If so, what did you do ? Did it meet factory guidelines or did the dealer just swap it out for you and stick the old one under the counter somewhere ?

I wish I hadn't thought of this on holiday Monday when everything is closed

I have not had a problem with my Z2 after a few years, knock on wood. My understanding is that Sanyo will resolve the issue if you have a certain scenario/quantity of stuck pixels in their 2-3 day turn around. I really think this problem is an exception rather than the norm. Stop worrying my project manager organized friend.

No dead pixels here either!

Another reason to consider DLP perhaps?

So, are there any dead pixels with your Z4, or are you concerned about "just in case"? While I don't have much experience with LCD projectors, I can tell you that with LCD computer monitors, it's pretty hard to notice a dead/stuck pixel. It took me about 6 months to notice that my 19" LCD monitor had a stuck pixel (always white even with a black screen), and that's by looking carefully for them with my face way closer to the monitor than I normally would have it in daily use. After I noticed it, I soon forgot about it, and haven't given it much thought until I saw your post. It simply doesn't affect my daily enjoyment of the monitor. That was 3 years ago.

I've read that LCD screen makers have continued to refine their manufacturing process, such that dead/stuck pixels are increasingly less common. While I realize that LCD projectors don't have the same panels as monitors, my guess is that the underlying technology is similar enough that similar improvements have been made in other LCD devices.

When I've look at the images from LCD projectors in the store, I have to walk fairly close to the screen to see the individual pixels, much closer than I'm likely to sit in real life. So, my guess is that if you sit far away enough from the screen so that the screen door effect isn't noticeable, you're likely to be far away enough that you won't notice individual pixels anyways. Plus, moving images (movies, TV, etc) have enough "noise" in them that would further make individual pixels less noticeable. You may be more likely to notice individual pixels if you use the projector for static images or as a computer display, but again, I doubt it'll affect your day to day use, unless you're one of those people where just knowing there's a defect eats at you ... in that case, there are medicines that help with that ...

Just in case...

If there are stuck pixels and they are not blatant I'm not going to care a whit... my nature is to do all the worrying up front then "don't worry be happy" afterwards.

I guess if I were all that concerned about image defects I would clean the coffee splashes and bug tracks off my LCD computer monitor

Then I won't tell you about dust blobs.

No dead pixels on my 1.5 year old Z3. I did have a dust blob that I could not get cleaned, so I sent it in and they did a "One time courtesy cleaning"... Guess what? I've got another one. Not as obvious as the first one I had, but it is there. I am going to try to get it tonight. At least it is fixable.

Thanks, everyone.

Move along, nothing to see here...