I’ve just bought myself a nice new Samsung LCD monitor and I’m impressed with it but I do have a few questions.

One downer is a single dead pixel (probably about the size of a mote of dust) which is annoying me. I’ve tried a variety of software based pixel recovery programmes (that just for rapid colour changes) but they haven’t worked (my pixel’s black so I’m guessing it’s dead rather than stuck). I’ve also gentley massaged the screen around the area as suggested on various websites but I’ve drawn the line at poking it with a PDA stylus or screwdriver – which I have found suggested on the web and which doesn’t sound a good idea to me!

It’s probably best to leave well alone and get on enjoying the monitor, as it’s not a major problem (and I have heard it suggested that dead or stuck pixel can begin working over time) but I did wonder whether there are any other (safe) techniques to try.

I understand image burn on phosphor coated CRT screens, I assume that this isn’t a problem with LCDs so is there any point/need to run a screensaver with an LCD screen?

Finally, and just because I’m intriged, I’ve always assumed that monitor refresh frequencies (usually given in hertz) relate to the number of times the electron beam scans a screen in CRT setup (the higher the hertz, the faster the refresh and the less flickery and more stable the image). I assume, perhaps wrongly, that this has no relavence to LCD monitors and in the screen resolution setting of Windows 7 it’s simply given as 1920×1080. However in the monitor settings of the advanced section the screen refresh rate is given as 60hz with options for 29 & 30hz interlaced (which give a very good impression of a nasty, flickering interlaced screen) and 50, 59 & 60hz which don’t appear to do much. What exactly do hertz relate to with LCD monitors and why the various options?

Sounds like the correct refresh rate is 60hz… it nearly always is for none stereo displays. The other options are in there just because the monitor can display those, it’s called EDID and it causes me a bazillion problems at work! You might have to click a few options in the nVidia menu (if you have one) that stops the card trying to send the signal as HDTV rather than a monitor timing.

Assuming it’s new… for a dead pixel, i’d box it up and send it back as faulty. Some places have a policy of dead pixels aren’t their problem but in my view it’s faulty and needs to go back for replacement. If it’s preowned, I have seen a pixel start to work again… but it’s kinda rare in my experience.

Dead pixels are annoying but most manufacturers T&C have an allowable number for it not to be considered faulty (can also depend where on the screen it is).

LCDs can suffer from what looks like screen burn (but it’s usually not permanent), my advice would be just to set it to go to a power saving mode rather than a screensaver (LCDs cope much better with cycling between normal and standby modes and also do it faster than a CRT so it’s not really an inconvenience).

Refresh rate should be 60Hz, as LCD pixels only change when told )rather than decay as on a CRT) you don’t get the same flickering effect. That said if the LCD supports it (most won’t) there can be an advantage to higher refresh rates as the screen is updated more often so there’s less visible ghosting/jerking on fast moving images.

If you’ve just bought it, and it’s annoying you, I’d chance your arm at taking it back.

As FW says, there used to be guidelines as to how many dead pixels were deemed ‘acceptable’ – I’m not wholly sure that that still applies though, manufacturing technology has improved exponentially. I’d take it back.

Thanks for the info. It was bought online so it’ll be a bit of a hassle boxing it up and sending it back on the off chance, I think I can live with it.

If it’s less than 7 days old you can just return it anyway without needing a reason, still a fair bit of hassle though unless it’s really noticeable.

On closer inspection it’s actually a stuck pixel (blue and just visible on a black screen) rather than dead so possibly able to become unstuck. It’s a faily minor issue though so probably not worth the hassle of posting it back.

If it bugs you, send it back because a few days and work posting it back may stop it annoying you forever

I’d send it back.