Originally Posted by AlanO:
“Very, very rare isn't never. All brands will have DOAs from time to time, which suggests 100% qc checking doesn't take place.”
It suggests no such thing - it suggests the problem occurred after testing, most probably during transportation - although a less likely reason would be a component failure, either as it was turned OFF after testing, or as it was turned ON when unpacked (the two most likely times for faults to occur).
But the only Sony DOA's I've seen have been loose plugs or physically broken - including a number with the same bottom corner of the cabinet cracked. Checking the serial numbers they were sequential, and had obviously been packed together on the same pallet - which had been dropped on it's corner cracking the TV's on that corner of the pallet.
'Interestingly' (as it was me!) we delivered the TV and set it up, THEN noticed the crack (it was only barely visible), so pointed it out to the customer and said I'd go back and fetch another new one. So I fetched the new one, unpacked it - and that was cracked as well
So I explained to the customer that I would go back and unpack a set to make sure it was OK before bringing a third - when doing so I found two more cracked ones, which as I said turned out to be sequential numbers.
But even those weren't 'dead' - just damaged, and only slightly at that.
Haven't you ever seen TV factories on the TV? - with the sets moving along being assembled, then being powered up and displaying test patterns as they move along.
Incidentally, often on Sony TV's if you replace the EEPROM with a completely blank one, the set pre-loads the memory with the original factory set up configuration - including channels called such things 'Test Card 1', 'Alignment Area 3', plus Spanish terrestrial channels (from back when they were assembled in Barcelona). From that point, just as they will in the factory, you have to perform a 'initial shipping condition' to make it as a new set.