Dead pixel remover

[Mad Cow]

Could somebody write a plugin that just cycles random colours, to remove dead pixels on the LCD? My gigabeat has one that I can clearly see, maybe others that I can't. I know almost no C, but I'm pretty sure it would be a fairly simple task.

[Llorean]

Or you could just encode one of those nice dead-pixel removing videos for mpegplayer.

[Chronon]

Wikipedia suggests that gently massaging your screen can also help stuck pixels.  It kind of makes sense if the mechanism for the sticking has to do with the oblong liquid crystal molecules jamming up and failing to respond to the applied electric field.  A little bit of mechanical stress could help jiggle them free and get them to respond in the desired way to the applied field.  Cycling the colors of the pixels really means switching the electric field strength and doing this randomly could also help dislodge them.  At least these seem like a plausible explanations for why these techniques could help.

It obviously doesn't help a truly dead pixel (e.g. one whose transistor has broken).

[Soader03]

Or you could just encode one of those nice dead-pixel removing videos for mpegplayer.

I tried without success.

[Llorean]

You failed to encode, or the video simply failed to fix your pixels?

[Soader03]

No, the video failed to fix my screen. I searched on Wikipedia and yes, I think next time I will take apart my gigabeat, I will massage the screen.

[Chronon]

These techniques will not fix a dead pixel -- only a frozen one.  And if you want to massage your Gigabeat I think you can safely apply some stress to the screen by pressing on the window with your finger.  At least I can cause visible color shifts in the vicinity of my finger by applying moderate pressure to it.

This topic now seems more appropriate for General Discussion, doesn't it?

[Mad Cow]

I never even though about a video, that's a much better idea, but a video won't loop for a long time. I want to have it loop for a long time, because I've read that they usually only work after an hour or so.

EDIT: Currently running the video, I found a strange problem with the video rendering though. The colours don't actually flash uniformly , they make a weird pattern. I'm guessing this is because of slow LCD update code. If I pause it it shows a solid colour.

[kendubya]

Could somebody write a plugin that just cycles random colours, to remove dead pixels on the LCD?

There already is a plugin which cycles colours.  It's called "plasma".

You'll probably want to set the Backlight setting to On to keep the display active.

[Chronon]

The backlight shouldn't affect much.  It's the electrodes switching the state of the LCD that is the important thing.

[Mad Cow]

Yea, I'll just put on plasma and put it into the dock.