Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America - Mitsubishi Display Walls, Control Room Displays by Mitsubishi MegaView

Assessing Reliability

The Importance of Reliability

When selecting displays for your control room environment, reliability is paramount. Although initial cost or capital expenditure is important, the real cost of your investment is related to Total Cost of Ownership.

In order to determine Total Cost of Ownership, additional expenditures must be considered, including: consumables, maintenance, service intervals, and most certainly, the reliability of the displays.

Reliability is often calculated in MTBF or mean-time-between-failure. MTBF can be defined as the average amount of time between failures. When determining a system's MTBF, all components must be factored in.

Another key indicator of reliability is the warranty burden of a given product or product line. If a manufacturer offers a "bumper-to-bumper" warranty, they should also provide replacement parts and lamps upon failure to fulfill their commitment. The cost associated with this is known as warranty burden and although it is important to know what their costs of doing business is, it also indicates the reliability of the system's components. The lower the warranty burden, the lower the cost and the higher the reliability.

A key consumable in control room displays are lamps. They represent an ongoing component to the Total Cost of Ownership, but are also important to the overall reliability of a product. And since most manufacturers do not produce lamps, they probably work with a third party. This gives the video wall company little or no control over the cost or the reliability of lamps. Mitsubishi maintains a strategic partnership with a high quality lamp manufacturer, which provides more control over reliability of this critical component.

Key Questions When Determining Reliability

What is the system's total MTBF for the whole product and not merely one or two components?
What is the warranty burden for the product line?
What is the cost of lamps? Does the company providing the displays have a key relationship with the lamp manufacturer?