BBC defends Watchdog report, Sony strikes back too

Yesterday, the BBC‘s consumer rights show Watchdog looked into allegations of systematic failure issues plaguing launch versions of the PS3 console. Sony‘s had their say, and now that the Watchdog episode has been broadcast, the BBC has had theirs as well. Thing is, the BBC isn’t done yet. Neither is Sony, for that matter. Both have since issued a statements backing up their respective claims.

Yesterday, the BBC‘s consumer rights show Watchdog looked into allegations of systematic failure issues plaguing launch versions of the PS3 console. Sony‘s had their say, and now that the Watchdog episode has been broadcast, the BBC has had theirs as well. Thing is, the BBC isn’t done yet. They’ve since issued a statement on the Watchdog website backing the claims made on the program. Here are a few snippets:

Sony dislikes the term “the yellow light of death“, since it implies a single fault is afflicting all consoles. It says the flashing yellow light is a “non-specific fault indicator that can be triggered in a range of different circumstances.” Sony adds that the yellow light could indicate a problem caused by “any one of a range of issues that may inevitably affect any complex item of consumer electronics”.

So if there isn’t one single thing that’s causing thousands of machines to stop working, why does it appear that one single repair appears to get them working again?

Unwilling to pay Sony for a refurbished PS3, customers often turn to independent console repair businesses. Several of those businesses have told Watchdog that the vast majority of consoles they see with the “yellow light of death” can be repaired by heating up specific parts of the circuit board. This process is called solder re-flow. By heating the connections between the components and the circuit board to temperatures in excess of 200 Celsius, the metal solder joints melt, just like they did when the device was first assembled. Console repairers say that this process method is commonly used to repair fractured connections, or dry joints.

The statement also claims that “by Sony’s own admission, around 12,500 of the 2.5 million PlayStations sold in the UK” have been affected by the so-called “yellow light of death” since March 2007. It’s worth noting that Sony didn’t exactly say 12,500 but that 0.5 percent of the PS3 install base in the UK was affected.

Sony, on the other hand, also replied to the BBC’s claims. In regards to the solder re-flow process, the company stated that:

As regards the purported solution to the supposed “yellow light” issue adopted by commercial repairers, effecting a reflow correctly, to the required engineering standards and in a properly controlled static-safe environment requires the use of an infra-red BGA soldering station, which must be set up and programmed to run at very specific temperature profiles. Each such station costs tens of thousands of pounds

Consequently, even if a yellow indicator/system shutdown were triggered by a soldering issue, it would be misleading for you to suggest to viewers that the basic solder reflow process you describe….is necessarily a reliable procedure when performed in that way, or that it can properly be done cheaply and quickly.

Did any of you guys catch the show? What did you think? Sound off in the comments section.

• Sony defends PS3 from BBC “PS3 failure” report

Via BBC