How every batch gets tested before it ships

Every unit is powered on at the factory and run through an automated fixture before it is boxed. The fixture checks each port, the wireless radios, the storage, and the front LED, and it writes the result to a serial-numbered record we keep.

• HDMI output at 4K 60Hz with an HDR handshake.
• Ethernet link and throughput.
• Both USB ports, read and write, with a known device.
• microSD detection and mount.
• Optical and AV audio output.
• Wi-Fi association on both bands, and Bluetooth pairing.
• Storage write-verify pass across the full eMMC.
• Memory test at temperature.

A sample from every pallet is opened at the Rotterdam fulfilment centre and set up exactly as a customer would: unbox it, plug it into a television, run through the wizard, install four streaming apps and play something in HDR.

Automated fixtures are excellent at finding a dead port and useless at noticing that the setup wizard now asks a confusing question. A person notices that in ninety seconds.

In one batch we had a run of remotes that paired fine at the factory and failed to re-pair after a battery change. The fixture tested pairing once. It now tests pairing, unpairing, and pairing again with a fresh cell.

Every test on the list is there because something got past the list.

Sanne de Vries, Operations