What has happened to Tech Support?

King Goldfish

King Goldfish

I called Sony by mistake.. re: a Panasonic issue. But its because I had to windows of both sony and panasonic. So After realizing my mistake, I told the tech guy that I wanted to talk about the HDV. I wanted specifics. this guy kept calling me by my first name but Mr in front of it. First he said Mr Day.. I said, Please dont be so Informal. I hate that. I live in a country were people are supposed to be Equal. I really dont like working for people or doing business with people if I have to put a title in front of their name. I even called my Doctor by his first name which he accepts.

anyways, I go by Thomas for the most part.. and this guy kept calling me Mr Paul. I told him "Relax, and please call me Thomas. He didnt get that. My name is on their registry as first and last but not by the name I go by with most friends and family.

anyways.. 5 Times I asked him to stop calling me Mr Paul and he kept doing it. Then I just bit my lip and said, Lets start over. Lets just talk about all the specs of this camera HDV-Fx1

He's like, What do you want to know. I said.. The lens type, the light.lux rating and so on. He wasnt much of the Technical guy Im used to from years back. He was like someone who was hired in India (outsourcing?) and I can hear him clicking away at the typewriter for specs.

What they need to do, is hire people with decent english skills that can not be to friendly (Because thats irritating as well) but be able to talk to you like someone you work with or someone you semi know at a sports bar. Someone who can talk to you.. not say your name at the end of every sentence. He ended his reply with my Name "Mr Paul" I wish I recorded it and played it for you guys.

But thats the future of business I guess. To keep cost down, they have to hire some poor guy in India for 50 cents a day.

I've had other horror experiences.


PS.. no disrespect towards Indian people. I have a love for their culture but I dont care if its India or the deep back wooded area of Arkansa.. if I cant understand someone, then that becomes a serious communication problem.

anyways im gonna find a store with the sony on display. anyone play with it yet?
 
Yeah I know precisely what you mean. That's part of the reason I love indietalk so much. All the people here are genuinely helpful and don't try to push things to either extreme. I can always count on well thought out genuine replys.

I never did understand the policy of "scale back on tech support to save money." I always choose to work with companies that have good tech support. I'd rather pay slightly more for a product and know that I'm covered than spend less and have no backup. Seems business school doesn't understand that though... maybe I'm one of the minority.

*shrugs*

Wish I could say I had a chance to play with the Sony but alas, no. There has been some footage posted around the net though. I can post links if you would like (just make sure you like large downloads!)
 
I agree with you on outsourcing tech support jobs - but not on calling people "Mister".

To me it's not about being "equal", but about respect. I've never called my doctor or teacher by their first name - even if they encourage or accecpt it. I even get a little upset when someone on the phone calles me by my first name - though I have never said anything.

But then I'm an old fashioned kind of guy. I even wear a tie when I'm directing.
 
thats cool. To each their own. But I doubt I would call you Mister if I worked with you :)

I would ask you not to be Formal. I guess its the American in me.

*shrugs* or the cali guy.

We are a classist society here in the states. I find it ironic. We moved from Europe and Asia to be "Equal" and to not pay Double Taxations.

but thats getting political.


So .. Lets talk about Sony, JVC and Panasonic.

I have heard from several sources that JVC is a pain in the butt to get support from. they are a pain to return stuff too and lastly their cameras are at the bottom of the list of Prosumer Quality camcorders.

2 Different Sources. One who sells them for a living along with everything else and one at another Website.

I was thinking of instore credit on a JVC HDV camera.

gr-hd1us


vs the Sony. both parties talked me out of Buying them. Said that Because they are first Generation I should stay away. Someone on here said the same thing. I think it was you Shaw or was it that Riezen guy? (spell check)

so.. I have the opportunity to walk into a place in San Francisco and buy a nice new older AG100 for around 2600 bucks. I think I will shop around though, He said he paid 3200 for them. I dont believe him. Those guys make a killer markup. Im thinking he paid more like 1800 each. If that.

I know I see places on the internet for them as low as 1300 bucks but im guessing they are refurbed.

what do you guys think? Also, The AG100 has a hotshoe? input please. I know the only dif between them and the newer *A model is it has a higher lux rating (Higher number making it worst) and doesnt have button menus.

But its still a Good camera, Right? Im coming close to deciding and I chose not to wait another Year. I want to get serious with this. I know I been making goofy shit on here but I plan on actually scouting college actors and writing a script and want to know how to use it before doing so.
 
Yeah I don't think I would go with a prosumer JVC cam. I definitely wouldn't go for one of the JVC HDV cameras. They have proven to be very desaturated and noisy.

I'd be wary of any place on the net that sells the DVX that cheaply. You will most likely end up screwed. These are often grey market cameras and as such they may or may not come with all of the accessories and panasonic warranty.

The DVX does have a hotshoe. The DVX100 is a great camera. It doesn't have as many options as the 100A but it's still great. For instance, from what I remember, the 100 doesn't have:

1) As much resistance in the focus ring
2) Doesn't have as many gamma curve settings
3) Has ever so slightly less processing power

That said these things can be very minor. The new gamma settings introduced on the 100A are really rather useless as they can create some very noisy images and do not make much, if any, visual difference. The 100 also has a cleaner cine-matrix (color manipulation) than the 100A. Not by much but it is there.

So my opinion: The 100 will do a great job. I wouldn't worry about getting it over the 100A.
 
OK, a store in San francisco will sell me one with 1 year factory (Standard) warrenty for 2800 bucks New or one Demo for 2600 bucks he says is sold as new.

Im always worried about buying the Demo but then again, I bought a mitzubishi floor TV in 1989 and that sucker works like new to this day.

Best Analog picture. Looks almost digital.
 
I really can't say about the floor model. You should check how many hours it has on its heads. The camera keeps track of this internally. I forget how to look it up at the moment though... the people at the store should know hopefully.

Check the camera out by taking a tape and recording a few minutes. Play around with the various buttons and make sure everything is functional. If so and it has low hours then I would say go for it :)
 
Im always worried about buying the Demo
Click to expand...

I would never do that again.

I replaced my computer last Sunday, and they only had the demo-model left. I bought it.

Couldn't install half my software, it would take forever to load up the programmes that did install, crashed every time I plugged in a USB or FireWire device. I went back to get the installation disks, and they said it didn't have any. The computer had a seperate "recovery drive" that would return the whole system to factory-default.

Brilliant, I think... until the computer tells me it cannot find the recovery partition. I unlock the recovery-drive... it's a small 5-gig drive... with 5-gigs of free space. Some chucklehead had erased it, while monkeying around with it when it was on the storeshelf.

I returned it, and starting picking out alternate ones that were similar. The first 3 alternates I picked were also "store demo" only. I kept going 'til I found one that was still in its factory-box. Hooray! (But what a hassle).

_______

This same computer store was where I bought an external FireWire DVD burner in a box that had been checked back in as having been returned, and repackaged. When I opened it up, the person who had returned it previously had done the ol' switcheroo with parts and not been caught when returning it. I paid $300 for a small chunk of metal, and some co-axial cable wrapped in a layer of duct-tape.

Took 2 days to get the store to replace it with what I paid for.

_______

Burn in hell, CompUSA. :yes:

So... buy it new, in an unopened factory-fresh box.
 
I hate COMPUSA as well. They really take forever to fix stuff.

I also noticed the floor guys are rotated and Im always there when the guy from one department is filling in for someone in the department Im in and doesnt have answers and uses the "This is not my department.. I have to find out" as the answer to everything.
 
BTW.. I went to check out the Sony FX1 and the JVC i put down because of rumors.

the JVC was not grainy at all. Its beautiful. I thought the picture was better then the Sony.

So, Yes. I got it. I paid half in cash I been saving and financed about 1000 bucks for the rest.

Im not flip flopping, I just went by others opinions and When I got it home, I was amazed at the quality of the picture. Onlything is I have to go over the book because I cant find a firewire output. if it doesnt have one, I guess i will have to return it :(

I really like it. its got lots of external plugs for different outputs though.

But its not grainy at all. the picture is awsome. it doesnt have a hot shoe either. The one down side to it. But I will just get a external mic with a power source. As was noted earlier, If you're going to invest in audio you should try to get the best equipment that you can afford. it is as important as the quality of the video. Maybe even more.

I will show you a picture of it once I get broadband installed. or a test video.

It is the GR-HD1 model. I payed 2700 for it at Fry's. I had about 1800 bucks to put down. The price actually went up to 3199.00 USD at Fry's Electronic.

I was like "How come you raised the price.. normaly you guys drop prices over time" but they told me that the camera was in high demand. I actually got the last one in stock. He said when there is a high demand they jack the price up. Seems kind of stupid to me. You sell more you sell for less because you make a greater profit in volume. But they are just greedy I guess, but thats business.
 
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