If I walk up to you, and say "Hi, I'm with Citibank, we have a problem with your account, we need to verify your account number and PIN, please write it down on this piece of paper and give it to me." I'll get a punch in the mouth. Yet when the average user sees gets a call or E-mail asking for this info, it's handed over.
My question is this: what would other A/V engineers in my position recommend for cheap solutions?"
I really can't thnk of any cheap solutions that work well. Most high-quality solutions are priced high for one reason: they can be. Media 100, DVC Pro decks, and ENG cameras can get into the five and six digit ares very quickly. There is a huge leap in cost from pro-sumer to pro equipment, but you will get what you pay for.
1. Lighting is a very key point in any TV production . I can't get away from using the old standard high power ones though. The candlepower they throw is intense, and it used in may news rooms, which is where most college kids get interships.
2. Do NOT skimp on studio cameras, get a studio set up that has Remote Control Units for camera for things such as iris and color temp. While you can skimp with ENG camera set-up as makeshift studio builds, items such as intercom and tally are removed. Again, stuff like this will haunt people in entery level jobs. I knew Panasonic made some sweet D-250 years ago, and now Hitachi has some sweet studio builds, there not as pricey as Ikigami, but there good for most, if not all, of the productions. It may cost quite a bit, but it can last ten years plus with minimal costs long term.
3. Audio - Mackie, Allen & Heath, etc. Many players, almost all good. For a full Tv production board, it looks like cost will be a big factor, but try to get a 16 channel board with at least 2 subs. It may seem like overkill now, but it will assist in getting some real world work. As for the interface, stick with a good breakout box or snake box, and inverst in some SONY wireless recivers and Lav's. They have a good choice where it can be used for both ENG and studio.
4. I like DVCPro for one reason, the upgrade path is set. You have the 25 line, the SD, and the 50 line, the HD. Now, the resolution is overkill, and the tape costs can be prohilitive, but the tapes can be reused over 100+ time without hits or dropouts. Record many times on Beta SP and see the quailty you get on that. DVCPro is good also if you use Cannon's XL 1 for ENG, as most of the Panasonic stuff can be brought into the DVC decks with a 50 tape caddy.
5. This is the poster child for "can do it cheaper" people. I know of a few palces using:eightronix TCD-RP as a video server, and using VideoNet by inLighten as a BBS for a TV station broadcast on the local cable plant. It works well for them, and suits their needs well. While they could have done a roll-your-own solution, the staffing was prohibitive. This is something you would do if your running programming on a channel on campus. If you are not, the afformentioned solution of Cleaner is the best one I can think of.
Remeber the students, because more often than not, they will be using it. If you can convince the the school that it's a learning lab, then later, more cash will come
Digital cell phones use extreme compression of the sound that they transmit. The compression algorithms used are lossy; they're specifically designed around transmission of human voice to human ears, and take advantage of what the human ear will tolerate and what it won't.
My repsonse to this is so what? I don't need to stream lossless audio down my cell phone. I want the person on the other end to hear me somewhat clear. If they tune the codec to human voice, around the 150 KHZ range, that's fine.
It's analogous to asking the question "what is the best car I should buy?" There are so many sub-questions that need to be asked for the right answer to be found.
Most people when shopping for a cell phone always feel they are obligated to a plan where they can talk forever, and pay about $20 a month. But, with a few simple questions, the answers can be clear.
First, what do you want in a service. Do you want a phone that has a certain feature, such as small form factor or color screen? Do you want a service that will provide you with High speed data services? Do you want a bucket load of minutes? Find out what you want first. This will cut down on a lot of providers. For example, true SMS, bye-bye Sprint. Want color phones, in my area Cingular is out then. Those must haves are going to say a lot.
Second, ask around in your area. I personally have Sprint, and love em. I've recommended them to many people in the area, they love em too. Now, if you don't live in Connecticut, ask someone where you live, and where you will be going. Do you get good coverage where you want to go with the phone? Sprint sucks in many parts of New York and the Midwest to name a few. Yes, we all want that option of going anywhere anytime for one flat fee; but to get those options; it will cost a hell of a lot of cash. So run down a list of people you know are competent with their phones, and ask them
Third, know that Customer Service at any company of over 500 people will vary greatly. From a grocery store to a law firm to a college, you can find someone who hates he/she/it for whatever reason. I go into my bank at times and want to jump over the counter sometimes; because the people there are idiots at times, but; more often than not, there good people who can fix a problem I have, and answer questions I may ask. Look at this sentence: I hate {insert store, utility company, doctors office, Operating system, sex, person, food, day of week, etc} because of this one experience they had. Be skeptical of anecdotal evidence; both for and against the company. Often, they have hidden agendas.
Lastly, go to a COMPANY OWNED and OPERATED store. Often, you can try out a phone for a weekend (with a deposit of course) and see if it would meet your needs. If it does, you come back with the phone, sign-up and your all set. If it service blows, then you can cut your losses without much hurting in your wallet.
Usually, you can negotiate better deals once you've had your service for a while with a company. It is much harder to get a new customer than to keep a new one. If you've been with company XYZ for a year, and call them up to get a better plan, you may get one that is even better than they publish, simply because company XYZ knows it would cost them ten times as much to get someone else on board their service than to keep you.
So, in short, unless you're going to be bringing 50 or so accounts into the fray, sit down, read all the plans, including the terms and conditions, and ask some questions to the companies themselves. If the company is lack luster in presenting their service to you, often they will put forth the same effort in supporting their product in the future.
From a few months ago
on
DVDs By Mail?
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
I used Netflix a few months ago, and I had no large complaints with the service: great selection, never out of stock. But I felt I could get a better value by going to a movie store and renting there.
I liked the idea of as many DVD's as you want for $20/month", but I never felt I could watch enough DVD's to get my $20 worth. If I didn't watch about 6 in a month (Blockuster chaged about $4 per DVD), then it would be cheeper to rent at a video store. Plus, there are all the times where didn't have the time/desire/money to watch a movie; but I still paid for the right to rent them from Netflix. For the most part, when I rent DVD's; I'm hanging out with friends, and decide I'm gonna watch a movie a few hours before I do. It's damn impossable to get a DVD by mail the same day.
Granted, the selection was great, but I couldn't justify the cost in my mind. Since I rent only 1~3 DVD's a month.
Very intresting, if you can't stop someone from downloading software by saying "Taking someone elses software is illegal", there is a better way. Throw the idea of "ehtics" into the fray. If you can't find a good enough solution to the problem; use ehtics. Now, all a college has to say is "Taking someone elses software is illegal and immoral". The onus if off the college, as they have activly set-up a culture to stop the illegal activity. Well, in theory anyway. Most college kids wont stop downloading unless you pulled out the RJ-45 from the dorms; you'd be fine until some CS guy ran wireless AP's across the school...
Then again, after looking at my bill this semster, I wonder how my college can say it isn't stealing from me!
I'm worried for all the people out there who are not all that techo savy. If the CD will not eject, then they'll either have to take it out themselves, or bring it to an Apple Repair Shop. Quoting Apple's support page on this:
If a disc with copyrighted protection technology remains inside the drive after following the procedures above, or if the computer does not start up normally, it is recommended that you contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) or Apple Technical Support. CD audio discs that incorporate copyright protection technologies do not adhere to published Compact Disc standards. Apple designs its CD drives to support media that conforms to such standards. Apple computers are not designed to support copyright protected media that do not conform to such standards. Therefore, any attempt to use non standard discs with Apple CD drives will be considered a misapplication of the product. Under the terms of Apple's One-Year Limited Warranty, AppleCare Protection Plan, or other AppleCare agreement any misapplication of the product is excluded from Apple's repair coverage. Because the Apple product is functioning correctly according to its design specifications, any fee assessed by an Apple Authorized Service Provider or Apple for repair service will not be Apple's responsibility.
Now, for a new user. If you go to Best Buy and puck up a copy of Celine Dion: "A New Day Has Come" (Don't know why, but that's a different story), it will look like a CD, smell like a CD, so to the average user, it's a CD. Just becuase the Disc doesn't have the Compact Disc Logo on it wont mean people will undersand that it's really not a CD.
I think a lot of new users will think Apple is at fault for adhearing to the standards; and expect the problem to be fixed at no cost to them.
I wonder if Nevada will aprove a plate for all the casinos there.
The real interesting plate will be the one Nedava's DMV will make celebrating prostitution; I would love to see that plate. It would probally cut down on road rage too!
At my college, computer policy is defined a little more cut and dry. Pretty much anything on the unviersity systems has to be logged for the Freedom of Information Act, as we are a state (run by the state of Connecticut) school. Because the school, and hence the network, is owned by the state; pretty much everything that is owned by the state may be logged for FOI requests.
It pretty much lays down the law: that the college can pretty much read anything that is on their computer, or their servers. Since I think that VT is public (owned by Virginia), they have to follow the same general ideas with their guidelines.
Since they were forced to comply with FOI, the professor had no real expectation of privacy, as she knew that someone may eventually read her files, or anything on the server, at any time to comply with Freedom of Information requests.
Now, if this is a private college, we have something else on our hands.
I would love to see the conversation with my cable company.
ME: I'm calling to pay my cable bill. Cable Operator: OK, we charge a $5 fee for paying over the phone, you can pay on-line for free. ME: I can't pay online. CO: Is your internet access down.
ME: No, if I load the billing page, I'll go over my limit, and get charged an extra $5. CO: I'm sorry I can't wavie the fee. ME passes out due to bleeding from ears
For tornadoes, there are two styles: either to clearly show the force or a tornado from a distance, or to get close up, and show the power affect everything, including the camera.
From afar, we can see the power of the beast very clearly and in focus. From close, we feel placed in the torando, as the shots are out of focus, there are tons of whip-pans, etc. This is why there are not as many good documentarians out there. It is an art form to use both sytles in a clear manner.
You kept copies of everything, right? When I have this problem with rejections of rebates, I give one call to the rebate provider (Most likley not Espon, a secondary company that fulfulls the request), then write a letter to or call your Atty. General of your state. Explain the situation. Just read the fine print on your rebate. If could say "Not valid at Apple stores", but I did not see that on any rebate form. Usually, second letter to the rebate company, sent certified, with a notice saying that the rejection was sent to your Atty. General's office will get some results.
Prof: Don, I checked your citations in your thesis. There are a few that are incorrect. Don: Hey, I did just as good of a job as the Department of Justice! If the government can't get it right, why do I have to?
Everyone loves an underdog. Plain and simple. The big player, Microsoft, doesn't have the implied ideals or fun that Apple has.
I don't like to see Wal-Mart crush a little store or person. I like to see the smaller guy win sometimes. The same holds for Apple.
I think most people feel the same way. However, most people still shop at Wal-Mart becuase it's convienent. Same is true for Microsoft. Since it's on every street corner...
There are a lot of sites out there that I would not want my kids (if I had any) to see out there on the net. At home, they would know I'll be around, checking up on them, making sure they do not surf over to the adult sites, or the other sites I don't feel it's right for a person their age to see.
Pardon me, isn't this the best filter out there: supervision. If a child knows he is being watched: s/he will not break the rules. Very odd how we, as a nation, rally around a cause, such as protecting young kids from the "Nasties of the Net", when it admits that out education system allows our children to be unsupervied for some time. Wouldn't it make more sense to put more money into training more teachers, instead of buying software?
In my town (Meriden), a local man decided to run for mayor under the "A Better United Meriden" party. He got onto the ballot, but they had to shorten his name. It read: A B.U.M.
He recived two votes, one from himself, and one from his mom.
It looks like Cox's news service, Cox HSI, will allow you to use NAT without a problem. Granted, you have to connect to the service, and be given a Dynamic IP (ick), but routers are fine by them.
Does Comcast block VPN's as activly as Cox does? With new IP's every four hours, it can be tough to set up firewall permissions for VPN's. At my college, some admins were angry at the new dynamic IP's and the headaches it brought.
Ironically, I'd say the power cord is more apt to provide horors for the average consumer.
Just look at the simple fact that people have to use Ground Fault Circuits in their bathrooms today, if you don't understand that 110 volts + bathub = more than a bad hair day. . .
Remeber all the ESPN this is Sportscenter Promo's, where they're hitting golfballs of the sat dish. I will probally have the joy of riding down steets at night, with a bucket of golf balls. . . Oh, I can hear Earthlink's tech support going of the hook.
The idea sounds great, but if the service is given by radio waves. One would have to guess that the strength would be something like a Digital Cell phone signal. If this were the case, wouldn't DSL or Cable already be in the area. Making this a technology that may be "Betamaxed" by cable and DSL?
"Europe plans to spend billions assembling a civil satellite system called Galileo, scheduled to be in operation by 2008."
I can see the comericals for the new system, there going to have Queen's Bohemian Rapsody playing: Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, magnifico... oh, oh, ohh, oh, oh, oh, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no mama mi-ia, mama-mi-ia, mama-mi-ia let me go...
A key logging program does soung a little scrpit kiddie-ish, so I wonder how effective it would be. Nothing more than a Trojan horse program. Next thing well hear is the FBI hacking websites, saying the "f3i is k00l".
Granted, a simple reformat would fix a lot of things on the system, like getting rid of said key-logging program.
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So is this why the alert level the government puts out has gone down from yellow to blue?
If I walk up to you, and say "Hi, I'm with Citibank, we have a problem with your account, we need to verify your account number and PIN, please write it down on this piece of paper and give it to me." I'll get a punch in the mouth. Yet when the average user sees gets a call or E-mail asking for this info, it's handed over.
I really can't thnk of any cheap solutions that work well. Most high-quality solutions are priced high for one reason: they can be. Media 100, DVC Pro decks, and ENG cameras can get into the five and six digit ares very quickly. There is a huge leap in cost from pro-sumer to pro equipment, but you will get what you pay for.
1. Lighting is a very key point in any TV production . I can't get away from using the old standard high power ones though. The candlepower they throw is intense, and it used in may news rooms, which is where most college kids get interships.
2. Do NOT skimp on studio cameras, get a studio set up that has Remote Control Units for camera for things such as iris and color temp. While you can skimp with ENG camera set-up as makeshift studio builds, items such as intercom and tally are removed. Again, stuff like this will haunt people in entery level jobs. I knew Panasonic made some sweet D-250 years ago, and now Hitachi has some sweet studio builds, there not as pricey as Ikigami, but there good for most, if not all, of the productions. It may cost quite a bit, but it can last ten years plus with minimal costs long term.
3. Audio - Mackie, Allen & Heath, etc. Many players, almost all good. For a full Tv production board, it looks like cost will be a big factor, but try to get a 16 channel board with at least 2 subs. It may seem like overkill now, but it will assist in getting some real world work. As for the interface, stick with a good breakout box or snake box, and inverst in some SONY wireless recivers and Lav's. They have a good choice where it can be used for both ENG and studio.
4. I like DVCPro for one reason, the upgrade path is set. You have the 25 line, the SD, and the 50 line, the HD. Now, the resolution is overkill, and the tape costs can be prohilitive, but the tapes can be reused over 100+ time without hits or dropouts. Record many times on Beta SP and see the quailty you get on that. DVCPro is good also if you use Cannon's XL 1 for ENG, as most of the Panasonic stuff can be brought into the DVC decks with a 50 tape caddy.
5. This is the poster child for "can do it cheaper" people. I know of a few palces using :eightronix TCD-RP as a video server, and using VideoNet by inLighten as a BBS for a TV station broadcast on the local cable plant. It works well for them, and suits their needs well. While they could have done a roll-your-own solution, the staffing was prohibitive. This is something you would do if your running programming on a channel on campus. If you are not, the afformentioned solution of Cleaner is the best one I can think of.
Remeber the students, because more often than not, they will be using it. If you can convince the the school that it's a learning lab, then later, more cash will come
My repsonse to this is so what? I don't need to stream lossless audio down my cell phone. I want the person on the other end to hear me somewhat clear. If they tune the codec to human voice, around the 150 KHZ range, that's fine.
It's analogous to asking the question "what is the best car I should buy?" There are so many sub-questions that need to be asked for the right answer to be found.
Most people when shopping for a cell phone always feel they are obligated to a plan where they can talk forever, and pay about $20 a month. But, with a few simple questions, the answers can be clear.
First, what do you want in a service. Do you want a phone that has a certain feature, such as small form factor or color screen? Do you want a service that will provide you with High speed data services? Do you want a bucket load of minutes? Find out what you want first. This will cut down on a lot of providers. For example, true SMS, bye-bye Sprint. Want color phones, in my area Cingular is out then. Those must haves are going to say a lot.
Second, ask around in your area. I personally have Sprint, and love em. I've recommended them to many people in the area, they love em too. Now, if you don't live in Connecticut, ask someone where you live, and where you will be going. Do you get good coverage where you want to go with the phone? Sprint sucks in many parts of New York and the Midwest to name a few. Yes, we all want that option of going anywhere anytime for one flat fee; but to get those options; it will cost a hell of a lot of cash. So run down a list of people you know are competent with their phones, and ask them
Third, know that Customer Service at any company of over 500 people will vary greatly. From a grocery store to a law firm to a college, you can find someone who hates he/she/it for whatever reason. I go into my bank at times and want to jump over the counter sometimes; because the people there are idiots at times, but; more often than not, there good people who can fix a problem I have, and answer questions I may ask. Look at this sentence: I hate {insert store, utility company, doctors office, Operating system, sex, person, food, day of week, etc} because of this one experience they had. Be skeptical of anecdotal evidence; both for and against the company. Often, they have hidden agendas.
Lastly, go to a COMPANY OWNED and OPERATED store. Often, you can try out a phone for a weekend (with a deposit of course) and see if it would meet your needs. If it does, you come back with the phone, sign-up and your all set. If it service blows, then you can cut your losses without much hurting in your wallet.
Usually, you can negotiate better deals once you've had your service for a while with a company. It is much harder to get a new customer than to keep a new one. If you've been with company XYZ for a year, and call them up to get a better plan, you may get one that is even better than they publish, simply because company XYZ knows it would cost them ten times as much to get someone else on board their service than to keep you.
So, in short, unless you're going to be bringing 50 or so accounts into the fray, sit down, read all the plans, including the terms and conditions, and ask some questions to the companies themselves. If the company is lack luster in presenting their service to you, often they will put forth the same effort in supporting their product in the future.
I liked the idea of as many DVD's as you want for $20/month", but I never felt I could watch enough DVD's to get my $20 worth. If I didn't watch about 6 in a month (Blockuster chaged about $4 per DVD), then it would be cheeper to rent at a video store. Plus, there are all the times where didn't have the time/desire/money to watch a movie; but I still paid for the right to rent them from Netflix. For the most part, when I rent DVD's; I'm hanging out with friends, and decide I'm gonna watch a movie a few hours before I do. It's damn impossable to get a DVD by mail the same day.
Granted, the selection was great, but I couldn't justify the cost in my mind. Since I rent only 1~3 DVD's a month.
Then again, after looking at my bill this semster, I wonder how my college can say it isn't stealing from me!
I think a lot of new users will think Apple is at fault for adhearing to the standards; and expect the problem to be fixed at no cost to them.
The real interesting plate will be the one Nedava's DMV will make celebrating prostitution; I would love to see that plate. It would probally cut down on road rage too!
DVD : $15
3 CD's: $35
Tickets for concert: $85
Unable to buy the stuff online with my mastercard........ PRICELESS!
It pretty much lays down the law: that the college can pretty much read anything that is on their computer, or their servers. Since I think that VT is public (owned by Virginia), they have to follow the same general ideas with their guidelines.
Since they were forced to comply with FOI, the professor had no real expectation of privacy, as she knew that someone may eventually read her files, or anything on the server, at any time to comply with Freedom of Information requests.
Now, if this is a private college, we have something else on our hands.
ME: I'm calling to pay my cable bill.
Cable Operator: OK, we charge a $5 fee for paying over the phone, you can pay on-line for free.
ME: I can't pay online.
CO: Is your internet access down. ME: No, if I load the billing page, I'll go over my limit, and get charged an extra $5.
CO: I'm sorry I can't wavie the fee.
ME passes out due to bleeding from ears
640K is all the memory everyone will ever need.
From afar, we can see the power of the beast very clearly and in focus. From close, we feel placed in the torando, as the shots are out of focus, there are tons of whip-pans, etc. This is why there are not as many good documentarians out there. It is an art form to use both sytles in a clear manner.
You kept copies of everything, right? When I have this problem with rejections of rebates, I give one call to the rebate provider (Most likley not Espon, a secondary company that fulfulls the request), then write a letter to or call your Atty. General of your state. Explain the situation. Just read the fine print on your rebate. If could say "Not valid at Apple stores", but I did not see that on any rebate form. Usually, second letter to the rebate company, sent certified, with a notice saying that the rejection was sent to your Atty. General's office will get some results.
This is one program where I feel I have to pay the registration fee, just to support them.
Prof: Don, I checked your citations in your thesis. There are a few that are incorrect.
Don: Hey, I did just as good of a job as the Department of Justice! If the government can't get it right, why do I have to?
I don't like to see Wal-Mart crush a little store or person. I like to see the smaller guy win sometimes. The same holds for Apple.
I think most people feel the same way. However, most people still shop at Wal-Mart becuase it's convienent. Same is true for Microsoft. Since it's on every street corner...
Pardon me, isn't this the best filter out there: supervision. If a child knows he is being watched: s/he will not break the rules. Very odd how we, as a nation, rally around a cause, such as protecting young kids from the "Nasties of the Net", when it admits that out education system allows our children to be unsupervied for some time. Wouldn't it make more sense to put more money into training more teachers, instead of buying software?
He recived two votes, one from himself, and one from his mom.
Does Comcast block VPN's as activly as Cox does? With new IP's every four hours, it can be tough to set up firewall permissions for VPN's. At my college, some admins were angry at the new dynamic IP's and the headaches it brought.
Just look at the simple fact that people have to use Ground Fault Circuits in their bathrooms today, if you don't understand that 110 volts + bathub = more than a bad hair day. . .
The idea sounds great, but if the service is given by radio waves. One would have to guess that the strength would be something like a Digital Cell phone signal. If this were the case, wouldn't DSL or Cable already be in the area. Making this a technology that may be "Betamaxed" by cable and DSL?
I can see the comericals for the new system, there going to have Queen's Bohemian Rapsody playing: Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, magnifico... oh, oh, ohh, oh, oh, oh, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no mama mi-ia, mama-mi-ia, mama-mi-ia let me go...
Granted, a simple reformat would fix a lot of things on the system, like getting rid of said key-logging program.