 The
temporary RTupgrade list (started Jan. 18/2001)
As many of you RT owners know, back on Nov. 30/2000 DPS announced
that it would be reneging on it's promises to supply Velocity software
for PVR-RT hardware users & on Dec 13/2000 DPS announced that
instead, it would be making a "limited time offer" upgrade
for end users to spend more money to purchase Reality/Velocity at
a discounted price through the DPS dealer network. By now most RT
users have probably been contacted by their local DPS dealer with
the customized trade up discount price.
PURPOSE OF LIST: The purpose of the RTupgrade
list is to discuss & determine amongst current & former
PVR-RT/Video Action end users whether or not they are/were happy
with the upgrade offer DPS has made & to compare notes to determine
how many RT users already received free or nearly free upgrades
prior to the DPS announcement in Dec. The feedback received will
determine if there are a lot of upset RT users & if so, then
we'll hopefully be able to agree on a common plan of action. Since
this is a volatile subject which could possibly end up in class
action litigation against DPS/Leitch & since there are very
likely a number of current RT users who are not at all happy with
the trade up offer, or the fact that it has to be completed by the
end of January 2001, I've decided to start this temporary RTupgrade
list to give us users a chance to discuss our concerns with this
trade up offer. If things go well & we're able to collectively
negotiate with DPS for a better deal, or if it's determined that
most RT users aren't very upset, then this list won't be around
for very long.
A SUMMATION OF MY VIEWS: For 6 months starting
March of 1999 when the last major software release of Video Action
came out (version 6.3) until September 1999 DPS promised version
6.4 upgrade (which never materialized). In September 1999 DPS said
that instead, they would upgrade all RT users to the Velocity 7
series software (really just the next major upgrade of Video Action)
about the end of the 1999 (which also never materialized). The promises
of an upgrade kept coming from DPS right up until November 30/2000
when they acknowledged that it wouldn't happen & on Dec. 13/2000
DPS publicly said there would be a "substantial discount"
offered to those who would pay to upgrade to a dpsVelocity system.
That's a total of 21 months of broken promises to upgrade Video
Action 6.3 to better software so the PVR-RT hardware could realize
the potential that was promised originally by DPS. DPS probably
should have determined back in 1999 that there weren't enough RT
users to warrant putting resources into a Velocity version for RT
& made a reasonable upgrade offer then, but they kept on promising
us RT users & we kept on patiently waiting for the upgrades
that never came. I feel really ticked off that DPS mislead all the
RT users for 21 months (actually 30 months if you look at the life
cycle of the product), caused us to bleed on complex projects, asks
us to pay even more money to get a product that works right &
insists we come up with several thousand dollars in about a month's
time (by the end of January 2001). Why didn't they give us free
upgrades to Reality/Velocity like they did for all the RT users
who wanted to purchase the optional DV in/out card (which was also
abandon for the RT), or like some RT users who bitterly complained
about other shortcomings of the RT & received free or nearly
free upgrades? Why didn't they offer us RT users a "partial
refund" for the RT product that never met it's promised objectives?
The RT was a marketing failure & a lemon product that many of
us got stuck with. The RT failed to deliver on it's sales promises
& it was a financial drain on many RT users who struggled to
complete/archive complex projects. I don't expect all RT users to
be upset because I'm fully aware that some used their systems for
simple editing projects like TV spots & never realized how short
the PVR-RT & Video Action fell from it's advertised claims.
There are lemon laws to deal with companies who make products like
these & don't offer satisfactory compensation or replacements.
INITIAL MODERATION: Once the RTupgrade list is
fully functional, it will be an unmoderated list which means that
any post you make to the list will be automatically & quickly
blind copy relayed to all those who have subscribed. You alone are
responsible for what you say. New subscribers will be moderated
at first to make sure they are valid candidates for this list.
SUBSCRIBING, WHERE TO POST & PASSWORD: Current
RT users or former RT users can subscribe at http://www.egroups.com/group/RTupgrade
New subscribers will have to be approved, so after you've
subscribed, please make sure that you've filled in all relevant
information in your user profile. To do that click on "My Profile"
then on "Edit Profile". Once you've registered yourself
& subscribed, you will be emailed a verification which you should
reply to (the verification is so somebody can't subscribe you to
this list without your authorization). You will then be sent an
email informing you that you are subscribed & you may then make
posts or reply's to RTupgrade@egroups.com
You can also make posts to the list from any browser connected to
the internet anywhere you go at http://www.egroups.com/post/RTupgrade
(you'll need to remember your password). If you forgot your password
for the Egroups, you can go to http://www.egroups.com/remind
& they will email you a customer reference number that will
allow you to change your password. If you want to send & receive
from more than one email address, please register them separately.
REPLYING, POSTING: If you subscribed using the
instant "Individual Emails" delivery option, you will
automatically receive email messages posted by RTupgrade subscribers
& you can reply to the list by clicking on the reply button
in your email program. If you wish to reply to the sender privately,
you must cut & paste his/her address into the TO line in place
of the list address.
QUALITY POSTS: Any subscribers who abuse
the privilege of being on this list & do not adhere to common
courtesy towards others (NO FLAMING), proper internet list protocols
& clean language (NO SWEARING), may be unsubscribed
from this list, or prevented from posting (receive only others posts),
or have their posts moderated. Remember that if you want this to
be a news service list with quality information, please reread
your post carefully to make sure it says exactly what you
mean, spell check your post, & know when to
take a thread private so you're not wasting bandwidth & other
people's time. The more professional & well thought out your
posts & questions are, the more people will take the time to
read them.
ARCHIVES: We will have the archives feature turned
on for anyone subscribed to the RTupgrade list, but I would still
encourage you to keep your own personal archives for better search
capabilities (Egroups archives update approx. every 6 - 24 hours).
Your question may already have been answered by someone, so check
the archives of this list (it's key word searchable). All archived
messages on the Egroups web site have had the posting email address
removed to eliminate the risk of unauthorized address harvesting.
Archive material may be edited if it contains unnecessary or offensive
material. You can read & do a search of the archives at http://www.egroups.com/archive/RTupgrade
DELIVERY METHOD & UNSUBSCRIBING: Most of you
will want immediate postings sent to you (Individual Emails), but
if you prefer a daily digest, you can visit the Egroups web site
at http://www.egroups.com/myonelist
or http://www.egroups.com or
http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/RTupgrade
& modify your method of receiving posts. You can also unsubscribe
at these addresses. If you only want to read the archives (never
be sent email), you can turn off delivery without unsubscribing.
Please do not try unsubscribing by posting messages to the list.
SIGN YOUR NAME, SIGNATURE & YOUR PROFILE:
Please sign your complete real name (first &
last) at the end of each post (no handles or aliases). It's not
a bad idea to also put your first & last name in the FROM box
of your outgoing email. On each email, you are allowed to assign
a normal size signature tag to your name with things like your company
name, web site, phone number, city, country, etc. but please
don't tag any advertisements. If somebody really wants
to know what you do, they can contact you privately or visit your
web site. Your personal "Member Profile" can also be modified
by you at the Egroups to list first & last name, alternate email
address, whether you want full or partial email address displayed,
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It is imperative that all subscribers have this area filled out
so we can verify you as a valid subscriber of this list.
ADVERTISING: Egroups is supported by 3 - 5 lines
of advertising at the bottom of each email. Any other form of advertising
is not permitted on the RTupgrade list. Please do not use this list
to offer new items for sale (dealers please respect this). There
are other lists for selling such as the NLEsales. You can sign up
at http://www.pigsfly.com
EMAIL ATTACHMENTS: Since some people inadvertently
send virus attachments, we turned attachments off. If you find it
necessary to illustrate a post with a JPEG picture attachment or
settings file, please upload it to your web site & provide the
link in your email, or upload it to our shared files area at http://www.egroups.com/files/RTupgrade
& provide the link in your email to the list. All attachments
will be stripped off of email sent to the RTupdate list.
CUT UNNECESSARY STUFF WHEN REPLYING & SUBJECT HEADING:
When replying to the VAedit list, please make sure you cut off the
Egroups ads & the subscribe/unsubscribe messages. Please also
cut out any parts of the previous message that are not related to
the subject & if the subject has changed, please change the
subject heading so that other readers can save time by only reading
those subjects of interest to them. Subject headings that adequately
describe the topic, also help when doing archival searches.
FILTERING EMAIL INTO A FOLDER: All subject headings
have the word RTupgrade in them, so you can set
the filters in your email program to sort from the subject line
any incoming emails with RTupgrade in them.
REVIEW THE LIST GUIDELINES: From time to time,
please review the rules & guideline protocols at http://www.execulink.com/~impact/RTupgrade.htm
We'd really rather you govern your own behavior than have to keep
reminding you of proper internet list netiquette.
LIST PROBLEMS: Please privately report any list
problems by email to RTupdate-owner@egroups.com
This will ensure that the list administrator (Doug Hembruff) receives
a copy of your email & hopefully can respond to you in a timely
manner.
Regards & welcome to the temporary RTupgrade list,
Doug Hembruff
Below is a picture of software promised on the DPS web site for
the PVR-RT, but DPS reneged on their promise.
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