June 2, 2009 by admin.

As dog lovers may know, your dog does not have to be attractive to be loved. Recent news stories show that people love their dogs so much, a few are willing to marry them. A little research on the Internet yields information on the top ten dog names in the USA. The name MAX is the most popular. So it is very likely that the most popular dog name has the most ugly dogs under it’s moniker.

Even my sister named her dog “Max”. That dog was one of the pups whelped from a breeding pair I owned, “Peaches” and “Romeo”. You see, I did not fall into the “Max” name trap myself. My pets through the years (all dogs) have been:

• Shotzie
• Caezar
• Lady
• Snuffy
• Radar
• Peaches
• Romeo

Not one “Max” in the group.  I wonder if the proliferance of “Max” is the same as the preponderance of other common names? It seems that every girl born in the 80’s was named “Heather”. It was such a joke that there was even a movie called “Heathers” about a clique of high school girls with the same name. just a few months ago I read a Reuters story on my Q9h smart-phone (iPhones are for posers and iPhonies) about the person that married their dog. I wonder if that dog was named “Max”? Probability is likely.

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May 19, 2009 by admin.

Here’s the results of a 20-year test drive of the very first LEXUS. In 1989 my dad went to the local Toyota dealership to see a new model being hyped. He drove home with the first LEXUS sedan. Although the sticker proclaimed LS400, the car was not badged with that number. There was no other LEXUS after all. The silver LS400 was their only model and one of only two in stock. There was not even a LEXUS dealer yet, so when one was built we had quite a time getting warranty service.

The 250 horsepower motor was so quiet we often thought it had stalled. The ride so quiet that even a Cadillac seemed noisy by comparison. It did not have the latest audio gear, back in 1989 car CD players were just starting to be optional and not standard in any car of that time. The leather sets were buttery soft and comfortable. It had a long list of standard options and needed special “S” rated tires for the sporty suspension. I liked the “power” switch. Much like the “close door” button on an elevator it was installed to reduce the frustration of drivers wanting more get up and go. It seemed to bog down when you stomped on the accelerator. Under the hood it was mysterious and futuristic with an almost hidden motor under the LEXUS nameplate.

Now, 20 years later, my Dad passed away back in 1997 and the car was used by my Mom until she became unsure at the wheel. Mom gave the car to my bother, our youngest family member with only 80K miles on the odometer. It had a checkered past, Since Dad had gone, I was responsible for it’s maintenance. It seemed to take more than $1000 a year to keep it in shape. It had a new drivers seat, new oil pan, two AC systems, a tranny, and loads of little gadgets and widgets that seemed to drop off.

My brother gets the car and tallys up the repairs after warranty. From the end of the warranty to now it has had over $17,000 in repairs. WHAT? SEVENTEEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! The stupid car only cost $37K when new. I’m not counting the ordinary stuff like batteries (that cost too much for no reason), tires, oil changes or belts. My God, that is crazy, the car only had 80K miles and had used just 8 sets of tires in it’s life. The finish was like new and the car had been garaged all it’s life. So, if you buy a LEXUS LS400, don’t buy it for life. Know that after 10 years you should sell it or give it away or it will eat your retirement money faster than the stock market. LS must stand for Lose your Shirt. 400 is what your quarterly maintenance costs are $400.

 Love your LEXUS? It must be new.

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May 8, 2009 by admin.

First I bought a Western Digital WDTV device from Best Buy (ugh, I hate Best Buy). I installed it and set it up. I thought it was a great idea, but I was dismayed by the amount of time needed to transfer my DVD library to the formats the WDTV would play. Limited to MPEG, MKV, MOV, AVI, WMV and H264 the best I could expect was a “real time” format transfer, where a 2-hour movie takes 2-hours to encode. Smaller file size was a benefit, but with today’s cheap drive prices it was not worth the extra time. So I started looking around for something better. I found the MX-780DVI (with DVDI output)  MVIX MX-760 also sold as the MX-760HD with a drive installed. 

I bought a MVIX MX-760 on eBay for $209.  I bought the version without a drive and installed a 1TB drive that I bought at CompUSA for $89. My total out of pocket was $298 since the shipping was free. I noticed the same guy sells my system with a 1TB installed for $359. That’s a bit much for simply plugging in a drive. I suggest you buy the unit without a drive and install one yourself, it comes with every cable and part you need.

 Simply stated, I love it. I put 240 movies on the 1TB drive and I am now adding external drives to finish transferring my DVD library. Theorhetically dubbing my DVDs into my MVIX is illegal, but I don’t know why… I bought the DVD’s, they are just too bulky and cumbersome to use and store. I use DVD Decrypter to convert the DVDs to .ISO files and save it to a hard drive.

The pictures are great and the thing works like a champ. Buy one.

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May 7, 2009 by admin.

CREATIVE COW SHIT UPDATE - a review of their “star” forum participant:

I searched Bob Zelin on IMDB.com and found nothing. Bob loves to put down people, I see it all over the forums. Mostly he insults people that have created something. Written, produced, directed or shot a film. That’s because after 30 years he has nothing creative to show. Nothing other than that ridiculous hairdo and stupid photos of himself. I don’t even think he knows everyone is laughing AT HIM and not with him when we look at the pictures. As an engineer and a creative person I find him an incompetent buffoon and a joke in the industry.

On his profile he lists 4 friends… four….  enough said.

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May 6, 2009 by admin.

As some of you know I am the proud owner of a new indie feature film. I worked my ass off and dumped every dime I have into my little film. I finished it, and to top that off, I even got a distribution deal. So I contacted a couple of places to dub my final movie to HDcamSR, the format requested by my distributor.

 Not sure about pricing or procedure I made the stupid decision to join www.creativecow.com and post a question in their forums. I had been receiving their little magazine for free each month and it seemed to be legit.

Well, what I found out was that the Creative Cow forums are actually a sort of misfits club. All the unemployed geeks we made fun of in high school and college float around the forums waiting to pounce on anyone new. I posted my questions and some background info. Here is the first reply:

Hey Joe,

Just to be clear; you are neither doing a dubbing nor a transfer of your film. You are doing a full on HD online with cross conversion from 59.94 to HD-CAM SR 29.97 + down and cross conversions to SD NTSC & PAL.

Honestly, $4,700 is too cheap once you start legalising and QC - that guy must have seen you coming.

Pack away your film and your dreams and get a proper hobby - angling should be nice and relaxing

If you do end up using a cheap/no budget solution, make sure NOT to pay “the ferryman” until you’ve reached the other side - in your case, that is once the distribution company has cleared (QC’ed) your tapes for distribution. One more thing, if your “facility” is hiring in the HD-CAM SR - get them to run you two or three masters out, so you have a safety in your own cupboard.

Good Luck!!!

All the Best
Mads
London, UK

Wait a minute… did this brit douche-bag just tell me to “get a new hobby”? Does he think Americans make movies as a hobby? Does he think movies shot as a “hobby” get distribution? I thought maybe I misunderstood. Who asked him? I’m an American and anything a Brit knows is last years tech. They should spend more time wondering why prince charles is married to a man. If England sank into the ocean the world would be a better place. The next guy wrote:

 Hi Joe -
I would like to commend your distributors for keeping a PROFESSIONAL HI END standard for their film distribution.  As Mads said “this is not a hobby”.  We do this to make a decent living, to pay for things like medical insurance, and a car, and to feed our families.  THIS IS NOT YOUTUBE (and if it was, most of us would not participate on this forum).  A Sony SRW-5500 with options is $130,000.  Most of the people on all of these forums cannot afford this VTR, but this is the “top of the line” VTR, used by HI END professionals.  You know - like guys that shoot with Panavision cameras (and super hi end HD cameras as well).  We LIKE the fact that it is expensive, so that we can “be above and beyond” the Youtube generation that works with Sony PD150 cameras, and the like.

And just remember, when you buy your Red Scarlet for $3000, a higher standard will be created, and it will ALWAYS BE THIS WAY, because when the amateurs “catch up” to the pros, new higher standards are created, so that a professional market can exist.

And I don’t like your attitude.  Films are made to make money. 

bob Zelin

 You should see the homo that wrote this… he looks like the witch from Wizard of Oz. He must have thought I was someone else or he is having his period. What an asshole to write something like that when ha has never seen my movie or met me. He is a liar too, because he once wrote that he pioneered the use of SATA drives in non-linear editing. Dozens of people (including me) were using SATA drives striped for editing for almost a year before his “pioneering” started.

These posts were made within minutes of my question being submitted. They are just sitting around unemployed and they are pissed off. They hate the world and the fact that people are smarter now than ever before. They wish the old days would come back. The days when nobody knew anything and guys like “bob Zelin” (SIC) were the mysterious geniouses. But those days are over. Even high school kids in media class know more than these fops.

The lesson here? www.CREATIVECOW.com should be called www.BUCKETOFASSHOLES.com . They are all there in a giant circle jerk hoping to meet each other at a public bathroom someday. They are rude and useless as well as washed up morons.
 

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April 27, 2009 by admin.

I have always felt that Lenscrafters should have just owned up to their poor customer service. While this is less than a perfect resolution it does show that their intent is to keep customers happy. Below you will see the actual apology issued by “Greg” the manager at the Fort Myers store.

\

In case you cannot read it:  

4/21/09

Mr. Lenders,

I am sorry for the confusion regarding your coupon. Enclosed is a refund check in the amount of $50.00 We hope you will continue to allows to serve your eyewear & eyecare needs!

 Greg

 So, I am not sure why it is written that way.  Maybe “Greg” was told what to write VIA a telephone conversation where the “allow us”  became “allows”?  Either way, well done LensCrafters, you made a good choice and kept a good customer.

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April 15, 2009 by admin.

Adding insult to injury, Lencrafters store manager “Greg” called me today. Those people must be trained at lying. This time a brand new lie was presented to me. The best way to cover-up the terrible way stores are run is to lie about it.

The first thing I noticed at the start of our conversation was the unapologetic manner and tone to “Greg’s” voice. As you can read in the story below, the Lenscrafters people had sent me a coupon “good with other offers”. It did not list any exclusions other than, I quote:

“Additional $50 off bonus savings. Original minimum purchase of $50 required. Coupon must be presented at the time of purchase. Limit one coupon per customer. Not valid on previous purchases, contact lenses, nonprescription sunglasses or accessories. No cash value. Void where prohibited. See store for details. Offer expires May 30, 2009.”

So, when “Greg” told me that the coupon was “not valid on lens replacements”, I was surprised. 

So, I guess they are using the “See store for details” to invalidate their coupon when you arrive. Because “Greg” told me that my coupon was not valid on replacement lenses, and not because his employee “Seth” had led me astray on when I could present the coupon.

So, here is the list of lies that were spewed from Lenscrafters so far:

“Receive an extra $50 off good with other offers”  Lenscrafters the lying eyeglass chain

“ Don’t worry, I will take the coupon when you come back.” Seth the lying store employee

“The coupon is not valid on lens replacements.” - Greg the lying store manager

 Three strikes and you’re out! Lenscrafters uses the old “bait and switch” method of advertising with a new slant. They issue coupons that they will not honor. I won’t ever shop there again, and I hope that everyone that reads this goes into their nearest Lenscrafters and tells them that liers never prosper. Of course I hope that if you are reading this, you will never ever patronize Lenscrafters or try and use one of their coupons.

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April 9, 2009 by admin.

I don’t know what is happening to customer service. This week I had to deal with two cases of blatant lying by representatives of two big businesses.

I’ll start with LENSCRAFTERS. I have to admit it, I like wearing glasses. I’ve tried wearing contacts, but I just like my face better with glasses. I’m sure those of you that are smartasses are thinking of reasons to comment on my face, but we won’t go there (the whole glass-houses thing). Anyway… about once or twice a year I buy new eyeglasses. The last three years I have been using Lenscrafters. It usually costs between $300-$400 for a pair of trendy eyeglasses. Infrequently I receive coupons from Lenscrafters offering $50 off. In this recent case I received a $50 coupon that stated “Good with other offers.”

I had purchased a pair of glasses in 2007 that had proved to be troublesome. The glass would chip around the frame after a few days. I decided to use the coupon to replace the glass in those glasses (the glasses had been purchased from Lenscrafters). I went to Lenscrafters and was attended by “Seth”. I would have said “helped by Seth”, but he was no help at all, he was actually a hindrance. After I had waited 30 minutes for him to enter my info into the computer (I kid you not, 30 minutes!), I followed him to the checkout counter. At that time I realized that I did not possess the coupon for $50 off. I told “Seth” that  would have to go home to get the coupon. “Seth” countered with “no, that won’t be necessary, I can take it when you pick up the glasses”. I persisted: “Are you sure?“, I asked “I don’t mind going home to get it, it’s $50, so it’s worth the trip”.

“Seth” assured me “Don’t worry, I can credit you at pick-up.” So, against my better judgement I elected to trust this Lenscrafters representative and I paid for my lenses and went home. At home the issue did not leave me without regret. What if “Seth” quits goes on vacation or is fired? I found the coupon and, with a little luck “Seth” would be at Lenscrafters the next day. So I decided to take the coupon in the very next day.

I arrived at Lenscrafters and approached a representative. I told her my story and showed her the coupon. She inspected the fine print on the coupon with the zeal of a Dutch diamond broker. Squinting at the mice-type she said “Sorry, this is only good at time of purchase”.  The blood rushed to my brain as my anger kicked in. I explained that I explicitly told ”Seth” that I would be happy to go home for the coupon,  and I was positive that this was not right! Then I asked” Can I speak to the manager?” The lady gets up off her, er, stool and saunters over to a man dressed for fishing. He was wearing a hat emblazoned with fishing jargon and a T-shirt with a fish along with shorts. “I’m here on my day off, we don’t dress this casually” the man said. I thought that this was odd, since obviously he was dressed uber-casual and he WAS sitting behind a Lenscrafters computer, working. I was telling him the story when suddenly, from behind magical hidden access panels appears none other than “Seth”. Surely he would remember me and his promise from just a dozen hours earlier. I reminded him of my offer to retrieve the coupon the day prior and his promise to make it good at pick-up. “Seth” looks at the coupon and squints. He takes it to an area with better lighting and tilts it for inspection as if it was a counterfeit bank note.

“No… you see here in tiny type? It says it’s only good at purchase” his words hitting me like ball-peen hammers to my forehead. I immediately reach out and with my thumbs gouge out his eyes. Then using his empty eye sockets like bowling ball finger grips, I grab his skull and dash  it to the floor, where it cracks in half spewing brain and brain juice. At least that’s what I imagined…  but reality sets in and “Seth” repeats “Sorry, this is only good at time of purchase”. Now I’m really mad. I tell “Seth” he lied to me and that unless the coupon is accepted and applied I will cease to be a Lenscrafters customer. This hits him hard - my words change his blank stare into a slightly cross-eyed expression, much like a baby with a full diaper. He tells me only a manager can help me and that I should come  back when that manager is present.  Then he walks away.

 I am totally enraged by the blatant lies and casual attitude of the staff at Lenscrafters. They absolutely do not care if I ever come back . I’m not sure if they care about anything. They have the work ethic of a Goldfish eternally circling a glass bowl.  They are oblivious to the economic condition of their employer. If Lenscrafters ever folds they will simply move to the next store in the mall. Instead of eyeglasses they will peddle the next item, maybe Glamour Shots or the latest DVDs. They are mall workers and like coal workers are simply holders of their most recent job. Not a career, just a job. So my threat to never again set foot in Lenscrafters is as effective as shouting at that goldfish bowl.

Since that day I have filled out forms on Lenscrafters website to notify them of my dissatisfaction. No reply. Tomorrow I will send a certified US Mail letter. If they respond I’ll post it here.

LIARS AT COMCAST TOO

The following day, fresh from my Lenscrafters battle, I made a phone call to Comcast communications. I was comparing prices between services (Dish & Cable) for my mother. My cable was fine. I was happy with the serices I had. While the Comcast Rep. “Brian” was telling me about the different packages available to my mom, he mentioned that many subscribers are actually paying too much since they had purchased “unbundled” services. A bell went off in my head. Was I paying too much? That would be a catastrophe,  after all, look at all the crap I was going through for $50 at Lenscrafters.

So, that nice man”Brian” offered to look at my bill and figure out a way to keep all the stuff I want and lower the price. After a few keyboard clicks and a couple of “yups” the answer was ascertained. “Brian” had discovered that my bill was higher than it should be. I was paying $208 a month fo internet and TV. If I were to change my service to Internet,TV AND phone service my bill would go DOWN by $15! Whoa, if I added service my bill would be reduced? That is nonsensical. “Brian” explained that Comcast is trying to capture all of the market, phone, TV and internet. “Brian” explained the “reward” to customers that purchased the maximum of Comcast’s serices was a lower price. So as stupid as it seemed, if I were to add the Comcast telephone service my bill would be lower. I agreed to accept the additional service based on the guarantee of a lower bill on identical service (I had all the movie channels).

A few days later Comcast installed a phone I did not need in order to lower my bill. I did not attach a telephone to the line since nobody I knew had the phone number. The only people that could call would be wrong numbers or solicitors. That night I settled in to watch TV and as I surfed through my channels I noticed some were missing. They were deactivated. I called Comcast and they told me they were not in the package I had purchased. I would have to pay $10 extra for each of the movie channels that were now missing. To get back what I started with, it would raise my bill to $228  a month!

“Brian” had boned me. He led me astray and sold me a load of crap. I was a happy customer and he fixed that, he made me unhappy. So after spending hours on the phone and making two visits to the Comcast office I am almost back to where I started. My movie channel TMC still is not working. I’m sure if I unplug my cable box and stand on one foot, waving a dead chicken over my head, it will come back some day. After all, my bill is back “down” to $208 again. All I’m missing is the actual ability to watch the channels I’m paying for.

“Brian” was and is a liar. Comcast is no better than Lenscrafters for hiring employees that just don’t care about their customers.

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March 10, 2009 by admin.

As part of my video production business I am often asked to pick-up a quick shot on video. Maybe we need some B-Roll for a documentary or footage for a PSA. Bigger projects usually require specialized equipment.

For a major worldwide real-estate developer we shot on the Panasonic HVX200 in HDV to a P2 chip. For a manufactured home community with a cutting edge concept and big budget we shot on a high speed 35mm film camera. We select the appropriate camera for the project. Since we can’t possibly have every camera in-house, we rent what we need, when we need it.

But we have to have something in house. Usually it’s a lower end camera that can take the abuse of laying around in our storage room. In the past it was a DXC series Betacam, then a DSR200 from Sony with it’s extra long record time. We even had a Panasonic DVX-100B. A camera to grab and go shoot without a lot of fuss.

So, lately I was searching for another camera to fill that bill. A grab and go that would not bring tears to my eyes when it took a scratch or bump.  I thought something around $2,500 that shoots to a solid state format like flash memory. I found the Panasonic AG-HMC70 3-chip AVCHD camcorder. Read the rest of this entry »

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March 8, 2009 by admin.

If you like watching movies, you probably have numerous movies. I have over 500 DVDs personally. For holidays and my birthday friends and family often gift me with movies. I watch and rewatch the movies in my collection. Although my system has a 5-disc player I would rather have all my movies in a central player system. I have owned lots of different player systems. Juke-boxes that hold hundreds of DVDs and albums to organize my collection.

Recently I have discovered the “Media Tank”. Manufactured by different companies Media Tanks use internal and external hard disc drives to store audio & video. These Media Tanks then display a menu of movies and music they contain for playback at your liesure. The screens are sortable and allow you to put your media files in easy to find folders.

These Media Tanks are sometimes called home media centers or media servers range from around $150 to as high as $500. In my case I was interested in archiving my extensive DVD collection. But DVDs come with menus and simply copying the main movie to a hard drive will lose the menus and special features. But I have found  “work-around” that will function to keep the entire menu and special features of each DVD. It is not all-together fully legal since it uses a program that has been litigated out of existence. Well, you can still find the program called “DVD Shrink” on Limewire. Not every DVD will convert, but I find most will.

The Media Tanks have the ability to play .ISO backups of DVDs created by DVD Shrink. These .ISO files are around 4 Gigs in size and maintain all the features of the original DVD.

Captions, alternate endings, picture angles and multiple languages all can be accessed from the .ISO file just as they would have on the original DVD.

Read the rest of this entry »

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