[David Johnson]

[brian klassen] “I would love to get the software I want/need and climb the learning curve once, rather than use other less expensive software for the next 6 months to a year and then climb the mountain again.”

For that very reason, almost 20 years ago now, I (like many others) was faced with the decision of whether to focus my attention on learning the Adobe suite of products (which wasn’t yet called a “suite”) or their then seemingly equal competitor Corel’s products. Not many folks using Corel products these days (if they’re still around, that is) … in fact, very many who made the wrong choice at that time were eventually weeded out of the business altogether.

The moral of my anecdote is that, while there are plenty of developers out there making some pretty cool variations of Adobe software, you simply can’t go wrong with the real thing.

At the same time, also consider that your tools shouldn’t define your work, but it should be the other way around … technology changes very, very quickly so despite what anyone’s past experience has been, there’s no guarantee Adobe will be the top media software developer forever … but that doesn’t matter since the skills you develop with Adobe products will be transferable to whatever the next big thing might be … even if it doesn’t come from Adobe.

[David Johnson]

Perhaps someone else will chime in with the more legalese type answer you’re looking for, but perhaps my common sense opinion will help some in the meantime. Since it took your client 4 years to complain about the skipping DVD, chances are the DVD you delivered was just fine and the 4 years worth of dirt and scratches on the disc and/or your client’s faulty DVD player are making it skip all the sudden. So, you might just explain that to him/her so they’re not calling you back every few years. Then, depending on whether it’s a repeat client and how generous a mood you’re in when he/she calls, you might also burn another couple copies for him/her either for the nominal costs of the blank discs and the time they take to burn or just as a kindly favor.

[David Johnson]

The reason I suggested at least looking at pre-packaged services for this and that I agree with Nick, Mark and Bob that this isn’t a DIY kind of thing is because that’s exactly how I and one other guy established this capability for an employer’s in-house studio nearly 10 years ago.

So, it’s not impossible to do most of it DIY … it’s just not a smart approach (as we both tried to tell the employer from the start). After a year of literal blood, sweat and tears from me and the other guy, said company’s executives could do live TV with any network or station in the world within minutes. Considering the value of the free national TV exposure in combination with the fact that the people doing the appearances are people who 30 minutes of their time is literally worth more than I make in a year, establishing this capability in-house was actually a good move for that company. It’s how it was established that’s the issue.

Much like the “White Knight” analogy Mark Suszko used in a recent post, said company became convinced that you just flip a switch to do this stuff so anything is possible … if you just find a couple guys smart enough to figure out a way to do just about anything … yet dumb enough to figure out a way to do just about anything.

The duct tape and bubble gum approach’s subsequent damage to the careers of the two knuckleheads who made it work was not the only drawback by a long shot. Said company wasted boat loads of money on various band-aid fixes over the years and still ended up with sub-standard broadcasts. Why? Because duct tape doesn’t hold forever. For example, instead of having fibre professionally run specifically for this purpose, the company decided to “save” money by having in-house maintenance staff lay the fibre lines. Since the people who made that and similar brilliant decisions were long gone or had conveniently short memories, take one guess at who got to shoulder the blame for how the pristine signals that left the studio looked on-air. I suppose the building could’ve just been torn down and all the fibre re-run, but I don’t know anyone who wants to have that kind of conversation with their boss.

By the way, we actually went the satellite route for the first however many years, but there are lots of important parts of the story that I’m leaving out since my post is already way too long. I hope I and others have said enough to make the point that, if establishing this capability in-house makes sense for your company, your best bet is to get your company to pony up and do it right.

I understand that the question of how much this will cost seems a simple and straightforward one, but there’s two things you have to understand: [1] this is not an off-the-shelf product purchase so it’s not realistic to expect even a ballpark without an engineering evaluation since the costs vary significantly depending on details of your location, needs, etc. … there are just way too many moving parts to guesstimate [2] as Nick, Mark, and Bob pointed out, it is a substantial and ongoing investment.

I hope my two pence helps you prevent your company from making the same mistakes … if their decision makers aren’t too smart to listen to the people they’ve hired.

[David Johnson]

Um, you know … the things you say … you’re a funny guy.

For the uninitiated (but not the easily offended) …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC5al-btIEw&feature=related

Definitely not like a clown though. If you insist, colorful it is … like those little rainbow stickers people have on their cars? I think I just decided what to get you for your birthday …
https://www.overtherainbowshop.com/stickers.htm

Just kidding!! No offense to anyone … just in jest.

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[David Johnson]

Horse apples!? Mark, I must say, in addition to the great knowledge you share, I often read your posts just for the comic relief.

Back to topic, while I don’t agree with what he did, in my opinion, the other vendor isn’t really the one you should be pissed at. It sounds to me like the client is the real weasel here. It doesn’t matter how apologetic he was … sometimes actions speak too loudly to hear apologies. That client sounds precisely the kind described in Ron Lindeboom’s most excellent article “Clients or Grinders: Understanding the Three Market Types”. https://library.creativecow.net/articles/lindeboom_ron/clients_or_grinders.php

I’ve noticed a definite trend of these kinds of issues exponentially increasing in recent years. From my own similar experiences, it really seems that, as times have gotten tougher for everyone, folks who normally hide their lack of scruples under a thin veil of friendly smiles and handshakes are just showing their true colors. I try to remain optimistic and tell myself that they aren’t the majority, but many days that’s a very hard sell.

I say leave the two love birds to live happily ever after and move on … unless this is the one client that’s keeping the doors of your business open, it’s not worth the stress that clearly brought you to rant. I say forget about both the clowns, get off the puter, go have a glass of wine with your wife or girlfriend and tomorrow go find a couple new clients with whom you can have a healthy business relationship based on mutual respect and value.

[David Johnson]

Yours is also an excellent reply, Adam, so don’t be sorry for rambling … personally, I find listening to others ramble among the best ways to learn. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[David Johnson]

Perfect, thank you. I was just looking at their “software” page so I didn’t even see that one.

[David Johnson]

Consider at least looking at VideoLink services … with both the costs and potential for technical gotchas related to laying fibre, fibre encoding equipment, etc., trying to do this yourself on the cheap quickly gets very expensive and often yields poor results.

https://videolink.tv/

[David Johnson]

Sorry, but I’m a little confused by your answer … we want AJA codecs on machines that don’t have AJA cards … are you saying the only way to get AJA codecs now is to install the software that comes with an AJA card? If so, specifically which AJA software are you referring to? I don’t see any on their software page that seems like it would include codecs: https://www.aja.com/products/software/

In other words, I use to just go to the AJA site and download AJA codecs for Windows … is that not possible anymore?

[David Johnson]

Thanks for your reply, Robin. Maybe I didn’t explain my question well … we don’t have or want to install BM drivers since we don’t have BM cards. On our current systems we have BM codecs installed so if we need to send elements to someone using BM cards/drivers/codecs, we can send it to them in their native codec. We’re replacing hardware and are just unable to find any BM codecs for download anymore.