Sony's Upgrade Strategies ... read on!

Sony Media Software, Madison, Wisconsin

(Email exchange with Customer Service)

Why doesn't Sony test and provides an update patch to "Sony Media" before it throws the highly acclaimed DWU18A DVD Burner on the market? If you sell under the same label - why do you hurt each other?

CompuSol specializes in assembling NLE system for Churches and Non-profits. We would like to continue to (re)sell your Vegas/DVD Architect Combo. Burner compatibility problems now in DVD Architect 1.0d and specifically in the new Version 2.0a (see your forum!) forbids us to do so!

Please provide update patches ASAP!

Regards,

Friedhelm Dohmann

Customer Service Response (Ted) - 07/15/2004 05:19 PM

Hello,

Thanks for writing. I haven't heard any complaints about the DW-U18A. I only found one thread in our forums regarding this drive, and it seems as though that person's issue was resolved. If you know of other forum threads about this drive, please provide links as I was unable to find them by searching. DVD Architect 2.0 should work with the DW-U18A drive as long as you have the latest firmware installed for the drive and also the latest update installed for DVD Architect 2.0:

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/download/step2.asp?DID=519

DVD Architect 1.0 only worked with specific drives and won't be updated any further. If you have follow up questions or need further assistance with this issue, please update this incident.

Sincerely,

Ted H.

Reply:

Forum messages mentioning not just infant problems with the DW-U18A, Desktop models were affected too.

The DW-U18A unit is not only attractive in price, the hardware upgrade makes sense there where speed is needed. Shame on "Sony Pictures" for not updating DVDA Version 1.0d and forcing the large installed base of the original Sonic Foundry Vegas/DVDA users while not offering a separate DVDA upgrade into purchasing the whole new Vegas 5/DVDA 2.0 production suite, untested with a wide range of Desktop and internal Burners.

We plan to shift more of our NLE Server production to the Matrox/Adobe Combo. Parallel, we will inform our Vegas 4/DVDA 1.0 customers about your upgrade policy and will place comments in this regard on the Vegas User Forum and on "http://www.freeshopping.com".

Sincerely,

Friedhelm Dohmann

Customer Service Response (Ted) - 07/16/2004 05:02 PM

Hello,

I searched the DVD Architect forum for DWU18A, DW-U18A, U18A, and 18A, and I only found one thread regarding this drive. The person who created that thread also created another thread called "Thanks to the Sony support team" which presumably thanks us for resolving his problem with the DW-U18A:

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?Forum=22&MessageID=286191

So again, if you know of other threads which indicate problems with this drive, please provide the links and I will look into it. In addition to searching our forums, I also searched all of our tech support incidents from the beginning of the year. The only incident I found which even mentions the DW-U18A is yours.

The newest update of DVD Architect 2.0 should have fixed any issues with the DW-U18A. I'm not sure what makes you think that DVD Architect 2.0 has not been tested with "a wide range" of available burners. That is simply not true. However, when a new drive is released it is sometimes necessary to update the program to add compatibility for the drive.

Regarding DVD Architect 1.0, we provided a list of the supported drives for the program. That list was on our website when the program was for sale, and it can also be found in the release notes of the program. I'm sorry if you feel that we should continue to provide updates for old products, but if we did that then we would never have time to put out new versions of our software. In addition, we offer fantastic upgrade offers to existing users when new versions of our programs are released.

Please let me know if you have any more questions or concerns.

You can either update this incident or give us a call to further discuss your questions. We are available from 9 AM to 11:30 AM and 12:30 PM to 5 PM Central Time, Monday-Friday: 1-800-577-6642.

Sincerely,

Ted H.

Reply:  

Just search for "Burning Problems" or "DVD Drives" limited to DVD Architect and you will find enough issues even with DVDA 2.0!

Fantastic upgrade offers? You can't expect a non-profit ORG or Church to shell out $250.00 just to make the drive of a new system compatible, ridiculous. We as system integrators and hardware vendors have to stay compatible and use the DWU18A in today's small margin markets. Everybody detects Sony's Sales Strategy - what years ago failed with BETA - at that price Sony will will sell below cost and flush the market of possible competitors. And its Software Division has to come up with the difference and well timed upgrades.

Friedhelm Dohmann