CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 1:32 am Post subject: DVDO support.. poor?

I don't want to jump the gun here, but I inherited a DVDO Edge that was dead. The guy that gave it to me (correctly) surmised that the internal power supply was bad. I could smell cooked caps as soon as I opened the unit, even though the power supply put out a solid 5 volts. It was still dead.

I sent the following to DVDO:

I'm looking for the price of a DVDO Edge internal power supply and the remote control.

Thanks!
Curt Palme
www.curtpalme.com
CRT reference website

After hours, and pretty quickly, I got this back:

Hi Curt,

Thank you for your email.
Unfortunately we cannot sell internal parts to the EDGE. The unit will need to be sent in for service. To send in first provide your address and the serial number of the unit. I will reply with RMA and shipping instructions.
I don’t have new remote controls, but I can send a slightly used one if you are ok with it. Please provide your address.

Now, granted, not everyone is going to know my name, but I was really surprise that DVDO wouldn't sell a drop in power supply (4 screws, no connectors).

In the past, DVDO had given me good deals ($25) on power supplies, esp. when it's pretty commonly known that aftermarket supplies have a high failure rate.

What have others had for an experience with DVDO?

I've since repaired the old supply, 4 caps had the bottoms blown out rather than the tops that were perfect, and it works fine now.

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 2:22 am Post subject:

Didn't DVDO get bought recently?

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 2:39 am Post subject:

No idea.

mc86 · Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 3:18 am Post subject:

About a year ago I had to buy a replacement external PS for the iScanHD (the known cap replacement didn't fix it). You and others advised me it'd be $25. They didn't reply to my Qs about why the online price was way more. Eventually I caved in and placed the order from them online and it came quickly. I think there was a little communication in which they claimed the supplies were improved wrt design/quality to not fail as the early PS they had did. It was $84 freaking bucks.

I had considered going to VP50s whenever I upgrade. I'm pretty sure it will be two lumagen HDPs instead.

Matt

Spanky Ham · Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5643 Location: Comedy Central

I have read that DVDO support was pretty poor in the recent past. I can't remember if I read it on AVS or Craig told me. Man my memory is going in my old age.

stridsvognen · Guest

1-1½ year ago i contacted DVDO about some HDMI handshake problems with my JVC X7, i sende 3 mails, and never got any reply. It was a DVDO VP50pro, and i think they gave up on that moddel, its so full of bugs, and problems.

I have owned the EDGE. VP30. VP50. VP50pro. And i still have the VP30 with SDI / ABT102 Card, and VP50.

Support... ?? What support.?? Rolling Eyes

HogPilot · Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 11:20 am Post subject:

Interesting: Silicon Image bought DVDO back in 2000; in 2003, Anchor Bay Technologies was founded and acquired DVDO from SI. Then, in 2011, SI bought DVDO back from ABT, and DVDO's products were sold through Simplay Labs, which is a subsidiary of SI. After that I'm not sure how long SI held on to DVDO, but as of right now neither the SI nor SL website indicates that either is associated with DVDO anymore.

I purchased a DVDO VP50 back in 2007 back when they still had a reputation for being a solid company. The VP50 is - ironically - what started all of their problems. When it was released they promised features (i.e. included them on the spec sheet) like noise reduction and MPEG macroblocking artifact reduction that weren't implemented in the product yet. They were even telling customers that called and inquired that a firmware update was being developed that included a CMS (I was told this by a DVDO CS rep at least twice). On top of that, several major bugs existed in the firmware that was released with the VP50. Both the additional features and the bug fixes were always being promised in a future firmware update that was "right around the corner." IIRC, it took DVDO over a year to release firmware that fixed most of the VP50's bugs, and the promised additional features never materialized. Instead, they released the VP50 Pro, which included pretty much all the extra features - minus the CMS - which were promised on the VP50. The CMS never materialized for the VP50 Pro either, and wasn't seen until it was added as a firmware update on the Duo. DVDO did offer "upgrade" programs whenever they released a new VP, allowing customers to send in their old one, pay $1K-$2K+ in cash, and get the new VP. Of course, any customer that bought the VP50 expecting it to be upgraded to contain all of the promised features would have had to upgrade 3 times - VP50 Pro, Edge, and then Duo - to get the functionality that was supposed to be in the VP50. I think this amounted in $5K-$7k in total cash outlay, which many pointed out was more than the cost to get in on a Radiance, which was available back in '06 (with far superior customer support and functionality).

One of DVDO's lead engineers actually quit over the whole debacle and was a regular on AVS. He was very tight-lipped about the whole thing for a while for professional reasons, but eventually offered some interesting tidbits up. He indicated that the VP50 was not a finished product - the designers/engineers intended the VP50 to be what ended up being the VP50 Pro. However the sales guys wanted a product out there before it was fully finished, so the VP50 was a rushed, bastardized version of the original product concept. He also said that DVDO knew fully that the FPGA in the VP50 was almost full when it initially shipped, and that there was no way it had room for a CMS; adding the noise reduction features may or may not have been possible. Essentially DVDO shipped a product that they knew was broken/incomplete, and then got customers who purchased it to pay again for the finished product (VP50 Pro), which also had bugs that were never fully addressed by DVDO.

There were whole threads of pissed off customers on AVS, asking for firmware to fix their buggy VPs, and DVDO would rarely respond; when they did, they'd promise a FW update that never materialized. I sold my VP50 and jumped ship over to a Radiance XD, and have never looked back since. Many others became Lumagen customers after upgrades to the Pro, or eve the Edge and/or Duo. Having dealt with all that makes me even more grateful for Lumagen's phenomenal customer service and frequent firmware updates.

All that being said, it appears that the Duo is a pretty nice machine, although I'd never touch another DVDO product again, even if they've fixed their CS problems.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 1:39 pm Post subject:

Gee, I should link the 'tech support' guy to this thread. I did send them a nice email back, saying 'do you know who I am', but in a very nice roundabout way, and I linked them to my site.

I'm sure glad that Kal chose to support Lumagen here. Jim was nice enough to answer a very stupid type question of mine while he was on holidays, and I'm about to drive down to see him in the next 2-3 weeks.

GO LUMAGEN!

stridsvognen · Guest

Lumagen is for sure 112% better support than DVDO.. They even answer our stupid questions.

And Jim is honest enough to admit the limitations of the Radiance when talking to him.. Respect.

**kal** · Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 2:01 pm Post subject:

+1 to that. It's why I always recommend Radiance over DVDO and state as much on our Radiance order page here:

http://www.curtpalme.com/Radiance.shtm

HogPilot · Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 2:01 pm Post subject:

Agreed - I have joined many others in singing Lumagen's praises here and elsewhere. They're a phenomenal company with a phenomenal products and unmatched support. Switching from DVDO to Lumagen was one of the best HT decisions I've ever made.

I don't know if DVDO has made any attempts to improve their support in recent years. The good news for them is they have nowhere to go but up in that respect.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 4:41 pm Post subject:

Heh, got this this morning. I guess I see their point, I'm always ignorant about how litigious some people can be in the US:

Hi Curt,

If it is an external power supply I would have no reservations selling it to you or as a matter of fact just sending you one. But it’s an internal part and our company have liability issues to consider. Also I have no way of verifying your experience at board level repairs. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience but I hope you understand.

I know of you and your website. I recommend all of my CRT customers to visit your website and research the HD-Fury. I will continue to do so because of great testimonials from customers and frankly there are few other options. Actually, I was going to forward your information to our sales team and perhaps work out some sort of promotion together. Let me know if you are interested.

Ron W · Joined: 07 Aug 2009 Posts: 860 Location: Mississauga

Wow, surprise that you got a "dead" Edge, they haven't been around that long so it makes one wonder as to their build quality and durability, not as if there is a bunch of moving parts to worry about. A few months ago I was looking in to the possibility of purchasing the Iscan Duo, however, when the Radiance "Mini" sale came about along with the Darblet, it was a "no brainer" at that point and I am certainly glad I took advantage of it. The Radiance products are marvelous pieces of technology with what everyone confirms is excellent product support and on top of that, a pretty long "shelf life".

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

HogPilot · Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 10:30 am Post subject:

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 1:09 pm Post subject:

Didn't get one yet. Maybe they've read this thread. Smile

HogPilot · Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 1:28 pm Post subject:

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 1:32 pm Post subject:

No, I didn't really respond to it. I don't really see the point, we're already promoting Lumagen, Kal makes all the promo decisions 'round here, and judging from the thread, my experience with DVDO isn't all too uncommon.

I have to say, I have always liked the menus on the DVDO products that I've used, they are far more consumer friendly than the Lumagen ones (IMHO) (although I've never played with anything more than the HDP units), OTOH, less friendly menus make an end user less likely to go mess around in them to screw things up...

stridsvognen · Guest

Curt.. You could say your interested in promoting/ selling DVDO products if they start supporting Firmware on the VP50-VP50pro, to solve handshake problems, and old bugs.

It would be good to all of us, DVDO have a good product for some aplications, but its just not ok to stop supporting very expensive products as soon you have a new model. Let them take a look at the way Lumagen support the old product line.. adding features and keeping them up date if possible.

If you get true with that, i promise ill sign up as a life time member.. Wink

Edit.. Ill also promise to go there, and kiss your feet.. Laughing

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508