Is this a scam? at DVinfo.net

Paul Tauger · January 27th, 2004, 11:59 AM

Okay, I never thought I'd post one of these. I know . . . if it's too good to be true, etc.

Here's an outfit that has Adobe Encore DVD for $209, that's hundreds less than the retail price. Their resellerratings.com score is poor, once you get past the obvious shill reviews. Still, if purchased on American Express (which is excellent about handling disputes), how dangerous could this be?

Opinions, please?

http://www.atomicpark.com/productDet...18401&refId=65

Chris Hurd · January 27th, 2004, 12:12 PM

Hmm, I don't know, Paul -- normally Encore is $550. I think you're taking a chance, but heck, if they don't deliver then you can litigate 'em.

David Mintzer · January 27th, 2004, 12:32 PM

YOu know all the cliches are true--if its too good to be true it can't be true---The resellers are not shrill---there are many excellent vendors with almost perfect reseller ratings. I would be suspicious of someone selling something under cost.

John Gaspain · January 27th, 2004, 01:41 PM

hmm...conflicting opinions

http://www.resellerratings.com/resel...atomicpark.com

John Britt · January 27th, 2004, 01:46 PM

Well, the price is close to what creationengine.com quotes for the *Academic* version of Encore ($229.00 at their site) -- so it may be possible that Atomic Park is actually selling the Academic version.

I noticed two different listings at resellerratings.com -- one for "Atomic Park" and once for "atomicpark.com." Which one did you look at? The 18 ratings for atomicpark.com seemed to be OK -- did you think most of the good ones were dummy posts?

(EDIT -- JG beat me to the punch on the ratings... sigh...)

Brian Huey · January 27th, 2004, 02:12 PM

The price of the ADS Pyro Professional @ BHPhotoVideo surprised me. $500 for Premiere Pro, Encore, Audition, with a real time editing/capture card! Seems like the way to go, I had been thinking of getting the Adobe's Video collection that includes AE with the other three but it's $1000.

Cheers,
Brian

John Britt · January 27th, 2004, 02:45 PM

Hmmm... Brian reminded me of the Video Collection....

I wonder if they are breaking up the Adobe Video Collection and selling the discs individually? One of the comments at resellerratings.com mentioned that they got a real disc but no box...

Brian Huey · January 27th, 2004, 02:52 PM

Yeah, I imagine that it just be the CDs, no paper manual included. Which would be a bit of a bummer but not that bad. When I got the Digital Video Collection a few years back (student version) it was one box that had all the CDs and manuals in it, the thing weighs a good ten pounds!

Cheers,
Brian

John Gaspain · January 27th, 2004, 03:34 PM

John, both reseller rating are for the same place. Look at "Atomic Park" and it has a link for atomicpark.com

John Britt · January 27th, 2004, 04:07 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by John Gaspain : John, both reseller rating are for the same place. Look at "Atomic Park" and it has a link for atomicpark.com -->>>

Oh, I know that they refer to the same site -- my point (if unclear) was that the two different links, while for the same site, had different scores. The score for "Atomic Park" was lower than the one for "atomicpark.com." I was curious as to which rating Paul was referring to, since one of the scores was not what I would consider "poor."

Paul Tauger · January 27th, 2004, 04:42 PM

The "good ratings" for atomicpark.com are, I think, shills since they're short, they were all posted around the same time, and they are diametrically different from the prior reviews.

Re: it being an academic edition, the website lists it as "full." If, in fact, they're selling the software, this would be a false representation, since the academic version doesn't permit upgrades.

I'm still going back and forth on whether to take a chance on it. I certainly don't mind receiving just the CD -- I've just gone through that purchasing Premiere Pro from Adobe. I bought the "download" version, wanting to save the time of shipping. Though it costs as much as the "hard copy" version, it doesn't come with a manual, and there's no manual download availabe from Adobe. I just had to order a 3rd party book from Amazon.

So, if I can save $300, I'll happily do it and just place another Amazon order.

As a PS to all of this, I used to author with Pinnacle Impression Pro. I've just upgraded my motherboard, O/S and hard drives and had to re-install all software. Impression wouldn't authenticate ("too many installs"). I sent an email to Pinnacle two days ago and heard nothing back. I'm a little ticked, but it's one of the factors that made me decide to stay with Premiere, rather than move to Pinnacle's Liquid Edition. Now I have to save my pennies for a Matrox RT.X 100 Xtreme realtime board (though Pro does a fairly credible job of realtime previews using an old miniDV camcorder as a D/A converter).

John Britt · January 27th, 2004, 06:11 PM

<<<-- Originally posted by Paul Tauger :

Re: it being an academic edition, the website lists it as "full." If, in fact, they're selling the software, this would be a false representation, since the academic version doesn't permit upgrades.

-->>>

Hmmm, I don't know if the Atomic Park description really helps:

"What is Full? Full version means that you are a new user to the software package. There will be no requirements, other than the operating system, that will keep you from installing the product. The software contains all media, instructions and other documentation needed to use the product."

I guess you could argue that not being a student/faculty member could be called a "requirement...that will keep you from installing the product" w/ an Academic version, but Atomic Park would probably say that you can fully install an Academic version regardless and therefore it's "Full."

As for upgrading -- I was told by Adobe that the Academic versions of the old Digital Video Collection (with Premiere, AE, P-Shop, Illustrator) *were* upgradable. I remember thinking that was a pretty nice deal. Perhaps they've changed their tune.

Chris Hurd · January 28th, 2004, 10:54 AM

Hey Paul,

Quote:

Now I have to save my pennies for a Matrox RT.X 100 Xtreme realtime board (though Pro does a fairly credible job of realtime previews using an old miniDV camcorder as a D/A converter).

Have you ever considered anything from Canopus, such as the DV Storm? I must admit I'm a little biased since I used to do some marketing work for them, but I've been a satisfied customer of theirs for years (currently using a DV Rex RT system). All real-time, all the time!

Paul Tauger · January 28th, 2004, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Have you ever considered anything from Canopus, such as the DV Storm?

Actually, no, but only because of my supreme ignorance of the subject. I thought I had heard that only Matrox had drivers for XP. I'll head over to the Canopus website and take a look at the Storm.

Thanks!

Mike Rehmus · February 2nd, 2004, 05:19 PM

Canopus probably had XP drivers before anyone else.

But beware if you use Premiere. Canopus doesn't have a good rep with that package.

StormEdit or RexEdit or Edius are outstanding and Edius is good and growing up.

January 27th, 2004, 11:59 AM	#1
Paul Tauger Wrangler Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Los Angeles (recently from San Francisco) Posts: 954	Is this a scam? Okay, I never thought I'd post one of these. I know . . . if it's too good to be true, etc. Here's an outfit that has Adobe Encore DVD for $209, that's hundreds less than the retail price. Their resellerratings.com score is poor, once you get past the obvious shill reviews. Still, if purchased on American Express (which is excellent about handling disputes), how dangerous could this be? Opinions, please? http://www.atomicpark.com/productDet...18401&refId=65

January 27th, 2004, 12:12 PM	#2
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,368 Images: 513	Hmm, I don't know, Paul -- normally Encore is $550. I think you're taking a chance, but heck, if they don't deliver then you can litigate 'em. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

January 27th, 2004, 01:41 PM	#4
John Gaspain Major Player Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: WA-USA Posts: 371	hmm...conflicting opinions http://www.resellerratings.com/resel...atomicpark.com __________________ The glory of the World passes by.

January 27th, 2004, 03:34 PM	#9
John Gaspain Major Player Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: WA-USA Posts: 371	John, both reseller rating are for the same place. Look at "Atomic Park" and it has a link for atomicpark.com __________________ The glory of the World passes by.

February 2nd, 2004, 05:19 PM	#15
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	Canopus probably had XP drivers before anyone else. But beware if you use Premiere. Canopus doesn't have a good rep with that package. StormEdit or RexEdit or Edius are outstanding and Edius is good and growing up. __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

January 27th, 2004, 12:32 PM	#3
David Mintzer Rextilleon Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Pleasantville, NY Posts: 520	YOu know all the cliches are true--if its too good to be true it can't be true---The resellers are not shrill---there are many excellent vendors with almost perfect reseller ratings. I would be suspicious of someone selling something under cost.

January 27th, 2004, 01:46 PM	#5
John Britt Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 621	Well, the price is close to what creationengine.com quotes for the Academic version of Encore ($229.00 at their site) -- so it may be possible that Atomic Park is actually selling the Academic version. I noticed two different listings at resellerratings.com -- one for "Atomic Park" and once for "atomicpark.com." Which one did you look at? The 18 ratings for atomicpark.com seemed to be OK -- did you think most of the good ones were dummy posts? (EDIT -- JG beat me to the punch on the ratings... sigh...)

January 27th, 2004, 02:12 PM	#6
Brian Huey Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Seattle , WA Posts: 184	The price of the ADS Pyro Professional @ BHPhotoVideo surprised me. $500 for Premiere Pro, Encore, Audition, with a real time editing/capture card! Seems like the way to go, I had been thinking of getting the Adobe's Video collection that includes AE with the other three but it's $1000. Cheers, Brian

January 27th, 2004, 02:45 PM	#7
John Britt Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 621	Hmmm... Brian reminded me of the Video Collection.... I wonder if they are breaking up the Adobe Video Collection and selling the discs individually? One of the comments at resellerratings.com mentioned that they got a real disc but no box...

January 27th, 2004, 02:52 PM	#8
Brian Huey Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Seattle , WA Posts: 184	Yeah, I imagine that it just be the CDs, no paper manual included. Which would be a bit of a bummer but not that bad. When I got the Digital Video Collection a few years back (student version) it was one box that had all the CDs and manuals in it, the thing weighs a good ten pounds! Cheers, Brian

January 27th, 2004, 04:07 PM	#10
John Britt Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 621	<<<-- Originally posted by John Gaspain : John, both reseller rating are for the same place. Look at "Atomic Park" and it has a link for atomicpark.com -->>> Oh, I know that they refer to the same site -- my point (if unclear) was that the two different links, while for the same site, had different scores. The score for "Atomic Park" was lower than the one for "atomicpark.com." I was curious as to which rating Paul was referring to, since one of the scores was not what I would consider "poor."

January 27th, 2004, 04:42 PM	#11
Paul Tauger Wrangler Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Los Angeles (recently from San Francisco) Posts: 954	The "good ratings" for atomicpark.com are, I think, shills since they're short, they were all posted around the same time, and they are diametrically different from the prior reviews. Re: it being an academic edition, the website lists it as "full." If, in fact, they're selling the software, this would be a false representation, since the academic version doesn't permit upgrades. I'm still going back and forth on whether to take a chance on it. I certainly don't mind receiving just the CD -- I've just gone through that purchasing Premiere Pro from Adobe. I bought the "download" version, wanting to save the time of shipping. Though it costs as much as the "hard copy" version, it doesn't come with a manual, and there's no manual download availabe from Adobe. I just had to order a 3rd party book from Amazon. So, if I can save $300, I'll happily do it and just place another Amazon order. As a PS to all of this, I used to author with Pinnacle Impression Pro. I've just upgraded my motherboard, O/S and hard drives and had to re-install all software. Impression wouldn't authenticate ("too many installs"). I sent an email to Pinnacle two days ago and heard nothing back. I'm a little ticked, but it's one of the factors that made me decide to stay with Premiere, rather than move to Pinnacle's Liquid Edition. Now I have to save my pennies for a Matrox RT.X 100 Xtreme realtime board (though Pro does a fairly credible job of realtime previews using an old miniDV camcorder as a D/A converter).

January 27th, 2004, 06:11 PM	#12
John Britt Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 621	<<<-- Originally posted by Paul Tauger : Re: it being an academic edition, the website lists it as "full." If, in fact, they're selling the software, this would be a false representation, since the academic version doesn't permit upgrades. -->>> Hmmm, I don't know if the Atomic Park description really helps: "What is Full? Full version means that you are a new user to the software package. There will be no requirements, other than the operating system, that will keep you from installing the product. The software contains all media, instructions and other documentation needed to use the product." I guess you could argue that not being a student/faculty member could be called a "requirement...that will keep you from installing the product" w/ an Academic version, but Atomic Park would probably say that you can fully install an Academic version regardless and therefore it's "Full." As for upgrading -- I was told by Adobe that the Academic versions of the old Digital Video Collection (with Premiere, AE, P-Shop, Illustrator) were upgradable. I remember thinking that was a pretty nice deal. Perhaps they've changed their tune.