Production Stopped on PD-170

[David Mintzer]

I just read that they stopped production on the PD-170 due to the hiss problem when the LCD is open----Anyone hear the same?

[Jeff Donald]

Do you have a link?

[Stylianos Moschapidakis]

Jeff, here is a link: http://www.abcdv.com/article/articleview/237/1/66/

[Frank Granovski]

Times must be tough for Sony. I don't understand how they could let this flawed design slip into their production line, expecially after their VX/PD5 hissing thing.

[Dan Brown]

Wild guess, but maybe they are hearing footsteps and didn't want to lose market share, so they rushed it out the door. In this day and age, with the Internet and forums like this, companies just can't get away with stuff like that.

[Lou Bruno]

PAL version only.

[Mike Rehmus]

The good news is That Sony appears to be addressing the problem.

They aren't unique. I've shipped major bits of new electronic equipment and had it fail in the field. After very serious testing.

Unlikely that it was a rush out the door. I still don't know of any real competition for the PD150 (as I use it in my video business). I doubt that Sony was hearing any footsteps. The 24p and HD markets aren't big enough for them to jump before they are good and ready.

It happens to Detroit . . . the Vega, GM's V-8 diesel, Chrysler's auto trans in the mini-van, Ford's bad valve train and head gaskets in the early 3.8 liter V-6 engines. Firestone's SUV tires. Even the super-brands have their screw-ups. Macintosh stereo equipment, Tektronix oscilloscopes . . .

Fortunately companies like Sony, Macintosh and Tektronix stand behind the gear much better than the car companies.

[Lou Bruno]

Mike-This even happened to both my JVC 500 and 5000. I was one of the first to receive these cameras and within weeks there were upgrades. Maybe the lesson here is to wait but I had decided to purchase them anyway. Anyway, there were firmware upgrades made to both cameras and I had them back within a week.

[Mike Rehmus]

I always try to buy on the back side of the leading edge.

Ya gotta love them pioneers, huh?

I hate it when I am one.

Had good luck buying a JVC 550 though. It is a great little camera for the price.

[Hugh DiMauro]

How do we know, as consumers, that we won't be buying one of the flawed NTSC PD 170 models even if we wait until the end of January? What will stop a retail store from trying to liquidate their stock of the "bad" PD 170s by telling us that we are buying one of the upgraded models? Will Sony be printing something on the outside of the box to alert us that the product we are buying is the fixed model? I know this sounds paranoid, but I'm not sure if the retailers have to take a loss on their stocked flawed PD 170s or do they get to send them back to Sony? You can be damned sure that I won't be buying a flawed one and then rely on Snoy to fix it.

Anybody have any answers?

[Jeff Donald]

Hugh, are you sure this issue even effects NTSC models? Lou states above that it is a PAL only issue. The link to the site is also European and makes no mention of NTSC models.

Dealers do not have a financial incentive to keep defective product in their inventories. Manufactures pay shipping etc. for returns under these circumstances.

[Shawn Mielke]

Are you guys aware that this news is regularly update at

www.global-dvc.org/html/PD170.asp ?


Sounds like an NTSC problem too.

[Hugh DiMauro]

It is an NTSC problem too. Shame. I was going to buy one at the beginning of the new year. Rats.

[Carlos E. Martinez]

<<<-- Originally posted by Mike Rehmus : I still don't know of any real competition for the PD150 (as I use it in my video business). I doubt that Sony was hearing any footsteps. -->>>

You mean that for you the Panasonic DVC80 is no real threat for the PD150 or PD170? Have you tried it?

To start with that Panasonic seems to be a lot better in the audio area and the wide angle area. Though maybe the difference in the latter is not that huge.

The Sony might be a bit better on the low light side, but not that much either.

But you can't compare the internal menu setups you have on the DVC80, not to speak of the DVX100, when compared with those on the PD170.

Why do say the Sony is better? Reliability?

This is a new area I would like to explore on my business, which is location audio rental, adding prosumer video rental too. So I have been trying to gather information on what people were thinking on the Panasonic cameras when compared with the Sony.

Sony's policy for their lower priced models is disgusting. First the noise problem on the PD150, which was not completely cured with their recall; second the curve they use on their mic preamp is only good for dialogue; third they release a new model claiming they improve the audio side and gets hum when you open the LCD. What game are they playing?

It's a fact that Panasonic is having a more agressive attitude with the prosumer market. And I do think it maybe useful for us in waking Sony up from their dream that they had a captive market there.

It's symptomatic how Sony uses to behave as if "they own the land" because they devised a certain product and they end up eating dust because they were not humble enough to accept users' feedback. It happened with the Betacam system, with the walkman and with MD. In all those areas they ended up second or third after other manufacturers did listen to the public.

In my opinion it's happening again now.


Carlos

[Mark Goodsell]

I hear ya Carlos. On a side note, if I were renting equipment, I might want the ruggedness of the Sony though. Purely from a reliablility standpoint of renting out a cam. What are your thoughts?

Mark G