| Zugriffe bisher: |
6621 |
ScreenPlay Saves Broadcast Studio $100,000
It's not so much the technology, it's that the box worked, better than advertised,
right out of the box. Its price makes me think you're all crazy, and the
ease of operation coupled with the broadcast quality output has left us in shock.
A Letter from Jim Bolt, Vice President, Operations
Multicom Media Group Division, Arkansas Chronicle, Rogers, Arkansas
January 3, 2001
Dear Applied Magic,
Frankly, we were in a bind. Management had tasked us with doing something impossible that required, we thought, one of those
exquisite $100K+ Avid "gee whiz" boxes. What purchasing got for us was a $3K [$3,995] Applied Magic box [ScreenPlay].
We kicked cried, laughed and made fun of the little Applied Magic box.
I started editing video back when the Sony VO2850 ruled the earth. Naturally, I knew that there was no way this "ScreenPlay"
was going to work. Our team hitched up our belts and decided we'd just toss the box on the purchasing agent's desk and
suggest he install it himself where the elves don't play. I mean after all, we're "big kids", shooting Ikegami HL-V77's. Hell, the
replacement viewfinder on an Ike costs more than your box [ScreenPlay], and I'm not kidding!
Anyway, we broke weak, opened the box, swiped that lovely Hitachi 17" monitor from the purchasing agent (he went to lunch
and we really did need a monitor), and we fired up your box.
Oh dear God. We're in love. What have you people done? The last time I saw something like this come out of Carlsbad, Calif.,
it was from the back room at Hughes Industrial Products Division - the venerable Probeye thermal camera. It must be something
in the water back there.
We're hooked. Our only problem is to get the purchasing agent to buy us a lot more boxes. For what we do, and we're doing
broadcast work, it's perfect. An idiot can run it; an anally retentive editor can get everything he/she needs out of it.
We took out first output to the lead cynic in our area at a local NBC station. We asked him to critique it. He smirked and
opined, "Oh, I see you got your Avid system finally." We just grinned like raccoons eating fish guts off a wire brush and went
home.
Now, as for the rebate -- here's the deal. We don't have it in our heart to ask for one. We're sending in the registration today.
Please take the rebate, drop into the "Quails Inn" - anyway, they used to have a really nice bar, and buy a round on us - or as
much of one as the rebate will buy.
It's not so much the technology, it's that the box worked, better than advertised, right out of the box. Its price makes me think
you're all crazy, and the ease of operation coupled with the broadcast quality output has left us in shock. You have opened a
New World for us and saved us over $100K in FY2001 Q1.
You people are awesome! Congratulations on your product. We look forward to a long relationship with you.
Jim Bolt
Vice President, Operations
Multicom Media Group, A Division of the Arkansas Chronicle
Rogers, AR