The Official LG HD-DVD/Blu-ray Combo Drive Owner's Thread (threads merged) - Page 5

Meanwhile I ordered on Thursday, and they haven't shipped squat. Nice to see they're using the LIFO system.

I needed an AGP card, so I have the VisionTek HD2600pro AGP 512MB. I don't have any specific recommendations otherwise, but you can mosey on over to the ATI Radeon HD 2X00 (2400,2600,2900) series owners thread.

pameredith,

Sony - specifically Sony Music got Burned LONG BEFORE SACD.

Sony took a big hit with people copying CDs, or ripping them to MP3 and posting to
Napster.

Sony wasn't about to let THAT happen again.

Actually, Sony had the superior product in Betamax. However, two things killed Betamax;
the VHS because of its poorer quality, also had longer run time per tape, and the porn
industry standardized on VHS instead of Betamax, since quality was not a major concern.

It doesn't help a company to corner the market with their technology, if people just use
that technology to trade software for free.

I can't blame Sony for locking down their hi-rez format to keep it from being pirated.

The problem here is that DVD's were a huge success despite being cracked early. That caused them to reduce the price and make more money. Sometimes greed is not the best business model.

Disks are now unplayable due to BD+ and that will happen again. It is as if the want down-loadable HD win.

You also cannot blame people for choosing HD DVD

- Rich

I also ordered mine Thursday night. If I get word from them that my order is delayed while others who ordered after I did got theirs, they've lost a customer. First come, first served is a good business model. Last In First Out is not.

Someone on the Hardforums ordered Friday night and also shipped already unless it's the same poster as here (with two different handles).

To their credit it did work. DVD-A was cracked due to holes in the software players.

Of course, both failed commercially none the less.

I ordered this drive thursday in the dead of night and it shipped friday at the end of the day. (I posted over in Hardforum about this too)

Well in defense of the different shipping......this could very well be how they have their ordering system setup and which warehouse your order went to based on your location (the speed it sold out at probably threw a whole monkey wrench into the equation). So you may very well have people who ordered after you still get their order because the warehouse their order went to wasn't sold out yet and the one yours went to did.

I don't know exactly how their system is setup, but considering I worked in a warehouse for several years of my life I can come up with quite a few reasons why this situation could happen.

But I think people need to relax some, your order very well could have gone to a slower warehouse and they just haven't gotten around to shipping it yet.

Any evidence to back that up?

The music industry took a hit because they were trying to charge $20 for crap CD's with one or two real songs and 40 minutes of filler.

I'm beginning to wonder if my drive really did ship before they ran out (I ordered on Tues, btw). I've had a FedEx tracking number since early Fri morning, but it still just shows "package data transmitted to FedEx", which implies FedEx doesn't actually have the package yet. I sure hope some bozo at NCIX didn't "ship" more units than they actually had in their posession to ship.

It's not at all uncommon for a FedEx (or UPS) tracking number to take a business day or so to show up in the system, so I wouldn't worry about it till later on Monday. If FedEx actually picked the package up late in the day on Friday (which is reasonably likely), it won't show up until the next business day.

and how is that different from what was on those big, black 12" CD's that were sold for decades before ??

My experience has been that once the tracking number is in the system, updates of the package status as it moves is kept up to date in near realtime. If a package shows as "package data transmitted to FedEx" and nothing else, it's likely that FedEx doesn't have the package yet. Unless maybe things are different in Canada...

I ordered the day the link went up and this is exactly what I get. Their customer service rep keeps telling me its shipped, now they have gone radio silent... I suspect someone has goofed here. On a possibly higher note, I did buy a bunch of other stuff and they sent me 3 tracking numbers for that, but they ended up only using two of them... So, our units could have shipped, just under different tracking numbers.

Were is the data to backup that opinion? It was maybe a 5% hit on the whole music industry. 5% cuts into profits for sure but its was not a BIG hit. They just like to convince the public it was big, the biggest scam was the fact that artist dont get squat generally for their work. The music industry fat suits that have no talent whatsoever are the ones that deserve to be beaten down. I hope more recording artists go the route of Radio Head recently and just use the web for distribution. I hope in 10 years all artists use software and the web to distribute everything. Better for us, better for recording artists, down with the big machine


btw, very sorry for the OT rant there, back to the dual format player discussion.

I have my HTPC parts coming, I really hope this drive will work for me and on the machine I just spec'd and purchased!!

They were $10. Half the price for the same crap. Much better deal, imo.

Oh, and you got huge cover art to look at.

This thread is getting hijacked big time. Can you guys take the Piracy / Sony discussion to a new thread? Back on topic, is anyone else selling these things yet? I've never heard of NCIX and am leary of hitting the buy button. How did they get a jump on everyone else?

NCIX is a local computer parts store for me in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I wasn't even aware they opened a US branch. In-store service is pretty crappy, but it's usually the cheapest place to buy components around here. These guys are considered very reputable for local Vancouverites, but then we never deal with shipping or the US store. Tomorrow if you guys like I can ask my premier partner contact about these, although he probably won't have any info about the US side of things.

I buy alot from NCIX Canada. Their online serivice has been top notch. I can order stuff and if ship that night I will get it next morning if I choose express shipping. Thats from them on the west coast to me on the east coast of Canada. I ordered enuf stuff from them that the Puralator guy know me by name.... Their RMA is also very good and if you are gold member they will tranship (EDIT that is Cross ship)also. Very please with NCIX service. But thats all dealings with NCIX Canada.

For those that have the LG GGC20L, is the PDVD ULTRA a OEM version. The prev ver shipped with the 10 series was OEM and only supported stereo as audio outs and you would have to upgrade to the retail PDVD to get the other audio options. Also if its OEM will the Cyberlink updates work.

Just because you've had a tracking number since Friday morning doesn't mean that the package is in the hands of FedEx yet. I've found that especially around a weekend, it's not uncommon for the tracking info to stay at "package data transmitted to FedEx" until Monday. Is this a FedEx or FedEx Ground shipment? If FedEx Ground, it's even more likely as the ground shipping is subcontracted and they have a different pickup schedule. What would NCIX (or any other store) have to gain by giving you a tracking number and then not actually shipping the product? It would be a really good way to go out of business fast from disgruntled customers posting on forums. I really don't think there's any need to worry unless it doesn't show some progress by the end of the business day tomorrow.

Here's my order summary from NCIX, they even posted the S/N for the drive so I think they actually have the drive and shipped it out. Fedex tracking still said estimate delivery date is 10/23 so we'll see.

SKU Description Qty
1. 26553 LG GGC-H20L BLU-RAY HD-DVD Reader BD-ROM 4X HD DVD-ROM 3X DVD+-RW 16X8X6 DL 4X Black SATA Software 1

Barcode: 26553 159251 18 S/N: 710ZACQ006083 10-18-07 05:18 PM

I asked my sales rep about US orders for you guys and most of the orders ship out of their Richmond warehouse. For tracking numbers apparently they are only active in Fedex's systems once customs releases the product at the border. He said it causes him a bit of grief with the customer accounts in the US he handles as they think their product hasn't been shipped when in fact it has.

As far as the company I have been buying from them for over 10 years now despite having worked with competitors in the past! I think my first purchase was a P166 desktop, and then a whole whack of stuff since then. Never had a problem, any issues were always taken care of quickly and to my satisfaction (two RMA's in ten years is pretty good). They are the "newegg" up here so to speak. They are usually the first guys up here to have anything in stock (they had X-Fi preludes long before Newegg did). Most of the local shops here "list" tons of products but when you actually go to order you find out it's a 3 week special order.

I'm still putting the finish touches on my new HTPC and the LG drive is just sitting their taunting me...doh.

Exactly my opinion of them. I'd buy from NCIX before anywhere else. If a competitor is cheaper, they usually pricematch... and even if they didn't I'd still buy from them because they've ALWAYS looked after me like royalty in case of a problem.

I'm pretty familiar with how FedEx's tracking system works for both Express and Ground shipments, I use them all the time. It's a FedEx Express Saver shipment, supposed to be here on Tues. The tracking number showed the "package data transmitted to FedEx" since Thursday night, and I agree with you usually when that's all it says it means that FedEx doesn't actually have the package yet, which is precisely my concern. Not showing any movement at all on Friday is unusual. Hopefully it's as Furious says and the irregularity with the tracking info has to do with this shipment coming from Canada (something I also mentioned as a possibility in my post).

Did you get a chance to see what the PDVD Ultra is. Is it OEM and can it be updated.

Thanks

I ordered the drive from NCIX on Thursday. It said it shipped late Friday. Never got a tracking number email. But, the drive just showed up! Software comes bundled with PowerDVD, PowerProducer, PowerBackup, Power2Go, Instant Burn, and LabelPrint as well as a Bluray/Hd-DVD compatability advisor. The PowerDVD is listed as version 7.3. It looks like its been modified specifically to be bundled with this drive. The splash screen has been LG badged. It is listed as the ultra version on that splash screen as well.

So has anyone tested this drive out yet? I'm suspicious of it having possible problems being the first of its kind. Burn in tests, quality tests, etc? I'm excited to see how this thing performs.

Great. Have you tried both HD DVD and BD's?

I have the opposite situation. Tracking number that FEDX does not recognize. I sent an inquiry to NCIX.

- Rich

Havent had a chance to try it out yet. Had it shipped to my office and will install it and try it out tonight.