Anyone hear from SNM re: HCs yet?

[Debbie S.]

Originally Posted by Kimberly33

I would also say the response has been less than stellar. When I worked for Radio Shack, they drilled into us that your most loyal customer is not the one who has had no problems, but the one who had a problem that was resolved to her satisfaction. Not a bad attitude, I think.

Hi Kimberly! I agree with this statement. As I mentioned in my email to SNM, if I could help find out what went wrong for future releases, I feel that my complaint was well worth airing. I personally don't like complaining, but I feel very strongly that they did do something differently with this series. What's even more baffling is that I previewed Core Max last night and there isn't anything wrong with the vocals/music ratio and volume.

[SharonH]

Debbie, I agree that Core Max sounded the best to me, too, in terms of loudness ratio between Cathe's voice and the music. In fact, Core Max was the only one I turned way down. I have to really jack up the sound with Kick Max, Muscle Max and High Step Challenge.

[knitter_mom]

Originally Posted by Kimberly33

your most loyal customer is not the one who has had no problems, but the one who had a problem that was resolved to her satisfaction

This is so true! It doesn't bother me when companies make mistakes - that's life - it is how they deal with them that turns me into a rabid fan or a "never again" customer. SNM's customer service lately is making the DVD sound situation far worse than it has to be; I truly hope they are just trying to figure out what is going on and will make it up to everyone.

Kris

[germaine]

Originally Posted by Kimberly33

But, that said, I also think it goes back to expectations (as discussed in another thread). SNM has not produced disks like this before. And it seems that one of their selling points is their technology. It seems odd to me to make that a selling point, and then back away when it leads to unhappy customers.

Technology is the problem. Cathe's DVDs are more complicated and there are quite a few of the lower end DVD players that can not read the programming. My DH and I experienced this ourselves with our APEX sound system. There were certain DVDs that we could not play in it, but would play in my Pioneer DVD player in my workout room. He fially called tech support for APEX and they said that our system wasn't able to read the programming on the disc..it basically didn't have the capability to read anything more than movies.

And another example which happened. There was a VFer that could not get 2 of her Cathe DVDs to play in her 2 DVD players that she owned. So she gave those 2 to another VFer to see if they would work in the 2nd VFers 2 DVD players; and they did not. So, after talking to them, I took the 2 DVDs home with me and both worked in the 2 players that I had.

[Lisa TV]

Originally Posted by germaine

So she gave those 2 to another VFer to see if they would work in the 2nd VFers 2 DVD players; and they did not. So, after talking to them, I took the 2 DVDs home with me and both worked in the 2 players that I had.

Yup. And I suspect if somebody who has really low sound in their new Cathes sent me their dvds, they'd play well here too. I'm not sure what we can realistically expect SNM to do about that.


Lisa

[keep-workin]

Originally Posted by realtor-Don

germaine,

An overdue step by cathe.com is to publish their many, many customers'
remarks and complaints in a summary as a list of which DVD players can and
which cannot handle cathe.com's latest Hard Core DVDs, along with a list of
those DVD players that can just manage to play the DVDs but need quite a
bit of help in the form of sound amplifiers and modern stereo accessories to
boost the weak sound tracks.

This would be of immense help to existing customers in coping with their
newly acquired DVDs, and, would help new customers contemplating ordering
her latest line of DVDs from taking on a big headache.

Don

Don,
It would be nice if it were as simple as that. Probably a good portion of the reported errors are a result of network issues (cables, components, default settings, etc.) instead of actual DVD player issues. Determining which ones are player based variables and which ones are networking issues would be a complex undertaking. So making a list that is accurate is nearly impossible. (However, when I got a replacement from Disney, they did have a LONG survey that I had to fill out before getting my replacement including model number and serial number of every piece of equipment we had used and all settings that we had selected for the both the player, and the tv and the type of wiring we used and type of sound system, so of course they were attempting to study it, but they certainly did not publish a list.)
Also, if you were able to come up with a list after an exhaustive study, who will take the blame for that? The player manufacturer or yourself?
We have a theory that most DVD players are standardized if they play most DVDs and that most DVDs are standardized if they play in most players. Arrgh!
Even so, I do hope that people are able to find something that works!

[KarenP]

Originally Posted by keep-workin

Probably a good portion of the reported errors are a result of network issues (cables, components, default settings, etc.) instead of actual DVD player issues.

Actually, since sound is the issue here, it would be pretty easy to see if the problem is coming from the DVD player. Just stick your headphones in the headphone jack and listen to the DVD. Assuming your headphone jack works...

[keep-workin]

They don't all have headphone jacks. In fact, most have audio out right and left. But, you are right that it is easier to evaluate things if they are stripped down to the simplest system. And most people have a set up menu on the DVD player and on the TV that both include audio option preferences and then separate audio "modes" that are apart from the preferences. Prefs would be things like PCM or bitrate sound, fake surround sound, real surround sound, etc. Modes would be dialogue enhancing, 3d sound, some even have music modes. So even when you try to make things simple, they often are not.

[pipsqueak3211]

Originally Posted by keep-workin

Don,
It would be nice if it were as simple as that. Probably a good portion of the reported errors are a result of network issues (cables, components, default settings, etc.) instead of actual DVD player issues. Determining which ones are player based variables and which ones are networking issues would be a complex undertaking. So making a list that is accurate is nearly impossible. (However, when I got a replacement from Disney, they did have a LONG survey that I had to fill out before getting my replacement including model number and serial number of every piece of equipment we had used and all settings that we had selected for the both the player, and the tv and the type of wiring we used and type of sound system, so of course they were attempting to study it, but they certainly did not publish a list.)
Also, if you were able to come up with a list after an exhaustive study, who will take the blame for that? The player manufacturer or yourself?
We have a theory that most DVD players are standardized if they play most DVDs and that most DVDs are standardized if they play in most players. Arrgh!
Even so, I do hope that people are able to find something that works!

Not true. I have the same exact set up for all my Cathe (and other DVDs) and the Hardcores are the only ones I have had a problem with. In addition, mine is set up correctly. I didn't even have a problem with the Body Blasts Elisabeth

[paidhi]

Has anyone heard anything further from SNM? My DVD player is set to PCM and is hooked up to stereo speakers and a subwoofer and I am still experiencing the sound issues. I emailed SNM with this information and their response was that there is absolutely no sound issue with the HardCores and that I should set my DVD player to PCM and use stereo speakers. They obviously didn't even bother to read my email properly.

Lisa