Hello all,

I read the forum, but have not posted anything until yesterday.

I specialize in Luxury Shops, Casinos, Video Shops & Resorts. I have done about 200 Video Shops in the last couple of years.

Okay, so I have expensive video equipment. I started out by buying an Angel Eyes set up and found it to be frustratingly unreliable. I thought I was getting a great deal when I paid $65 for a DVR & Button cam. It was hit or miss when it came to usable footage. There is nothing worse, in my opinion, than spending the entire Shop worrying about if I was catching usable video. The button cam itself was another component that was easily a contributing factor for concern. Did the camera turn and I'm getting a video that you have to watch at an angle or is out of focus.

It was not until I took on a 32 Shop series all over California that I made the decision to purchase a much more expensive video setup. If I had failed on that trip, I would have been responsible for about $1500 of expenses. Since that trip, I have not faced any issues with the quality of my Video work. There were a couple Shopper errors during that 2 years. ..always ha e electrical 5 ape with you ; )

In the end, it is a matter of what you are comfortable with using and spending the amount of money you find acceptable. My equipment was an investment in my reputation. Schedulers know I have good equipment and with my glasses, there are no concerns about the quality of the video I will submit.

Remember, it is your reputation that gives a future in being awarded additional work, be it fast food drive through or 4 days in Mexico. Having your own quality equipment is a tool. You can save money and it may work without issues for years. It did not work for me that way. I know I can put on my gear and get a great video.

The choice is yours. I hope this has a little.

I don't know why people feel the need to squat over someone else's ideas. If you think you can make a better sprocket than Spacely's Sprockets or a better cog than Cogswell's Cogs, more power to ya. If you succeed they don't have use it and if you fail, you've wasted no one's time but your own. I'm sorry I don't have what you need as I don't do video shops.

Good luck Scanman. Don't suffocate under that dogpile.

People were not "squatting all over his idea" as you say. We were telling him important aspects of video shopping he knew little or nothing about. How does one begin to create a product without knowing how it will ultimately be used and which features are crucial to the customer? It would be like building a better mousetrap only to find the customers really needed a better scarecrow.

Why not just let a man be to do what he wants to do without stifling him? I just think there are far too many naysayers when what we all really need are people to support us and encourage us. It's not like he was asking for our opinions on whether or not he should do it. He's already started the project. I say good for him! You never know if you don't try. If you fail, you learn and you go on to try again on another day and maybe a new project.

LJ,
Most people have been trying to help the OP by asking questions and making suggestions. You may not have noticed, but the OP has been "liking" a lot of posts that you seem to think were #$%^&. Perhaps since you don't do video shops you were not aware of how helpful many of the questions posed were.

"I could wile away the hours
Conferrin' with the flowers
Consultin' with the rain
And my head I'd be scratchin'
While my thoughts were busy hatchin'
If I only had a brain"

Sung by The Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz

@ LJ ~ The OP posted to a public forum asking for samples of video and audio. I think that pretty much opens the thread for conversation, some negative and some positive. I agree with LisaSTL. He is trying to reinvent something that he has never experienced firsthand. I know some posters suggested that he borrow equipment and try a few video shops for himself. That is a perfect solution.

If you don't want to hear/read the bad with the good, don't post in a public forum.

The trouble is... I see FAR more bad than good any more. Everyone is so quick to be downright mean to the next guy. Good for the OP for having the grace to "like" some of the posts.

It's always the same poople who pooh-pooh every new idea. It's the same people who want to tear others down. It's the same people who want to show their superiority by correcting every typo (yes, I see the typo in the first sentence of the paragraph and choose to leave it uncorrected).

It's just sad. Very, very sad.

And shop, regarding your song, I don't think being self-deprecating is helpful in this instance. I know you have a brain -we all know it. You seem to be a reasonably intelligent person.

@ LJ ~ Who said the song was about me?

Well, it's in the first person and you did say ... "hey so-and-so, I'm directing this at you" so....

Besides, you wouldn't be nasty and sophomoric enough to direct it at someone else. Would you?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/2014 11:45PM by LJ.

I guess the humor was lost. It was a quote from the scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz. I thought it was a funny response to LisaSTL's scarecrow reference in her post. Oh well.

Shop2LiveinFL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I guess the humor was lost. It was a quote from
> the scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz. I thought it
> was a funny response to LisaSTL's scarecrow
> reference in her post. Oh well.


I always appreciate a little more Wizard of OZ, S2L. But speaking of people belittling others' input, particularly when it includes the Wizard of Oz... It's just sad, Very, very sad!

walesmaven Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> cubbie,
> If the MSPA certification is not recognized by
> most video MSCs, why would this be so great?

Maybe they will in the future. I'm MSPA gold certified, it makes most sense to be video certified under the same "umbrella." At least they won't disappear into the night, like the other video certification.

@ saacman5033, LJ, stillearning ~ You guys just don't get it. One of you says that I am picking on myself; another says I am picking on someone else. If I want to say something to someone directly, I have no problem putting their name at the beginning of my comment. As I explained in my previous post, it was just a funny quote relating to LisaSTL's reference to a scarecrow. It is not every day that a scarecrow comes into the conversation. No harm, no foul. Geesh people...it is the weekend; lighten up!

I don't see how Undercover Essentials video certification will not continue to be a gold standard despite the company being out of business. After all, it was sponsored by the major video shopping companies. I have mentioned it to non-sponsor companies and they were more than happy to accept it in lieu of any MSPA certifications.

@ LisaSTL ~ After the last UC video training in ATL, she never sent us any certification or proof of the workshop so we had nothing to show for it. We fell through the cracks. I believe that is part of the reason why VSN offered a new training class in NOLA. And we got our certificates within days of the conference.

I get that and VSN training is absolutely a good way to go. I am finding it hard to compare to just a couple of hours of training through the MSPA. To me their idea of two hours being sufficient may mean they are placing little importance on that branch of mystery shopping.

Shop2LiveinFL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> @ saacman5033, LJ, stillearning ~ You guys just
> don't get it. One of you says that I am picking
> on myself; another says I am picking on someone
> else. If I want to say something to someone
> directly, I have no problem putting their name at
> the beginning of my comment. As I explained in my
> previous post, it was just a funny quote relating
> to LisaSTL's reference to a scarecrow. It is not
> every day that a scarecrow comes into the
> conversation. No harm, no foul. Geesh
> people...it is the weekend; lighten up!


No, I was saying LJ was picking on you. And for an innocent Wizard of Oz reference of all things!

Thanks for clarifying, saacman5003. Obviously I wasn't the only one who misinterpreted it since both LJ and stillearning liked your post. Now their likes make no sense at all.

And as far as LJ picking on me, it is nothing new. She devoted a whole thread to picking on me at the beginning of the summer. As she learned quickly, that "experiment" went terribly wrong for her.

Saacman, it may make you feel worse but I got it

Well, that's not saying much! :-P

I fully support this debate, and I'd like to be the first one to acknowledge that there are also bluetooth devices with hires camera's and mic's that can be used with an app thru bluetooth to the phone and make what I suggest only for the hardcore, and this may make even my suggestion too hard core.

Technology is changing at such a rapid rate that your smartphone can be the DVR, and you just need a bluetooth hidden micro camera with condensor mic.

This will make what I suggested above obsolete, as I just saw such a unit in a China company with 6 buttons to choose from and no wires from the camera/mic to the smartphone (bluetooth)

I'm getting a single piece from China and will report on it's capabilities.

Yes, it's too cheap to post the price. Lets just say the MicroSD card cost more.

edit: typo's.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2014 03:05PM by scanman1.

Next question: where do you source the button covers threaded to screw onto the camera?

In looking at the equipment I think the issue might be the frames listed on the actual video vs any other item, the PV-500 claims to be admissible in court. I don't think you could do that with other equipment. I have not looked at the actual output to see if it is watermarked in some way so that you could not take the video from a PV-500 and remove a frame then put it back and redo the frame counts, but I assume there is some type of checking involved. Looking at the prices it seems it is 279.00, which does not seem that bad, some shops that I have seen ask for a sample video.

Gah.

After four months on the road doing three different video routes this summer, I come back to the same old same old....

.... the only thing I see are the same old people (with several thousand more posts to their names), dog piling on new shoppers.

Honestly, if you want to try something new, try it. If it doesn't work, and it was cheap - so what? It was a lesson learned.

I wish that some folks would spend less time playing Queen of the (Non-Existent) Video Shop Mountain and more time actually working in video shops.

That way, we would have a more pleasant, upbeat environment for novice shoppers and less preening and strutting in the barnyard.

Wales, thanks for the kind words.

Scanman, my name is Servanne. I am the person who developed the IMSC Video Shopping course. It is a 3.5 hours course for people who, like you mentioned, could not fly cross-country for one reason or another. I think the course is pretty comprehensive and well designed. Of course.

But I also think that nothing can ever replace discussions with fellow shoppers. It is important to remember that the more we cooperate to make our industry better, the more jobs we will see in our inboxes. It is always a good thing to listen with an open-mind to what others have to say and offer.

I will honestly say that I am skeptical at this point regarding the need for a firmware programmable device, but I may be 100% mistaken. The device you described in an earlier post seemed to me like a PV500, with the exception of no immediate video feed. I personally have found it indispensable to be able to see right away whether or not my device was recording. Maybe something to work on with your new device idea?

Leslie from Clear Evaluations responded to your post, and gave you some valuable insight from a company's perspective. I believe it may be wise to re-read her post and let it sink in. She has years of experience, and truly knows what she is talking about. As do Walesmaven, LisaSTL, S2L and many other posters on this forum. I agree with ColoKate though, have at it and try your new device. What's the risk?

In your OP, you said that people were scared of the competition. I do not agree with this statement. I do not believe in competition. Never have, never will. You, like everyone else, have something of value to teach me. You, like everyone else, have a way to help me perform my jobs better, and be a better person overall. The question is, are you willing to listen to others and learn from them?

You also said the reseller may be worried of the competition. In all honesty, the main resellers of PV500 units at this point are law enforcement/private investigators suppliers. The MS industry is a teeny tiny part of their business. It would be safe to say that they don't care so much about competition.

Scanman, I would love for you to take a look at the training video I have designed, of course, but if you feel that you do not need it, then by all means, do not put your hard-earned money toward something you would approach with a negative attitude. I wish you good luck in your endeavors, and I hope to be able to meet you in person at one of the IMSC Conferences in the near future.

(The specs for the PV500 are 720dpi, 1280x960 res @ 30 fps, 1080p, from 320x240 to 1280x960, pic format jpg, video format avi)

Thanks Servanne for your well thought out post. And your kind words.

P.S. How was your vacay in France. We missed you (and your dog) in NOLA.

It was nice, thanks for asking! I missed you guys too. I walked around like a zombie with nowhere to be for the entire two days of the conference! LOL!

Servanne - that was nice of you to send the specs. After reading all the threads I think that the industry standard would be the safe way to go but if you can find something better go for it.

This is the China company that is making the latest in 720p annd 1080p Glasses, Watches and now they have a body worn unit with remote control and it comes standard with a 600 mh battery (over 2 1/2 hours recording time) and will fabricate with a larger battery on request.

They will sell "samples" and allow Paypal and ship with EMS. They have made exactly what is needed for MSC. Cost effective (Under $50) and as simple to use as humanly possible with only 3 buttons:

[acmell.en.alibaba.com]

I'd be willing to bet that someone who can use a sewing needle can sew the whole thing into a shirt or even a bra for those lady shoppers.

They have five pages of products. This is the 2014 lineup of what is going to flood Ebay. Most of it is not at all suitable for MSC, but this unit is exactly what I had in mind when I started this thread.

EDIT: Did I forget to mention it comes with a keychain remote control with record indicator to turn it on/off and snap still hires pictures?

Here is Acmell's entire catalog of products:
[acmell.en.alibaba.com]

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2014 11:27AM by scanman1.