Comet Plasma Screen 'Advice'

So I'm in Comet last night, and I get an assistant (read:BOY) after waiting
a while and ask him

"Do you know about Plasma's"
"Yeah - I was told by Sony...",

Who at this point has become an individual person rather than a
multi-national - I digress, sorry...

"Yeah, I was told by Sony that I am the most knowledgeable person on
Plasma's in the region"
"Er, OK"
"What can I do for you"
"In that case please show me what Plasma's are capable of running HDCP over
HDMI for the new Sky system please"
"Yeah, this one" [Points to Pioneer]

*Suitably impressed with knowledge of Comet Salesboy at this point*

"I saw that on the web site already, any others?"
"No"
"Right, I was hoping you would say this one, that one, etc."
"Nope"
"Well what are you going to do about it then"
"Oh, clear out all the stock at Christmas and replace it all in January"
"All of it"
"That's what I heard"

*Now starting to sound more like Comet Sales Assistant*

"But, that's shocking - how can you rip people off like that"
"They won't know the difference"
"They will next summer!"
"Yeah, sky are going to release a little adapter to make it work...BS, BS,
BS"

*Sales boy goes from boy to fully qualified Comet Salesman*

Comments on a postcard please.....

Bob

"Bobby Internet" wrote in message
...

Comments on a postcard please.....

Bob


i'm v impressed , i couldn't find a comet salesman that knew what a plasma
was.

Bobby Internet wrote:
"Yeah, sky are going to release a little adapter to make it work...BS, BS,
BS"

Comments on a postcard please.....

Without knowing what exactly he's saying, its hard to comment - i.e. the
adapter would take HDMI in and produce what out? Its worth bearing in
mind though that HDCP is effectively a VPN designed to encrypt the high
definition digital signal between the source and the display device so
that you can't get at it. As far as I know, crypto keys for the decoders
have so far only been licenced for use in displays, not adapters.

Ben wrote:
Bobby Internet wrote:
"Yeah, sky are going to release a little adapter to make it
work...BS, BS, BS"

Comments on a postcard please.....

Without knowing what exactly he's saying, its hard to comment - i.e.
the adapter would take HDMI in and produce what out? Its worth
bearing in mind though that HDCP is effectively a VPN designed to
encrypt the high definition digital signal between the source and the
display device so that you can't get at it. As far as I know, crypto
keys for the decoders have so far only been licenced for use in
displays, not adapters.

Thing is, HDMI / HDCP is a digital standard. Encryption will be cracked at
some point, and there'll be plans to build your own "HDCP stripper" on the
net eventually...

--
We are the keepers of the sacred words: Ni, Pang,
and Ni-wom!

Bobby Internet wrote:
So I'm in Comet last night, and I get an assistant (read:BOY) after waiting
a while and ask him

"Do you know about Plasma's"
"Yeah - I was told by Sony...",

Who at this point has become an individual person rather than a
multi-national - I digress, sorry...

"Yeah, I was told by Sony that I am the most knowledgeable person on
Plasma's in the region"
"Er, OK"
"What can I do for you"
"In that case please show me what Plasma's are capable of running HDCP over
HDMI for the new Sky system please"
"Yeah, this one" [Points to Pioneer]

*Suitably impressed with knowledge of Comet Salesboy at this point*

"I saw that on the web site already, any others?"
"No"
"Right, I was hoping you would say this one, that one, etc."
"Nope"
"Well what are you going to do about it then"
"Oh, clear out all the stock at Christmas and replace it all in January"
"All of it"
"That's what I heard"

*Now starting to sound more like Comet Sales Assistant*

"But, that's shocking - how can you rip people off like that"
"They won't know the difference"
"They will next summer!"
"Yeah, sky are going to release a little adapter to make it work...BS, BS,
BS"

*Sales boy goes from boy to fully qualified Comet Salesman*

Comments on a postcard please.....

Comment: he's telling the truth up until he realises he's lost a sale,
and about £50 in commission, so he switches into salesman mode.

-Vin

"Bobby Internet" wrote in message
...
So I'm in Comet last night, and I get an assistant (read:BOY) after
waiting
a while and ask him

"Do you know about Plasma's"
"Yeah - I was told by Sony...",

Who at this point has become an individual person rather than a
multi-national - I digress, sorry...

"Yeah, I was told by Sony that I am the most knowledgeable person on
Plasma's in the region"
"Er, OK"
"What can I do for you"
"In that case please show me what Plasma's are capable of running HDCP
over
HDMI for the new Sky system please"
"Yeah, this one" [Points to Pioneer]

*Suitably impressed with knowledge of Comet Salesboy at this point*

I would probably drop through the floor if any Comet/Dixons/Currys/PCWorld
staff exhibited this level of knowledge. A salesman tried to tell me that a
DVI port was just for digital cameras the other day.

"I saw that on the web site already, any others?"
"No"
"Right, I was hoping you would say this one, that one, etc."
"Nope"
"Well what are you going to do about it then"
"Oh, clear out all the stock at Christmas and replace it all in January"
"All of it"
"That's what I heard"

*Now starting to sound more like Comet Sales Assistant*

As suspected, a whole shedload of plasmas and LCDs will be going cheap in
the next 9 months. These will be snapped up by the unknowing not realising
that HD cannot be implemented


"But, that's shocking - how can you rip people off like that"
"They won't know the difference"
"They will next summer!"
"Yeah, sky are going to release a little adapter to make it work...BS, BS,
BS"

*Sales boy goes from boy to fully qualified Comet Salesman*

How does a little adaptor get around the copyright protection, then?


Comments on a postcard please.....

I wonder if I could get a job in aforementioned shops? I would be too honest
though and if something was a piece of **** I would tell the customer

Tricky

There's an article on Digital Spy saying that, according to Sony, Sky's
new HD boxes will have analogue component outputs, but according to Sky,
most HDTV content will be HDCP protected anyway so they won't be much use.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds19787.html

Tricky Dicky wrote:
"Bobby Internet" wrote in message
...

So I'm in Comet last night, and I get an assistant (read:BOY) after
waiting
a while and ask him

"Do you know about Plasma's"
"Yeah - I was told by Sony...",

Who at this point has become an individual person rather than a
multi-national - I digress, sorry...

"Yeah, I was told by Sony that I am the most knowledgeable person on
Plasma's in the region"
"Er, OK"
"What can I do for you"
"In that case please show me what Plasma's are capable of running HDCP
over
HDMI for the new Sky system please"
"Yeah, this one" [Points to Pioneer]

*Suitably impressed with knowledge of Comet Salesboy at this point*


I would probably drop through the floor if any Comet/Dixons/Currys/PCWorld
staff exhibited this level of knowledge. A salesman tried to tell me that a
DVI port was just for digital cameras the other day.


"I saw that on the web site already, any others?"
"No"
"Right, I was hoping you would say this one, that one, etc."
"Nope"
"Well what are you going to do about it then"
"Oh, clear out all the stock at Christmas and replace it all in January"
"All of it"
"That's what I heard"

*Now starting to sound more like Comet Sales Assistant*


As suspected, a whole shedload of plasmas and LCDs will be going cheap in
the next 9 months. These will be snapped up by the unknowing not realising
that HD cannot be implemented



"But, that's shocking - how can you rip people off like that"
"They won't know the difference"
"They will next summer!"
"Yeah, sky are going to release a little adapter to make it work...BS, BS,
BS"

*Sales boy goes from boy to fully qualified Comet Salesman*


How does a little adaptor get around the copyright protection, then?

The copy protection is only an issue if it's switched on. There was a
big hoo-ha in 98 about Sky building Macrovision compliance into the
digiboxes but I don't recall it ever being used.

HDMI and the broadcast flag are about to hit the US Supreme Court - the
FCC have no right to mandate that electronics companies abide by the
copy protection, and if the American market renders HDMI useless the
copyright holders are likely to give up on the idea and not enforce it
in Europe. Cross fingers

Comments on a postcard please.....


I wonder if I could get a job in aforementioned shops? I would be too honest
though and if something was a piece of **** I would tell the customer

It's not about honesty, it's about product training. Everyone in this
group knows a fair bit about what to look for and what to avoid in a
plasma, DVD recorder, etc etc. Comet (sticking with them as an example
because my brother works Sundays for them while he's at Uni) simply
don't give their staff, 99% of whom are "the general public" when it
comes to bleeding edge technology, anything more than a lightweight
product spec - they're told to sell plasmas on the back of them being
flat and silver and space-saving, basically. Managers encourage them to
blag a little bit when cornered rather than admit they don't know the
answer, because they have increasingly ludicrous sales targets to hit,
and people that don't do the numbers on the floor usually end up working
in the back storeroom dragging washing machines out the door (usually to
find that the customer who refused to pay £10 for delivery is in a BMW
3-series and has absolutely no chance of getting his purchase home).

Next time a numpty feeds you bull****, remember that the blame usually
resides further up the chain. Not you personally, Dicky, just a general
comment.

But on that note, sales staff who do know what they're talking about,
rare though they are, tend to get the best sales, because if a customer
has a specific technical query (like this lad with the HDMI Pioneer
answer, initially) that they can answer, it usually points to the
highest priced stuff in store

-Vin

"Bobby Internet" wrote in message
...
So I'm in Comet last night, and I get an assistant (read:BOY) after
waiting
a while and ask him

"Do you know about Plasma's"

But did he try and sell you insurance???

Justin.

The copy protection is only an issue if it's switched on. There was a big
hoo-ha in 98 about Sky building Macrovision compliance into the digiboxes
but I don't recall it ever being used.

Its used on box office, and i think the other movie channels too.
--
Alex