Pangolin overpriced?

[flecom]

I mean, assuming that you sell good hardware- which may be the sticky wicket here.

I have not used an FB3 myself but I can tell you for sure the QM2000 is nice hardware... except for using PC133 for frame storage, that sucks donkey balls

[heroic]

I have not used an FB3 myself but I can tell you for sure the QM2000 is nice hardware... except for using PC133 for frame storage, that sucks donkey balls

I seriously doubt that it's so good nobody with an electronics degree and a couple hours spare couldn't design better performing hardware at twenty percent of the cost; jeez, for $20 you can get a system-on-chip processor with chipstack DRAM on board, DSP and all, that's at least fifty times faster, and has onboard USB and PCI express interfaces.

[Laserman532]

ass, grass or gas...nobody rides for free

[White-Light]

I can see where you're coming from Flecom but given that Pangolin give out years worth of free updates, they have to make their money somewhere.

I've no doubt if you could buy additional QM boards for $500 you'd soon be moaning when you needed software updates at $500 per licence every couple of years, especially if they weren't optional. Thats what other companies do.

Also all I can say is wait and see what Beyond brings to the table before judging value.

Doing away with the need for 3D Studio Max for advanced cue design (I believe I read it on the Pangolin forums) is worth $3,500 before we even start on the rest.

I have very little info on Beyond but I believe its going to be to LD what QS was to LiveQuick, ie revolutionary.

[heroic]

I have very little info on Beyond but I believe its going to be to LD what QS was to LiveQuick, ie revolutionary.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect

I'm just sayin'.

[JohnYayas]

You guys need to be realistic. Do you think Pangolin is selling tons of these devices? I seriously doubt it. My guess is that they are scraping by and the reason their software development cycle is so long is because they can't afford to hire enough programmers or good enough programmers to get it done in a timely fashion. If they had the money to spend I would be willing to bet they would spend it and get this stuff out the door. It is very doubtful, since laser show stuff is such a niche market, that lowering their prices would yield a greater than inversely proportional amount of sales. In other words, they will make less money if they lower prices.

Maybe I am wrong and Pangolin is selling stuff faster than they can make it and they have money to burn and maybe you all have some valid points. But, based on the indicators I have seen from Pangolin, other laser show device manufacturers that I have been in direct contact with, and the amount of sales that I have with Spaghetti I seriously doubt that is the case.

So, either suck it up and pay for it or buy your hardware/software from someone else.

[flecom]

I can see where you're coming from Flecom but given that Pangolin give out years worth of free updates, they have to make their money somewhere.

I've no doubt if you could buy additional QM boards for $500 you'd soon be moaning when you needed software updates at $500 per licence every couple of years, especially if they weren't optional. Thats what other companies do.

Also all I can say is wait and see what Beyond brings to the table before judging value.

Doing away with the need for 3D Studio Max for advanced cue design (I believe I read it on the Pangolin forums) is worth $3,500 before we even start on the rest.

I have very little info on Beyond but I believe its going to be to LD what QS was to LiveQuick, ie revolutionary.

well, lets say each QM was $500 plus the inital cost of $1500 for the QM/software... if I got three it would be $2500...

right now it would cost me $4500... so thats $2000, or at $500/update would be 4 major updates... how many major updates has pangolin even done in the last few years?? not that many...

also as far as beyond bill said they are still unsure if its going to be a free upgrade even for PRO users... so I have a feeling us Intro guys are fucked

[flecom]

You guys need to be realistic. Do you think Pangolin is selling tons of these devices? I seriously doubt it. My guess is that they are scraping by and the reason their software development cycle is so long is because they can't afford to hire enough programmers or good enough programmers to get it done in a timely fashion. If they had the money to spend I would be willing to bet they would spend it and get this stuff out the door. It is very doubtful, since laser show stuff is such a niche market, that lowering their prices would yield a greater than inversely proportional amount of sales. In other words, they will make less money if they lower prices.

Maybe I am wrong and Pangolin is selling stuff faster than they can make it and they have money to burn and maybe you all have some valid points. But, based on the indicators I have seen from Pangolin, other laser show device manufacturers that I have been in direct contact with, and the amount of sales that I have with Spaghetti I seriously doubt that is the case.

So, either suck it up and pay for it or buy your hardware/software from someone else.

does spaghetti support multiple outputs? do I have to buy an extra copy of spaghetti for each output?

I think a lot of people have missed my point... I DO NOT THINK PANGOLIN IS OVERPRICED

I just think their setup for adding multiple projectors is overpriced since I am buying stuff I do not need (software)

[White-Light]

You guys need to be realistic. Do you think Pangolin is selling tons of these devices? I seriously doubt it. My guess is that they are scraping by and the reason their software development cycle is so long is because they can't afford to hire enough programmers or good enough programmers to get it done in a timely fashion. If they had the money to spend I would be willing to bet they would spend it and get this stuff out the door. It is very doubtful, since laser show stuff is such a niche market, that lowering their prices would yield a greater than inversely proportional amount of sales. In other words, they will make less money if they lower prices.

Maybe I am wrong and Pangolin is selling stuff faster than they can make it and they have money to burn and maybe you all have some valid points. But, based on the indicators I have seen from Pangolin, other laser show device manufacturers that I have been in direct contact with, and the amount of sales that I have with Spaghetti I seriously doubt that is the case.

So, either suck it up and pay for it or buy your hardware/software from someone else.

I don't know anything about Pangolin's internal workings but I have to say that on the face of it I agree entirely with you Gary.

This isn't Microsoft where there are x billion users worldwide, I believe on the FB3 there are something like 8,000 sold worldwide. Thats not many users to keep a large company with expensive programmers going for years between new product releases.

People have to be realistic. I was someone who always moaned in the past about the cost of Pangolin's products, mainly because I have no money to spend on this hobby. However I have to admit I was wrong. When you look at it in the cold light of day, this is a niche industry.

@Flecom, on the one hand I can see where you're coming from. On the other hand would changing the model to paid updates be popular? You might possibly save, but how many other users are using 4 or more projectors? Many hobbyists on LD are using one. Others are using 2 and an ILDA splitter. I'd gamble to say that paid updates would hit many more people than pay upfront with free updates as on the current business model. Maybe you're answer lies with FB's. I don't know what software they currently work with but I do know BIll usually takes these with him to tradeshows to do his demos with, presumably because of their small size. If thye're good enough for his shows then I'm going to guess there's some mileage in them for your hardware purposes.

[Stuka]

Whew - FINALLY!

I was afraid we might have to go a full weekend without some sort of subtle Pangolin bashin' taking place!
I hate it when I have to hang out on the laserdude forum to catch up on the latest Pangolin / ILDA / Microsoft conspiracy theories...

Hey, everybody knows that the QM boards are really just $20 worth of parts programmed by some senior at a local community college, and all that extra money the Pango team uses is to finance their eyetalian sports cars and private jets.

One thing 20 years with Uncle taught me -
Anything worth having, oughtta' be free, dang it!!