Boxed Version Not Worth Extra Cost

vivona wrote on 7/24/2010, 1:42 PM
I have been on VMS 6 for several years. I had bought it retail and really liked the hard copy manuals that came in the box. I recently upgraded to VMS 10 HD Platinum Production Suite. Instead of downloading the software, I opted for the boxed set because I wanted hard copies of the manuals. I thought the extra $5.00 would be worth it. I was surprised at the $9.95 shipping cost, but still wanting the manuals, went ahead with the $14.95 cost over the download price.

Imagine my disappointment when a small padded envelope arrived with a small box inside including only 2 DVDs, an installation pamphlet and a booklet advertising Sony software. No manuals, just PDFs on the installation DVD. So now I have had to spend another $15 in printing costs to print those out.

So, if you are upgrading to VMS10, save yourself the extra money of the boxed set and just download the software and extras. You can always burn the downloads to DVDs if you want backup disks. I don't know if the retail box you would buy at a store is any different.

Comments

AaronInBNA wrote on 7/24/2010, 2:10 PM
Ditto !

My company switched from paper manuals (where you can scribble notes in the margin and dog ear pages) to .pdf files. Grrrrr
Richard Jones wrote on 7/25/2010, 2:34 AM
But isn't this the case with just about every software package you buy today (even buying a mobile phone often involves you in getting instructions in PDF).

Richard
Ivan Lietaert wrote on 7/26/2010, 2:19 AM
If you want paper manuals, buy from Amazon and the like.
Tomsde wrote on 7/26/2010, 7:21 AM
Unfortunately even programs like Adobe Photoshop (ones that cost big bucks) aren't including printed manuals anymore. Some are charging for printed copies. I have Vegas Pro, it didn't come with a printed manuel either and although I can say for certain, my guess in the boxed version of Movie Studio doesn't either.

I wish they offered a discount on downloaded software--they don't even do that. A lot of times when Sony patches things they just release new versions of the software and what's on the disk becomes irrelevant anyhow.
Richard Jones wrote on 7/27/2010, 3:42 AM
You can access the current manual (and earlier ones) by clicking on "Support - Manuals" from the top of this page. They are in PDF but can be printed in whole or in part as you like.

Richard
TOG62 wrote on 7/27/2010, 3:58 AM
All I can find there are Quick Start Guides, which are not really full manuals.

Mike
Richard Jones wrote on 7/27/2010, 8:31 AM
Yes, you're right. I'm sorry But I see that the full manual is available for, say, Pro 9. When I downloaded the Pro 8 version it offered a comprehensive guide to the software and made clear what was not available in Platinum. Suggest you have a look at the Pro 9 Manual and see if this does the same.

Richard
KenJ62 wrote on 7/27/2010, 9:30 AM
Thank you, Richard, for pointing out something not obvious! The DVDA5 manual is twice the size of the new DVDAS5 manual and the Vegas Pro 9 Manual is FOUR TIMES as large as the VMS 10 manual. The extra information should be quite useful.
Sykes wrote on 8/2/2010, 6:01 AM
vivona,
You got two (2) Discs? Those swines only sent me one. What is in the other disc?
When I first upgraded to 10 Suite from VMS 9 Pr Pack, they made a big mistake and sent me the same VMS 9 Pro Pack, then I called in to correct the problem and received the so-called retail boxed version in the mail a week later, the contents are:

One installation DVD disc and a couple of USELESS foldout pamphlets; all for $14.99!

Everything seems to be in the disc, but I'm wondering what is on that that second disc that came in your package, is it the manual?
John Dunn wrote on 8/2/2010, 9:21 AM
Agree.
About the second disc. I can tell you it is a manual (I think), it looks very good and seems to have a lot of good stuff. Unfortunately I cant get any sound out of my disc so I don't know what it is really like
vivona wrote on 8/3/2010, 11:14 AM
Sorry I haven't followed up sooner. I have not found how to get the forum to email me when someone replies to a thread I am active in (or is that feature still not available).

It would have been much more customer friendly if Sony had mentioned that the boxed set did not include printed manuals, just PDF's on the disk. It certainly didn't cost Sony $10 to send the small box with the two DVD's. With such a high shipping cost, it seemed logical that I was getting a bigger box with the manuals like I did when I bought my last version of VMS.

As to the second DVD, it is a regular DVD that plays in a DVD player or on a computer with DVD software or WMP. The "movie" is a training video from FAAST that covers basic editing in VMS10. If you open the DVD in Explorer you will see the project files and media files used in the training video so you can try the things you saw in the lessons.
Richard Jones wrote on 8/4/2010, 3:43 AM
As I've already said, hardly anyone provides written manuals these days. I assume Sony would work on the basis that this was understood and so only advise if such a manual was included.

Richard
Sykes wrote on 8/4/2010, 10:42 AM
Guess I'll call Sony for that second training DVD that was supposedly included with my purchase.