Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems CES Questions!

Would M ever consider outsourcing software/chips for their players ? While 800 owners seldom appear on here with navigation issues , 598 and G Series player owners seem to have a fairly miserable time with DVD-A material in particular , some but not all of which can be attributed to poor authoring.

" Library Papers

We are delighted to introduce a new series of white papers explaining Meridian's technology"

I reckon the above section of the site has actually had 3 updates in 3 to 4 years.More documentation required please.

On a plus note, the great thing with M is that when everything is working properly the sound quality is second to none. And UK support is certainly amongst the best I've ever come across in the industry.

Seaons Greetings to them and you,
~M~

Manus says:

They already do outsource chips. The DSP engine, the MPEG engine, DACs etc are all outsourced.

Its the software that they write in house.

I think that all of the DVD-A capable players come from a common code base but I could be wrong.

Regards,

John,
Could they outsource the navigation then to something more reliable ?? I believe they would sell a lot more systems if their players were more reliable.

Any chance they might upgrade us 598/G owners to 800 just to prove a point ??? Some chance ???



Christmas is the time of dreams after all !

~M~

My wife has a BMW 530 and it's had no end of software update problems and in 18 months BMW are on V20 having started at 1. Some have also had minor revisions such as 17.1, 17.2.
As soon as a problem arises they set to work and fix the problems. I know BMW are a massive company but their cars are far more advanced than any Meridian players/speakers etc.

The main gripe of many BMW customers is they have released a product before it is ready. BMW on the other hand need the product testing by 1000's of people in order to trace software problems and fix them more quickly.
12 months and the car is more or less fixed.
Life cycle of a car is 4 years and it has took a year to fix!

Meridian still have issues with the 500 DVD players and they are out of production.
The question has to be asked not why they release a product that is not ready (Software wise) but why do they not have in place the means to fix the issues more quickly?

BMW said the car would play MP3's, it did not at first but 12 months later it does. This again caused an uproar as BMW promised something that was not 'YET' available.

In the USA the 'Lemon Law' comes into play if the vehicle has the same issue 3 times without been fixed. Then it's money back time!

Meridian promised modular upgradeability on the G which was not the case.
A lot of the equipment costs as much as many BMW cars! I would also imagine that the target market for Meridian is similar to high end car manufacturers. Why should the customer have to wait years for the fixes assuming they ever arrive at all?
If Meridian did not have in place the skills and expertise to deal with the problems they should not have released the product. This would have lost them money, but surely in the long term customer loyalty and satisfaction would have been worth a 6 month delay?
Instead they release and now have a lot of unhappy customers whose equipment (DVD Players) is set to be obselete in the very near future.
Customer loyalty runs out in the end!

John,

I understand your point that Meridian reads the forum. But it varies with frequency and whom reads it. You could make the same argument about your whole CES that they have already read it, so why ask. Well because we want to get their response !!! I would (and I sure others) would appreciate if you could find a way to bring up the topic. It's really 2 topics.

1) Getting current everyones DVD's players to the best of their ability and with in a reasonable amount of time.

2) Less important but maybe more important if #1 is difficult and that is have they ever considered a trade-in program and if they don't want to do it, I'm curious why, when other companies seem to be very successful at it (i.e. it's a win win).

Thanks

Cashvanveen,

The lemon law doesn't apply to something like the MP3 feature not functioning.

It would apply to something far more substantial, such as the transmission failing in a serious fashion.

Also, the dealer/manufacturer has the option of replacing the vehicle with a new one or refunding at their discretion.

Regards,

George,

You should always post under your real name, and never as webmaster.

Webmaster (George) says:

I'll bring it up. I was merely pointing out that I'm certain M has already read it. I know for a fact that JRS, Duncan Smith and Marc Koval read the HH forum

Once they post the latest firmware, it's really out of Ms control.

An upgrade program is something that I will ask about.

Cheers,

Can M. make a comment about jitter issues for the new formats like DTS-HD Master Audio ?

Robert

John,

It is often by accident. To do webmaster duties I use the webmaster account which has those rights. As George Mills, I'm just like everyone else and I won't accidently delete or edit someones post. But sometimes I forget to switch back. I figured you'd know who it was.

George,

I know, and it's a PITA. Bbut it makes it easier to differentiate when you're posting with your George hat and when you're posting with your webmaster hat

Why doesn't Meridian set up a beta test program??

I mean there are a lot of experienced Meridian user (especially on this forum) who are a great source of information.

All they have to do is setup a secured website where these tester can log their findings, and assign a focus group to deal it.

Apart from general bugs, an user wishlist is also always a great source of information.