Congratulations on your editorial

[Robert Young]

Bob,

Thanks very much for highlighting the dollars for pounds scam in your June editorial.

It is about time that the UK market woke up to the fact that we are being treated as naive fools by UK suppliers of video products.

The solution to this problem is to tell the suppliers that we are not playing their game and will order from sources outside the UK until their prices are in line with the global market. I urge everyone to e-mail the major producers and tell them how you feel.

Regarding the firewire issue, it is clear that manufacturers are exploiting the European DV-in rule by marketing "premium" camcorders with DVin/out at a price which is far in excess of that warranted by the (small) increase in duty.

I predict that the cost of all video products will plummet as soon as UK consumers wise-up and become aware of just how much they are being ripped off.

Thanks again for the stand you are taking.

Regards,

Robert Young

[Ken W]

Robert
I'm not defending anyone here, but I think you will find the price fixing is down to the manufacturers not the suppliers. The Dollar = Pound syndrome is prevelent right through the computer industry and seems to be recognised "standard practice". Britain carries little weight at the global level so any campaign for across the board equality is fighting an uphill (losing) struggle. From the video editing point of view the best way to fight this battle would perhaps be to pick a company such as Canopus who's Raptor and Rex products are set to become market leaders, and target them. At this point they're trying to grab sales from the big boys and may eventually get gobbled up when their threat becomes "real". For now they "may" be subseptible to pressure from the UK if it explained to them that equality of pricing would help their sales to boom here. When the big boys see their sales levels at zero in the UK we "may" start to become a little more important and they would have to respond.
Regards
Ken

[Robert Young]

Hi Ken,

I should have said Manufacturers, not "suppliers". Certainly, retailers are not to blame since they are adding a necessary margin to their costs.

It's interesting that the pound for dollar issue arises less often with more mainstream computer products: I've just ordered a high-spec 13 gig UltraDMA HD drive for £149 inc VAT. This price compares quite well with US equivalents. Though our system prices are generally higher than US systems of a similar spec, it does seem that it's Video Products in particular that fall victim to the dollar/pound scam.

I slightly disagree that the UK has little influence globally though I concede we are small fry compared with the US and Europe as a whole. I think manufacturers play on ignorance and unwillingness of consumers to risk international transactions.

Regards,

Robert

[Ken W]

Robert
I think Europe as a whole is getting shafted by our American cousins re video equipment.
They are businessmen and when they see us take it dry from our own (European) government regarding the firewire-in fiasco and apparantly accept it meekly who can blame them for applying the motto they coined so well "never give a sucker an even break".
I tend to agree with you about us starting to order direct from the USA but am slightly worried for the less experienced who may end up with ntsc equipment instead of pal.