Blackmagic Forum

Are the URSA camera line considered disposable? We have a couple just out of warranty, both have bad audio inputs. One was sent in for repair and we were told it is a bad main board and that parts were not available. They could keep it in hopes of getting in a camera they could salvage parts from, but that was the only option. Junk after 2 years? I know these are not the most expensive camera, but still seems pretty poor support, I can still buy Beta-300 parts.

Does anyone know if the B&H loyalty Upgrade pricing is available everywhere, the vendor I purchased these through said they didn't offer it ( these were purchased very early pre-order when first offered)

Can anyone offer any other ideas or know if Blackmagic has any other options as none were offered to us with the repair diagnose.

Thanks

This LA Times article indicates that spare parts must be available for 7 years for high-end consumer electronics sold in California or else the manufacturer must provide a replacement. I don't know if it (the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act) applies to a product like the URSA.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-l ... olumn.html

Not sure how other states handle this but it might be worth researching.

Steve, that is for “consumers”.. I don’t think my private people own a BMD product.

Well I own several BMD products privately as a consumer.
And as far as I recall in the UK if a fault is shown to be a design defect , then it should be repaired within 6 years. ( Apple fell foul of this - and has a statement to the effect on their website )

Under consumer laws in the UK, consumers are entitled to a free of charge repair or replacement, discount or refund by the seller, of defective goods or goods which do not conform with the contract of sale. For goods purchased in England or Wales, these rights expire six years from delivery of the goods and for goods purchased in Scotland, these rights expire five years from delivery of the goods.

Dennis Sørensen wrote:Steve, that is for “consumers”.. I don’t think my private people own a BMD product.

Dennis, I think you are right that the URSA would not be considered a consumer product in California. I would think the BMPCC and BMMCC could be, though. At least someone could argue that. I have to believe something like the GH4/5 or 5D would be considered a consumer product, even though they are pretty expensive.

The definition from the California law: "(a) “Consumer goods” means any new product or part thereof that is used, bought, or leased for use primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, except for clothing and consumables. “Consumer goods” shall include new and used assistive devices sold at retail."

If a California resident with a lot of money buys a UMP4.6 for personal use because they just have to have the best image quality available, does that make it a consumer product? There are a ton of soccer moms here with 5Ds and L lenses.

Very interesting wording to define a consumer product. It’s defined by the user’s usage intent not the vendor’s sales purpose. But in court, the vendor could claim it is clearly professional gear being sold and there’s just no practical and effective way to limit who can buy it for any purpose.


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Regardless of consumer law, it’s really not great business to sell a professional digital cinema camera, then discontinue it and not carry any parts for repair. Cheap compared to an Alexa or a Varicam sure but for most of us it doesn’t qualify as a throw away item.

I hope it’s a miscommunication somewhere along the lines and you get it sorted

In most of the causes I've seen it's not that they don't have the parts or couldn't it's just that the parts are so costly for the main boards in the URSA/URSA mini that it is more financially feasible to replace the unit when parts and labor to replace are factored in. Maybe if you showed them that law they would who knows but.. It wouldn't be worth your money to do it.

Gavin_c_clark wrote:Regardless of consumer law, it’s really not great business to sell a professional digital cinema camera, then discontinue it and not carry any parts for repair. Cheap compared to an Alexa or a Varicam sure but for most of us it doesn’t qualify as a throw away item.

I hope it’s a miscommunication somewhere along the lines and you get it sorted

I agree. I don't like appealing to the regulators. It's just good business to provide the proper level of support for a product like the URSA. In my product management days, part of the business plan for a product (high-res displays) included the support plan, i.e. the number of years parts needed to be carried to repair the installed base, etc.