- Posts: 18
- Joined: Mon Apr 24, 2017 9:39 pm
Hi everyone,
I am posting here as I think this is an important message to share with the community.
The cliff notes version, BM has said they are unable / unwilling to repair an Usra Mini G2 for a Main SDI board failure that is only 18mo old.
Let me preface this with a bit of background so we can all be fair to the situation.
I am the owner of an LA based rental facility as well as the head of Post Production for a large post house in the same area. At my rental house we currently own 8 Black magic cameras and other converters, monitors, etc. In my post house we have 2 full resolve advanced systems and somewhere around 15+ Resolve Studio licenses as well as countless other BM devices including switchers, monitors, converters etc..
To say that we are power users is a bit of an understatement and we have spent a lot of money on our BM products.
This past week we had an Ursa Mini Pro G2 fail on one of our customers. The main SDI port failed, and as many of you know this is a persistant issue. As a facility we have replaced ALL our SDI cables with 12G Beldin, we have reduced most of our usage of D-tap to lemo only, and we even include a laminated sheet with all cameras reminding the user of the SDI connection routine to avoid failure. This particular customer was reminded of that at prep and we went over it with the AC as well. They were seasoned Local 600 pro's with good knowledge of the issues and worked to avoid any possible problems.
It failed anyway. This particular camera has failed before, or at least it was replaced before, a full sensor body failure in fact and it was replaced under warranty in January of 2020 with a new camera. So this body was less then 2 years old.
I called support and asked for an RMA to repair our camera, I did, for full disclosure ask if there was a chance we could get this covered as its a know failure point, but I never at any point said we would not pay to repair the camera if we had to.
The tech support rep kindly told me he would get back to me with an RMA... This is where my story goes sideways. I was utterly shocked to read this email.
So to my understanding Blackmagic is no longer able to stand behind the products they manufacture after 18mo, since this body was a new replacement in Jan 2020. While I can understand, to some degree, that I need to pay for the repair, which I am willing to do. I cannot understand an outright, we will not fix it, full stop.
As a customer of this company it makes me seriously reconsider my previous purchases and our future purchases. If a brand cannot stand behind its products only a year and a half after it was taken out of the box, then how can any of us justify a purchase of thousands of dollars that we get only 18mo use out of.
This is not the first time we have had cameras fail. Almost every camera we own has been sent in for service at least once.. Some many times. We have had multiple pockets fail with bad HDMI ports, failed sensors, and other small issues. We currently have a graveyard of 2 dead Ursa Mini G1's both with bad sensor blocks, a pocket 6K with a dead sensor, another 6K with a group of non working buttons and a dead 7" monitor all not repairable and not replaceable, and as noted this camera has been in for service and replaced as well.
I have never had an issue with BM service before, like many brands the timeline to repair products is getting longer and longer, and the costs are higher then ever, but again we have usually gotten our gear back into service in a few months or so.
So now I come to a dilemma. This is a popular camera and our customers do like shooting on it. But how do I justify a camera that will fail with no provided service in only 18mo. (this is not the first camera to fail right around 18mo give or take)
I now put the ball in BM's court. Is this truly the case that you are no longer repairing these cameras for a failed SDI board (which appears to be the same board in the current Ursa Broadcast 6K)? And what does this mean for our Pockets, Pocket Pro's, Ursa 12k, and Ursa 6k's?
I am here for open discussion and welcome input on this issue. I know some might say why are we complaining we are rental business, didn't we get our moneys worth. No we don't, with rentals costs plummeting and the additional accessories like batteries and media etc on a camera body package, many of us make pay off in 24 months (on average we see a single Ursa body go out 30-60 days a year and the body itself accounts for only part of our rental price). So this is where 18mo is a bit of a concern for us in this market.. But please weigh in and hopefully BM you guys can chime in as well as I welcome the conversation.
Thanks for reading this lengthy message
-E
I am posting here as I think this is an important message to share with the community.
The cliff notes version, BM has said they are unable / unwilling to repair an Usra Mini G2 for a Main SDI board failure that is only 18mo old.
Let me preface this with a bit of background so we can all be fair to the situation.
I am the owner of an LA based rental facility as well as the head of Post Production for a large post house in the same area. At my rental house we currently own 8 Black magic cameras and other converters, monitors, etc. In my post house we have 2 full resolve advanced systems and somewhere around 15+ Resolve Studio licenses as well as countless other BM devices including switchers, monitors, converters etc..
To say that we are power users is a bit of an understatement and we have spent a lot of money on our BM products.
This past week we had an Ursa Mini Pro G2 fail on one of our customers. The main SDI port failed, and as many of you know this is a persistant issue. As a facility we have replaced ALL our SDI cables with 12G Beldin, we have reduced most of our usage of D-tap to lemo only, and we even include a laminated sheet with all cameras reminding the user of the SDI connection routine to avoid failure. This particular customer was reminded of that at prep and we went over it with the AC as well. They were seasoned Local 600 pro's with good knowledge of the issues and worked to avoid any possible problems.
It failed anyway. This particular camera has failed before, or at least it was replaced before, a full sensor body failure in fact and it was replaced under warranty in January of 2020 with a new camera. So this body was less then 2 years old.
I called support and asked for an RMA to repair our camera, I did, for full disclosure ask if there was a chance we could get this covered as its a know failure point, but I never at any point said we would not pay to repair the camera if we had to.
The tech support rep kindly told me he would get back to me with an RMA... This is where my story goes sideways. I was utterly shocked to read this email.
So to my understanding Blackmagic is no longer able to stand behind the products they manufacture after 18mo, since this body was a new replacement in Jan 2020. While I can understand, to some degree, that I need to pay for the repair, which I am willing to do. I cannot understand an outright, we will not fix it, full stop.
As a customer of this company it makes me seriously reconsider my previous purchases and our future purchases. If a brand cannot stand behind its products only a year and a half after it was taken out of the box, then how can any of us justify a purchase of thousands of dollars that we get only 18mo use out of.
This is not the first time we have had cameras fail. Almost every camera we own has been sent in for service at least once.. Some many times. We have had multiple pockets fail with bad HDMI ports, failed sensors, and other small issues. We currently have a graveyard of 2 dead Ursa Mini G1's both with bad sensor blocks, a pocket 6K with a dead sensor, another 6K with a group of non working buttons and a dead 7" monitor all not repairable and not replaceable, and as noted this camera has been in for service and replaced as well.
I have never had an issue with BM service before, like many brands the timeline to repair products is getting longer and longer, and the costs are higher then ever, but again we have usually gotten our gear back into service in a few months or so.
So now I come to a dilemma. This is a popular camera and our customers do like shooting on it. But how do I justify a camera that will fail with no provided service in only 18mo. (this is not the first camera to fail right around 18mo give or take)
I now put the ball in BM's court. Is this truly the case that you are no longer repairing these cameras for a failed SDI board (which appears to be the same board in the current Ursa Broadcast 6K)? And what does this mean for our Pockets, Pocket Pro's, Ursa 12k, and Ursa 6k's?
I am here for open discussion and welcome input on this issue. I know some might say why are we complaining we are rental business, didn't we get our moneys worth. No we don't, with rentals costs plummeting and the additional accessories like batteries and media etc on a camera body package, many of us make pay off in 24 months (on average we see a single Ursa body go out 30-60 days a year and the body itself accounts for only part of our rental price). So this is where 18mo is a bit of a concern for us in this market.. But please weigh in and hopefully BM you guys can chime in as well as I welcome the conversation.
Thanks for reading this lengthy message
-E
Last edited by ericdehaven on Thu Aug 18, 2022 6:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.