As to GE, good for them. Remember, businesses get to carry forward losses with the IRS. You lose money for a year or two, and the next year you make money, you get to carry the loss forward. This always happens following a recession where many companies lose money. It means that it takes a couple extra years for tax revenues to get back to where they were. But, as a business owner, believe me, lots of companies simply would never recover from a losing year, without the tax forward. Then of course the federal government has always offered incredible tax breaks to get businesses to do what the government wants, when it would otherwise be a bad business decision. Consider the Chevy Volt and it’s $7500? tax credit. Hmm, it’s the only eligible car in the world. Without it, Chevy has never stood a chance of marketing the Volt, not when its price (as a pretty basic sedan) is not much different from a nice luxurious lexus which isn’t electric. But back to GE. GE is a huge government contractor, and get’s all kinds of tax breaks and credits for doing the Gov’s bidding, so to speak. The problem isn’t GM, it’s the government trying to steer private enterprise to do unprofitable things. The result is tax breaks to get them to do those things. GE’s a master of working those, because they are a huge government contractor. Ie. the gov might issue a huge tax credit if a company like GE spends 10′s, 100′s of millions in competition to design a new engine for NASA. Without the tax credits, would GE or others bother? Maybe, but this is all between the 535 members of Congress and their consciences. Businesses, orgs, and even individuals spend billions lobbying congress – no surprise, but if that money is swaying congresspeople to vote for things they don’t believe in, then it’s shame on them, not the companies or lobbyists. Everyone’s just playing by the rules Congress sets up. They can refuse the money, or they can take the money and vote their conscience, or they can be bought! -a

I’ve found your reviews very helpful; thanks. I need a projector for business use.

If you really are tossing perfectly useful equipment, I will pay shipping for you to send it to our local public school. They can use all the AV equipment they can get. They receive a lot less funding than most schools in our state and are trying to pay good salaries to keep their experienced teachers. I can put you in touch with someone in the administration, if you would prefer to deal directly with them. Again, I’ll try to make this as easy for you as possible, if you’re willing to consider donating unused equipment.

What I mean is there are 99 ways more creative than others to get a message across to a source, and influence them. Without having to disclose anything. What this law does is piss off people. If someone is biased and good at it, you’ll NOT read anything about getting a discount for a projector. Actually, you’ll never hear about ever, and keep being influenced by them.

Good luck!

That wouldn’t be a problem for Epson, Mits, or Sony, but could put Runco, SIM2, and the other ultra high end folks out of biz. Imagine, having to build 15 (at least that many projector reviewers out there) of each of their $100K plus models, just for reviewers. That’s probably as many or more than they might sell of some of those. That way the government can REALLY help consumers, by increasing prices dramatically on low volume products, driving a lot out of business, and that means fewer (therefore simpler) choices for consumers. Surely that’s a benefit… Not practical for the same reason the gov doesn’t make Lambourgini, or other mid-high 6 figure car makers destroy several of each model for air bag and crash testing. Eventually, following that logic, we’ll end up with one car, one projector…and the consumer will be fully protected, in that they won’t be buying a less good value than the next guy. ah this is fun… as Bartles and James would say: “thank you for your support!” -art

Question, what state are you in. What type of company is it – that is – what do you do – who are your customers? Are you a member of the BBB, the Chamber, the AMA?

In california, the government doesn’t require joining or answering the BBB. As to planning boards, meaningless, same for conservation commsissions – why because they aren’t the conusmer, that’s the government actually policing the laws they pass. That’s their job. to pass a stupid law, that does damage with no functioning enforcement mechanism is a totqal waste of taxpapers money as well as bolstering the less honest blogs over the honest ones. In fact I am more than happy to volunteer now to spend days in front of senate committees explaining to them how stupid this law is, and for all the reasons. I did not know that companies were required to belong to, and pay dues to the Better Business Bureau. You choose to do so or not, based on your business model. This is sort of like the government saying – yeah, you’ve got to disclose information to your customers, for whatever reason. The world is filled with stupid (and good) government actions, but this one is ridiculous, not by its intent, but by its incompetence. Do you/your company belong to any professional organizations? If so I guaranty you that sometimes they are lobbying against consumer protections If so, are you 100% sure they aren’t fighting any new potential consumer protections, then fine. If they do, how can you belong to that organization, since they are doing exactly what you say is wrong – challenging the government over (your words): If your trade group is lobbying and objecting to new consumer protections that might affect you, then the organization that you are paying for and supporting, is spending your money to fight what you believe should not be fought, but championed. That’s unethical, right? You might find this hard to believe, but I no longer belong to any trade organizations, years ago I belonged to quite a few. The reason is simple. I often don’t agree with some of the things they support.

Consider – there is no enforcement mechanism, no one monitoring, etc. So, it is a system designed for abuse, or as we used to say. “designed to fail”. That is, the deceitful people will go on lying to the customer without really having anything to fear, giving that person a big advantage, theoretically, over an honest businessman. I’ve been telling people about how we do things from the beginning.

But, I don’t see where you indicated that you were required to publicly show your sources of income. (When I receive a free screen, it’s not free per se. We have to treat it as income based on its value. If I can depreciate it, I get that money back over years… As an example, I received two Stewart screens this year, for the new rooms. Both will show up as capital purchases. The IRS will likely require either dealer cost or MSRP (msrp would be ridiculous too, because people don’t really pay list price for screens). So if the two screens are worth $4000 (by the IRS’s measure, then they are taxable income except for that portion which is depreciated, and that part which may be treated by a 179 exclusion (I am not an accountant, don’t quote me). Yeah the IRS makes you tell them, but notice that your tax returns aren’t public. Of course, that’s just a minor point. Let’s talk about the big one: Customers:

My customers are my readers.

Your point is that my readers need to be protected from all bloggers not just bad ones. A lovely idea, that would probably cost the government $20 billion a year to enforce at a minimum and considering – probably the addition of a few thousand new judges to handle if it was enforced.

But there are mechanisms already out there. as you point out… What’s wrong with you looking me up with the BBB? Don’t you trust them? You trust what I write in my blog more than you trust the BBB? We’ll if you already believe more in a blog than the BBB, then why bother checking…

I believe that for what I do, there are 3-6 organizations far more helpful to consumers, than this law ever will be, and they are easy to find for anyone using the internet (if they can find me, they can find any of the major forums). The forums are the real consumer reports of the blogging and reviewing industries. Period.

Credibility of reviewers is oft discussed on the forums. I find my street cred there, to be pretty good. Since the forums drive over 50% of new non-search traffic to our site, and as major industry sites, what they send strongly influences how google ranks us… etc. and the search engines count for over half. So, bad street cred with the forums, less forum traffic, lousier google rankings, = plummetting readership, etc.

So I don’t worry about this stupid law, except as I originally stated, to have fun doing a rant. Certainly the time I’ve had fun answering you guys, has cost me far more time (= money) than the time it would have taken to write a short itemization bury it on a blog no one could find, and be done with it. Best I can tell I could simply tack my “report” as the 33rd comment on a blog discussion about the overheating problem with the first batch of Epson HC8100′s 18 months ago. Probably no one’s looked at that in a year, but best I ca tell, posting it there would meet the government requirement.

I think you are right about one thing. What they ask is reasonable. I’m not opposed to consumer protections. I just want something resembling fairness out there. You realize I can simply shut down the blogs, write all of this stuff (getting rid of the comment areas) and I’d be in full compliance, because again. it has to be a blog to qualify, I post the same review on the core site, and the blog, the one required I divuldge, the other doesn’t. How is that not stupid, I ask you.

And for your business, whatever it is, these are the reasonable things that you must do, to protect consumers.

1. Divulge your profit margins, by company and product. Afterall, if you are charging 30% on some products and 20% mark-up on others, then you and your sales force will be pushing the 30% product even if it’s inferior as product, or value. That’s the case with most businesses. Never met a business man who favored lower margins to higher ones unless it boosted market share. But given two similar products, most businesses paying commissions may a bigger payout for the higher profit sale. Or they have quotas to hit (the retailer) to get huge rebates back).
So, two projectors – the xyz and abc. each slightly different, each roughly equal. One the dealer sells for 2300 the other for 2000, both cost 1700. When you talk to a dealer sales person who might just get a commission of 15% of the Gross profit of the sale (or 1-2% of selling price, whichever) So the sales person might make 15% of $600 = $90, or 15% of $300 = $45.

Which will your people sell if they are on commission? And even many/most retailers who “claim” no commissions still often pay significant spifs or penalize employees for certain behavior – most notably spif programs to incentivize sales people to sell the more profitable product, not necessarily the better one. (I’ve heard (that’s second hand) plenty of “kids” working at, say places like Best Buy, that while they don’t get spifs, and aren’t required to sell lots of 3rd party warranties, that management will not be happy, and you won’t be going anywhere within the organization. Also, bonuses are often used, also to steer salespeople to sell more profitable product lines or products. Huge spifs on 3rd party warranty programs, (perhaps the most profitable thing in an electronics retailer’s collection of “products”) are common. SPIF = Sales Person Incentive Form = a “bribe” to a sales person for selling what someone else wants sold, not what the sales person thinks is the best product for the customer. So shouldn’t every spif and commission program, be posted by the front door of every business establishment.

And while we are at it, every retail sales person in america should have on their badge how long they’ve worked for their current employer, what level of formal training received (in hours), and how long they’ve been in the industry… (I’d toss in “fired for cause” but we know the government would never allow such a breach of privacy for an employee.

Every lawyer should provide a breakout of the % of total money they make with different kinds of setttlements, so the consumer understands that where a lawsuit, say is winnable with 80% probability for $1M, but the folks being sued offer $600,000. the lawyer may figure. I get paid only for a win. I’d rather have 1/3 of $600K, $200K than 80% chance of 1/3 of $1M or $333K. But he figures it will cost him $100,000 to fight the case in court, so he risks a only $33,000 by convincing the client to settle, against a 20% chance of nothing.

Now, the client may very likely want to settle for the $600K, but is the client entitled to understand All the real reasons the lawyer is recommending taking the quick settlement.

The lawyer is taking 20% risk against an increase in profit of about 17%, the client takes the same 20% risk, against an increased profit of 266K, or about 53% more at the end of the day.

Look every study in medicine shows a key cost of the high cost of medicine in the US, includes absurd loads of paperwork on doctors offices. Some of that is valuable and important, and a lot of it s crap. Get rid of the crap, and maybe a doctor’s office with 6 admins and 2-3 doctors can become 3-4 doctors and 4 admins.. Don’t get rid of the important stuff. That would mean more people getting more treatment and less money being spent. That’s the correct direction.

The fundamental problem is “who’s watching the watchers” in this case, who’s protecting the consumer from government waste, every stupid thing they shove onto businesses and individuals that are wasteful.

So, if you sell product, then divulging your profit margins, spif programs, and commission structures, would better protect consumers. I trust you would also have no problem with that. If you are a service company, providing skills should you be required to publish the background and competence of each employee servicing the customer… If selling a service, you should be forced to require to tell your buyer, how long, and what experience each person of import that they will be working with, so the consumer can make a better choice.
You might think FCB (huge ad agency is the best, because they have done incredible things for Levis, but when you sign up for them, are you sure that there will be any seriously experienced people on your team? The answer is yes, if you go to the trouble of asking.

Your issue, is that you want to take all the responsibility away from the consumer.

Look if this bill was to make any sense, then it would have required all businesses doing business in the US to report any free samples, etc, they provide. Then you have the beginnings of an enforcement mechanism, without all that, you just give the advantage to the deceitful ones who prefer to lie or ignore.

Tell ya what. I assume with a chosen “name” of name, that you spend a lot of time on the net, and read a lot of blogs.

Do me a favor, next 25 different blogs you see, how many have posted in depth information as required…

Question: So, do you feel better or worse about Projector Reviews: 1) we have complied with this sillyness, and 2) we complain about it.
So you are going to find my reviews more credible to someone elses who doesn’t complain about the law, but also doesn’t divulge the required detailed information.

” We’re becoming a bunch of spoiled brats that have no appreciation for what we have. Such laziness and disrespect is unwittingly fueling a movement that wants to topple what we have, not do the hard work of joining together and fixing the problems with dignity and honesty.”

If what we have is a government which is terribly inefficient and very expensive at such things, then it should be changed. YOu are so happy with the social security system and that it will be broke before most of us can get anything out of it, so we should just leave it as is? Or should we demand it be fixed?

I’m demanding accountability from a government that is terrible in the entire area of protecting consumers. If they want to do the job right, fine, I won’t even bitch I will cheer them on. But the list of things they do well (not barely adequately) is very, very short. I’ll be happy to add to mine with a list of things they do well in consumer protection. However, any consumer protection law that only addresses possible problems with new technology related things when the ‘old established” technology (in my case “print”) gets a free ride – they get to “volunteer’ info, “if they feel like it”. That’s fine with me, I always volunteered. I just normally mention here and there in many articles and reviews.

But to do that, then every publication must be required not just bloggers. That most voluntarily do divulge, is wonderful. As has been the case with us. But I don’t consider bloggers of projectors to be singled out when CNet, and PC Magazine, and Home Theater Magazine don’t HAVE to. I think its important to report anything resembling gifts, if they are influencing what you write. I’ve confessed over the years, to being wined and dined at every trade show I’ve been to, for years as a dealer, then as a reviewer, etc. I’ve mentioned, I think as far back as 2005-6 about free screens (except for rare niche products), best I can tell, all screen manufacturers give screens to reviewers. So, what does that mean. Do I favor Vapex over a Carada over a Stewart, over a Da-lite, over a… when I have one or more here from most major manufacturers, and none cost me a cent.

It makes reporting it meaningless. It only tells there readers that in some cases I’m using screens that I want to use, that I (my company) otherwise can’t afford. It just means that by having better screens I can do the rest of my job better. I don’t see how a reviewer with at least 3 basically different screen types available for viewing can even review properly. Hell reviewers who haven’t received at least 3 screens for free might be the ones who should have to report. If they don’t have good “test gear…” I would never consider completing a review of any home theater projector without watching it, at length with both high contrast gray and + gain white surfaces… Not to would be of no service to my readers.

I’ve been rambling and editing for a bit, so some of this is out of order again:
If they volunteer because its the right thing to do, then great, it’s the reason why I do. But a unenforceable law that encourages abuse, or rather favors those that lie or ignore it over those that comply, is a bad law. Period, and if stupid people passed that law, then they remain stupid until they fix it, and consumers should be screaming about it. I”m curious as to the BBB’s take on this…

Consumer protection works in conjunction with caveat empor. let the buyer beware. Our government favors, oh, you poor consumer, you just aren’t smart enough, we’ll take as much of the decision making away from you. and when you fail to make the minimum effort, don’t worry, you can hire a lawyer and sue.

I am dying to know what business you have. I’d really like to analyze your business and it’s interface to consumers (assuming you deal with people, not companies) for what you should be required by, say 10 new laws that I will be able to justify as easily as you justify this one. Such as revealing profit margins on everything you sell. (for the reasons above). Here’s a law for ya.

No doctor or hospital can charge more to a direct patient of any procedure, visit, etc. than the minimum they would accept from an insurance company.

Now that would be a consumer law that would save billions for every person with out or partial insurance, and even save those that do have insurance.

What about that one. Like it?

If I have to report every free cable etc, that arrives here, on a regular basis, I just want Sound and Video, and Residential Systems, and Home Theater Mag, and Home Entertainment, to have their editors do the same thing.

Here’s how it should have been done. The government bullies the major trade organizations in our industry (it is (AV) one of the largest industries in the world.
We want you as a trade organization to have manufacturers ask/require all bloggers who receive gifts of any sort to sign a pledge to divulge that. For those that do, they can post some official government statement like “cigarette smoking might cause you to cough” (yes we’ve toughened up the messages on cigarette taxes, but according to the assorted groups, over the last 50 years, the governments failure to make cigarettes illegal and ban them, has cost the “average consumer” over 1.5 years of their life.
and months for all of us – due to second hand smoke, right?

Well that’s about it, this will be my last long one, reviews to write, confessions to make. Please note, I received (Projector Reviews) a 200 lumen Acer projector the other day – pico projector. I won’t know until afterwords if they want it back. I reveal this critical information now, because I will be blogging later mentioning it, and 4 other projectors that arrived friday and this morning.

And finally, “My god, what have I done” I surely hope so, because if enough of us say enough to stupid rules (not good ones) maybe someone in washington, or your local planning commission (we have the world famous 99.99% anti-business California Coastal Commission here, which is one key reason why the once great state, is almost devoid of any new “non-light” manufacturing jobs in the last 20 years, has the 2nd highest unemployment in the country, and probably we won’t see unemployment out here, down below 8% anytime in the next 4-5 years.
later -art

When I looked at the page, and specs, one of the first things I looked for was warranty info. I may have missed it, but I didn’t notice any. I’ll have to look into that as well, I have no interest (other than curiosity) in reviewing projectors not sold in the US. The reason is simple… That’s where the large majority of our readers, are, but also because, writing about projectors not sold around here, is purely hobby. And sadly, this is also work. Other than minor revenues from Canada, all the advertising revenues (that reads “all revenues” come from US advertisers. When I get a chance I’ll try to dig deeper – I just took a quick look, and mostly at the specs, etc. On the other hand if you know if they have US operations, send me a link.