Fun with retail
I always have to hold my tongue when I encounter clueless techs in a non-work situation. Today I went shopping for wireless webcams and/or remote camera surveillance equipment. (Would have shopped online first, but have no privacy to do so at home today)
So I didn't get a chance to do much research before I hit Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, and the various other crappy stores in this small town. I found a couple of promising items that use 802.11b which I'd prefer since it's already in my residence and totally open, but I decided to look into other options just in case it becomes not an option (yes, being vague, sorry)...
Anyway I found another almost-promising kit, but the reciever unit is meant for video input rather than a standard form of PC input, but would work with a capture card according to the package. Being the paranoid shopper I wasn't 100% sure that referred to a video capture card... who knows, maybe these cheap no-name brands include their own proprietary device that roughly translates to "capture card" in English. So I asked a salesperson about it.
His reply? "Oh, a capture card, yeah that's just some software that you put on your PC and it's on the disk that comes with the camera system."
Uh...software? Okay. I stared at the package some more and found another salesperson, to ask if I could read the manual inside the package. She opened the package for me and handed me a 2-page manual which confirmed that it would indeed require a regular old video capture card or the like. The package contained no disk. I resolved not to buy it since it would really be more trouble than it's worth.
But I checked at a couple of the other stores because I was still comparing 802.11 cameras, and based on the response of the first salesperson at the first store, I wanted to see if any salespeople anywhere else might have a more clued response to my inquiries about the shitty camera's reciever output. Nope, although none were quite as shocking as the first.
At store #2, he simply stated he wasn't sure what a video capture card was or whether they carried any. He then walked away to help someone buy a large TV. Maybe I just picked the wrong guy at the wrong time, but oh well.
At store #3, he insisted that a video capture card was included, and pointed at the reciever unit (which just has power out and video out and is a small, heavy box). i told him that i read the manual for it at another store and he was wrong. he called the section manager to be sure, who then confirmed i was right and offered to browse video cards with me. "Eh, not today thanks." The end!
So I didn't get a chance to do much research before I hit Best Buy, Circuit City, Radio Shack, and the various other crappy stores in this small town. I found a couple of promising items that use 802.11b which I'd prefer since it's already in my residence and totally open, but I decided to look into other options just in case it becomes not an option (yes, being vague, sorry)...
Anyway I found another almost-promising kit, but the reciever unit is meant for video input rather than a standard form of PC input, but would work with a capture card according to the package. Being the paranoid shopper I wasn't 100% sure that referred to a video capture card... who knows, maybe these cheap no-name brands include their own proprietary device that roughly translates to "capture card" in English. So I asked a salesperson about it.
His reply? "Oh, a capture card, yeah that's just some software that you put on your PC and it's on the disk that comes with the camera system."
Uh...software? Okay. I stared at the package some more and found another salesperson, to ask if I could read the manual inside the package. She opened the package for me and handed me a 2-page manual which confirmed that it would indeed require a regular old video capture card or the like. The package contained no disk. I resolved not to buy it since it would really be more trouble than it's worth.
But I checked at a couple of the other stores because I was still comparing 802.11 cameras, and based on the response of the first salesperson at the first store, I wanted to see if any salespeople anywhere else might have a more clued response to my inquiries about the shitty camera's reciever output. Nope, although none were quite as shocking as the first.
At store #2, he simply stated he wasn't sure what a video capture card was or whether they carried any. He then walked away to help someone buy a large TV. Maybe I just picked the wrong guy at the wrong time, but oh well.
At store #3, he insisted that a video capture card was included, and pointed at the reciever unit (which just has power out and video out and is a small, heavy box). i told him that i read the manual for it at another store and he was wrong. he called the section manager to be sure, who then confirmed i was right and offered to browse video cards with me. "Eh, not today thanks." The end!
