Vent: If you want the picture to be 3D, switch the glasses on!

Azari

delain wrote: »

And me :hello:

Since my eyes don't work together (and never have, I even had surgery as a child for it but to no avail) I am unable to use ANY 3D glasses. The images just flick between red and green where my eyes can't adjust to it and it gives me a headache :mad:

Am I going to be able to watch TV at all 5 years from now?!

I don't think you have to worry about 3D being foisted on you as far as normal TV is concerned.

Unlike, for example, HDTV, there are a great many people who actively dislike 3D and many others that think it's nothing more than a pointless gimmick.

On technical forums it seems that only a very small percentage think it's a universally good idea and want to see all TV 3D.

There are acknowledged problems with human visual psychology that mean that most people find 3D tiring and disconcerting if watched for too long. The occasional film is OK but an evening's TV is not.

ETA We were researching a new TV recently, went into Currys and was astounded by how all the people on the TV screens looked as orange as David Dickinson :eek: I don't think turning the colour up that high is a good sales technique either!

TV's in shops often have weird and wildly inconsistent colour/brightness/contrast settings as in many cases they are being viewed with a far higher level of ambient lighting than they are designed for.

Azari

geordieracer wrote: »

Well you appear to think you do.

Stupid, ad hominem that cannot be justified from the remark I made.

if people cant read a sign that says they need to be switched on then its a good assumption that they must be either very thick or very stupid.

Actually, if you read the OP it doesn't say there is a sign that says they need to be switched on. Merely signs offering clues. Maybe the punters assume that since the sets are switched on the glasses will be likewise.

And, that wasn't the only thing the OP was complaining about.

Sadly, there are always arrogant little !!!!!! who think that just because something is obvious to them it should also be obvious to everyone else. They are usually the first to do stupid things once they get outside their comfort zone.

vyle

I actually enjoy my job, but it does get tiring when people don't read the information presented to them, and heck, the sony 3D displays actually have a button saying "PRESS HERE FOR 3D" Which switches the glasses on for them, puts the tv onto the 3D HDMI input, puts it into 3D mode and plays the 3D clips.

As for freeview/digital... come on, it's been available for about 7 or 8 years (iirc) - longer if you count ITV digital. It's not like people haven't had enough time to get acquainted with the basic principles.

Recorders will obviously play back. Perhaps the first generation of VHS didn't (I don't know, and don't have time to look it up right now) but if anybody I'm serving is changing from a VCR to a DVD recorder, I'd be willing to bet a great deal that their video plays and records so on what basis would they expect a dvd recorder not to?

If I'm buying something I'm unfamiliar with, I research it to within an inch of its life. I didn't know much about mobile phones when I bought my current one, so spent 3 days reading reviews, news, scouring forums, trying out friends' phones and so on until when I went into the shop, I knew as much as, if not more than the person serving me.

When I bought my house, I did my research.

I don't mind people asking me questions, but when the answers are there in front of their face, it comes off as very lazy on their part. Even worse is when I do explain how something works and they decide not to listen. For instance, when I explain motionflow (as Sony calls it - the 100/200/400/800hz etc) works, I do it properly, and suddenly the customer doesn't care.

They want to know what it does, and how one TV's version differs to the other, but as soon as it requires them to listen and take in some information suddenly they don't want to.

Then they ask me again a few seconds later. I won't explain something in 'simple terms' because if you're doing it in simple terms, it's usually going to be wrong, and then people will moan about being mis-sold.

If someone is willing to listen, then fine, but most of the time they aren't, they want bulletpoint friendly explanations that completely miss the point, so they can bring the item back and moan that it didn't do what I said it would do.

Take for instance, DLNA which is becoming common in TVs. Yes, that can get complicated, and some of my colleagues like to explain it as "connecting your TV to the internet." Most customers will understandably, I guess, construe this as connecting a TV to a computer and using it as a monitor. This is incorrect.

DLNA involves streaming media files between a computer or networked hard drive. You will not see your computer's desktop, and only the files you're sharing will be available. You don't have to have an internet connection at all, just a router.

There is also IP TV which is internet content on your TV, but that doesn't mean you will have a web browser, that will depend on your TV (or other IPTV compatible device).

So while some colleagues will happily just say, "internet on the TV," they are wrong, but the customer is happy because it's simple, until they try to use it.

I, on the other hand, do take the time to explain it correctly, and yes, it can be complicated, but then they aren't happy that it ISN'T simple.

I dunno, I guess it just winds me up that when information is presented, it's ignored, and when they ask for clarification, they're not happy unless it's a simple, "Yes" or "No" or a five word strapline soundbite. But when it comes to technology, you do have to stop and think, but customers seem unwilling to do so, as if willful avoidance of information will give them a free ride to keep returning what they don't understand, rather than making the effort to understand.

There was one woman who brought a TV back and said, "Everyone looks unnatural and when a program is shot in the dark, it's impossible to see what's going on... look, like that TV on display there (the same model)."

me: Did you like how it looked when you came to look at it before?

her: It was okay, but how was I to know that other TVs would be different? (she says, with the TV in the middle of a display of 20 others, all of which look completely different to the one she bought.)

I think that people should be made to pass a test before buying computers and similar technology, because you need some basic understanding to operate it, but it is becoming simpler all the time.

Most firewall software terrifies customers, but you get situations where someone opens internet explorer and the firewall says, "Do you want internet explorer to connect to the internet? Yes or No."

and they wonder what to do, panic, click no, then wonder why the internet isn't working. If in doubt, learn to read. And if reading is too much effort, listen.

If you're blind and deaf, then there might be an excuse, but with functioning senses, there is no excuse to willfully disregard all instructions, literature and advice.

Unintentional

That's retail I'm afraid. I don't mind helping people out with technology problems though. I understand that not all people are good with technology, all they want is a little help and guidance.

Freddie_Snowbits

Thank God foir my Milk Bottle Glasses, means geeks canna sell me 3D tv.

Azari

vyle wrote: »

I actually enjoy my job, but it does get tiring when people don't read the information presented to them

...

If you're blind and deaf, then there might be an excuse, but with functioning senses, there is no excuse to willfully disregard all instructions, literature and advice.

It's very hard for people who are extremely technical to appreciate just how non-technical some people are. It isn't just that they know a lot less than you, they are looking at the same things you are looking at but with a part world view that is so foreign to your own that it's impossible to visualise the (technical) world as they see it. It's then all too easy to assume that they are thick or lazy or both.

Pitching an explanation to someone you've never met before is particularly difficult as if you make it too complicated they will not understand a word and if you make it too easy they will think your are being a patronising !!!!!.

I can imagine it must be extremely frustrating when you have to deal with a lot of different people with wildly different levels of comprehension and without any real clue, when you start talking to them, what that level is.

Meepster

What gets me about this type of retail establishment, is the staff. Mainly, the fact that you can't seem to browse for more than 3 minutes at a time without being asked if I need any help. If I wanted help, I'd ask for it.

And when I do need help, I go find someone, the nearest staff member will do, but this typically ends up with them saying "I don't know anything about that, I'll go get someone who does". This someone is usually either "on lunch" or dealing with another customer. So they call over someone else, who is equally clueless and between the two of them, answer any questions by reading from the POS. Don't you think I've already read this? And that's why I'm asking for more help? I wont go into more detail about me buying a new printer recently, but lets just say "idiotic" was a vert good adjective to use...

Bennifred

Azari wrote: »

...................................
Pitching an explanation to someone you've never met before is particularly difficult as if you make it too complicated they will not understand a word and if you make it too easy they will think your are being a patronising !!!!!.

I can imagine it must be extremely frustrating when you have to deal with a lot of different people with wildly different levels of comprehension and without any real clue, when you start talking to them, what that level is.

Bit like being a doctor, or a teacher, really!:)

geordieracer

Azari wrote: »

Stupid, ad hominem that cannot be justified from the remark I made.



Actually, if you read the OP it doesn't say there is a sign that says they need to be switched on. Merely signs offering clues. Maybe the punters assume that since the sets are switched on the glasses will be likewise.

And, that wasn't the only thing the OP was complaining about.

Sadly, there are always arrogant little !!!!!! who think that just because something is obvious to them it should also be obvious to everyone else. They are usually the first to do stupid things once they get outside their comfort zone.

I must be an arrogant !!!!!! then because i read information signs to help me on my way.

so your saying the Op never mentioned there were signs that said they must do this then?

vyle wrote: »

As someone who sells TVs, it is very frustrating when I'm serving somebody and see people shamble up to the 3D TVs, put the glasses on, and go "Oh, it doesn't work."

How hard is it to use your eyes and notice that the glasses are "Active" not passive - it says so on the signs.

T.

vyle wrote: »

I actually enjoy my job, but it does get tiring when people don't read the information presented to them, and heck, the sony 3D displays actually have a button saying "PRESS HERE FOR 3D" Which switches the glasses on for them, puts the tv onto the 3D HDMI input, puts it into 3D mode and plays the 3D clips.

Anyway im bored of you now.

Azari

geordieracer wrote: »

I must be an arrogant !!!!!! then because i read information signs to help me on my way.

Nope, the arrogant !!!!!! are the people who assume that because they happen to understand something, anyone who doesn't must be thick or lazy.

Usually, people of that type are pretty thick themselves because they don't understand that everyone else's world view does not exactly correspond to their own.

so your saying the Op never mentioned there were signs that said they must do this then? >> How hard is it to use your eyes and notice that the glasses are "Active" not passive - it says so on the signs.

This is a perfect example of the lack of intelligence displayed by some.

Why would anyone with a hint of intelligence assume that everyone in the world knows what 'active' and 'passive' means in this context?

And even if they did, why would they necessarily assume that the glasses were switched off when the TV was evidently switched on?