Pimax and the press

" All previous similar events have been reported by media"

Media reps were present at those events and were reporting on their own reactions to the headset in most cases.
That was not the case with the private backer meetup.

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Not sure the video view count has much to do with it as a Google search will find the information quite easily, as you say it’s more a matter of interest. I wonder how quickly tech sites reported on the [rumoured] leaked 2080Ti benchmark figures recently for example?

Search “Pimax” in Google and you will see the 5K+ mentioned in one of Sebastian’s videos. However, the results quite openly show media bias presenting negative news such as Pimax backtracking on the 1070 requirement. See, that negativity is all good news for these websites but positive news is not newsworthy. Usually what happens is one website posts the news and the rest piggyback from that.

So if Pimax as you say are deemed unreliable and a bit of an industry black sheep amongst some circles, then why did websites report on the 1070 requirement - maybe I answered my own question here. However, I think it goes deeper than that. IMO, it’s because it reaffirms a belief that Pimax is a potential failure or not to be trusted because they “back-peddled” on a previous statement/goal/target. Anything that shows them in a negative light to fit the current status quo is newsworthy. However, them making progress and fixing problems and coming out with new products isn’t because it means they are progressing and naysayers don’t want to hear positive news, as that doesn’t generate as many clicks. What I think is, previously Pimax was given enough attention and then mainstream media lost interest. The 8K was deemed a failure and needing lots of work. Its public image hasn’t recovered from that and now needs a major PR push to suggest it’s ready for prime time. That time isn’t now though. I do expect once the headset is in the wild then there will be more focus on it.

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View count matters because it’s an indicator of viral traffic.
If you need to actively search for Pimax 8K to find details about the announcement, then it’s not going to get covered.

Tech journalists are bombarded daily with press releases from PR companies and new tech companies. VR news sites are bombarded with new games and software announcements all the time. They don’t need to go looking for content. Companies that want the coverage generally need to put themselves in front of the writers to get noticed.

Now that the video has been brought to my attention, I can do something with it. See how that works?
We’re not magic genies with an omnipresent overview of everything going on in the world of tech (or VR). If we catch wind of something, we’ll roll with it. Otherwise, it slips under the radar. It’s that simple.

To give a bit more background to the 1070 requirements. That’s something I was sitting on for weeks. I use a 1070 for my M1 testing, so when Pimax released an official announcement about it, I already knew because it was discussed with the testing group. This weekend’s announcements were not discussed with the testers ahead of time because it wasn’t directly related to our testing results, unlike the previous change.

Context matters.

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For Tom’s Hardware which is a much more broad tech site, I would agree. My beef stems from the more VR focused press not being on the ball, not wanting the scoop to stand out amongst their peers. But as I surmised it is about a lack of interest and what generates traffic or is worth spending the time on when resources are limited even when Google alerts are a thing. At present, Pimax’s recent happenings are not deemed important. I guess that is a matter of perspective though. I think the real news is once they are ready to ship to backers and it’s in backers hands, people are talking about it and retail versions are around the corner. Pimax are not quite there yet.

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I think Pimax would do very well to send headsets to all VR reviewers and such for free. Have them put on a working 170+ fov experience and then they will be just like the testing backers: convinced.

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This is a typical practice for tech companies. Big review sites usually get samples from the manufacturer for testing purposes, but that doesn’t happen until the devices are ready for retail sales.
Keep in mind, the September shipping time is when the Kickstarter shipments to begin. They won’t even have enough to fulfill all backers at once. Retail sales won’t begin until 2019, which is when the reviews will really matter.
Until consumers can get their hands on these devices, there’s not much value in sending them everywhere for review.

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Well, that’s a bit unfair - if it is negative news, then you will obviously never see a press release being issued by the affected company will you ? So I understand the process a bit better now after Kevin’s explanation, so for this kind of announcements they typically will be waiting for the press package/release to be handed out to them. Fair enough.

@Pumcy: I just wonder about your statement on the significance Pimax will have in the market. I understand that a slightly chaotic Chinese company with the history of a 4K device will not necessarily be considered an exciting company, but the responses to the V2 should have been enough to stir some interest in the VR industry. After all, if HTC present the Vive Pro as the result of two years of improvement as one of the two major players in PC VR, how could the prospect of what Pimax was bringing to the table not be exciting ? The only reason for limited interest would be because the person almost rules out that Pimax would be able to deliver anything just nearly as good as it promises. And for a while it appeared as if that would turn out to be true, even the M1 seems to have had a number of flaws which probably made the first impression quite a disappointing one. But if now the first open field test of the release candidate is received positively, this headset has some chance to cast quite a bit of shadow over Oculus current headset, the Rift, and even over HTC’s flagg ship, the Vive Pro. How would that not be exciting news for the whole of the consumer VR industry ? At a stage where it appears likely that this headset will be perceived as a major improvement for many consumers (who can live with flaws you will ignore soon while enjoying the substantial improvements) ?

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I’ll laugh my ass off if they ship by region. Really really hope they’ll do that (they probably will)

Not even Ferrari or Lamborghini ships by FIFO rules (First in First Out).

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Sorry, these kind of cars usually do. Unlesss you pay them substantially more than list price, then exceptions become feasible (the one case I heard of from the owner‘s father himself, he was being charged a whopping 100% surcharge for his son‘s timely birthday present (Ferrari California) delivery… no, unfortunately no family ties with me, strictly business relationship at the time)

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“I just wonder about your statement on the significance Pimax will have in the market.”

to be clear, that’s not my personal opinion of where Pimax stands, that’s my perceived impression of where the industry as a whole thinks Pimax stands.
As an M1 tester, I have to be careful about what I say publicly. I have not shared my personal impressions of the headset since I signed the NDA. I try to remain as neutral as possible, which also leads to me not writing some articles that I would otherwise jump on.

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Unlike these Youtuber bunnies eh. :laughing:

George is actually right. Ferrari and Lamborghini try to line up multiple cars back to back which are coming in the same paint color. Certain color options are only available for a couple cars per year, and they all get sprayed at the same time.
If you happen to order a special color that fits in that category, it doesn’t matter if you’re the first person in line and have the biggest bank balance. It’s simply not economical for the factory to switch out colors multiple times in a day, so It’s not going to paint just one car in a run.
I’ve actually heard of people being denied their color choice because they missed the annual schedule for that color, or there weren’t any more orders in the color to schedule a painting day.

And in the case of Monerey Blue (Lambo color), the pigment is so rare, they can’t paint more than a couple cars per year. They no longer offer that color because they can’t guarantee the supply.

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Really? PewdiePie is gonna convince 2 million parents to spend $500-1k(at min) on their kid after they run to them whining for the headset cus PewdiePie said it was awesome? Really now? YT is right now primarily a children’s entertainment platform( I said primarily…same as all social media. Of course us adults use it too, but not at the level kids have become addicted to it.). Young kids are not known for being flush with disposable income.

OMG. It is even more complicated than I thought! LOL I thought it was something as a matter of fact. But I can understand both the ideas on deliverycolors and the ordersequence. Maybe it is something like both. You both have a different experience on a different brand of car. @Axacuatl remembering an issue with Ferrari and @Pumcy remembering an issue with Lamborghini. I dont want to be the reason you both are having an argument on something so trivial (for me).

I hope @deletedpimaxrep1 might help out here. Or even @Heliosurge? How is the distribution actually being handled: in regional bundles? Or in sequence of backernumber (which might be more total handling time for Pimax).

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The problem is there is one of the Berlin meetup. So it’s already been done. For example the interview you have posted could be considered spam as it’s posted now about 4x.

The simple truth if a responsible news outlet would prefer to wait for pimax to answer them. It saves time posting 1 good article instead of having to follow up. So let’s stop diving into rabbit holes looking for Alice.

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This event was not CES. So it’s a private meet not an international show.

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Well to be fair the “youtube bunnies” your refering to likely talked with Robin in terms of what they csn say before the 16th. Now if you mean yourself & the like; having no editor to okay things works wonders.

Yes really.There is a much wider demographic than “kids” who watch Youtube videos. @heliosurge I dont see any pinned threads on this forum?

Umm… Last I checked the kids whom backed are well over 20. So I don’t see them needing their parents. Lol