Barry_Green
Moderator
Recently some outrageous allegations against me were posted by Mr. Shannon Rawls, and have begun to spread through the internet. I’ve been asked to respond, but have refrained from doing so until receiving counsel from my attorneys. I have been advised that a basic statement would be appropriate.
Basically, Shannon was invited to be part of a large group of industry pros who gathered to do some comparison testing on the new crop of low-cost high-definition camcorders. As he and I and they would agree, this was a group of top-notch experts, whose goal was to examine and give expert opinions on the relative performance of each camera in the comparison.
While I am flattered that Mr. Rawls would think that I would be capable of pulling the collective wool over the eyes of such a large and distinguished group (a feat that even David Copperfield might find difficult!), let me state that no attempt was made, nor would it have been possible. The very notion is preposterous, and disrespectful to the others involved. With nearly a dozen industry professionals watching what was going on, and those people being skilled technical wizards like Adam Wilt, can any reasonable person believe that wholesale deception would be even possible?
I don't understand Mr. Rawls’ motivation to engage in what could amount to character assassination. While there, I found him quite personable and we (I thought) got along quite well. Adam, Jay, Nate and I all took extensive time at various turns to explain to him the testing procedures, the reasoning behind each test, the parameters that we were looking for, what would qualify as “good” and what would qualify as “bad” results, etc.
I flatly reject Shannon’s assertion that I had any intent or undertook any effort to shift or bias the outcome. I specifically stepped away from the testing process and had Jay and Adam establish all parameters and judge all results on the scopes; my role was solely to deliver the results from the Panasonic that were requested from the testers, and to offer opinions (along with all other participants). I did not set the agenda, nor did I influence the agenda; my job was strictly to make the event happen, and to make the Panasonic perform properly, as it was Nate’s job to make the HD100 perform properly and it was Adam’s responsibility to make the Sony perform properly. While it was unfortunate that we didn’t have a more expert Canon operator, it wasn’t for lack of trying, I had invited Nick Hiltgen to participate with us to represent the Canon, but he was unable to attend. I had also asked four other industry pros to attend as well.
While I do not wish to inflict this drama on Adam, Jay, Nate, Rush, Evin (or any of the other participants to this drama), I have personally asked several of them for a “reality check” to determine if they felt there was any truthfulness to these allegations. All that I have asked have responded that the allegations are baseless, that the tests were completely fair and unbiased, and I did nothing “sneaky” or “untruthful.” (I will let them speak for themselves if they so choose, although I hope they don't have to spend another second on this issue.)
I don't understand Shannon's motivations are in making these allegations, which may enter the realm of character assassination. It's something I hope to resolve with him privately if possible.
Unfortunately, Shannon was recently banned from DVXUser. I had no part in that banning, and in fact in private moderator discussions I went on record as saying that he should not be banned here for anything that took place on any other board.
I appreciate those who have offered words of support. I am also quite surprised at some who grasped onto these allegations as "truth" without taking any effort to verify the truthfulness at all. I would love nothing more than to just ignore this matter entirely. Unfortunately, rumors left unchecked tend to take on a life of their own. Consider the rumors checked. I do not intend to continue discussing this matter beyond making this statement.
I thank all those who participated, and who gave so generously of their time, talents, and efforts, and I apologize to them that they had to have those efforts tainted by this side drama. I've turned the footage over to Adam and Jay and will let them make any postings or comments about the relative merits of the footage.
I stand by every word I've printed regarding the review and this statement, and I only wish that we could have had a video camera there documenting the entire day, so that people could see that there are two (very different) sides to this story.
Basically, Shannon was invited to be part of a large group of industry pros who gathered to do some comparison testing on the new crop of low-cost high-definition camcorders. As he and I and they would agree, this was a group of top-notch experts, whose goal was to examine and give expert opinions on the relative performance of each camera in the comparison.
While I am flattered that Mr. Rawls would think that I would be capable of pulling the collective wool over the eyes of such a large and distinguished group (a feat that even David Copperfield might find difficult!), let me state that no attempt was made, nor would it have been possible. The very notion is preposterous, and disrespectful to the others involved. With nearly a dozen industry professionals watching what was going on, and those people being skilled technical wizards like Adam Wilt, can any reasonable person believe that wholesale deception would be even possible?
I don't understand Mr. Rawls’ motivation to engage in what could amount to character assassination. While there, I found him quite personable and we (I thought) got along quite well. Adam, Jay, Nate and I all took extensive time at various turns to explain to him the testing procedures, the reasoning behind each test, the parameters that we were looking for, what would qualify as “good” and what would qualify as “bad” results, etc.
I flatly reject Shannon’s assertion that I had any intent or undertook any effort to shift or bias the outcome. I specifically stepped away from the testing process and had Jay and Adam establish all parameters and judge all results on the scopes; my role was solely to deliver the results from the Panasonic that were requested from the testers, and to offer opinions (along with all other participants). I did not set the agenda, nor did I influence the agenda; my job was strictly to make the event happen, and to make the Panasonic perform properly, as it was Nate’s job to make the HD100 perform properly and it was Adam’s responsibility to make the Sony perform properly. While it was unfortunate that we didn’t have a more expert Canon operator, it wasn’t for lack of trying, I had invited Nick Hiltgen to participate with us to represent the Canon, but he was unable to attend. I had also asked four other industry pros to attend as well.
While I do not wish to inflict this drama on Adam, Jay, Nate, Rush, Evin (or any of the other participants to this drama), I have personally asked several of them for a “reality check” to determine if they felt there was any truthfulness to these allegations. All that I have asked have responded that the allegations are baseless, that the tests were completely fair and unbiased, and I did nothing “sneaky” or “untruthful.” (I will let them speak for themselves if they so choose, although I hope they don't have to spend another second on this issue.)
I don't understand Shannon's motivations are in making these allegations, which may enter the realm of character assassination. It's something I hope to resolve with him privately if possible.
Unfortunately, Shannon was recently banned from DVXUser. I had no part in that banning, and in fact in private moderator discussions I went on record as saying that he should not be banned here for anything that took place on any other board.
I appreciate those who have offered words of support. I am also quite surprised at some who grasped onto these allegations as "truth" without taking any effort to verify the truthfulness at all. I would love nothing more than to just ignore this matter entirely. Unfortunately, rumors left unchecked tend to take on a life of their own. Consider the rumors checked. I do not intend to continue discussing this matter beyond making this statement.
I thank all those who participated, and who gave so generously of their time, talents, and efforts, and I apologize to them that they had to have those efforts tainted by this side drama. I've turned the footage over to Adam and Jay and will let them make any postings or comments about the relative merits of the footage.
I stand by every word I've printed regarding the review and this statement, and I only wish that we could have had a video camera there documenting the entire day, so that people could see that there are two (very different) sides to this story.
