Yet Another HD Upgrade Thread

[Mailbox]

Man. I wish there was just one link to all this. It would make it so much simpler. That's why I started this thread. No one was really talking about the waiting and buying back in option and I wanted to see if I was correct.

In very fine print at the bottom of https://www.avid.com/US/products/pro...ware/licensing it states the $999 pricing. But there's no one really discussing it as an option. And Avid's info is scattered at best.

[TAMBOR]

Originally Posted by Mailbox

I keep seeing people say I should buy it now and then sit on the code till I'm ready to use it. My point earlier is that either way, I'll end up spending the same amount of money and there's no guarantee that Avid will honor these licenses. If there's one thing they've proven, it's that they seem to enjoy changing their position on topics like this depending on what best suits them.

That's why I posed the question in the first place. What am I missing? Why is buying it now and sitting on it a better option than not buying it until I need it? I guess there is the chance that I've bought it and not activated it and then when I do, it starts the year subscription, thus saving me $399 or more depending on how many years I can wait. But everything I've read seems to be circumstantial evidence that they'll honor these licenses. This seems like a gamble.

You've really hit the nail on the head about the issue of a gamble.

The way AVID has structured this, every option is an unnecessary gamble.

You can pay the upgrade fee, lose the ability to transfer your license, and maybe you will like the new features or you won't. Or maybe PT will get more buggy, but in any of those cases, you WILL lose your ability to vote with your money in a way that will be meaningful to AVID.

Or gamble of buying a code. Or gamble on just buying a new license later.

If AVID was clever, they would make it a lot less expensive to stay the program than it is to buy a new license 2 years out. The customer would be rewarded financially for staying in, and AVID would get more revenue. Wow, that's hard to figure out!

Since that is so easy to see, and it is not being done, you have to then understand who you are dealing with.

[Skytouch]

Originally Posted by TAMBOR

You've really hit the nail on the head about the issue of a gamble.

The way AVID has structured this, every option is an unnecessary gamble.

You can pay the upgrade fee, lose the ability to transfer your license, and maybe you will like the new features or you won't. Or maybe PT will get more buggy, but in any of those cases, you WILL lose your ability to vote with your money in a way that will be meaningful to AVID.

Or gamble of buying a code. Or gamble on just buying a new license later.

If AVID was clever, they would make it a lot less expensive to stay the program than it is to buy a new license 2 years out. The customer would be rewarded financially for staying in, and AVID would get more revenue. Wow, that's hard to figure out!

Since that is so easy to see, and it is not being done, you have to then understand who you are dealing with.

Tambor, I wholly agree that this has become a trust and risk management issue with Avid. Even the $999 2016 small print is suspect. This could easily become a $1999 license buy-in in 2017. And will Avid decide at some point that old unregistered licenses have a shelf life?

As I weigh the potential risks and strategies for avoiding them, I look at a perfectly functional 11HD system and say why bother? I left HD/TDM once before, because Avid seemed to find ways to extract $5k from me every couple years in order to stay current. I thought that returning to HD Omni would ease this, but never imagined Avid devising such a coercive upgrade policy for HD users. If I say no for two more years, it will probably cost me $5k to get back up to date, so at least I'm facing a familiar scenario.

Sky