"What", you say! Have I gone crazy despite the term "loco" as part of my forum name?

Many of us on the forum like that Taylor (despite the fact that she has never come to TGIF to get that free beer from me and check out a cool lawyer ) and Jill promote MTHs products. But in the end, its the products IN THE VIDEO themselves that will help me decide if I want to purchase it or not.

First, let me state that I think MTH has done a great job in the last year by promoting some its products by way of video. Seeing and hearing a locomotive move is way better than just seeing a stationary picture of it in a catalog. It increases the chance that I will buy it.

However, although MTH uses sound in its videos and sounds the horn in them, it DOES NOT play the passenger or freight yard arrival and departure announcements ("SO" sounds on the DCS remote) or idle sound announcements ("SI" sounds on the DCS remote) in the videos. I think this is a big mistake on MTH's part.

For a long time, one of the most common complaints about MTH products has been the inconsistent or poor sound quality and low volume of the announcment sounds in its various locomotives, expecially when compared to Lionel's superior Railsounds 5.0 or Legacy Railsounds. Some of these commplaints are justified, others not depending on the particular model. We even learned last year in an article authored by OGRs Ed Boyle, that MTH has a dedicated full time sound engineer working in Michigan under Dave Kreibel since 2005.

So what's the point of this thread? Simple. I would like to see MTH play the passenger or freight yard arrival and departure sounds (the "SO" and "SI" sounds on the DCS remote) in its videos hosted by Taylor and Jill. I think it would help some decide to purchase certain MTH products, or at least decide if the complaints about mediocre MTH sound is justified or not.

Since I know for certain that MTH management reads this forum, and is open and responsive to suggestions by MTH fans, I hope they will consider this suggestion. Certainly, it will not cost them any money to do this in their videos.

What do you think about this suggestion?

Thanks for reading.

Erol

somewhere in this great country, Scott.Smith is gasping for air after reading this!

I think it's a great idea. I wish Lionel would do the same. Of course, MTH may not be playing the sounds for a reason;

"For a long time, one of the most common complaints about MTH products has been the inconsistent or poor sound quality and low volume of the announcment sounds in its various locomotives, especially when compared to Lionel's superior Railsounds 5.0 or Legacy Railsounds"

Being able to hear the sounds of any company's trains (Lionel, MTH, Williams etc) would be helpful in the decision making process. Many times I have gone to YouTube to see if anyone has posted a video of a product I was interested in purchasing to see if I like the features, details and look of it running on the rails. Bachmann has started using FaceBook and YouTube, Maybe MTH and Lionel should also.

Erol, excellent post on all points. MTH's videos have progressed well since the first release. They now provide whistle/horn sampling on all and cut back on the 4+ showings of electric couplers in action. The MTH videos are a great tool to decide whether or not to make a purchase. The ability to hear some of the operating or idle sounds from the loco's personality file would be a nice feature. I believe MTH did include some idle/optg PFA sounds in their French loco video. I also think a brief written listing of some of the item's stop locations on it's product detail page would also gain interest. Yes, you could attempt to change engine personality files to find a more desired itinerary, but that is more than likely a long trial and error process. What I would like to see developed and offered is a library of station stops, announcements, whistles, and horns that the individual user could bundle and purchase as a customized download for upload through the DCS Loader software. I think people would pay a reasonable fee to be able to put together their own personality file for some of their MTH engines.

MTH's current website and shopping cart setup appear very basic and may not be capable of assembling files similar to mp3 music download purchases, but it would be a neat and possibly profitable feature that is not currently offered.

The fidelity of MTH's sounds also improved, narrowing the large gap that Lionel had over MTH. The gap still exists and hopefully MTH will improve the oomph and reverb of its horns and whistles. Some of those Lionel steam whistles are chillingly haunting with the reverb. Makes you think that you are standing nearby and the sound is echoing through nearby hills or valleys. Maybe MTH's argument for using the lower volume whistle/horn is that it is 1/48th of the prototype and is the right volume for our 1/48 scale townspeople and not the 1:1 human operators.

I did notice that Atlas uploaded a couple product videos too. Lionel's website has a few older product videos hidden about, but Lionel, as well as many of the other companies fail to make use of the capabilities of video with sound. Video uploads to Youtube type sites are an inexpensive way to market your products to a wide population.

locolawyer... I second the motion. One of my pet-peeves is buying an expensive Premier engine only to find out the station announcements are the same or similar to a couple of Railking engines I own. All that effort to make a great engine and then the voices are not unique or the words are not unique?

I want to kick the tires now before I buy. Let's hear it all!

quote:

somewhere in this great country, Scott.Smith is gasping for air after reading this!

I am a little lost why I would be gasping for air. I think that this is an excellent suggestion.

Scott Smith

loco........

I agree with the points brought up about demonstrating all the sounds and functions of a new locomotive product. I also agree with Casey_Jones, that Lionel should do the same thing. Lionel would be far ahead in the game if they did video's like MTH. I always get excited when Scott announces a new MTH product video.

I also believe that you should change the title of this thread. Your points in question do not relate to either Taylor or Jill in any way. I think it is an underhanded way of getting our attention. It show's little respect for Taylor or Jill and the great job they do. They both enlighten the MTH product video's, they are not the primary subject of the video's. IMHO.

Tex

quote:

I always get excited when Scott announces a new MTH product video.

I am not an official MTH product announcer. If you like the announcements, all you have to do is sign up for their newsletter and you will get the same announcements, at the same time that I get.

Scott Smith

TexSpecial,

The title of the thread was intentionally written to get your attention, which in the case of getting you to respond was successful. I thought it was very clever of me.

However, I do not think it is disrepectful to Taylor and Jill. As soon as many of us on this forum see the names Taylor and Jill, it peeks our curiousity. Do you think a thread entitled "MTH improve the sound in your videos" would have had the same effect. I think not.

Erol

I am surprised they did not do more sound effects. I'd like hearing the horn and bell. The FYS and PSS would be cool to hear too for respective models.

I'm not going to argue the point, especially with a lawyer but I can respond to your comment since it was directed towards me.

Yes, I would have opened your thread and made my response to your points brought up because I, like others, have been thinking the same thing.

A title like, "Addition engine sounds needed in MTH video's" would have also attracted my attention and I would have opened your thread for discussion, as I know others would have. IMHO.

Tex

I would agree that more sounds, horn, whistle, announcements ect would be an improvement over the multible coupler shots. I always wondered why they did not match up the feature with the action. What I mean is, they flash "doppler effect" on the screen, but do not demonstrate with the Engine what that is. I thought it would be a great selling feature to match the description with the features in the video. "Smoke" , show the smoke bellowing out, show the smoke being shut off. "Doppler effect", lets here it as the engine goes by. Lets hear that whistle multable times, lets hear the short blasts and the looong whistle, "horns", does it have that reverberating at the end? lets hear it. Is the whistle a high pitch or a low deep one? Is it a hooter or a tooter?
I think this video is a great tool for sales. Unfortunetly, it sometimes doesn't "close the sale" because of the lack of features actually run in the video.
Knowing their history, I'd bet they are always working on improving and being a step ahead of everyone else.

quote:

Originally posted by scott.smith:

quote:

I always get excited when Scott announces a new MTH product video.

I am not an official MTH product announcer.
Scott Smith

DAMMIT JIM(as in James T. not Barret),

"I'M A TELECOMMUNICATIONS AGENT, NOT AN MTH PRODUCT ANNOUNCER!"

Pretty well thought out post for a lawyer

Erol, along with those you mentioned, my suggestion would be to allow me to enlarge the video so I can see what the heck is being shown.

Do the rest of you find it impossible to make the image bigger? Why is that when the whole purpose of video is to see what is being shown?

With that said - they have made improvements in the technical nature of the video - however the intro music needs to be dumped.

I like watching the MTH videos, but I would like them a whole bunch more with the above suggestions.

Paul

David, I totally agree. In my opinion, the MTH videos are an absolute joke. It's very obvious they don't commit much budget to producing them, and what a shame. It could be an extremely useful tool in selling their product. Here they have the opportunity to sell the "sizzle" as well as the steak, but the poor video shots and the audio mismatches in editing appears to be someone just stumbling through the process. The girls are pretty to look at, and they're getting better at reading the scripts (reading the catalog descriptions), but I want to see and learn as much about the product as I can in the allotted time. (Product endorsement by famous people never inspired me to buy anything.) I don't consider myself to be a professional videographer, but I can guarantee that myself or many of us forumites could do a much better presentation with just our home video cameras and simple computer video software. MTH holds itself to high standards in its designs and its products. I just don't understand why they allow this hodge podge of poor video work to represent them when it comes to selling their product.

I love their trains - I would love to have that job.

quote:

Originally posted by MdMikey:
David, I totally agree. In my opinion, the MTH videos are an absolute joke. It's very obvious they don't commit much budget to producing them, and what a shame. It could be an extremely useful tool in selling their product. Here they have the opportunity to sell the "sizzle" as well as the steak, but the poor video shots and the audio mismatches in editing appears to be someone just stumbling through the process. The girls are pretty to look at, and they're getting better at reading the scripts (reading the catalog descriptions), but I want to see and learn as much about the product as I can in the allotted time. (Product endorsement by famous people never inspired me to buy anything.) I don't consider myself to be a professional videographer, but I can guarantee that myself or many of us forumites could do a much better presentation with just our home video cameras and simple computer video software. MTH holds itself to high standards in its designs and its products. I just don't understand why they allow this hodge podge of poor video work to represent them when it comes to selling their product.

I love their trains - I would love to have that job.

I don't think they are a joke, rather a well intentioned attempt at conveying information that could be a bit more polished. However, further to my recent post regarding lousy pics used by manufacturers to show their products, I think MTH's efforts at conveying information at the moment are streets ahead of the rest.

Scott....thank's for the heads up. I guess I like watching the new MTH product video's here on the forum because of the forum discussion and interesting comments about the video's.

Again, thanks for bringing these video's to our attention.

TEX

quote:

Originally posted by scott.smith:

quote:

I always get excited when Scott announces a new MTH product video.

I am not an official MTH product announcer. If you like the announcements, all you have to do is sign up for their newsletter and you will get the same announcements, at the same time that I get.

Scott Smith

Meh, they don't have a hat like yours, so I'll continue to rely on your for MTH news.

Well stated and an excellent thought Erol. I think that your being a lawyer had nothing to do with the clear, concise and articulate way you communicated these thoughts to us.

Gerry

Well clearly Scott's wife is reading what he types and so he must be distancing himself from this. Me, I'm too greedy to share, so when Talor announces a new product to me you guys are on your own. Joe

quote:

However, although MTH uses sound in its videos and sounds the horn in them, it DOES NOT play the passenger or freight yard arrival and departure announcements ("SO" sounds on the DCS remote) or idle sound announcements ("SI" sounds on the DCS remote) in the videos. I think this is a big mistake on MTH's part.

I have alway's wondered why they didn't play those sound. It would be a big help in deciding if it's something I want. Great idea Erol!

"And no I'm not sucking up for a beer"

quote:

the intro music needs to be dumped

I always thought it sounds like what you'd hear at a stripper bar.

Not that I'd actually know.

quote:

If you like the announcements, all you have to do is sign up for their newsletter and you will get the same announcements, at the same time that I get.

Scott is right--just sign up. I enjoy seeing all the videos, and on several occasions they have helped me to make purchasing decisions. The latest GP35 announcement is one example of that. Like others here, I would support more of the sound features being presented, but I have no real complaints about the overall quality of these innovative product demonstrations and I love both Taylor and Jill.

I have only one complaint for the videos, It would be nice to see all of the girls sometimes instead of being cut off at the. . . well. . . midsection.

John" the perv" P

For the guys that do not like the videos, Why do you watch them. . .hhmmmm

Wait a second......"they show products in those videos"??????

Charlie,
Just the humorous point I was going for. Scott seems to get so excited over the posts, but not just for the trains Maybe I stated it wrong, or caught him on a bad day. Sorry Scott, no offense intended.

quote:

Sorry Scott, no offense intended

I am not offended-you have to discuss the Acela to do that

Scott Smith

Erol posted:

quote:

Seeing and hearing a locomotive move is way better than just seeing a stationary picture of it in a catalog. It increases the chance that I will buy it.

Everything you’re asking to do I (and many others) do right now at my local hobby store, Americas Best Train and Hobby! Yes, I’m lucky, I also have Chicagoland Hobbies and Berwyn Trains to go to if needed.

Actually, I have been waiting for someone to post something like Erol posted. Please note, I am not speaking directly to Erol in my following message, but rather a "collective us" in this hobby of ours.

As I said before I already do this at my local store, but I knew that it was just a short matter of time before our habits of mail order train purchases started affecting the local hobby shop.

We wanted lower prices and we got it. But at what cost to us? Well, now we are making purchases based on crappy pictures in a catalog only to find out that we are not happy with the detail, sound, color etc.

We are getting many complaints of engines not running or damaged out of the box.

Almost all of these problems can be avoided if we had just seen the engine work before we made the decision to make the purchase. If you had used your local hobby store, these deficiencies would have been avoided.

In this case, what Erol is asking MTH to do (and Lionel, Atlas etc) is to provide an experience (video) that many of us could get in our local hobby store. If I was a full line hobby shop owner, I for one would not want the manufactures to provide this service, I would want my customers to come to the store to see the product in person. If I was the manufacture, I would want to provide this information to potential customers to make an educated decision. One thing the video will not replace is the hobby store demo run of MY engine. All of my engines get a test run at the dealer before I walk out the door. I have NEVER had a bad engine out of the box that was tested at the dealer. I did have two bad engines out of the box when I did the mail order thing. Coincidence? I think not.

I do not have numbers, but I suspect by the posts made here that local shoppers have fewer problems than the on-line shoppers. Maybe there IS a connection?

We can't turn back the clock and go back to a nation wide hobby store network, but make no mistake, that what we are asking for here is what some local hobby stores still do and have done for a long time. Maybe we should be a little more supportive of their efforts.

Finally, yes, I know there will be some problems with people who no longer live close to a hobby store, have had a bad experience etc. but for the most part, we all know that most of the problems posted on this forum regarding train purchases could be handled by a good hobby shop, its just that we did not support these stores and they no longer exist.

Supporting my local hobby store TOOG

Charlie

quote:

Originally posted by locolawyer:
"What", you say! Have I gone crazy despite the term "loco" as part of my forum name?

So what's the point of this thread? Simple. I would like to see MTH play the passenger or freight yard arrival and departure sounds (the "SO" and "SI" sounds on the DCS remote) in its videos hosted by Taylor and Jill. I think it would help some decide to purchase certain MTH products, or at least decide if the complaints about mediocre MTH sound is justified or not.

Since I know for certain that MTH management reads this forum, and is open and responsive to suggestions by MTH fans, I hope they will consider this suggestion. Certainly, it will not cost them any money to do this in their videos.
What do you think about this suggestion?
Thanks for reading.
Erol

I too wondered why MTH didn't include the announcements. Thank you for bringing up the subject and articulating it so well. :-)
The freight, passenger, and idle sounds are the main reason I changed from Orange to Purple.