Sunday, November 10, 2013

A review of the Eric P. Dollard video FOUR QUADRANT REPRESENTATION OF ELECTRICITY.

I just completed viewing a video of Eric P. Dollard entitled FOUR QUADRANT REPRESENTATION OF ELECTRICITY which I purchased from here.
I purchased this because I like Eric personally and I wanted to support him and because I didn't think I would have the time to get through the book.
Unfortunately, after finishing the video, I am sorely disappointed.
What this video should be titled is BASIC AC ELECTRICAL AND MOTOR THEORY USING A 4 PHASE REPRESENTATION.
The only thing in the entire video that I didn't learn at BEEP and A school in the US Navy is a minor mathematical innovation that lets you express all four quadrants of an AC wave symmetrically.  (ie introducing a +j and -j coordinate space)
Unfortunately Dollard never develops the math or subject beyond basic AC theory applications.
Dollard is always fun to listen to because he has practical experience, deep theoretical and historical knowledge and tons of interesting experiences and anecdotes to relate.  This video is no exception, I was very entertained by his anecdotes and historical references.
The quality of the video production is atrocious and shows a typical short-sighted methodology to maximize profit and minimize work.
Eric is invited to talk at a Bedini-Lindeman conference and it is recorded with a very cheap camera and microphone system.  It is then run though a cheap (freeware most likely) video editing system and reduced down to minimum quality and file size (leaving numerous and annoying compression artifacts in the video) with still shots of Eric's diagrams taken from the projector image and photos overlayed onto the video at appropriate points.  This results in blurred images and diagrams you can't read, long sections of video where Dollard is looking off to the side at the projection screen where the images are and most likely were shot from (you can see the photo flashes going off during the talk).  All the video captures of Dollard pointing out parts of diagrams using a white light pen result in a pointer image that can barely be seen on the video.
Content is also disappointing because Eric tends to favor questions and interruptions from the audience pulling him off track.  Dollard actually openly says in the video that he had to leave 90% of the theory out of the talk - he just didn't have time to cover it. 
The Dollard lecture was clearly done before the book was completed and so Dollard speaks from scattered notes.

The real disappointment is that I paid $27 for this video that is below the quality found on most instructional videos free on u-tube which the selling webpage says is
"guaranteed to meet even your highest expectations.
P.P.S. Remember, you're not risking a single penny since it is 100% guaranteed!"

 

I shall be asking for my money back soon.  Perhaps I can talk them into giving me the book rather than my money back.  I can then review that for you as well here before you have to risk your cash to find out if it is worth the price.

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In general, I have found disappointment to follow almost everything I have done with the Bedini-Lindeman group.  A consistent lack of professional care in production, organization and dissemination of knowledge along the lines of alternative energy topics and consistently overpriced.
I would not go so far as to say these guys are trying to rip people off.  However, these guys are trying to make a living off of the technology before it is ready and thus I think are forced into cutting corners that a professional would not.
 
How I would do a Dollard video:
  • Get Eric to get all his images and photos into a PowerPoint form.
  • Use a good PC recording tool such as SnagIt ($35) to sit down at a PC with a good mike and give his talk in a quiet room uninterrupted using his power point images without interruption.
  • Edit this down to remove mistakes and silence.
  • Create a 1080p version of the presentation.
  • Break the talk down into sections and put an index with timestamps at the front of the video.
  • THEN sell that!
I'll let you know how the book goes if I can get it exchanged for the video.
 
Sandy
------ LATER -----
I asked for my $ back which had to go to Peter Lindeman, the man behind the sale of this lame video:

Sent: Sunday, November 10, 2013 10:54 AM
Subject: Request exchange on Four-Quadrant Representation of Electricity Video
 
I would like to propose an exchange of the video I recently purchased from http://fourquadranttheory.com/ for the book version.  (Rather than a refund)
Here is a review I have just published of the video which I think should explain my disappointment.
 
I would be happy to discuss with you ways to improve your products and might even be able to do services for you for a fee.
I had offered assistance to the Bedini crew years ago when I had published a review if one of their first conferences here.
Apparently I am not trusted due to actually being interested in helping them yet a relative stranger to them.
 
I have a friend who is a professional video editor and can do a much better job for you on videos as well – both recording and production.
 
I really do mean to be helpful to you but my consistent disappointments have caused most of my feedback to be negative.
 
Sandy Staab
Fellow Free Energy Advocate
 
To which he responded:
Dear Sanford,

Sorry you didn't like the film.  Your only recourse is to go back to Clickbank and get a refund.  There are no exchanges.  If you do get a refund for the film, please DON'T buy the book.  I assume you can find things to complain about in it, and since it covers the same material, you won't learn anything new from it anyway.

The film is a LIVE presentation to the conference audience.  The promotional materials make that quite plain.  The root camera file is cut in true HD and is over 38GB in size.  There were a few problems with the radio mics in the room, which our camera people were taking the feed from.  The file reduction to a downloadable size introduced some interlacing problems due to the MAC conversion to PC formats.  Beyond that, all of your criticisms represent your personal preference.

The purpose of the film is to make Eric's lecture, exactly as it happened, available to his students, followers and supporters.  We were specifically asked to leave it "uncut", which we did.

Your closing statement is quite telling.  The truth is, if you REALLY meant to be helpful, you would have found a way!

Regards,
Peter

To which I responded:
On 11/10/2013 9:03 PM, Sanford Staab (GMail) wrote:  
Can you tell me how much of my purchase price goes to Eric Dollard?  I’d be happy to leave you with your money should I know that I at least helped Eric with my purchase.
 
To which he responded: 
Sanford,

The financial arrangements between Eric and his publisher are confidential.  Eric is pleased with the arrangement.  You should not expect to have this sort of information shared with you, as you are not a party to the contract.

Peter

To which I responded:
 
Ok.  I would just like to know if my purchase is helping Eric.  Sounds like it is.
 
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After some searching I found a much better video (I think) on the very same subject (where Eric reads from his book/notes) along with the full text of Sir Edmond Whittaker's work for FREE:
 
It is sad that people who should know how to disseminate critical knowledge instead chose to make money off of the ignorance of others and pretend to disseminate that knowledge while at the same time hiding that knowledge.