NDA deadlines, why ???

[Thony]

So 480 is being released soon. And AMD is lifting it's NDA on the release date but they already sent samples to reviewers more than a week before the release. Why don't they let them release the reviews as soon as they get the card ???

 

What's the point in giving GPUs and then holding keeping the info about the GPUs secret.

 

We know drivers are never tip-top on release date so why all this stupid delaying ? Nvidia already knows all the specs anyway, for sure.

[don_svetlio]

The goal is to have all reviews come out at the same time rather than have the half-arsed preview videos get all the clicks.

[Thony]

1 minute ago, don_svetlio said:

The goal is to have all reviews come out at the same time rather than have the half-arsed preview videos get all the clicks.

Depends on the reviewer so that's very subjective... companies don't tell reviewers how to benc their cards in a specific way...

[don_svetlio]

1 minute ago, Thony said:

Depends on the reviewer so that's very subjective... companies don't tell reviewers how to benc their cards in a specific way...

The reason is to have a level playing field else someone like Linus who half-arses his content would get a LOT more clicks than someone like TTL who actually puts in effort.

[Skiiwee29]

Dont forget the Hype train it creates in anticipation. 

[Prysin]

10 minutes ago, Thony said:

Depends on the reviewer so that's very subjective... companies don't tell reviewers how to benc their cards in a specific way...

actually they do. THEY REALLY DO.

 

AMD and Nvidia will tell reviewers to redo all their benchmarking even at the last second if they have a driver that will improve performance by even 3%.

They also set very clear guidelines as to how a review should be and or what they expect. Whether the reviewer follows said guidelines is a different thing.

 

just ask @LinusTech or @Slick or @nicklmg

[rattacko123]

To prevent reviewers from doing their review until they actually finish the drivers and software for the card

[minibois]

because they want to see quality reviews, not stuff done in five minutes so that publication can be the first with a review.

[minibois]

21 minutes ago, rattacko123 said:

To prevent reviewers from doing their review until they actually finish the drivers and software for the card

Well no, reviewers often use the products with pre release drivers (and this is often mentioned too). Lets say the reviewers get the cards from AMD at one point in time and the NDA lifts in 7 days, they can use those 7 days to use the card benchmark it and stuff. They don't wait 7 days looking at the card until the NDA lifts and they benchmark it at that point.

[typographie]

2 hours ago, Thony said:

Depends on the reviewer so that's very subjective... companies don't tell reviewers how to benc their cards in a specific way...

Yes, but you have to keep in mind reviewers are businesses in competition with each other. Nvidia/AMD are not telling them to rush out reviews, capitalism is. Having a specific NDA date some time after they receive the hardware ensures they all get to take their time with reviews and then publish them at a specified date.

[Starelementpoke]

What everyone else said.

[mariushm]

In rare cases, newly released drivers upload microcode into the video card or flash the video card's bios to new versions in order to enable certain features that were disabled before. Sort of like how motherboard BIOSes sometimes hide microcode for processors, patching processors to work better with new operating system or to work around hardware bugs.

 

It happened in some rare cases, people leaked specs online weeks before a card was supposed to be released and before NDA expired, but the card was factory programmed to under report some specifications. These false specifications leaked and the main competitor released a new video card with specs just a bit better than this soon to be available video card, but for a much higher price.

However, just a week or less than a week before NDA expired, a new firmware/driver/microcode was released which enabled features that were disabled from the start, making the video card even more powerful than the recently released competitor's model, leaving them with egg on their face (as the expression goes) and forcing them to discount the cards just weeks after launch. Of course, some reviewers had to redo the benchmarks at the last moment but that's life.

 

It's tricky for the company, a balancing act... people may get bad impression of your soon to be released video card if they build a picture out of leaks that makes the card look bad. On the other hand, if there is hype like it is with rx 480 these days, they can afford to be more secretive.

[Thony]

2 hours ago, typographie said:

Yes, but you have to keep in mind reviewers are businesses in competition with each other. Nvidia/AMD are not telling them to rush out reviews, capitalism is. Having a specific NDA date some time after they receive the hardware ensures they all get to take their time with reviews and then publish them at a specified date.

Or they leave the card on the shelve because they are busy anyway and do the review the same way they would if there was no NDA

[typographie]

14 minutes ago, Thony said:

Or they leave the card on the shelve because they are busy anyway and do the review the same way they would if there was no NDA

What would they be busy with that would drive more traffic to their site or channel than a major video card release? Those are some of the biggest, "sexiest" stories we get in enthusiast tech. Their corresponding articles and videos are some of the biggest they'll release all year. Of course they want to get theirs out as soon as possible, and ideally before their competitors.

[don_svetlio]

@nicklmg Easy - marketing - you are far superior at marketing your product (in this case content) to your audience than ANY other reviewer/tech channel - the same reason you are doing far better than most others. While I may think that roughly half the information is wrong or semi-false and some of the testing is shit (like putting a snoopy doll and other crap in a PC to show that your flawed testing methodology of using a blower-card to illustrate airflow effects), the way it's delivered and the charisma displayed is ultimately what brings people in. At this point the majority don't care if the information is correct as long as Linus is the one presenting it.

[Prysin]

4 minutes ago, nicklmg said:

 

Your own personal bias of liking or not liking content that is created does not constitute a lack of "effort" from the creator.

Legitimately curious though - if our content is, in your opinion, objectively worse than others', why do you say we'd get more clicks?

 

The reason LTT gets a lot of "clicks" is due to a few factors

 

A) lots of subscribers drive the "sheep" mentality of "bigger is probably better. Must be a reason for subs". Regardless if the subs are due to LTTs entertainment value rather then (as of the last 9 or so months) factual value.

 

B) High quality thumbnails. Yes, something as simple as this guides people towards videos. Higher, cleaner and more professional looking thumbnails give the idea of "professionalism". This entices people to actually take a look at the high quality thumbnail before checking out the rest. Thumbnail quality also have no real impact on whether a channel is actually factually correct or meticulous in their testing (which LTT hasnt been at all since the "big move". Refer to LTT 2013 and 2014 videos for proof).

 

C) Catchy text in thumbnails/videos. AKA "clickbait" titles. Taran/you/whoever it is that uploads the actual videos is damn good at getting these titles right. They are interesting and or catchy. Sadly, they are slowly moving towards "kotaku/Buzzfeed" style titles... If LTT continues on its current "path", you got 2 years left before most video titles is over the top "click baity".

 

D) Social media. Linus is very active in social media, so is Luke. This helps drive more people towards the channel and or catch peoples attention when they see retweets from friends.

 

E) Search results. LTT videos are highly prioritized in search results. Usually among top 10. This means that at least 1/10 tech stuff you search for, unless searching for a specific review or news outlet, will be LTT content. 10% may not sound much. But 10% of internet searches/options are HUGE, as you yourself would know.

 

The content may not actually be good. But the exposure of the channel completely negates any issues with the content.

I do not know if Youtube give you a metric on how long the average user actually watch your video(s). But that metric should be much more valuable to you then "views".

 

Its not hard to draw in people with a new video, i check out LTT videos very often. But in the past 9 months or how long it is since you moved to the new offices, i have found myself rarely watching a whole episode. Mostly because the facts are wrong or incorrect. It does not help that LMG does not seem to be the slightest interested in correcting or taking down outright misleading videos either. So any criticism on social media or youtube is bound to be ignored.

 

There are atleast 25 videos that i can with ease point out issues with (from just facts alone), including one or two tech quickies, in the past 6 months.

Sure, with 1 video a day, and 182.5 days in a 6 month span. 25 is not a whole lot. But those are just the videos i KNOW of.