We Need to Talk.
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Taki discusses the evolution of his channel and his approach to reviewing handheld gaming devices. Initially created as a resource for himself, it has grown to include monetization for his son's college fund. Taki reflects on the challenges of maintaining a comprehensive review process, the importance of addressing device issues, and the need for transparency. He announces a new strategy of providing short, objective assessments for devices he can't fully review, aiming to better inform his audience.
Takeaways
- 🎮 Taki started the channel to create a college fund for his son and to share information on handheld gaming devices.
- 👶 Initially, Taki's goal was to review every device, but he later became more selective due to burnout and the repetitive nature of some devices.
- 📐 Taki emphasizes the importance of being transparent about the issues he encounters with devices, even if it means presenting a counterpoint to popular opinion.
- 📺 He discusses the challenges of reviewing devices before their official release and the potential for discrepancies between pre-release and retail versions.
- 🔍 Taki highlights the importance of his role in informing companies about issues with their devices, to help them improve and address problems.
- 💡 He plans to be more proactive in using his platform to make companies aware of device issues, believing it benefits both the company and the consumer.
- 📝 Taki intends to change his review approach by publishing short, objective lists grading devices on specific issues with a pass or fail.
- 🛠️ He illustrates how he deals with issues by providing examples, such as the screen problems with the RG405M and the performance issues with the Miyoo A30.
- 🔄 Taki points out that sometimes third-party OS updates can fix issues that the manufacturer's own software does not address.
- 🤔 He acknowledges the limitations of his selective reviewing process and the risk of missing important issues with devices that he does not review.
- 📈 Taki's realization about the need for change in his approach is driven by his experience with the RG35XX Plus and H, where he discovered a stuttering issue that had been present but unnoticed.
Q & A
Why did Taki disable monetization on the video?
-Taki disabled monetization to discuss important matters without the influence of financial incentives.
What were the two main reasons Taki started the channel?
-Taki started the channel to find a handheld device to use when his son was napping and to create a college fund for his son through AdSense revenue.
How did Taki's experience with the initial handheld device lead to the creation of the channel?
-Taki's dissatisfaction with the first device he bought based on reviews, which had unmentioned issues, led him to review the Anbernic RG350, which helped monetize his channel.
Why did Taki decide to be more selective about the devices he reviews?
-Taki felt burnt out from reviewing too many similar devices during the RK3326 saga and wanted to focus on devices that genuinely interested him.
What issue did Taki encounter with the RG405M's screen?
-The screen on the RG405M was overly sharpened, making retro games look poor, and the screen started to fall out from the shell.
How did Taki handle the screen issue with the RP4 device?
-Taki detailed the screen issue in his review, explained how it could be fixed, and discussed the consequences of the fix.
What realizations did Taki have while working on the buying guide video?
-Taki realized that companies need to know about their devices' problems and that his selective reviewing approach doesn't work due to the possibility of missing critical issues.
Why did Taki decide to publish a short, objective list for devices he doesn't review?
-Taki wants to provide more information to help viewers make informed decisions even when he can't produce a full review.
What was the issue with the Anbernic RG35XX Plus and RG35XX H devices?
-The devices had a stuttering or frame pacing issue with the screen that was introduced in a software update and persisted in subsequent versions.
What was the performance issue with the Miyoo A30 that Taki discovered?
-The A30 had a display filter enabled by default that caused performance issues, which could be fixed by disabling the filter.
How does Taki plan to approach reviews differently going forward?
-Taki plans to publish objective lists with pass or fail grades for certain categories for devices he doesn't review in full, to provide more information to his viewers.
Outlines
📱 Channel Origins and Monetization Decision
In this paragraph, Taki introduces the video's theme and his personal reasons for starting the channel five years ago. After the birth of his son, he sought a handheld device to entertain himself while staying close to his child. Initially, he was misled by reviews and purchased a flawed device. This experience led him to review the Anbernic RG350, which helped monetize his channel. He chose to allocate all ad revenue to his son's college fund, ensuring financial security for his child. Taki reflects on his journey, from reviewing every device to becoming selective due to burnout, and the disappointment of not covering all desired devices by his audience.
🔍 Changing Review Approach and Industry Insights
Taki discusses his evolving approach to reviewing devices, influenced by his experiences with the RG405M and the RG35XX H. He highlights the importance of being selective and weighing multiple factors before deciding to review a product. He shares his disappointment in not catching the RG35XX H's screen issues in previous reviews and his realization that his old review method is insufficient. Taki also emphasizes the need for companies to be aware of their devices' problems and the role reviewers play in bringing these issues to light. He talks about his experience with the Miyoo A30 and how it prompted a change in his review process, including reaching out to developers and companies to address issues before product launches.
🛠 New Review Strategy and Community Engagement
In the final paragraph, Taki outlines his new strategy for reviewing products, which includes publishing short, objective lists grading devices on specific issues with a pass or fail. He explains that this approach allows him to provide more information to his audience, even if he cannot produce full reviews for every device. Taki also mentions that he has already brought the stuttering issue to Anbernic's attention and clarifies that his intention is not to negatively impact any company but to improve the review process and help consumers make informed decisions. He invites viewer feedback on this change and thanks his audience for their support.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Monetization
💡Handheld
💡Review
💡RG350
💡Burnout
💡Selective Reviewing
💡RG405M
💡Stuttering
💡Third-Party OS
💡Miyoo A30
💡Community Tester
💡Vsync
Highlights
Creator Taki discusses the reasons behind starting the channel, including the desire to create a college fund for his son.
Taki shares his experience with the Anbernic RG350 and its role in the channel's monetization.
The creator expresses his burnout from reviewing too many similar devices during the RK3326 saga.
Taki explains his selective approach to reviewing devices and the disappointment from the audience when their interests are not covered.
The video discusses the importance of being thorough in reviewing devices, using the Anbernic RG405M's screen issue as an example.
Taki describes his method of addressing device issues in reviews, as demonstrated with the RP4's screen problem.
The creator's realization of the limitations of his selective reviewing approach due to the RG35XX H's screen issues.
Taki's experience with the Miyoo A30 and the discovery of its performance issues due to a default display filter.
The importance of community testers and their impact on device settings, as seen with the A30's CPU frequency limits.
Taki's commitment to providing objective feedback on devices, even if he cannot produce a full review.
The introduction of a new approach to reviewing: publishing short, objective lists of device performance categories.
Examples of how Taki plans to grade devices on specific issues, such as stuttering or vsync problems.
Taki's emphasis on the need for companies to be aware of their devices' problems and the role of reviewers in this process.
The creator's intention to bring device issues to companies' attention before publicizing them in videos.
Taki's reflection on the responsibility of reviewers to provide accurate and helpful information to consumers.
The video concludes with Taki's openness to viewer feedback and his commitment to adapting his review process accordingly.
Transcripts
Hey guys, Taki here.
Bit of a different video today, but I have some important things to discuss that involves
everything on this table in some shape or form. By the way, I’ve disabled monetization on this video.
I don’t talk about this that often, but there were two main reasons why I started this channel
almost five years ago. After my son was born, I wanted to buy a handheld to be able to kill
time whenever I would put him down for a nap, while still being able to be close to him on
the chance that he would wake up. I did some research and bought something based on some
reviews that I watched before finding out that it had some big issues that were never talked about.
A week or so after that, Anbernic was about to release the RG350, and I ended up getting
that device to do a review video on. That video allowed my channel to get monetized,
and since I already had a job, I decided to direct all of the AdSense revenue from this channel to a
college fund for my son, so he would be fine if something ever ended up happening to me.
He’s a little older now, so I get to involve him more here and there, but my main goal was to be
a source for the information that I didn’t have when I wanted to buy that first device.
For 2-3 years, I would basically review every single device that came out,
while balancing two full-time jobs. And the truth is, I got burnt out during the RK3326 saga. There
were way too many devices that had very little difference, and they weren’t fun to review.
After that, I started to be more selective about the devices that I would film review videos on,
and I started to see more and more people get disappointed that I did not cover something
they wanted me to. To be honest, those people are right to be disappointed, even I am disappointed.
When I pick a product that I want to review, there are a lot of things that I weigh. I want to give
you a few examples so you can fully understand why I feel things need to change going forward.
For the first 2 years of this channel, I had the ability to get Anbernic handhelds before
the official release so I could release a review on launch day. The company hasn’t
given me units like that since the RG552, and they have also changed their policy on
when review videos can go up. Reviewers are now able to release videos well in advance
of the official retail date, let alone official pricing, but it doesn't matter.
I still buy every handheld they make, and I have released plenty of review videos
on their products after others using retail units that I buy that I also enjoy using.
When the RG405M came out, I bought one from the retail release and
planned on doing a review on it. By the time I had the thing in my hands,
there were many glowing reviews on it, and the screen it uses.
When I got it, I was shocked to find the screen was overly sharpened to the point that all the
retro games I would play looked like garbage. What’s more, my screen started to fall out from
the shell. So at that point, I was facing another RG552 situation where I would have almost an
entirely different opinion than the rest of the crowd, and I have to say, I’m not against doing
that as a rule, but I have to be interested in the device enough to follow through. When it comes to
the RG405M, I wasn’t interested in it enough, so I never did my review presenting the counterpoint.
Please note, that the oversharpened display issue has been fixed, but it
existed on all pre-release devices that were used for review videos,
and on retail units like the one I have. It was fixed months later with GammaOS.
I took a different approach for my RP4 video. That device also had a screen issue, but I
was interested in the device enough to make the review. I detailed exactly what the problem was,
explained that it could be fixed, and then talked about some of the consequences of that fix. That’s
the approach that I like, but it doesn’t work if I don’t do a review in the first place.
The video that I am currently working on caused me to completely reevaluate the way that I’ve
been doing this. I’m making a buying guide video covering several handhelds. These kinds of videos
are great because it allows me to cover some devices that I didn't film individual videos on.
I did one of these last year, and the RG35XX Plus was a solid choice.
The RG35XX H came out a little after I did that video and I ended up buying two of them
that have been sitting on my desk since day one. I planned to do a review with my retail version,
but I was too busy at the time and didn’t expect there to be any surprises since it’s basically
the RG35XX Plus in a different layout and the reviews were mostly positive. I was wrong.
Not that long ago, I opened up the box, took the unit out,
and started creating save states that I needed for my video. While doing that,
I started to see that the screen had stuttering or frame pacing issues. I powered up the second
unit and found the same thing. It’s possible this was an issue on the launch software that was later
fixed in an update. You can say a lot about Anbernic and a lot of these other companies,
but Anbernic does update their devices. They didn’t always do that in the past.
I downloaded the latest update that they had on their website and found that it also had the
same problem. The display was also set to be very close to 59Hz, which doesn’t make sense.
At that point, I assumed the RG35XX Plus and the RG35XX H were the same in terms of software,
so I was kind of mad at myself that I missed something this obvious in
my main review of the Plus and the subsequent buying guide that I made.
If I am going to be selective about what I film, I do not want to mislead people.
I went into my studio, grabbed the three Plus units that I have, and tried to turn them on.
For whatever reason, the OS was corrupted on all of them. No problem, I’ll just download
the earliest update package that Abernic has on their website. I got that, flashed it,
and found the same issue. At that point, I was very disappointed in myself for not catching this
issue. I grabbed the current software version, flashed it, and found the same issue again.
I tried two third-party OSs and found that both of them run at 60Hz. One of them doesn’t have
this issue at all, and the other only has it if you disable the default shader that is always on.
I reached out to one of the developers of these, and he put me in contact with
another guy that discovered this issue a long time ago on his own. Thankfully,
that guy also had the retail build of the RG35XX Plus backed up on his PC, and he gave it to me.
I tested that out to see if I had missed this in my review,
and I was relieved to see that the stock build did not have this stuttering issue. Long story short,
Anbernic introduced this issue with the RG35XX Plus in January, and it has been there ever since.
The RG35XX H launched with this issue, and it’s been there ever since. The
third-party OS that has this fixed, ended up fixing last month for both devices.
There are two important realizations that I took away from this. 1) companies need
to know when their devices have problems. If people like me that have a platform do
not make these issues known, companies have very little chance to ever learn about them to even
start addressing them. It is not good for the company, and it is not good for the consumer. I
fully believe this issue would have been fixed by now if Anbernic knew about it months ago.
The second realization is that my old approach of being selective about what I film and review
doesn’t work. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I assumed this device was
fine based on my experience with the RG35XX Plus. I assume others would have made that
same assessment since they are so similar. They launched with a completely different experience.
The Plus was better. Using the current stock software, the Plus is now just as bad as the H.
If I have a device before it launches, this approach looks a little different,
and I want to talk about the Miyoo A30 because that has also changed how I will
do things going forward. I had this a few weeks before it went on sale. I made a community post
about this and the RG28XX because I think they are both awesome devices. By the way,
the 28XX does not have the stuttering issue that the H and the Plus have.
Anyway, I found that the performance on the A30 was crap within several seconds
of using it. Right away, I found that they had enabled a display filter that on it’s
own is not a bad thing. The problem is that the device is set to use different
CPU frequency limits depending on the system that you want to emulate. In the case of SNES,
the limit is not enough to be able to run the game with the filter enabled.
After I disabled that, I found there were no performance issues. Okay,
we have an easy fix. Disable the default filter in the stock OS. For something like
this when I have something prior to the official release, I will also bring it to
their attention at the first moment so they can fix it prior to release. To Anbernic’s credit,
they were very good about pulling handheld releases when major issues were found on
engineering units that they gave out. The RG552 was delayed one time before it released,
and the only reason why it wasn’t delayed the second time for the audio issue that it had was
because I couldn’t get anyone in their company to notice the huge audio delay that it had.
Anyway, I went to the engineer on the A30 and was told that these kinds of settings
were done by some community tester that Miyoo uses. I then went directly to Miyoo
to tell them to just disable this to fix the issue. They said they would disable it.
At that time, distributors that had engineering units from Miyoo started to send them out to other
reviewers, and those reviewers obviously found the same issue that existed in that software.
Whatever, it’s an engineering unit and it only matters if these issues exist with
the launch software. When I made my post about the A30, I did so believing that
Miyoo would disable this dumb setting like they told me. But no matter what,
I planned to say this setting was enabled by default in my review, and that I had to disable
it to improve performance to film the review. That’s my personal approach. I do not see any
value in trying to approach product reviews as a novice. It’s like the blind leading the blind. It
comes across as disingenuous when it’s done, and I have never seen it done consistently in any field.
So, I described several cases in this video from three different companies,
and they have all factored into the way that I am going to approach reviews. In a perfect world,
I would have reviews for everything that launches, and if products have fixable issues,
they are fixed prior to the product launch. The reality is time is a constraint,
and I won’t always be able to review everything that releases, even if I find them interesting.
In situations where I know I will not do a review on something that I have or that I
can’t do a review on it for whatever reason, I want to publish a short,
objective list of things that I grade with either a pass or a fail. This shouldn’t have
any subjective elements to it, and I am still deciding what I should include, but I can give
you an example of what I am thinking based on the issues that I talked about in this video.
One category could be stuttering or vsync issues. The initial retail version of the
RG35XX Plus would have a pass for that, but the current software version would have a fail,
and in situations where a device fails in a category, I can provide a short
explanation. Again, just objective things. These are things that people could repeat on their own.
The RG35XX H would have a fail for this for every stock software version,
but it would have a pass for the third-party OSs.
For the Miyoo A30, one category could be unusual stock performance issues.
The A30 would fail for that, and the explanation would be that the
CPU filter is enabled by default. Disabling that fixes the issues.
The initial version of the RP4 would fail for display calibration,
but the current software would pass.
These are things that I would cover in a full review with my opinions,
but in the absence of that video and that vehicle,
I would publish objective categories with either pass or fail. By doing this, I hope
I can provide all of you with more information to make informed decisions one way or the other.
But as always, you can let me know your thoughts on this change down below. Viewer
comments are one of the main guiding forces for this channel. And as a side,
I brought the stuttering issue to Anbernic’s attention weeks before publishing this video.
This wasn’t meant to bring negative attention to any company that I talked about in this video,
I just needed to show the examples that made me change the way I do things on this channel.
Thanks for your continued support, happy gaming everyone, Taki out.
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