PCA-100 Calibration

[Barry Parsons]

Hi All,

Can someone tell me where I can get my PCA-100 Calibrated please.
I have tried contacting QSC with no luck (will not except my customer request)?

[Steve Guttag]

They are the only ones, to the best of my knowledge. You would likely need to go through a QSC dealer though. The other sad reality is that they may not offer that service anymore. It all depends on if they still have the staff that does it (and the apparatus necessary to perform the calibration). There isn't much "cinema" left at QSC and that piece is very cinema centric. That said, it is still worth contacting your QSC dealer and having them send the request to QSC as it would require an RMA.

[Barry Parsons]

Hi Steve, It has taken me till now to be able to login, I have been able to send a email to QSC and had a reply back directing me to the Australian dealer.
I will see where it go's but do not think it is the way to go as they are the distributor of QSC equipment not a service centre for specialized equipment.

[Leo Enticknap]

It's on their list of discontinued products, though I don't know if that just means that sales of new units are discontinued, or repair support for existing ones as well. If QSC is still able to recalibrate it, I would guess that the Australian dealer would have to ship your unit to Costa Mesa, where the work would actually be done.

[John Eickhof]

yes, as a retired qsc dealer, your local dealer would issue a return authorization from qsc factory, then you would pack and ship it to qsc in usa prepaid, they would calibrate or repair it and then return to you and you would get billed through the local dealer for the service. us law requires support for seven years after the discontinuation of a product, there most likely is someone at qsc that can do the caibration.

[Leo Enticknap]

However, support can be outsourced to a third party if the OEM can no longer provide it. For example we (Moving Image Technologies) bought the rights to QSC/USL's line of HI/VI/CCAP equipment, and took over the manufacturing and support for it (though I am not directly involved in that side of things, apart from setting up a test rig in our screening room - just field installation). So presumably any end user whose dealer bought this equipment directly from USL or QSC in the past would now be referred to us, if approached about repairs. Again, this is just speculation, but the rights to that color meter may have been sold to a third party as well. If so, I'm sure that Barry's local dealer would be able to advise.

We are in the advantageous position of having our shop literally within walking distance of QSC's factory, and so can offer the convenience of customers returning their equipment needing repair to us for RMA processing, if that makes life easier for them. It certainly is a help in my field work: if I take stuff back to the shop, I know that it will make it to QSC within reasonable time of the RMA being issued, rather than having to rely on the end user to package something up, tape the label onto it, take it to FedEx, and then hope that FedEx doesn't lose it.

[Steve Guttag]

...us law requires support for seven years after the discontinuation of a product...

Please cite the law you refer to. I don't believe it exists. Someone can cease support of a product at any time. It may not be good business practice but I'm unaware of any law covering all products in the US. You may find there could be requirements for specific industries but nothing that would compel QSC or another manufacturer to support a discontinued product for 7 years. What do you do if key parts are simply no longer available? What if a company closes?

In a recent example...the Dolby CP750 was to be supported until 2025 but due to supply chain impossibilities, key components are no longer available. In fact, it seems like I see a lot of devices given an 3-5 year commitment past discontinuation, not 7.

[Leo Enticknap]

That was news to me, too; though if any such law does exist, presumably it has a force majeure get out. As an example (nothing more), Dolby cited force majeure in their statement announcing discontinuation of cat745 IMB recertification service, which led me to wonder if, in the absence of any, they had a legal and/or contractual obligation to continue offering the service (either directly, or through a third party) for longer. The global chip shortage is pretty much all the excuse anyone would need for premature cessation of support for a given product, I'd have thought.

[Barry Parsons]

Hi Leo,
QSC sent me a email today saying "The PCA-100 is a discontinued product. The vendor is no longer doing calibrations on these units." and said "Moving Image Technologies, or your local Cinema Dealer may also have other alternatives for you."
So can you help?

[Leo Enticknap]

By "other alternatives," I'm guessing that QSC means selling you another color meter (which we could certainly do, but your local dealer likely could without you having to deal with import/export formalities). I'm not aware that we are offering a calibration service for this unit, but there again I don't work in the engineering/manufacturing department, and so would not necessarily have found out if this is only a very recent development. I'd suggest calling +1 714 751 7998 between 7am and 3pm Pacific time (if the time difference with Australia enables you to do that at a civilized hour) or emailing sales {at} movingimagetech.com.