Between the time Johnny wrote the
Dog and when TDV’s web site went
under, monitor company Advueu has
sprung up offering support. In a state-
ment on TDV’s web site, Advueu’s
president Larry Wei writes: “Effective
February 1, 2004, Advueu Technology
Inc. has assumed full service and sup-
port for TDV Vision products for the dur
original warranty. All non-CRT products, including
LCD monitors, LCD TVs, and Tablet PCs, will be sup-
ported and serviced by Advueu at no charge during
the remainder of the warranty. Customers of TDV
Vision may contact Advueu Technology for support
and return authorizations by phone at 909.598.9077, by
fax at 909.348.0630, or online at http://www.advueu.com.
While Advueu is not providing returns for credit for
TDV products, Advueu will repair or replace defective
equipment covered under the original TDV warranty.”
Wei, who was traveling abroad at the writing of
this article, could not be reached for comment, but
an Advueu employee the Dog spoke with confirmed
that the company has taken over warranty for TDV’s
products. He attributed Johnny’s problems to thetransition period. The employee also said Advueu
did not actually make TDV’s products but has enough
replacement parts to accommodate the warranties
and repairs. The employee also said the warranty
was good on any TDV LCD monitors and Tablet PCs
still on store shelves.
More details on the exact terms of the deal were
not available and the Dog was unable to reach the
president of TDV for comment. Existing TDV custom-
ers should be comforted by the continuing warranty
period, but potential customers should probably
steer clear of older TDV components for now.Not Knockoffs
DEAR DOG: I’m a support rep from Lik-
Sang.com’s forums ( http://www.lik-sang.com ). I
read in your March column that a reader
complained about Code Underground going
under. In response, you mentioned “another
company selling a knockoff cable.” Many
people have falsely blamed Lik-Sang for Code
Underground’s problems.
Rest assured the [Xbox adapter] cable sold
at Lik-Sang is not a “knockoff” but rather a
factory-made cable, as opposed to the home-made cables of other companies. Lik-Sang is a
successful company in Hong Kong that won’t
disappear anytime soon, and we have a forum
with support reps like me and many other
knowledgeable users who can answer support
questions about the Xbox adapter or any of
the company’s other console game adapters.
As a matter of fact, we have a sticky post
which has not one but three working Xbox
controller drivers (including an archived copy
of Code Underground’s driver), and the inde-
pendently developed XBCD driver we have
linked is the best one available.
We have no reason to, or interest in, linkingto another site for support requests as we pos-
sess greater resources to solve users’ problems.
Also, Lik-Sang cannot include a driver disc with
the adapter because: 1) There are three different
drivers, and the best one is updated frequently;
and 2) the drivers are copyrighted. I think if you
try the Lik-Sang Xbox adapter with the XBCD
driver we have provided in the forums, you will
find it’s the best around.
— TJTHE DOG RESPONDS: Noted. On a related issue,
one of the Code Underground creators told the Dog
the site is expected to make a comeback, but as
of press time, http://www.codeunderground.com was
still coming up empty. As TJ said, drivers for the
Code Underground converters are available at Lik-
Sang.com. nREST ASSURED THE CABLE SOLD AT LIK-SANG IS NOT A
‘KNOCKOFF’ BUT RATHER A FACTORY-MADE CABLE, AS OP-
POSED TO THE HOME-MADE CABLE OF SOME COMPANIES.”
“
Lik-Sang’s Xbox-to-PC converter
is no knockoff, and full driver
support is available.Got a bone to pick with a vendor? Been spiked
by a fly-by-night operation? Sic The Dog on them
by writing [email protected]. The Dog
promises to get to as many letters as possible, but
only has four paws to work with.