I think destin was trying to share the info/service that puget offers, while also not trying to get into the weeds of the subject (you know how “loud” techy people on the internet can be).
But at the same time it was an advert or else PS would not have traded views for free hardware.
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I agree…
At the end of the day, Destin’s not a computer hardware enthusiast — he’s a science communicator. He doesn’t have the time to go full-nerd on computer hardware. Video editing is a means, not an ends, and is of little interest to the majority of his audience.
Thus the point of the video was “If you have better things to do with your life, consider paying specialists [like these guys] to build you a tool that lets you get on with it.”
Since most people probably had no clue that such services even existed, raising awareness of the service was something analogous to a PSA.
I’m comfortable with the ethics of a PSA/infomercial hybrid video.
Ok. I was actually trying to close this topic because my point was something else. But I am very sleepy now so I’ll do a simulation scenario tomorrow and explain why such approach are wrong on multiple levels… It’s a small thing but creates a bigger problem for all party involves Puget, consumers, SED and viewers… Thanks…
To add to what everyone else said even if you know all that it is to know it can also be highly likely that you cannot spend the hours a professional service will on making a tailored made system in the best possible way. I am sure most enthusiasts do not go and test their build with a thermal camera or built as many systems as someone that does it 8 hours a day as a job. Plus a warranty that can be given by a company is also important for equipment that can be essential for you.
Yeah, I have watched most of the long video and it’s a lot better than the edited down version. There you get a really good feel of what Puget Systems is doing. Actually, I think the short version is doing a disservice, mostly because - as mentioned by Destin himself - he has very little experience with computer hardware. I would even go so far as to say only watch the long version:
(I love SmarterEveryDay)
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Warning! I am getting a bit off topic here on what I think makes documentaries good or bad.
I think what happened here is similar to bigger documentary productions, where there is no expert advising the editing and scripting team. Things get cut that would provide context, simplified explanations and short animations might not get the important point across, and so on …
I highly value videos (or articles for that matter) that distil a topic down to the most important points. It’s more efficient from an information transfer point of view. However, this is hard to get right and even then people might disagree on what is important enough to make the cut.
Destin, for the most part, is an awesome interviewer (and video producer) because he is passionate and it shows, especially on topics where he has a lot of knowledge. My opinion is, that when you are uncertain about a topic it is better to have a long form video with less cuts that leaves more context for the viewer and less cut down material that leaves room for interpretation and misunderstanding. When you are interviewing the experts, let them tell the story. (with as much context as possible, because you might miss something.
I am happy that he released an almost uncut version. I just wished he had the long version also on his main channel.
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I thought I’ll try with draw a diagram to better explain where’s the problem…
I am not disputing Puget systems and the value they bring… Where I live, here we have thousands of video editing, sfx, sound, 3D studios near me… There are many small businesses engineers that build systems for all sorts of requirements.
And it’s not only about system but also the software optimizations.
I’ll tell you a my personal experience… 2 years ago I was working with a studio on this crazy project to build 360 3D camera which involved 20 individual 4k cameras. back then there weren’t event many applications to stitch those 20 footage in proper 3D, and we were relying on beta software called CaraVR by Nuke studio. We had over 65 terabytes of footage which we had to stitch together.
We had to build 3 specialized computers to actually finish project in time… I was communicating with Nuke studio (software vendor) and few expert hardware engineers here… I worked with one hardware engineer particularly, did all the research and tested bunch of hardware to reach specific performance… I can guaranty you Pagus systems would not even commit the amount of details we were approaching…
My point it, the notion this video depicts, only Pagus systems and such entities are the only choice to derive and build and satisfy complex requirements is wrong… especially coming from smarter everyday… I get the sentiment of the video and I agree to most things…
Anyways, I like Smarter everyday but why people like Smarter Everyday Youtube Channel?
Probably because SED Contents are Interesting, Educational, Unbiased, Accurate, Probing nature etc etc.
Also because Destin Himself exhibits credibility, curiosity, exploratory, ingenuity, scientific Inquiry and also teaches his kids…
(declaimer: i might be wrong)
But I find wrong here, video makes assumptions that his requirements are very specific which can only be met by specialized curated service like Pagus or similar… Destine declared his motives as saving time yet he didn’t not approach this objectively instead used sentiments, which is fine except the video was trying hard to portray objectivity…
I like him and his contents because I trust him to not introduce biases on purpose, just like Wendell doesn’t do. this video hurts his ingenuity and credibility… and last thing, the video runs like an infomercial… which is fine except, he didn’t not declare it anywhere. I would have no issue at all if he did mention it as what it is… May be he thought it’s obvious but that’s still not an excuse to not mention…
In the case of SED, this approach is tad bit closer to with other entities like Google where they start deciding what’s good for their user… And that’s why it is a slippery slope… for SED, consumers and viewers…
I’ll tell you another example,
Like there are obsessed fps enthusiast and overclockers everywhere…
Also there’s are obsessed engineers who want to build and optimize machines all the time.
Because there’s money involved in it… Studios keep throwing requirements and independent engineers keep optimizing it…
It’s not much different from game community who build custom systems which often is better than ready solutions like Alienware.
If you pay close attention to the content of the video itself you will find that nowhere someone says that Puget Systems is the only way to go.
Try to approach this video from the point of view of someone that is not experienced with computer hardware. Incrementing part numbers and marketing can make an inexperienced buyer make a poor decisions when choosing hardware. This exactly is the premise of the video.
For people that have experience with hardware the video might get a wrong notion across. I interpreted your question the following way: Does this mean diy research is inferior to using Puget Systems? With your example and diagram you are asking a question, that arguably was not depicted in the video. For someone with a lot of hardware experience that has done research and probably his own testing for specific applications the answer to your question is obviously no. For the vast majority of people that don’t want to have this time investment the answer probably is yes.
I think of Puget Systems as more of a consulting service provider than a systems builder. They do what you did only for a broad spectrum of the workstation market. (And they do a lot of testing.)
This section of the behind the scenes video says what Pugets value proposition is ( and it’s also mentioned at 1:13 in the short video ):
Edit: I did only address the points in your post that I disagree with. I agree with you on the other points you brought up but I wanted to address where I think you missed the intention of the video by interpreting too much into it.
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yeah, My intention is to understand this. It’s not a big deal for me personally… it’s all good… 
Not specifically but a tons of places sentimentally. sentiments are often used to politically create biases in users mind… that’s what ads are… but at one place specifically Destin asked him who else is there doing similar things at around 4 minutes into the video. He replied he can’t say but there’s a huge void… Which I completely disagree… At least where I live there’s no void as such, the only void is there are no big companies like Pagus systems here instead such things are approached at micro level with communication with thousands of engineers and studios… Because they all want one thing… Save time on rendering and stuff so they can make more money…
Not exactly DIY research. as i said. collaborative research… it extends to entire media industry and hardware and software industry… There are specialist all over like Pagus except they don;t build computers, instead they provide research and intelligence… This video misses that mark…
I saw it… I agree it’s very useful for a ton of users… I don’t have any problem there…
Anyways, I think I was able to put my perspective. I like Pagus systems and SED and what they are doing… I had little issue with this video particularly… Which isn’t that bad… It only got so much into further because I decided to ask here… Otherwise it’s not a big deal…
I really dont like these statements.
Puget has a list of applications on their website that they specialize in. If the application you are using is not listed… then of course they wont be able to help.
Thats like saying you went to the car wash to get medical advice and they couldnt help you.
Sorry you are right… I was talking from perspective of the video… Not from Pagus POV. And I also chose wrong words to express what I meant…
Also there’s always like tons of micro level requirements which depends on new software, plugins, technologies…
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I see… in this case consider Puget as part of your research sources. They publish a lot of data. The structure of the site sometimes make it hard to navigate if you come in from a very specific angle. Otherwise I consider them a great resource.
My advice: Don’t put too much weight on what you think the sentiments of any information source are. The source might have different priorities than you, information might be skewed intentionally or unintentionally and most importantly you might be interpreting too much into something.
Look at exactly what he said here. He did not say threre is nobody else out there. Yes, Destin should have followed up on that answer but from Pugets point of view the answer is perfectly reasonable. They are targeting a niche market and obviously there is enough demand that they can make money with it and even choose to not pursue certain market segments. Don’t interpret too much into that answer. Also the added value they provide is, that they publish their findings which barely any system builder or advisor for pc hardware does. They complement journalistic outlets like PCper, Anandtech etcetera.
My take
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i did… didn’t i? let’s close it here then… I think we all expressed our points clearly and reached to a reasonable consensus… Thanks for taking part in it…
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No worries. It also does not mean that you are wrong and I am right but I found that applying Occam’s razor to everyday life makes a lot of sense. Interpreting language is hard for me and there are too many ways to go wrong, so I choose to take the most simple interpretation unless there is good reason not to.
Edit: I always enjoy the discussions 
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Yeah. most times I don’t notice much of anything to dig any deeper… It’s only sometimes… I think this occurred to me because I started probing into why and how instead of who and what… Destin has other videos which are like this and I never mind anything as such… something in this video triggered me for some reason… That’s why I like Wendell because his motives are pretty clear and straight forward… If it’s an ad he’ll just say it…
I enjoy the discussion too… 
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@anotherriddle Ok I was going through longer video… I just realized that there was in fact actual exchange discussed but I didn’t get it before… So Pegus build and gave computer to Destine for free… If that’s what happened then everything makes sense… and this thread was never required so it’s null and void… I kinda feel stupid… 
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Don’t feel stupid, that’s no good. Learn from it and feel smarter(everyday)!
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Puget is doing tons of research and puts all of it out for the public to see completely free of charge. As far as I have seen they only use quality parts and do a fantastic job in assembly.
I can hardly think of any other PC builder or any company at all I would have less of a problem with to do sponsored content for.
yeah it’s all got confusing because I never realized it was actually a sponsored video. I was stressing on those points. This post is now useless, don’t worry about it…
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