"Changed my mind"On what Andy? On pursuing this odd hobby?:-).

Ben:Spoken as a former reviewer for Avsim AND the reviewer who helped to launch the FIRST Bravo Zulu award many years ago (still proud to see the B-Z logo I designed in use after all these years :-) )...I'm even offended by this accusation.The B-Z award is not a consensus of "voters", rather it is an award based on the views of the very talented and NON-PAID staff at Avsim. I know personnally that the staff of Avsim is WITHOUT REPROACH. (<--period). I know personally that Tom A and the other management at Avsim value honesty, integrity and dedication to this hobby almost to a fault! Again, the awards are totally subjective, therefore if those who decided to give PMDG the award liked the 747-400 better for ANY reason, then PMDG won the award. Nothing more and nothing less. ONLY ONE product could win the award and it did. There are no voters, paid or unpaid, therefore, your vomitous slander is unwelcomed to say the least. To make such a statement alludes to PMDG's 747-400 being without merit as compared to the LDS 767 which again is totally false. Were I still reviewing for Avsim I probably would have given PMDG the award also because from my VC slanted perspective the 747-400 took the product the extra mile. And considering the fact that both products are equally matched it is the one point win that will decide the victory. Why not retract your statement and chalk it up to your ignorance of the facts, issue a swift apology to both PMDG AND Avsim and save what little self-respect you have left.Regards,Mike T.

Just out of interest: Could you explain this ground breaking flight model ?Tero

I wouldn't say the PMDG744 flight model was ground breaking. Break away thrust is massive and IDLE thrust at high altitude is equally massive. Not to mention Fuel burn figures. Not that Ground breaking. (in my opinion) ;-)

Thanks Mike for putting the record straight. BTW, he can't apologize, at least not here. He is not welcome in our forums, and if he wants to send an apology, that's fine; he can do so by sending it to [email protected] to start. He may also want to do the same to PMDG. I doubt we'll see one, but I may be totally surprised. Again, thanks Mike, and as always, it is good to see you still here (oh, and thanks for the BZ graphic... it is getting a lot of miles on it..) :)

The only way to truly assess the gauge clairty would be to see it in the optimized target resolution. The pictures on our site are not optimized, and have been altered for size.

>Just out of interest: Could you explain this ground breaking>flight model ?>>TeroFor starters it was designed by a man who is qualified to (and does) make accurate performance models for real aircraft manufacturers. If Boeing trusts him I'm not sure what to say when PC flight simmers don't...A32X - we've had multiple active 747 line pilot customers comment on the accuracy of the performance model in our forum as well as the ones that participated in development - substantiate your claims please.

>The only way to truly assess the gauge clairty would be to>see it in the optimized target resolution. The pictures on our>site are not optimized, and have been altered for size. This view voiced by a few PMDG fans does not represent anyone who has worked on the PMDG plane or the beta process. Anyone who knows the LDS product also knows that the gauges in the latest release (LDS) were done on par with the current standards of developement and look fantasic. While I do not speak for PMDG, I think I can speak in general for the those on the team that there is nothing but a deep respect for what LDS has done and continue to produce. I will refrain from the silly childish arguments about flight models and the like and suggest that the muture amounst us also refrain from getting into fruitless battles about awards. If you enjoy a certain product over another than by all means enjoy it but do not attack others who feel and think differently. I would have been happy to see either win... [h4]Randy J. Smith[/h4]AMD 64 4000+|ASUS K8V DELUXE Socket 939|SAPPHIRE ATI X800XT PE{AGP}|MUNCHKIN 3200|80 gig SATA|DELL 1905FP 19" LCD|TRACKir PRO|

>Not to offend avsim.com , but i wonder how much money pmdg>paid off the voters to choose their product.>>i have no other explaination why they won over LDS...>>To make an accusation without fact is foolish...just because you feel like it does not make it true. If you are going to make an opinion then fine, but stating the above rhetoric is called slander without legitimate proof. For instance I could call you a idiot for saying the above, because I feel like it; but wait I don't have any facts that you are. Get the picture?//sarcasm off//

>Not to offend avsim.com , but i wonder how much money pmdg>paid off the voters to choose their product.>>i have no other explaination why they won over LDS...>>That statement was completely uncalled for! And I hope you all understand this is NOT how the LDS staff feel.Gary HayesLevel-D Simulations Development TeamNo im not a "real" pilot, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.P4 3.0ghz w/HT & FSB..Radeon X850XT 256MB..1 gig PC3200 DDR RAM..Sound Blaster Audigy w/5.1 THX

"747 ha sit over the 76 is the new ground it broke with the high fluidity of its VC cockpit which has never been seen before in FS.":-xxrotflmao The PMDG 747 performs worse in the VC on my system than the PMDG 737NG does. As far as fluidity goes with jetliners the real holders of that title are:1. Ariane's BBJ/737NG VCe2. LDS3. Koch Media ConcordAll three of these add-ons run circles around PMDG's 747 in the performance department...If you want to truly talk about first in VC technology look no farther than,1. RealAir (VC with 2D gauge Smoothness)2. Carenado (Best depiction of a GA model yet seen without Frame hit)3. DreamFleet (A leader for years, first to couple RXp gauges with release package)4. Aeroworx (first to give a truely interactive VC Environment among other things. No other add-on before offered clickable exit doors. Once again VC smooth as silk)These developers have raised the bar for everyone's benefit and have been a class act to follow. The PMDG 747 works as advertised for a certain group of users. The rest of us basically have a nice 747 to take screenshots of. Every developer above has not only delivered ground breaking work but didn't leave out simple basics like proper VC/cabin night lighting. It's hard for me to give 'kudos' to a package with glaring holes in the design.A true ground breaking effort is what DreamFleet is currently doing. Releasing products with virtually no bugs or shall I say 'Show Stoppers'... When the product in question goes to market it works. With all standard features of any basic aircraft (wings, interior lights, etc.) present. You put that together with never before seen features with each new release, that to me is ground breaking

The best screens I've seen from anyone would be Ariane's BBJ gauges. Look at those LCD displays at sunset and you can tell their modeling true glass displays. The effect is acomplished far better than what's given by both PMDG and LDS. The argument here seem trivial because both developers haven't truly modeled the look of glass displays...Even PSS did a better job than both PMDG and LDS with their A330/340 VC LCD screens. Actually PSS's version should be the standard if anything as you have true glass reflection going on... I'm surprised this didn't catch on...

Ryan with all due respect, you've also had real 744 drivers tell you there's glaring problems with your product as well. Most notably the sounds are far to loud in the flight deck. I know that for a fact as I've asked real 744 pilots right here in MPLS (who work at Northwest's 747 Level-D Simulators in Eagan MN). The VC doesn't have near the lighting options it should have or at least comparible to LDS's offering (we don't even what to talk about the cabin at night, it just stays bright throughout the whole flight. Forget about subtle reading light). Everyone who visited United's simulators in Denver should have caught this (VC lighting that is). When you walk in the simulator you can see the various lights around the cockpit. All that's fallen on def ears. Someone even contacted the actual 747 pilot of a video that was used for reference in your forums. He gave his professional opinion and that still didn't hold weight...

>The only way to truly assess the gauge clairty would be to>see it in the optimized target resolution. The pictures on our>site are not optimized, and have been altered for size.I agree, different compressions will make the "fine detail" in the gauges look different. I am not talking about just the fine detail in the gauges, I am talking about the entire appearance of the 2D panels. To me they look "washed out" with not much depth or punch to them, ( shallow contrast ratio,) compared to what I see from the PMDG 737 2D panels. ( the important thing is the "compared to " in the above sentence. Changing the resolution by a couple of hundred pixels should not affect the coarse detail of the image, only the fine detail due to compression.

Reminds me that I am puzzled that the PSS Concorde does not get mentioned much as a contender for anything. Amazingly clear panels, wonderful overall immersion, and a lot of attention to detail - at least to me.Can't though complain about the PMDG 747 and LDS 767 getting attention, because they are both very good.Michael