Been reading the thread about the voices and have seen the demo, but the people who own it don't seem to be complaining. I personally have no real issue with the default ATC. The voices sound great, but I have used EVP to speed them up since Lars released this wonderful feature. Watching a demo video of another product though not using the accelerated voice pack the other day had me in tears though. :-lol They sounded like they were on Quaaludes.Anyhow, I really like the idea of having some latitude with respect to how I fly my plan, not the way MS sees fit when I'm IFR. Increases in altitude are one nice feature new to 2004, but altering the plan altogether for weather, traffic, or whatever is too much work. Not to mention wanted much more realistic handling of approaches and overall procedures in flight.Couple of questions:How soon are you able to find out what runway or approach you'll need when flying heavies? MS, as you know, can give you about 60 nm miles ATIS, but that's not much time if the runway and approach calls for some heavy editing of the FMC.The alert for traffic at high speeds in MS is bad as well. Is this new version better at calling alerts for conflicts when using AI? I only run UT at about 40%.How extensive is the list of identifiers for certain aircraft? Like calling a Piper Meridian, "Malibu" or "Meridian", and not just Piper, et cetera...

>Been reading the thread about the voices and have seen the>demo, but the people who own it don't seem to be complaining. >I personally have no real issue with the default ATC. The>voices sound great, but I have used EVP to speed them up since>Lars released this wonderful feature. Watching a demo video>of another product though not using the accelerated voice pack>the other day had me in tears though. :-lol They sounded>like they were on Quaaludes.>>Anyhow, I really like the idea of having some latitude with>respect to how I fly my plan, not the way MS sees fit when I'm>IFR. Increases in altitude are one nice feature new to 2004,>but altering the plan altogether for weather, traffic, or>whatever is too much work. Not to mention wanted much more>realistic handling of approaches and overall procedures in>flight.>>Couple of questions:>>How soon are you able to find out what runway or approach>you'll need when flying heavies? MS, as you know, can give>you about 60 nm miles ATIS, but that's not much time if the>runway and approach calls for some heavy editing of the FMC.about 60 miles, you can contact arrival atis, and find out what runway the ai are using, if there are ai. if there are no ai, then i know the winds, and will give you the best guess based on equipment (ils), runway length (your type of plane), and which way the wind is blowing.>>The alert for traffic at high speeds in MS is bad as well. Is>this new version better at calling alerts for conflicts when>using AI? I only run UT at about 40%.two things, i try to keep conflicts from happening. second, i will only call traffic if it is within 15 miles of you and a 1000 ft. SOP.most beta testers, and now new v4 users, run ai at 100%>>How extensive is the list of identifiers for certain aircraft?> Like calling a Piper Meridian, "Malibu" or "Meridian", and>not just Piper, et cetera... for ai? or for you? malibu and meridian are both available for you. if the ai are configured to be called malibu or meridian, then that is what they will be called. not sure how that would work for you.the concensus seems to be, the videos are much worse than the actual experience.jd

Wow, I get the sense that this version and the voices issue has you bummed out. Plenty of people have said it's really great and the naysayers have only watched the video. It's one of those things that may just have to propogate through the posts of actual users. I know when I like something I rave like crazy about it. I'm almost postive I'm going to give it an order tonight or tomorrow, just curious about a few things, not so much stuck on the voices from the demo.Regarding the runway use. You stated one can get it the same as I would in MS ATC. I'm wondering how this works with the IFR flights though, since they're always vectored at a certain point anyhow by TRACON. Does this work this way with RC4? You get altitude drop-downs and vectors for final approach?Anyhow, this new version is new, so I hope to help spread the good word. Happy holidays!

>Wow, I get the sense that this version and the voices issue>has you bummed out. Plenty of people have said it's really>great and the naysayers have only watched the video. It's one>of those things that may just have to propogate through the>posts of actual users. I know when I like something I rave>like crazy about it. I'm almost postive I'm going to give it>an order tonight or tomorrow, just curious about a few things,>not so much stuck on the voices from the demo.>>Regarding the runway use. You stated one can get it the same>as I would in MS ATC. I'm wondering how this works with the>IFR flights though, since they're always vectored at a certain>point anyhow by TRACON. Does this work this way with RC4? >You get altitude drop-downs and vectors for final approach?at 60 miles i can see ai that are landing/taking off at your arrival airport. if they are there, then i choose that runway, since i don't want to send you head on into a departing airplane, just because the wind would make the reciprocal preferred. ai do funny things. i work around them.yes i step you down from cruise, through a crossing restriction, and then step descents through downwind, base, intercept and final. i suggest before you make a decision, go to www.jdtllc.com, go to the documentation page, and download the manual. read the tutorials. they are in the middle of the manual. if you feel like reading the rest of the manual, go ahead. THEN if you like what you see, you like the features, make the purchase. read the manual again while the cd is shipped to you. then you'll be ready when it arrives.>>Anyhow, this new version is new, so I hope to help spread the>good word. Happy holidays!in the end of the day, doesn't really matter what the people who watch the videos say, or whether i should only have cd's are make it downloadable. in the end, did you get what you paid for.i think you will find the answer to that, will be a big Affirmativejd