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Post by cayen on Jul 6, 2009 12:56:40 GMT -5
okay I'm going to go ahead and throw out the other firebomb in the paranormal field just to get things over with.
While it is true that Digital Dowsing (on it's website and products) clearly states that this item is for entertainment purposes only. There is a solid reason for this, as the creator of the product goes to great lengths to not claim what comes through on his device. Just because the creator shy's away from making bold claims doesn't mean that the Ovilus isn't an interesting tool. (Yes I said tool not toy)
The Ovilus comes preloaded with 512 words in its internal dictionary. It also has a phonic mode capable of 72 different sounds which forms the basis to any spoken word in the english language. It also has a talking EMF mode, a digital dowsing rod mode, and several others I've neglected to try out. the real selling point to this device is the dictionary mode.
I have been very skeptical of this device, yet I own one. I have to wonder about how much is purely babble with an occasional relevant word to a question you ask the open air. The Ovilus uses EMF numbers to choose the word it speaks. The Ovilus will bounce around a few key words, Which I take as the base words for a room. It's not unlike sweeping a room for the base reading of a room then looking for high spikes in EMF. The problem with this device is the same source where it derives words, EMF. This product is really chatty and that chattiness is very random bouncing from word to word to word with very little Rhyme and reason.
This is were the Ovilus will give you a right hook. You need to pay attention to those words that it spews out. From time to time it will send out a word that does not appear in it's internal list of 512 words. You also need to watch for strings of related words coming from the ovilus. Each word has a random EMF number assigned to it. lowering the possiblity that words can be strung together in an enviroment. Yet it can and will hit those words.
This device has changed my perception on EMF and how humans affect this enviroment. Having used it many times I have had quite a few experiences that have left me scratching my head, wondering if maybe we've been looking at EMF the wrong way all these year. While I'm still not ready to call the Ovilus a standard item for any investigator, it is an item that needs alot more rigorous testing by both skeptics and believers in this field to get a full spectrum of results on this device.
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Post by qvparanormal on Jan 21, 2010 10:26:03 GMT -5
We utilized this device at a recent case (we borrowed it from a friend) and I was not impressed. It actually became a distraction as investigators became fixated on it and really left behind the normal investigation methods. EMF is great support data, but I think I'll stick with traditional EMF meters. Maybe if the technology is tweeked I'll reconsider. I am just glad I did not dump the large sum of cash for one of these things.
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Post by lowbattery71 on Jan 23, 2010 1:23:21 GMT -5
The biggest sticking point for me are the results themselves and just how these things produce them. They are being used to try an elicit responses from spirits, plain and simple. What I ask is just how these spirits know how to manipulate the inner mechanisms of these machines to produce the responses?
I find it difficult to believe that by introducing an object like the Ovilus into a supposedly haunted location that the possible interaction with an unknown and unseen entity is a result of said entity knowing just what to do to make the machine produce just the right words. I highly doubt that if the spirit of a woman from, say, the late 1800s is indeed haunting a location that she will have an intimate working knowledge of the technology and could then manipulate the magnetic fields in just the right way to dig just the right words from it to get a message across. The same goes for Shack Hacks, the Frank's Box, or any other RF scanning device. How could a spirit know exactly what is being said by every radio station that is being picked up by those machines and time it all out just right to create an intelligent response? It goes beyond likely into the realm of improbable.
These items are the OUIJA boards of the 21st century and nothing more. Talking boards were a very popular item and used quite extensively in parlor seances for a good portion of the early and mid 20th century. As society progressed and technology began rushing forward at breakneck speed it was only a matter of time before someone could put together a device that appears to give very accurate responses. A little understanding of the technology and just how improbable it is that the responses they produce are anything more than mere chance should be enough for any reasonable person to see that they've been designed to do ONE thing perfectly, and that is make their creators money. I personally like my money in my pocket, and not fueling Frank Sumption's savings account or Christopher Moon's retirement fund.
So as far as being an entertainment item - yes. If people have fun using these items and the results they give in a strictly entertaining way, it's all good. When people start introducing them into serious investigations they are not only doing what was mentioned before - taking the concentration of the researchers away from the location - they are adding the likelihood that real measurable data will not be taken seriously and also the very possible contamination of good, potential evidence.
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Post by sector7 on Feb 1, 2010 17:43:22 GMT -5
Entertainment purposes only is a catch all legal clause. He doesnt want to be sued if someone says demons are speaking through the ovilus and telling them to kill people and someone actually does it. I own an ovilus, but i do not fixate myself or my team on its use in an investigation. The way i look at it, i have heard many investigators say that the paranormal community has not advanced how it operates since it started, and now people are trying to make that advancement by experimenting with new tools. And thats good, but its going to take alot of research and trial and error before we ever get to something we can use, if ever. If these tools existed 100 years ago, people may be using them as much as a standard evp recorder and it may be widely accepted, but because we are so used to how we operate from the standards of old, new devices will always be looked down upon in some way.
My team takes the ovilus on all investigations, but its almost as if its not there. We do not base an investigation on the presence of this device. We set it to combination mode so it stays quiet until it has something to say, and we continue on with our investigation as we normally always have. If it says something, we make note of it, and move on. We have had some interesting results with it, but we will never use anything this device says as evidence.
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Post by lowbattery71 on Feb 1, 2010 19:26:32 GMT -5
But the problem is that the vocabulary is already there. The magnetic field fluctuations are what the box goes by to produce the response. Just how could any intelligent entity know all the words in the box, manipulate the magnetic field near it in just the right way to get that exact word out? And without even knowing what a spirit or ghost is, or even how or why there are magnetic field fluctuations at a location, can we take data from these machines as dialog?
Kudos for not using it as evidence, too. There are MANY folks who do use these machines and their results in their conclusions to clients, and that, by far, is completely unethical and undermines everything serious and ethical researchers strive for.
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Post by sector7 on Feb 3, 2010 19:56:15 GMT -5
You are correct that it has a pre-set dictionary. But the speak jet chip that it has is just human speech allophones. It is the compilation of tones we use to form words. While of course there will most likely never be a way to know how a spirit operates or how it could manipulate the magnetic field, the idea is that it can take those tones and manipulate them to form words. This is most likely why investigators hear words that are not programmed into the dictionary. That is also pretty much how the franks box/ghost box is also supposed to work.
Lets just say as an theoretical example that maybe the words that are programmed into the dictionary are heard more just due to natural magnetic field spikes, maybe they dont mean anything. Maybe only the words we hear that are not programmed have some sort of concrete intelligent response. Or, on the other hand maybe a spirit could use the pre programmed words more easily because they are already formed for them.
But even with that idea, there is no way to say how they could take this device and know where to find a word they want to use and make the device say it, how would they know what specific magnetic field level is needed to create that pre set word. But for all we know, when you die you could go to the other side and be flooded with information and become all knowing of the nature and atmosphere around you and how to manipulate it, maybe not.
The ovilus has helped me wonder about one thing though thats for sure. When i started using this device and getting some results, i began to think on why it isnt a constant thing. It made me look back at basic EVP.
Why is it when we capture an EVP its usually just a snippet, a phrase, or a response to a question. Why cant we capture them just talking all the time as if we were holding a conversation with a living person? Do spirits speak on different levels of the magnetic field and are able to change what level they are speaking on? Do they just speak on different or random levels hoping that at least one of them is the right one for us to hear them on? But what about when we actually hear that disembodied voice live at a location and we tell them we heard them, why don't they just keep talking on that level now that they know its the frequency we can hear them at? Or is it just that the level is in a constant sweeping motion and it doesnt matter when they speak, we can only hear them when it sweeps around to just the right spot and then we have to wait till it sweeps around again.
The ovilus is just an experimental device, i dont think even the creator is going to be able to give us answers on how it can or cannot be manipulated, we will never know. But, at least for me it got me thinking.
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pla
Newbie
Posts: 16
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Post by pla on Feb 5, 2010 15:49:20 GMT -5
My biggest problem with this device is that who set the vocabulary?? I mean, it might be trying to say, 'I would like some pizza', but the thing says, 'I'm gonna eat your heart out!!!!'
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