The Technology Vent and Rant Thread

[Quoth]

Yes they are.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Kieran Seymour

On a related note, I don't know if these were ever really a thing outside the UK, but I picked up a DVD box set of the old Cracker TV series with Robbie Coltrane last week and most of the discs have an unskippable video at the start, lecturing about the evils of piracy. Which, of course, anyone lucky enough to have a pirated set wouldn't be disadvantaged by!

This particular one has become a bit of a joke among collectors over the years, but at over a minute long it's really not very funny when all you want to do is check that all eleven discs of your new purchase are in fully working order.

So, remember, "You wouldn't steal a car..."

You do know that the only way to check if your discs are in fully working order is not a quick check but to watch everything.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You do know that the only way to check if your discs are in fully working order is not a quick check but to watch everything.

Ugh, my copy of Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country came pre-scratched and it outright locked up the DVD player mid-movie. Paramount sent me a replacement thankfully.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Ugh, my copy of Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country came pre-scratched and it outright locked up the DVD player mid-movie. Paramount sent me a replacement thankfully.

That's good that you got a replacement. Then thing is, many don't watch their discs in a timely enough manor so if something is wrong, they cannot get a replacement.

[ownedbycats]

Paramount's good about replacements. I also managed to crack the spindle-hole of one of my ST:TOS discs (the case is stupid) and they replaced that even though technically user error.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Paramount's good about replacements. I also managed to crack the spindle-hole of one of my TOS discs (the case is stupid) and they replaced that even though technically user error.

That is good customer service.

[Kieran Seymour]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

You do know that the only way to check if your discs are in fully working order is not a quick check but to watch everything.

After a visual inspection for physical defects and a quick flick through a couple of episodes to check for layer change issues, I've only encountered one disc in the past twenty years that subsequently proved to be problematic when sitting down to watch it properly. And I'm now getting on for 4,000 discs in total...

Much of that is down to the fact that I'm in the UK and manufacturing and QC standards for discs in Europe seem to have been rather more robust than for those produced at plants in the US and Mexico. There's been problems with Blu-rays released by a couple of labels around the end of the 2000s, but nothing quite on the scale of the notorious double-sided flipper discs and the self-destructing Warner Bros releases that have plagued North American collectors.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Then thing is, many don't watch their discs in a timely enough manor so if something is wrong, they cannot get a replacement.

to the manor born

What if I watch my DVD/Blu-Rays in an untimely row home?

[Martinoptic]

Originally Posted by DNSB

to the manor born

What if I watch my DVD/Blu-Rays in an untimely row home?

I think that ship has sailed...

The "modern way" seems to be streaming. I read somewhere that Disney are not releasing any new DVDs but streaming instead? I dont want to stream, I want a physical product.

As my parents used to tell me "I want never gets."

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Martinoptic

I think that ship has sailed...

The "modern way" seems to be streaming. I read somewhere that Disney are not releasing any new DVDs but streaming instead? I dont want to stream, I want a physical product.

As my parents used to tell me "I want never gets."

Does Disney want people to resort to piracy? Because that's how you get them to resort to piracy.

Probably also while they cry about losing money to piracy.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Kieran Seymour

After a visual inspection for physical defects and a quick flick through a couple of episodes to check for layer change issues, I've only encountered one disc in the past twenty years that subsequently proved to be problematic when sitting down to watch it properly. And I'm now getting on for 4,000 discs in total...

Much of that is down to the fact that I'm in the UK and manufacturing and QC standards for discs in Europe seem to have been rather more robust than for those produced at plants in the US and Mexico. There's been problems with Blu-rays released by a couple of labels around the end of the 2000s, but nothing quite on the scale of the notorious double-sided flipper discs and the self-destructing Warner Bros releases that have plagued North American collectors.

Which labels are a problem in the US?

[ownedbycats]

One of my headphone earpads just disintegrated. I'd already ordered a new one a few days ago thankfully, but its shipping from China.

[Kieran Seymour]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Which labels are a problem in the US?

Universal for the double-sided double-layer DVD flipper discs they used for TV series. They ended up re-releasing a lot of affected titles on single-sided discs later on.

And Warner had a major problem with their DVDs made between 2006 and 2008.

There's long lists of problematic titles out there - just have a Google.

[DNSB]

Feeling the joy of telling a friend that their "computer expert" nephew is an idiot. He set up their new wifi system and if there was a bad choice to be made, he made it. Aunt and uncle don't use anything that needs a connection from outside so he put 3 of their 7 devices in the DMZ with a port forwarded to port 80 on the device, he configured a password of abcd1234 for the "secure" network and the router admin password and left the guest/kids and IoT network unprotected. Their latest device are barely WiFi 6 and their home is a two level 1200 sq. feet. Covering this area obviously calls for a Asus BT8 WiFi 7 router with 3 nodes. Coverage is said to be 8850 sq feet (hmm... 8850 for a 1200 home... can we say overkill).

We ended up being allowed to return the $1100 Cdn package the nephew insisted was the minimum they needed and replaced it with a $320 Cdn router that did what they needed. The new router claims 2200 sq ft coverage so covers their home pretty well. The SSIDs for their secure network and the guest network now duplicate the SSIDs that their old router used, the new router had enough LAN ports that their TV and set top box are now hardwired though I'm not sure how much difference that will make. And they are very happy with the $750 back in their bank account.

Actually, I suspect the $750 is the biggest bonus for them.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by DNSB

The new router had enough LAN ports that their TV and set top box are now hardwired though I'm not sure how much difference that will make.

I'm always for hardwired even when it costs a bit of effort to run cables.
It seems that the whole world has gone wireless crazy for no reason.

Although, my steering wheel controls are Bluetooth because I have no "clock spring". I do steal power from the horn though.