Do you sometimes dislike the way technology is headed?

[Issac Zachary]

Overall, technology is great, in my opinion. But there are some things I just don't like how they are going.

 

I want my headphone jack!

Take the deletion of the headphone jack for an example. Now I had to get a Bluetooth to FM transmitter in order to hook up my wife's new Pixel phone to the car stereo, inspite of the car having an AUX port. I guess I could get a type C to headphone jack adapter, but then she charges her phone mostly in the car. The car, a 2013 Toyota Avalon, also has Bluetooth but it has stopped working, twice. About a year after taking it to a dealer and spending hundreds to get it fixed it stopped working again. This kind of stuff just leaves a bad taste in my mouth for newer technology.

 

Bluetooth hates me!

Bluetooth usually doesn't work for me. Not only does it not work in the car, I also went and bought my first bluetooth headphones and am also having problems with them too. Yes I got some cheap ones, a brand called PowerLocus, but I got them because of another thing. My current phone, the Pixel 4a, doesn't have FM radio. I bought these headphones because they also have an FM tuner in them, which works ok for listening to FM radio (sometimes I have to angle my head just right at work to get the signal).

 

Why have wireless if I need to wire them to my body anyway?!

Personally I prefer earphones (AKA earbuds) instead of headphones. Between me forgeting to plug in and charge my PowerLocus FM headphones and also not having an easy way to carry them around when not in use I end up just using my trusty Skull Candy wired earphones instead (at least my own phone has a headphone jack). Taking note of this, my mom got me some Beats wireless earphones as a present, but they need a lightning cable to charge, which I had to go buy one, and they fall off my ears. At least the Skull Candy ones are wired and therefore tethered to me. I don't see the point of using wireless earphones that I need to tie a string to so I can tie them to some part of my body anyway.

 

Where am I supposed to watch movies or get my music?!

I'm just not into some of these subscription services. Maybe I haven't tried enough of them, but the ones I've tried I just haven't liked. Netflix is horrible. When we first got it there were several movies we really liked. They are not on Netflix anymore and trying to find something to watch that we like on there is very hard. We've tied Hulu as well. I think we have better luck with good ol' free ATSC TV than trying to figure out what's subscription services have the movies and shows we like. The same with Music. I can't figure out Pandora, and while Apple Music is kind of nice they still don't have everything I'm looking for. I just don't feel I have the time to keep trying out subscription services that I feel probably won't be worth it in the end anyway. So I just listen to less music and watch fewer movies than ever before. Maybe this is a good thing.

 

I hate digital downloads and game subscriptions!

This whole subcription plan thing also pushes me away from wanting to get any newer console like a Switch. I can't get any online content on my Wii anymore. So Instead of buying newer consoles I put together a MiSTer and bought some old cartidges and CDs and prefer playing that instead of having to think about what subscriptions on what consoles get me the games we like to play and wondering how much longer those particular consoles and games will be supported.

 

Why can't they figure out a TV that looks good (to me)?!

That and I don't like how a lot of games look and feel on modern TV's. I've played some NES and SNES games on a couple of Switches that belong to friends, but I feel like something is messed up. When I go back home and drag out the ol' SNES and CRT I feel like it's almost an entirely different game. The controls feel responsive and the graphics look better IMO. I do find the MiSTer seems to do much better than the Switch in this regard. Maybe it's the Switch's controls, since I use original OEM controls via a low-latency USB adapter to use on the MiSTer. But having more options on the MiSTer to try to make the image look more like an actual CRT is a dream come true! I'm saving my pennies for a Retrotink 5x so I can have similar filters on my other retro consoles. If they put these options on a Switch I'd be more interested in one. But also a TV that had the option to look more CRTish would be great too. I find LCD screens to blur more when things are in motion and on mine the blacks seem to glow really badly. I've never seen an OLED in person, so maybe that would be a good TV, but I don't think I could afford one and am fearful of burning in.

 

Am I too old fashioned?

Maybe I'm just too old fashioned. Part of the reason I don't get into newer tech is I'm not that interested in newer songs, movies or videogames. Which is weird. I love the NES, the SNES, the N64 and the Gamecube! The Wii is ok, but I never felt the urge to buy a WiiU or a Switch. I can't figure it quite out, but playing at other people's homes on their consoles, games like Mario Odyessy and Breath of the Wild for some reason don't appeal to me even though I've always been a Mario and Zelda fan. I'm not sure what it is about these games that I don't like, but I just don't. The only reason I would want a Switch right now is to play Metroid Dread, and buying a whole console to play just one game just doesn't make sense. I mean, I absolutely love Link's Awakening, but I don't like the 3D graphics on the new Switch version. Why? I don't know, I guess it's just me, but my better half has similar opinions. So I guess it's just us.

 

Other stuff.

And we haven't even gotten into other things like cars. I don't like touch screens, generally speaking, especially in cars. I miss my manual transmission and funny car sounds. I feel like manufacturers try to sell new cars like some sort of fun and entertaining object that should make you look cool to your friends. But to me, a lot of old cars are cool. New cars are just practical means of moving from point A to point B. I miss my 1952 Plymouth Cranbrook, my 1972 VW Super Beetle, my 1985 VW Golf non-turbo diesel and my 1993 Mazda 323. But oh well, I'll probably get whatever's the cheapest to own when my current car is too expensive to repair, with a slight bias towards an EV for a few different reasons if not too expensive, just so I can have a way to get from point A to point B when walking or biking don't make sense.

 

Do you agree or disagree? Is there something in tech you don't like the way it's headed?

[dizmo]

Some interesting takes. Generally I like the way tech is going, but there's always growing pains. For example it'll probably be another 5 years before wireless earbuds have the same sound quality as their wired counterpart. Phones are insane compared to what they were when I first got one, and they're only improving; I can't wait until it replaces my tablet. I haven't had to carry a camera around in years, and that's only getting more and more true. Portable storage is super cheap. Google Assistant can play whatever I want in the car via Spotify.

 

I think you're just adverse to change. Which isn't uncommon, but definitely something that's going to leave you stuck, bitter and annoyed for the rest of your life.

 

 

On your points:

• Cheap bluetooth is a bad time. I've had it, it's not great. It's not all created equal.
• I don't miss the headphone jack, but I also don't listen to music on my phone.
• Your mom has a specific set of earbuds that has a connecting cable. That's a choice, it's not a requirement You don't have to have wires at all.
• You can buy movies, often very affordably, online if you want to watch them. This is the same as going to the store and renting would have been back in the day. Nothing has really changed other than the delivery method. Not liking what's on the platforms seems like a personal problem, not really a problem with the service.
• As for game subs, if you mean the Game Pass on Xbox, I think it's brilliant...as long as there's at least 2 games a year you'd want to play on it. The value is insane. I personally don't use it as there's only a few games that I like, and I just pay the $80 for them when they're released.
• The older systems aren't designed around the same technology, so it won't look the same. I can't remember why it is, but there is a reason for it. It's not that your TV doesn't look good, they look the best they ever have; you're just trying to use something that's not made to be used with it. My dad recently got a PS5, and it looks stunning on his 75" 4k TV.

[Issac Zachary]

47 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Phones are insane compared to what they were when I first got one, and they're only improving; I can't wait until it replaces my tablet.

Ya, me too. I find carrying around a phone, tablet and laptop and still owning a desktop to be a bit overkill, yet necessary at the same time. Of course when I did have a film camera cellphones, tablets and laptops weren't a thing yet. Actually most people didn't even own even a desktop at the time.

 

47 minutes ago, dizmo said:

I think you're just adverse to change. Which isn't uncommon, but definitely something that's going to leave you stuck, bitter and annoyed for the rest of your life.

Haha! You are probably right. I find this to be funny although true.

 

47 minutes ago, dizmo said:

You can buy movies, often very affordably, online if you want to watch them. This is the same as going to the store and renting would have been back in the day. Nothing has really changed other than the delivery method. Not liking what's on the platforms seems like a personal problem, not really a problem with the service.

One thing I loved about DVD's was the language selection. English isn't our family's first language. Like I say, I probably should look around more, but other than Netflix and Disney Plus, it seems everywhere else has gone back to the VHS days when you could only buy or rent movies in only one language, which is English when I've done so on Amazon and Youtube, unless it's a certain specific foreign movie that we're probably not interested in. We still buy and watch mostly DVD's as a result.

 

24 minutes ago, micha_vulpes said:

You should still have the option for both though. I do not see the need to force one, or the other in most cases.

I think this is a good point. Keep the option there until it's plainly obvious that the newer method is superior in most, if not all aspects.

 

24 minutes ago, micha_vulpes said:

Things I think you might be a little off base with

• SUBSCRIPTION MEDIA - When I was a kid you could sign up for music subscriptions and they would send you an LP or cassette a month, and if you paid more, you got more albums in the same period. Some of them were full albums, some were that months "hot chart topper singles". This is nothing new, and has been an option for my entire life. Lots of people did it. There were Book and Film of the Month clubs! There were sewing catalogs that would mail you new templates and fashions every month for you to work on. Old computrer magazines and clubs sent you new programs and games well into the early 2000's with sample code for you to program into your computer ( in ye olde days), or with demo discs and even sometimes full games (this is how ID software got started to make this relevant).
• Digital Licenses and software distribution: These have been around since the 90's to the average consumer via share ware and "teasers" that let you subscribe to unlock the rest of the game, or functionality. When they are done right they can be more convenient and often liked better than hard media that suffers from degradation - This is part of what made steam so great for a lot of people : it was just really darn convenient.

Very interesting. Although I can say that there have been a few digital licenses I've bought in the past that I can no longer use because the company is gone or no longer offers the download.

 

24 minutes ago, micha_vulpes said:

All touch screen with no feeling or physical back up is bad, but this is a implementation issue and not an actual issue with the tech itself.

My issue in a car is trying to use it while driving. As a bus driver I remember when they went to push button shifters. I can't tell you how many times I've hit neutral or reverse when trying to down shift or up shift for engine braking. At least on the car hitting the A/C button instead of the heater button isn't as nerve racking. But I must be really old if I can brag about being able to flawlessly double clutch a non-synchronized manual transmission yet can't seem to get a push button automatic to change to the appropiate gear.

[Issac Zachary]

11 minutes ago, micha_vulpes said:

Lol, another comment that can be said of 70-80 year old tech! My grandfather had a 57 DeSoto...It was push button gear select and it was awesome. If its vacuum based like this, the solenoids are not powerful enough to drop to reverse or are even fully locked out. Even modern manual cars gate the reverse with a lock out plate.

At least that had protruding physical buttons, only three speeds, the buttons were shaped differently one from the other and it wasn't the norm as there were other options. Trying to hit Allison transmission buttons in a bouncing bus driver's seat I think is still harder:

Anywho, a lot of things were available decades ago. But today, some of those things are becoming the standard accross all vehicles. What new car doesn't have a touchscreen? As an amateur radio operator I find it hard to figure out where and how to integrate my mobile radio as car companies make it so you can't modify the stereo system like on older vehicles and the infotainment system and center console time take up way too much space.

[saintlouisbagels]

1 hour ago, Issac Zachary said:

 

I want my headphone jack!

I've only encountered this as a problem 1 time since iPhone 7 began removed the port. I was on a 16hr flight recently and I brought my current-gen iPad Pro. I bought my wired headphones, and I even brought the Lightning to 3.5mm adapter. Motherf$#@ing iPad has no headphone jack and used USB-C!!

Other than that, my car has a headphone jack, and a USB-A port. When I want to listen to music on my phone, I always have the lightning adapter in my backpack, or I'll use my separate mp3 player. Plus I have bluetooth headphones - both AirPods and 3rd party. Never any problems.

 

Bluetooth hates me!

Genuinely have never had a problem with this, between many budget and many expensive Bluetooth options. I don't understand what other people are doing.

 

Where am I supposed to watch movies or get my music?!

I don't understand. This situation has barely changed.

 

Television? Live television still exists. DVDs and Blu-ray still exists. I don't understand people who complain about Netflix, Hulu, etc selections. They are filled with many thousands of hours of content. Just because the 5 seconds you spend reading the synopsis and looking at the promotion image looks uninteresting, it doesn't meant it's not good.

Movies? Literally the same situation. DVDs. Blu-ray. iTunes rental/purchase. Amazon rental/purchase.

Music?  Seriously dude? We're in the golden age of accessing any music we ever want. You want to own the music? Then use iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp, etc. Go to your local Target or Newbury comics and buy some CDs or Vinyl records.

 

Why can't they figure out a TV that looks good (to me)?!

You have a really niche issue... and it's also solvable with emulators and ROMs.

 

Am I too old fashioned?

It just seems like you're old-fashioned in all of the "old man yells at cloud" ways. Many things can still be done the old-fashioned way...

Music, film, TV, and video games are all a product of their time, and you also have the massive benefits of hindsight. We love to talk about how "things aren't as good as they use to be" but that's only because we filtered out all of the garbage and only talk about the good stuff. Quantitatively there was also so much less of everything back then. Nowadays there's just TOO MUCH of everything, and it's becoming harder to find the gems, but that doesn't mean those gems don't exist.

[cmndr]

I dislike "San Francisco Culture" and how it's selectively censored some views (that have traditionally been considered boring and non-controversial) while amplifying voices that I find toxic.
I dislike the idea of a "permanent record"
I dislike hyper-targeting. 
I dislike how customers are algorithmically milked for cash. 
 

[Issac Zachary]

  

22 minutes ago, saintlouisbagels said:

iTunes rental/purchase.

I really liked iTunes for watching movies until every movie I've purchased or rented from them will not show. I've talked about this several times with Apple to no avail, but their Windows app just won't work for me, and I'm running a 12th gen Intel Core i5 desktop, so I have no idea what is going on or why it won't work.

 

I can listen to iTunes music on my phone if I have Apple Music on the phone (Pixel 4a). But I believe I also need a subscription in order to have Apple Music. Maybe I'll get that subscription. It just seems overpriced for just one person and I can't convince my wife to use it. It is nice being able to download the music I like as a lot of places I drive does not have good cell reception for streaming.

 

27 minutes ago, saintlouisbagels said:

Amazon rental/purchase.

Only an option if it's in English.

 

28 minutes ago, saintlouisbagels said:

We love to talk about how "things aren't as good as they use to be" but that's only because we filtered out all of the garbage and only talk about the good stuff.

True. Nothing is all bad nor all good and it's easy to twist things one way or another by pointing out all the bad or all the good and not the other.

29 minutes ago, saintlouisbagels said:

Quantitatively there was also so much less of everything back then. Nowadays there's just TOO MUCH of everything, and it's becoming harder to find the gems, but that doesn't mean those gems don't exist.

That sums it up right there!

 

Also having the time for all the good stuff is also a challenge. For an example, I think the reason I'm not that interested in some Nintendo Switch games is I haven't finished all the previous games of the series. I've just started Mario 64, have wanted to play Super Mario Sunshine for years and so don't see the point of jumping to Super Mario Odyssey right now.

[Mr3950X]

Hardware side I can live with the changes but the data collection that companies are doing in the

background its just wrong.

 

I was thinking of virtual reality but then facebook dropped the clanger than you need a facebook account

and that put me off right away. I have no need and do not want facebook.

 

They probably have most of my data anyway from friends/family that use whatsapp etc.  If its on their

phone then they will have scanned my number. Waiting for a visit from the Daleks who will terminate

me if I don't get a facebook account.

 

 

[37748585862723896]

Soundbars

They mostly have very bad sound quality compared to antique sqeakers

 

Phone 3.5mm jack , micro sd slot, removable battery

Phone cpu, the mid ranges is downgrades from previous gens

 

Design and parts of the cars are great disappointment...

[Needfuldoer]

1 hour ago, 37748585862723896 said:

Soundbars

They mostly have very bad sound quality compared to antique sqeakers

I replaced a couple old hi-fi floor speakers and a flaky Yamaha 5.1 receiver with a sound bar/sub combo, for a few reasons:

 

- The controls on the receiver were janky, so I rarely used it.

- The setup was capable of getting way too loud for my relatively small living room.

- I needed to add at least three more speakers if I wanted full surround.

- Those speakers were huge, with a 2", 4", and 12" driver in each one. They're between the size of an end table and a mini-fridge.

 

The sound bar I settled on is a Samsung T650. It sounds fine (though maybe a little lacking in the high end), I've got a rear speaker kit coming, and I've already used it a lot more than the old setup because it "just works". I just had to add an RCA switch box, Insignia digital tuner, and an analog to SPDIF encoder to get back to feature parity, but I also gained HDMI ARC, HD Radio tuning, and built-in Bluetooth.

 

If I had an amp that worked properly that I could also program into my Logitech Harmony remote, I might have gone with bookshelf speakers and a dedicated sub.

[Seccedonien]

18 hours ago, Issac Zachary said:

I want my headphone jack!

Oh god yes this!

I hate that I need to choose between charging my phone or listening to music when my earbuds are dead. I also hate that for some reason with my new S23+ phone doesn't allow me to use my cheap earbuds, they just don't work with the supplied USB C to mini jack plug for most likely software reasons (it works on my old phone just fine).

The phone itself is not even thin enough to claim that it was to make the phone thinner either.

[Totallycasual]

I'm sick to death of companies selling electronic good and software that is configured in the most dangerous way possible in terms of data security and privacy etc.  Every fucking time my family buys something, i have to do a deep dive on the settings and make it safe before it can be used

[Issac Zachary]

11 minutes ago, Totallycasual said:

I'm sick to death of companies selling electronic good and software that is configured in the most dangerous way possible in terms of data security and privacy etc.  Every fucking time my family buys something, i have to do a deep dive on the settings and make it safe before it can be used

In another thread I was trying to figure out how to do the 3-2-1 rule with the stuff Microsoft ships with Windows 10 and 11. But Microsoft has made it to where you can either backup to the cloud (OneDrive) or to a second hard drive (Backup and Restore or File History) but you can't do both. Microsoft has attempted to make it impossible to do this making you choose either backups to the cloud or backups to the second hard drive but not both. Why?!

 

I got a copy of SyncToy (which Microsoft no longer offers) and was able to backup my OneDrive folder with that.

[freeagent]

It would be better for all of us to go back to life before the internet, and computers

 

Too late for that unless we start fresh..

[Issac Zachary]

4 hours ago, freeagent said:

It would be better for all of us to go back to life before the internet, and computers

 

Too late for that unless we start fresh..

In some ways yes, in some ways no.

 

It would be great to have a world where we used everything for good and didn't have dilemas forcing us to choose our evil.

 

I went without a smartphone all last year. It was great in some aspects but not that great in others. I came to a somewhat happy medium by getting a smartphone and putting parental controls on it that lock out everything I don't really want to have with me everywhere I go, regardless of how much I like them or how much others think I should have access to them all the time. I do not have access to YouTube, Floatplane or any other video service on my phone. The same with search engines, social media, and forums like this site. If I want to watch a Linus Tech Tips video, for an example, I have to come home and turn on the desktop to see it. That way, if I need to use my bank app or maps while I'm out and about, I still can. But anything else that could be left for when I get home has to be left for when I get home.

[Issac Zachary]

I forgot to mention that the devices I connect to my phone via Bluetooth seem to always cut out as the song plays, and I'm not sure why. And I mean like really bad, it just cuts and crackles once or a few times every second. I'm guessing there's something wrong with my phone, the Pixel 4a, but I don't feel like trading phones in just yet because maybe it's the cheap Bluetooth devices I have. And the car won't connect to any phone anymore. Anyhow, it's frusterating.

[Mark Kaine]

On 6/23/2023 at 7:30 PM, Issac Zachary said:

I want my headphone jack!

false premise because they still sell phones with headphone jacks, so this is a *you* issue for not doing basic research. 

 

 

On 6/23/2023 at 7:30 PM, Issac Zachary said:

Bluetooth hates me!

Bluetooth is fine, except for sound or mobile devices (like, ironically cars) ie. user/consumer choice error. 

My 2003 Clio 16V has a CD player ~ (still working)  

 

On 6/23/2023 at 9:46 PM, saintlouisbagels said:

Where am I supposed to watch movies or get my music?!

There are no movies worth watching and CDs are a thing.

 

 

On 6/23/2023 at 7:30 PM, Issac Zachary said:

I hate digital downloads and game subscriptions

buy a console,  or buy only physical media simply (although that limits your choices on pc)

ie. fomo issue/bad decision making if you cannot adapt (imho)

 

On 6/23/2023 at 7:30 PM, Issac Zachary said:

Why can't they figure out a TV that looks good (to me)?!

TVs are useless,  when monitors exist (even something like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/155409166922?hash=item242f1bb24a:g:WTgAAOSwOuRj7Acd would be preferable,  and there are much cheaper alternatives too)

 

On 6/23/2023 at 7:30 PM, Issac Zachary said:

Am I too old fashioned?

i don't know,  you just don't seem to understand tech or are having a severe case of fomo, because all those "dislikes" are completely avoidable.

 

 

 

 

PS: btw, i know that's not exactly what you probably wanted to hear, but to answer your actual question,  no, tech isn't going anywhere,  it's largely stagnating, since, at least a decade.

 

 

[Heats with Nvidia]

I second the headphone jack problem, but its also avoidable, but the trend is there. Every phone i own has one, so its not the worst.

 

My bigger problem is, that its pretty much impossible to get a small laptop that it rugged, but not as rugged (and expensive) as the toughbook, has a lot of replaceable parts, a RJ45 jack etc... Almost every small laptop is a macbook air copy. Nothing is replaceable, the battery is glued in etc... The best one i found so far, is the Framework. But its not exactly in the rugged category.

 

I am very happy that the trend to totally non-repairable devices that have to be thrown away when they have the smallest problem and arent upgradeable at least gets reversed a little.

 

The next big problem, i see, is that seemingly everything is now tied to a server that the manufacturer can switch off everyday they feel like it and then the device doesn`t work anymore or losses important features, although it technically could be used for many years to come.

 

The last one is, that data security, for many manufacturers, seems to be an afterthought, if they think about it at all.

Its much more important to gather as much data about every living being as possible, if they need the data, or not.

 

These  might not be an hardware issue per se, but every year it gets harder to find hardware that doesn`t come with software without these issues.

[Issac Zachary]

30 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

i know that's not exactly what you probably wanted to hear

I think you think you disagree with me or pointed out a lot of things I didn't already know, but quite on the contrary I liked your post and a lot of what you said is deffinitely spot on.

 

32 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

they still sell phones with headphone jacks, so this is a *you* issue for not doing basic research. 

My phone has a headphone jack. I've never bought one without one.

 

One thing I do admit to not having researched was that my current phone doesn't have FM radio. All my previous phones had FM radio. I thought it was a given that if it has a headphone jack, it must have FM radio too. I was wrong.

 

34 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

Bluetooth is fine, except for sound or mobile devices (like, ironically cars) ie. user/consumer choice error. 

My 2003 Clio 16V has a CD player ~ (still working)  

I totally agree. My car also has a working CD player and it's 10 years newer. I was also referring to audio problems. My Bluetooth mouse and Surface pen work fine.

 

35 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

There are no movies worth watching and CDs are a thing.

 

I agree. But try being a movie free family when you have kids. 

 

38 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

buy a console,  or buy only physical media simply (although that limits your choices on pc)

ie. fomo issue/bad decision making if you cannot adapt (imho)

I think you're out of touch with the way console gaming is going. A lot of physical games aren't actually physical, but rather digital downloads in disguise. Or at least they need the internet in order to work. Take Gran Turismo 7 needing to be hooked up to the internet on a PlayStation 5 in order to work even though you're not playing against any other players. And companies, like Nintendo and Sony, have showed how they would rather kill off their old digital download libraries and not preserve anything until the decide to resell them to their fans.

 

I have Atari 2600 games that still work. But at the rate things are going a person could buy a new console and dozens of "physical" games and 10 years from now won't be able to play a single one of them because they were, in reality, digital downloads that needed to be connected to a server that no longer exists.

1 hour ago, Mark Kaine said:

TVs are useless,  when monitors exist (even something like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/155409166922?hash=item242f1bb24a:g:WTgAAOSwOuRj7Acd would be preferable,  and there are much cheaper alternatives too)

CRT TV's are usually the only way to see interlaced video correctly, which some consoles, like the PS2, were designed to do primarely interlaced video.

 

Nice monitor by the way!

 

I do see my next flat panel "TV" being a monitor. That way I can avoid all the silly "smart TV" stuff.

[Mark Kaine]

2 hours ago, Issac Zachary said:

I think you think you disagree with me or pointed out a lot of things I didn't already know, but quite on the contrary I liked your post and a lot of what you said is deffinitely spot on.

... i wasn't sure... that's why I pointed all these things out, ie, yes these are issues but ones that can be mostly avoided (if someone knows how)

 

2 hours ago, Issac Zachary said:

think you're out of touch with the way console gaming is going. A lot of physical games aren't actually physical, but rather digital downloads in disguise.

oh, i know but i think its not that many , even games that *need* a patch/fix are usually fine in my experience.  so yes this exists but majority of games should still be possible to play without internet. 

 

 

2 hours ago, Issac Zachary said:

Nice monitor by the way!

yep, its the "holy grail" of CRT monitors as u may know : D

 

Quote

The monitor also has a maximum resolution of 2304x1440 at a refresh rate of 80 Hz—pretty good even by modern standards—and it can hit a super-smooth refresh rate of 160 Hz when the resolution is cut in half.

 

 

2 hours ago, Issac Zachary said:

I do see my next flat panel "TV" being a monitor. That way I can avoid all the silly "smart TV" stuff.

yeah, i don't watch TV, but when i did the last 10 years or so i was using my Asus MX279h (also still working  btw, but im using a 1440P MSI rn) and a satellite receiver and the picture was so much sharper and colors more accurate than any TV, especially at that price point.

[Zodiark1593]

4 hours ago, Issac Zachary said:

 

I think you're out of touch with the way console gaming is going. A lot of physical games aren't actually physical, but rather digital downloads in disguise. Or at least they need the internet in order to work. Take Gran Turismo 7 needing to be hooked up to the internet on a PlayStation 5 in order to work even though you're not playing against any other players. And companies, like Nintendo and Sony, have showed how they would rather kill off their old digital download libraries and not preserve anything until the decide to resell them to their fans.

I

This is a large part of the reason I went to PC gaming, as the degree and flexibility of the platform allows me to take more control over my games, and guarantee access. Emulation of older console games, for example, and GoG provides executables directly. Physical media is hardly relevant when I have backups of executables and image files. In this case, my drives are the physical media. 

[thrasher_565]

12 hours ago, freeagent said:

It would be better for all of us to go back to life before the internet, and computers

 

Too late for that unless we start fresh..

i mean everything is being dealted off the net so its coming...

ya can go back to playing consoles when games were games...

my back up is ill get ripped and play my offline games thats my plan...anyway.... i might start building an offline pc for games how ever i do that i dont no yet...

 

my biggest problem of buying "new" tech is reviews and finding things that are not broken... and trying to find good stuff.

2023 cant do wireless audio...

cant have one headset to many recervser...

cant have a headset with good anc and 40 hour+ cant have that...

cant buy a cheap camera....

cant buy a phone that transfers files from phone to pc...

i buy a "long" range bt transmiter and it keeps cutting out 3 feet away...

 

im just sick of buying broken crap... maybe its just ammazon is the problem?

 

the move from wired headset to wireless was big when i did find a working bt transmittor...

and the move from cd to flash drive for os install that also was nice...

Edited June 25, 2023 by thrasher_565

[wanderingfool2]

On 6/23/2023 at 11:16 AM, dizmo said:

The older systems aren't designed around the same technology, so it won't look the same. I can't remember why it is, but there is a reason for it. It's not that your TV doesn't look good, they look the best they ever have; you're just trying to use something that's not made to be used with it. My dad recently got a PS5, and it looks stunning on his 75" 4k TV.

SNES would draw to the CRT line by line, as CRT's effectively have an electron gun that sweeps across the screen.  There was still some delay, but overall the delay was pretty small and the frame is only as delayed as it takes to draw all the lines on the screen.

 

Modern TV's expect essentially an image to display, not a line.

 

For modern systems like Switch, when playing SNES games they use an emulator, which still then has to effectively emulate the same rendering line by line...so they usually have a buffer that they are storing the rendered image in and then when they reach the last line they have the image, in about the same timing as the original console did...but now they have to actually send it; which at that stage it means you send it to the TV which has latency.

 

So in essence you are taking the original time it took to render and adding on the new modern latency of the TV (which usually don't have great refresh rates).

 

 

My personal dislike, modern games using client based physics calculations on things like location.  I liked it better when the servers would also run the calculations preventing people from cheating as much.

[NadiaMayer]

The movement to central services for social media.

 

I'm hope we go back forums like this site.

 

it's why i just signed to this place Im sick of sites like reddit ceo and twitter muskrat controlling what we see and think. or when YouTube tried throw more stuff like shorts that  feel like my iq droping and shock when found out spend 3 hours on dumb TikTok reuploads.

[scrumptious starfruit]

On 6/23/2023 at 11:39 AM, micha_vulpes said:

When I was a kid you could sign up for music subscriptions and they would send you an LP or cassette a month, and if you paid more, you got more albums in the same period. Some of them were full albums, some were that months "hot chart topper singles".

Did you have to return them when you were done, or were they yours to keep? The main issue with subscription services to me is you never know if that movie you wanted to watch is still going to be there in a year. These days if there's something I know I want to watch in the future, I try and get a physical disk for that reason.

On 6/23/2023 at 12:46 PM, saintlouisbagels said:

Movies? Literally the same situation. DVDs. Blu-ray. iTunes rental/purchase. Amazon rental/purchase.

DVDs and Blu-Ray are better than nothing for sure, but they are far from what I would consider to be a great solution. They have high bitrate which is good, and since I physically own them, I'm not worried about them disappearing over time. That said, they require special hardware to play and can't easily be watched anywhere, so it's an unfortunate tradeoff. Ripping them is possible but not very convenient since it requires special hardware and software, and even then doesn't always work, eg I recently had a show which I ripped but one of the audio tracks fails to transfer properly due to a bug in the ripping software (there's not much choice in ripping software given it's kind of a legal grey area depending on jurisdiction).

 

Digital purchases like you mention (itunes/amazon) are more convenient than blu rays, but I'm not aware of any legal purchasing services that actually give you a full quality, drm-free download for movies (full quality meaning standard blu ray bitrate or better, not the awful bitrates they give you on all those streaming services). If you can't download it drm-free then you have similar issues as subscription services - if the company ever disappears or decides to pull out of that business segment, you'll lose access to it since they are the owners of the decryption keys. If you use hardware or operating system they don't approve of or support, you can't watch it. If you don't have internet access to verify their drm keys, you can't watch it. You don't own it.

 

Interestingly, the music industry is in a pretty good place here in comparison to movies, there's quite a few sites you can legally purchase and download CD quality drm-free music from. If you can't find the digital purchase, buying a CD is a nice fallback option, a bit inconvenient to rip but much less so than blu ray since the CDs aren't encrypted like blu rays are.