Edmunds Members - Cars and Conversations (Archived)

roadburner

graphicguy said:

tjc78 said:

VCRs? Yeah Panasonic made some nice units. I had a high end Sony that actually died right around the same time I bought my first DVD player.

First DVD player was a Toshiba, first disc was Terminator 2. This was late 1997.

I can’t remember first CD, but the first player I had was an LXI from Sears. My mom (Santa?, lol) bought it for me in 1985 as an Xmas present at 7 years old. I still have it packed away and it worked last time I tried it except for a sticky loading drawer.

I never had Laserdisc, SVHS, Minidisc or HDDVD.

I flirted with digital copying on VHS tapes for a while. It was a “cludgy” process, but I was successful. Of course, you couldn’t play them in your car, which was the main reason I used to tape my tunes.

First CD player was a Magnavox (who was owned by Phillips...who in turn developed CD technology with Sony).

Laser disks were a bit before my time (or, they were out there but I couldn’t convince my parents to pony up for the technology).

MiniDisk and SVHS really never held much interest as they were niche players, at best.

However, I was knee deep in the HDDVD vs Blu-Ray tech fight. I chose to put my bet on Blu-Ray. I do know some people who have a sizable HDDVD collection and at least two HDDVD players (one as a spare). Good luck finding any of those, today. They offered no benefit over Blu-Ray, so no need for them.

I started my CD player hunt looking for a particular Magnavox that was being talked up by all the high-end audio magazines. I couldn’t find one and went back and forth between an Adcom and a Denon. I almost went with a Phillips but the sales guy p*ssed me off by badmouthing the Adcom and Denon. I ended up buying the Rotel from an authorized dealer who operated out of a house in a gated community. The house was crammed with all manner of high end equipment and cables. The owner looked like a chain smoking George Costanza. Nice guy however, and very knowledgeable. I don’t think that the HOA ever caught on to him.

oldfarmer50

graphicguy said:

Interesting article about the future (or lack thereof) about ICE drivetrains.....

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gasoline-is-becoming-worthless-210636353.html

I find that Yahoo news is little more than propaganda. Gee, my gas powered car will be worthless in 2035? How much would a 15 year old electric car be worth then?

dino001

I think electrics could at some point dominate a commuter car market, which is what majority of personal vehicles is used to. There are some issues to resolve, one would be (surprise!) power generation. Considering daily household allotment, it could quickly turn into blackouts if everybody suddenly parked an EV and attempted to charge it at the same time. US may still be in a decent shape with its current energy-intensive use outside of EV, but Europe could not handle millions that at all at its current household allocations.

sda

Yesterday I saw a Volt pull up to a gas pump. I don't ever recall seeing a Volt at a gas station and was a little puzzled why and then remembered, it also has a gas engine. duh I still think at this point in time the Volt is the best compromise of an EV type vehicle, at least you can still drive when the charge depletes. and aren't forced to wait at a charging station while it charges back up.

oldfarmer50

For you Fox body Mustang owners.

https://youtu.be/8AFrbYiCR2Y

stickguy

Michaell said:

stickguy said:

They aren’t going anywhere. Even if all (or most) new sales become electric, it will take a long time to retire the existing fleet of cars. And some applications probably never can switch over.

I could see a rule of EV or plug in with gas back up motors only though.

Like a Volt?

A volt or RAV4 prime (?) lug in, to me, is the ideal solution.

stickguy

dino001 said:

I think electrics could at some point dominate a commuter car market, which is what majority of personal vehicles is used to. There are some issues to resolve, one would be (surprise!) power generation. Considering daily household allotment, it could quickly turn into blackouts if everybody suddenly parked an EV and attempted to charge it at the same time. US may still be in a decent shape with its current energy-intensive use outside of EV, but Europe could not handle millions that at all at its current household allocations.

Need dominos to fall. Say, solar panels on the house with a storage wall for everyone with an EV. And solar generating commercial buildings. Stuff like that.

Michaell

stickguy said:

dino001 said:

I think electrics could at some point dominate a commuter car market, which is what majority of personal vehicles is used to. There are some issues to resolve, one would be (surprise!) power generation. Considering daily household allotment, it could quickly turn into blackouts if everybody suddenly parked an EV and attempted to charge it at the same time. US may still be in a decent shape with its current energy-intensive use outside of EV, but Europe could not handle millions that at all at its current household allocations.

Need dominos to fall. Say, solar panels on the house with a storage wall for everyone with an EV. And solar generating commercial buildings. Stuff like that.

I’ve got the solar panels; would be nice to add some sort of storage capacity.

fintail

I remember my dad bought an LXI stereo in maybe 1983-84, one of those component types in a tall cabinet with large rectangular speakers that were like pieces of furniture. It had a digital graphic equalizer, which was very cool to my young eyes, seeing it constantly in motion when music was played. IIRC it just pre-dated CDs for that, 2x cassette and a phonograph, I think. Our first VCR was older than that, a Sylvania model, woodgrain top loader. It soldiered on until around 1996-97, IIRC. It cost what seems like insane money when new (probably close to a grand), but it survived being used constantly by kids.

I recall for Christmas 1985, I got a Sony portable bookshelf/boombox type unit, with detachable speakers. No CD - not that fancy, but it had the cassette sensor that could detect the gaps between songs when using fast forward - still pretty cool at the time, especially for a kid.

tjc78 said:

VCRs? Yeah Panasonic made some nice units. I had a high end Sony that actually died right around the same time I bought my first DVD player.

First DVD player was a Toshiba, first disc was Terminator 2. This was late 1997.

I can’t remember first CD, but the first player I had was an LXI from Sears. My mom (Santa?, lol) bought it for me in 1985 as an Xmas present at 7 years old. I still have it packed away and it worked last time I tried it except for a sticky loading drawer.

I never had Laserdisc, SVHS, Minidisc or HDDVD.

Michaell

fintail said:

I remember my dad bought an LXI stereo in maybe 1983-84, one of those component types in a tall cabinet with large rectangular speakers that were like pieces of furniture. It had a digital graphic equalizer, which was very cool to my young eyes, seeing it constantly in motion when music was played. IIRC it just pre-dated CDs for that, 2x cassette and a phonograph, I think. Our first VCR was older than that, a Sylvania model, woodgrain top loader. It soldiered on until around 1996-97, IIRC. It cost what seems like insane money when new (probably close to a grand), but it survived being used constantly by kids.

I recall for Christmas 1985, I got a Sony portable bookshelf/boombox type unit, with detachable speakers. No CD - not that fancy, but it had the cassette sensor that could detect the gaps between songs when using fast forward - still pretty cool at the time, especially for a kid.

tjc78 said:

VCRs? Yeah Panasonic made some nice units. I had a high end Sony that actually died right around the same time I bought my first DVD player.

First DVD player was a Toshiba, first disc was Terminator 2. This was late 1997.

I can’t remember first CD, but the first player I had was an LXI from Sears. My mom (Santa?, lol) bought it for me in 1985 as an Xmas present at 7 years old. I still have it packed away and it worked last time I tried it except for a sticky loading drawer.

I never had Laserdisc, SVHS, Minidisc or HDDVD.

When my grandmother passed away in 1980, I received a few hundred dollars as an inheritance. I bought some Akai branded stereo equipment - an amplifier, a tuner and a cassette player, along with a couple of bookshelf sized speakers. All chrome-y and very high tech looking for the time.

I kept that equipment until I got married the second time in 1997.

driver100

It is hard to predict the future.....whatever happened to those little personal helicopters we were all going to be flying?

stickguy

Michaell said:

stickguy said:

dino001 said:

I think electrics could at some point dominate a commuter car market, which is what majority of personal vehicles is used to. There are some issues to resolve, one would be (surprise!) power generation. Considering daily household allotment, it could quickly turn into blackouts if everybody suddenly parked an EV and attempted to charge it at the same time. US may still be in a decent shape with its current energy-intensive use outside of EV, but Europe could not handle millions that at all at its current household allocations.

Need dominos to fall. Say, solar panels on the house with a storage wall for everyone with an EV. And solar generating commercial buildings. Stuff like that.

I’ve got the solar panels; would be nice to add some sort of storage capacity.

Call Elon and order up a power wall.

tjc78

fintail said:

I remember my dad bought an LXI stereo in maybe 1983-84, one of those component types in a tall cabinet with large rectangular speakers that were like pieces of furniture. It had a digital graphic equalizer, which was very cool to my young eyes, seeing it constantly in motion when music was played. IIRC it just pre-dated CDs for that, 2x cassette and a phonograph, I think. Our first VCR was older than that, a Sylvania model, woodgrain top loader. It soldiered on until around 1996-97, IIRC. It cost what seems like insane money when new (probably close to a grand), but it survived being used constantly by kids.

I recall for Christmas 1985, I got a Sony portable bookshelf/boombox type unit, with detachable speakers. No CD - not that fancy, but it had the cassette sensor that could detect the gaps between songs when using fast forward - still pretty cool at the time, especially for a kid.

tjc78 said:

VCRs? Yeah Panasonic made some nice units. I had a high end Sony that actually died right around the same time I bought my first DVD player.

First DVD player was a Toshiba, first disc was Terminator 2. This was late 1997.

I can’t remember first CD, but the first player I had was an LXI from Sears. My mom (Santa?, lol) bought it for me in 1985 as an Xmas present at 7 years old. I still have it packed away and it worked last time I tried it except for a sticky loading drawer.

I never had Laserdisc, SVHS, Minidisc or HDDVD.

That music search function on the cassettes was almost as awesome as auto reverse.

oldfarmer50

Michaell said:

stickguy said:

dino001 said:

I think electrics could at some point dominate a commuter car market, which is what majority of personal vehicles is used to. There are some issues to resolve, one would be (surprise!) power generation. Considering daily household allotment, it could quickly turn into blackouts if everybody suddenly parked an EV and attempted to charge it at the same time. US may still be in a decent shape with its current energy-intensive use outside of EV, but Europe could not handle millions that at all at its current household allocations.

Need dominos to fall. Say, solar panels on the house with a storage wall for everyone with an EV. And solar generating commercial buildings. Stuff like that.

I’ve got the solar panels; would be nice to add some sort of storage capacity.

At $8k per battery panel that could be some expensive electricity.

tjc78

graphicguy said:

tjc78 said:

VCRs? Yeah Panasonic made some nice units. I had a high end Sony that actually died right around the same time I bought my first DVD player.

First DVD player was a Toshiba, first disc was Terminator 2. This was late 1997.

I can’t remember first CD, but the first player I had was an LXI from Sears. My mom (Santa?, lol) bought it for me in 1985 as an Xmas present at 7 years old. I still have it packed away and it worked last time I tried it except for a sticky loading drawer.

I never had Laserdisc, SVHS, Minidisc or HDDVD.

I flirted with digital copying on VHS tapes for a while. It was a “cludgy” process, but I was successful. Of course, you couldn’t play them in your car, which was the main reason I used to tape my tunes.

First CD player was a Magnavox (who was owned by Phillips...who in turn developed CD technology with Sony).

Laser disks were a bit before my time (or, they were out there but I couldn’t convince my parents to pony up for the technology).

MiniDisk and SVHS really never held much interest as they were niche players, at best.

However, I was knee deep in the HDDVD vs Blu-Ray tech fight. I chose to put my bet on Blu-Ray. I do know some people who have a sizable HDDVD collection and at least two HDDVD players (one as a spare). Good luck finding any of those, today. They offered no benefit over Blu-Ray, so no need for them.

I always think about LD being a 90s thing but they actually pre-date CDs. The format never really took off here but was popular in Japan.

Pioneer really owned the market for them. IIRC one of their last efforts was a player that had a slot for DVD as well.

Michaell

stickguy said:

Michaell said:

stickguy said:

dino001 said:

I think electrics could at some point dominate a commuter car market, which is what majority of personal vehicles is used to. There are some issues to resolve, one would be (surprise!) power generation. Considering daily household allotment, it could quickly turn into blackouts if everybody suddenly parked an EV and attempted to charge it at the same time. US may still be in a decent shape with its current energy-intensive use outside of EV, but Europe could not handle millions that at all at its current household allocations.

Need dominos to fall. Say, solar panels on the house with a storage wall for everyone with an EV. And solar generating commercial buildings. Stuff like that.

I’ve got the solar panels; would be nice to add some sort of storage capacity.

Call Elon and order up a power wall.

Only if I commit to getting an EV. Not sure I'll be in this house long enough to want to invest in something like that, otherwise.

jmonroe1

driver100 said:

It is hard to predict the future.....whatever happened to those little personal helicopters we were all going to be flying?

Don’t tell us yours crashed and burned. Shoulda hired “The Guy” to pilot it for you.

jmonroe

dino001

roadburner said:

Yep, download iTunes and then load your CDs into it. Then transfer them to your phone.

I think many cars now don't require phone, you can also load your music on a USB stick and plug it into the USB port in your car. Just need to make sure to use file formats are accepted on your car. If you have any kind of musical ear, make sure you rip your music into proper format, i.e. lossless Apple ALAC or generic FLAC. It takes more memory, but I can't stand lossy formats, like mp3, mp4 or alike the sound is dull, often subtle accents are cut (e.g. faded drum or wind instruments in the background). The file format can be set in iTunes options. For 300 CDs you may need at larger memory on your iPhone and more space on your computer's HD, so if your phone memory is insufficient, you can do buy a large USB stick instead.

Ripping the music from your CDs will take a while, but it can also be kind of fun. You end up discovering some of your music you have not listened in long time.

sda

tjc78 said:

fintail said:

I remember my dad bought an LXI stereo in maybe 1983-84, one of those component types in a tall cabinet with large rectangular speakers that were like pieces of furniture. It had a digital graphic equalizer, which was very cool to my young eyes, seeing it constantly in motion when music was played. IIRC it just pre-dated CDs for that, 2x cassette and a phonograph, I think. Our first VCR was older than that, a Sylvania model, woodgrain top loader. It soldiered on until around 1996-97, IIRC. It cost what seems like insane money when new (probably close to a grand), but it survived being used constantly by kids.

I recall for Christmas 1985, I got a Sony portable bookshelf/boombox type unit, with detachable speakers. No CD - not that fancy, but it had the cassette sensor that could detect the gaps between songs when using fast forward - still pretty cool at the time, especially for a kid.

tjc78 said:

VCRs? Yeah Panasonic made some nice units. I had a high end Sony that actually died right around the same time I bought my first DVD player.

First DVD player was a Toshiba, first disc was Terminator 2. This was late 1997.

I can’t remember first CD, but the first player I had was an LXI from Sears. My mom (Santa?, lol) bought it for me in 1985 as an Xmas present at 7 years old. I still have it packed away and it worked last time I tried it except for a sticky loading drawer.

I never had Laserdisc, SVHS, Minidisc or HDDVD.

That music search function on the cassettes was almost as awesome as auto reverse.

Those two features were great, and the song you were listening to wasn't interrupted by a click and a pause like an 8 track often did.

[Deleted User]

I recall a recent discussion on SiriusXM radio. We've had the Tacoma for about a month now and I've been enjoying the free trial subscription, still sorting through all the channels, but it might be one of my little guilty pleasures once it expires. And loving the truck when I get to drive it just hit 500 miles yesterday

stickguy

At about $6-$8 a month, how much guilt can there possibly be?

[Deleted User]

stickguy said:

At about $6-$8 a month, how much guilt can there possibly be?

thus the qualifier "little"...

ab348

dad23 said:

stickguy said:

At about $6-$8 a month, how much guilt can there possibly be?

thus the qualifier "little"...

They will try to ding you for $20+ per month if you call to keep it active after the trial. Be sure to tell them you want to cancel at that point and then start dancing to their shady business practices.

andres3

stickguy said:

Andre, I think my current basement Sony is an SXRD. The DLP engine I think? A slimmer projection with a light engine and a bulb. Starting to get dimmer so I think it’s going out again. Replaced bulb twice over the years. Engine once under warranty. Next failure, it’s on the curb.

I love Crutchfield; they never taken down their website info on old models; case in point, this SXRD TV I bought towards the end of the year 2006:

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_15850A2000/Sony-KDS-50A2000.html

From what I gather, SXRD didn't mean DLP tech; I recall or believe Sony shied away from the "mirror" system of projection. Those early HDTV's with projection weren't the most reliable, I used mine up until it needed a 3rd light bulb replacement I think; and I think Sony may have done some partial "goodwill" warranty work on some minor part.

andres3

tjc78 said:

graphicguy said:

tjc78 said:

VCRs? Yeah Panasonic made some nice units. I had a high end Sony that actually died right around the same time I bought my first DVD player.

First DVD player was a Toshiba, first disc was Terminator 2. This was late 1997.

I can’t remember first CD, but the first player I had was an LXI from Sears. My mom (Santa?, lol) bought it for me in 1985 as an Xmas present at 7 years old. I still have it packed away and it worked last time I tried it except for a sticky loading drawer.

I never had Laserdisc, SVHS, Minidisc or HDDVD.

I flirted with digital copying on VHS tapes for a while. It was a “cludgy” process, but I was successful. Of course, you couldn’t play them in your car, which was the main reason I used to tape my tunes.

First CD player was a Magnavox (who was owned by Phillips...who in turn developed CD technology with Sony).

Laser disks were a bit before my time (or, they were out there but I couldn’t convince my parents to pony up for the technology).

MiniDisk and SVHS really never held much interest as they were niche players, at best.

However, I was knee deep in the HDDVD vs Blu-Ray tech fight. I chose to put my bet on Blu-Ray. I do know some people who have a sizable HDDVD collection and at least two HDDVD players (one as a spare). Good luck finding any of those, today. They offered no benefit over Blu-Ray, so no need for them.

I always think about LD being a 90s thing but they actually pre-date CDs. The format never really took off here but was popular in Japan.

Pioneer really owned the market for them. IIRC one of their last efforts was a player that had a slot for DVD as well.

I sat out the BluRay HDDVD fight as it seemed too similar to the Beta/VHS war that was sorta before my time. Also, progressive 480P DVD players were a nice improvement over the regular 480i DVD players and held me over.

Still, I'm fairly certain the "UNIVERSAL" players from Denon and OPPO will play HDDVD if they also play BluRay and Super Audio CD's and DVD-A (DVD-Audio Discs; typically recorded at 24 bit 96Khz).

If it's on a disc that's the same size as a CD or DVD, I believe my Oppo will play it.

*** Correction, I just bought a Blu Ray movie on Amazon and all it brings up on the screen is "YOU IDIOT, YOU BOUGHT A REGION B BluRay and this is not a REGION B UNIVERSAL Player."

Okay, I'm embellishing a bit. It just says "Region B disc will not play on this player." Blame the over zealous copy right protections programs of the big corporations for this. I should mail this movie to the UK; know anyone there?

stickguy

andres3 said:

stickguy said:

Andre, I think my current basement Sony is an SXRD. The DLP engine I think? A slimmer projection with a light engine and a bulb. Starting to get dimmer so I think it’s going out again. Replaced bulb twice over the years. Engine once under warranty. Next failure, it’s on the curb.

I love Crutchfield; they never taken down their website info on old models; case in point, this SXRD TV I bought towards the end of the year 2006:

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_15850A2000/Sony-KDS-50A2000.html

From what I gather, SXRD didn't mean DLP tech; I recall or believe Sony shied away from the "mirror" system of projection. Those early HDTV's with projection weren't the most reliable, I used mine up until it needed a 3rd light bulb replacement I think; and I think Sony may have done some partial "goodwill" warranty work on some minor part.

I looked while watching it this morning. That is exactly the model I have. I know I’ve replaced the bulb twice, and Sony replaced the light engine controller under warranty.

I’m nursing it along. Only use it when exercising. Fine for that even if the picture is a bit darker now.

andres3

imidazol97 said:

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

If we say "bungalo" in Florida no one knows what we are talking about, even if they are seniors. Bungalo is an English word. In Canada we usually call a one story small squarish house a bungalo, when a one story gets elongated it is called a ranch style, or possibly one story.

They are both basically rectangles. On a ranch the long side faces the street, on a bungalow, the narrow side faces the street. Bungalow, sometimes called a shotgun house. You could shoot a shotgun straight through the front door and out the back door.

A ranch is longer across the front....but never heard of a shotgun house but then guns are basically illegal in Canada, so the term might not sound good.

I guess those firearms still work whether legal or not. 1,073 shooting homicides in Canada 2014-2018. About the same as one month in Chicago.

Let's make it easier to compare, Canada has 1/10th of the population of the U.S.
Total homicides by guns in the U.S. in 2017.....39,773
Total homicides by guns in Canada in 2017......266.
Guns are basically illegal....except like shot guns for farmers or hunters at times of the year. You can go to a shooting range under lock and key. There are homicides, robberies, arguments, killing a cop, random shooting, etc., most are gang related.

Actually the total number of homicides in the US 19 2017 was just over 17,000. The almost 40K figure is total gun deaths of which the majority are suicides.

Thank you for posting that. The misuse of statistics by some groups is one of my pet peeves.

Mine too! If you are so weak in your argument as to deliberately "cook" the numbers, it just proves the other sides points are strong.

andres3

stickguy said:

andres3 said:

stickguy said:

Andre, I think my current basement Sony is an SXRD. The DLP engine I think? A slimmer projection with a light engine and a bulb. Starting to get dimmer so I think it’s going out again. Replaced bulb twice over the years. Engine once under warranty. Next failure, it’s on the curb.

I love Crutchfield; they never taken down their website info on old models; case in point, this SXRD TV I bought towards the end of the year 2006:

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_15850A2000/Sony-KDS-50A2000.html

From what I gather, SXRD didn't mean DLP tech; I recall or believe Sony shied away from the "mirror" system of projection. Those early HDTV's with projection weren't the most reliable, I used mine up until it needed a 3rd light bulb replacement I think; and I think Sony may have done some partial "goodwill" warranty work on some minor part.

I looked while watching it this morning. That is exactly the model I have. I know I’ve replaced the bulb twice, and Sony replaced the light engine controller under warranty.

I’m nursing it along. Only use it when exercising. Fine for that even if the picture is a bit darker now.

The bulbs were too expensive, and I didn't "trust" the knock-off wannabe bulbs. On my 2nd replacement I was able to recoup my money and a bit of change by selling it and being able to advertise "new bulb just replaced."

driver100

dad23 said:

I recall a recent discussion on SiriusXM radio. We've had the Tacoma for about a month now and I've been enjoying the free trial subscription, still sorting through all the channels, but it might be one of my little guilty pleasures once it expires. And loving the truck when I get to drive it just hit 500 miles yesterday

Is your Tacoma beige, flat gray, or electric blue?

fintail

I think we discussed this ages ago - I have an Oppo region-free Blu-ray/DVD player, from around 2010. I wonder what else it will play.

andres3 said:

*** Correction, I just bought a Blu Ray movie on Amazon and all it brings up on the screen is "YOU IDIOT, YOU BOUGHT A REGION B BluRay and this is not a REGION B UNIVERSAL Player."

Okay, I'm embellishing a bit. It just says "Region B disc will not play on this player." Blame the over zealous copy right protections programs of the big corporations for this. I should mail this movie to the UK; know anyone there?

sda

andres3 said:

tjc78 said:

graphicguy said:

tjc78 said:

VCRs? Yeah Panasonic made some nice units. I had a high end Sony that actually died right around the same time I bought my first DVD player.

First DVD player was a Toshiba, first disc was Terminator 2. This was late 1997.

I can’t remember first CD, but the first player I had was an LXI from Sears. My mom (Santa?, lol) bought it for me in 1985 as an Xmas present at 7 years old. I still have it packed away and it worked last time I tried it except for a sticky loading drawer.

I never had Laserdisc, SVHS, Minidisc or HDDVD.

I flirted with digital copying on VHS tapes for a while. It was a “cludgy” process, but I was successful. Of course, you couldn’t play them in your car, which was the main reason I used to tape my tunes.

First CD player was a Magnavox (who was owned by Phillips...who in turn developed CD technology with Sony).

Laser disks were a bit before my time (or, they were out there but I couldn’t convince my parents to pony up for the technology).

MiniDisk and SVHS really never held much interest as they were niche players, at best.

However, I was knee deep in the HDDVD vs Blu-Ray tech fight. I chose to put my bet on Blu-Ray. I do know some people who have a sizable HDDVD collection and at least two HDDVD players (one as a spare). Good luck finding any of those, today. They offered no benefit over Blu-Ray, so no need for them.

I always think about LD being a 90s thing but they actually pre-date CDs. The format never really took off here but was popular in Japan.

Pioneer really owned the market for them. IIRC one of their last efforts was a player that had a slot for DVD as well.

I sat out the BluRay HDDVD fight as it seemed too similar to the Beta/VHS war that was sorta before my time. Also, progressive 480P DVD players were a nice improvement over the regular 480i DVD players and held me over.

Still, I'm fairly certain the "UNIVERSAL" players from Denon and OPPO will play HDDVD if they also play BluRay and Super Audio CD's and DVD-A (DVD-Audio Discs; typically recorded at 24 bit 96Khz).

If it's on a disc that's the same size as a CD or DVD, I believe my Oppo will play it.

*** Correction, I just bought a Blu Ray movie on Amazon and all it brings up on the screen is "YOU IDIOT, YOU BOUGHT A REGION B BluRay and this is not a REGION B UNIVERSAL Player."

Okay, I'm embellishing a bit. It just says "Region B disc will not play on this player." Blame the over zealous copy right protections programs of the big corporations for this. I should mail this movie to the UK; know anyone there?

We've made that mistake as well. Very annoying. Lesson learned.

driver100

andres3 said:

imidazol97 said:

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

If we say "bungalo" in Florida no one knows what we are talking about, even if they are seniors. Bungalo is an English word. In Canada we usually call a one story small squarish house a bungalo, when a one story gets elongated it is called a ranch style, or possibly one story.

They are both basically rectangles. On a ranch the long side faces the street, on a bungalow, the narrow side faces the street. Bungalow, sometimes called a shotgun house. You could shoot a shotgun straight through the front door and out the back door.

A ranch is longer across the front....but never heard of a shotgun house but then guns are basically illegal in Canada, so the term might not sound good.

I guess those firearms still work whether legal or not. 1,073 shooting homicides in Canada 2014-2018. About the same as one month in Chicago.

Let's make it easier to compare, Canada has 1/10th of the population of the U.S.
Total homicides by guns in the U.S. in 2017.....39,773
Total homicides by guns in Canada in 2017......266.
Guns are basically illegal....except like shot guns for farmers or hunters at times of the year. You can go to a shooting range under lock and key. There are homicides, robberies, arguments, killing a cop, random shooting, etc., most are gang related.

Actually the total number of homicides in the US 19 2017 was just over 17,000. The almost 40K figure is total gun deaths of which the majority are suicides.

Thank you for posting that. The misuse of statistics by some groups is one of my pet peeves.

Mine too! If you are so weak in your argument as to deliberately "cook" the numbers, it just proves the other sides points are strong.

In my case I am truly sorry about using the wrong numbers, it was an accident. It was late and I was rushed, but even the corrected number which was much lower, was still pretty dramatic.

driver100

sda said:

andres3 said:

tjc78 said:

graphicguy said:

tjc78 said:

VCRs? Yeah Panasonic made some nice units. I had a high end Sony that actually died right around the same time I bought my first DVD player.

First DVD player was a Toshiba, first disc was Terminator 2. This was late 1997.

I can’t remember first CD, but the first player I had was an LXI from Sears. My mom (Santa?, lol) bought it for me in 1985 as an Xmas present at 7 years old. I still have it packed away and it worked last time I tried it except for a sticky loading drawer.

I never had Laserdisc, SVHS, Minidisc or HDDVD.

I flirted with digital copying on VHS tapes for a while. It was a “cludgy” process, but I was successful. Of course, you couldn’t play them in your car, which was the main reason I used to tape my tunes.

First CD player was a Magnavox (who was owned by Phillips...who in turn developed CD technology with Sony).

Laser disks were a bit before my time (or, they were out there but I couldn’t convince my parents to pony up for the technology).

MiniDisk and SVHS really never held much interest as they were niche players, at best.

However, I was knee deep in the HDDVD vs Blu-Ray tech fight. I chose to put my bet on Blu-Ray. I do know some people who have a sizable HDDVD collection and at least two HDDVD players (one as a spare). Good luck finding any of those, today. They offered no benefit over Blu-Ray, so no need for them.

I always think about LD being a 90s thing but they actually pre-date CDs. The format never really took off here but was popular in Japan.

Pioneer really owned the market for them. IIRC one of their last efforts was a player that had a slot for DVD as well.

It just says "Region B disc will not play on this player." Blame the over zealous copy right protections programs of the big corporations for this. I should mail this movie to the UK; know anyone there?

We've made that mistake as well. Very annoying. Lesson learned.

That is annoying, but copyright rules are not to make your life miserable. Someone has to pay for the right to show someone else's work, and one jurisdiction - in this case the U.K paid for the use of that show, and copyright payments were not made for your area, so it can't be shown in your area. If you were the one making that TV show/movie then you would expect to be paid for it I would think.

[Deleted User]

driver100 said:

dad23 said:

I recall a recent discussion on SiriusXM radio. We've had the Tacoma for about a month now and I've been enjoying the free trial subscription, still sorting through all the channels, but it might be one of my little guilty pleasures once it expires. And loving the truck when I get to drive it just hit 500 miles yesterday

Is your Tacoma beige, flat gray, or electric blue?

It's Magnetic Gray, but I did consider the Cement at one time. My sister has a voodoo blue 4Runner, I didn't feel the need for the attention if you get my drift!

andres3

driver100 said:

andres3 said:

imidazol97 said:

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

If we say "bungalo" in Florida no one knows what we are talking about, even if they are seniors. Bungalo is an English word. In Canada we usually call a one story small squarish house a bungalo, when a one story gets elongated it is called a ranch style, or possibly one story.

They are both basically rectangles. On a ranch the long side faces the street, on a bungalow, the narrow side faces the street. Bungalow, sometimes called a shotgun house. You could shoot a shotgun straight through the front door and out the back door.

A ranch is longer across the front....but never heard of a shotgun house but then guns are basically illegal in Canada, so the term might not sound good.

I guess those firearms still work whether legal or not. 1,073 shooting homicides in Canada 2014-2018. About the same as one month in Chicago.

Let's make it easier to compare, Canada has 1/10th of the population of the U.S.
Total homicides by guns in the U.S. in 2017.....39,773
Total homicides by guns in Canada in 2017......266.
Guns are basically illegal....except like shot guns for farmers or hunters at times of the year. You can go to a shooting range under lock and key. There are homicides, robberies, arguments, killing a cop, random shooting, etc., most are gang related.

Actually the total number of homicides in the US 19 2017 was just over 17,000. The almost 40K figure is total gun deaths of which the majority are suicides.

Thank you for posting that. The misuse of statistics by some groups is one of my pet peeves.

Mine too! If you are so weak in your argument as to deliberately "cook" the numbers, it just proves the other sides points are strong.

In my case I am truly sorry about using the wrong numbers, it was an accident. It was late and I was rushed, but even the corrected number which was much lower, was still pretty dramatic.

I didn't mean you personally. Just in general if "one side" has to use faulty numbers, you have to wonder if they really believe their own argument, or just have some other agenda in mind.

andres3

driver100 said:

sda said:

andres3 said:

tjc78 said:

graphicguy said:

tjc78 said:

VCRs? Yeah Panasonic made some nice units. I had a high end Sony that actually died right around the same time I bought my first DVD player.

First DVD player was a Toshiba, first disc was Terminator 2. This was late 1997.

I can’t remember first CD, but the first player I had was an LXI from Sears. My mom (Santa?, lol) bought it for me in 1985 as an Xmas present at 7 years old. I still have it packed away and it worked last time I tried it except for a sticky loading drawer.

I never had Laserdisc, SVHS, Minidisc or HDDVD.

I flirted with digital copying on VHS tapes for a while. It was a “cludgy” process, but I was successful. Of course, you couldn’t play them in your car, which was the main reason I used to tape my tunes.

First CD player was a Magnavox (who was owned by Phillips...who in turn developed CD technology with Sony).

Laser disks were a bit before my time (or, they were out there but I couldn’t convince my parents to pony up for the technology).

MiniDisk and SVHS really never held much interest as they were niche players, at best.

However, I was knee deep in the HDDVD vs Blu-Ray tech fight. I chose to put my bet on Blu-Ray. I do know some people who have a sizable HDDVD collection and at least two HDDVD players (one as a spare). Good luck finding any of those, today. They offered no benefit over Blu-Ray, so no need for them.

I always think about LD being a 90s thing but they actually pre-date CDs. The format never really took off here but was popular in Japan.

Pioneer really owned the market for them. IIRC one of their last efforts was a player that had a slot for DVD as well.

It just says "Region B disc will not play on this player." Blame the over zealous copy right protections programs of the big corporations for this. I should mail this movie to the UK; know anyone there?

We've made that mistake as well. Very annoying. Lesson learned.

That is annoying, but copyright rules are not to make your life miserable. Someone has to pay for the right to show someone else's work, and one jurisdiction - in this case the U.K paid for the use of that show, and copyright payments were not made for your area, so it can't be shown in your area. If you were the one making that TV show/movie then you would expect to be paid for it I would think.

You mean the $10 to $15 you pay for the movie isn't enough?

The other fault lies with Amazon.... they've always been poor and sluggish with the labeling of their media formats. The picture of the movie bluray box on the website doesn't have the big Region B symbol my movie has. Fortunately, didn't have to get in a fight, Amazon has good customer service and refunded my money and didn't even ask for the disc back.

ab348

I had one of those Sony rear-projection LCD TVs. It had a great picture at first but over time problems developed. Aside from needing a new $100 bulb along the way, the "light engine" developed problems. After a couple of years, you could see a shadow when you watched a HD picture on either side of the screen where the black bars would appear while watching a SD channel (back then the majority of signals were still in SD). Then later I started to get prism-like rainbow effects at the bottom of the screen. Sony refused to do anything about it. These had a design flaw related to excess heat from the bulb but they wouldn't stand behind their product, so out the door it went. This was the first of several bad Sony products I've had.

driver100

andres3 said:

driver100 said:

andres3 said:

imidazol97 said:

snakeweasel said:

driver100 said:

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

houdini1 said:

driver100 said:

If we say "bungalo" in Florida no one knows what we are talking about, even if they are seniors. Bungalo is an English word. In Canada we usually call a one story small squarish house a bungalo, when a one story gets elongated it is called a ranch style, or possibly one story.

They are both basically rectangles. On a ranch the long side faces the street, on a bungalow, the narrow side faces the street. Bungalow, sometimes called a shotgun house. You could shoot a shotgun straight through the front door and out the back door.

A ranch is longer across the front....but never heard of a shotgun house but then guns are basically illegal in Canada, so the term might not sound good.

I guess those firearms still work whether legal or not. 1,073 shooting homicides in Canada 2014-2018. About the same as one month in Chicago.

Let's make it easier to compare, Canada has 1/10th of the population of the U.S.
Total homicides by guns in the U.S. in 2017.....39,773
Total homicides by guns in Canada in 2017......266.
Guns are basically illegal....except like shot guns for farmers or hunters at times of the year. You can go to a shooting range under lock and key. There are homicides, robberies, arguments, killing a cop, random shooting, etc., most are gang related.

Actually the total number of homicides in the US 19 2017 was just over 17,000. The almost 40K figure is total gun deaths of which the majority are suicides.

Thank you for posting that. The misuse of statistics by some groups is one of my pet peeves.

Mine too! If you are so weak in your argument as to deliberately "cook" the numbers, it just proves the other sides points are strong.

In my case I am truly sorry about using the wrong numbers, it was an accident. It was late and I was rushed, but even the corrected number which was much lower, was still pretty dramatic.

I didn't mean you personally. Just in general if "one side" has to use faulty numbers, you have to wonder if they really believe their own argument, or just have some other agenda in mind.

I agree, if you have to use fake numbers or twist them to make your argument, you lose all credibility.

driver100

ab348 said:

I had one of those Sony rear-projection LCD TVs. It had a great picture at first but over time problems developed. This was the first of several bad Sony products I've had.

We had one of those....I think they cost $8000 was it....or maybe $5000. I replaced the bulb twice in 5 years, and the bulbs cost $250 each time. Finally bit the bullet and got a real flat screen TV. Put the old Sony on Craigs List for $25....a lady wanted it so her son could use it for video games, which would be good at the time.....40 inch screen too! When she came to get it I waved the $25 fee, I was glad someone took it away.

omarman

from Wiki, "The U.S. Department of Justice reports that about 60% of all adult firearm deaths are by suicide."

@driver100 "and in Canada the total suicides were 80%."

Just to clarify that quote, "80%" of what are the total suicides in Canada? Is it the percentage of "all adult firearm deaths" in Canada?

RE: "Guns are basically illegal....except like shot guns for farmers or hunters at times of the year. You can go to a shooting range under lock and key. There are homicides, robberies, arguments, killing a cop, random shooting, etc., most are gang related."

You didn't even include "suicide" as a possible cause for any gun violence in Canada in your earlier post. That seems to be a common problem in the U.S. as well. Most people just don't seem to connect suicide with reported gun violence statistics. And as already pointed out it is a pretty dramatic number.

ab348

The big difference is that up here privately owned handguns are essentially not available to most people, as you have to take a course, get vetted and checked out by the RCMP and then jump through a bunch of hoops to even buy one. As a result most people don’t have one and have never seen one except for those carried by police. Of course the criminals don’t worry about that.

I remember being taken to a vendor’s house in Florida for dinner one time about 1990. He gave us the grand tour of the place (which was very posh) and when we got to the MBR someone asked if the patio doors weren’t a security concern. He went to each bedside table and showed us the matching revolvers kept in there for himself and his wife. We were astounded.

dino001

US has horrifying intentional homicide statistics for the developed world. As somebody mentioned, about 16 thousand, or almost 5 per 100 thousand people (2018). From Europe, only Russia and Ukraine beat this number (8.21, 6.2 resp.). From Western Europe, the highest rate were at Gibraltar (3.01) and Liechtenstein (2.64), but these countries don't even have 100 thousand people, so a single homicide in a given year is enough to catapult them to "high crime" states. So the first Western European country of consequence is Belgium (1.7) , then Finland (1.63). From major countries, France and England are 1.2, Germany 0.95, Italy with their mafia are at 0.57 (I find this number amazing, it would be interesting to look at number of "unexplained" deaths or disappearances, if these add anything). Essentially US is has a 3 to 5 times higher homicide rate than the aggregate than its major European counterparts. One can live in their own information bubble (it's easy these days), but nobody will convince me there is no connection between these numbers and access to firearms, legal or illegal. British patrol officer doesn't even carry a gun. Pepper spray, baton and stern look are apparently enough over there.

BTW, 20 thousand gun suicides is not OK, either. It's almost half of all suicides. Certainly a highly motivated individual would most likely find alternative means, but these in the moment might have not carried their intent through if they had to put more effort than just pulling a trigger.

oldfarmer50

That’s similar to my state, NY. Particularly NYC where almost no private citizen can get a handgun permit. Oh you can apply for one but the city will just sit on the application and never issue it.

Politicians get theirs almost instantly.

tjc78

I’ve had three different Sony LCD projection units. One died at over ten years old with a crappy generic bulb (probably did it in). The other I gave away via CL when we moved still working. The third an XBR unit (65”) I took with me because it still has a great picture. Kids use it in the basement.

omarman

Oct. 23, 2009, 12:24 PM EDT / Source: The Associated Press

Wielding submachine guns and pistols, British police are making armed patrols in crime-blighted London neighborhoods, a change in law enforcement tactics.

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."

dino001

These are special units in special situations. I meant a street “Bobby” cop somewhere in a provincial town on a regular patrol, not an antiterrorist patrols on high alert in London. But perhaps this was the past, I know their police militarization has been progressing just like here and special situations can be now roll easily into a norm. So I may have old knowledge.

driver100

omarman said:

from Wiki, "The U.S. Department of Justice reports that about 60% of all adult firearm deaths are by suicide."

@driver100 "and in Canada the total suicides were 80%."

Just to clarify that quote, "80%" of what are the total suicides in Canada? Is it the percentage of "all adult firearm deaths" in Canada?

You didn't even include "suicide" as a possible cause for any gun violence in Canada in your earlier post. That seems to be a common problem in the U.S. as well. Most people just don't seem to connect suicide with reported gun violence statistics. And as already pointed out it is a pretty dramatic number.

I didn't calculate it but I said there were 266 homicides in Canada in 2017. I'm not great at math but 80% more on top of that were suicides. The U.S. had 17000 homicides in 2017, on top of that an additional 40% were suicides. Canada's population is about 10% of the U.S.

I think those guns in Britain are new and only to fight things like international terrorism and to be used in certain situations....but, police had bobby sticks up until a decade or so ago.

I'm not being critical, the U.S. was founded on the principle to take up arms for protection. I get it, just makes you wonder when you see Dinos figures for Europe and Canada which is very similar in so many ways.

fintail

I'd also be leery of what is ruled a "suicide", not that I don't have 110% faith in the ability and honesty of our beloved authorities.

The "developed world" part is also important, not all parts of this great nation are as developed as others.

dino001 said:

US has horrifying intentional homicide statistics for the developed world. but these in the moment might have not carried their intent through if they had to put more effort than just pulling a trigger.

fintail

It was like living in the future, even on a little stereo that probably cost no more than $100 (which was more then, of course).

I look back and am amazed my parents were willing/able to buy all of these relatively expensive toys. Then again, housing costs as a function of income in this region were far lower then, my dad worked a lot of hours, and he liked gadgets.

sda said:

Those two features were great, and the song you were listening to wasn't interrupted by a click and a pause like an 8 track often did.

snakeweasel

graphicguy said:

Interesting article about the future (or lack thereof) about ICE drivetrains.....

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gasoline-is-becoming-worthless-210636353.html

I don't think the ICE is going away anytime soon. Until an EV becomes more affordable and can go 500 miles on a charge and be fully recharged in under 10 minutes with batteries that will last at least 150k miles there will be a market for ICE's. Not to mention it will be a long time until we can see electric semi's trucking cross country.