[dvd3500]

So my 15 year-old surround sound receiver gave up the electronic ghost over the weekend with a pop, whistle, smoke and squeal...

Now I was thoroughly happy with the system.
It was a 6.1 system (look it up) that handled all my favorite sound formats.

It had a phono input for the two times per year I listen to vinyl and all the other digital and analog inputs I needed.


Great sounds through Canton speakers.

Thanks to little add-ons it was even Bluetooth enabled!

Now I want the new system to be plug and play as much as possible.

When you try to google ANYTHING related to surround systems I discover I am in the realm of "I understand every word on this page but I still have no idea what it says".

After 30 minutes of finding NOTHING and I mean NOTHING I twigged and called the place I bought  it from all those years ago.

Their store is closed for some pandemic or something but luckily they have a decent website.
I literally went to the specials page, sorted by price, and clicked on the receivers looking for a phono connection and BAM... found one.

Did a double check that it works with my TV (which is over 10 years old at this point) and went ahead and bought it.

The point it is, there was a time in the early 2000s you could start with a search engine and actually FIND something other than just noise.

While I was at it I thought about my BluRay player getting up there.... My favorite brand was Philips as they could be unlocked to play American DVDs ... I can't even find out if  they make BluRay players anymore!

When you google "does philips still make bluray players" you don't get anything that really answers that

From what I can tell they make a 4K UHD BluRay player in 2018 so likely they have stopped. But do I know that for sure?!

So while we can get access to "stuff" we really get no knowledge or closure.

Kudos to the shop I am buying from though. Once I figured out what model I wanted they were on every price search that popped up. Sure they cost more than ama-zon but there is fun about picking things up on your own.


My son wants a PC for his birthday and I am dreading that as the last PC I bought was 2007 from Aldi and the last one I built was 2004 or 2005. I have no idea where to start and google is of course no help whatsoever..

Wisdom is a burden to others sometimes I guess...

[CMOTD]

I will always buy locally provided:
1) the shop knows the meaning of customer service and I am not confronted by an assistant who hasn't got a clue what they are selling and is not the slightest bit interested in their job.
2) the price is reasonably competitive. I don't expect internet prices in a bricks and mortar establishment but I draw the line at full RRP.

The really annoying thing for me though is firms that make their stuff obsolete and the new replacement is not compatible with the old. My Redring shower died recently, it was their most popular model and they sold millions of them. Needless to say it was now obsolete and spare parts cost a fortune. The new replacement model boasted SmartFit multi-entry connection options - 8 for water and 6 for power so I assumed that it would fit the old connections..........wrong! Not one of them matched up and my plumber had a pig of a job fitting it.  

On a positive note though, my Grasslin central heating timer also packed up, it was 25 years old and had been on the market for many years previously. I was fully expecting another struggle but, glory be, it is still being produced and the new one was simplicity itself to fit. Just undo a single screw, unplug the old one and fit the new.

[Anthony B]

Try and buy a new off the shelf laptop/desktop with a DVD/CD player/recorder installed!!!!!!!

Everything is now USB....    and I have about 800 music CD's and DVD's - never mind vinyl!!!

[BAracer]

Get an external plug-in cd/DVD drive... 

USB connection!

[Gordon Steadman]

Get an external plug-in cd/DVD drive... 

USB connection!

Absolutely. I've been using an Iomega USB DVD drive rather than the internal in my iMac for the last ten years. Still works perfectly.

I have all my music in three formats   Vinyl - of course - transferred to CD years ago and now all the CDs transferred to the Mac. Quite why I keep all of them I'm not sure as I tend to listen mostly to the Mac now as I'm deaf. Headphones are fine and I doubt I would hear the quality difference now.

Little headphone amp for me and a D class amp and speakers for Ronnie when we use the Mac as a TV. The other little box under there is an external DAC which is definitely better than the internal.
   

[Anthony B]

USB - pfffft you youngsters!!!

next you will tell me USB has better sounds than a vinyl

[Gordon Steadman]

USB - pfffft you youngsters!!!

next you will tell me USB has better sounds than a vinyl

In theory, USB has no sound quality but it can degrade it   However,l deaf as I am, I am very well aware that the very best digital reproduction is only just getting near to the quality of the best of vinyl. I must be getting old though as I've started to find the rigmarole of playing records puts me off bothering. Considering how long CDs have been with us, it's about time digits caught up.

As my brain is analogue, I suspect that digits don't quite convince it that what it's listening to is real even if, in theory, measurements try to tell us it's more accurate.

[CMOTD]

Why does a USB plug only fit one way up and why do I always try to put them in upside down?

[Ecurie Martini]

Why does a USB plug only fit one way up and why do I always try to put them in upside down?

USB C - There, fixed it for you.

EM

[Johnno]

How I learnt to not shop in bricks and mortar stores.

Recently, two weeks back, I tried to buy two 4TB NAS rated hard drives locally, of all six stores I phoned including Harvey Norman not one had it in stock, three simply were not even interested in the sale or discussion, with one completely losing the plot and saying, exact wording: f^&k off buddy hanging the phone up on me, that business which I will state here is: 

Holiday Coast Office, Taree, NSW, 2430, Dave Vernon (part owner)

who I was speaking with is one of the two owners of this pathetic business, someone who should know better than to speak that way to people in a small rural city, needless to say, I headed straight over to womo.com.au (Word Of Mouth Online) and left a review for this pathetic business man, and secondly the business itself.

This is the first I have mentioned this on a group or forum, though I have been and am still contemplating a Facebook post about this dip$hit.

Dave Vernon stated "people would rather head online just to save seven percent (7%)", and why wouldn't I when I am spending $4,500.00, a saving of $315.00. I went to my go-to online retailer mwave.com.au and placed the order with them, saving a total of $417 including free shipping.

I have pretty well given up supporting all local businesses in Taree, NSW, 2430 being able to supply anything other than the cheap and nasty products across any and all products you can think of.

There are major surprises along the way though which last week I found, Epson (epson.com.au) retailing their own printer at $449.00, yet Bing Lee are retailing the exact same printer for $319.00, I contacted both Epson and Bing Lee to see if this was an error on either behalf and Epson and Bing Lee both said No that is correct.. I was, and am still completely perplexed as to how the manufacturer can be $130.00 more expensive than one of their retailer outlets... needless to say I bought from Bing Lee.

Local businesses, regardless of the town, city, world location must wake the hell up and realise that we all have limited disposable income in these very hard times and if they want out money and business then they must behave, speak and treat all customers with much better attitudes and pricing to some degree, otherwise, the business will simply go broke and be forced to close, permanently.