Having come from a IBM 8086, to 95-98, XP and Vista,
95 Was a milestone, particularly for consumers. My big issue as alway been stability, 95/98 would crash and take the whole machine, while XP rarely takes the whole machine when a program freezed or crashes. While there are always issues with any OS, No OS will ever be prefect, some come closer then others, ie, OS X Linux, I run 2 xp and 1 vista machines here, and I recently had to reinstall vista, because it was so messed up from just being used.
Yes, 95 WAS important, However I don't think anyone will ever compare Vista with 95's impact, other then driving folks to diferant operating systems,,
Lets See If I own a company, and I like someone else's company that i think would go nice with mine and I offer to buy them and they say no. I really don't have much choice about what I can do, mostly just offer more money, or leave them be and hope the change their minds,,,
Unless I'm Microsoft,, in which case I threaten to make your life miserable until you either sell to us or roll over and die altogether . Actually I, being Microsoft, would rather you just die... Slowly,,
But then I'm not Microsoft, so I'm not trying to buy a company that don't want to be bought...
Apology accepted.. I have to admit I made some assumptions too.. Such as you are a lot younger then your are if you can remember watching Saturday morning TV in the 70's then your probably at least as old as I am.. Mid-40's.
I remember watching the original Star Trek, when it was on the first time. Over the last few years I have developed a passion for old movies, not that I don't like new movies, That and preserving the movie history, in a large part is part of our national history. One thing I would subject checking to see if you have TCM Turner Classic Movies..
Also check out my blog for my other ideas on this and other subjects in general, go back through the past few months and find the "Open Letter to the RIAA" among other essays,,
kenenthlawson.blogspot.com/
If as far back as you can remember watching a new movie is Star Wars your sadly missing a world of material which was produced long before you were born. . I venture to say that 99% is as good and most is better the anything produced today. You have your head in this now is good, forget the past mode, I can name at least three movies made in the 1940's that I'd rather watch then anything on tv most nights. A good move needs to be watched at least 2-3 times before you completly understand it if your watching carefully you'll find new stuff each time you watch it and you can take something new away . Try watching Casablanca,,"To have and have Not, Casablanca is considered the greatest love story/ wwII story ever done. the pairing of Bogart and Bacall is electric on the screen and off... So before you go dismissing old movies and any movie as not worth watch twice, try sitting down and really watching a movie and come back several months later and watch it again open minded..
In many ways they are,, However,, I had had 3 pvrs replaced because the hard failed so there goes everything on the hd.
There is a LOT to be said for backing stuff you REALLY want up onto dvd. The one thing you have to remember with pvrs is the drive is on and spinning the entire time the unit is on weather its doing anything or not..Therefore they are prone to go faster then a hd in computer which spins down when not in use... Evey one is singing the praises of Hds, there other thing thing to remember, even if it only a anlog copy, its still a DRM free copy..
The Perfect Set-top DVD Recorder...
I have had a set-top dvd recorder for a couple of years now, and overall I love it.
I use to make copies of movies off my dish network pvr, just like we used to do with vcrs.
However now I make better copies and its all digitial and can play in most anything that plays dvds.
I am getting a nice collection of old movies and tv specials and one-off specials from my local pbs station.
I'm not going to bore you with a list of my collection,
Right now, I focusing in on the hardware.
Over all it looks like a regular dvd player,, but the remote has that lovely little record button...!
There is where I'd make my first changes, one would be to better arrange the buttons, so the ones you use most, play record and pause, and stop were easily worked, without danger of hitting the wrong button.
I would also ad a finalize button, what most folks forget is that when a disc is done you have to finalize it like you do on a computer made dvd, as it is, at least with mine is I have to go down through 2 sets of menus to finalize a dis. what a pain. not bad when you know the way, but still a unnecessary pain.
One of the thing I love about this dvd recording in general is being able to put titles on the disc themselves when your done,, so when you put it in a machine you get a main menu, telling exactly whats on the disc.
There in lies my other change, I would make it easier to add the titles, one way to do this would be to add a wireless keyboard, possible with hot keys leading directly to main functions like editing titles and the like, it would make it easier to do menus. It should be packaged with the unit, along with the regular remote.
My other changes would be on the back of the unit, My unit would have a broader selection of inputs, not just the standred s-video, and rca plugs,
I would ad HDMI both in and out, possibly 2 HDMI inputs, and the ability to input fiber-optics and a fire wire and usb ,
I'd also let it record in high definition, either HD or Blue-ray, with at least 5.1 surround natively.
I am sure that the powers that be will never let such a unit be build and sold comericially,
But maybe some techie smarter then me will figure out how to make the HDMI inputs work and get the recording laser to see what we want it to see..
Meanwhile,I use my little magic box and dream digital dreams........
You may read read more of my ideas at kenenthlawson.blogspot.com/
I have a cheap Sylvania Model that I got like a year and half ago from like, Wal-mart. While its not prefect I have had very good luck with it. I also have have a Dish pvr, so a lot of stuff goes on the pvr and recorded to the dvd later. Granted its not prefect, However, I've had no problem playing disk made on the dvd recorder on my JVC ss system. In a prefect world everything would have have a digital input and a digital output, which will never happen. due to material owners and DRM. But thats a whole another rant.
I like my dvd recorder, I can use the slower speeds to get more material on a disc and I have put as many as 8-10 half hour shows on a disc. And once the disc is finalized it plays fine and looks pretty good.. The thing to remember is "garbage in garbage out," My sat receiver may be digital but it is down converted to analog to match my tv. thus only the rca outputs put on.. I use my dvd recorder at least once a week...
I use Pandora on my laptop to take the tunes with me..
I have several stations set up with different artist and I put it on and let it play.. I know who most of the artist are that way and I know what I'm getting at least generally.. And theres no commercials . Next best thing to listening to music off the satilete reviver in the Living room.. Now if I could stream music videos like that I'd totally Happy....lol
I, for one, am not ready to go vista, anytime soon.
As long as folks can continue to do the majority of the things the need to do on XP and their machine is not giving problems hardware wise I think they'll probably nurse their boxes along until they have no choice but to get a new box, by they most of the major problems with Vista should be worked out. (We can Hope)
Fortunately most machines within the last couple of years are very robust they should be good for a while.( Just ad more RAM.)
Re:U don't suppose it has anything to do with HD D
on
The End is Nigh for XP
·
· Score: 1
You have brought up at least one point that been barely touched on so far:, DRM . DRM is the bane of the digital medias gurus existence.
I could go on about copying lps to cassette the first time I played it, I'm not the only one who did this.
Back then, if you copy it to the media you could play it.
now cds have rootkits, A'La Sony, and Movies have their own coding and region codes to boot. My feeling is the DRM will only get worst over the next few years. The manufactures and Govement have bowed to the media makers, studios and distributors and included so much stuff its a wonder they even work.!
Apple just anouced the they're now selling DRM-free Music for more money.!
I waiting for my DVR to have restrictions on how long I can keep something my my hard drive , and who knows what else.
I tend to agree that early phasing out of XP is a way to get folks to move to vista and all its drm stuff to be able to play HD Content.
I would love a set-top DVD Burner the had a HDMI Imput to record HD straight from a HD reciver, that would be cool, But it'll never happen. at least I doubt it.
The only platform that is user frendly at more then XP is now and probably way better the Vistra could ever be is MAC. They got a lot right with the I-Life suite of tools, and followed the path that Windows should have, But I think its too late.
Well, maybe its time for a new monopoly,,,
Like Apple or Linux,
or something we've haven't of yet...
I've played with Knopix and was amazed at how much they packed on one CD, which shows how bloated Windows is and always been. As for Microsoft's monopoly:
The short version, is Microsoft was the world by the short hairs and it knows it..
Thanks for replying, and so fast,
From what I've seen the Mac OS seems to be generally ready to handle almost anything you want to do with it.
I use gmail so I don't worry about a email clint,
The whole I-Life thing seems to work very well, I think thats what most people need is audio video programs that are built in and just work, and work together,, and not have to mess with different programs to different things, that not even counting the patching and viruses and adware.
More arguments for Mac...LOL
Way to GO!!
Hopefully everyone will do that, As soona s I am able moneywise I am headed there too.
How has your experince with Mac been,switchover, everyday stuff and reliability , It can't be any worst the XP.
I for one would love to run Mac on my XP box and would love a dual boot thing between XP and MAC, that would the the way to go.
I think before I'd buy a vista system, I'd get a MAC, even a mini-mac would do, do a kvm switch and run both at the same time.
One Big external Hard drive between the two the them sharing mission critical stuff, i.e. photos, mp3 ect.
My first machine was a old IBM 8086,
From there I went to 95, then 98, finely on my second XP machine.
While on the whole XP was/is much better then 98, mostly more stable and not taking to whole machine if one program crashed. There have been days I'd loved to throw the whole thing out the window.
The point I getting to is APPLE,/ MAC.
I think that the move to kill XP so soon will drive a lot of folks to MAC,
I know MAC has its own issues. however the benefits to me seem to outweigh any issues.
I would expect to see MAC sales go up over the next year or so, as XP gets harder to find, and Folks find they don't want to help Microsoft break in a new system. and have to deal with stupid DRM and security stuff they shouldn't have to mess with.
Well, thats my rant for today..
Slashdot Mirror
Its Time to Stock up on XP Discs. Get several and don't open them until you need them. Or find a student version with a unlimited use code.
Having come from a IBM 8086, to 95-98, XP and Vista, 95 Was a milestone, particularly for consumers. My big issue as alway been stability, 95/98 would crash and take the whole machine, while XP rarely takes the whole machine when a program freezed or crashes. While there are always issues with any OS, No OS will ever be prefect, some come closer then others, ie, OS X Linux, I run 2 xp and 1 vista machines here, and I recently had to reinstall vista, because it was so messed up from just being used. Yes, 95 WAS important, However I don't think anyone will ever compare Vista with 95's impact, other then driving folks to diferant operating systems,,
Lets See If I own a company, and I like someone else's company that i think would go nice with mine and I offer to buy them and they say no. I really don't have much choice about what I can do, mostly just offer more money, or leave them be and hope the change their minds,,, Unless I'm Microsoft,, in which case I threaten to make your life miserable until you either sell to us or roll over and die altogether . Actually I, being Microsoft, would rather you just die... Slowly,, But then I'm not Microsoft, so I'm not trying to buy a company that don't want to be bought...
Apology accepted.. I have to admit I made some assumptions too.. Such as you are a lot younger then your are if you can remember watching Saturday morning TV in the 70's then your probably at least as old as I am.. Mid-40's. I remember watching the original Star Trek, when it was on the first time. Over the last few years I have developed a passion for old movies, not that I don't like new movies, That and preserving the movie history, in a large part is part of our national history. One thing I would subject checking to see if you have TCM Turner Classic Movies.. Also check out my blog for my other ideas on this and other subjects in general, go back through the past few months and find the "Open Letter to the RIAA" among other essays,, kenenthlawson.blogspot.com/
If as far back as you can remember watching a new movie is Star Wars your sadly missing a world of material which was produced long before you were born. . I venture to say that 99% is as good and most is better the anything produced today. You have your head in this now is good, forget the past mode, I can name at least three movies made in the 1940's that I'd rather watch then anything on tv most nights. A good move needs to be watched at least 2-3 times before you completly understand it if your watching carefully you'll find new stuff each time you watch it and you can take something new away . Try watching Casablanca,,"To have and have Not, Casablanca is considered the greatest love story/ wwII story ever done. the pairing of Bogart and Bacall is electric on the screen and off... So before you go dismissing old movies and any movie as not worth watch twice, try sitting down and really watching a movie and come back several months later and watch it again open minded..
In many ways they are,, However,, I had had 3 pvrs replaced because the hard failed so there goes everything on the hd. There is a LOT to be said for backing stuff you REALLY want up onto dvd. The one thing you have to remember with pvrs is the drive is on and spinning the entire time the unit is on weather its doing anything or not..Therefore they are prone to go faster then a hd in computer which spins down when not in use... Evey one is singing the praises of Hds, there other thing thing to remember, even if it only a anlog copy, its still a DRM free copy..
The Perfect Set-top DVD Recorder... I have had a set-top dvd recorder for a couple of years now, and overall I love it. I use to make copies of movies off my dish network pvr, just like we used to do with vcrs. However now I make better copies and its all digitial and can play in most anything that plays dvds. I am getting a nice collection of old movies and tv specials and one-off specials from my local pbs station. I'm not going to bore you with a list of my collection, Right now, I focusing in on the hardware. Over all it looks like a regular dvd player,, but the remote has that lovely little record button...! There is where I'd make my first changes, one would be to better arrange the buttons, so the ones you use most, play record and pause, and stop were easily worked, without danger of hitting the wrong button. I would also ad a finalize button, what most folks forget is that when a disc is done you have to finalize it like you do on a computer made dvd, as it is, at least with mine is I have to go down through 2 sets of menus to finalize a dis. what a pain. not bad when you know the way, but still a unnecessary pain. One of the thing I love about this dvd recording in general is being able to put titles on the disc themselves when your done,, so when you put it in a machine you get a main menu, telling exactly whats on the disc. There in lies my other change, I would make it easier to add the titles, one way to do this would be to add a wireless keyboard, possible with hot keys leading directly to main functions like editing titles and the like, it would make it easier to do menus. It should be packaged with the unit, along with the regular remote. My other changes would be on the back of the unit, My unit would have a broader selection of inputs, not just the standred s-video, and rca plugs, I would ad HDMI both in and out, possibly 2 HDMI inputs, and the ability to input fiber-optics and a fire wire and usb , I'd also let it record in high definition, either HD or Blue-ray, with at least 5.1 surround natively. I am sure that the powers that be will never let such a unit be build and sold comericially, But maybe some techie smarter then me will figure out how to make the HDMI inputs work and get the recording laser to see what we want it to see.. Meanwhile ,I use my little magic box and dream digital dreams........
You may read read more of my ideas at kenenthlawson.blogspot.com/
I have a cheap Sylvania Model that I got like a year and half ago from like, Wal-mart. While its not prefect I have had very good luck with it. I also have have a Dish pvr, so a lot of stuff goes on the pvr and recorded to the dvd later. Granted its not prefect, However, I've had no problem playing disk made on the dvd recorder on my JVC ss system. In a prefect world everything would have have a digital input and a digital output, which will never happen. due to material owners and DRM. But thats a whole another rant. I like my dvd recorder, I can use the slower speeds to get more material on a disc and I have put as many as 8-10 half hour shows on a disc. And once the disc is finalized it plays fine and looks pretty good.. The thing to remember is "garbage in garbage out," My sat receiver may be digital but it is down converted to analog to match my tv. thus only the rca outputs put on.. I use my dvd recorder at least once a week...
I use Pandora on my laptop to take the tunes with me.. I have several stations set up with different artist and I put it on and let it play.. I know who most of the artist are that way and I know what I'm getting at least generally.. And theres no commercials . Next best thing to listening to music off the satilete reviver in the Living room.. Now if I could stream music videos like that I'd totally Happy....lol
I, for one, am not ready to go vista, anytime soon. As long as folks can continue to do the majority of the things the need to do on XP and their machine is not giving problems hardware wise I think they'll probably nurse their boxes along until they have no choice but to get a new box, by they most of the major problems with Vista should be worked out. (We can Hope) Fortunately most machines within the last couple of years are very robust they should be good for a while.( Just ad more RAM.)
You have brought up at least one point that been barely touched on so far:, DRM . DRM is the bane of the digital medias gurus existence. I could go on about copying lps to cassette the first time I played it, I'm not the only one who did this. Back then, if you copy it to the media you could play it. now cds have rootkits, A'La Sony, and Movies have their own coding and region codes to boot. My feeling is the DRM will only get worst over the next few years. The manufactures and Govement have bowed to the media makers, studios and distributors and included so much stuff its a wonder they even work.! Apple just anouced the they're now selling DRM-free Music for more money.! I waiting for my DVR to have restrictions on how long I can keep something my my hard drive , and who knows what else. I tend to agree that early phasing out of XP is a way to get folks to move to vista and all its drm stuff to be able to play HD Content. I would love a set-top DVD Burner the had a HDMI Imput to record HD straight from a HD reciver, that would be cool, But it'll never happen. at least I doubt it. The only platform that is user frendly at more then XP is now and probably way better the Vistra could ever be is MAC. They got a lot right with the I-Life suite of tools, and followed the path that Windows should have, But I think its too late.
Well, maybe its time for a new monopoly,,, ...
Like Apple or Linux,
or something we've haven't of yet
I've played with Knopix and was amazed at how much they packed on one CD, which shows how bloated Windows is and always been. As for Microsoft's monopoly:
The short version, is Microsoft was the world by the short hairs and it knows it..
Thanks for replying, and so fast, From what I've seen the Mac OS seems to be generally ready to handle almost anything you want to do with it. I use gmail so I don't worry about a email clint, The whole I-Life thing seems to work very well, I think thats what most people need is audio video programs that are built in and just work, and work together,, and not have to mess with different programs to different things, that not even counting the patching and viruses and adware. More arguments for Mac...LOL
Way to GO!! Hopefully everyone will do that, As soona s I am able moneywise I am headed there too. How has your experince with Mac been,switchover, everyday stuff and reliability , It can't be any worst the XP.
I for one would love to run Mac on my XP box and would love a dual boot thing between XP and MAC, that would the the way to go. I think before I'd buy a vista system, I'd get a MAC, even a mini-mac would do, do a kvm switch and run both at the same time. One Big external Hard drive between the two the them sharing mission critical stuff, i.e. photos, mp3 ect.
My first machine was a old IBM 8086, From there I went to 95, then 98, finely on my second XP machine. While on the whole XP was/is much better then 98, mostly more stable and not taking to whole machine if one program crashed. There have been days I'd loved to throw the whole thing out the window. The point I getting to is APPLE,/ MAC. I think that the move to kill XP so soon will drive a lot of folks to MAC, I know MAC has its own issues. however the benefits to me seem to outweigh any issues. I would expect to see MAC sales go up over the next year or so, as XP gets harder to find, and Folks find they don't want to help Microsoft break in a new system. and have to deal with stupid DRM and security stuff they shouldn't have to mess with. Well, thats my rant for today..