Nonsense. My mother has a TV with no component input. I bought her an RF convertor for her DVD player, and it delivers quite a good picture. My sister has one of those combined VCR/DVDs, which comes with an RF output. Her TV does have component input, but using the RF output makes it easier to use -- and has no effect on picture quality that I can see.
Come to think of it, I don't see how compressed video and RF outputs could combine to affect the picture.
Which zeroes in on the very first step for creating a successful web comic: draw some really funny strips. You'd think it was obvious, but almost all comic artist wanabees, skip this step! Especially here, where "Simulated Comic Product" is all too apt a title.
Before anybody accuses me of being a snob, I wish to point out that my absolute favorite online comic is the offensive, gross, disgusting, tasteless -- and extremely funny -- Sexy Losers.
My DVD player from 1998 or so is about to go in the trash because it does not recognize enough disks to be worthwhile.
Given the horror stories I hear about bad DVD players, 7 years is a pretty good run. I'd be curious to hear how long had it before it started malfunctioning. Did it start having problems recently, or has it always had problems that only recently reached an unacceptable level?
Paranoia means an unreasonable fear of persecution. You can be afraid of things that only exist in your imagination, and still be at risk from things in the real world. If I believe that George Bush and the Prince of Wales have directed the CIA and the Freemasons to reprogram my refrigerator to eat me, then I'm paranoid -- even if I don't notice that my best friend is plotting to kill me because he's in love with my girlfriend.
Oddly enough, the warmth issue is already with us. Not in lighting but in sound. Most amplifiers are solid state these days, but you still hear from people who insist that vacuum tubes provide a "warmer sound". Of course, what they call "warmth" a guy with an EE degree calls "distortion".
He's probably not doing anything wrong. From the sound of it, he's a knowledgable, careful techie, and has just had a run of bad luck with a technology that's not designed to last. I could be wrong about that, but if I'm not, there's nothing to tell him but "replace them when they break".
I often carp about silly Ask Slashdots, but I consider this to be a really good one -- even though the basic problem is going unsolved. It's nice when we can help somebody, but that's not the main point. If you just want to solve a technical problem, there are plenty of places that can do a better job of helping you than Slashdot. What makes a good Ask Slashdot (or any other good Slashdot story) is when we end up talking about an issue that's important to all of us, debating its nature and consequences, and generall educating each other.
I think the big problem with DVD players and drives is that the marketplace has dictated that they be a cheap, low-margin item. Consider: most DVD players don't even have RF outputs. Yeah, most people use component outputs, but RF is still widely used, and most VCRs and PVRs support it. Profit margins on DVD players must be really low for them to leave off a feature that's still pretty standard.
So how else do manufacturers cut corners? By skimping on quality control, obviously. If 20% of your production run dies within months of coming off the line, it costs you -- but apparently not as much as making your production methods bulletproof.
When my mother asked me to help her buy a DVD player, I knew she'd freak if she bought one that died quickly. So I looked hard for a model that has a solid reputation for never breaking down. Couldn't find a one. Even the expensive models from Big Name brands seem to get a lot of complaints that say, "Had it for a year, then it died." Thought of recommending a service contract, but that's almost as expensive as replacing the thing every other year. So I had her buy the cheapest one in sight, and crossed my fingers. So far so good.
Perhaps you're doing something wrong, but I think you've probably just had a run of bad luck. The only thing you can do is just replace the drives as they die. There ought to be a better answer to your problem than that -- but I really don't think there is.
I imagine there already is a lot, given all the scientific work that goes on in Antarctica. Except at the south pole itself. Why not there? Because it's a prime location for radio astronomy.
I mean, who got the cooler uniforms in the original BSG: the Viper Pilots, or the Space Nazis?
It's the same everywhere. Jedi vs Sith. Autobot vs Decepticon. Hippie vs Grammaton Cleric.
Pop culture doesn't count, since the people who make it are just immitators. George Lucas in particular consciously "paid homage" to the Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl in many scenes in the Star Wars movies.
I think that part of the reason the *real* Nazis were able to have such influence over the Germans* are things like Speer and his Cathedral of Light, their military having uniforms that say "I am an evil person, and I will go forth and enjoy doing evil things in style," etc.
The Nazi party did indeed give every German the honor of dressing up in a snazzy uniform. But they saw themselves as protectors of Aryan Purity, not evil people. The Evil Overlord cliche is 70 years of Hollywood imitating WW II propaganda movies.
I guess we've explained why SF lovers like fascist decor -- it looks cool. (Though there's always been a certain fascist mindset in SF. Heinlen. Pournelle. Stirling keeps saying, "On the other hand," but his heart is really in Power and Will.) But why do so many college campuses seem to shout "Il Duce loves you"???
The guy asked for "free resources on computer terminology for American Sign Language". Nothing about resources for learning ASL. Though that's a pretty simple Google too.
I had a similar experience when I joined a pre-Internet "online service provider". I couldn't get my account cancelled, so I told the credit card company not to honor any more charges from that provider. They were perfectly willing to reverse charges after the fact, but they simply didn't have a procedure for "don't accept any future charges from..." I finally had to close the account -- the only alternative to calling the credit card company every month, forever.
Vancouver holds up well when it's standing in for alien planets. But sometimes SG-1 tries to make it stand in for Colorado, which is less convincing.
College campuses make good alien/futuristic cities. When I was attending UC Riverside, Gene Roddenberry came and turned the campus into the stronghold of the 22nd-century mutant warlords. Which really doesn't say anything nice about the architecture....
So your defense is that you did start a thread about a topic you yourself consider stupid, but you only did so because you didn't get a joke? I think you should stop defending yourself while you're behind.
Slashdot Mirror
Nitpick: that's not a nitpick. You're providing important context. Jeez!
Come to think of it, I don't see how compressed video and RF outputs could combine to affect the picture.
Before anybody accuses me of being a snob, I wish to point out that my absolute favorite online comic is the offensive, gross, disgusting, tasteless -- and extremely funny -- Sexy Losers.
Paranoia means an unreasonable fear of persecution. You can be afraid of things that only exist in your imagination, and still be at risk from things in the real world. If I believe that George Bush and the Prince of Wales have directed the CIA and the Freemasons to reprogram my refrigerator to eat me, then I'm paranoid -- even if I don't notice that my best friend is plotting to kill me because he's in love with my girlfriend.
Oddly enough, the warmth issue is already with us. Not in lighting but in sound. Most amplifiers are solid state these days, but you still hear from people who insist that vacuum tubes provide a "warmer sound". Of course, what they call "warmth" a guy with an EE degree calls "distortion".
There are LEDs in the Bible? Boy, I was really not paying attention in Sunday School...
I often carp about silly Ask Slashdots, but I consider this to be a really good one -- even though the basic problem is going unsolved. It's nice when we can help somebody, but that's not the main point. If you just want to solve a technical problem, there are plenty of places that can do a better job of helping you than Slashdot. What makes a good Ask Slashdot (or any other good Slashdot story) is when we end up talking about an issue that's important to all of us, debating its nature and consequences, and generall educating each other.
So how else do manufacturers cut corners? By skimping on quality control, obviously. If 20% of your production run dies within months of coming off the line, it costs you -- but apparently not as much as making your production methods bulletproof.
When my mother asked me to help her buy a DVD player, I knew she'd freak if she bought one that died quickly. So I looked hard for a model that has a solid reputation for never breaking down. Couldn't find a one. Even the expensive models from Big Name brands seem to get a lot of complaints that say, "Had it for a year, then it died." Thought of recommending a service contract, but that's almost as expensive as replacing the thing every other year. So I had her buy the cheapest one in sight, and crossed my fingers. So far so good.
Perhaps you're doing something wrong, but I think you've probably just had a run of bad luck. The only thing you can do is just replace the drives as they die. There ought to be a better answer to your problem than that -- but I really don't think there is.
Your notion of "improved performance" may not be Microsoft's. These are the guys that invented dynamically resized swap files!
Logical enough. But then the game that defines RPG games isn't even a computer game.
I imagine there already is a lot, given all the scientific work that goes on in Antarctica. Except at the south pole itself. Why not there? Because it's a prime location for radio astronomy.
Don't even think about it. We've already got enough lame crossovers!!!!
Anyway, $15 per disk is pretty standard for DVDs.
I guess we've explained why SF lovers like fascist decor -- it looks cool. (Though there's always been a certain fascist mindset in SF. Heinlen. Pournelle. Stirling keeps saying, "On the other hand," but his heart is really in Power and Will.) But why do so many college campuses seem to shout "Il Duce loves you"???
The guy asked for "free resources on computer terminology for American Sign Language". Nothing about resources for learning ASL. Though that's a pretty simple Google too.
Because everybody who works at Microsoft is a compulsive tweaker.
There's this thing called Google...
Sci-Fi set designers and school architects are all Fascists at heart? That's disturbing...
Perhaps he was holding out for a movie that bore some resemblance to his original creation.
I had a similar experience when I joined a pre-Internet "online service provider". I couldn't get my account cancelled, so I told the credit card company not to honor any more charges from that provider. They were perfectly willing to reverse charges after the fact, but they simply didn't have a procedure for "don't accept any future charges from..." I finally had to close the account -- the only alternative to calling the credit card company every month, forever.
College campuses make good alien/futuristic cities. When I was attending UC Riverside, Gene Roddenberry came and turned the campus into the stronghold of the 22nd-century mutant warlords. Which really doesn't say anything nice about the architecture....
Majel Roddenberry's back yard?
So your defense is that you did start a thread about a topic you yourself consider stupid, but you only did so because you didn't get a joke? I think you should stop defending yourself while you're behind.
I'm pretty sure the town and the planet are different places. Unfortunately, the town government seems to be unaware of this!