I'll second the recommendation for the MX-700 (the IR version of the one parent used). After I bought a receiver, my wife was fed up with a different remote for the TV, cable box, and receiver, not to mention the VCR and DVD player.
We had an All-In-One remote that handled multiple devices, but it was hard to program. The computer programming method of the MX-700 makes it much easier. As parent noted, you can assign every button to punch-through or activate a macro. What he didn't mention was exactly how easy it is. Just click on the correct device and you're on your way.
For those that don't understand punch-through, I'll give a simple example. When I'm watching TV, the channel up-down buttons control the cable-box. But the volume up-down buttons are "punched-through" and control the receiver.
And macros are cool too. I only have simple macros so far, but they are very handy. For example, when you push the power button, the TV turns on, switches to the correct input (just in case someone accidentally changed it). Then the receiver turns on, switches to the cable box. All this in less than a second, which is so easy, my mom was able to use it when she was visiting. Prior to getting this, she was so confused one day because she had to set the channel on the TV with one remote, but then use the cable box to switch the channels. That's usually not a problem, because the TV is usually in a certain state. But my daughter messed up the settings and my Mom couldn't figure out how to fix it.
If that situation happened now, I would just tell her to press the power on button, and everything will be set correctly to watch TV.
Plus you can name the LCD labels. That is handy because my receiver's labels are fixed. If you want to use my playstation 2, you have to set it for DBS, which is far from intuitive. Now, you just his the button labeled PS2 and it does the correct settings.
But not only is it easy to use, it is powerful. With 4 pages of LCD controls, even my button-laden receiver remote is not needed because every button is available on the remote.
KD-36XS955, HDR-FX1, DSC-F828 -- these are all real products I pulled off the Sony website. Do you have any clue what they are?
Without looking, I know the DSC-F828 is a camera. I would guess that the KD-36XS955 is a TV (with the 36 indicating screen size.)
With cars, the opposite of what you noted is true. Honda used to name its Acura line of cars with names (Integra, Legend, Vigor, etc.). Their marketing experts didn't like that. They realized that buyers of high-end autos refer to the cars by brand, not by model, because the model was a series of numbers. I.e., a person buys a BMW or a Mercedes, not a 540iL or a E320 4Matic. But Acuras buyers refer to their cars as an Integra or a Legend, not as an Acura. To build brand identity, they changed the naming to initials (RSX, TSX, etc.). The goal is to get people to say they bought an "Acura," instead of a Legend, without reference to the manufacturer.
Chevrolet has the opposite problem with the Corvette. Chevrolet is known as a budget brand, but the Corvette is a $40+k sports car. So they minimize use of the name Chevrolet with the word Corvette.
Ahhh... So it is just marketing. That indescribable something that comes from spending a lot of money. Interchangeable lenses aside, "serious" photographers simply expect their cameras to have a certain heft and feel, and the DSLRs are being marketed to meet those expectations. The "single lens" tag is meaningless, since all digital cameras are now "single lens".
You have a point. A lot of it IS marketing. Who are DSLRs target purchasers? Serious photographers. What do serious photographers usually have? Cameras! The reason Canon and Nikon make DSLRs that are the same form factors as their film SLRs is because their target audience already has lenses. So a new DSLR has to accept those lenses. If you're going to make a new body that accepts those lenses, it's easier to put a digital sensor in an existing body than it is to develop a new body that accepts old lenses.
Plus photographers want features they are used to in the same place. The digital SLRs have controls in the same places as their film counterparts. So an experienced SLR user who is newcomer to a DSLR will have no problem getting used to the new camera.
I do not know of any P&S Camera, digital or otherwise, that provides you with the capability of taking extra long exposures, which are perfect for taking lightning storm images among other types of shots.
Response: This feature is standard on the mid to higher end P&S cameras, and has been for several years. Of course most people use it maybe once when playing around with the camera.
Such as the Canon G series of PS cameras (G1 through G6). They allow you to manipulate the shutter speed and also accept external flashes. The slow focusing is annoying, but otherwise, the features are nearly identical to the Canon film SLR I have (but am going to be selling).
I'm just asking how the presence of a relex mirror - the defining characteristic of an SLR - makes a camera so much faster. Most of the lag in a "point & shoot" digital camera is from the autofocus. Is that all there is to it?
Pretty much yes. A DSLR is faster because it autofocuses faster. A decent quality Canon lens with a USM motor, will autofocus incredibly quickly and I'm sure Nikon lenses focus just as quickly. There are also differences in how quickly the picture is taken from the time focus is achieved. But the difference in focus speed is the primary speed difference.
I don't have a link. But someone posted on another board that NFL doubled its sales. Unfortunately for them, that still means that Madden outsold it by 5X. The figures I recall is that for the 2004 titles (the ones released in 2003, but with the 2004 name), Madden sold about 4 million compared to 400k for Sega. For the new version, ESPN sold about 800k, with Madden projected to about hit last year's number.
It happened to me also. But only once. I closed the lid while it was not plugged in, expecting it to go Standby. It never did and I was out of battery power the next morning.
At somepoint, the networks need to realize that WE WANT OUR PROGRAMMING OUR WAY.
I remember the worst offender. Actually, I don't even remember the show, but I remember what they did. It was a season-long court drama, always on the same time and day every week. It was on at 10pm. But I had to work at 6am. So I just taped it every week and watched it later.
So I watch every single episode and they reach the verdict. After the verdict show (which they were implying was the finale), a commercial comes on announcing that another episode would reveal the real killer. But it's on a special day!
What! That's the stupidest thing ever. After watching it on Tuesdays (for example, I don't remember the exact day) all year long, they show the season finale on Friday! When did I find this out? On Sunday, while I'm watching the video tape. Why would they not only move an episode to another day, but move the most important episode to another day? The show was on for another season or two, but I never bothered watching it after that debacle.
> Why not just use the CDs themselves as a long-term storage of a lossless format?
Scratch scratch, oops, CD unreadable.
Take the CD. Rip it. Never use itagain. The CD is in pristine condition. If the HD fails, re-rip. If you have to listen to an actual optical disc (like in a car), just burn a copy.
Plus, you underestimate the durability of CDs. If you've ever checked out library CDs, those suckers gets scratched to hell in back. I'd guess that well over 98% of the CDs I've borrowed from the library have been rippable.
Anout the only better alternative is to burn things to opticals (CD or DVD) in a very clean environment, verify them for proper working, and then seal them into a container with controlled atmosphere, temperature and light (or actually, lack of light). Whenever you need the backup, the first thing you have to do after breaking the seal is repeating the backup process in order to create a new known good backup.
Of course all hardly relevant unless you care about keeping your music collection around for more then say a decade.
You're a little paranoid here. I have several pressed CDs that I bought 16 or more years ago that are perfectly playble. In fact, I've never had a pressed CD fail on me other than through scratching (and I should use the term gouging, not scratching).
It's not a bad idea, from their perspective. When Intuit required authentication for TurboTax, it was bad for them because they release a new version every year. People who were so pissed off in 2002 just didn't buy in 2003. Valve, they may not release another game for 5 years. By then, there will have been 1 month of bitching and moaning about steam followed by 47 months of gaming (after they unlock the game). Everyone will have forgotten by then and only remember that HL2 kicked ass and they can't wait for HL3.
Wrong. Free does not equal public domain. The fact that it is free doesn't change the fact that it is copyrighted and the copyright owner owns the exclusive right to copy.
The unrealism regarding the sharpening of photos is why I never watch the show. I happened to have some free time, so I watched an episode of CSI: Miami. In this episode, a photographer took a photo of a celebrity in his backyard. In the far background of the photo, there is a flash in the window. They were able to not only determine that the flash was a gun, they were able to find a tatoo on the hand that is pulling the trigger! That was so absurd, that I've never watched another episode. It didn't help that the main CSI guy seemed like a Simpsons caricature of a police detective.
I know that Law & Order, for example, will do similar things, where they remove fuzziness from photos or video. But that's more acceptible because that is just a portion of the investigation. In CSI, it is the entire investigation. So when they get one so wrong, it completely ruined it for me.
I know it's only one episode and only amateur shutterbugs like me would even be offended by it. But damn that was stupid.
Admittedly, Toy Story 1 and 2 were two sides of the same coin. In the first, Buzz realizes he is just a toy but makes himself better for it. In the second, Woody finds out he is famous. But the other Pixar movies do not have that theme. Yes, Flick was a misfit, but it was a totally different storyline, as Flick goes from goat, to hero, to goat, to hero. Monsters, Inc. is very different. Even if you consider Boo to be a misfit, she didn't consider herself a misfit, which was an essential part of the Toy Story movies. Nemo merely dealt with overprotective fathers and the sons who want to go out on their own. Again, totally different from the Toy Story movies. In the Incredibles, there was no "Character A has to choose to leave or stay."
If the questioner really only wants to save his books, there is cheaper way than getting his own webspace--a Gmail account. Email it to your gmail account and, if your hard drive fails, it is still there. This won't work for large files because the attachment size limit, but a book should be less than 10MB.
I used WinAmp almost exclusively at home. And it is adequate for what it is--a player of MP3 files. But finding a file is terrible. I finally have a computer that I can install iTunes on. You know what? Much easier to use. The fact that it indexes every MP3 file on my hard drive means finding a song or album is a piece of cake.
With Winamp, if I wanted to listen to a Rolling Stones song, I had to load the Stones directory into my playlist and then find the song or album I want to play. I want to switch to another artist, repeat the same process again.
With iTunes, I browse for the artist or use the search function, and I instantly have all their songs listed.
The biggest problem was really my fault--it uses ID3 tags exclusively, so if your ID3 tags aren't correct, it will be nearly impossible for iTunes to find a particular song. But that just forced me to do something that I always should have done--make sure id3 is correct.
Self-insurance is a very bad idea. As others mentioned, just get insurance with a high deductible. The costs are about the same. And you never know when unexpected medical charges will come up. (e.g., my wife recently found out she had breast cancer. $70k in doctor/hospital fees later, she is cancer-free. But I shudder to think what would have happened to us financially had we been "self-insured" (which is actually just not insured.))
How accurate is that list though? I've seen other articles with figures of 10.5 M for GTA3 and 11.5 M for GTA3:VC. But GTA 3 isn't even on the list and the total for VC is 3 million less than other sources say.
Slashdot Mirror
We had an All-In-One remote that handled multiple devices, but it was hard to program. The computer programming method of the MX-700 makes it much easier. As parent noted, you can assign every button to punch-through or activate a macro. What he didn't mention was exactly how easy it is. Just click on the correct device and you're on your way.
For those that don't understand punch-through, I'll give a simple example. When I'm watching TV, the channel up-down buttons control the cable-box. But the volume up-down buttons are "punched-through" and control the receiver.
And macros are cool too. I only have simple macros so far, but they are very handy. For example, when you push the power button, the TV turns on, switches to the correct input (just in case someone accidentally changed it). Then the receiver turns on, switches to the cable box. All this in less than a second, which is so easy, my mom was able to use it when she was visiting. Prior to getting this, she was so confused one day because she had to set the channel on the TV with one remote, but then use the cable box to switch the channels. That's usually not a problem, because the TV is usually in a certain state. But my daughter messed up the settings and my Mom couldn't figure out how to fix it.
If that situation happened now, I would just tell her to press the power on button, and everything will be set correctly to watch TV.
Plus you can name the LCD labels. That is handy because my receiver's labels are fixed. If you want to use my playstation 2, you have to set it for DBS, which is far from intuitive. Now, you just his the button labeled PS2 and it does the correct settings.
But not only is it easy to use, it is powerful. With 4 pages of LCD controls, even my button-laden receiver remote is not needed because every button is available on the remote.
Great remote.
Without looking, I know the DSC-F828 is a camera. I would guess that the KD-36XS955 is a TV (with the 36 indicating screen size.)
With cars, the opposite of what you noted is true. Honda used to name its Acura line of cars with names (Integra, Legend, Vigor, etc.). Their marketing experts didn't like that. They realized that buyers of high-end autos refer to the cars by brand, not by model, because the model was a series of numbers. I.e., a person buys a BMW or a Mercedes, not a 540iL or a E320 4Matic. But Acuras buyers refer to their cars as an Integra or a Legend, not as an Acura. To build brand identity, they changed the naming to initials (RSX, TSX, etc.). The goal is to get people to say they bought an "Acura," instead of a Legend, without reference to the manufacturer.
Chevrolet has the opposite problem with the Corvette. Chevrolet is known as a budget brand, but the Corvette is a $40+k sports car. So they minimize use of the name Chevrolet with the word Corvette.
You have a point. A lot of it IS marketing. Who are DSLRs target purchasers? Serious photographers. What do serious photographers usually have? Cameras! The reason Canon and Nikon make DSLRs that are the same form factors as their film SLRs is because their target audience already has lenses. So a new DSLR has to accept those lenses. If you're going to make a new body that accepts those lenses, it's easier to put a digital sensor in an existing body than it is to develop a new body that accepts old lenses.
Plus photographers want features they are used to in the same place. The digital SLRs have controls in the same places as their film counterparts. So an experienced SLR user who is newcomer to a DSLR will have no problem getting used to the new camera.
Response: This feature is standard on the mid to higher end P&S cameras, and has been for several years. Of course most people use it maybe once when playing around with the camera.
Such as the Canon G series of PS cameras (G1 through G6). They allow you to manipulate the shutter speed and also accept external flashes. The slow focusing is annoying, but otherwise, the features are nearly identical to the Canon film SLR I have (but am going to be selling).
Pretty much yes. A DSLR is faster because it autofocuses faster. A decent quality Canon lens with a USM motor, will autofocus incredibly quickly and I'm sure Nikon lenses focus just as quickly. There are also differences in how quickly the picture is taken from the time focus is achieved. But the difference in focus speed is the primary speed difference.
Or maybe people who have used analog cameras for years have an investment in lenses that they can use in DSLRs that they can't use in P&S cameras.
Plus, DSLRs have much better shutter response than typical digital P&S.
It used to be $9. The independent claim fee also went up substantially--from $44 to $100.
I don't have a link. But someone posted on another board that NFL doubled its sales. Unfortunately for them, that still means that Madden outsold it by 5X. The figures I recall is that for the 2004 titles (the ones released in 2003, but with the 2004 name), Madden sold about 4 million compared to 400k for Sega. For the new version, ESPN sold about 800k, with Madden projected to about hit last year's number.
While I personally don't believe in spanking. It is probably OK if done in moderation. Taking a belt to a 1-year old is not moderation.
It happened to me also. But only once. I closed the lid while it was not plugged in, expecting it to go Standby. It never did and I was out of battery power the next morning.
I remember the worst offender. Actually, I don't even remember the show, but I remember what they did. It was a season-long court drama, always on the same time and day every week. It was on at 10pm. But I had to work at 6am. So I just taped it every week and watched it later.
So I watch every single episode and they reach the verdict. After the verdict show (which they were implying was the finale), a commercial comes on announcing that another episode would reveal the real killer. But it's on a special day!
What! That's the stupidest thing ever. After watching it on Tuesdays (for example, I don't remember the exact day) all year long, they show the season finale on Friday! When did I find this out? On Sunday, while I'm watching the video tape. Why would they not only move an episode to another day, but move the most important episode to another day? The show was on for another season or two, but I never bothered watching it after that debacle.
Scratch scratch, oops, CD unreadable.
Take the CD. Rip it. Never use itagain. The CD is in pristine condition. If the HD fails, re-rip. If you have to listen to an actual optical disc (like in a car), just burn a copy.
Plus, you underestimate the durability of CDs. If you've ever checked out library CDs, those suckers gets scratched to hell in back. I'd guess that well over 98% of the CDs I've borrowed from the library have been rippable.
Anout the only better alternative is to burn things to opticals (CD or DVD) in a very clean environment, verify them for proper working, and then seal them into a container with controlled atmosphere, temperature and light (or actually, lack of light). Whenever you need the backup, the first thing you have to do after breaking the seal is repeating the backup process in order to create a new known good backup. Of course all hardly relevant unless you care about keeping your music collection around for more then say a decade.
You're a little paranoid here. I have several pressed CDs that I bought 16 or more years ago that are perfectly playble. In fact, I've never had a pressed CD fail on me other than through scratching (and I should use the term gouging, not scratching).
Completely agree. There is no reason to use anything other than MP3.
What two Daily Doubles did he miss?
'lings + mutas
Solution: Don't let your 2 year old handle DVDs until she is mature enough to do so.
It's not a bad idea, from their perspective. When Intuit required authentication for TurboTax, it was bad for them because they release a new version every year. People who were so pissed off in 2002 just didn't buy in 2003. Valve, they may not release another game for 5 years. By then, there will have been 1 month of bitching and moaning about steam followed by 47 months of gaming (after they unlock the game). Everyone will have forgotten by then and only remember that HL2 kicked ass and they can't wait for HL3.
Wrong. Free does not equal public domain. The fact that it is free doesn't change the fact that it is copyrighted and the copyright owner owns the exclusive right to copy.
Game reviewing is where its at. Where you have to play 60+ hours of a game just to gather your thoughts. :-)
I know that Law & Order, for example, will do similar things, where they remove fuzziness from photos or video. But that's more acceptible because that is just a portion of the investigation. In CSI, it is the entire investigation. So when they get one so wrong, it completely ruined it for me.
I know it's only one episode and only amateur shutterbugs like me would even be offended by it. But damn that was stupid.
Admittedly, Toy Story 1 and 2 were two sides of the same coin. In the first, Buzz realizes he is just a toy but makes himself better for it. In the second, Woody finds out he is famous. But the other Pixar movies do not have that theme. Yes, Flick was a misfit, but it was a totally different storyline, as Flick goes from goat, to hero, to goat, to hero. Monsters, Inc. is very different. Even if you consider Boo to be a misfit, she didn't consider herself a misfit, which was an essential part of the Toy Story movies. Nemo merely dealt with overprotective fathers and the sons who want to go out on their own. Again, totally different from the Toy Story movies. In the Incredibles, there was no "Character A has to choose to leave or stay."
If the questioner really only wants to save his books, there is cheaper way than getting his own webspace--a Gmail account. Email it to your gmail account and, if your hard drive fails, it is still there. This won't work for large files because the attachment size limit, but a book should be less than 10MB.
With Winamp, if I wanted to listen to a Rolling Stones song, I had to load the Stones directory into my playlist and then find the song or album I want to play. I want to switch to another artist, repeat the same process again.
With iTunes, I browse for the artist or use the search function, and I instantly have all their songs listed.
The biggest problem was really my fault--it uses ID3 tags exclusively, so if your ID3 tags aren't correct, it will be nearly impossible for iTunes to find a particular song. But that just forced me to do something that I always should have done--make sure id3 is correct.
Self-insurance is a very bad idea. As others mentioned, just get insurance with a high deductible. The costs are about the same. And you never know when unexpected medical charges will come up. (e.g., my wife recently found out she had breast cancer. $70k in doctor/hospital fees later, she is cancer-free. But I shudder to think what would have happened to us financially had we been "self-insured" (which is actually just not insured.))
How accurate is that list though? I've seen other articles with figures of 10.5 M for GTA3 and 11.5 M for GTA3:VC. But GTA 3 isn't even on the list and the total for VC is 3 million less than other sources say.