In 1995, the tolerance on my Toshiba laptop was at least 12 dead pixels (800x600). In 1999, on my IBM laptop, it was 8 dead pixels (1024x768) although in some cases, 3-4 if they were stuck in a color. Clusters of bad pixels (2 next to each other) make a stronger case. Most SGI 1600SW's I see for sale have at least 1 bad. A perfect screen still rare, despite all the improvements out there.
Most manufacturers will NOT accept the screen back under warranty as a matter of course. I have tried with IBM when a laptop showed with 1 bad. They said tough. I begged. I screamed. 1 bad pixel is "well within the manufacturer tolerance".
Unless you buy your laptop retail, and inspect it before you leave, you generally have 2 options -- return it to the manufacturer and then buy a new one (too much of a hassle), or try and make more pixels go out and make it look like a defect (harder than it sounds).
Manufacturers do make exceptions. However, in my experience, unless you make a really good case, you can forget about getting any satisfaction if you claim 1-2 pixels are stuck off.
Unless they significantly improve the production process, there are going to be a lot of TFT panels sold with "stuck" pixels -- ie. stuck bright red, bright green, bright blue, or dead.
Every manufacturer sets tolerances for how many dead pixels are acceptable. What percentage would be acceptable to you? 1% of 1600x1200 pixels is a lot different than 1% of 1024x768.
The cost of manufacture must be very high no matter what. A bad TFT screen cannot be fixed -- it has to be tossed in the trash. I am thankful that my Thinkpad's 1024x768 screen has no dead pixels, but I am dreading the thought of my next laptop purchase. In my opinion, 1 bad pixel is one too many. It's a shame that none of the manufacturers feel the same way.
ADSL, cable modems, and other broadband services are becoming more available. However, it will be several years before the numbers even get close to approaching dialup.
I live in the suburbs of Philadelphia and it took until last year before any broadband was available to me. I waited 3 years, and moved 2 times before I got DSL. If you don't live near a large technology hub (Boston, New York, San Fran, etc.) broadband options are extremely limited.
Even if broadband was available everywhere, sadly not everyone can afford it. Think about it -- there are hundreds of thousands of people who find spending $30-$40/mo to get a cell phone to be a financial stretch. You have tons of people who just made their first computer purchase which they probably saved up for 2-3 years to get. You have people hopping on to NetZero to get online for free to save the extra penny.
The Ethernet devices will come -- but for most "appliance" manufacturers, it just doesn't make financial sense yet. There are too many people that are just getting on the Internet -- percentage wise, broadband home users are still in the minority.
"TiVo changed the way I handle TV, but its relatively steep price prevents it from becoming
as common as napster, which is, well, free."
Prices are coming down all the time. Recently, some cable companies have started to offer TiVo and Replay on a rental basis (much like you rent a cable box).
The technology is slowly but surely becoming affordable, and will soon be in every household.
Building the computer is not the problem. The problem is that you're missing the TiVo service.
Here are some bonuses with the service...
Semi-intelligently try and record programs you may like (based on movie and TV show preferences)
Has a continuously updating program guide
TiVomatic: you're watching a commercial preview for an upcoming show -- instead of fumbling to set the recording, TiVomatic encoded commercials will allow you to press a button on the remote to schedule recording of the show
This is not to knock using a computer to do most of the functions of TiVo. Most home theater nuts already know that using a DVD equipped computer with appropriate hardware will outshine most dedicated DVD players. It's just that TiVo isn't about the hardware -- it's the service (which btw, you pay $10/mo for, or $199 for a lifetime subscription).
-Al
Re:You say Potato, I say Tomato..
on
Hacking The Tivo
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· Score: 1
The primary Quantum drive that comes with the unit has a built-in serial number which the TiVo service validates against. The PRIMARY drive cannot be changed, ghosted, etc. since the serial number is validated everytime the unit 'phones home'.
The way I understand it, the secondary drive is not auto-recognized unless the primary drive (operating system drive) knows to look for the second drive.
Now note, that the secondary drive is also supposed to have a serial number which matches against the first drive. TiVo currently doesn't look at the serial # on the second drive... if the start doing that, you'll lose your 2nd drive.
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In 1995, the tolerance on my Toshiba laptop was at least 12 dead pixels (800x600). In 1999, on my IBM laptop, it was 8 dead pixels (1024x768) although in some cases, 3-4 if they were stuck in a color. Clusters of bad pixels (2 next to each other) make a stronger case. Most SGI 1600SW's I see for sale have at least 1 bad. A perfect screen still rare, despite all the improvements out there.
Most manufacturers will NOT accept the screen back under warranty as a matter of course. I have tried with IBM when a laptop showed with 1 bad. They said tough. I begged. I screamed. 1 bad pixel is "well within the manufacturer tolerance".
Unless you buy your laptop retail, and inspect it before you leave, you generally have 2 options -- return it to the manufacturer and then buy a new one (too much of a hassle), or try and make more pixels go out and make it look like a defect (harder than it sounds).
Manufacturers do make exceptions. However, in my experience, unless you make a really good case, you can forget about getting any satisfaction if you claim 1-2 pixels are stuck off.
Unless they significantly improve the production process, there are going to be a lot of TFT panels sold with "stuck" pixels -- ie. stuck bright red, bright green, bright blue, or dead.
Every manufacturer sets tolerances for how many dead pixels are acceptable. What percentage would be acceptable to you? 1% of 1600x1200 pixels is a lot different than 1% of 1024x768.
The cost of manufacture must be very high no matter what. A bad TFT screen cannot be fixed -- it has to be tossed in the trash. I am thankful that my Thinkpad's 1024x768 screen has no dead pixels, but I am dreading the thought of my next laptop purchase. In my opinion, 1 bad pixel is one too many. It's a shame that none of the manufacturers feel the same way.
Are you using in-line filters? If not, these are essential to keep DSL from interfering with regular modem activity.
I live in the suburbs of Philadelphia and it took until last year before any broadband was available to me. I waited 3 years, and moved 2 times before I got DSL. If you don't live near a large technology hub (Boston, New York, San Fran, etc.) broadband options are extremely limited.
Even if broadband was available everywhere, sadly not everyone can afford it. Think about it -- there are hundreds of thousands of people who find spending $30-$40/mo to get a cell phone to be a financial stretch. You have tons of people who just made their first computer purchase which they probably saved up for 2-3 years to get. You have people hopping on to NetZero to get online for free to save the extra penny.
The Ethernet devices will come -- but for most "appliance" manufacturers, it just doesn't make financial sense yet. There are too many people that are just getting on the Internet -- percentage wise, broadband home users are still in the minority.
Prices are coming down all the time. Recently, some cable companies have started to offer TiVo and Replay on a rental basis (much like you rent a cable box).
The technology is slowly but surely becoming affordable, and will soon be in every household.
Here are some bonuses with the service...
Their upcoming 2.0 version will add additional bonuses (rumor says it's due around Halloween).
http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/For um6/HTML/002154.html
This is not to knock using a computer to do most of the functions of TiVo. Most home theater nuts already know that using a DVD equipped computer with appropriate hardware will outshine most dedicated DVD players. It's just that TiVo isn't about the hardware -- it's the service (which btw, you pay $10/mo for, or $199 for a lifetime subscription).
-Al
The way I understand it, the secondary drive is not auto-recognized unless the primary drive (operating system drive) knows to look for the second drive.
Now note, that the secondary drive is also supposed to have a serial number which matches against the first drive. TiVo currently doesn't look at the serial # on the second drive... if the start doing that, you'll lose your 2nd drive.
-Al