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I regret buying SoftRam 95.  $60 was a lot for a high school sophomore in 95.

kerwin wrote:

I regret buying SoftRam 95.  $60 was a lot for a high school sophomore in 95.

Ahh, yes. The SoftRam scandal brings back memories!

Supposedly they issued refunds... I take it you didn't get one?

For me was an Android TV box off of Amazon.ca

The issue here is there are (quotes added to show what I mean) "Android" TV boxes and "Android TV" boxes.
I want Android TV. I have a Sony with it built in and love it for my media consumption and 4K Netflix.

Trying to figure out which is which is tough... even Xaiomi who has a true Android TV seems to be selling both and the Amazon listings are hard to tell apart. Most the Amazon listings for the Xaiomi Mi Box I want are for Chinese language only. Worst is supposedly they are on shelf in Walmarts in the USA.

Nobody posts screen shots of the product in action, just shots of the box itself.

Arvald wrote:

For me was an Android TV box off of Amazon.ca

The issue here is there are (quotes added to show what I mean) "Android" TV boxes and "Android TV" boxes.
I want Android TV. I have a Sony with it built in and love it for my media consumption and 4K Netflix...

What media box did you end up with, if not an 'Android TV' (Google TV) box?

If you want one that can search multiple content catalogs and you're an Amazon Prime member, the Amazon Fire TV would be worth a try and it's cheap.

If you want a portable media/gaming hybrid, the NVidia Shield makes sense although it's pricey and you'll end up spending on another games library. Like the Mi Box, it's closer to a Google-standard 'Android TV' package and it supports Google Cast.

...Nobody posts screen shots of the product in action, just shots of the box itself.

Have you seen these?
http://venturebeat.com/2016/11/06/xiaom ... streaming/
http://www.cordcuttingreport.com/2016/1 ... ox-review/

A 4K monitor.

Not for me, but for someone at the office who wanted less aliasing for wireframe modelling.

Wireframe modelling is better. Everything else is a problem thanks to imperfect scaling support from most software. Honestly, I can't see how 4K is going to be any use outside of the entertainment industry until the internet and all software moves away from raster graphics, or at least until all software and all websites become DPI aware and have mutliple raster sets for standard-PPI and high-PPI screens.

In other words, it's never going to happen and scaling will continue to be a fustercluck through the next decade.

Chrispy_ wrote:

Honestly, I can't see how 4K is going to be any use outside of the entertainment industry until the internet and all software moves away from raster graphics, or at least until all software and all websites become DPI aware and have mutliple raster sets for standard-PPI and high-PPI screens.

It is possible to scale raster graphics and have them look passable. Obviously they won't enjoy the benefits of 4K, but the real problem is that the scaling algorithms in Windows suck. Badly.

TheRazorsEdge wrote:

Chrispy_ wrote:

Honestly, I can't see how 4K is going to be any use outside of the entertainment industry until the internet and all software moves away from raster graphics, or at least until all software and all websites become DPI aware and have mutliple raster sets for standard-PPI and high-PPI screens.

It is possible to scale raster graphics and have them look passable. Obviously they won't enjoy the benefits of 4K, but the real problem is that the scaling algorithms in Windows suck. Badly.

I use a 4K at work.

OS X seems to handle scaling for 4K reasonably well.

Debian Linux VM (with KDE) is more of a mixed bag. When I switch between the 1920x1080 I use at home and the 4K at work I need to manually change KDE's DPI setting, and a (separate) setting for the size of window title bars/buttons, then log out and back in again. Some UI elements/layout are still slightly "off", but nothing major. The truly annoying part is needing to close everything and log out/in to get the resolution change to "take".

TheRazorsEdge wrote:

the scaling algorithms in Windows suck. Badly.

Yep.

just brew it! wrote:

OS X seems to handle scaling for 4K reasonably well.

Reasonably well, aka imperfectly. Scaling issues are more severe than just visual artefacts. At best, they just look bad but at worst they break a UI altogether or obfuscate something you're supposed to click on. Totally unacceptable, even if it's only occasional.

Well, yeah... I guess there's a bit of "low bar" syndrome here. By "reasonably well" I meant "better than Windows or KDE".

My mouse. Or rather, it was my sister's mouse, then mine broke and she gave it to me(She bought her own a short time later as she had no PC at the time). It's a piece of crap. The scroll wheel keeps glitching out(Really awful in games, trust me), and when it gets low on power it starts not doing anything at random intervals then gets back to normal for a moment.

Sadly I don';t have 20 bucks to spare on a good or even passable mouse.

just brew it! wrote:

Well, yeah... I guess there's a bit of "low bar" syndrome here. By "reasonably well" I meant "better than Windows or KDE".

Not sure what the KDE folks are doing on this front (and biting my tongue on that topic ) but the Microsofties are aware and working, and talking about it in public with comments like "[w]e feel the same pain ourselves". Redstone 2 is supposed to also be bringing improvements, including to how games scale with non-native aspect ratios scale up.

But yeah, macOS FTW here.

just brew it! wrote:

OS X seems to handle scaling for 4K reasonably well.

That's because OS X cheats and internally renders content at a higher resolution before down sampling. This is one of the reasons OS X was so dog slow early on.

just brew it! wrote:

kerwin wrote:

I regret buying SoftRam 95.  $60 was a lot for a high school sophomore in 95.

Ahh, yes. The SoftRam scandal brings back memories!

Supposedly they issued refunds... I take it you didn't get one?

There was a refund?? Is it too late???

kerwin wrote:

just brew it! wrote:

kerwin wrote:

I regret buying SoftRam 95.  $60 was a lot for a high school sophomore in 95.

Ahh, yes. The SoftRam scandal brings back memories!

Supposedly they issued refunds... I take it you didn't get one?

There was a refund?? Is it too late???

Heh... company is long gone. Filed for bankruptcy years ago.

Back in early 2005, I bought a Mitsubishi 2070SB 22" monitor which was supposed to be the pinnacle of CRT tech.  While it's true that the colors were amazing and it had support for a huge number of resolutions and refresh rates, anything above 1600x1200 @ 60hz looked like fuzzed-out crap.  The monitor had the ability, but the analog VGA connection didn't have the bandwidth.  

This meant that I generally ran my $600+ monitor at a paltry 1280x960 while everyone else was running 1680x1050 or better.  Sure, I was running at high refresh rates with almost zero input lag, but that's still a painfully low resolution for the price I paid.

The Egg wrote:

Back in early 2005, I bought a Mitsubishi 2070SB 22" monitor which was supposed to be the pinnacle of CRT tech.  While it's true that the colors were amazing and it had support for a huge number of resolutions and refresh rates, anything above 1600x1200 @ 60hz looked like fuzzed-out crap.  The monitor had the ability, but the analog VGA connection didn't have the bandwidth.

Oh man. I bought a 22" refurbished Hitachi behemoth sight-unseen in 2001 or 2002. I was not prepared for: A - how heavy it was going to be, or B - how curved the screen was. The thing was a 75-pound fishbowl.
It also started getting a huge misconvergence problem (R,G, and B did not line up in the upper left quarter of the screen) about a month after the 90-day warranty expired. I don't think I even got six months of use out of it before I broke down and ordered a new 19" Viewsonic Q91. The Hitachi was too heavy for my skinny ass to get down the stairs though, so it remained in a corner of my apartment until I moved.
Definitely my biggest tech regret.

I.S.T. wrote:

Sadly, I don't have 20 bucks to spare on a good mouse.

Ask Santa Claus to bring you a $35½ Logitech G402.

I bought a $2000 quick charger for my electric motorcycle. I bought it at the same time as the bike, with the understanding that it was new tech and wasn't going to be ready for 3 months. But the ability to charge 3X as fast was worth it, or so I thought.

It turns out, 3 months was actually 5 months, which turned into 6 months due to installation problems via the dealership. And while it was in the shop (and later shipped across the country for the manufacturer to deal with it) I changed jobs and stopped commuting 50+ miles every day. And a 3rd party just released a quick charger for my bike for $2000 that will charge at up to 6X.

I'm regretting my Sony Bluray players the last couple weeks.  All of the sudden they can't see any DLNA media servers on my network, while all of my other devices still can...which is basically the whole reason I have them in the first place.  I don't know if Sony borked something with firmware updates or what.

I bought a Razer Tartarus one time when I took my rig with me to my dad's for a holiday so that I would have something to do when he goes to bed at like 8. I had forgotten my keyboard and figured since I'm only playing games I don't need a full keyboard right? Might as well check out this gaming keypad craze right?

Once I got home to my full size mechanical keyboard it went to the back of the closet. I took it back out once to see how it does in Star Citizen for flight control and while the thumb stick actually works pretty well for thruster/throttle control, I'm just gonna wait until I can afford a decent HOTAS. Haven't used it since. I could have spent that $60 on a new headset and been much happier.

trackerben wrote:

What media box did you end up with, if not an 'Android TV' (Google TV) box?

If you want one that can search multiple content catalogs and you're an Amazon Prime member, the Amazon Fire TV would be worth a try and it's cheap.

If you want a portable media/gaming hybrid, the NVidia Shield makes sense although it's pricey and you'll end up spending on another games library. Like the Mi Box, it's closer to a Google-standard 'Android TV' package and it supports Google Cast.

Nexbox 2017 variant.
I don't want the Shield and Fire TV is not available in Canada.

trackerben wrote:

Have you seen these?
http://venturebeat.com/2016/11/06/xiaom ... streaming/
http://www.cordcuttingreport.com/2016/1 ... ox-review/

Yes that is the one I am trying to get but the listed one on Amazon is all Chinese language variants with complaints about swapping language.

it was a computer mouse, i decided to save and bought one as I thought a good one

Arvald wrote:

Nexbox 2017 variant. I don't want the Shield and Fire TV is not available in Canada...

That's a cheap box. But for $40 more, I would've gotten an Android 6.0/Kodi box with 2GB RAM and 8-16GB Storage like the Leelbox/Greatever T95Z. Especially if you're going DIY with non-official content and streams. Plus $20-30 for a decent wireless keyboard.

...Yes that is the one I am trying to get but the listed one on Amazon is all Chinese language variants with complaints about swapping language.

The Mi Box looks the biz. But if you want one with some warranty and support, you may have to source via Wal Mart.

trackerben wrote:

Arvald wrote:

Nexbox 2017 variant. I don't want the Shield and Fire TV is not available in Canada...

That's a cheap box. But for $40 more, I would've gotten an Android 6.0/Kodi box with 2GB RAM and 8-16GB Storage like the Leelbox/Greatever T95Z. Especially if you're going DIY with non-official content and streams. Plus $20-30 for a decent wireless keyboard.

The Nexbox I got was 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. Plenty of a power house. Just the interface is clunkier than I wanted.
Also I wanted Android TV for the slick presentation and better Netflix interface. The Android interface is fine for a tablet or phone but awkward for a remote. Also you need Android TV for 4k. Netflix looks like they may only be streaming that box at 720 even though I had the box running at 4k.

trackerben wrote:

...Yes that is the one I am trying to get but the listed one on Amazon is all Chinese language variants with complaints about swapping language.

The Mi Box looks the biz. But if you want one with some warranty and support, you may have to source via Wal Mart.

Again, in Canada and not in our stores and Walmart US is currently listing as out of stock so even if I asked family to hop over the border and grab one they cannot.
There are some of the Walmart boxes on Ebay for $300+ by some enterprising people taking advantage of the hype and press on it.

Arvald wrote:

The Nexbox I got was 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. Plenty of a power house. Just the interface is clunkier than I wanted.
Also I wanted Android TV for the slick presentation and better Netflix interface. The Android interface is fine for a tablet or phone but awkward for a remote. Also you need Android TV for 4k. Netflix looks like they may only be streaming that box at 720 even though I had the box running at 4k.

Assuming the Nexbox is already compliant and that you're not experiencing overly aggressive streaming optimization by Netflix, check that your current TV set meets HDCP 2.2 standards. Otherwise, the decoding chain will have "issues" with some DRM-protected streams.

Solar panel powered motion activated lights for the backyard. $60 each last spring and one of them stopped working entirely and another's detection range has dropped to like 6 feet.

trackerben wrote:

Arvald wrote:

The Nexbox I got was 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. Plenty of a power house. Just the interface is clunkier than I wanted.
Also I wanted Android TV for the slick presentation and better Netflix interface. The Android interface is fine for a tablet or phone but awkward for a remote. Also you need Android TV for 4k. Netflix looks like they may only be streaming that box at 720 even though I had the box running at 4k.

Assuming the Nexbox is already compliant and that you're not experiencing overly aggressive streaming optimization by Netflix, check that your current TV set meets HDCP 2.2 standards. Otherwise, the decoding chain will have "issues" with some DRM-protected streams.

After research Netflix is not sending 4k unless device is certified (which the Mi Box is and my Nexbox is not)
The larger issue for me Is the cell phone interface in Netflix... it is optimized for touch and it shows.

I have to say the last thing i regret buying is another razer mouse, it's been 3 and they all had more or less the same problem. This time it's the middle button that doesn't click so i can't open anything in a new window when i browse the internet. it's REALLY annoying, after Christmas ill look for another brand anyone has any suggestions ?

Logitech mice are the cat's pajamas.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

Logitech mice are the cat's pajamas.

Seconding this. I'm currently rocking a MX Master, previously had a Performance MX - both are flawless. I'm not a gamer, though, so I'm not sure how well they're suited for these tasks.