LowTech

[LowTech]

And here I thought this was about the birth of a child after seeing the title of this thread.

[LowTech]

Thanks but I ended up going with the Imation Link.

Over all I’d say that the Link isn’t too bad of a solution.  The set up was guided so it was real easy to set up.  The quality of the streaming web content (Hulu, YouTube, etc) isn’t that great when sent to a 55″ display but the folks don’t have HD anyways so this isn’t a big deal.  Part of the problem is that their high speed internet connection is not so high speed so this is a case of garbage in – garbage out.  I did not get a round to trying out a DVD (it’s supposed to send up to 720p quality video) to see how that looks but judging from the still photos from the laptop the quality was really good so I have a good feeling that a DVD would look nice as well.  No BD player in the laptop so standard def is all we’ll try. 

The receiver portion which is Velcroed to the flat panel is made of a high gloss plastic similar to the bezel and it’s fairly small, about 7″ l X 3″ w X 1/2″ d except where it comes to a point in the middle (this is the antenna?).  It kind of looks like a car’s rear view mirror in a way when just laying on a table in any case it doesn’t really look out of place the way I’ve attached it.  Into the laptop goes the USB dongle which is similar in size to some of the smaller style laptop dongles that you get from your cell phone provider for an internet connection.  Although I don’t recall reading it specifically the dongle requires a powered USB port and I say this only because the dongle got fairly warm IMO.  I have an IOU to check with Imation and make sure that this is normal.

Al in all I’d have to say that so far the Link seems to do exactly what I wanted it to do and is easy enough for a senior (with some computer savvy) to utilize without calling me up every time they want to use it.  That’s a big gold star right there.

[LowTech]

Good price considering the current HDD situation because of the Thailand floods.  I bought a couple of these for my NAS about six months ago and have nothing but good things to say about them for use in a server or NAS configuration.

 

[LowTech]

A year ago or so I would have jumped all over this deal (simply because of the price) but with the low price of HDDs, USB flash drive memory, the “cloud” and SSDs coming down in price almost daily I can’t see a good reason to archive/share data or whatever on this sort of media.

There is probably some upside to using the BR discs as a storage media but nothing that I can immediately think of works for me.

Nonetheless the prices of these units are finally nearing the reasonable price zone.

[LowTech]

Naturally a USB turntable would be ideal for a variety of reasons so I would have to search for one with decent reviews.  Any suggestions?

Audacity is what I saw referred to as having a steep learning curve.  I would prefer something intuitive but for the price maybe this would be the best bet?  I suppose that my biggest fear is that I have to manually cue each track and record it so that side one of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon isn’t one big ole track.

 

[LowTech]

If you’re on a tight budget for a NAS I would say look around on ebay for some reamer that still has an acceptable CPU and can support SATA HDDs.  There’s a ton of these boxes to be had for around $50 to $75.  Throw in a couple of new HDDs and then load it up with a little Free NAS goodness and you have a NAS/server on the cheap.  Beware though there were some butt-ugly computer cases around a few years back so if you have an issue with aesthetics this may not be a viable option.  

[LowTech]

I’m not looking to preserve the vinyl experience I just want something better than MP3.  The problem that I’ve read about USB turntables is that the software leaves much to be desired and is often sub-par.  Using a phono preamp and regular turntable relies on third party software, which isn’t so bad but apparently has a steep learning curve not to mention the cost of all of the gear.

I was curious if someone in the MR community has messed around with this sort of thing recently.

[LowTech]

[quote=skirge01]We simply can’t allow such a wondrous thread to sit idle for an extended period of time.[/quote]

Apparently we can…but for now welcome back thread!

[LowTech]

[quote=Techbutton]

I worked for Hitachi GST, and I have to say that the problem wasn’t Hitachi, it was IBM. IBM quickly sold the hard drive business and Hitachi was plagued with that problem for a very long time.. Hitachi quickly changed the business model IBM was running on..

Others have problems just like Hitachi did, just the name stuck more with the “DeathStar” name people called it..

[/quote]

 

I believe that the circa 2005ish “meowing” issue was all Hitachi. 

And just to go off on a slight tangent (not Hitachi related – but in general) I feel that a lot of the HDD DOA user reviews that we see on NewEgg etc are in large part due to the shipping experience.  Earlier this month I received two Seagate 2TB drives for my NAS.  the box in which they were packed looked like they participated in a rugby game or something.  The exterior box was in such bad shape that I almost contacted NewEgg for an RMA as I knew for sure that these 3.5″ drives could not have survived the UPS experience that they went through.  I installed them anyways in my NAS and they work fine but I cannot help but believe that if one or both of these drives die prematurely that blame can be directly attributed to the rough handling that they were subjected to during the shipping process. 

For that reason I give sort of a half rate weighting to any DOA type negative customer reviews as it is clear that our shipping options tend to be rather rough on sensitive electronic and other products.

[LowTech]

I have to agree with Jenny…dustless?  Really?  I expect that finding a cure for the common cold will be discovered before something is invented that repels dust with 100% assurance.

 

Nonetheless this is a cool (pardon the pun) concept.

[LowTech]

In the back of my mind I still harbor a little prejudice against Hitachi drives because of the IBM DeathStar thing and then later an apparent noise issue that some models were known for. 

However, a couple of months ago I was in need of a replacement HDD for my mom’s desktop PC.  In the end I decided to push my prejudices aside and get a 500GB Hitachi after having read the various customer reviews and whatever other information that I could find.  It was the apparent “best bang for the buck”.  After I installed it and got the PC back up and running I noted no unusual noises or vibrations even though I just knew for sure that the Hitachi would make its presence known somehow.  It simply does what it is supposed to.

This experience in no way make me a Hitachi fan boy but I now have another HDD manufacturer to consider when trying to make a HDD purchase decision and that’s always a good thing as in the past I never gave Hitachi drives any consideration. 

[LowTech]

I have Corsair PSUs in my HTPC and in my two desktop PCs and cannot say enough good things about these units…but…I was always leery of this new Builders Series that Corsair came out with.  I mean really, how can you maintain Corsair quality at Best Buy (wretch..ptui) prices?

So if you read the recent feedback for this unit it seems that the initial honeymoon period has ended and the makeup has come off of this PSU.  Overall it seems to be a hit-or-miss affair for this model…very uncharacteristic of Corsair PSUs.  

Nonetheless having, in the past, read repeated stories of how budget PSUs ultimately fail and in some cases take parts of the mobo out with them leaves me with a strong distrust of cheap PSUs…Corsair is no exception at $16.  For a build worthy of personal ownership or for a friend/family situation I wouldn’t scrimp on a PSU regardless what brand of badge it wears.

Of course your mileage may vary..I’m just sayin’

[LowTech]

Hey I just wanted to check in and thank everyone for their suggestions.  In the end I went with the Thinksound ts01.

Since I had bundled that order with another item there was a delay in getting them shipped.  In the interim I purchased one of those $10 or $12 sets from Wal Mart (yeah yeah I know but this is how we learn, right?) because I would be traveling again before the ts01s got here and wanted something to use while I was away.  Those darn things weren’t any better than the garbage that came with my phone and are just barely a step up from those ear buds that Continental Airlines gives you (I tried them too once) to watch DirecTV while on board their planes.

Anyways a little voice in the back of my head was telling me that something that little really can’t be all that good based on my latest experience so my expectations for the ts01s was starting to drop as overall they are sort of middle of the road cost-wise.

The Thinksound ear buds finally arrive one day and I plug them into my phone.  I crank up Jazz Radio and I am stunned what I hear coming from a phone and those new ear buds.  I had no idea that that quality of sound could be produced from a cell phone and a set of ear buds.  I then jammed the ear buds into my laptop to see how music from that source sounds – I was pleasantly surprised once again.   Now granted I’m not talking quality equal to high end content listened through a good receiver and headphones but compared to what I had before it was like going from AM to FM. 

Thanks to all who lent their 2 cents, I really appreciate it.

[LowTech]

Josh,

I certainly appreciate the logic behind quality audio/video gear, however, I’m a little skeptical about the overall experience that I will get out of MP3s or streaming audio from a smart phone or a laptop.  Were my source components and music of a higher standard then I’d have no problem dishing out the necessary clams to complete the deal with good speakers but I’m dealing with relatively low end audio from the Samsung phone and Acer laptop.  That’s why I set the $50 limit.  

Autoboy,

I have a hard time keeping those open type buds in my ears for some reason.  Maybe I just don’t understand how to insert them, dunno?  The only issue that I have with closed ear buds (and it’s not like I’ve dealt with a lot of these things, BTW) is that I need to equalize my ears occasionally if I’m wearing them for extended periods.  It’s kind of like scuba diving in a way.  So when weighing the issues as I’ve experienced them I’m leaning heavily towards the type of bud that you jamb into your ear canal until it’s right next to your brain.  At least they tend to stay put in my experience. 

After surfing around a little the ThinkSounds that Michael initially suggested look to be the buds of choice.  Plus I’ve been needing to buy one of those jalapeno pepper corers and Amazon has those as well so I can kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.  Also I will certainly use the link to Amazon which is so conveniently provided for our use.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[LowTech]

Much better.

That should help remind an old fart like me to do my part for MR the next time I do a little shopping.

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