I admit defeat

[RogerS]

Trained as a broadcast electronics engineer, designed and built three home-brew computers, written operating systems, digitally savvy but..................

.......when browsing in John Lewis TV and audio department and vaguely looking at the snazzy new TVs... and then looking at the plethora of gizmo's being promoted on them....so many TLA's..so much techno-buzz...saw one TV that even had voice recognition FFS. Not a clue as to what half of these thing mean or do. So much just waiting to go wrong. So much untested software and firmware.

Whatever happened to just sitting down in front of the tele and hitting BBC1?

KISS....ne'er a truer word.

 

[dickm]

.......when browsing in John Lewis TV and audio department and vaguely looking at the snazzy new TVs... and then looking at the plethora of gizmo's being promoted on them....so many TLA's..so much techno-buzz...saw one TV that even had voice recognition FFS. Not a clue as to what half of these thing mean or do. So much just waiting to go wrong. So much untested software and firmware.

But if you don't go out and buy these things "the economy" will collapse!

I'm with you 100%!

 

[tekno.mage]

I think a lot of this new stuff has to do with connecting your TV to the internet, 3D and other such strangenesses. The TLAs are probably obligatory and may be intended to bamboozle you so you don't notice that your new TV is actually now a telescreen so Big Brother can be watching you (the one from 1984 - ie the Government, not the cr*p reality TV show of same name.)

I won't be connecting my TV to the internet any time soon (it would probably be a pointless exercise in any case - we don't have superfast broadband in mid Wales).

 

[Racers]

I remember when you had to get up to change the chanels, and there where only 3! and BBC2 had the test card on most of the day.

Pete

 

[monkeybiter]

Out of interest what homebrew's did you build? Are they on the net? I've just started one as a winter project.

 

[monkeybiter]

I remember when you had to get up to change the chanels
Pete

Not if you're a decent shot with an air pistol 8)

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I remember two channels. A friend of mine spent forty years as a radio and tv engineer, until he was made redundant about six or seven years ago, and he told me a year ago that he was often asked to set up new systems for friends: he had to turn them down because he wouldn't know where to start.

 

[RogerP]

I remember when you had to get up to change the chanels, and there where only 3! and BBC2 had the test card on most of the day.

Pete

Well I remember when there was only one channel and we had a darned great oil filled magnifier over the nine-inch screen.

Recently bought a new TV and it came with all the gizmos - none of which get used after an initial try out. The 3d is very limited, the connection to the broadband doesn't seem of much use - just loads of strange channels and pay-for films etc. I expect there's more to it than I've explored but frankly I can't be bothered.

Picture is good - all HD via Virgin.

 

[andersonec]

Wait till 'Freeview' was a thing of the past, and the BBC decide to do even more advertising than they are doing now.

Telly's of the future will be operated with your credit card, the telly won't switch on till you have made your daily top-up payment.

Andy

 

[brianhabby]

Isn't reminiscing great

I too remember when we only had one channel, BBC. My dad came home one day with a box with a huge dial on it - he called this box a converter and when set up allowed us to receive a new channel called ITV. I think we were the first in our street to have it. I guess it was an early version set top box.

I agree that when wandering around the shops it can be difficult to know just what you're looking at. We bought a new fridge last week from Currys and before we left the shop decided to have a wander round the downstairs where the TVs were - left the shop in a confused state :?

Mind you we recently installed a new Samsung FreeSat box (fed up of giving my money to SKY) and it has YouTube on it which is much better that watching on the laptop - can't leave comments though.

regards

Brian

 

[RogerS]

....Are they on the net?....

You must be joking! When I designed and built my first computer there was NO net. No email. No browsers. Just a lil ol' Motorola 6800.

 

[petermillard]

Isn't reminiscing great

I too remember when we only had one channel, BBC. My dad came home one day with a box with a huge dial on it - he called this box a converter and when set up allowed us to receive a new channel called ITV...
Brian

My dad made one of those 'converter' boxes - looked like a 1960's school science project, don't think the term 'living-room friendly applied in those days, lol!

I think the terrible truth for a lot of TV manufacturers is that, like digital camera manufacturers, they produce products that for many people are easily 'good enough' and any incentive to change (higher resolution, 3D etc...) involves additional costs beyond the initial purchase price of a new TV. So instead we get pointless extras, poorly implemented Internet connections, crappy user experience, obfuscating TLAs etc... in an attempt to differentiate - when what we'd really like is a flat-screen panel with decent sound built in, manuals translated by someone with English as their first language, and an initial set-up procedure that doesn't stink.

Sigh.

 

[monkeybiter]

....Are they on the net?....

You must be joking! When I designed and built my first computer there was NO net. No email. No browsers. Just a lil ol' Motorola 6800.

That's about the era I'm living in [electronically], I plan to make a simple Z80 based machine first [to 'cut my teeth'] then build on that experience with a 68k. Keeps me off the cold wet streets.

 

[RogerS]

....Are they on the net?....

You must be joking! When I designed and built my first computer there was NO net. No email. No browsers. Just a lil ol' Motorola 6800.

That's about the era I'm living in [electronically], I plan to make a simple Z80 based machine first [to 'cut my teeth'] then build on that experience with a 68k. Keeps me off the cold wet streets.

Excellent choice. That was my second one. There used to be a neat simple OS on a PROM but it's name escapes me.

 

[dickm]

Excellent choice. That was my second one. There used to be a neat simple OS on a PROM but it's name escapes me.

Could you build it using SP61s?

(Go on, someone, admit your age by knowing what they were!!)

 

[RogerS]

Excellent choice. That was my second one. There used to be a neat simple OS on a PROM but it's name escapes me.

Could you build it using SP61s?

(Go on, someone, admit your age by knowing what they were!!)

No but possibly KT66 :wink:

 

[monkeybiter]

Just been googling your glassware. Much too complicated ! Give me little black boxes any day !

 

[RogerP]

The only SP61s I can think of were RF valves

 

[devonwoody]

When our TV broke down in the 50's I used to take out a valve take it down the radio shop, get it tested and if it was Ok put it back in and select another likely source. thirty shillings a valve was a lot in those days.

 

[Losos]

So much untested software and firmware.

Whatever happened to just sitting down in front of the tele and hitting BBC1?

KISS....ne'er a truer word.

Hi Roger - my background very similar to yours (Mobile comms long before the great unwashed masses could get their hands on them :lol: )

And it really makes me mad that software firms can launch products that are so bad that they have now come to rely on the customer to point out faults. I don't buy this 'it would take too long to test it' waffle :x

Anyway, we are quite happy with our tely, we can get Sky and all the FTA channels and SWMBO can get her native language channels, so what more do we want :?: