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Pilsner posted:I'm on the fence about working from home. We have some people at the office who are very often working from home, or some that meet early and leave ridiculously early on the dot, like 2pm, and it's frequently an annoyance that it's a struggle to get some face time with them talking about the projects, and after lunch it's like "let's look at it tomorrow". Meanwhile I'm there 95% of days from around 9 til 4-5 ish. Yeah sure you can phone and Skype, but people are AFK constantly when they are home, so communication is ridiculously slow. We also cooperate with some developers in Pakistan (3 times zones away from us), and the amount of time it can take to solve a simple problem is absurd. It can take days to resolve something that two people at a physical office could solve in an hour because they can communicate instantly and work on their computers "live" so to speak. I work from home probably 60% of the time. Others on my team are about the same. We usually stagger our days so we have someone in the office to field walk-ins from upper management, but even then no one is super fussed when our section is all remote on any given day. A couple on the team are 100% home office. We have people strung around the globe, and we mostly don't have any issues with meeting attendance. We have almost ZERO face to face meetings, even when we all work in the same building. Even the all-hands-on-deck critical issues. I'm one of those early leavers, because I'm an early starter (I do 6AM-2ish). But I'm more than willing to jump on a late afternoon meeting, I'm just not going to be physically in the office to do it. And that usually means I'll let those after-hours (for me) stack up and then take a comp day. There are people who seem to *never* be available for meetings or project updates, but usually they get removed from the projects and eventually not requested for new ones. Which always struck me as odd, since being a lead for your group in a project gives you experience and exposure for bonuses and promotion. But some people have different priorities and are comfortable with never advancing. Overall, I'd say it's less dedication to the company, and more pride in your reputation and work in my experience. quote:but people are AFK constantly when they are home This is your main problem, here. You have to have people willing to be professional whether they work at home or in the office with everyone else. If you have to corner someone to get them to collaborate with you, it's not really a good indication of their professionalism. quote:We also cooperate with some developers in Pakistan (3 times zones away from us), and the amount of time it can take to solve a simple problem is absurd Boiled Water posted:The chess clock is pretty neat when your boss asks why you're not done with A Thing you can point to the clock and say "x hours were taken up by other departments which is why I'm not done yet" Keeping track of your time is always a good thing. We don't have a chess-clock, but the team does use Toggl. It's less about time-cards and more about showing where our time is going. The reports we've generated from those has twice justified an increase in head-count for my group. Proteus Jones has a new favorite as of 15:28 on Sep 27, 2016 |
# ? Sep 27, 2016 15:25 |
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# ? Mar 28, 2024 18:50 |
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Suzuran posted:What about actual punch clocks, are those obsolete yet? At a prior employer we had one of the old mechanical clocks until 2003-ish, when he "upgraded" to a computerized punch clock that used your fingerprint to clock you in and out so people couldn't punch for their friends. The clock fed its data into a web-based status board that the boss would watch like a hawk, because if you were not there and visibly busy working on something you were literally stealing time from the company and he expected to be compensated. We had to punch out for any breaks, including smoke breaks, and if the boss found you being insufficiently busy he would punch you out with his administrative access code and you would not be paid from then until you were allowed to clock in again. One of my projects was supposed to be a program that monitored web usage via the proxy server logs and automatically punched someone out if they visited websites on the blacklist (myspace, etc) but that never happened. If you were expected to continue working after being punched out that's illegal, by the way.
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# ? Sep 27, 2016 16:31 |
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Kwyndig posted:If you were expected to continue working after being punched out that's illegal, by the way. I have a feeling that employer is one of those "labor law is for suckers" types.
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# ? Sep 27, 2016 17:16 |
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Getting back into obsolete technology, i'd like to show off this very nice typewriter i bought this weekend. Initial tests shows that it works, though it does need a new ribbon. I've ordered one off of ebay that also has a red part, because red makes everything seem more important. I also saw you can get purple ink ribbons, which just seems classy as all gently caress. This is after cleaning it up and giving it a quick wax and polish! there's more info available here https://myoldtypewriter.wordpress.com/2015/11/04/the-handy-manual-olivetti-studio-42-typewriter/ including this handy diagram It really makes you understand the terms behind tabulating, upper and lower case, caps lock and whatnot!
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# ? Sep 27, 2016 17:30 |
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banana posted:I don't want to reopen the discussion, I just thought that getting this result when asking in german was funny.
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# ? Sep 27, 2016 17:38 |
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Frobbe posted:Getting back into obsolete technology, i'd like to show off this very nice typewriter i bought this weekend. Always liked the look of olivettis, my Lettera 22 in the same color is my favorite.
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# ? Sep 27, 2016 19:12 |
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My Lovely Horse posted:I almost entirely automated a job that was 90% sitting around watching progress bars to begin with, and productivity is through the roof. Six hours a day I browse the forums and listen to music on youtube, and we're five months ahead of schedule. Sometimes I look around the office and wonder if it's me or if they're all just loving around. I don't even know what you're supposed to do for eight hours straight. Also, I feel like I needed to correct this one: Boiled Water posted:If you're really good at automating things your job could become obsoleting your
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# ? Sep 27, 2016 19:55 |
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Kwyndig posted:If you were expected to continue working after being punched out that's illegal, by the way. Not sure what your nationality is but US labor laws are maybe three steps ahead of allowing indentured servitude, if not outright slavery. Yeah - expecting/requiring employees to work off the clock is technically illegal, but when you can fire an employee because you don't like his new haircut or the color of his shoes (or pretty much an infinite number of reasons not explicitly prohibited by law) it makes any prohibition against firing a person worthless. Geoj has a new favorite as of 02:59 on Sep 28, 2016 |
# ? Sep 28, 2016 02:46 |
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Trabant posted:Also, I feel like I needed to correct this one: Speaking as a guy who is really good at automating things, this is not strictly the case. You will make a lot of people obsolete, since their jobs might take so much less time to do, but that only means they get moved to other tasks. One thing you won't do is obsolete yourself. If a manager speaks with another manager and says "This guy made X task take 15 minutes to do, when it took 3 days in the past!" you bet you're gonna be a valuable office commodity, then get to automate for other teams as well. It's very fun work too. You see some task being done sluggishly and inefficiently, roll in, do your thing and then see how much things have improved when you're done.
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# ? Sep 28, 2016 06:17 |
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Kwyndig posted:If you were expected to continue working after being punched out that's illegal, by the way. Once you were clocked out you had a strike on your attendance record so it did not matter if you stayed and worked or went home; You were already in poo poo. As far as I can remember everyone stayed and worked though. I'm pretty sure if you left you would not be coming back. This was in Illinois so he could do pretty much whatever he wanted. Toward the end a lot of people were working unpaid overtime just trying to keep the place afloat. Any job in a recession, any port in a storm. Magnus Praeda posted:I have a feeling that employer is one of those "labor law is for suckers" types. Very much so. The company ceased to exist about two years after the events described, for a variety of reasons. Low employee morale was a large factor. I was the first person in the door to set up before the place opened and the last person out the door when it closed. Really sad to see something you invested so much time and effort in get run into the ground. We sold offline computer training, which probably is also obsolete. The business model is certainly failed.
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# ? Sep 28, 2016 07:50 |
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My last job was salaried and the director made it absolutely clear that the measure of one's performance was directly tied to how many hours over 40 they worked, it was lovely
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# ? Sep 28, 2016 07:54 |
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Code Jockey posted:My last job was salaried and the director made it absolutely clear that the measure of one's performance was directly tied to how many hours over 40 they worked, it was lovely So competent workers were seen as inferior? Sounds about normal.
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# ? Sep 28, 2016 08:08 |
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Geoj posted:Not sure what your nationality is but US labor laws are maybe three steps ahead of allowing indentured servitude, if not outright slavery. Well yeah, there's that. But even if they fire you you can land them in poo poo if they're forcing unpaid work. Fines and penalties for violating minimum wage laws are no joke for a small business. Unless you're in jail or work in an exempt industry for some reason, then tough poo poo.
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# ? Sep 28, 2016 17:17 |
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Kwyndig posted:Well yeah, there's that. But even if they fire you you can land them in poo poo if they're forcing unpaid work. Fines and penalties for violating minimum wage laws are no joke for a small business. Unless you're in jail or work in an exempt industry for some reason, then tough poo poo. Even "small" business owners have pretty deep pockets compared to their employees, and trying to take someone to court over what usually amounts to a few hundred dollars is difficult. Most people will just assume what they would get back would go to legal fees, so why bother? Plus even if you put the jerk out of business there's just going to be another rear end in a top hat to pick up where the first rear end in a top hat left off. It's pretty futile, and why nobody bothers. Couple that with the Protestant work ethic that says if you complain about hardship you're a Bad Person, and you got a ready-made exploitable workforce that just shrugs and takes it when you screw them over.
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 04:01 |
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Admittedly, not anywhere near 'best' in any way, but does Best Buy still offer really big sales on computers only to pre-install every machine with a Geek Squad Protection A/V and 'restore disks' that increases their prices by about $100+ that can't be refunded or removed from the purchase price?
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 07:41 |
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Jerry Cotton posted:So competent workers were seen as inferior? Sounds about normal. Yep. Complete all your work items for a sprint? Great, but what else did you do? So glad I'm done. The place I'm at now feels like I'm barely working in comparison to that, ha. JediTalentAgent posted:Admittedly, not anywhere near 'best' in any way, but does Best Buy still offer really big sales on computers only to pre-install every machine with a Geek Squad Protection A/V and 'restore disks' that increases their prices by about $100+ that can't be refunded or removed from the purchase price? I am so glad I've always built my own PCs, jesus.
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 08:13 |
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I am currently looking for a good old-school CRT TV for retro gaming, currently a B&O MX 8000 is looking like the best option, because it does proper scanlines and has amazing picture and sound quality. While looking around, I got to looking at CRT computer monitors, too. Just look at this bargain (especially that last line of text): You're gonna need one hell of a desk for that mother, no Ikea flat pack stuff.
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 14:09 |
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KozmoNaut posted:I am currently looking for a good old-school CRT TV for retro gaming, currently a B&O MX 8000 is looking like the best option, because it does proper scanlines and has amazing picture and sound quality. Yep. Sony Trinitron CRTs were made from dwarf star matter and actually gained mass every step you took carrying them. But by far the best monitor ever made.
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 14:12 |
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It's kinda weird to think that 24" used to be absolutely gigantic, even the biggest 4:3 CRT TVs were rarely bigger than 28". To have something that size as a computer monitor was unheard of. I remember back in trade school, one guy got a 20" 1600x1200 LCD that he ran at like 800x600 or even 640x480 due to vision problems. I remember thinking that thing was absolutely massive and ridiculous, and probably outrageously expensive. Now I have two similar 20" LCDs at work and they're just kinda OK, I guess. Nothing to get excited about KozmoNaut has a new favorite as of 14:27 on Sep 29, 2016 |
# ? Sep 29, 2016 14:23 |
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KozmoNaut posted:It's kinda weird to think that 24" used to be absolutely gigantic, even the biggest 4:3 CRT TVs were rarely bigger than 28". To have something that size as a computer monitor was unheard of. I had a 17" that we threw off the fourth floor of a dormitory in college, and REAL police came because someone thought it was a small bomb.
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 14:55 |
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Some car repair shop in Poland is still using a Commodore 64 to do some driveshaft balancing: http://sploid.gizmodo.com/this-old-rear end-commodore-64-is-still-being-used-to-run-an-1787196319
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 15:13 |
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DrBouvenstein posted:Some car repair shop in Poland is still using a Commodore 64 to do some driveshaft balancing: Yeah but that's the new model.
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 15:20 |
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Suzuran posted:What about actual punch clocks, are those obsolete yet? At a prior employer we had one of the old mechanical clocks until 2003-ish, when he "upgraded" to a computerized punch clock that used your fingerprint to clock you in and out so people couldn't punch for their friends. The clock fed its data into a web-based status board that the boss would watch like a hawk, because if you were not there and visibly busy working on something you were literally stealing time from the company and he expected to be compensated. We had to punch out for any breaks, including smoke breaks, and if the boss found you being insufficiently busy he would punch you out with his administrative access code and you would not be paid from then until you were allowed to clock in again. One of my projects was supposed to be a program that monitored web usage via the proxy server logs and automatically punched someone out if they visited websites on the blacklist (myspace, etc) but that never happened. Actual, mechanical, punch clocks are nice. At a company I used to work for, I had to approve my staffs hours and compare them to their door access cards. You were not allowed to hold a door, everyone had to touch their card when they entered or left. The time clock used bio-metric ID which took forever to clock in/out. So we had to metrics to fuss over. Give me a time card and a punch clock and life would be so much easier. Dealing with buddy punching isn't hard. You just have to hang someone to let people know it's not acceptable.
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 15:36 |
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Tens of thousands of NHS computers are still running Windows XP.
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 15:41 |
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Man, those Fallout HD graphics packs are getting good.
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 15:50 |
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DrBouvenstein posted:Some car repair shop in Poland is still using a Commodore 64 to do some driveshaft balancing: This is amazing in every way possible.
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 15:53 |
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Further proof that the C64 is the best
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 16:31 |
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KozmoNaut posted:It's kinda weird to think that 24" used to be absolutely gigantic, even the biggest 4:3 CRT TVs were rarely bigger than 28". To have something that size as a computer monitor was unheard of. I think I posted it in this thread, but I was trying to find the largest consumer CRT TV made. I was able to find references to 40" and maybe 42" TV existing, but no model numbers, pricing, dates, etc. I know towards the end of their existance, Best Buy regularly sold 32" CRT TVs, but I don't personally remember seeing any bigger than that. I used to do some PC janitoring for a guy who had a LAN set up in his basement with relatively high end PCs and a T1 internet connection (back when that was a big thing). He had several CRT widescreen monitors. 24" Sony's from what I remember. I do remember that they were a 2 man lift.
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 17:23 |
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Seems that back from about 1993-1999, if you could afford a 21" Trinitron, you were king of the nerds. It was a very well performing piece. I do not miss lugging it around.
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 17:26 |
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The largest I've heard of that were sold as regular TVs was 40" or 42", for a 4:3 TV. Mitsubishi made some, as did Sony and I think Phillips made some too. Don't think I've ever heard of a 16:9 CRT bigger than 36". I've heard about 45" CRTs and even a 60" one that was only produced in very limited numbers, as it was just too big to work properly. But I can't really find anything concrete, info about those mahoosive beasts is scarce to say the least. They would have been absolutely ridiculously expensive and impractical. Personally, I'll be perfectly happy with a 28" B&O. Back in the day, that was big enough to impress most people 38kg of pure quality. KozmoNaut has a new favorite as of 17:35 on Sep 29, 2016 |
# ? Sep 29, 2016 17:32 |
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Wasabi the J posted:I had a 17" that we threw off the fourth floor of a dormitory in college, and REAL police came because someone thought it was a small bomb. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jMFiRvxvrc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1c_J9gcCOo
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 17:40 |
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Yeah, for the TV sizes, I meant 4:3. I know Sony had their WEGA widescreen TVs, but I don't remember how big they got.
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 17:41 |
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Lowen SoDium posted:I think I posted it in this thread, but I was trying to find the largest consumer CRT TV made. I was able to find references to 40" and maybe 42" TV existing, but no model numbers, pricing, dates, etc. I know towards the end of their existance, Best Buy regularly sold 32" CRT TVs, but I don't personally remember seeing any bigger than that. The Mitsubishi CS-40* series of 40" CRTs weighed about 240 pounds, and in the mid-90s were the kings of the mountain. You can check out the manual for a CS-40503 here, and a press release mentioning them here. MSRP ranged from $3499 for the base-model 40503 to $3999 for the top-end 40805 (~$5400-6200 in today's dollars). They didn't sell very many and it was discontinued in 1998. In 2001, Sony made a Trinitron in the same size, the 40XBR800, which was even capable of 1080P. It weighed three hundred pounds and cost a relatively paltry $2,300. (Specsheet here, paywalled WSJ article here.) There's some internet rumor that Mitsubishi once made a 61" CRT, but quickly discontinued it because the tubes didn't last very long and were quite dangerous to move. Cassius Belli has a new favorite as of 18:16 on Sep 29, 2016 |
# ? Sep 29, 2016 18:11 |
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I've got a 21" Dell-branded Sony Trinitron PC monitor in my garage that I got back in... 2005? It was liquidated when some school changed over to flat panels. Absolutely gigantic, weighs as much as my car, and the picture quality is amazing. Best part? Hooking my scan line generator to it, combined with this cool little composite to RGB/VGA upscaler I found at a thrift store. Makes old console games look awesome. The monitor also has RGB inputs, but without the scanline generator, it looks a little blurry.
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 18:25 |
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DrBouvenstein posted:Some car repair shop in Poland is still using a Commodore 64 to do some driveshaft balancing: When it doesn't need to communicate with anything but the balancer and maybe a printer, there's little impetus to replace working equipment. I love finding weird poo poo like that tucked away somewhere.
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 18:34 |
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KozmoNaut posted:Personally, I'll be perfectly happy with a 28" B&O. Back in the day, that was big enough to impress most people 38kg of pure quality. You know I can't resist posting my retro setup About $10,000 of 1992s finest electronics! Beosystem 7000, Beosystem 2500, MX7000, Redline 60.2, all in white. The TV and stereo are datalinked, so you can get the sound from the TV on the stereo - or you can play the sound from the stereo on the active speakers on the TV! I use a softmodded Wii hooked up via RGB Scart for retro games, it does 240p very well. I can also PM you some Facebook groups for Denmark/Euro-based B&O sites if you're not already on them.
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 19:14 |
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Those old B&O TVs are gorgeous. In particular when you put it directly on the floor ising its tilted foot. Same goes for redline speakers! Still using a MX6000 myself, as I still haven't bothered to make the transition to flatscreens
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 19:34 |
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evobatman posted:You know I can't resist posting my retro setup Yeah, it's a pretty rad setup you've got there. I was actually originally just looking for any MX TV, but a really inexpensive (possibly free) MX8000 popped up and well, it was the top-of-the-line end-all-be-all final gasp for the B&O CRT (disregarding the Avants), so I gotta have it. Unlike a lot of the previous model, the service menu is directly accessible from the remote, and there are a few other nice exclusive features as well. The MX 8000 only has two SCART inputs, unlike the 7000's 2x SCART plus 1x S-Video, but they're both RGB-capable and I don't mind using an external switch. I'm only going to hook up my Gamecube (or Wii) and PS2 initially, anyway. Are both the SCART plugs on the 7000 RGB-capable? And are you using the hidden scanline feature for that pure retro gaming feel? IMHO the best thing about the 7000/8000, apart from the awesome video quality, are the speakers. They're just ridiculously good and powerful. Of course they run rings around the puny speakers in modern LCD TVs, but they'll put most proper stereos to shame as well. I'm not a member of any B&O groups, but I used to work at the HQ in Struer, and my dad is a certified tech from back when CRTs were the hottest thing around. I don't think I'm going straight into the deep end, for now. Just the TV, and mostly for retro gaming
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 19:48 |
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Only one of the two scarts on the MX7000 is RGB-capable as far as I've figured out, but I have a very very early model. Later models might be more capable. I did try that scanline thing with a 480i signal from the Wii, but it didn't make much difference to me. 240P from NES, SNES and Mega Drive emulators is GORGEOUS though! If you're a scanline fetishist it doesn't get much better than that! Remember to invest in proper Scart cables for your PS2 and Gamecube. I hooked up my PS3 via Scart in 576i for shits and giggles, and it does look pretty good! The speakers are a completely different experience from LCD TV speakers, I've read that they are up to par with the Beolab 2500s, but I haven't pushed them enough to confirm it.
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# ? Sep 29, 2016 20:16 |
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# ? Mar 28, 2024 18:50 |
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I have a SCART cable for the Gamecube, but unfortunately it's one of those cheap-rear end composite-only ripoffs. I'll be getting proper cables from these guys https://www.retrogamingcables.co.uk/, they even offer the cables with a "sync cleaner" that eliminates artifacts from the combined composite+sync signal when you're using RGB. Those guys and http://retrorgb.com/ are the go-to places for RGB on older consoles, even the N64 which never officially had RGB. I think theres an NES RGB mod now as well, which is just ridiculous. I may just actually hook up the Wii instead of the Gamecube. It should work fine with the official RGB cable, and I've got a bunch of games on Virtual Console to tide me over until I get my hands on some actual old-school hardware. I know the consoles from the GC/PS2/Xbox generation forwards work great on 16:9 TVs, but 4:3 just feels more old-school and "proper" to me. And a pillarboxed picture in the middle of a 32" 16:9 is just tiny and pathetic compared to a 4:3 28". KozmoNaut has a new favorite as of 20:29 on Sep 29, 2016 |
# ? Sep 29, 2016 20:24 |