TechieInHell

TechieInHell

84p

707 comments posted · 22 followers · following 1

9 years ago @ Atomic Toasters - Startup: Killing Them ... · 1 reply · +3 points

I have a co-worker who has a young (I'm thinking 4-ish) daughter. She, like so many girls her age, loves the music from the movie "Frozen". To help preserve he and his wife's sanity, he has converted all of her favourite tracks from their digital source to audio cassette tape. I accused him of being a hipster, but his logic was sound. In digital format, his daughter knows how to hit the skip-back button to play a song over and over and over again. On cassette, she gets to hear it once, then has to wait until the entire album loops back around before she can hear it again. He has - quite deliberately - not taught her about rewind.

9 years ago @ Atomic Toasters - User Input: Prepare to... · 0 replies · +4 points

Check the OSD (On Screen Display). There is likely a setting for having it on or off by default.

All the Yamaha receivers I've seen have a "Music Enhancer" mode as well that supposed to polish up low bitrate MP3 sources, but I find that all it really does is add an annoying bass warble.

9 years ago @ Atomic Toasters - User Input: Prepare to... · 2 replies · +6 points

This is why I bypass all the "Smart" features of my TV's and essentially use them as monitors. Sound goes through the dedicated home theatre system (carefully selected components - none of that 6 ohm home-theatre-in-a-box crap!), and all sources are external and go through the home theatre receiver.

Most manufacturers (maybe all?) do offer the ability to turn off all of their interpolation software, but they all have different names for that stuff that ups all frame rates to 60fps. (I think some of them call it clearframe)

Also, many blu ray disks and consoles have calibration tools built in. Most Sony BluRay disks have one that you can access by entering 7669 on the main menu. The Xbox One has an excellent HDMI video calibration tool built-in.

10 years ago @ Atomic Toasters - Om Nom Nom · 0 replies · +2 points

Most of my hair grew back. Still haven't quite figured out what the strange gas emanating from the lesions is. Three doctors suffered permanent neural damage trying to figure it out. Also, it can soften most any root vegetable to a perfect al-denté in under 5 minutes.

10 years ago @ Atomic Toasters - Om Nom Nom · 0 replies · +2 points

I should point out that the picture in the photo is not the Arecibo telescope. I"m not even sure which telescope that is playing the role of the mouth. The implied joke was that the Arecibo (not pictured) was taking on another role.

11 years ago @ Atomic Toasters - User Input: Technologi... · 1 reply · +12 points

11 years ago @ Atomic Toasters - The Gorg · 1 reply · +3 points

That was my thought. Once it's 12 miles off shore, it's in International waters and US law does not apply. And on the sea, they've got easy access to cheap coolant.

The Principality of Sealand made a great run of being an offshore haven for people who couldn't be bothered by federal laws getting in the way of their online business.

11 years ago @ Atomic Toasters - User Input: Visually I... · 0 replies · +6 points

For some reason I'm always drawn to things that have blue LEDs. My main L+R channels on the home theatre have active crossovers and powered subwoofers built in. There's a little green LED to show when the sub is powered on and active. Right after I bought them, the next year's model came out - identical in every way except the indicator LED was blue instead of green. I almost bought them.

11 years ago @ Atomic Toasters - User Input: Blinker Fluid · 1 reply · +7 points

I think it's been mentioned before, but an old tech support trick: ask the user to "reverse the polarity" of their network cable. It's a good way to get them to verify that both ends are securely plugged in without having to say "is it plugged in?"

11 years ago @ Atomic Toasters - Tournament of Monsters... · 0 replies · +5 points

Yes, fearless leader forgot to reference any franchise in the post.

Reavers are from Firefly, Tyrants are from Resident Evil.