On Fri, 1 Feb 2008 14:07:23 -0400, "Don White"
wrote:


"John H." wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 21:31:04 -0400, "Don White"
wrote:


He really should spend that time looking for a job.

Here..I've got a job for you...... go f*ck yourself!


Not cool.
--
John H


So.. do you still think it's cool to disparge family members Johnnyshirt?


He didn't disparage him. He said he should get a job. Nothing disparaging
about that.

Now, if he'd said your son was a lazy bum that sponged off his dad, I would
thing that was 'not cool'.
--
John H

On Fri, 1 Feb 2008 09:04:40 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Steve" wrote in message
.. .

On Fri, 1 Feb 2008 02:22:57 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:


In my mind the problem is that lots of hardware/software is foisted on the
public before it's ready for prime time. The theory being that the public
can just do the beta testing whether they like it or not.

One of the biggest offenders in my little world is DishNetwork. They
constantly install "updates" to the receivers that create new problems.

Just like anything else, the ability to do updates can certainly be
abused. You don't have to be a beta tester if you don't want to be.
Just don't be an early adopter.

Steve


I guess I am just starting to show my age. Computers are a great tool, but
I've just never really got "into" them. It irks me that something that is
advertised and designed to do something (like the Blu-Ray players) require
you to routinely log onto the Internet, go to the player's website, download
firmware updates, either burn them to CD-R or copy them to a USB storage
device, then load the firmware update into the Blu-Ray player, just to watch
something that it would not originally read. Never have had to do that
with regular DVD players.

That's because regular DVD players *couldn't* do that. So once the
DVD capabilities were specified, that's it. You're stuck with that
capability for years. With BluRay, they can add new features to the
BluRay specification as time goes by. Things like more interactive
game play, internet access, etc., whatever they can think of.

You don't have to take advantage of those new capabilities if you
don't want to. It will still just play the disc without an update.
But certain features of the newer discs will be unavailable unless you
update. Your choice.

Steve

On Fri, 1 Feb 2008 09:21:22 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:


"Steve" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 1 Feb 2008 02:22:57 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:


"Steve" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 21:38:04 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Steve" wrote in message
om...

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:43:40 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


Yes, the PS3 playes regular DVDs and CDs. Tell your daughter to make
sure she has the latest update to the PS3 OS. You have to connect it
to the internet and let it update itself. I know one of the updates
dealt with giving the BluRay player more capability to deal with newer
discs.

Steve


Thank you and I'll tell her. As for me, they can take their internet
updates and shove 'em.

Well, you don't ever have to update if you don't want to. As for me,
I'm just glad someone's workin on giving me new capabilities and fixes
after I buy something, for free.

Steve

In my mind the problem is that lots of hardware/software is foisted on the
public before it's ready for prime time. The theory being that the public
can just do the beta testing whether they like it or not.

One of the biggest offenders in my little world is DishNetwork. They
constantly install "updates" to the receivers that create new problems.

Just like anything else, the ability to do updates can certainly be
abused. You don't have to be a beta tester if you don't want to be.
Just don't be an early adopter.

Steve

Early adopter, I've been a Dish customer for over ten years.

You've used the same receiver for over 10 years? I'm pretty sure that
if you had, the frequency of updates would decrease as the years go
by. But not being intimately familiar with Dish Network, I can't say.
That's too new of a technology for me. lol

Steve

On Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:24:12 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:

On Fri, 01 Feb 2008 13:21:09 GMT, Steve wrote:

Just like anything else, the ability to do updates can certainly be
abused. You don't have to be a beta tester if you don't want to be.
Just don't be an early adopter.

Updates my ass. It's a way to spy on what you are watching and
listening to. A lot of the slowness is directly related to putting
data into memory for future transfer when it calls home.

Think iTunes. :)

I still use iTunes 5 on one of my computers. Works fine for what I do
with it. I keep one of them current though.

Steve

"Steve" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 1 Feb 2008 09:21:22 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:


"Steve" wrote in message
. ..
On Fri, 1 Feb 2008 02:22:57 -0500, "D.Duck" wrote:


"Steve" wrote in message
m...
On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 21:38:04 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Steve" wrote in message
news:j2o4q3ltsvohf36ervgst365o5oq9h02rd@4ax. com...

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:43:40 -0500, "Eisboch"
wrote:


Yes, the PS3 playes regular DVDs and CDs. Tell your daughter to
make
sure she has the latest update to the PS3 OS. You have to connect
it
to the internet and let it update itself. I know one of the updates
dealt with giving the BluRay player more capability to deal with
newer
discs.

Steve


Thank you and I'll tell her. As for me, they can take their internet
updates and shove 'em.

Well, you don't ever have to update if you don't want to. As for me,
I'm just glad someone's workin on giving me new capabilities and fixes
after I buy something, for free.

Steve

In my mind the problem is that lots of hardware/software is foisted on
the
public before it's ready for prime time. The theory being that the
public
can just do the beta testing whether they like it or not.

One of the biggest offenders in my little world is DishNetwork. They
constantly install "updates" to the receivers that create new problems.

Just like anything else, the ability to do updates can certainly be
abused. You don't have to be a beta tester if you don't want to be.
Just don't be an early adopter.

Steve

Early adopter, I've been a Dish customer for over ten years.

You've used the same receiver for over 10 years? I'm pretty sure that
if you had, the frequency of updates would decrease as the years go
by. But not being intimately familiar with Dish Network, I can't say.
That's too new of a technology for me. lol

Steve

Over the ten years I've had three versions of their receivers. It seems
like biggest problem comes when they try to add new features and screw
something up that in the past worked just fine.

Poor QA, minimal beta testing if any, let the customer weed out the problems
and we'll fix 'em later.

"Steve" wrote in message
...


That's because regular DVD players *couldn't* do that. So once the
DVD capabilities were specified, that's it. You're stuck with that
capability for years. With BluRay, they can add new features to the
BluRay specification as time goes by. Things like more interactive
game play, internet access, etc., whatever they can think of.

You don't have to take advantage of those new capabilities if you
don't want to. It will still just play the disc without an update.
But certain features of the newer discs will be unavailable unless you
update. Your choice.

Steve

Heh. New "features" like making them work?
I looked up the latest firmware update available for my brandy-new Sharp
Blu-Ray player. According to the website, the update "corrects the lock up
problem of the disk drawer open/close operation".

Eisboch

Don White wrote:
"DK" wrote in message
...
Don White wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Jan 30, 10:43 pm, "Eisboch" wrote:
"Steve" wrote in message

...

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:24:25 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:
If you want a BluRay player, I'm curious why someone would buy a
BluRay player other than a PS3 for $399? The PS3 works great as a
BluRay player. It's not slow, doesn't cut out, doesn't have *any* of
the problems you mentioned above and uses a very fast microprocessor.
By far, the very fastest available in any home computer actually.
And as a bonus, besides watching BluRay discs, you can play PS2 or PS3
games and (if you plug in a USB keyboard and mouse) even use it as a
general purpose computer running Linux. It's the best deal going in
home entertainment if you ask me.
Steve
I didn't know PS3 played Blu-Ray until after I had purchased the disk
players, mentioned the issues to my daughter and she informed me about
PS3
which she has for her two boys. I have no interest in video games, so it
didn't occur to me to even check them out. Except .... due to the
discussion, she let me borrow their "Wii" system. What a blast!
You hold a controller in your hand and physically go through the motions
of
bowling or swinging a baseball bat, golf club, tennis racket, etc. I got
a
kick out of it.

Back to Blue-Ray. Does the Playstation 3 also play regular DVDs and CDs?
Also, my daughter said it had operational issues similar to those I've
experienced with the Sharp and Sony players when playing a Blu-Ray disk.
I know the Blu-Ray disks hold a huge amount of data compared to regular
DVD.
I wonder if finding, reading and displaying the data is the reason for
it's
slow motionness.

Another expensive lesson learned, although once they are playing, the
picture quality is outstanding.

Eisboch
Have Guitar Hero for PS3 for my kids. Seeing how I play guitar, I
didn't think I'd like it, because it's not really like playing for
real, but what a blast! EVERYBODY that goes down to the gameroom and
tries it is addicted! Last Saturday, I was in my brewhouse getting
ready to make a batch of ale and my friend came in and kept trying to
hurry me so we could play!

My son has that game. Caught him bringing in the 'drum set' to go along
with the guitar and microphone .
Next thing I knew he had three friends down there 'playing' and singing
along. Maybe if I heard some 60s music it wouldn't be too bad.
He really should spend that time looking for a job.

Here..I've got a job for you...... go f*ck yourself!



It's got to be tough. You have an adult child not only living in your
home, but running it to the point where own his father has to resort to
profanity to try to make himself feel a *little* better about a sad
situation.

HK wrote:
JG2U wrote:
On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:20:30 -0500, DK wrote:

HK wrote:
Calif Bill wrote:
"John H." wrote in message
...
On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:40:26 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III"
"Reggie is
Here wrote:

John H. wrote:
On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:28:35 -0500, "Reginald P. Smithers III"
"Reggie is
Here wrote:

John H. wrote:
On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:24:56 -0500, HK
wrote:

Eisboch wrote:
"HK" wrote in message
...
wrote:
On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:24:25 -0500, Eisboch wrote:


Unlike a conventional DVD player, the Blu-Ray players are
basically
controlled by an internal and v-e-r-y slow microprocessor.
Running Java, I believe. I'm guessing that sluggishness
might be DRM
related. The Blu-Ray standard requires the software to do
a lot more
than just play the movie.
So...I should wait a while before buying a Blu-Ray player
and another
restored copy of Casablanca in black and white?
I would. I can't believe people can tolerate technology
that has bugs and
problems. I was reading the manuals last night and you are
supposed to log
on to the manufacturer's websites and download firmware
updates from time to
time. That's too much. If it doesn't work as advertised
out of the box, I
have little use for it.

I re-hooked up the regular, $99 dollar DVD/CD player to my
system. The amp
does an "upscaling" of the video image and, although not
high definition, it
looks fine on most regular DVD's.

Now, what the heck do I do with all the free Blu-Ray disks
that are supposed
to be sent? (I also bought another 46" LCD HD television
and between it
and two Blu-Ray players, I have 15 free movies coming plus
got a $300
rebate ... $200 at time of sale and another $100 when I send
all the
paperwork in.)

I'll keep the Blu-Ray systems, but will also keep the old
player hooked up.

Eisboch


Well.

I don't mind downloading updates from time to time. Hell, I
do it all
the time with Windoze, and I've already downloaded two
software updates
for my Garmin 4208 and various other electronic devices.

My real problem with buying yet another device to play
programming on a
TV set is that the programming itself is so ****-poor. That's
why I
mentioned Casablanca, of course. The "restored" B&W version
of that
classic is gorgeous, but it isn't even wide screen. :)

Like most folks, we have a couple of hundred moves on DVD. We
watch very
few of them more than a couple of times, and I would state
without
equivocation that at leat 95% of the new movies coming out
these days
are absolute crap, not worthy of watching. Of the ones that
are, very
few I have seen incorporate any sort of visual effects that
would take
advantage of what I see on the Blu-Ray displays at the video
stores.

I'm certainly not anti-technology, but I'd want to see some
really good
programming available that I'd want to watch a few times
before blowing
cash on Blu-Ray hardware.
Damn, I feel horrible. We've got about ten movies, mostly
Disney stuff for
the grandkids and a few Christmas presents.

Why would anyone buy a couple hundred movies on DVD?

Anyone?
That is why God invented Netflix.
We use the Blockbuster's version, which is a good deal for us
'cause
there's a Bb about three blocks away. I guess if I were going to
Madagascar
for twelve years, I might buy a couple hundred movies to take
along.


I stopped using Blockbuster when they wanted to charge me a late
fee,
when I returned the movie at 12:05. I was 5 min. late and they
wanted
to charged me double the rental fee for 5 days.
They stopped that.
--
John H
Yup, they did, but they also lost a lot of customers forever.


Blockbuster hardly ever had any movies we wanted to see. We haven't
been in one of the chain's stores for many years. I checked out
NetFlix, but was not impressed with its "backlist." We are on a
legitimate screener list, though, and get a lot of DVDs that way. A
couple of times during the film, you see a copyright message
crawling across the bottom of the screen, but otherwise they are the
same as the DVDs that are released after the movies finish up in
theaters, usually sans the fancy packaging. Unfortunately, only the
current release stuff comes on screeners. The older movies we both
like we usually buy on line.


I should start a book to catalog Harry's bull****.


Too late. It's already been done. It's called "rec.boats".


Ahh, yes. If it isn't within the experience of some here, well, it can't
be possible. Perhaps if you weren't such a complete jackoff, you might
get on a list, too, get a screener copy of a new movie, and see the
crawl across the bottom of the screen with the copyright message.

Sure, bozo.

Don White wrote:
"HK" wrote in message
...
Don White wrote:
"DK" wrote in message
...
Don White wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Jan 30, 10:43 pm, "Eisboch" wrote:
"Steve" wrote in message

...

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 17:24:25 -0500, "Eisboch"
wrote:
If you want a BluRay player, I'm curious why someone would buy a
BluRay player other than a PS3 for $399? The PS3 works great as a
BluRay player. It's not slow, doesn't cut out, doesn't have *any* of
the problems you mentioned above and uses a very fast microprocessor.
By far, the very fastest available in any home computer actually.
And as a bonus, besides watching BluRay discs, you can play PS2 or
PS3
games and (if you plug in a USB keyboard and mouse) even use it as a
general purpose computer running Linux. It's the best deal going in
home entertainment if you ask me.
Steve
I didn't know PS3 played Blu-Ray until after I had purchased the disk
players, mentioned the issues to my daughter and she informed me about
PS3
which she has for her two boys. I have no interest in video games, so
it
didn't occur to me to even check them out. Except .... due to the
discussion, she let me borrow their "Wii" system. What a blast!
You hold a controller in your hand and physically go through the
motions of
bowling or swinging a baseball bat, golf club, tennis racket, etc. I
got a
kick out of it.

Back to Blue-Ray. Does the Playstation 3 also play regular DVDs and
CDs?
Also, my daughter said it had operational issues similar to those I've
experienced with the Sharp and Sony players when playing a Blu-Ray
disk.
I know the Blu-Ray disks hold a huge amount of data compared to
regular DVD.
I wonder if finding, reading and displaying the data is the reason for
it's
slow motionness.

Another expensive lesson learned, although once they are playing, the
picture quality is outstanding.

Eisboch
Have Guitar Hero for PS3 for my kids. Seeing how I play guitar, I
didn't think I'd like it, because it's not really like playing for
real, but what a blast! EVERYBODY that goes down to the gameroom and
tries it is addicted! Last Saturday, I was in my brewhouse getting
ready to make a batch of ale and my friend came in and kept trying to
hurry me so we could play!

My son has that game. Caught him bringing in the 'drum set' to go
along with the guitar and microphone .
Next thing I knew he had three friends down there 'playing' and singing
along. Maybe if I heard some 60s music it wouldn't be too bad.
He really should spend that time looking for a job.
Here..I've got a job for you...... go f*ck yourself!

If dirty dan did that, he'd have to put on at least three condoms to avoid
contaminating himself.


I've just added this version of Dingy Dan to the septic tank. Starting to
stink down there....I'll have to as some yeast to break it down.



Good for you!

On Fri, 1 Feb 2008 20:41:45 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Steve" wrote in message
.. .


That's because regular DVD players *couldn't* do that. So once the
DVD capabilities were specified, that's it. You're stuck with that
capability for years. With BluRay, they can add new features to the
BluRay specification as time goes by. Things like more interactive
game play, internet access, etc., whatever they can think of.

You don't have to take advantage of those new capabilities if you
don't want to. It will still just play the disc without an update.
But certain features of the newer discs will be unavailable unless you
update. Your choice.

Steve

Heh. New "features" like making them work?
I looked up the latest firmware update available for my brandy-new Sharp
Blu-Ray player. According to the website, the update "corrects the lock up
problem of the disk drawer open/close operation".

Of course there are updates to fix problems as well as add new
features. This sounds like an update I'd want to have. Then again,
if your disk drawer isn't locking up during the open/close operation,
I might just not install that one and wait for the next one that does
something I'd want. There's probably a very specific, maybe rare
condition that causes that to occur. Otherwise, they probably
wouldn't have released the unit if they could never open the drawer,
right?

Steve