as quirky as cars

[Carl Spock]

Years ago, I sold stereos with a man who previously was a car mechanic. When he made the job switch, he thought, won't it be nice to work with machines that don't have a personality? After a while of selling hi-fis, he realised they could be just as temperamental.

It definitely seems like the HR20 has a personality. Many are steady eddies, never getting out-of-sorts. Others have their moments. And I know there are folks out there with an HR20 that just gets into a bad mood.

I'm not talking about that partner with whom you knew from the third night it was a mistake to move in together. These are long term relationships. That unit is sitting on the shelf, spinning away, months on end. Most of the time, the relationship is harmonious and life is good. And yet with some HR20s, there are those days when it decides to get cranky. Yesterday it was happy; today it doesn't want to talk to you. You're left sleeping on the couch.

At least it doesn't leave crap all over the bathroom.

[Stuart Sweet]

I know you'll think I'm crazy but I try not to say bad things about my electronics in front of them. Once I had a $40,000 device stop working for good two days before I planned on selling it, about 10 seconds after a salesperson said, "I bet you'll be glad to see this piece of (junk) gone!" Coincidence, I say nay!

[Doug Brott]

The nature of mechanical parts (HDD in particular) lend themselves to quirkiness.

[smiddy]

Zen and the spiritual-ness of gadgets in general, eh? Ooooohm! :lol:

[SFNSXguy]

The nature of mechanical parts (HDD in particular) lend themselves to quirkiness.

This attitude is just wrong... and an excuse to let D* get away with leasing us gear that is less than 80% quality controlled.

If cars were this bad there'd be a lot of dead people from brake failures and steering malfunctions.

Please don't humor D* by taking the attitude "oh, this is just complex stuff" BS... it's just badly (cheaply) built and has software that is probably written and vetted somewhere in India at $1.50/hr.

Do you have ANY idea the profit being made here?

[Carl Spock]

^ About a billion dollars so far this year (http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/12/127160/pdf/Q307Earnings.pdf).

But that's not the purpose of this thread. Please go start your own if that's what you want to discuss.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-1/940070/derail2.gif

[kocuba]

Zen and the spiritual-ness of gadgets in general, eh? Ooooohm! :lol:

To steal a line from from a bumber sticker which was stolen from LOTR...

Do not mettle in the affairs of electronics, for they are quicky and will quit working just when you need them most.

:D

[ATARI]

Please go start your own if that's what you want to discuss.


:lol:

I was going to start a Thanksgiving thread this afternoon, but somebody (you know who you are ;) ) beat me to it.

[Doug Brott]

This attitude is just wrong... and an excuse to let D* get away with leasing us gear that is less than 80% quality controlled.

Sorry, I've been around HDD for many many years (long before DVRs). There is just a percentage of them that fail .. some for no apparent reason. Solid state would be much more reliable, but I've yet to see a 300GB Solid State device .. when that day comes, DIRECTV (and others) may drop the HDD which would instantly increase the reliability of their DVR.

[SFNSXguy]

Sorry, I've been around HDD for many many years (long before DVRs). There is just a percentage of them that fail .. some for no apparent reason. Solid state would be much more reliable, but I've yet to see a 300GB Solid State device .. when that day comes, DIRECTV (and others) may drop the HDD which would instantly increase the reliability of their DVR.

Been around a bit too... have read lots of post here.... most of the failures have NOT been the HDDs. Basic equipment design, poor QC on build and extremely poorly written software have been the causes.

[Doug Brott]

Been around a bit too... have read lots of post here.... most of the failures have NOT been the HDDs. Basic equipment design, poor QC on build and extremely poorly written software have been the causes.

Well, that can add to quirkiness, too .. Sorry, don't want to get into a bashing the HR20 discussion today ..

[SFNSXguy]

Well, that can add to quirkiness, too .. Sorry, don't want to get into a bashing the HR20 discussion today ..

I really don't intend to "bash" anything. Just tired of reading lame excuses for a less-than-well-thought-out-or-presented product.

"quirky as cars" my foot. More like quirky as kids toys and pet food made in China.

[Carl Spock]

^ Thank you for contributing to the topic.


More quirky than a HR20: LaserDisc

As quirky as an HR20: DAT tape

Less quirky than an HR20: Betamax


I owned - still own - all three. Yes, I have a working Betamax, a Sony SL-HF2000 :grin:

[SFNSXguy]

^ Thank you for contributing to the topic.


More quirky than a HR20: LaserDisc

As quirky as an HR20: DAT tape

Less quirky than an HR20: Betamax


I owned - still own - all three. Yes, I have a working Betamax, a Sony SL-HF2000 :grin:

OK now you're getting serious... I too own Beta (two SL-HF900), LD (DVL-91) and several DAT machines (portable and stationary) --- what the hell do you mean by "quirky"? Beta, LD and DAT machines play whatever is placed in them -- every time, without fail.:grin:

What's truly "quirky" is any person who would own all these devices.

[code4code5]

Can't we all just get along? :)

[Carl Spock]

SFNSXguy - why are you going to make me sorry I ever started this thread? ;) :D

LaserDisc quirky - laser rot, bowled and warped discs, weird colors within black and white movies, and putta-putta audio noises on many discs. Audio tracking problems on CX encoded discs that made Dolby NR seem like an audiophile format. Intermittent color sparkles even on perfectly good discs. Also the glue that held the two sides of the discs together could, with time, creep out from between them and coat the edge of the disc, making it sticky. These problems were more likely with the oldest discs but it still could happen with later manufactured ones, too. I found these problems using many machines - Pioneer LD-660, LD-1100 & CLD-900, Yamaha CDV-1000 & CDV-870. Most all LaserDisc problems could be blamed on the discs themselves although the early Pioneer players ran quite hot. You didn't want to leave a disc on the spindle after it finished playing. It would quickly become bowled and unplayable. That's quirky.

DAT quirky - drop outs and eaten tapes. Panasonic machines would get bad as they got older, not old but just older, with capstan and head problems that were not worth repairing. I experienced this with both the SV-3700 and SV-3800 and I know from talking to DAT service techs that I was not alone. My experience was if you could get more than 1500 hours on a Panasonic DAT machine, you were doing very well. That's terrible considering these decks cost around $1200 ten years ago. When one broke, you either spent $600-700 to fix it with a new head and capstan or you just threw it away. That's beyond quirky. Tascam's double DAT deck, the DA-302, was a disaster unless you had a good one. That only took me one exchange, but it was after sending my first one in to Tascam for warranty repair a couple of times. I think I even sent my second one back for one warranty repair. I can't remember for sure. I was actually lucky. For many people it took three or four DA-302s to find a good one. That's pretty bad for a machine that only had a 90 day warranty. I have friends who experienced poor reliablity on DA-20 decks. It was sold as a stripped down DA-30 or DA-40 but I don't think that was the case. While I never owned one, from my friends' reports, I don't think it was a very well built deck. On the other hand, my Tascam DA-P1 portable has been a workhorse as has been my Sony PCM-R500 home unit. Most any problems with those two machines I can blame on the cheap quality of DAT tapes and their cases. Just horse pitute. I also do wonder about the shelf life of DAT tapes. I have probably 500 concerts on DAT tapes and occasionally when I pull out an old one, I'll find drop outs. That worries me. That's also quirky.

Beta quirky - not too bad once you get used to the switching noise in the audio that kept it from being a true high fidelity tape deck. There is a low level audio switching noise in all Beta Hi-Fi decks, at least I heard it on my SL-2700 along with the SL-5200, the first Beta Hi-Fi machine, and even on my absolutely wonderful SL-HF1000 before it died. That SL-HF1000 was the best damn VCR I ever owned. BetaI recordings looked awesome and you still got an hour and a half per tape. BetaII was way better than any VHS, with three hours per tape. That deck definitely was not quirky. :D

I like your SL-HF900 decks, BTW, SFNFXguy. Great machine.

[smiddy]

To steal a line from from a bumber sticker which was stolen from LOTR...

Do not mettle in the affairs of electronics, for they are quicky and will quit working just when you need them most.

:D

I seem to recall Murphy, an engineer, had a similar saying. :D

[smiddy]

Can't we all just get along? :)

Uhm, let me guess, Rodney King? :D

I don't think SFNSXguy was trying to be derogatory towards ggergm. And I'm certain ggergm took it in stride. By quirky I am assuming SFNSXguy meant, affectionately, geeky, like the majority of folks who participate in this forum. ggergm has a few items of interest that would put him on the ecentric side, more than most. Kewl stuff if you ask me, but one person's opinion is another man's angst...I digress.;)

[Jeremy W]

it's just badly (cheaply) built and has software that is probably written and vetted somewhere in India at $1.50/hr.
I'd love for you to give some specific examples of bad (cheap) build quality, and don't start talking to me about the case or any of that crap. Give me some hard facts.

And the software is written in California, not India. Sorry.

[Carl Spock]

I don't think SFNSXguy was trying to be derogatory towards ggergm. And I'm certain ggergm took it in stride.
Thank you for the compliment, smiddy. Yeah, this comes with the territory.

Certainly SFNSXguy never meant anything personally. Well, maybe outside of that one crack that anybody who owns all these obsolete formats must be quirky :sure: . He has nothing against me nor I against him. I do have to admit some frustration over the fact that my original point has been lost. In fact, I almost deleted my long post upthread on the demerits of LaserDisc, DAT tape and Betamax. It was off topic. But, no, this is the path this thread has taken. Instead, I made it longer. :rolleyes:

But why does every thread have to descend into the muck? I can read a dozen active threads where the HR20 is pilloried and defamed. Fine. The Internet is for bitching. But that's not what this thread was about. It was about quirks in electronics. That car stereo you had to pound on to get it to eject the tape. The TV that only worked right when the room was cold. A DVR that sometimes decides a station you've been receiving well now doesn't exist. Hmmm...anybody we know?

I can't remember the mod who said it - whomever he is, he should stand up and take a bow - but one wrote, we should be entertained by our entertainment. Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding. We have a winner. Does every thread have to have its obligatory "the HR20 sucks" moment"?

Instead of can't we all just get along, I'd ask can't we all just have some fun here?


Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Go Pack Go!

I love you.

Gregg

[smiddy]

I agree, there are a few post that tend to upset the flow of fun. It is like there is always someone with an axe to grind. <NuffSaid>

Yep, I've had a few of these items that if you kicked it in the right place, said a few choice words, had a beer, then it would be happy and entertainment ensued. It is weird...but a reality.