Author Topic: Another "I feel Old" Thread (Read 2968 times)

Ben · « **on:** August 26, 2018, 10:35:03 AM »

This was a new one on me. It's not mentioned in the article, but a decent percentage of the comments included some version of, "Netflix rents DVDs???" I can't believe it's been that long since they separated the services. I still first associate Netflix with red envelopes.

On the tangent, I still get the DVDs for two of the main reasons mentioned: My stinkin' expensive 5mbps Internet, and there are simply a boatload more titles available on DVD that you can't get streaming. In fact I saw that Netflix said they were dumping a bunch of "classic" streaming titles to make more room for Netflix Originals, 90% of which I think are crap. I dread the end of their DVD service - there are just not a lot of options for watching stuff not streaming on any of the streaming services. I wouldn't be surprised if the numbers are still in the 90% range for stuff NOT available on streaming. I mean, at this point we have over 100 years of films.

Sorry for the commie website:

https://news.avclub.com/whoa-there-are-still-3-million-people-using-netflix-fo-1828603833

Perd Hapley · « **Reply #1 on:** August 26, 2018, 10:56:02 AM »

I'm sure there are a lot of people for whom high-bandwidth internet is just a fact of life, and they don't realize not everybody can just stream everything.

Hawkmoon · « **Reply #2 on:** August 26, 2018, 11:57:04 AM »

Quote from: fistful on August 26, 2018, 10:56:02 AM

I'm sure there are a lot of people for whom high-bandwidth internet is just a fact of life, and they don't realize not everybody can just stream everything.

Too true. The fastest speed offered by the telco in my town is "up to" 6 Mbps. In reality, using either their own benchmark or Ookla, the fastest I've ever seen was 2.46 Mbps. Because they haven't upgraded from copper to fiber optic, that's all anyone on my end of town can get from the telco. Satellite Internet is reportedly even worse. That's why cable Internet sells.

Jamisjockey · « **Reply #3 on:** August 26, 2018, 11:58:04 AM »

My son only got 2 paper textbooks for highschool and one of them is in it's last year. Everything else is digital.
Now you're really old.

Ben · « **Reply #4 on:** August 26, 2018, 12:02:40 PM »

Quote from: Hawkmoon on August 26, 2018, 11:57:04 AM

Too true. The fastest speed offered by the telco in my town is "up to" 6 Mbps. In reality, using either their own bechmark or Ookla, the fastest I've ever seen was 2.46 Mbps. Because they haven't upgraded from copper to fiber optic, that's all anyone on my end of town can get from the telco. Satellite Internet is reportedly even worse. That's why cable Internet sells.

I think conventional satellite has improved quite a bit over the last few years, in speed, data caps, and price. If it wasn't for the latency issue, I might have taken it over microwave. I still wouldn't take it where other options are available, but wouldn't rule it out as a rural option anymore.

What I'm really waiting for is the LEO satellite swarms to come online. I think that's going to be a game changer, cost probably being the only question, especially for anywhere outside of a city. But I'm paying $110/mo for the 5MPBS now, so I'd certainly switch to those satellites for say, $100/mo for 20MBPS.

HankB · « **Reply #5 on:** August 26, 2018, 12:27:05 PM »

As for Netflix, I guess I'm a Luddite myself, since I'm still using Netflix DVD rental-by-mail service. Even though I have 200+mbps internet.

Quote from: jamisjockey on August 26, 2018, 11:58:04 AM

My son only got 2 paper textbooks for highschool and one of them is in it's last year. Everything else is digital.
Now you're really old.

Is the school issuing laptops or tablets?

Anyway, I wouldn't like that - thinking back to my school days, it would just be easier when reading/studying to flip back and forth between pages for review with a hardcopy textbook rather than a text file on a laptop or tablet. And no worries about battery life.

Ben · « **Reply #6 on:** August 26, 2018, 12:38:56 PM »

Quote from: HankB on August 26, 2018, 12:27:05 PM

As for Netflix, I guess I'm a Luddite myself, since I'm still using Netflix DVD rental-by-mail service. Even though I have 200+mbps internet.
Is the school issuing laptops or tablets?

Anyway, I wouldn't like that - thinking back to my school days, it would just be easier when reading/studying to flip back and forth between pages for review with a hardcopy textbook rather than a text file on a laptop or tablet. And no worries about battery life.

It is probably an old guy thing, but I also prefer dead tree for any kind of reference material, textbooks, etc. I find it much easier and faster to reference back and forth within the text via stickies on pages I need to go back to. I find it much harder to "keep track" as it were in a pdf or similar. On the other hand, I love pleasure reading on the Kindle.

Kingcreek · « **Reply #7 on:** August 26, 2018, 01:37:31 PM »

I actually live in a house with no internet, nothing except what I can pull through my smartphone which is 3G on select clear days if I walk uphill and stand far enough away from the barn and woodshed. Most of the time it goes down to 1-2 bars (no Gs) and the phone gets hot if I try to download much.
The only streaming around here is the creek at the edge of the front yard after a good rain.
I get DVDs free from the local library and play them at the end of my reloading bench or when gun cleaning etc.

lee n. field · « **Reply #8 on:** August 26, 2018, 01:45:12 PM »

Quote from: fistful on August 26, 2018, 10:56:02 AM

I'm sure there are a lot of people for whom high-bandwidth internet is just a fact of life, and they don't realize not everybody can just stream everything.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/7583283351. Speedtest.net used to give you a link to a jpg image. Oh, well. 1.04 Mbps down, .041 up. Frontier's slowest.

lee n. field · « **Reply #9 on:** August 26, 2018, 01:48:09 PM »

Quote from: HankB on August 26, 2018, 12:27:05 PM

As for Netflix, I guess I'm a Luddite myself, since I'm still using Netflix DVD rental-by-mail service. Even though I have 200+mbps internet.
Is the school issuing laptops or tablets?

Anyway, I wouldn't like that - thinking back to my school days, it would just be easier when reading/studying to flip back and forth between pages for review with a hardcopy textbook rather than a text file on a laptop or tablet. And no worries about battery life.

"Media ecology". The Marshall McLuan/Neil Postman stuff. The codex was a pretty important invention, giving the reader essentially "random access" to textual information, instead of sequential in a scroll.

Jamisjockey · « **Reply #10 on:** August 26, 2018, 02:15:57 PM »

Quote from: HankB on August 26, 2018, 12:27:05 PM

As for Netflix, I guess I'm a Luddite myself, since I'm still using Netflix DVD rental-by-mail service. Even though I have 200+mbps internet.
Is the school issuing laptops or tablets?

Anyway, I wouldn't like that - thinking back to my school days, it would just be easier when reading/studying to flip back and forth between pages for review with a hardcopy textbook rather than a text file on a laptop or tablet. And no worries about battery life.

Not that I know of, but they do most of the work at school. Just picked up chromebooks for both kids.

Boomhauer · « **Reply #11 on:** August 26, 2018, 02:24:07 PM »

Virtually all of our manuals and service info is electronic, every mechanic is issued a laptop. I like it a lot better than paper, no manuals to get greasy or wet and easy to search on. The only thing that isn’t better electronic is schematics...a full scale schematic is much easier to read on paper

JN01 · « **Reply #12 on:** August 26, 2018, 02:45:27 PM »

I get both streaming and DVD services from Netflix. When I see a trailer for a movie coming out in the the theaters that interests me, I put it in my DVD queue on Netflix. I usually get a copy in the mail soon after it comes out on DVD. The selection of older movies is better on DVD compared to streaming. Streaming is much better to binge series, and I have liked some of the Netflix originals.

TommyGunn · « **Reply #13 on:** August 26, 2018, 06:46:12 PM »

Don't feel bad ... I still do a lot of time-shifting on VHS.

I too have DVDs, a heckuva LOT of them. Quite a few Blu Ray as well. I have a region-free DVD that plays DVDs from anywhere, and I actually have DVDs from .... there.
I don't watch much video over the 'net except occasional youtube vids.

RoadKingLarry · « **Reply #14 on:** August 26, 2018, 07:28:18 PM »

Quote from: lee n. field on August 26, 2018, 01:45:12 PM

http://www.speedtest.net/result/7583283351. Speedtest.net used to give you a link to a jpg image. Oh, well. 1.04 Mbps down, .041 up. Frontier's slowest.

Download Mbps
42.55
Upload Mbps
49.41

This is across the wifi

Hawkmoon · « **Reply #15 on:** August 26, 2018, 07:29:38 PM »

Quote from: jamisjockey on August 26, 2018, 02:15:57 PM

Not that I know of, but they do most of the work at school. Just picked up chromebooks for both kids.

Eight years ago I got a deal on a hardly-used Acer Aspire One netbook, upgraded from 1GB of RAM to 2GB, because a father made a mistake. He bought it for his son to use at school, and then found out the school required Chromebooks. I had owned an Aspire One and liked it, but I gave it to a grandson because I wasn't using it much. Then I realized how much I missed it, but by then I couldn't find a new one in the stores. I was overjoyed to find the used one. I still don't use it much, but I still have it.

HeroHog · « **Reply #16 on:** August 26, 2018, 08:51:16 PM »

All my stuff is either cable or streaming. My anime I download then watch locally.

Using WiFi connection: http://www.speedtest.net/result/7583938018
Direct from router by cable: https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/d/e30a5543-99f9-4ccd-bfec-7b05dbee3c9c

CypherNinja · « **Reply #17 on:** August 30, 2018, 04:55:07 PM »

The cable guy is coming tomorrow to hook up my new 600Mbps cable.

The slowest Grande offers here is 300.

Brad Johnson · « **Reply #18 on:** August 30, 2018, 05:16:14 PM »

We're about to get AT&T fiber in the 'hood. They're trenching in cable now. Slowest service is 100Mb and it's $20 less a month than my current Uverse 20Mb broadband plan.

If you want to feel really old, hand a kid an 8-track tape and watch their head explode.

Brad

MillCreek · « **Reply #19 on:** August 30, 2018, 06:34:19 PM »

Heck, I can remember using a 300 baud accoustic coupler with my Texas Instruments 99/4A. I thought I was living large when I moved up to a 8088 with dual floppies and an amber screen. That had my first internal modem at 1200 baud.

Brad Johnson · « **Reply #20 on:** August 30, 2018, 06:57:45 PM »

I'm processing semester security reviews. We have a bunch of masters-level students graduating the program, none of whom were born earlier than 1998... twelve years after I graduated high school.

Brad

Hawkmoon · « **Reply #21 on:** August 30, 2018, 07:05:52 PM »

Quote from: Brad Johnson on August 30, 2018, 06:57:45 PM

I'm processing semester security reviews. We have a bunch of masters-level students graduating the program, none of whom were born earlier than 1998... twelve years after I graduated high school.

Brad

Which basically means you were born about the time I was returning from Vietnam.

You youngsters ...

HeroHog · « **Reply #22 on:** August 30, 2018, 08:32:00 PM »

8-Track tape? BAH! Reel to reel audio! I miss my old Akai Sound on sound/sound with sound deck!

https://goo.gl/images/K95NGZ

TommyGunn · « **Reply #23 on:** August 30, 2018, 10:34:00 PM »

Quote from: HeroHog on August 30, 2018, 08:32:00 PM

8-Track tape? BAH! Reel to reel audio! I miss my old Akai Sound on sound/sound with sound deck!

https://goo.gl/images/K95NGZ

How about wax cylinders?

MechAg94 · « **Reply #24 on:** August 31, 2018, 09:30:15 AM »

Quote from: CypherNinja on August 30, 2018, 04:55:07 PM

The cable guy is coming tomorrow to hook up my new 600Mbps cable.

The slowest Grande offers here is 300.

I upgraded to 50 a year ago with AT&T. I guess I need to look around and see what else is available.

News:

Author Topic: Another "I feel Old" Thread (Read 2968 times)