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(08-02-2019, 06:56 AM)cpd2009 Wrote: Gaming on the Samsung TV won't be a problem. There doesn't seem to be any horrible input lag on the set, even with Game Mode turned off. I was able to play some games, namely some arcade titles from the PS2 "Taito Legends" disc just fine. With the Wii U, there wasn't any noticeable lag between the gamepad and TV when Virtual Console games were being played.
I tested the Netflix app, and it works good. A little bit more sluggish than something like a Wii U, but the streams play fine and the app appears to be in line with other platforms. I still have to test YouTube out. Input lag can be quite egregious especially in titles where frame precision is a must, case in point Sekiro or any of them Soulsborne games.
Makes me wonder why smart TVs didn't adopt Android wholesale and had to come up with their own platforms, but on a privacy standpoint I guess it must be a good thing.
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I have seen some brand new smart TVs at Walmart that come with Android TV as the OS, such as sets made by Hisense. Other than that, every brand of Smart TV has it's own platform so cross-compatibility and app selection can vary wildly. I wonder if people are even aware of all the features that are packed into smart TVs such as the Samsung ones.
Case in point.. my Samsung set has two USB ports on the back. You can plug in a USB flash drive and play music, photos, or videos. The Samsung OS supports a very wide selection of popular video formats such as MP4, MKV, AVI, etc. It even supports FLV files. I went and tested the video playback feature earlier this evening, and it works well. My only complaint is the USB ports are on the rear of the set, not on the side panels, where it would be more accessible. To compensate, I attached a 3ft USB Extension cable and placed the female end under the front of the set. The video files played fine without issue when used with the extension cable. Both USB ports can only supply 500mA of power, so if you have an external hard drive, you may want to power that via a separate USB power supply.
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(08-05-2019, 02:40 PM)cpd2009 Wrote: I have seen some brand new smart TVs at Walmart that come with Android TV as the OS, such as sets made by Hisense. Other than that, every brand of Smart TV has it's own platform so cross-compatibility and app selection can vary wildly. I wonder if people are even aware of all the features that are packed into smart TVs such as the Samsung ones.
Case in point.. my Samsung set has two USB ports on the back. You can plug in a USB flash drive and play music, photos, or videos. The Samsung OS supports a very wide selection of popular video formats such as MP4, MKV, AVI, etc. It even supports FLV files. I went and tested the video playback feature earlier this evening, and it works well. My only complaint is the USB ports are on the rear of the set, not on the side panels, where it would be more accessible. To compensate, I attached a 3ft USB Extension cable and placed the female end under the front of the set. The video files played fine without issue when used with the extension cable. Both USB ports can only supply 500mA of power, so if you have an external hard drive, you may want to power that via a separate USB power supply. They're not noob-proof though, as what my folks can attest. Whereas non-smart TVs are very much "flick-the-remote-and-forget", I'd have to brief my relatives on how to use the telly, or at the very least, how to power them on.
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My, where has the summer gone? School is starting this week in many US states, and American Football is gearing up for the fall season.
My mom wants a new computer. The latest Windows 10 updates are really beginning to slow down her PC. This is what I think is happening based on what my mom told me. Her PC is a very low end AMD E-Series all-in-one from 2012, originally shipping with the first version of Windows 8. I thought about taking the back off her PC and installing an SSD and upgrading the RAM, but my mom actually wants a traditional tower PC. She doesn't care much for the all-in-one setups anymore.
I thought about building her a PC, but seeing as how she needs one soon (perhaps as early as Labor Day weekend), we may have to just get a pre-built tower from Walmart. From there I can remove bloatware and figure out what kinds of upgrades I could give it in the future. I will also try to recommend her a decent PC with a Intel Core i3 at minimum. A low end Celeron or AMD APU won't be a good investment in the long run, as evidenced by the old HP all-in-one.
I already gave my mom my old Dell 1080p monitor for the new PC, so she will just have to get the tower.
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I'd say go for the most powerful setup you and/or your mum can afford. That should give her a degree of future-proofing. I very much doubt that she'd be into intense gaming or encode video, so would a Ryzen APU suffice for her? I recall a fellow doll collector have a Lenovo prebuilt with a reasonably powerful Ryzen whose model I unfortunately forgot; maybe something similar would be a perfect fit for your mum's everyday computing needs.
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Well, here's something I didn't think I'd find at a yard sale... an Nvidia Quadro P600 graphics card. Mostly complete in the box with card, 4 miniDP-to-DP adapters, and driver CD. It's missing the regular size PCI bracket, and only comes with the half-height bracket installed. The price was only $4 USD.
I don't know how a professional-grade Quadro card got into a rummage sale in mostly mint condition, but I'd think that whoever owned it didn't know the difference between GeForce and Quadro when upgrading graphics cards, got the Quadro by mistake, realized that they really need a GeForce for Gaming, and just put the Quadro aside until it was put in the yard sale.
I could test it out to see if it would improve video capture quality, but I don't have any DisplayPort monitors or cables. I'd have to get two miniDP to DVI converters along with the regular PCI bracket to fit inside Pearl.
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ProTip: Make sure your PC's power cord is fully inserted into the PSU.
Recently, I noticed Pearl has been randomly restarting whenever I would disconnect or reconnect a USB device on the back. Then this evening, she did so again as I was merely moving the external HDD that sits on the top of her case.
As I was checking each USB port to see if they were causing a short, she shut down again, and didn't power back on. I was worried I may have fried her motherboard somehow, but then I decided to check the power cord, and sure enough, it was coming loose from the socket. I reinserted the cord making sure there was a good connection, and Pearl turned back on.
Hopefully that is all what it was. I'll know for sure once I need to reconnect a USB device.
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(08-24-2019, 01:47 PM)cpd2009 Wrote: ProTip: Make sure your PC's power cord is fully inserted into the PSU.
Recently, I noticed Pearl has been randomly restarting whenever I would disconnect or reconnect a USB device on the back. Then this evening, she did so again as I was merely moving the external HDD that sits on the top of her case.
As I was checking each USB port to see if they were causing a short, she shut down again, and didn't power back on. I was worried I may have fried her motherboard somehow, but then I decided to check the power cord, and sure enough, it was coming loose from the socket. I reinserted the cord making sure there was a good connection, and Pearl turned back on.
Hopefully that is all what it was. I'll know for sure once I need to reconnect a USB device. I wouldn't be surprised if the prongs on the sockets and plugs have had pockmarks from all the sparks ensuing with loose connections.
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(08-25-2019, 08:19 AM)huckleberrypie Wrote: (08-24-2019, 01:47 PM)cpd2009 Wrote: ProTip: Make sure your PC's power cord is fully inserted into the PSU.
Recently, I noticed Pearl has been randomly restarting whenever I would disconnect or reconnect a USB device on the back. Then this evening, she did so again as I was merely moving the external HDD that sits on the top of her case.
As I was checking each USB port to see if they were causing a short, she shut down again, and didn't power back on. I was worried I may have fried her motherboard somehow, but then I decided to check the power cord, and sure enough, it was coming loose from the socket. I reinserted the cord making sure there was a good connection, and Pearl turned back on.
Hopefully that is all what it was. I'll know for sure once I need to reconnect a USB device. I wouldn't be surprised if the prongs on the sockets and plugs have had pockmarks from all the sparks ensuing with loose connections. Hopefully not. The cord is now snug. I'll just have to keep an eye on it to ensure it doesn't wiggle too loose again.
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Hmm, that's glad to know.
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