So much tech, so much crap....
I'll start with the Toshiba MSX computer I got for Christmas as a small boy when all my mates were getting Spectrums or Commodore 64s. MSX was a consortium with Sony, Panasonic and Toshiba all building computers that ran the same OS - theoretically it wasn't bad; it had 64kB of RAM, a 16 colour on-screen pallette (out of 32 total, I believe) and was built like a Volvo. Realistically, however, the available software was scares, expensive and, without exception, total shite. When the best game was one where you played the animated Toshiba man (from the "alright Tosh, gotta Toshiba?" adverts" running across a circuit board, you know it's a poor lineup of games... Needless to say, it went to the soonest available car-boot sale once my parents were able to see the error of their ways, to be replaced by a C64.

Sony Clie PDA - it ran PalmOS and had a backlit colour screen, but with a bespoke screen resolution which meant any Palm Apps installed either looked awful and stretched, or were unable to run (it sat part-way between the "standard" Palm resolutions and didn't match the "High-Res" Palm resolution. It did, however, have a full Qwerty keyboard that doubled as a screen-cover. Required (expensive) Sony MemoryGate memory sticks if you wanted to listen to MP3s or play a video clip. It did, however, have a (low-res) camera that could do video and decent battery life. Sadly, though, it went the way of all other non-smartphone PDAs as things like BlackBerries and iPhones rendered them obsolete. I think my mum still has the old Handspring PDA (monochrome) that went with her PowerMac (beige, pre-G3). Again, it's obsolete, but it did what it was supposed to do pretty well.

RAMBUS memory - remember that? I bought a workstation for work in 2001 with 4GB of RAMBUS memory (for 3d and video work); the memory alone cost me in excess of £3,000. I didn't mind, as this was the only available workstation configuration with that quantity of memory and it did the job, but RAMBUS as the "new" memory standard? Puh-lease. There are probably people on here who have seen some in the flesh, but it's as rare as rocking horse shit now. In it's defence, whilst RAMBUS may have not been as quick as it had been expected to be, it was the only way to get that much memory in a PC. Also, I have *never* had it have a memory fault and require replacement, which is no bad thing given that the machine is now ten years old and still in use as a test bench, so it's held up better than a lot of SDRAM I have seen come and go in the same time...

SKY+ HD box. Don't get me wrong, I like my HD telly channels and the ability to pause Spooks to go for a wee is great, but there are two things that annoy me greatly about Sky's HD box. Firstly, the program guide is awful - the listing part is ok, if laggy, but trying to search for a program either never works, or never finds what you ask for. Secondly, is the size of the storage. I have a wife and child, so there is inevitably always a dozen episodes of Fireman Sam, Waybuloo, etc. to amuse my daughter along with the Borgias and a few episodes of Hollyoaks for my wife, yet when I go to record a couple of rugby matches, I inevitably have only about 12% of the available space left and end up hving to delete programs I haven't had time to watch due to being out at work. Given that even a monkey can understand that HD signals are pushing out a higher data rate, then surely it doesn't take a genius to make the connection that maybe the storage disc might need to be larger than that in a standard Sky+ box. It's the little frustrations that make all the difference in whether a gadget is indispensable or total crap, I think.
(Chad, Mon 3 Oct 2011, 11:44, 14 replies)

or
you could just record in SD and not bother with HD which is pretty much pointless
(little lord muthafuckin fauntleroy, Mon 3 Oct 2011, 12:02, closed)

^^ the voice of sanity ^^
I don't see the point of HD. I don't sit there thinking "Wow, I wish this picture had better resolution!" (I sometimes think "Wow, I wish this program had better writers", but that's a different issue).

In fact, if you're so un-involved with a dramatic story that you even notice the resolution, then the program has failed, in my book. I have been so absorbed in a film that I didn't notice it was in black-and-white until it was pointed out to me...
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Mon 3 Oct 2011, 12:55, closed)

Well...
How about "because I have a large TV and watch film on BluRay, so like to be able to make use of my Sky HD subscription when watching Boardwalk Empire or even things like An Idiot Abroad, where the HD image makes the scenery much more engrossing in what is a travel show."?

Of course, I could hook up my old 14" portable, but I'd rather Sky just didn't cheap-jack on the hardware, if it's all the same to you...
(Chad, Mon 3 Oct 2011, 19:30, closed)

I know
you have a large tv because your penis is tiny and your life is wasted in front of aforementioned tiny penis substitute.
as someone else might say, correctomundo!
(little lord muthafuckin fauntleroy, Mon 3 Oct 2011, 19:54, closed)

Nope...
I don't drink and prefer to spend my free time with my family - one of our luxuries is to have a nice tv and stereo as we can settle in and watch a film together, it's got nothing to do with showing off, as we don't spend money on holidays because we prefer to stay home and enjoy the garden or wander round the countryside we live in. I don't need to show off as I don't want to impress anyone. However, if you feel offended about my wanting to get value for money from Mr. Murdoch, I apologise.
(Chad, Mon 3 Oct 2011, 21:03, closed)

hah!
value for money, mr murdoch, words uttered in the same sentence!
you are on a hiding to nothing if you want value for money from that shower of shite.
(little lord muthafuckin fauntleroy, Tue 4 Oct 2011, 14:55, closed)

Exactly...
That was kind of the whole point of my saying it was a disappointing piece of crap.
(Chad, Tue 4 Oct 2011, 18:42, closed)

Bollocks
The difference between SD and HD is like night and day. SD is generally pretty shit quality. HD isn't.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Tue 4 Oct 2011, 18:41, closed)

Eurgh, RAMBUS
We had five machines with that in the place I used to work. Even two years later it was prohibitively expensive to get spare parts for them so any that broke down were cannibalised to keep the others running.

Correct me if I'm wrong though, but I believe it was partly an effort to cement a patent for something that ended up in DDR Ram and resulted in the RAMBUS consortium being able to sue all other memory manufacturers for an absolute shitload.
( evil_andy Stick stick stick stick sticky sticky stick stick, Mon 3 Oct 2011, 12:14, closed)

Spot on...
Intel licensed the technology (which, to be fair, could sustain 3000mb/s at it's final iteration), built it's workstation motherboards around it and used the Xeon stranglehold on that tier of the Market to try and squeeze out AMD, I think. Failed dismally, but actually I can't complain about my personal experience with it, just the exorbitant cost for a performance advantage that lasted all of about a year before DDR2/3 smashed it to pieces...
(Chad, Mon 3 Oct 2011, 19:13, closed)

My BT Vision box never has enough space for the programmes that I want to watch,
The trick is to realise that you don't get to watch TV anymore, and just use the online catchup services when you're in bed (note: you'll need a PC in the bedroom, or a laptop).

Failing that, shell out on a load of DVDs for the little-un, then scream with frustration when she rips off the DVD loading tray.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 3 Oct 2011, 19:18, closed)

Been there, got the t-shirt...
I've had the laptop drawer ripped off my Vaio during a particularly exciting and eventful viewing of Monsters Inc., 2p coins fed into the self-loading drive of the PS3 (pulled them out and wiped the innards with an e-cloth and it works perfectly, so that's a plus on the build-quality score of Sony products!), had numerous "substances" wiped on the TV, so I get where you're coming from, but we do use a MacBook pro for things like iPlayer when we're not in the lounge; it's just i'd like them to have offered larger storage in twit box compared to a normal sky+ one, as whilst it may even be twice the size, the programs take up 4 times the space in HD...
(Chad, Mon 3 Oct 2011, 19:45, closed)

CRT tellys are much more child-resistant than flat-screens, too.
I've no need at the moment, but I'm giving serious thought to building at HTPC (any size storage I want, plus and broken bits can be replaced), but only if I can be sure it will pass the family acceptance test.

I'm sure life was much simpler when it was 4 channels and a VCR (toast in the VCR, I suppose).
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 3 Oct 2011, 21:45, closed)

I remember...
The nearest thin to science fiction was a mate's dad who had a Bang and Olufsen stereo that could PLAY MUSIC IN EVERY ROOM! It was like Star Trek to us as kids. In some ways, I miss those days. Like, back when only people who knew how to use a computer would own one. When I worked in tech support many moons ago, it was always a joy to talk to the out-of-warranty users on the expensive help line, as the call would be "hi, I tried x, y and z, it still doesn't work after I reinstalled the operating system - can I have the part number for a new motherboard so I can go order one?", as opposed to those post-"Internet revolution", who would phone up genuinely unable to plug the monitor in, despite there being only one VGA port, the cable only fitting one way up and both port and cable being painted purple.

When I were a lad, t'were all fields round 'ere...*sigh*
(Chad, Tue 4 Oct 2011, 18:50, closed)