martinfan5 Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 Jonathan, yep, laser disks were the size of a vinyl LP. I think the technology was basically the same as a DVD, but maybe because of the size of the disks they never caught on? I really don't know. But for whatever reason, laser disks are just a tiny footnote in the technology parade. Who knows... maybe my LD player is a collector's item today! Harry, I just did a real quick L/D search on ebay, and the highest listed ones are around $1,500 , so you never know
Rob Hall Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 (edited) Another technology dead end...my folks' first VCR in '82..a Sony Betamax. Beta never really took off. We had Beta for years until we couldn't find anything on Beta..switched to VHS around '90. I remember just a few years ago the big debate about BluRay vs HD-DVD..I waited until BluRay won before I bought a BluRay player and am starting to buy BluRay discs, though I still have regular and multi-region DVD players... And with TVs, I remember the whole Plasma vs LCD vs DLP wars...I went w/ a DLP for my first HDTV in '05, have an LCD now, but LED came along and now OLED is the new hotness...sticking w/ my 55 inch LCD until I have enough room for an 80 inch or larger.. Edited January 12, 2012 by Rob Hall
martinfan5 Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 beta max fought hard to survie though, it died a slow a death, I think for awhile Tv station moblie camara's use a from of betamax tapes, so that kept it alive for awhile as well, but again Iam young so I dont know anything
Harry P. Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 I was a real audiophile back in my college days. I subscribed to "Stereo Review" and always kept up on the latest and greatest audio gear. I still have the stereo system that I put together back in the '70s (after a lot of careful research back then!) Sansui TU9900 tuner (the cream of the crop in tuners back then)... Crown amp and pre-amp... used to have a Thorens turntable but switched to a Denon (which is the one I still have) with a Stanton cartridge... Dahlquist DQ10 speakers. All state of the art back in the mid-70s, and I'm guessing all collector's items today.
Rob Hall Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 (edited) Cool... I've dabbled in audio, my gear is a mix of Sony ES and Yamaha...nothing too fancy, but more than adequate for home theater and blasting Pink Floyd.. A buddy of mine has a '60s vintage tuner w/ tubes..a Marantz IIRC, has a dial like an old time strip speedometer..he has some incredible Dunlavey 10-ft loudspeakers in his system.. Once I get a bigger house w/ a basement I want to build a dedicated home theatre room w/ a serious audiophile system. Edited January 12, 2012 by Rob Hall
Harry P. Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 I remember Marantz being a big name back then, also Macintosh (not Apple!). Jonathan, I don't remember exact numbers, but the tuner was around $500, the amp and preamp probably around a grand, the turntable maybe 4-5 hundred and the speakers I remember (don't know why but I remember!) were $750 for the pair. BIG $$$ back in the '70s for a kid paying his own way through college on a part-time job! It's weird, but to this day I still remember the clerk at the stereo store when I bought the Crown amp and preamp. He told me that while they were expensive, they were the last amp and preamp I would ever have to buy. And it turns out he was right!
Rob Hall Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 MacIntosh is still around...the first car w/ a macIntosh system was the Ford GT in '05. I think Subaru has them also now.
martinfan5 Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 Speaking of audio, I need to redsign my deejay company website, any one here know how to do websites?
martinfan5 Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 Speaking of audio, I need to redsign my deejay company website, any one here know how to do websites? Wow, close to 2 grand for a stereo system, that was a lot for that era, but you could spend that much today on a home stereo system too.
Harry P. Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 Wow, close to 2 grand for a stereo system, that was a lot for that era, but you could spend that much today on a home stereo system too. Actually it was more like $2700. It was a lot... but I stil have it today! So I think I got my money's worth!
Rob Hall Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 Yeah, you can go wild today on home theatre prices..sky is the limit...my system from the late '90s was around $2500 and my first HDTV was about $3500. A friend of mine put over $40k in his home theatre system a few years ago...
martinfan5 Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 I think I left out a set of numbers when I was tyring add it up in my head, yes I would say you got your moneys worth, and then some
Harry P. Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 but more than adequate for home theater and blasting Pink Floyd.. Yeah baby... now yer talkin!...
martinfan5 Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 Just pitcured Harry rocking out to Pink Floyd :lol: :lol:
Harry P. Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 ...and my first HDTV was about $3500. Doesn't it just kill you that you can get one today for a couple hundred bucks??? Just pitcured Harry rocking out to Pink Floyd :lol: :lol: I............have become............. comfortably numb............
Rob Hall Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 Doesn't it just kill you that you can get one today for a couple hundred bucks??? Yeah...in early '05, 1080p HDTVs were still uncommon... I............have become............. comfortably numb............ Probably my favorite guitar solo... Love that song. Lucky to have seen Gilmy play it live twice ('94 and '06).
Harry P. Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 Ditto on the guitar solo. Gilmour is one of the more underrated guitarists, IMO.
Rob Hall Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 Ditto on the guitar solo. Gilmour is one of the more underrated guitarists, IMO. I like putting on the Live from Gdansk concert DVD and cranking it to 11..
Chuck Most Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 I like having internet, but you can keep your bluetooth headsets, GPS systems, and those stupid 'Kindle' things. If all this internet stuff came crashing down tomorrow, it would suck for a week or so, but I could go back to the way things 'used to be'. Hey- I've finished models and worked on 1:1 vehicles with a camp lanterns during power failures. Not having technology wouldn't exactly kill me.
Dr. Cranky Posted January 12, 2012 Author Posted January 12, 2012 It wouldn't kill me either, Chuck, but it would probably make me a bit sad not to have contact. I mean, it's revolutionized the model building hobbies in that we all have instant access to each other's stuff, words and works. Harry, I spent most of my college years listening to THE WALL on a loop every night. Perhaps this is why Doctor Cranky is a little loopy! LOL!
Junkman Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 Oh, aye, the internet certainly is a blessing and I cannot see any disadvantages caused by it for me. But would I still be able to live in comfort if it ceased to exist tomorrow? Certainly yes, because I know what it was like before it was invented and that wasn't such a bad life either. Where (and when) I grew up, they still charged for local telephone calls. So people physically went to other people's places if they wanted to chat. Everybody had a roll of paper and a pencil near the front door, so you could leave a message if they weren't at home. Not saying that I want those days back, don't get me wrong.
Jon Cole Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 We live in a time when todays new gadget is tomorrows obsolete junk. I use Facebook, an Android phone, and a laptop. But truth be told, I am more a Luddite than a tecno. There are numerous reasons. Not all of us can afford the latest e-toy. And the tech industry doesn’t exactly make it easy for us 50+ folks to figure this stuff out. When I opened the box for my Android phone… no instructions. Cars no longer come with printed owners manuals (so I am told with some Chrysler products). I don’t have a teenager to help out with this stuff. Gigs, megs, ram, bytes, and all those other terms sound like Chinese to me. Could look them up, but the definitions are also tech yap. Cloud? That’s something up in the sky. Bluetooth? Guess I missed the big unveiling / explanation on World News when that came out. In fact, I just found out what the heck Bluetooth is because I had to return a combo earbud & microphone (wired) to the store that I got for Christmas. Instead of the fancy name, maybe just call it what is? If tech is so important (and I believe it is), then why has the industry failed to get the info to the public? If you know the terminology, it can be researched, but that isn’t the same as having someone to explain it to us in easy to understand terms. And once we get behind the curve, we just find ourselves in an even deeper hole than before, until it seems like there is no hope. Maybe if mass media put even half the effort to help us out understanding technology than they waste yapping about Snookie and Lindsay Lohan, maybe we would be better off. Just sayin. So why don’t I understand it? Perhaps the same way most of you don’t know magic. And if I had a dollar for every time someone said to me “Oh, I can show you how that works! I’ll have to show you sometime.” Yeah, suuure you will.
Harry P. Posted January 12, 2012 Posted January 12, 2012 Instead of the fancy name, maybe just call it what is? If tech is so important (and I believe it is), then why has the industry failed to get the info to the public? If you know the terminology, it can be researched, but that isn’t the same as having someone to explain it to us in easy to understand terms. I know what you mean. With some of these gadgets, you practically have to know how they work beforehand, so you can understand the instruction manual! I think I know the answer: It's the techies vs. the rest of us. The people who dream up and make all these gadgets are very tech-oriented, and they don't think the way the typical consumer does. They tend to assume that the typical Joe Sixpack in Sheboygen will understand their techno-jargon instruction manuals. Too many times the instructions are written by techies for techies. It happens with software, too. If you ever go to the "help" section of some software programs, the instructions are basically useless.
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