PC and Technical Help Forum

I build my own computers and have yet to switch to Vista, I installed it once for about two days before wiping it and reinstalling XP Pro. For some reason Microsoft thinks Windows Vista needs to be bloated with prettiness. I don't really care how smooth my folders open or how pretty my desktop is, I want all my hardware and software to function.

Got a question I want to shotgun to the board.

I have scores, or maybe even hundreds of old 1.44 floppy discs on which I used to back up my HD data. However, I haven't had a floppy drive in my last 3 or 4 PCs. I'm thinking about buying one of those external floppy drives to see if I can salvage some of the old data (primarily pictures & music) for use on my Vista OS machine. Has anyone tried this and if so, can you recommend an external floppy drive that will work with Vista?

Here ya go...

http://floppydisk.com/usb.htm

Quote from erthomp143

Here ya go...

http://floppydisk.com/usb.htm

Thanks for the link - I'll sure try their product.

No problem, everything I read said a floppy should be plug an play with vista.. so that seems like the easiest route.. not a bad price either.

Quote from erthomp143

No problem, everything I read said a floppy should be plug an play with vista.. so that seems like the easiest route.. not a bad price either.

Well, I ended up buying a Sony drive (because I trust the brand) from Amazon. With S/H & state tax (the company it came from has stores in Texas), the total came to about $35.
But it has performed flawlessly. I've spent most of the afternoon transferring files from my old floppies to the HD on my new Vista machine and there have been very few hitches.
It's amazing that I can still read stuff that I wrote on computers 10 or 12 years ago. The software and drivers that came with the floppy drive included system software clear back to Win98.

Quote from Jay J. Foraker

I'm curious about this "blue ray" myself. I saw a small display in Target the other day - Noticed that the prices were considerably higher than regular DVDs. We are reaching the point of diminishing returns here on how we can get the absolute best product. Personally, I'm very happy with the quality of DVDs the way they are now. This seems to me another way to get consumers to spend their money to try to upgrade their video collections and be the first on their block to do so . Just how much improvement will this "blue ray" be over a regular DVD? I think we have reached the point where one would have to make a direct comparison between the two to distinguish any improvement.
Cheers - Jay <_<

Well, it looks like bue ray is the winner over HD, but I'm still unconvinced that spending my extra dollars is going to give me any noticable improvement over the standard DVD. It's just like SACD on the CD front - you pays extra money - for what?
At least, with the SACDs, you're not required to buy a special player!
Cheers - Jay

Quote from Jay J. Foraker

Well, it looks like bue ray is the winner over HD, but I'm still unconvinced that spending my extra dollars is going to give me any noticable improvement over the standard DVD. It's just like SACD on the CD front - you pays extra money - for what?
At least, with the SACDs, you're not required to buy a special player!
Cheers - Jay

When the changeover from tape to disc occurred, I resolved never again to get caught up in these technological "improvements". Enough is enough, says I.

I had about 3 or 4 hundred VHS movie tapes that cost a lot of money and in effect, became worthless. I've since spent close to 10 thousand dollars buying DVDs and as far as I'm concerned, the race is finished.

I have a lot of VHS tapes and watch them time to time. Enjoy it, but worrying that my old player which plays USA VHS tapes too may gone what shall I do? It seems there is only DVD players are sold around.
Of course I have huge collection of DVD now but like both formats.
As for new ones it seems it takes a lot of money and for what? the result seems to be doubtful.

Quote from Senta

As for new ones it seems it takes a lot of money and for what? the result seems to be doubtful.

You're not alone in feeling that way, Vera. I've read several newspaper stories that tell how the public is adopting a wait-and-see attitude toward the Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats.

I think a lot of people feel the same way I do, which is "What? not again".

The good news about Blu-Ray is that they are accepting DVD format, so the conversion is a little easier than what it was when they first introduced this product a couple of years ago. And yes the price is going down. When I bought my DVD player in 1997, it was over $600.

It is a really good player and still no problems, but of course it will not play Blu-Ray, oh that's not true. It will play on DVD format. Sony has developed a way for this to play Blu-Ray and DVD format so you can purchase the Blu-Ray disc and still play it on your DVD player.

You know I tired to play my VHS on my DVD player when I first got my player, and it didn't work. I can't figure that out. It should have worked! Just joking. I'm glad that they are not having me convert all those Dvds to Blu-Ray. This gets expensive.

I may get a Blu-Ray player before the end of the year.

Cheers Hondo

It's me again. We are leaving tomorrow morning.

I have commented on this before but I will do it again. It all comes down to what floats your boat. My guess is that as a guy gets older he tends to not care about these things as much. I myself am kind of a techno "junkie". That being said I get just as upset at these idiots for making this format and then going to another format. Seems to me there could have been alittle better control on how these formats come out so that the consumer doesn't have to be the guinea pig and then find out they wasted "x" amount of dollars only to find out that they choose a differnet format or improved on a older one.

I think most people can appreciate the advantages of DVD over VHS. Namely picture quality and longevity of the movie in storage, It is much harder for a non-audiophile(joe six pack) to appreciate the move to a HD version, ie Blu Ray disc. Joe just isn't going to pony up big dollars to buy more equipment that is almost 3 times as much in cost for hardware and 2 times the cost in the discs themselves from the standard DVD's, especially when to him the SD DVD(standard) look fine to him. Can he see the difference between SD and HD? I am pretty sure he can. Is is enough to make him switch? Nope.

The best thing that can happen is for prices to drop and drop fast for equipment and the movies. Then the format will really take off. I don't think regular DVD's are going to go away anytime soon so don't get to excited about having to switch. I myself just got a PS3 for a early B-Day present and that is replacing my HD DVD player that I stupidly purchased last November. I will however not sell or get rid of my standard DVD's as I doubt the studios are going to convert all the movies that I have to high def. The one advantage of the new Blu Ray players is that they will play all your SD DVD's and up-convert them to "near HD quality.
Bottom line is that if you are shopping for a disc player, consider a Blu Ray player only if you have the TV to play it on, have cash to spare or want to watch your SD DVD's in near HD quality. If you don't need a player then just sit on the sidelines and wait for about 6 months to a year and I would bet the prices have dropped cause if they don't they may miss there window of opportunity as the next great thing will be just over the horizon!! Can you say digital downloads??????

Quote from SXViper

My guess is that as a guy gets older he tends to not care about these things as much.

Your guess is right on the money, Todd.

Quote from SXViper

Is is enough to make him switch? Nope.

Right again

There is only a marginal difference in visual and sound quality with blue ray which is not really noticable to most viewers unless pointed out to them. Standard DVD gives more than adequate performance. I suspect blu ray could be an imminent victim of the credit crunch.

Sometimes the Blu-ray version of a movie might include more special features. For example, with the movie Enchanted, the Blu-ray includes ALL the references throughout the movie to previous Disney films, a feature which is exclusive to the Blu-ray.

That is one feature I might be willing to pay extra for, although in general I'm not willing to do it.

Otherwise, I have to admit I am not that discerning a viewer. I can't tell the difference myself. We have watched Rio Bravo on Blu-ray (rented it from the local video store last December). I'm not sure what other Duke films are available on the new format. We are able to watch Blu-ray on our sons' PS3.

Mrs. C

Sue,

The Searchers is the only other movie out on Blu-Ray. How the West was Won is coming out in August.

Cheers

Duke films on Blu-Ray are The Searchers, The Cowboys, The Longest Day and Rio Bravo. And as Hondo said How the West was Won is coming out next month.


One other thing that I want to add after reading everyone's comments after mine is that if you don't have a big screen TV that is HD capable and the surround sound system to go with it then you might not be geting the full benefit of the HD experience. A big screen HDTV(42" or bigger) showing a Blu-Ray HD movie is a big difference. You will not notice it on a smaller TV because the resolution is so much smaller. Even a SD DVD looks quite good on a smaller TV but put that same DVD on a big screen and compare to the same HD version of the movie and you will see a BIG difference.

Hey Vipe,

I am looking at a 37" HDTV that has 1080p. I imagine that should be enough, but you concluded that it must 42" or better. Can you explain?

Cheers Hondo

Quote from Hondo Duke Lane

Hey Vipe,

I am looking at a 37" HDTV that has 1080p. I imagine that should be enough, but you concluded that it must 42" or better. Can you explain?

Cheers Hondo

You will see a difference Mike. It's just that when I think of a "big" screen I think of tv's that are 42" and over. Depending on your budget and room size, going with a 37" screen should work just fine. Like I said above, as screen's get smaller it becomes less of a issue for HD content as far as clarity goes.

I must be easy to please. I can enjoy historical CDs that have some hiss in the background - actually some of those recordings from the 50s and 60s were better recorded than some present-day ones.
Since I don't have a theater system and a non-digital TV, I'm happy with regular DVDs and don't feel the need for added expense to purchase blu-ray to make my life complete! (No offense meant to those that relish blu-ray features.)