ChatterBank1 min ago
Technology going backwards?
12 Answers
Is it just me or does anyone else feel that the so called technological advance in audio and visual equipment is taking huge steps backwards?
In the 70s I had a 35mm SLR Zenith film camera, the quality photo`s that took were brilliant. (which by the way, you could send off the film to True Print for developing for about �3.50. Where as now you got to buy ink, paper and print crap copies yourself at high costs) I also had an old Bush transistor radio that could pick up anything that was flying through the airwaves with crystal clear sound. In the 80s I had a Panasonic video recorder, quality brilliant. At the moment I got a Ferguson tube TV, picture quality phenomenal.
Now because of forced sales of modern appliances and no choice whatsoever in various formats I am forced into buing a new digital camera, image quality terrible. A new radio that is just 2 stations and half hour of crackle. A new DVD, trouble with pixilation and syncronization of audio. Finally I am desperately holding on to my TV as the new plasma screens are dreadful, move your head sideways an inch and the screen goes a different colour.
Bring back old technology quick! What do you all say.
In the 70s I had a 35mm SLR Zenith film camera, the quality photo`s that took were brilliant. (which by the way, you could send off the film to True Print for developing for about �3.50. Where as now you got to buy ink, paper and print crap copies yourself at high costs) I also had an old Bush transistor radio that could pick up anything that was flying through the airwaves with crystal clear sound. In the 80s I had a Panasonic video recorder, quality brilliant. At the moment I got a Ferguson tube TV, picture quality phenomenal.
Now because of forced sales of modern appliances and no choice whatsoever in various formats I am forced into buing a new digital camera, image quality terrible. A new radio that is just 2 stations and half hour of crackle. A new DVD, trouble with pixilation and syncronization of audio. Finally I am desperately holding on to my TV as the new plasma screens are dreadful, move your head sideways an inch and the screen goes a different colour.
Bring back old technology quick! What do you all say.
Answers
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I used to pay about �3.50 a film and another �3.50 for developing and most of the photos weren't worth keeping. Now I decide what I want to print, and I reuse a memory card. The savings are pretty huge. I don't find the image quality terrible, because I can adjust it, which I couldn't before - and some photo print people produced awful results.
You can buy a fantastic SLR camera today, a digital version. Choose only the photos you want and get them professionally printed and posted to you. Cheaper than printing them yourself.
Nothing would drag me back to messing about with video tapes, playing hunt the recording. My hard disk recorder records in excellent quality, and will burn to dvd disk if I want to.
My plasma tv has very good viewing angles. You get what you pay for.
Who needs to buy a radio when you can Spotify or listen to radio on line, streamed to your hifi if you want.
My whole album collection is safely stored on a tiny mp4 player and the sound reproduction is really very good with the top of the range headphones, and all backed up to a tiny external hard drive.
I would not easily give up my Sony eReader, either.
You keep the old technology, and bring on the gadgets.
Nothing would drag me back to messing about with video tapes, playing hunt the recording. My hard disk recorder records in excellent quality, and will burn to dvd disk if I want to.
My plasma tv has very good viewing angles. You get what you pay for.
Who needs to buy a radio when you can Spotify or listen to radio on line, streamed to your hifi if you want.
My whole album collection is safely stored on a tiny mp4 player and the sound reproduction is really very good with the top of the range headphones, and all backed up to a tiny external hard drive.
I would not easily give up my Sony eReader, either.
You keep the old technology, and bring on the gadgets.
Most TV & radio transmits = mundane but some good films.
Digi camera uploads to web, all transmits from there & no chance of losing valuable photos or print exes.
Sound performance thru digi speakers or earphones - perfect.
Huge memory on Ipods etc - can dispense with gigantic cabinets to house music & records.
Digi camera uploads to web, all transmits from there & no chance of losing valuable photos or print exes.
Sound performance thru digi speakers or earphones - perfect.
Huge memory on Ipods etc - can dispense with gigantic cabinets to house music & records.
-- answer removed --
Sorry onearm, another one disagreeing with you here..
Technology moves forwards and gets better, the biggest problem is people don't move forward at the same rate and are incapable of adjusting to using new technology and continue to try and use it in the old fashioned ways and therefore don't get the best out of it.
Technology moves forwards and gets better, the biggest problem is people don't move forward at the same rate and are incapable of adjusting to using new technology and continue to try and use it in the old fashioned ways and therefore don't get the best out of it.
For me the real backwards step is how un-eco-friendly most new kit is. Longevity and ruggedness has all but gone. As a tech, it is sad to see 2 year old kit that is BER and must be condemned to landfill. Crappy LCD smeary-vision TVs with hard to find /expensive spares are one, I still fix CRT tvs for a fraction of the price of a new board for an LCD TV - using off-the-shelf components not entire panels, or surface-mount jobs found in new kit.
Not to mention dvd recorders whose optics die like flies, set top boxes whose power supplies pop after 18 motnhs etc....great when it works, but landfill when it don't!
Software is another problem - various file types needing conversion programs, discs /formats that won't play in some machines ....makes vcr tracking faults look like a picnic!
don't get me wrong, I realise flat tvs take up less space, and we have more info stored in less space in things like mp3 players and dvd (albeit with sound picture sync and mpeg lossy compression) but how much will still be working in 10 years time (or even 5?!!)
These days we're creating a pile of waste which the poor of this world suffer.
see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBC-dWgElbI
in todays recession hit days, wasting resources by making throwaway electronic crap seems completely out of touch with the modern world.
Not to mention dvd recorders whose optics die like flies, set top boxes whose power supplies pop after 18 motnhs etc....great when it works, but landfill when it don't!
Software is another problem - various file types needing conversion programs, discs /formats that won't play in some machines ....makes vcr tracking faults look like a picnic!
don't get me wrong, I realise flat tvs take up less space, and we have more info stored in less space in things like mp3 players and dvd (albeit with sound picture sync and mpeg lossy compression) but how much will still be working in 10 years time (or even 5?!!)
These days we're creating a pile of waste which the poor of this world suffer.
see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBC-dWgElbI
in todays recession hit days, wasting resources by making throwaway electronic crap seems completely out of touch with the modern world.
I suppose I will have to drag myself out of the seventies and get with it, so to speak. I have no real issues with the ease and speed technology is progressing but it`s the lack of quality in technology compared with older stuff. I still reckon old 35mm film is clearer than digital and the older tube TVs are better than plasma. One last thing! when are they going to bring back jumpers with elasticated cuffs? I hate the loose baggy ones.
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