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[JeffVolp]

Books?  You know they have readers for that now.  Geeze.   

And I even have some cassette tapes for the tape player in my 280ZX!

Jeff

[HA Dave]

The book was better.  We still have that in our library too.  I haven't tried any rental YouTube videos, but the ones that can be downloaded for free are pretty poor quality.

I've been reading books downloaded to my phone or tablet... the past two-three years. I am not anti-paper... but digital weighs so much less than the old books do. I think I have 3 or 4 books on in my phone right now.... and I can't feel that the phone is any heavier at all. 

Poor [streaming] video quality hasn't been my experience. But not all the old stuff was created in high quality. So poor video and/or sound quality... is all there is. The old Star Treks... display in better quality streaming on-line today..... than they were when originally broadcasted.   

[HA Dave]

......... Then for nostalgia I saved various enthusiast magazines from the 60's and 70's. 

I apologize Jeff. I would have never guessed or attempted to expose your hoarding tendency's. It is common now-a-days (and nobody knows why). 

[dhouston]

...I will not choose a product that requires cloud support to function.

I agree and can only think of one HA related situation where cloud storage can be useful - off-site storage of motion triggered video recordings in the event of a burglary makes sense. But, even there, I would object if the only way to view camera video in realtime requires accessing it via the cloud.

[JeffVolp]

I would have never guessed or attempted to expose your hoarding tendency's.

It's not really that.  I firmly believe in the saying "don't fix it if it ain't broke".  And I also believe that after selecting a good product, I should keep it running as long as it serves its purpose.  That is essentially what I'm doing with the XTB business.  I don't keep junk magazines or anything that doesn't have "historical" value for me.

Jeff

[bkenobi]

I have historically had a tendency to want the latest and greatest tech.  In school I would buy a new video card and sell my old one ("old" being a few months of use) to another student.  At that time, I could upgrade for ~$20USD for a card that was costing ~$200.  When I moved out of the dorm, I realized it was harder to move the old stuff and so I ended up keeping it telling myself I'd have a backup.  After moving a half dozen times and seeing the boxes of old slightly used tech it got me thinking about the waste of both money and resources.  I think more about throwing the useful (to someone) items out more so than I do the loss of funds.  It really bothers me that the business model of the HA industry is to get people to buy into a proprietary tech that they will intentionally orphan in the near future leaving owners with little more than a slightly dusty paper weight.  If that device lost only a bonus feature that would be one thing.  But, many cloud based devices are ONLY useful that way.

I have a weather station I got for the cost of shipping recently thinking I could find a way to make it work locally too.  Though I haven't done so yet, the company hasn't turned a profit and still relies on KickStarter to go forward.  This will not end well and I'm sure I'm going to end up with a new paper weight soon (unless Apple or Google buys them).  It's not that I expect the weather station to last forever.  I expect it to last it's expected life functioning fully as intended.  When the business fails, the expected life becomes the life of the servers...

[dhouston]

Before becoming disabled, my job (and/or the local sheriff ) had me moving every couple of years so I, too, learned to limit the things I held onto. Since being disabled, I've tried to give away anything I can no longer use so that others might make use of it.

However, I also have 8 computers (3 W10, 3 W7, Mac Mini, iMac) plus several Arduinos and a few RPis that I'm hanging onto in case I'm able to finish a few projects and write/test software for them. My two monitors have multiple video inputs that I can switch between which reduces the total desk space needed.

One W7 PC has a removable HDD and I have 10 versions of Linux that can be swapped in/out. I recently sent a W98 PC that had a nice ISA bus oscilloscope card (made obsolete by the PCI bus) plus the CRT monitor I used with it to a local electronics recycling center and will likely be sending a lot of electronic components to a dumpster soon.

And, while I, too, was an early subscriber to Byte, I usually tossed them after a few months. My kids got my books, Dr. Who tapes, and vinyl LPs years ago.

[dhouston]

We have a library that still includes several hundred VHS movies that we occasionally watch.  While the quality is certainly not up to BD or even DVD standards, we watch for the content, not to see each whisker on the actor's face.  Some of us don't have the money to replace older products with the latest technology.

Make sure you maintain your VCR since they now are no longer being made. This article makes a few points in their favor - e.g. VHS tapes have a longer shelf life than DVDs.
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/07/caetlin_benson_allott_explores_the_legacy_of_vhs_and_vcr.html

I only have a few VHS tapes of classic movies and a couple concerts although I do have a fairly recent Toshiba VCR/DVD recorder/player that can copy VHS to DVD. I've about 3 dozen DVDs but have moved to streaming over the past few years. One Lenovo Q190 W10 PC is dedicated to streaming to my TV. At my age, it's hard to stay awake past 10PM so I frequently stream favorite TV shows the following day at a more geezer-friendly hour.

[dave w]

And I even have some cassette tapes for the tape player in my 280ZX!

Jeff

Off topic, but I had a 280Z. Great car. Kept it for 10 years. At 120 the front end got way too light, but it would cruise at 100.

[JeffVolp]

Make sure you maintain your VCR since they now are no longer being made. This article makes a few points in their favor - e.g. VHS tapes have a longer shelf life than DVDs.
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/07/caetlin_benson_allott_explores_the_legacy_of_vhs_and_vcr.html

Thanks for linking that article.  It was an interesting read.

We still have 3 functioning VCRs, 2 of which are SuperVHS compatible.  Someday when I have time I have to transfer our library of SuperVHS tapes over to a digital format.  But like with purging unused stuff, there seems to always be something more important to do, such as checking into this board while out of town for my high school class reunion.   

Jeff

[JeffVolp]

Off topic, but I had a 280Z. Great car. Kept it for 10 years. At 120 the front end got way too light, but it would cruise at 100.

You might be surprised how many people have told me they owned one.  It is a real classic.  This year I had the A/C converted to F134a, which has been great with our 105-110 daytime highs.

I've only run it up to 80 (which is legal out here on much of I-15).

Jeff

[HA Dave]

The VCR is officially dead.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/tunedin/the-vcr-is-officially-dead/vi-BBuFKgZ?ocid=spartandhp

[HA Dave]

I agree and can only think of one HA related situation where cloud storage can be useful - off-site storage of motion triggered video recordings in the event of a burglary........

I do the off-site security camera storage myself. But also.... Pictures (and/or video) taken with my wife and my iphones are automatically copied to the cloud. This is a great way to protect that media from loss... and allow easy sharing (even to the TV via my phone as the remote). Cloud images can be shared across state lines... great for distance located kids and grandkids.

There is a lot of shared use applications that can be cloud shared (like schedules and appointments) that just doesn't fit into people paradigms of how things are done.

One example that comes to mind would be when I was leaving the dentist office the receptionist asked if I'd like to be reminded of my next appointment by:  Being called on my home phone or a text to my mobile phone. I asked... can't I just share calendar permissions with you? I almost felt bad. She was so pleased with the progress they had made with texting. She had no idea there was more, newer tech.

The thing is our old rock solid outdated paradigms aren't JUST holding back our Home Automation setups.... they are holding back our entire nations (worlds?) progress.

The bad thing is.... our paradigms (view of how the world works) tell us how things were... NOT what CAN BE. Our natural view of how things are done.... is based on how they were done in the PAST. We can not help these natural driving forces.... that is how the human brain works. And most of the time that function serves us well. But the natural paradigms also stifle imagination, creativity, and invention.

This is NOT an age thing! It is an ambition thing. It is no harder to discard a learned response... to explore a new way to do something at age 80... than it is at age 18!!!! There is a minimum effort required when we make a decision to try streaming... as opposed to popping in an old VHS tape. The benefits to progress has always been worth the effort. No vessel or container holds anyone's memories, emotions, sentimental attachments, or nostalgia.... other than the human mind. Stuff... is just stuff.

I have ALWAYS said (as far as you know) The use of Home Automation is limited... only by our imaginations. What I failed to mention is that we get to decide if we want to limit that imagination. We don't have to limit ourselves. Our natural limitations are great enough.