[Tfug] Western Digital "red" drives?

[Bexley Hall]

Hi Timothy,

On 4/2/2013 12:38 PM, Timothy D. Lenz wrote:
> My first Tv was a Sony XBR line. Lasted some 25 years. Still had a great
> picture, but the HV went out and you could no longer get parts.

Yup.  Mine was a JVC -- one of the first with "digital controls".
Also lasted 25 years (and 6,000 - 8,000 miles manhandled back and
forth across the country).  Ultimately died when I could no longer
read the tiny print on the circuit boards easily and soldered a
replacement component in "backwards".  <frown>  Rather than fix
my screwup, I figured the TV *deserved* to be retired as it had
served us well!

(Reading ahead to your complaint, below)  It's sole flaw was the
"mute" function was not "independent".  I.e., if you muted the
sound and then changed the channel, the mute function was automatically
released!  <frown>  Easy to work-around:  if you truly want to suppress
the sound while surfing, etc. just turn it *down* instead of muting
it -- but, I shouldn't *have* to do this!  And, it's obvious that this
was a conscious decision on their part as no other "settings" are
"reset" when you change channels, etc.

OTOH, the Nakamichi Dragon screws up when it autoreverses at the
end of "side A" -- allowing the tape indicator to count in the
opposite direction of the tape's motion (in certain circumstances).
This is a *bug* (I have two and both show this behavior) no doubt
caused by a "race" in the independent systems that control tape
motion and counter updates!  Ooops!  "Can't happen" obviously *did*!
:<

> New tv
> also a sony, But I can see the lack of thought in it's design
> everywhere. Simple things that could have been done better in the
> software like allowing for duplicate channel numbers like our cheap
> converter box can do, when you turn it on, you get a pic right away,
> then it goes black and the TV has to finish "turning on" for anything to
> work. Channel changes same thing. Get pic and sound right away as you
> should, but then goes dark for several seconds while it does what ever
> it is doing.

Blame that on "black box" design methodologies.  Folks designing
with technology that they don't understand and just "coding to the
interface (specification)".

> So much of it is the engineers and programers just putting in their time
> to get a pay check doing as little as they can get away with, not taking
> a minute to think how the product works, or what would make it better
> and more user friendly. Instead they dumb everything down removing
> controls/functions that where standard before all they had to do was
> write a few lines of code to put it in.

Many "programmers" write code thinking the user MUST do things a
certain way -- the way that the programmer has envisioned.  So,
they end up creating brittle/stilted implementations that *only*
work if used in exactly the way envisioned.  ("Why would you want
the TV to remain muted AFTER you change channels??")

Our washer/dryer doesn't let you *just* do a quick rinse.  Or,
a "soak".  Instead, you have to run a complete cycle (of your
own choosing) and just omit the soap, etc.  "Why would you ever
want to rinse *without* washing??"