What was your latest tech purchase?

[Imported]

HTC One.

 

[AMDZen]

Oppo BDP105 {Blu Ray/Disc player}, last month

$1200 for a Blu-Ray player

JESUSSSS

 

[Number1]

what car are you coming from? Cars with bluetooth have been out a while now. Too bad my '08 is one of the earlier ones and only does voice and no music. My wife's '13 Sonata works great with music from my GNex phone.

05 Tuscon.

Had the 13 elantra for 2 weeks now, loving it so far except for the sound system. First new car in 28 years!!!!!!!

 

[Red Squirrel]

Just bought more UPS batteries to double my capacity. Instead of expensive low capacity UPS batteries, I go to the automotive section of Canadian Tire for 100AH ones for the same price! It's how I roll. Of course, equivalent sealed ones would be like triple the price eh.



Also bought a hydrometer and other misc/safety stuff so I can do maintenance on them. The two existing ones are probably due for an electrolyte top up before I connect the new ones.

I'll probably have to start thinking about active air exchange if I add any more. I think this will be it for now though. Next purchase as far as power backup goes will probably be a generator. Just need to figure out what to look for to ensure it will work with my inverter /charger setup to charge the batteries properly. With 4 batteries now I also have the option of upgrading to a higher capacity 48v system if I want to. Would be nice to do the TV and my workstation too.

We get lot of power outages here because of all the construction.

 

[JackBurton]

$1200 for a Blu-Ray player

JESUSSSS

Go big or go home.

 

[insect9]

Nexus 10

 

[rh71]

ok I stopped saving money for a second and bought a G500 mouse for a whopping $45.

 

[CZroe]

Just bought more UPS batteries to double my capacity. Instead of expensive low capacity UPS batteries, I go to the automotive section of Canadian Tire for 100AH ones for the same price! It's how I roll. Of course, equivalent sealed ones would be like triple the price eh.



Also bought a hydrometer and other misc/safety stuff so I can do maintenance on them. The two existing ones are probably due for an electrolyte top up before I connect the new ones.

I'll probably have to start thinking about active air exchange if I add any more. I think this will be it for now though. Next purchase as far as power backup goes will probably be a generator. Just need to figure out what to look for to ensure it will work with my inverter /charger setup to charge the batteries properly. With 4 batteries now I also have the option of upgrading to a higher capacity 48v system if I want to. Would be nice to do the TV and my workstation too.

We get lot of power outages here because of all the construction.

OK. I've got some old APC equipment and I'd love to know how to do this. Write up?

 

[chimaxi83]

Just picked up a Creative Sound Blaster wireless headset. It was cheap (shell shocker at Newegg), and I was looking for wireless, so I bought my first Creative product in about 10 years :thumbsup:

 

[Kaido]

philip wake up light:

http://www.amazon.com/Philips-HF3510...+wake+up+light

Wow, that's cool! How do you like it?

 

[Red Squirrel]

OK. I've got some old APC equipment and I'd love to know how to do this. Write up?

I looked into using APC equipment but 1: it's VERY expensive to ship to Canada, and 2: I read stuff about them slightly overcharging batteries, some even say they do on purpose so you need to buy new ones more often, but I suppose that's left for a whole other debate and lastly 3: I did not specifically try this with an APC but with an Ultra, and the issue is that there is some sort of pre programmed shut off timer. Though I have heard of this done with higher end APCs so I suppose it can be done.

To avoid those potential issues I got an inverter-charger instead, it's a device designed to act as a UPS with bigger batteries. So instead of doing something that is completely against the UPSes warranty or even design, this device is made for this.

This is my current setup:



The cover is normally left on as to hide the terminals and keep the batteries relatively clean from dust and other debris. There are holes for the cables and to act as ventilation.

That black box is the inverter-charger, it's a Tripp Lite 750w unit but they make bigger ones too. In fact now that I look at their site I kind of regret not going with the 48v model.

http://www.tripplite.com/en/products/product-series.cfm?txtSeriesID=818

I plan to improve my setup though as it's kinda hackish atm. I'll be building a battery shelf so they can be stacked on, with clear plastic ventilated covers on both sides.

That said if you want to experiment with old APC stuff, simply ensure you know the voltage it requires (probably 24v) and get deep cycle batteries like these and simply hook them up in series. I bought these at Canadian Tire and also bought the cables there. The only thing I'm not sure is how you'd permanently hook it up to the APC. I used crocodile clips when I was testing, but it's not something I'd ever recommend for a permanent setup. The higher end rack mount APCs use 48v I believe. If you still have the batteries then it's most likely as simple as checking how many batteries and how they are configured as each battery will be 12 volts. (should say on the label). I've seen some APCS that have "battery packs" which is basically 4 batteries stuck together with two sided tape.

Beware of hydrogen. You want to ensure whatever charging device you use wont overcharge them.

 

[shortylickens]

Go big or go home.

Spent too much. The very best Oppo doesnt cost that much.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Spent too much. The very best Oppo doesnt cost that much.

But spending that much on a Bluray player definitely makes you a baller. I know if I wanted to be a baller I'd buy one so I can mount it in my M3 (which by definition, I'd already have) to play movies while picking up chicks.

 

[exdeath]

But spending that much on a Bluray player definitely makes you a baller. I know if I wanted to be a baller I'd buy one so I can mount it in my M3 (which by definition, I'd already have) to play movies while picking up chicks.

I hear the lossless digital content read from the disc, sent over a lossless digital cable to a lossless 1:1 native pixel digital display is magically better with a $1200 digital disc player over a $50 one :awe:

On the $1200 player a red pixel is 255 0 0 where on a $50 player it's only 255 0 0

All teasing aside, speakers, amps, speaker cable or anything in the analog domain I can understand. Been there done that, but I stopped caring for the part of the path that is all digital now. Wasn't too long ago I was crazy over $1000 DVD players and external line doublers and stuff like that myself. God things are so much simpler now.

 

[nsafreak]

Hmmm most recent within the past couple weeks:

Alpha Design Labs Stride USB DAC/headphone amp
Grado SR-125i headphones
Logitech G930 wireless headphones
Corsair M60 mouse
Metro DataVac ED50

I'm contemplating picking up a Radeon 7950 GHz edition to upgrade from my GTX 560 Ti, just have to decide on a manufacturer.

 

[vi edit]

Go big or go home.

Honest question and not trolling here...but outside of the 3D stuff, what does a $1000+ Oppo player offer 99% of the population over a PS3?

What are the people paying that much for them using them for that a much cheaper device can't do?

 

[CZroe]

Honest question and not trolling here...but outside of the 3D stuff, what does a $1000+ Oppo player offer 99% of the population over a PS3?

What are the people paying that much for them using them for that a much cheaper device can't do?

IR remote.

 

[The_Dude8]

Wow, that's cool! How do you like it?

haven't chance to test it out yet, but from reading the reviews, I hope the light will wake me up instead of the buzzing alarm.

 

[sdifox]

Honest question and not trolling here...but outside of the 3D stuff, what does a $1000+ Oppo player offer 99% of the population over a PS3?

What are the people paying that much for them using them for that a much cheaper device can't do?

Better analogue stage and flexibility? That would be my guess.

 

[JackBurton]

Spent too much. The very best Oppo doesnt cost that much.

Ya, ya it does. The very best Oppo (BDP-105) retails for $1200.

 

[JackBurton]

Honest question and not trolling here...but outside of the 3D stuff, what does a $1000+ Oppo player offer 99% of the population over a PS3?

What are the people paying that much for them using them for that a much cheaper device can't do?

1. Like mentioned earlier, IR support
2. Great DVD upscaling
3. Great analog section (if you choose to use analog over digital)
4. The ability to run a source through the player to take advantage of its scaler
5. Support for SACD and DVD-A
6. Quiet operation
7. A very neutral picture output
8. Fantastic customer support
9. Solid build quality
10. Dual HDMI out
11. And compared to a PS3, full HDMI 1.4 compliance

Quite honestly though, a $500 Oppo (103) would do just fine for most people (actually MOST people would be fine with just a basic BD player). I paid about $1600 for my player in 2008 (Pioneer BDP-09FD which had an MSRP of $2200 back then) and would only trade it for an Oppo if something were to happen to it. Some people care about build quality, some don't. I happen to care about how solid a unit is built. I bought a $100 Sony BD player last year for my parents and that thing just feels like crap. Super cheap feel to it. Can't stand the player. But they just wanted something basic. For me, I don't give a shit about stupid apps or streaming services either. I just want my player to output the best picture and audio it can, whether it be from a BD or DVD. AND I want it to operate at a dead silent level.

And just another note, Oppo USED to be able to stream BD ISO's, but pressure from the movie studios made them remove that feature. I believe there is still a work around for it, but I think it's a just a pain to use and not worthwhile.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Just bought more UPS batteries to double my capacity. Instead of expensive low capacity UPS batteries, I go to the automotive section of Canadian Tire for 100AH ones for the same price! It's how I roll. Of course, equivalent sealed ones would be like triple the price eh.

Couldn't you buy batts that have a vent? I use a NAPA Legend Group 65 in the trunk of my car with a vent hose connected to it.

 

[Scotteq]

$1200 for a Blu-Ray player

JESUSSSS

Not quite correct: "Probably the Best $1200 I could have spent on my system" would be more a much more accurate description.

...and in addition to Jack's post: it also has an exceptionally clean/clear headphone amp, driven directly off of the {separate/dedicated stereo} DAC. When I did my research before buying, I thought "that's kinda neat" before turning to other features.... but now that I have the device, I find myself listening through my headphones more often.

 

[Ashenor]

A used Nexus 7 to mess around with. Wanted a Android Tablet since i have always had iPad's and now i have a Note 2.

I like the size a lot more then i thought i would.

 

[Ichinisan]

A used Nexus 7 to mess around with. Wanted a Android Tablet since i have always had iPad's and now i have a Note 2.

I like the size a lot more then i thought i would.

I like the size of iPad mini even more.