The Tech Thread

[Weezenal]

Anyone got a robot vacuum that's any good? Considering getting one on Black Friday.

[seph]

I'd like some recs for external drives suitable for the PS5 as I'm bursting at capacity and Sony's idiotic patching policy means I need the exact size of the biggest game free at all times.

[Chest Rockwell]

13 hours ago, Weezenal said:

Anyone got a robot vacuum that's any good? Considering getting one on Black Friday.

I have an irobot one that is good; I have a eufy one that's a piece of shit. 

[Steve Justice]

I've purchased a new receiver that's a lot more modern than my previous one. The main reason I purchased it was so that I can connect my gaming laptop to it via hdmi so I can get 5.1 surround sound out of it. It also outputs in 4k, so additional bonus. 

The problem is that I can't get it to play any sound out of it at all. 

The laptop recognises that the receiver is connected, it's set as the default audio output, it's using Nvidia HD audio, but still nothing. 

I've rolled back drivers, reinstalled latest, tried the troubleshooter, disabled various settings, uninstalled nvidia audio completely and reinstalled. But still nothing. 

When I click the 'test' button, the volume animation moves, so the laptop does think it's playing something. 

I don't know what else to try. Anyone have any ideas? 

[hallicks]

9 hours ago, Steve Justice said:

I've purchased a new receiver that's a lot more modern than my previous one. The main reason I purchased it was so that I can connect my gaming laptop to it via hdmi so I can get 5.1 surround sound out of it. It also outputs in 4k, so additional bonus. 

The problem is that I can't get it to play any sound out of it at all. 

The laptop recognises that the receiver is connected, it's set as the default audio output, it's using Nvidia HD audio, but still nothing. 

I've rolled back drivers, reinstalled latest, tried the troubleshooter, disabled various settings, uninstalled nvidia audio completely and reinstalled. But still nothing. 

When I click the 'test' button, the volume animation moves, so the laptop does think it's playing something. 

I don't know what else to try. Anyone have any ideas? 

AVRs are complicated, fiddly wankers on the best of days. How are you getting 5.1, is it straight out of the receiver or are you going to a preamp for passive speakers? I would suggest trying a separate input and mode first. Have you got something on phono connectors or a 3.5mm jack you can plug in and make sure you’re getting plain old stereo out it? If that works, maybe try the 3.5mm jack from your laptop as well. Once you’ve confirmed that part, check all the routing settings in the AVR menu. There’s often stupid bullshit about what inputs can be routed to what outputs, so make sure it’s doing what you think it should be. Beyond the AVR, I presume your laptop has switchable audio outputs. Have you tried switching them around to see what changes? 

Edited November 24, 2023 by hallicks

[Steve Justice]

On 11/24/2023 at 7:54 AM, hallicks said:

AVRs are complicated, fiddly wankers on the best of days. How are you getting 5.1, is it straight out of the receiver or are you going to a preamp for passive speakers? I would suggest trying a separate input and mode first. Have you got something on phono connectors or a 3.5mm jack you can plug in and make sure you’re getting plain old stereo out it? If that works, maybe try the 3.5mm jack from your laptop as well. Once you’ve confirmed that part, check all the routing settings in the AVR menu. There’s often stupid bullshit about what inputs can be routed to what outputs, so make sure it’s doing what you think it should be. Beyond the AVR, I presume your laptop has switchable audio outputs. Have you tried switching them around to see what changes? 

Thanks for replying. 

I'm getting 5.1 straight from the receiver. 

I'm getting sound from other devices through different inputs (turntable and TV being 2 examples). 

I've changed the output setting on the laptop to the standard Realtek option and I get sound through the receiver that way, albeit standard stereo. 

I've tried different modes on the channel it's connected to and it makes no difference. 

It's baffling. 

[BigJag]

Miniature torches. Is anyone else amazed by their abilities?

I recently purchased a Nitecore Tiki. It was just under £30.

https://www.nitecore.co.uk/products/nitecore-tiki-gitd---blue.html

It's no bigger than a USB stick, and conveniently clips onto my keys. Yet throws out an incredible amount of light. As I'm usually the last to leave work. I usually lock up the building. Which means carrying out security checks of the football pitch sized warehouse we have. Using this tiny torch I can flood a number of areas with light. Negating the need to turn on the building lights. The Tiki is packed full of features which can all be accessed via a single button. It runs off of a rechargeable battery with onboard charging port.

I had intended to get a bunch of the cheaper models for friends and family. Unfortunately the supplier had a flood and had to suspend sales. Could be some bargains available once they've checked their stock over.

I've seen other similar torches on eBay. Has anyone tried them out? The variety is quite expansive.

[Weezenal]

Anyone got any recommendations for a decent budget sound bar? Want to get by dad one for his birthday. We recently got him Apple TV for Christmas so assume it will just link to that as the TV itself is relatively old now.

[Dai]

1 hour ago, Weezenal said:

Anyone got any recommendations for a decent budget sound bar? Want to get by dad one for his birthday. We recently got him Apple TV for Christmas so assume it will just link to that as the TV itself is relatively old now.

Which Apple TV did you get? You need to check if its got an optical output if you want to hook it straight up to the Soundbar. Soundbars usually connect to the HDMI Arc on the TV, which I assume his TV won't have if its old. 

This Creative one nearly always wins the best Soundbar under a hundred quid. Will massively boost the volume and clarity of the TV speakers;

https://uk.creative.com/p/speakers/creative-stage-v2

[DavidB6937]

Anyone capable of shitting money?

https://www.apple.com/apple-vision-pro/

Now up for pre order.

Crazy price. Even crazier considering the storage space.

[BigJag]

CES is happening this week. Sadly there's no accompanying E3. Samsung have been showing of some cool looking transparent displays. Along with anti-glare tech for their OLED TVs.

LG has a transparent TV

The event looks to be a lot smaller and seems to have been set up in a large hotel. Rather than a massive exhibition hall.

 

Edited January 11, 2024 by BigJag

[SuperBacon]

My phone has recently decided to do this, and it's annoying.

It will do it and I'll refresh the page a few times and it'll correct itself, and will only happen on the web browser, no other app, so assume its only a browser issue, and not a "phone wide" issue.

It's like looking at the matrix, so any fixes would be helpful. 

[waters44]

Calling all tech heads!

I have a shed right at the bottom of the garden that I’m slowly going to turn into some sort of bar / man cave. Eventually I’d like to get a smart tv down there and a console. 

What are the options re internet? Is it a case of running cable direct from the router down to the shed. It’s about 140ft from the router so any sort of wireless is out of the question. Or is there another way? 

I think we have a DIY thread too, you should expect more questions in there at some point as the shed needs a bit of work! 

[johnnyboy]

20 minutes ago, waters44 said:

What are the options re internet? Is it a case of running cable direct from the router down to the shed. It’s about 140ft from the router so any sort of wireless is out of the question. Or is there another way? 

1) A long network cable, ideally armoured so animals don't gnaw through it.

2) Powerline adapters that can run network signals down mains wiring (saves doing a run each for power and networking)

3) A wireless point-to-point bridge.  (This would be pretty expensive and wildly over-engineered for a shed)

Edited May 6, 2024 by johnnyboy

[Retro Red]

13 minutes ago, johnnyboy said:

1) A long network cable, ideally armoured so animals don't gnaw through it.

2) Powerline adapters that can run network signals down mains wiring (saves doing a run each for power and networking)

3) A wireless point-to-point bridge.  (This would be pretty expensive and wildly over-engineered for a shed)

Option 2 is your best bet if you plan to take power down to it - although if you haven’t yet then you could lay a network cable same time as the power is going in.