Random Tech Questions you want answered.

garion333 wrote:
NSMike wrote:

I am not a pianist by any means, but I did take lessons and can squeeze a decent-sounding sequence of notes out of a piano. If you like a piano, and not a keyboard, get something with at least weighted keys. It just doesn't feel right otherwise. If you have a Guitar Center or really any kind of music store in your area that carries a variety of instruments, you should be able to sample both types side-by-side. Something without weighted keys can be had for cheaper, but I think the comparison will seal it for you.

Tis true. Problem is that semi-weighted or weighted keys are one of the reasons prices begin to jump up. If you want a full 81 keys one is looking at $200+ at a bare minumum. For less keys you can find semi-weighted at $150, but less keys isn't optimal if you want to play with both hands.

I mean, even the cheapest Casios with weighted keys are $300+.

That's why I'm suggesting going the cheapest route before jumping in with both feet. Of course, musical instruments are generally easy to re-sell locally so jumping in with both feet isn't a terrible thing to do.

On the tech side of things I don't think there's much inside them to look for other than weighted and semi-weighted keys and aftertouch (pressure sensitivity to the keys). Most of the innovations are on the software side. Otherwise it's just touch pads, bigger screens, touchscreens and so on. If you want to play piano and not compose then those added extra buttons and knobs won't much matter.

A con for going the cheapest route is that cheaper solutions tend to be, well, cheaper. Part of getting better kit when trying to figure out if you are into something is that a better instrument (or whatever) will be more enjoyable to use (usually), so you give your exploration a far shake. Looks at his pile of cheap telescopes, guitars, basses, model supplies, etc. etc. Hobbies are important so make a (small) investment to see if you want to get into something (or back into it in this case). Don't break the bank but don't necessarily start with the cheapest either.

Anyway, my $0.02.

Maybe you're just a hoarder, tboon.

garion333 wrote:

Maybe you're just a hoarder, tboon.

Also probably true.

PurEvil wrote:
PaladinTom wrote:

Can anyone recommend a good Composite to HDMI converter and/or Component to HDMI converter? I want to hook my Wii and Xbox 360 to my new television. (Yes I'm a patient gamer.)

Low tech solution is to buy whatever $20 component-to-HDMI adapter on Amazon that tickles your fancy. They should all be roughly the same, there's no market in making a better one anymore. If you have a BestBuy nearby you might be able to find one there, but from what I saw they run about double to triple the price.

High tech would be a multimedia switch, which will probably run around $100-$200 for a decent one. The benefit would be having your systems both on one HDMI port of the TV, then using the switch to bounce between them. I'd only go for this option if you were planning to add more things to it later on.

For a decent balance of flexibility and cost, I have a Retrotink 2x Pro ($130):

https://www.retrotink.com/product-page/retrotink-2x-pro

Although note the caveat on the product page:

Sega Genesis and PS1/PSOne composite video generates off-spec signals and may not work correctly. For Sega Genesis, we recommend the HD Retrovision Cables. For PS1, we recommend a PS2 with good quality component cables.

I haven't used it with a Wii or 360 but I've used it with a Saturn and Dreamcast. The 5x Pro model seems neat but I just can't justify the $300 price for my use case.

If it's just for those two systems and you don't anticipate needing any other connectors just getting console specific cables is probably cheaper and easier, like Pur said.

Oh thank you someone finally suggested the RetroTINK, although it may not be the best solution in this case.

The 360 supports HDMI natively you just need the proprietary Digital Out to HDMI cable if you have the early model that didn't have an HDMI port (and congratz on keeping one of them alive this long, I went through two or three of them).

For the Wii I think the best option is probably the EON GCHD Mk-II as I don't think the RetroTINK 2x Pro supports the Wii since the Wii outputs at 480p (you could run the Wii in 480i mode to use it with a RetroTINK 2x Pro). The RetroTINK 5x does support 480p but it costs $300.

There are inexpensive "WiiHD" adapters out there that you might try. I have no idea how well or badly they work, though.

I had a component cable for my Wii that worked pretty darn well with my HD TVs. It's a shame those inputs got pushed out by low profit margins and the DRM cartel.

Kurrelgyre wrote:

There are inexpensive "WiiHD" adapters out there that you might try. I have no idea how well or badly they work, though.

I have one. $20? Works well enough for me.

I got a cheap WiiHD thingy that just makes the Wii video signal into HDMI. I'm not going to say it looked amazing or anything but it was... sufficient. If you have a gaming PC there are other options which are not exactly allowed to be discussed openly on these forums.

As far as the hobby advice from tboon, he's 100% right that if you try to get into a hobby by saving money and having a suboptimal means for partaking in that hobby, you're not going to want to do it. Although it is also true that buying really good kit for a hobby doesn't mean squat if you find that you don't want to do it anyway.

Buying a digital piano is, of course, great for having something in the home you can use to practice, and have headphone for so you don't disturb others, etc.

But there are other options. For example, if there's a community college or other arts school nearby or something, they might have a music program with practice rooms, and there might be some pianos available there. I don't know how open to the public they are, but you could find out. Might be that all you'd need to do is pay a minor fee, or even just walk in and use them. You could make a habit of it for a while - set aside some time every week specifically to head over to the school and practice. And when you feel like you've invested enough time in a cheap or free piano, buy your own instrument that meets your expectations, and feel better about paying a little more because of your time investment up front.

Check to see if that college has an alumni program that anyone can join. Alumni cards can get you into a surprising amount of semi-public places on a campus, especially the 50k state universities.

You could call the music department first and ask them, too.

NSMike wrote:

I got a cheap WiiHD thingy that just makes the Wii video signal into HDMI. I'm not going to say it looked amazing or anything but it was... sufficient.

A note for anyone following in these footsteps: check the system options and make sure the console is set to 16:9 aspect ratio. It'll just be like 480p, but it should render better than if it thinks it's sending to an old CRT set.

I'm looking for recommendations and/or anti-recommendations for a wireless phone charger.

I recently got an iPhone SE 2, which I understand is Qi-compatible. Wireless charging sounds convenient but in my preliminary looking around online, I've seen a lot of really bad reviews for particular chargers.

My wife tried to make use of wireless charging and it didn't go well. Lots of cases will break it and if you like those pop socket things they don't work with it either. Even when taking the device out of the case (iPhone 11) she had to put it down on the charger she had carefully to get it in the right position. I'm not sure which charger she had, but I doubt she spent much on it so that might have been part of the issue.

Yeah, my wife's shonky wireless charger has solidified my position that it's solving a problem i don't have. Cables are fine, thank you very much.

I like my wireless charger. But it is no longer on sale at amazon so that will probably give you pause...

We have a Samsung one we bought a couple of years ago that my wife uses every night to charge her phone on her nightstand. It was $30-40 dollars if I remember right. Works fine for her and she has her phone in a typical phone case.

PaladinTom wrote:

I have these two from Anker and they work great:

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Qi-Cert...

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Wireles...

I also have the 1st of those Anker chargers and it has worked great! You may want to get a longer cable to plug it into a power bar or wall outlet and mine also did not come with wall wart, so keep that in mind. My power bar already has USB ports so I just plug it directly into one of those.

I'm possibly in the market for an HDMI/USB 2-computer KVM switch and would like some recommendations.

Okay, here's a fun one. My wife's Asus UX330UA laptop suddenly decided yesterday that it doesn't want to boot up anymore -- the little circle of dots just keeps spinning. Windows Boot Repair failed. I'm suspecting SSD failure at this point... and her backups are out of date.

The laptop itself was old enough that she just went ahead and ordered a new one. It'd be really nice, though, if we could recover... well, any of her files. Any tips for establishing whether the SSD has irrevocably cratered and getting data off of it if it hasn't?

Open it up and remove it and stick it in a USB dock or case. Looks like it is an m.2 drive. iFixIt has a slightly over complicated guide for taking it apart. I don't know why they instruct you to remove the battery when the SSD is easily accessible after step 4.

Awesome! Thank you!

I was afraid it’d be non-standard or soldered in or something.

My wife wants to be able to AirPlay content from her iPhone to the TV in the basement. Can anyone recommend an inexpensive streaming dongle that will do that? An actual Apple TV is overkill for what we need.

I've been able to Google up a few recommendation articles but I thought I'd see if anyone here has any personal experience with anything.

Vargen wrote:

My wife wants to be able to AirPlay content from her iPhone to the TV in the basement. Can anyone recommend an inexpensive streaming dongle that will do that? An actual Apple TV is overkill for what we need.

Roku Streaming Stick.

In fact I think you can go even cheaper and use a Roku Express, but I've never used one of those.

Roku's site lists exact model numbers for all their devices that support AirPlay. And I know Best Buy has like all the Roku stuff on sale.

I've only lightly used AirPlay on Roku devices, but I can say that the ones we still have running reliably show up on the device list if we go to AirPlay something.

Anyone use an ultrawide that also uses it for Teams/Zoom/WebEx/Google Meet/etc. and presentations? How does the monitor handle things like presenter view, and the fact that it's broadcasting to people who are likely not on anything but 16:9 resolutions?

Vargen wrote:

My wife wants to be able to AirPlay content from her iPhone to the TV in the basement. Can anyone recommend an inexpensive streaming dongle that will do that? An actual Apple TV is overkill for what we need.

I've been able to Google up a few recommendation articles but I thought I'd see if anyone here has any personal experience with anything.

What TV do you have? Many TVs have apps or updates that will enable AirPlay (or similar Casting features). It tends to vary from model to model and brand to brand though.

stupidhaiku wrote:

Anyone use an ultrawide that also uses it for Teams/Zoom/WebEx/Google Meet/etc. and presentations? How does the monitor handle things like presenter view, and the fact that it's broadcasting to people who are likely not on anything but 16:9 resolutions?

We use Webex Teams at our office and from what I have seen, the viewers just get the full presenter's monitor shrunk down to fit in their webex window. If it is a different screen ratio, that is what they see in the presentation box. It is noticeable on the viewer side and can make things harder to see unless the presenter accounts for it by zooming in our using larger graphics.

Rykin wrote:
Vargen wrote:

My wife wants to be able to AirPlay content from her iPhone to the TV in the basement. Can anyone recommend an inexpensive streaming dongle that will do that? An actual Apple TV is overkill for what we need.

I've been able to Google up a few recommendation articles but I thought I'd see if anyone here has any personal experience with anything.

What TV do you have? Many TVs have apps or updates that will enable AirPlay (or similar Casting features). It tends to vary from model to model and brand to brand though.

This TV is old enough that the idea of a TV with apps was largely theoretical.

stupidhaiku wrote:

Anyone use an ultrawide that also uses it for Teams/Zoom/WebEx/Google Meet/etc. and presentations? How does the monitor handle things like presenter view, and the fact that it's broadcasting to people who are likely not on anything but 16:9 resolutions?

Share a window instead of the whole screen.

Also update your presentation software. Lots of them recently added a "present in a window" mode for use with videoconferencing software.