Hello again: New and Past Friends and Foes too!

[merc]

Found this forum while looking for some info on making a highlight reel(so to speak) off of my son's football DVDs(video direct to DVD from my camera), and upon looking around I see lots of folks from the olden days.

During those olden days, my occasionally over the top but irritatingly constant rants over the DMCA and my opposition to what I saw as a privacy intrusion and more, by the wealthy studios, earned me many enemies and fewer new friends. Eventually, those rants against the studios and their online paid employee lobbiests earned me multiple bannings from HTF, HTT and other postgenitors of those forums. Several times, folks like Mike Knapp warned me that although my cause had merit, it was not worth the time effort and passion which I devoted to it. He said that in the grand scheme of things, it was just not that important.

He was right.

Now, we have gone through hard times and my HT has not changed for the better since 2006 or so. I could care less about Blueray or copy protection or even the growth of PPV. There are many, many more important things in life.

So, I say once hello once again to my old friends from those other forums, and hello anew to old friends turned enemies during those past contensious days. I am sorry for any stress or consternation I caused you during my days of rebellion.

As for future new friends, I have been into HDTV since around 2001, HTPC since 2003 or whenever PC HDTV OTA tuners became avalable, upconverting players of all sorts forever, and a music lover with appropriate system since the early 1980s.

So.... what's new with you all?

[Ted White]

Welcome!

[Mike P.]

Welcome to the Shack! Glad to have you with us!

[recruit]

Hello and welcome to the Shack

[tonyvdb]

Welcome aboard Merc, Enjoy your stay with us.

[Jungle Jack]

Hello,
Welcome to HomeTheaterShack. Glad that you are here.
Cheers,
JJ

[dradius]

Nice post. You'll find lots of crazy people on this site, so no worries
Is there any particular HTPC OTA HD tuner you recommend?

[merc]

Dradius,

Like I mentioned, all my gear is now old... but, I currently have two HDTV OTA tuners still in use.

The basic one is the Samsung SIR-T165 and I also have a cable card HD-DVR with onboard HDTV OTA tuner, the Sony DHG-HDD500. Both still work very well as HDTV tuners with my attic mounted huge antenna and a location on the other side of Houston, approx 45 miles away from the TV towers.

Previous to those two I had a Samsung T150 and was using a HTPC with an onboard MYHD card.

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Welcome Merc! Wow, I didn't know you lived in Houston. Have you ever been to any of the local HT meets?

So, I say once hello once again to my old friends from those other forums, and hello anew to old friends turned enemies during those past contensious days. I am sorry for any stress or consternation I caused you during my days of rebellion.

Yeah, personally I try not to get too worked up about things I can't have any control over, no matter how "unjust" they might be. In the end there are more important things anyway - friends, family, etc.

Like I mentioned, all my gear is now old... but, I currently have two HDTV OTA tuners still in use.

You think your gear is old? I just replaced the receiver I've been using for the past 10-11 years, which was first-generation Dolby Digital, S-video only. And just a month or so ago we got our first flat-screen TV. I think it was last year that I replaced my first DVD player, which was a second-generation Yamaha, with a used one that's still a few years old. Top that! (Not that you'd want to... )

Regards,
Wayne

[Prof.]

Hi Merc and welcome..