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Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

blog.smartere.dk

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Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#221

Post by dylan604 »

rubslopes wrote: post #170
tantalor wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My biggest gripe is how terribly slow it is to navigate UI on a TV. The latency between user input and the UI responding can be upwards of 10-20 seconds. Just incredibly user hostile.

People are replying that OP must own an old TV, but that's missing the point: with very old non-smart TVs, menu commands were always instantaneous!

This was my experience with the switch from analog cable boxes to digital boxes. The whole experience became sluggish as channel changes were forced to wait for I-frames which depended on the GOP size.

Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#222

Post by bryceacc »

herodoturtle wrote: post #216

Cool idea! Is the terminology correct though? Looking at the showcased disks, in my youth we called these “stiffy disks” - owing to their stiff plastic casing. We also had “floppy disks” - but these were larger (in size, albeit with less storage capacity) and floppier (the plastic case would bend easily). I treasured my burgundy Dysan stiffy disk boxes!

as a 31 year old, I only just last year learned that what I have thought were floppy disks and everyone calls a floppy disk are indeed a stiffy...

Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#223

Post by j45 »

Physical media and/or interactions are a great way to help kids understand storage as a physical media and putting into and out of things.

One thing I notice with kids is they think everything is already in a device, which is not true at all, same for the internet always being available.

I see DVDs etc coming back into popularity for kids now too, because they can control and make it play, instead of fighting a youtube algorithm that is obesses with getting them to play the next video. Streaming platforms are the same and they will be leaving my life if I can't manage how they are to be used.

That combined with Youtube not allowing me to add youtube kids videos to a playlist however I wish (premium account or not) has me looking elsewhere.

Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#224

Post by lobf »

herodoturtle wrote: post #216

Cool idea! Is the terminology correct though? Looking at the showcased disks, in my youth we called these “stiffy disks” - owing to their stiff plastic casing. We also had “floppy disks” - but these were larger (in size, albeit with less storage capacity) and floppier (the plastic case would bend easily). I treasured my burgundy Dysan stiffy disk boxes!

At least in the US, the "floppy" terminology carried over when the disks went from the actual floppy 5.5" disks to the hard-case 3.5" disks.

Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#225

Post by krupan »

herodoturtle wrote: post #216

Cool idea! Is the terminology correct though? Looking at the showcased disks, in my youth we called these “stiffy disks” - owing to their stiff plastic casing. We also had “floppy disks” - but these were larger (in size, albeit with less storage capacity) and floppier (the plastic case would bend easily). I treasured my burgundy Dysan stiffy disk boxes!

I have never heard that term (for disks). Are you possibly from the UK or Australia?

Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#226

Post by bartread »

hamdingers wrote: post #205
bartread wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t run into this because I never allow the TV to connect to the internet. I basically use it as a dumb screen with a set of speakers and a bunch of devices connected to it: Apple TV, consoles, etc. As such, when I do use the TV remote - if I need to manually change sources, adjust picture settings, or whatever - the TV’s UI remains responsive. I have heard that some brands of TV will try to stealth connect to op…

This is always the top reply and it's not particularly useful. I want the ease and convenience of having a single device both play and display content, there's no reason that should be so hard. Of course I know I could Buy More Things but that sucks as a suggestion. This is how most people use their TVs these days (despite the issues with it). It's reasonable and fair to ask for a better experience.

Well, you say it's not particularly useful, but do you want a TV that runs like a bag of spanners or not?

Because if the answer is "not" then complaining about how your TV performs whilst stubbornly allowing it to download whatever updates it likes and stubbornly refusing to buy one additional device (like an Apple TV or a Firestick) to plug into it is kind of dumb, don't you think? Ornery even?

I agree that it is reasonable and fair to ask for a better experience but TV manufacturers have already made it abundantly clear, over the last decade and a half of smart TVs, that they don't give a damn what people like you and I think about how our TVs work, or that we get pissed off when they slow them down with bloatware and ads.

So the logical choice is to Not. Bloody. Let Them.

Literally, buy one other device - whatever suits your needs best (and they're all compact little things, not like the big ugly set top boxes of years gone by) - and your TV experience will immediately be significantly better.

Once you've set it up you won't even need two remotes: your Apple TV, or whatever, will turn the TV on and off for you, and control the volume, so you'll only need the remote for your it (or whatever device you've chosen).

The only time you'd need a second remote is if you have a cable or satellite box, or you're the kind of person who also has 7 games consoles of varying vintages and a bluray player plugged into your TV as well (which it doesn't sound like you have). We only watch on demand services so, if I weren't a fan of retrogames, we could get away with just the Apple TV and one remote. (The Bluray player barely sees any use, but I keep it around because we do still have some Blurays and DVDs for stuff that we really like and don't want to be beholden to streaming services for.)

(I should say, another alternative is to set up something like Pihole to filter the ads out, but that still doesn't help with crappy updates that slow your TV down. And if you use apps on your TV and don't keep them up to date, eventually they'll stop working, which isn't ideal either. Hence, again, back to the idea of a device to "drive" the TV, which runs the apps you want.)

Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#227

Post by Reason077 »

llimllib wrote: post #142
al_borland wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m using an AppleTV HD with Peacock and it’s pretty bad. I wouldn’t consider NBC a niche service. After an episode ends, I need to wait for the new one to start to be sure it marks the last one as watched. When going back to the main screen, it can take upwards of 30 seconds, maybe more (it feels like an eternity), for the “watch next” to update. If I don’t wait for it to update, it will start playing an old episode…

Yes I think the device itself is fine, but the Apple TV apps are mostly terrible and often very laggy/poorly written. The way developers use the UI toolkit that the Apple TV provides also seems to tend towards apps where it's very difficult to figure out what's the active selection, which is of course _the_ critical challenge.

The issue here is that the app developers design & test for the latest Apple TV 4K models, which have about 10X the performance (and 2-4X the RAM) compared to the old HD models.

Apple left a large generational gap because they kept selling the HD for many years (until 2022) as an entry-level device alongside much more capable 4K models.

> ”it's very difficult to figure out what's the active selection”

Yes, based on my observation this seems to be one of the biggest challenges people face with the AppleTV interface, along with accidentally changing the selection when they try to select it (because of the sensitive touch controls on the remote).

Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#228

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 »

1vuio0pswjnm7 wrote: post #59

I found an unopened pack of 3.5" floppies the other day They must be _over_ 20 years old

I am estimating when this particular package of disks was purchased based on additional information I am not sharing, not how long floppy disks in general have remained available for purchase

Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#229

Post by herodoturtle »

krupan wrote: post #225
herodoturtle wrote: post #216

Cool idea! Is the terminology correct though? Looking at the showcased disks, in my youth we called these “stiffy disks” - owing to their stiff plastic casing. We also had “floppy disks” - but these were larger (in size, albeit with less storage capacity) and floppier (the plastic case would bend easily). I treasured my burgundy Dysan stiffy disk boxes!

I have never heard that term (for disks). Are you possibly from the UK or Australia?

> I have never heard that term

Are you also from the US like the other commenter on this sub-thread?

Re: Floppy disks turn out to be the greatest TV remote for kids

#230

Post by herodoturtle »

bryceacc wrote: post #222
herodoturtle wrote: post #216

Cool idea! Is the terminology correct though? Looking at the showcased disks, in my youth we called these “stiffy disks” - owing to their stiff plastic casing. We also had “floppy disks” - but these were larger (in size, albeit with less storage capacity) and floppier (the plastic case would bend easily). I treasured my burgundy Dysan stiffy disk boxes!

as a 31 year old, I only just last year learned that what I have thought were floppy disks and everyone calls a floppy disk are indeed a stiffy...

i feel like you're onto something here...

a marketing campaign for middle-aged men perhaps

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