Inferior technologies that just work better than the new stuff

[Lilani]

I've got a fancy HD computer screen, but I have yet to get a new TV, so I've got a big fat, 27 inch, 4:3 standard definition projection TV that can't do digital without a box and has only mono sound output. When working on design projects I like to have movies playing in the background, and usually I have this running in a portion of my second monitor. Problem is...I only have one monitor at the moment. One screen isn't big enough for all this, so I've been watching DVDs on my TV, playing from my PS2.

And I've noticed my TV gives much more saturated color than my computer monitors ever did. I'm sure it's oversaturating anything, I'm watching Frozen right now and sometimes the contrast between their pinkish, orangish, firelit skin and the blueish moonlit snow nearly hurts the eyes. But it's still really, really cool[footnote]Like yeah, cool cause it's "Frozen," har har. But seriously, cool.[/footnote]. And the true RGB color processing on the screen makes all the whites just seem more alive and vibrant.

I'm afraid now whenever I do get a second monitor, I'll be tempted to jack up the gamma and contrast to try and replicate the effect. I'm completely fine with eye-stinging colors and high contrast, and being used to dealing with carefully color balanced screens and broadcast safe colors at work, I haven't seen this kind of insane saturation in a while. I can't even recall seeing this kind of color in the theater.

So, are there any inferior technologies you cling to because they deliver an experience new things just can't replicate? Perhaps you still buy your music albums in vinyl, or shoot photographs in film?

Captcha: My friends can't dance. Well I would hope not Captcha, I imagine your friends are mostly computers. That would be a bit strange.

 

[Eddie the head]

Every other windows OS. Also a lot of newer generators have a tendency to brake because they use more plastic and aluminum parts rather then Iron and the like. But I guess I can hardly complain about that one.

 

[Vault101]

this isn't wuite the same thing...but reading off a scren is seriously inferior to print, not to mention you would NOT want to read on your ipad before going to sleep

all that said I'm probably cheating here because I have e-reader and e-ink is almost indestinguishable from print...but the same principle applies

 

[Foolery]

playing from my PS2.

I just use the PCSX2 emulator these days. No real need for the physical console anymore. Same thing with my Gamecube. I can just run backups on Dolphin.

And I've noticed my TV gives much more saturated color than my computer monitors ever did. I'm sure it's oversaturating anything, I'm watching Frozen right now and sometimes the contrast between their pinkish, orangish, firelit skin and the blueish moonlit snow nearly hurts the eyes. But it's still really, really cool. And the true RGB color processing on the screen makes all the whites just seem more alive and vibrant.

I'm afraid now whenever I do get a second monitor, I'll be tempted to jack up the gamma and contrast to try and replicate the effect.

If you're after vibrant colours, you should get an IPS monitor. That's what I have. Better than any TV I've owned.
Asus MX239H, is really decent. Also comes in a 27 inch. And the screen has a matte finish, so you don't have to put up with any glare.

Jeez, I'm really missing the point of the thread. Hmm, let's see. My Sony Walkman is pretty rad. It's a digital one, but still older and pretty much indestructible. Oh and I have an awesome handheld voice recorder for dictating notes. It takes cassettes.

 

[Frezzato]

I enjoy using good old fashioned wood pencils. I have several drawing sets (Derwent and the like) but I also have a ton of regular pencils that I love using. One came in handy not that long ago because a remote control died on me. I couldn't find replacements and the universal remotes I have didn't work. So I found a video on YouTube made by this crazy Russian who showed how to fix a remote using nothing but some glue, a knife, and a pencil.

Old school, wins every time.

 

[shootthebandit]

Cars. Im not a fan of all this technology we have in cars. Cruise control, parking assist etc. Its all needlessly complicated. Just give me an engine, a manual gearbox and 4 wheels and ill be happy. Anything that takes the feel out of driving for the sake of ease or to assist the driver is a step back. Yes your car may be take a lot less effort to drive with your radar cruise control and automatic gearbox but there is no feel. There is no joy in driving it. Its just a carbon copy of the next generic car

 

[Olas]

This is a stapler:

It's simple, easy to use, and works fine.


This is an electric stapler:

It's confusing to use, breaks easily, holds fewer staples, jams a lot, requires electricity and also happens to look ugly as fuck.

 

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Most home appliances.

Seriously. Old school appliances were built to freakin' last. Take care of them, and they'll probably outlast any of us. I have a toaster oven that's going on 35 years old (for reference I'm 26). Damn thing works flawlessly, and cooks very evenly and consistently. Never once had a problem with it.

Meanwhile newer appliances with all of their fancy electronic bullshit tend to have so many bells and whistles that it's just more stuff to break. Buy a new appliance, and you may have to replace it in a couple years. Hell, the companies that manufactured the appliances probably want you to replace them every couple years. Everything seems to have planned obsolescence these days.

EDIT

Captcha: My friends can't dance. Well I would hope not Captcha, I imagine your friends are mostly computers. That would be a bit strange.

But we can dance if you want to.
We can leave Captcha's friends behind.
'Cause if Captcha's friends don't dance,
And if they don't dance,
Well they're no friends of mine!

 

[Elvis Starburst]

This is a stapler:

It's simple, easy to use, and works fine.


This is an electric stapler:

It's confusing to use, breaks easily, holds fewer staples, jams a lot, requires electricity and also happens to look ugly as fuck.

Jesus, that's a thing? How stupid is that? It's not like a stapler was hard to use...

OT: Um... That ^ I think that sums up anything better than I could think of

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I don't know if it qualifies as inferior, but 2D movies > 3D movies every day of my life.

 

[Squilookle]

I've got a fancy HD computer screen, but I have yet to get a new TV, so I've got a big fat, 27 inch, 4:3 standard definition projection TV that can't do digital without a box and has only mono sound output. When working on design projects I like to have movies playing in the background, and usually I have this running in a portion of my second monitor. Problem is...I only have one monitor at the moment. One screen isn't big enough for all this, so I've been watching DVDs on my TV, playing from my PS2.

And I've noticed my TV gives much more saturated color than my computer monitors ever did. I'm sure it's oversaturating anything, I'm watching Frozen right now and sometimes the contrast between their pinkish, orangish, firelit skin and the blueish moonlit snow nearly hurts the eyes. But it's still really, really cool. And the true RGB color processing on the screen makes all the whites just seem more alive and vibrant.

I'm afraid now whenever I do get a second monitor, I'll be tempted to jack up the gamma and contrast to try and replicate the effect. I'm completely fine with eye-stinging colors and high contrast, and being used to dealing with carefully color balanced screens and broadcast safe colors at work, I haven't seen this kind of insane saturation in a while. I can't even recall seeing this kind of color in the theater.

So, are there any inferior technologies you cling to because they deliver an experience new things just can't replicate? Perhaps you still buy your music albums in vinyl, or shoot photographs in film?

Captcha: My friends can't dance. Well I would hope not Captcha, I imagine your friends are mostly computers. That would be a bit strange.

It's possible you're viewing your HD monitor at a bad angle. try tilting it down a bit or having your eye level a little higher and see if that changes the vibrancy of the colours. Might not do anything, but it could be worth a try.

For me, it's clearly the Nintendo 64 over modern consoles (Yep! I went there!) I wouldn't be surprised if the ol' cartridge based console is still working after the Bluray format gets retired... now everyone feel free to one-up me with the SNES or whatever...

In all seriousness though- Manual Cars. More control, and exactly the amount of torque and power I need whenever I need it. Literally the only time it's better to have an automatic is in very slow start-stop traffic. At all other times, a manual is better.

 

[shootthebandit]

In all seriousness though- Manual Cars. More control, and exactly the amount of torque and power I need whenever I need it. Literally the only time it's better to have an automatic is in very slow start-stop traffic. At all other times, a manual is better.

Thankfully in the UK autos are extremely uncommon and 90% of cars have a proper manual gearbox that isnt needlessly complicated. I tried driving an auto and it confused the hell out of me. If youve only driven a manual then autos are really weird. You have no sense of control. I was in an auto with a friend driving and he stomped on the brake with his left foot thinking it was the clutch

I think in america the reverse is true and americans see a 3rd pedal and a gearstick and panic. Ive heard the joke about a manual being an anti theft device in america

 

[Fat Hippo]

In all seriousness though- Manual Cars. More control, and exactly the amount of torque and power I need whenever I need it. Literally the only time it's better to have an automatic is in very slow start-stop traffic. At all other times, a manual is better.

Thankfully in the UK autos are extremely uncommon and 90% of cars have a proper manual gearbox that isnt needlessly complicated. I tried driving an auto and it confused the hell out of me. If youve only driven a manual then autos are really weird. You have no sense of control. I was in an auto with a friend driving and he stomped on the brake with his left foot thinking it was the clutch

I think in america the reverse is true and americans see a 3rd pedal and a gearstick and panic. Ive heard the joke about a manual being an anti theft device in america

I've driven a bunch of both automatics and manuals, and honestly, I prefer automatics. But then, I'm a lazy bastard who doesn't give a shit about cars and views them purely as tools to get him where he wants to be. If you enjoy driving, I can totally see preferring a manual, but if you view it more as a necessary chore the way I do, an automatic is the way to go.

 

[Frission]

Old vacuums and fridges are far more durable than their newer counterparts and I blame planned obsolescence.

 

[yamy]

Gas cookers vs Electric/Conductive cookers. I get that the conductive ones can be safer but there's something reassuring about heating something with fire.

Plus I still find it easier to control the temperature and how fast things are cooking.

Plus you can't use a traditional wok on an electrical stove and I do ALOT of stir-fry.

Same with heaters. It's so much nicer to have a fireplace with a real fire.

 

[gunny1993]

In my experience if you pay top dollar for anything nowadays, it's going to wipe the floor with whatever it superseded. Problems come up when you go to the mid range stuff, that's where cheap manufacturing comes in and bites you on the ass.

Oh but you simply can't beat a carbon steel wok

 

[gunny1993]

This is a stapler:


This is an electric stapler:

It's confusing to use, breaks easily, holds fewer staples, jams a lot, requires electricity and also happens to look ugly as fuck.

Yeah, try stapling umpteen million pieces of paper together in a short period of time and you'll understand why people use electric ones.

Ofc you have to spend loads of money and be using it a hell of a lot for it to be worth it.

 

[Nazulu]

Well for some reason my classic iPod (which I think I've had for 6 years now) is still working perfectly. While my friends bought the same one a couple years ago and is already falling apart on them.

Also, we have a fridge that's been running for almost 30 years now.

 

[lechat]

Spoiler

This is a stapler:

It's simple, easy to use, and works fine.


This is an electric stapler:

It's confusing to use, breaks easily, holds fewer staples, jams a lot, requires electricity and also happens to look ugly as fuck.

Jesus, that's a thing? How stupid is that? It's not like a stapler was hard to use...

OT: Um... That ^ I think that sums up anything better than I could think of

you want to try one with carppel tunnel.
seriously a stapler is like a mini jack hammer when you have a bad wrist or nerve damage.