What are you getting for black friday?

[brucehoult]

Doubt you're much older than me. Half a dozen years, maybe. I think my neck is doing ok ... doesn't give me any trouble, and it copes fine with 3 or 4 Gs doing mild aeros.

[EEEnthusiast]

I'm getting a new digital cluster for my BMW E90 which has an analog one. Not that I don't like analog, but the digital one looks way cooler.

[Siwastaja]

At my age (well, at any age, IMHO) I find it easier and more comfortable to hit ctrl-alt-left/right than to turn my head,

Exactly, and it's not about age. I tried dual monitor setups for stuff like PCB design / datasheet glancing first in my 20's and the problem is exactly as you say.

Dual monitor is OK but it always seems like a better idea on paper than it ends up being.

If you truly only need to glance something a few times a day, then it does not matter even if the process is slower. So no advantage from 2nd monitor.
If you need to constantly cross-check between the two, which is what I do when I draw a PCB footprint or add schematic for a 100-pin IC, then the 2nd monitor is simply too far away; moving your head/eyes that much is distraction to work. You are always searching "oh on what line I was at...?"

There is a sweet spot with amount of space. Workspace needs to be compact but not cramped. 1920 pixels wide is not enough for PCB EDA + datasheet at the same time, but 2560 is. 3840 is already more than enough, and if an artificial gap is added in the middle from dual-monitor setup, then it's too much empty space: you are forced to look further. Of course it works, but it's not optimal. Just like ALT+TABing between the two windows works but isn't optimal.

So I ended up preferring single display and use of ALT+TAB (or whatever desktop switching you use) instead. I would not waste time with setting up e.g. dual-full-hd any more. Single 2560x1440 is really the sweet spot, but dual-full-hd would be more painful to use than alt-tabbing on a single full-hd, just in a different way.

[nctnico]

At my age (well, at any age, IMHO) I find it easier and more comfortable to hit ctrl-alt-left/right than to turn my head,

Exactly, and it's not about age. I tried dual monitor setups for stuff like PCB design / datasheet glancing first in my 20's and the problem is exactly as you say.

Dual monitor is OK but it always seems like a better idea on paper than it ends up being.

If you truly only need to glance something a few times a day, then it does not matter even if the process is slower. So no advantage from 2nd monitor.
If you need to constantly cross-check between the two, which is what I do when I draw a PCB footprint or add schematic for a 100-pin IC, then the 2nd monitor is simply too far away; moving your head/eyes that much is distraction to work. You are always searching "oh on what line I was at...?"

There is a sweet spot with amount of space. Workspace needs to be compact but not cramped. 1920 pixels wide is not enough for PCB EDA + datasheet at the same time, but 2560 is. 3840 is already more than enough, and if an artificial gap is added in the middle from dual-monitor setup, then it's too much empty space: you are forced to look further. Of course it works, but it's not optimal. Just like ALT+TABing between the two windows works but isn't optimal.

So I ended up preferring single display and use of ALT+TAB (or whatever desktop switching you use) instead. I would not waste time with setting up e.g. dual-full-hd any more. Single 2560x1440 is really the sweet spot, but dual-full-hd would be more painful to use than alt-tabbing on a single full-hd, just in a different way.

Dual monitor is great if the monitors have relatively low resolution like 1280x1024 on a 21" CRT. With bigger, modern day screens, the viewing area just gets too wide to be comfortable to have more than two monitors. Back in the old days you could buy videocards with 4 outputs (or even more). I think I still have a quad output Matrox video card somewhere.

[tom66]

Personally I quite like dual 4K monitors but have the scaling in Windows set at 125%.  Guess that's roughly equivalent to 3K so still 50% more usable screen real-estate than a 1080p monitor. Altium respects the Windows scaling settings, software from the stone ages like PADS does not.  So it depends on what you want to use.

[SiliconWizard]

Yes it's very much down to each individual preference. As I said, dual monitor works well for me too, but for a long time I also thought it was better to just use a single monitor and quickly change views with hotkeys and/or virtual desktops.
To me the latter is a distraction in the end and I find annoying quickly. I prefer having a "static" view on both screens. And unless you have very large monitors and/or you're sitting way too close to them, you actually don't need to move your head all that much to see one or the other.

[tszaboo]

The amazon enshittification has now reached the maximum level:

Dec 24, 2024 - Jan 27, 2025
Estimated delivery

This for all but one items from an order. And I have prime.
I'm going to send pictures of crying children under the Christmas tree to Bezos every day until it arrives.

[nctnico]

Amazon is Aliexpress 2.0 for many items. If you select 'next day delivery' 90% (or more) of the search results may dissapear.

[thm_w]

110-140ppi works OK here with Altium. Most stuff scales well unless its very old.

It has arrived and I installed it. It is friggin' huge! I'll probably spend the next few days tweaking the brightness, gamma and contrast... 

If you are like me this might be useful: https://twinkletray.com/
Dim the monitor at night so it doesn't blind you.

[coppice]

I bought a bigger monitor (a return deal). 24" Full HD is getting too cramped. So I ordered a 32" QHD (2560x1440) which should have the same pixel size. I did contemplate getting a 28" full HD screen with bigger pixels for improved readability but decided I'm in more dire need for more pixels.

It has arrived and I installed it. It is friggin' huge! I'll probably spend the next few days tweaking the brightness, gamma and contrast... 

I also notice that due to the width, the viewing angle along the left & right borders becomes an issue.

BTW, it is an LG 32GS75Q

Our son has a 32" 4k curved monitor. Curved TVs seem like a gimmick, but a curved 32" monitor really keeps the eye to screen distance a lot more even as you scan left to right, and is a genuine improvement.

[tszaboo]

Amazon is Aliexpress 2.0 for many items. If you select 'next day delivery' 90% (or more) of the search results may dissapear.

I buy my noname crap from China directly, not paying more for it on Amazon. It's not that.
Apparently they went on strike.
https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-workers-across-the-globe-are-on-strike-for-black-friday-174745422.html

[nctnico]

110-140ppi works OK here with Altium. Most stuff scales well unless its very old.

It has arrived and I installed it. It is friggin' huge! I'll probably spend the next few days tweaking the brightness, gamma and contrast... 

If you are like me this might be useful: https://twinkletray.com/
Dim the monitor at night so it doesn't blind you.

I never have my monitors set very bright to begin with.  Anyway, I'm on Linux and it has a night-time dimming function built-in already 

[Siwastaja]

I never have my monitors set very bright to begin with.

It is indeed more useful to know how is the minimum brightness offered by the monitor. Some are way way way too bright at minimum setting, forcing user to control the graphic card output LUTs to dim the RGB values instead leading to massive loss of contrast and ugly backlight bleeding through the black color.

I don't understand how this can be so hard to manufacturers to get right.

[Bud]

They go by the highest denominator, assuming you are on Bahamas sitting outside in the patio on a sunny day.

[brucehoult]

Dim the monitor at night so it doesn't blind you.

I never have my monitors set very bright to begin with.  Anyway, I'm on Linux and it has a night-time dimming function built-in already 

Quick check of my 32" 4k: Brightness 12%; Contrast 75%

When setting up a monitor I set it to 100% contrast, 0% brightness, then check how Google Maps looks and whether the two shades of green and two shades of brown are distinguishable and not all shown as white -- NSW or Victoria are good for this, or around Yosemite in Cali, and decrease the contrast and/or increase the brightness until that works.

[NiHaoMike]

When setting up a monitor I set it to 100% contrast, 0% brightness, then check how Google Maps looks and whether the two shades of green and two shades of brown are distinguishable and not all shown as white -- NSW or Victoria are good for this, or around Yosemite in Cali, and decrease the contrast and/or increase the brightness until that works.

Just use this for monitor calibration:
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

[brucehoult]

When setting up a monitor I set it to 100% contrast, 0% brightness, then check how Google Maps looks and whether the two shades of green and two shades of brown are distinguishable and not all shown as white -- NSW or Victoria are good for this, or around Yosemite in Cali, and decrease the contrast and/or increase the brightness until that works.

Just use this for monitor calibration:
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

That page confirms my Google Maps test (which is something that is actually relevant to normal use, and easy to remember and access) has got things spot-on.

[tom66]

Just bought a Denon AVR and a speaker kit to upgrade the living room sound system, to go nicely with the OLED hopefully.

I am currently using a 25 year old AVR which works OK, but unfortunately the TV doesn't support outputting the HDMI surround sound audio over the optical port, and I don't want to add a clunky extra conversion box to my setup.  So, new AVR it is.

[coppice]

Just bought a Denon AVR and a speaker kit to upgrade the living room sound system, to go nicely with the OLED hopefully.

Grab one of the last ones before Denon dies. I find it strange that there doesn't seem to be enough demand for stereo and AVR receivers to keep the last few makers alive, but they all seem to be on life support. I guess most people listen on headphones these days. Oddly, there still seem to be an unreasonably large number of speaker makers.

[tom66]

Just bought a Denon AVR and a speaker kit to upgrade the living room sound system, to go nicely with the OLED hopefully.

Grab one of the last ones before Denon dies. I find it strange that there doesn't seem to be enough demand for stereo and AVR receivers to keep the last few makers alive, but they all seem to be on life support. I guess most people listen on headphones these days. Oddly, there still seem to be an unreasonably large number of speaker makers.

That was half the thought.  At £379, it seems to be an almost unreasonable bargain for a 7 channel amplifier.  Whilst I didn't buy my Yamaha amplifier new, it had a retail price of over £1,500 (corrected for inflation), and it has substantially worse performance in most areas (namely, the complete lack of any digital input besides optical/SPDIF).

I think AVRs have been killed off by soundbars but I can't understand it myself.  I've used several soundbars in my time and they universally sound barely any better than the built-in speakers.  Heck, the built in speakers on my TV aren't too bad except for the lack of bass, which really is just because there isn't much space in a 2cm deep chassis I guess.  So I don't get why you would bother with a soundbar?  Each to their own, I suppose.

[nctnico]

Just bought a Denon AVR and a speaker kit to upgrade the living room sound system, to go nicely with the OLED hopefully.

Grab one of the last ones before Denon dies. I find it strange that there doesn't seem to be enough demand for stereo and AVR receivers to keep the last few makers alive, but they all seem to be on life support.

The younger generation doesn't care about the good old stereo sets. My own sons included. Though I didn't make them any wiser in that respect due to recalling my sister liked to play her music LOUD much to the annoyance of my father  Guess who build her speakers 

BTW, I bought an AV receiver and all the speakers 25+ years ago but never really cared for the surround sound. Plain stereo is good enough for me. So when the AV receiver died some years ago, I got a simple stereo amplifier instead. I still have an 18" active subwoofer disguised as a side table (improved WAF) but I have not turned that on in ages.

[coppice]

BTW, I bought an AV receiver and all the speakers 25+ years ago but never really cared for the surround sound. Plain stereo is good enough for me. So when the AV receiver died some years ago, I got a simple stereo amplifier instead.

Surround gets a bad name from it being used in a gimmicky way. I had a quadraphonic system in the early 70s. The material which used it properly, to get more of the kind of ambience of a concert hall, could be wonderful. Simply feeding stereo through a Hafler network, creates a lot of the ambient feel of a real hall, too. Stereo in a concert hall can work really well, as you are feeding the sound into a real ambient environment, and the natural reflections give the right feel. Well used, rear speakers can create a similar feel in a reasonable sized room at home. It doesn't work too well in a tiny room, though.

[shabaz]

I think AVRs have been killed off by soundbars ..

Sound bars have that massive convenience factor, since it's just a single unit, easy connection for consumers, and takes up no space pretty much (although, even a sound bar does sound a lot better with the bass unit, which can be concealed out of sight). But agree a home hi-fi with separate speakers will sound better.

TV sound has got worse over time, due to thinness of them I guess. My 2-year-old main TV (Sony) is unusable with it's native sound output, it's so bad.

I use a Yamaha YSP-2500 sound bar (with it's bass unit) with the main TV, but if I were to do it again, I'd buy a sound bar from the same manufacturer as the TV, because otherwise there's always some slight incompatibility or inconvenience.

For a smaller room, I have a TV with very few output types (not my choice; I didn't pick the TV). I already had a Bose Home Speaker 500 all-in-one "smart speaker" type of device for listening to music in that room, so I converted the TV optical output to analog (using a cheap box from Amazon that powers itself from one of the spare USB sockets on the TV) to plug into the Bose.

Major downside to the optical is that there's no volume control, so that needs to be done independently on the audio device.

Still, it finally got me acceptable sound for casual TV watching, but if I had had a choice, I would have just used a TV with sound bar with HDMI.

Some users just want convenience, and "ok" sound mostly, so the single devices (like sound bar, [albeit with a separate bass unit ideally!] or smart speaker) become attractive. But agree it is also a backward move, since quality isn't as good as the hi-fi separates.

[coppercone2]

integrated entertainment systems follow a 'flavor of the month' type thing

Like the old iphone have some special micro audio transformer in them, the new ones went digital but got a nicer screen.

If they actually kept up with all the features and quality, it would be extremely unaffordable.

The only technology that is shrinking and getting capability at the 'desired' rate by the public is the processor.

They design the product by doing a.. consumer trial interview test thing, and ask people like

"rate how much you value x by 1-10". Then they get a 'spec' for the year. Is the word audio less trending? Lets focus on "top 3 trending technology terms" .

How about, AI, CRM-CX, cloud computing

[tom66]

What surprised me is how little I go to the cinema now I have a decent home system.  I thought I'd enjoy it but the idea of driving to the cinema, paying over the odds for popcorn and tickets, not being able to go to the bathroom when I want and listening to others talk (and not being able to chat to my partner) and the sticky floors and spilled drinks everywhere... eww