Laptop's uptime.

 Just noticed that I haven't rebooted my laptop in a while.  A while as in 150 days.

Vinyl Pickup: Pearl Jam - Riot Act 2002 and Backspacer 2009

Well, I'm on a roll here.  Got my hands on 2 more Pearl Jam albums.  Riot Act from 2002 and Backspacer from 2009.  Good albums but you have to be in the mood to listen to it.  Artwork is good as usual.  Riot Act is on 2 LP's triple gatefold while Backspacer is on a double gatefold.  I prefer double gatefolds over triple gatefolds as its easier to take the vinyl out with less fumbling with the sleeve.   Riot Act is on 120g vinyl which is surprising to me because their previous album Binaural is on 180g.  Backspacer is on heavy 180g vinyl but on just one LP.   As usual, the album includes a booklet with the liner notes.  3 more albums to go! 

   

• Ten
• Vs
• Vitalogy
• No Code
• Yield
• Binaural
• Riot Act
• Pearl Jam
• Backspacer
• Lightning Bolt
• Gigaton

Vinyl Pickup: Pearl Jam - Binaural 2000

 

My quest continues with 2000's Binaural.  This didn't come cheap.  I had to sell off one of my expensive Sega Saturn game to get this one.   This is a brand spanking new copy.  I love the packaging of this album.  I like the matte finish of this album cover over some of the other shiny ones.  This is a two record LP in a triple gatefold.  It's got a booklet with the liner notes inside.  It is a very good album and one that I can listen to from beginning to end.  I'm past the half way mark with 6 out of 11 original pressings of all Pearl Jam studio albums in my grasp.  I am currently trying to decide if I should sell off some more of my retro video games to get the remaining 5 albums.

• Ten
• Vs
• Vitalogy
• No Code
• Yield
• Binaural
• Riot Act
• Pearl Jam
• Backspacer
• Lightning Bolt
• Gigaton

Review: TACKLife Paint Sprayer

If you've painted a wall before with a roller and a brush its not an easy task.  With having just replaced my back fence, I decide to purchase a paint sprayer to see if I can stain the fence more easily than rolling or brushing.  The one I got is a Tacklife SGP15AC.  I've used another Tacklife product before in their tire compressor and was very happy with the results so I decided to give their paint sprayer a try.  This sprayer retails for about $75.  It comes with 3 nozzles to match the thickness of your paint.  It has 3 spray pattern as well with vertical, horizontal and a direct focus spray.  It also comes with the cleaning needle and brush as well as detailed color instructions on troubleshooting the device if its not working properly.  The weight of it is not that heavy at around 2lbs.  But that's without paint in it and not constantly holding it as I will be spraying my fence.  It's rated at 400watts and 800ml/min flow rate.

The project I have is staining a 60ft fence, front and back.  It took about 15mins to spray one side.  Not bad at all.  Overall, I'm happy with this product and would recommend it to anyone.

          

Summary Specs:

https://tacklifetools.com/products/paint-sprayer-3-spraying-patterns-with-3-nozzles-sgp15ac

Vinyl pickup: Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt 2013

In continuing my quest to get all the Pearl Jam's official studio album on vinyl (original pressing), I get to cross Lightning Bolt off the list today.  This one doesn't have a repress/reissue as of today so its still the original pressing and its still quite easy to find new from online stores.  I wanted to jump on this one since its easily attainable.  Pearl Jam has always put some great thoughts on their album packaging.  And as far as Lightning Bolt is concern, it holds true as well.  It is not however, my favorite album packaging/artwork design out of all Pearl Jam albums (No Code is my favorite), but it won a Grammy for its artwork.  Now, for the downer.  The album arrived 3 weeks after I ordered it.  3 weeks!  Not sure what happened there but it was a third party seller from Walmart.  But the length of time it took to arrive wasn't the biggest issue.  The biggest issue was that it came damaged.  Three of the four corners were bent.  One of them is severely bent.  Seems like it was dropped and stepped on.  I can only attribute it to USPS incompetence.  The record itself was fine but I'm just annoyed about the sleeve.  I decided to keep it instead of returning it as it took 3 weeks to arrive.

                     

                    

Nevertheless, the album sounds amazing.  Loved the songs on it.   I don't think Pearl Jam has made a bad album yet.

• Ten
• Vs
• Vitalogy
• No Code
• Yield
• Binaural
• Riot Act
• Pearl Jam
• Backspacer
• Lightning Bolt
• Gigaton

Review: Composite/S-Video to VGA converter.

If you're into retro video gaming, you probably know that these games look better on a CRT screen vs your modern LCD TV screen.  That's because all retro games render their images using 2D sprites.  Modern LCD TV display everything in pixels and displaying 2D sprites in pixels simply makes it look like a mess.  I was looking for a good CRT TV but wasn't able to find one.  I do have an old PC CRT that I have lying around.  So I thought what would it take to display my SNES video to that CRT?  

PC CRT's are different from regular TV CRT's in being that they have much higher resolution and their input is via either VGA or DVI.   The CRT I have is a 17" SONY 200ES.  I remember picking this up at CompUSA for $400 when it was new.  It was a higher end model at that time when the standard was a 15" screen.  It has a top resolution of 1280 x 1024 and a low resolution of 640 x 480.  Even at 640 x 480, its resolution much higher than what the SNES puts out which is about 256×224.  Other consoles like the Dreamcast might be easier as it has native VGA adapter.  That's obstacle number one.  The second obstacle is how to plug it into the CRT's VGA port to a Composite/S-Video connector that my SNES had.  The solution I found is this little Video to VGA converter box I purchased on EBay for $15. 

Composite video to VGA adapter

Without knowing how the box internally works, I'm assuming it converts or upscales Composite/S-Video signal to VGA.  The end result is that it works great for me. The VGA port is a 15pin D-Sub connector with a Red, Green and Blue signal coming out of its individual pins.  Whether this little device separates the Composite/S-Video signal to its individual colors to VGA, I'm not sure.  But probably not.  That's all thats need to make it display on the CRT.  Another down side to using this method of connecting a PC CRT monitor over a regular TV CRT is that most if not all of them don't have built in speakers.  You will need an individual external speakers if you want sound.  Overall, I'm happy with the result and I didn't have to of scour for an old TV CRT from a yard sale or flea market.

Sony 200ES display SNES video

Review: Audio-Technica AT-LPW30TK

Audio-Technica AT-LPW30TK

Got my hands on the Audio-Technica AT-LPW30TK turntable today.  It's a basic fully manual turntable with the standard functions any turntable would have.  I like the wood grain finish that gives it a more traditional vintage look.  This is to replace the TEAC TN-280BT that came DOA as I didn't feel good taking another try at it.  I got this for $249 which i believe is the MSRP.  It had free shipping and no tax so I saved a bit there.  The unit work perfectly out of the box.  Setting it up was easy.  If you've set up a turntable before, you should have no issues.  One thing I liked was the adjustable feet of the turntable.  The desk I placed the turntable on was a tad uneven so adjusting the feet to level it out was perfect.  Other than that, there isn't much to say about this bad boy.  It looks great in my living room.

 


Audio-Technica AT-LPW30TK Features

• Fully manual, belt-drive at 33/45 RPM
• Adjustable dynamic anti-skate control
• AT-VM95C Dual Moving Magnet phono cartridge compatible with any VM95 Series replacement stylus.
• Straight tonearm with hydraulically damped lift control and lockable rest
• Anti-resonance MDF (medium density fiberboard) plinth with teak simulated wood veneer
• Built-in switchable phono pre-amplifier for phono or line-level output
• Includes dual RCA (male) to dual RCA (male) stereo cable, 45 RPM adapter, rubber mat and removable hinged dust cover
• Adjustable feet for uneven surfaces.

Review: TACKLife Air Compressor.

So I've been dealing with tire pressure issue on my car the past year.  Took it to 3 different places to check for leaks and they found none.  I can tell there's a leak somewhere as I lose 10 psi every couple of weeks.  Maybe the leak doesn't happen all the time and only under certain conditions that it does not experience at the auto dealer service center.  The tire is still good with a lot of treads so I don't want to replace it.  So instead of making trips to the gas station and paying $1.50 each time to use their air compressor machine, I opted to buy an air compressor.  The one I got is the TackLife ACP1B tire inflator.  It's got pretty good reviews on Amazon so I though I'd give it a try.  It takes power from the car's 12v cigarette light adapter.  Operating the device is pretty simple.  You just plug it into your tire valve, then the TackLife into the cigarette light adapter and then start your car.  It will then display the current PSI your tire has.  use the + and - button to the desired PSI and hit the power button.  Once the device inflates to the PSI you set to, it will shut off automatically.  The tire on my car was down to 17psi.  To get the TackLife to inflate it to 35PSI, it took around 2.5 minutes.  Not bad.  The unit didn't get hot at all except for the air cable which felt a bit warm to the touch.

          

Pros:

• Small and lightweight.  Good for taking with you on long road trips.
• Comes with carrying case.
• Uses your car's 12v cigarette light socket as power.
• Has a spotlight feature on the side.
• Can inflate up to 150 PSI
• LCD display unit.
• Comes with a backup fuse.
• Fast to inflate.

Cons:

• A bit noisy during operation.

Nintendo Switch Lite!

Nintendo Switch Lite - Pink

Just got my hands on a Nintendo Switch Lite.  It's the pink version.  My first impressions is that its considerably lighter than the original, so I guess the name Switch Lite is apropos.  If you have small hands, it will feel good holding it for an extended period of time.  One thing I wish Nintendo would have done is made the sides rounded much like the PS Vita.  The traditional square'ish sides like all previous Nintendo handhelds makes holding it more difficult and uncomfortable for some.  After playing it for a while, I do notice the battery life is longer than the original and that's one of the selling points of the Lite.  Plus your hand doesn't get tired holding the device since the weight is reduced over the original.

Nintendo Switch Lite - Pink (bottom view)

The Lite comes with the console itself and the charging cable.  That's all.  In terms of the construction, its very solidly built much like the original.  I do like the fact they have the D-pad instead of the four buttons on the left side.  All the other buttons remains the same over the original.  A lot of people complained about the original not having a D-pad but I get it.  It's made so that you can just the joycon for a second controller.  So if you turn each joycons to the side, you would have an identical button and analog stick layout.  But since the Lite doesn't have detachable joycons, there's no problem to put the traditional D-pad on there.  Overall, its a nice handheld to have if you want portability/battery life over screen size/joycons.  That's what it comes down to.

Nintendo Switch Lite - Pink (rear view)

Nintendo Switch Lite - Pink ( top view)

Nintendo Switch Lite vs Original

Pro's

• Lighter, smaller size.
• Easier portability
• Cheaper price at MSRP of $199.
• Longer battery life.
• D-pad controller.

Con's

• Cannot play on TV due to lack of a dock.
• No detachable joycons.
• Smaller screen
• Will need to buy seperate joycons and charger for games that require joycons.

Review: TEAC TN-280BT turntable

The TEAC TN-280BT is a low/mid tier level turntable.  They are known for their audio equipment around the world.  For me, I was introduced to the TEAC brand back in the 90's with their 3.5" floppy drives.  As far as floppy drives goes back then, it was TEAC first, then all other brands.  The TN-280BT retails for $350 upon release but newer models have came out and the price has come down since its been discontinued.  I was able to find a good deal and got this one on a closeout price at $179.  The build quality of this is much better than the newly released turntables that cost $99 with the same features thus the higher cost.

TEAC TN-280BT Box

Purchase here

The TN-280BT is an all manual belt driven turntable.  It also has built in Bluetooth so that you can stream the audio to your headphones wirelessly.  I probably wouldn't use it because bluetooth audio sucks. It's also got a phono pre-amp so you don't have to buy a seperate pre-amp if you have a newer AV receiver that doesn't have the phono connection.  The dark walnut color is good but I would have preferred a lighter wood grain.  There is also a black version as well for the contemporary look.  It's sturdy weight at 10lbs gives the sense of high quality and stability when your record is playing.


Unfortunately, after unpacking the device and plugging it in, this device failed to spin.  I can see the motor pulley try to spin as I can see it twitch every 4-5 seconds but no dice.  I will have to return this unit.  Bummer.  I would have been nice to see this player in action.

TEAC TN-280BT Unpacked

TEAC TN-280BT Contents

Pros:

• Cost.  As of now, you can get it at the closeout price of $179.
• Sturdy weight.
• Built-in phono pre-amp.
• 33.3 and 45 rpm.
• Cue lever
• Anti-skate control

Cons:

• Wow and flutter is advertised at 0.20%.  Others at this prices has it under .20%.
• Power cable and audio cable supplies are a bit short.