Stay out of my threads, @mediocrebot. Stop being such a busybody.

@ruouttaurmind is there a discount code you put in to get 75% off or is it already built in? I put stuff in my cart but it’s not giving me the extra 25% off either.

Edit: nevermind. Apparently you have to go all the way through for it to show the discount.

@ruouttaurmind The free shipping was easy. Just buy 14 2-pack sets and the total was $50 and change. I figure I will give 2 away for xmas and the rest can go on ebay. It was less than $4 a set

@mediocrebot @ruouttaurmind I clicked on a bunch of stuff and ran through checkout to make sure it didn’t sell out. I paid $27 for some stuff. I’ll see what it is when it gets here. I’m pretty sure some of those wood kits were in there.

@ruouttaurmind @sammydog01

I spent over an hour looking through stuff and got my free shipping. Thanks!

So much space stuff.

@RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind Drop a photo when your stuff gets here? Especially the space stuff.

@RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind And now I need to walk away. WALK AWAY, DAMMIT! Good thing I already committed my shipping dollars.

@ruouttaurmind @sammydog01 haha, I couldn’t. I mean, hoodies for $6? Alien acid drip coasters for $1.50? Silver planet necklace for $5?

@ruouttaurmind Thanks. I bought a bunch of junk because, hey it’s only $2, and then like 2 things I actually wanted.

@RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind I didn’t walk away. Hey, they had 3-doodler stuff! I’m sad that a building kit sold out while in my cart. I didn’t see it the first time. I had to keep going back and adding stuff because I though I had free shipping and they kept adding discounts. Now I have necklaces for the whole family.

@ruouttaurmind All of the UGears stuff I grabbed went out of stock before I checked out. I guess that saved me some money. I still spent $90.

@ruouttaurmind I hope some of you got the Self-destruct USB hub for $11.

After dithering about getting another one, I finally added it to the cart, and it sold out before I checked out.

@ruouttaurmind Get the Chewie & Boba Fett blazers! They’re cheaper than t-shirts now.

@blaineg @ruouttaurmind I debated but decided I really didn’t need another UBS hub. Cool though.

@ruouttaurmind Sweet Nebula blinds for my son. Starfleet Academy bedding, journal, sweatshirt, and Insignia Badges for my daughter. Apollo cookie Jar and Lannister briefcase for me. Homerun. Good lookin’ out.

@mfladd

Just buy 14 2-pack sets

I got the single motors because they’re fifty cents per motor cheaper, and you get the same number of axles and wheels. I couldn’t care less about the plastic robot or stickers. So I ordered 8 singles and will have twice as many axles and wheels than had I ordered four 2-packs. I’m hoping to figure out a way to motorize the LEGO VW T1 Camper Van kit I bought last month.

@mfladd @ruouttaurmind Huh, I shoulda read the fine print.

@blaineg @mfladd @ruouttaurmind Me too but I had to buy AS FAST AS POSSIBLE!

@ruouttaurmind Looks like the clearance sale was a success, there’s only half a page of stuff that’s not sold out, of what started with 6 pages.

@blaineg I started shopping at about 1AM PT and maybe a dozen items were sold out by then. By the morning it was up to a couple pages sold out. Nothing left now but the dregs.

@blaineg @ruouttaurmind Yeah, I didn’t look close either. It was late. But we do get two motors and two remotes. Plus the many extra sets I bought hopefully do ok on ebay.

Starter Set includes:
2 motors
2 wheels
2 axles
2 remotes
1 robot
1 decal sheet
Add-On Set includes:
1 motor
2 wheels
2 axles
1 remote
1 slide shoe

@blaineg @mfladd @ruouttaurmind The one I bought comes with robot parts? Winner! Wait, what’s a slide shoe? Never mind, it looks like a boring part.

@blaineg @mfladd @ruouttaurmind I’m very excited about the twerkbot I ordered for $1.99.

@sammydog01 I got this one for $3.50

@ruouttaurmind @sammydog01 I also ordered the machinarium and the “saddest robot ever”. I skipped the twerkbot.

@RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind The machinarium sold out while I was placing my second order. I did get the sad one and the tram.

@sammydog01 I watched the tram video after I placed my order. I was wishing I’d have ordered two. But not enough to pay a second shipping charge. I tried to figure out how to cancel the order and start over, but it doesn’t appear that’s easily accomplished at ThinkGeek.

I just received my order. I had forgotten what all I ordered. What was I thinking? Seven of the LEGO motors? I was probably planning to gift some to my nephew for his birthday next month.

I’m looking forward to making time to build the U-Gears kits this weekend.

FOOLS! TOOLS! JEWELS! AWESOME!

@mediocrebot shit. I didn’t say awesome but hey there

DIPLOMAT! RAT-A-TAT! FAT CAT! AWESOME!

@llangley is there a direct link for those? I must be blind.

Edit: found it.

https://gma-pulleez.com

@llangley @mediocrebot awesome was in your link.

VAN GOGH! MANGO! TANGO! AWESOME!

@llangley They are cute but I wonder about hair getting tangled in the toggle when loosening or tightening it. The reviews I’ve seen are all good. Let us know!

@callow no tangling at all for me! I love it!!

@llangley Nice!

@llangley Looks great! Thanks for the update.

@Ignorant THERE IS NOTHING BEYOND MEAT, JUST MORE MEAT.

@Ignorant damn. Nothing local. Been wanting to try one.

@RiotDemon yeah guess it’s pretty much West Coast or Chicago for the fast food restaurants. Maybe the store coupon will work if you want to roll your own.

@Ignorant I expected to see nothing local, but we have Carl’s Jr, so I might try to do this for lunch tomorrow.

Edit: it’s also in a surprising number of stores near me. From all I’d read and heard I thought it was pretty much a west coast thing.

@Ignorant I like the Beyond Meat products I have tried so far. I don’t think there are any East Coast restaurants serving it yet. A coupon would be great as they are pretty pricey. Hmm. Apparently you have to let them send you a code via text in order to get the coupon. Not awesome.

@cf1 hmm yeah that’s a bit of a bummer, I don’t like giving companies my phone number for them to spam.

@Ignorant I’m hoping (with no evidence) that they’ll have coupons or something at the store tomorrow.

@cf1 but today is the day. 5/3/2019

@Ignorant You mean I should have actually read all of it?!
I’ll swing by today, then.

@cf1 I wish you luck.

@cf1 @Ignorant yes, it’s powered by coupons.com which I regard as a spam factory, so I didn’t get myself a coupon.

I’m currently sitting at Carl’s Jr waiting on my beyond burger. The cashier didn’t have a clue about the promotion but one of the managers came up from the back and punched it in. The cashier said “wow”. So apparently no one is doing this here. There are no less than ten mentions of beyond meat on the restaurant, signs, menus, and employee t-shirts so they are promoting them quite heavily.

I also realized, I was thinking of impossible burgers when I was thinking west coast only. There are apparently a few fake meat pushers entering this space.

No one asked for my review, but here it comes anyway: It’s partway between meh and good, but the fact that it can be considered meh is probably a win for it achieving its goal of being substitute meat.

The beyond meat itself: not bad. It’s probably 95% the texture and flavor of fast food burger. It’s pinker than one would think it should be, but it gets little charred spots on the outside like a traditional patty. It’s like uncanny valley, where it is just enough different to notice something is up. I would recommend, especially for vegetarians with a burger craving.

The beyond famous star: I have a feeling the red meat wasn’t the worst thing for me before I got it switched out. It’s an OK burger, but when you take the vegemeat and then put approximately 1/4 cup of mayo and ketchup on it and some cheese, it’s just another fast food burger. It is tasty and messy and everything a fast food burger should be. Maybe just slightly less guilty option than the real deal? For me who isn’t currently a vegetarian, I’m inclined to just get the beef. But for a vegetarian, this thing might be like a cheat code to lunch.

The particular location I’m at: thumbs down. Slow and they DGAF. The onion rings were a travesty, somehow hard and floury and tasteless. It’s been a long time since I’ve had Carl’s Jr, and a lot longer since I got anything but a breakfast biscuit from the drive through (those things are killer!).

I’d eat another one given the opportunity, but around here it’s a $7 fast food burger, and I don’t know that it’s $7 good. I would love to go somewhere with excellent burgers and try an impossible burger. And I may go get some beyond patties to grill at home and see how that comes out.

P.S. the burps it gave me do taste like a hamburger. That’s authentic!

@djslack The first time I made one the uncanny valley effect was seriously creeping me out. The second time I knew what to expect and enjoyed it for what it is. There is a disconcerting amount of fat that comes out as you are cooking their products. It makes it taste good but it is not “health” food. I think it is meant to be a good enough equivalent alternative to actual meat that is maybe better for the planet? The price needs to come down a lot for it to really be a widely accepted product.

@cf1 I agree. I didn’t go into that as I thought I’d probably rambled on enough, but the price is a big deal. If all things were equal, sure, I’d go for this as more sustainable and better for me(?)/the environment but I’m not going to pay a substantial premium for that.

It’s probably circular in that they would need more adoption to lower costs but they need lower costs to increase adoption.

@ruouttaurmind It worked on my Prime account enabled log in. Thanks!

@therealjrn Working for me now as well. I guess someone over there just forgot to turn on the code.

@ruouttaurmind I wish this was offered a week ago, alas I had to order one after yesterday.
https://shirt.woot.com/offers/the-early-years

@lowlypeon sorry you missed it.

@lowlypeon @RiotDemon What happened Wednesday in the forum?

@therealjrn ThinkGeek sale.

@therealjrn the main post.

@RiotDemon The one about the ThinkGeek sale?

@therealjrn yaaas. It was great.

@RiotDemon I super wish I had visited the ThinkGeek sale on Wednesday.

@RiotDemon @therealjrn It was great.

@RiotDemon @sammydog01 How great was it?

@sammydog01 @therealjrn it was super great.

I just looked at my invoice. I have 16 different geeky items coming my way. Soon, I hope.

@RiotDemon @sammydog01 Don’t you have a different word you can use to describe it?

@RiotDemon @therealjrn Awesome?

FOOLS! TOOLS! JEWELS! AWESOME!

@sammydog01 @therealjrn fantastic?

No, No @RiotDemon. @sammydog01 got it!

@RiotDemon @therealjrn ThinkGeek just sent me an email saying they love me. Who says money can’t buy you love?

@sammydog01 Send me money and I will love you too.

@ruouttaurmind I’ve always thought Taco Kitty a bit too weird…but I found 4 other shirts for a little over $20 bucks shipped–thanks!

@therealjrn Ya, Taco Kitty is a bit bold for my tastes. They have a handful of much more subdued styles which are more appealing to me, like the US-1 or The Chief. But I already have dozens of t-shirts I’ve never worn, so I haven’t purchased any graphic tees in ages.

@ruouttaurmind Happily, I’m losing weight, so I’m enjoying finding clothes in human, rather than the manatee sizes I’m more accustomed to.

@ruouttaurmind @therealjrn congrats! Weightloss is a hard thing.

@therealjrn Good for you! I’ve been through that. I was about 330lbs at my peak. Went down to 140 at one point. Now settled at a more comfortable 150 for about 5 years now.

Keep it up!

Heh. Starz has all 130 episodes of Masters of the Universe for streaming. There’s a throwback to my childhood. “By the power of Grayskull!”

@ruouttaurmind soo… I bought 5 packs of this tape. The middle top roll type is a waste. It shreds like it is blue tape left out in the cold. I think I have used all the tape in the left stack and they were fine. Weird. (works for what I needed, regardless)

Several blue available in my city. No gray.

BS linky for Boxer, blue.
Alternate SKU BS linky for blue.

BS linky for Boxer, gray.

BS linky for Yackbot, white.

BS linky for Yackbot, blue.

BS linky for Yackbot, red.

Unable to locate a SKU for the Giggle Bot.

Enter a zip code and BS will check Walmart locations within that area for stock and current price. Caveat: Brickseek is not a 100% reliable resource. So I don’t recommend driving across town for a $15 item based on the BS results.

@ruouttaurmind one Walmart in another part of town had 3 blue ones in stock on brickseek for $5 each. I had to go to Walmart anyway so I went over there. No dice, but I kind of didn’t expect it would work out.

There’s another store in yet another part of town with 14 in stock at your price. I might pick one up if I get over that way.

@djslack Pro Tip: after checking BS, use the Walmart mobile app to verify stock and current price in your selected destination store. The app will give more reliable results (though still not 100%) Although BS is easier to check a broader area, verifying with the WM app in a specific destination is more reliable.

@ruouttaurmind That is a good backup verifier. The app says it was in stock too. The only clue was that it did not give a location for them in the store.

@mikibell
$5 Grab Bag - Extended

https://teefury.com/products/grab-bag

@mikibell @therealjrn Will these actually be fulfilled within a year? I haven’t even considered TF for years since they couldn’t fulfill November (Holiday season) orders until the following January February March. And yet, they fucked up again last year.

@mikibell @narfcake
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@sammydog01 (PS- if you bought one of those $40 kindles at Woot it’s worth more than that off of a new one.)

I just ordered a new waterproof Paperwhite for $56 with trade-in of my old basic kindle. I’m pretty happy.

@sammydog01 Just traded in wife’s 2015 2nd Gen Paperwhite. 25% off and $25 for a new kindle with 4x memory (8GB vs 2GB) better screen (300dpi vs 244), probably a faster processor, and other minor stuff. Oh, and a battery that hasn’t had 4 years of use. Got the no-ads, and already have Kindle (Bought several “Gift of KU” GCs on sale to give to ourselves.)

Thanks for the heads up.

@mike808 @sammydog01

And these newgen Kindle Paperwhites have Bluetooth and can handle audible Audiobooks.

@f00l @mike808 The new basic Kindles do Audible too.

@mike808 @sammydog01

Did not know. Thx!

@sammydog01

(PS- if you bought one of those $40 kindles at Woot it’s worth more than that off of a new one.)

So Amazon will sell you something through woot and then buy it back from you for more money. They must make it up in volume. This is the secret to making Jeff Bezos money!

They must make it up in volume.

@djslack They learned something from Woot/@snapster after all!

@sammydog01 I just got a new Kindle, and am trading in the 2015 version I was using as a backup. Thanks for the tip!

@ruouttaurmind That is a freaking amazing light saber!

I was trying to update my post with a few more details about why this “toy” is a hundred bucks, but in typical mediocre style, the site stopped responding and I missed the edit window.

Includes lightsaber, display stand, and instructions.

• Collector-grade quality
• Realistic light effects
• Authentic movie sound effects
• Metal hilt
• Display stand
• Requires 3 AAA batteries, not included

@sammydog01 If you prefer the dark side, also available:

Star Wars The Black Series Darth Vader Force FX Lightsaber for $119.

Or Star Wars The Black Series Kylo Ren The Force FX Lightsaber for $128.

Because when the Force awakens, @Barney is gonna need a lightsaber too:

Barnes & Noble is offering the Star Wars E1 Mace Windu Purple Light Saber for $119 after using discount code GIFTS4MOM at checkout. Currently OOS, but choose local pickup where available (several available in my city).

@ruouttaurmind Oh, and Uncle @ruouttaurmind is going to buy it for me! I’m so excited!!

@Barney I may be an uncle, Sugar Pop, but not yourn. And my name IRL is definitely not Richie Rich.

@ruouttaurmind

@ACraigL I like it!

@sammydog01

@therealjrn

Attention! Calling @PooltoyWolf!

@f00l @therealjrn I’d be interested if his head didn’t look like it’s been put through a blender!

@therealjrn I meant to point that out… Especially that whoever designed it must of forgotten it was based on a horse when they made it. The head looks like garbage.

@RiotDemon @PoolToyWolf You people need to be more sensitive to my unfortunate ample-photogenic-woodchuck.
/giphy ample-photogenic-woodchuck

@RiotDemon @therealjrn He looks better!

@therealjrn sucker

Hoping nobody bought at $15.

@ruouttaurmind

ample-photogenic-woodchuck -@therealjrn

@Ignorant @ruouttaurmind

Hoping nobody bought at $15.

ample-photogenic-woodchuck -@therealjrn

I didn’t buy at $15, I bought at $13.50. And it’s already in the mail to me. And now they’re sold out of “unicorns”.

Imma put my rainbow rhinoceros up on eBay for $25 PLUS SHIPPING.

@Ignorant

@therealjrn sucker

hater

@Ignorant @ruouttaurmind @therealjrn These are worth every penny of $13.50. The unicorn one anyway.

@PooltoyWolf did yours ship yet? I’m still waiting. So much anticipation.

@RiotDemon Yeah, I’m wearing it today! (Ignore the tags that say the illuminated panel is LED…it’s definitely EL, and thus way cooler.)

@PooltoyWolf jealous! Mine hasn’t shipped yet.

@PooltoyWolf @RiotDemon Mine shipped a few days ago, due here Friday. I never got a shipping email from thinkgeek, I only found out it shipped because I was looking up something else on ups and it showed there. After seeing incoming packages (that were actually moving and not just labels printed) I checked the order status and it had switched to shipped from processing.

@metaphore @RiotDemon Huh that’s weird…I got all the usual emails.

@metaphore @PooltoyWolf went and checked the order email. Now it says shipped. 2 packages will be here Thursday and one package Friday.
Yay!

@metaphore @RiotDemon Hooray!

@metaphore @PooltoyWolf @RiotDemon I got an email from ThinkGeek saying they were sorry that the order emails were late but they were backed up. Which is funny because both my order emails came in just fine.

Box 1 got here today and box 2 tomorrow. I seem to have ordered 3 solar system necklaces.

@metaphore @PooltoyWolf @RiotDemon @sammydog01 Yup, I got my box of 14 lego motor kits today

@metaphore @mfladd @RiotDemon @sammydog01 What are you building?

@PooltoyWolf I think he’s building his bank account.

@sammydog01 @PooltoyWolf I wanted free shipping. Couldn’t find anything else I wanted. 2-3 kits for xmas - the rest will go to ebay.

@mfladd @PooltoyWolf @sammydog01 as I was leaving my neighborhood to go to work, UPS was pulling in. My goodies have been sitting at my doorstep for almost 5 hours.

/giphy sad

@mfladd @PooltoyWolf @RiotDemon NOOOOO! Some of my goodies are coming tomorrow and I’m out of town until Sunday night.

@mfladd @RiotDemon @sammydog01 Booooooo!

@mfladd @RiotDemon @sammydog01 I know that feel. I hope someone is watching the door for you!

@mfladd @sammydog01 Gotcha!

@mfladd so is this where you store your butt plugs?

@tinamarie1974 It could be -
as well as other deviant devices
But alas, this one is actually going to be storing fish’n stuff.

@mfladd so sad…it could be so much more exciting…

@mfladd @tinamarie1974 Too small.

@mfladd @mike808

@mike808 @tinamarie1974 Apparently, Mike requires a plus size

@mfladd @mike808 kinky!!

@djslack here’s what you lose with the 3a.

I’m glad I recently bought the 3 for half price.

https://9to5google.com/2019/05/08/pixel-3a-vs-pixel-3-video/

@RiotDemon Me too, that’s the same deal I got. But if you can get a flagship-lite phone brand new for $150 or less, that’s also a pretty good deal.

The differences list is pretty short. That is the most detailed writeup I’ve seen in it, though. Thanks.

@ruouttaurmind

• BUT STILL A GOOD DEAL

@therealjrn Yup. Cheap enough I ordered six. Shove them into every outlet 'cause it’s a PITA to go hunt down an outlet strip when I’m in the middle of something and find I need an extra outlet or two.

@ruouttaurmind Back in my cubicle days, these would have been handy too.

Ya, dunno. I have used every trick in my Google-fu toolbox and can’t find any analysis reviews of this food. The closest I’ve come is this one at eathealthydoggy.com, and all it does is rehash the info on the label without much helpful commentary.

I guess after reading the ingredients, it seems a bit healthier than the Purina One True Blend I use now. The key though is how reliable is the manufacturer and suppliers. They claim to use USA sourced meats and veggies, but…
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@ruouttaurmind I once read somewhere that if the first two ingredients are meat, the odds are you’ve got a good dog food. At least this one has the first ingredient as chicken or beef.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@Barney When you compare to some of the really low end foods, like Walmart’s Ol’ Roy brand, this True Acre is like caviar is to the generic store brand fish sticks.

Ol’ Roy: Ground yellow corn, meat and bone meal, soybean meal, poultry by-product meal, animal fat (preserved with BHA and citric acid), corn gluten meal, natural flavor, brewers rice, salt, potassium chloride, color added (titanium dioxide, yellow #5, yellow #6, red #40, blue #2), choline chloride, zinc sulfate, vitamin E supplement, ferrous sulfate, calcium carbonate, zinc oxide, niacin, copper sulfate, vitamin A supplement, biotin, manganous oxide, calcium pantothenate, vitamin B12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), riboflavin supplement, sodium selenite, calcium iodate, folic acid, vitamin D-3 supplement, cobalt carbonate.

True Acre: Chicken, Peas, Pea Starch, Canola Meal, Poultry By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal, Poultry Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Tapioca Starch, Natural Flavor, Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Dicalcium Phosphate, Salt, Fish Oil, Flaxseed, Calcium Carbonate, Carrots, Cranberries, L-Threonine, Choline Chloride, Mixed Tocopherols (Preservative), Vitamin E Supplement, Ferrous Sulfate, Iron Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Amino Acid Chelate, Zinc Oxide, DL-Methionine, Copper Sulfate, Sodium Selenite, Niacin Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Copper Amino Acid Chelate, Manganese Amino Acid Chelate, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Manganous Oxide, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Calcium Iodate, Folic Acid, Rosemary Extract.

Curious that True Acre claims to be grain-free, but contains canola meal. Isn’t canola a grain?

@ruouttaurmind Oh, I would never feed any of my dogs Ol’ Roy. I shudder just thinking about it.

I think canola is a grain. Who knows?

I’d buy the True Acre, but it would take Lady forever and a day to go through 80 lbs.

@Barney @ruouttaurmind not sure why I know this: canola is from rapeseed plant

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapeseed

@mikibell gets the sticky gold star for obscure horticulture trivia!

@Barney, my dogs go through about 40# per month. Not bad in the big scheme, but every time I fork over $40 for a new bag it sure seems like it’s way too often.

@Barney @ruouttaurmind I use to feed my dog Ol Roy peanut butter treats. It was years ago when that poisoned dog food thing happened. My dog died from the treats. I hate Wal-Mart dog food! RIP Spot

@tinamarie1974 Aww…

@tinamarie1974 I’m so sorry for your loss.

@ruouttaurmind thanks. I know he is in doggie heaven watching me

@tinamarie1974 Oh…poor Spot. RIP big guy.

@Barney @ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974 That’s horrible. I am sooo sorry!!!

@ruouttaurmind oooo…more dog food deals! I just used the $10 Purina One coupon last night. I also think I have a $15 Chewy new customer coupon laying around too!

@Barney @mfladd @ruouttaurmind thanks I just always tell people so they know the quality of their product and can make an informed decision.

@mfladd @ruouttaurmind where did you find the $10 coupon

@Barney @ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974 The true Acres mini biscuits dog treats at $5.99 are also BOGO!

@tinamarie1974 I think at @ruouttaurmind posted it as a deal in last months thread - maybe month before? It took 4-5 weeks to get it.

@Barney @ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974 Holy Crap! So I bought two 40lb bags of food and two boxes of treats. With my chewy promo code, which included free shipping and auto-ship, I paid of total $30.41 for everything!!! Thanks!!!

@tinamarie1974 Do you need a promo code for Chewy? I have an extra.

@mfladd @ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974 So, I bought 80 pounds of dog food. Just too good of a deal to pass up. Anyone have some good recipes for people using dogfood? I think I’m going to have to help Lady eat all of this food.

I only bought the 2 bags and used a $15 promo code. The total was $26.86.

@tinamarie1974 Oops, sorry, I hope you didn’t want it. The code expired on April 30.

EDIT: Well wait a minute, the code I used also expired on April 30 and it went through.

@Barney @tinamarie1974 And if yours was like mine it states the orders had to be for $49 or more. While our original cart price was over $49, are discounted carts weren’t. Still went thru

@Barney @mfladd @tinamarie1974 I just tried to place my order, but the $15 discount code I got with my order in March expired at the end of April.

@mfladd @ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974 I guess I got lucky that my code worked. I think I might have a current code at my mom’s house if you want me to check. Her house is only a mile from mine.

@Barney @mfladd @ruouttaurmind let me try it here in a bit. I am in meetings until ~2:00 then I can jump on and try to order. If it expired Ill let you know. Thanks bunches from me and Sam.

@Barney @mfladd @ruouttaurmind Sam says THANK YOU!!

@Barney @mfladd @ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974 awe…Sam is so cute!

@Barney @mfladd @ruouttaurmind @therealjrn Thank you, he is my baby. That was his Christmas suit. It lasted about 5 minutes before he got out of it

#pomsquad

@ruouttaurmind Have you placed your order? There was a current code at Mom’s house. If the code I gave @tinamarie1974 works (and I think it will), then you can use this current code. But if her code doesn’t work, I’ll be giving her the current code. (First come, first served)

We’ll just have to see what happens when she places her order.

@Barney @ruouttaurmind My meeting is slow so I was able to multi-task The code worked!!! Sam now has between double/triple his weight in food

Thank you again!!!

@Barney @mfladd @tinamarie1974 I haven’t yet placed my order. I’m hoping to turn up a discount code if I scour the interwebs.

@tinamarie1974 Sammy! Cute little pup.

@ruouttaurmind I’ve got a code for you! $15 off.

@Barney Many thanks for your efforts. Unfortunately…

@Barney @ruouttaurmind was your order at least $45? It did that to me until I added more to my cart

@tinamarie1974 Yup, I padded it to over $50 just to be sure. No soap.

@ruouttaurmind Maybe they believed all of the rumors about you?

@Barney @ruouttaurmind Maybe they couldn’t read the code because of that big black smudge all over it?

@ruouttaurmind Hmm… Have you ordered from them before? This is for first time orders only.

If anyone else wants to try it, I’ll give you the code.

@Barney

Maybe they believed all of the rumors about you?

Fair enough, most of them are probably true anyway.

Hmm… Have you ordered from them before? This is for first time orders only.

Yes, I ordered a couple months ago when they were offering 30% off for signing up for Auto-ship.

I still have about 60# of food from that order, so imma pass on Chewy this time (and regret it later I’m sure).

@ruouttaurmind I’m going to give away one of the two 40 lb bags. If you just want to swing by and pick it up, I’ll leave it on the porch for you.

I don’t do carryout to your car.

@Barney I was all in until…

I don’t do carryout to your car.

@ruouttaurmind

@ruouttaurmind

@tinamarie1974 OMG! Sam is freakin adorable!!!

@mfladd Thanks! That’s my baby. This is what I woke up to after my nap

@ruouttaurmind If this offer still stands late next week I’m going to order some. I had my cart loaded up and ready to hit checkout before I realized that my mother in law won’t be able to bring two 40lb bags of food in to my house, so I can’t order until closer to time for me to come home. Our girls go through about 40lbs a month so two bags at once is not too much of a burden.

Hopefully by then some of y’all will have already received theirs and can share how you like it.

@djslack If you are a first time buyer from Chewy, I still have the promo code that will give you $15 off.

@Barney @ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974 That was fast! My dog foord is here already.

@Barney @mfladd @ruouttaurmind apparently mine has too! That is crazy

@mfladd @ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974 Hmm… Mine is roaming around the hills of Missouri on a sight seeing trip. Says it won’t get to me until Tuesday.

@Barney @mfladd @ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974 whenever I get an order from Chewy, it’s always 2 days. I think they have a lot of warehouses they ship from.

@Barney @mfladd @RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind so mine was about 24 hours.

@Barney @RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974
Unblame: that was a crazy cheap deal to keep both hoodlums fed.
Blame: Where the fuck am I going to put 80lbs of dog food!!!
And if @TheFLP tells me to store it in the GoaT Void I will cut that GoaT!

@mfladd When I ordered a stockpile of 40# bags from Chewy in March it arrived in perfect-fit individual boxes (not like Amz which seems to use the largest box in their inventory). I left the bags in their boxes and found a corner to stack them up. Not attractive, but a small sacrifice for the bargain price I paid.

@mfladd @RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974

so mine was about 24 hours.

It takes a lot of grit and determination to make the trek to Oz, and a whole lot more than 24 hours.

@mfladd @ruouttaurmind I have a place to store it, but I lack the muscle to move it. I wonder if Lady will mind eating her meals on the front porch?

@Barney @mfladd @RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind @TheFLP you could store it in a tardis

@Barney @RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind @TheFLP @tinamarie1974 You got a spare one hanging around?

@Barney @mfladd @RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974

What goes into the Goat Void stays there. Permanently. You ain’t gonna see your stuff again until the Void claims you.

So no, I would never suggest storing dog food in there. Goat treats, on the other hand…

@ruouttaurmind I just saw a post that there’s a 15Chewy coupon code for food and meds. Not sure if this is only for new customers or not.

@Barney @mfladd @RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind @TheFLP aawww so cute!

I have this one… wanna use it?

@Barney @mfladd @ruouttaurmind omg just got home. My box is so heavy I can’t carry it in!!!

@mfladd @ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974 If only we had some big, strong men around here.

@RiotDemon I tried it last night. No dice. Details say “select prescription meds and food”. I’m interpreting that to mean RX food only.

@Barney @mfladd @RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind @TheFLP
/giphy sadistic goat

@Barney @mfladd @ruouttaurmind maybe this guy???

@mfladd @ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974 Oh, yeah! He’s a whole lot better than the guys who hang around this forum.

@Barney @mfladd @ruouttaurmind wait, but @mfladd told me that was him!?!?!?!?

@mfladd @ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974 Yeah, right, and I have some ocean front property in Kansas to sell you.

@Barney @RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind @TheFLP @tinamarie1974
Yes, shouldn’t everyone say they have had sex in a Tardis once? The Space/Time Club?

@Barney @mfladd @RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind @TheFLP you only want to use it once???

@Barney @RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind @TheFLP @tinamarie1974 Multiple is better

@Barney @mfladd @RiotDemon @ruouttaurmind @TheFLP Oooooooooooo yes!

@mikibell I guess they missed the window when hoverboards were popular.

@mikibell @sammydog01 Hmm… what was that special VMP 20% code for Morningsave?

Found it: TWENTYOFF. It’s $63 after discount code.
/8ball Is that cheap enough for me to risk an ER visit?
My sources say no

And 8Ball has spoken.

@ruouttaurmind awww man… I bought one a month ago with the spring20 coupon… Drats!

@ruouttaurmind p.s. my husband loves my son’s hoverboard. I havent been brave/dumb enough to try it yet.

@Barney So much for not buying stuff I don’t need. By the way black and blue are also on sale (I ordered violet).

@sammydog01 Did your order show as purple or pink? My picture shows a purple pen/violet ink, but says pink pen/violet ink. (I clicked on the purple box to order.)

@Barney That’s what my order says too.

@sammydog01 I hope you like pink.

@sammydog01 The ink pens are purple and very nice. I gel pens.

@Barney Whoever typed in pink has no concept of purple. I’m very pleased with my new pens.

@sammydog01

@Barney @sammydog01

/google what color is Barney
Barney Through the Years | Barney Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia
https://barney.fandom.com/wiki/Barney_Through_the_Years

@Barney @sammydog01

OMG. He actually used to be purple and not fuchsia.

@RiotDemon @sammydog01 He used to be pretty cool looking, didn’t he. I love that color of purple.

@Barney makes more sense of why he used to be called the big purple dinosaur. They should of left him alone.

@therealjrn They’re pretty tiny, but, sure, in for a couple. Open Road has a few dozen different styles in this line. I’ll have to check PB’s eBay listings for other styles.

@ruouttaurmind Tiny? It looks like they are 0.04" X 3.5" X 2.25" At least I think so… (0.1 x 8.9 x 5.7 cm)

@ruouttaurmind @therealjrn Those dimensions are tiny for some things.

@ruouttaurmind @sammydog01 HiYohhh!

@therealjrn Well, in comparison to an actual makers badge.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@therealjrn Thanks for the post. I wound up ordering 5 designs including the Cars V logo. I also got a few nostalgic designs like Flying A Service and such.

@therealjrn A little disappointed in my $2 magnet. It looks great, but the magnet backing can barely hold the magnet up. So great to look at, but not functional as a magnet for holding paper or a picture to a toolbox of fridge.

@therealjrn Yeah, disappointment here, too. The magnet really doesn’t look as good as the picture and the backing is pretty poor.

But that’s OK, it didn’t cost much, so no harm, no foul.

You win some, you lose some.

Don’t cry over spilled milk.

He who laughs last laughs best.

Buyer beware.

@Barney
Haste makes waste.

Time heals all wounds.

What goes around comes around.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

@Barney @therealjrn I finally received my order from Pep Boys today. Only two weeks after the initial delivery date listed on eBay.

Also disappointed. My magnets are beat down, showing lots of wear and tear. Most of them have scratches and scrapes and lots of adhesive residue and torn off label remnants all over them. It looks like something I might grudgingly have paid 50p for at a boot sale. Definitely not worth the $2 and very late delivery date.

@Barney @ruouttaurmind Fuckers

@therealjrn I just realized a magnet was omitted from my order! The vintage Flying A Service logo wasn’t even sent! You’d think after being 2 weeks late at least they would get it right.

I was prepared to just let the tardiness and poor quality slide. But I spent $11 and didn’t even get what I ordered, so I’m opening a case. Boo on Pep Boys!

@ruouttaurmind It took them over 2 hours to change the oil in my Jeep. Scored two free oil changes. I might have been nicer if I weren’t trying to recover from pneumonia, and if there wasn’t a stupid movie on that I only got to see 2/3rds of!!

Just now I received a shipping notice from Manny Moe and Jack. For the order I placed in early May. The order that was delivered about a week ago, 2 weeks late. Looks like Moe is back on the bottle.

@therealjrn Well, I guess my coupon picture didn’t work… if anybody is interested, whisper me and I’ll share my email link to the offer (I can’t find it on their website). Usually they will give you your discount if you know the code though.

@therealjrn I know it is my brain…but I would have sworn this said “show your love for my mom…” Yep, going back to sleep.

@djslack We can never have enough purple.

@djslack I don’t even travel and I’m tempted. However, I’m less tempted because looking at the questions from 2018 and someone asked if the set was 74.95 for all five pieces. I’m guessing they have this deal more often.

@RiotDemon They do offer it a couple times a year. But that’s a whole bunch of luggage. Unless you’re heading out for a 3 week cruise or summering in the Hamptons, I cannot imagine filling up all that space. Maybe if you’re packing for a full family?

Rather than buying a full set like this one, I went to TJ Maxx and got a couple good quality Samsonite cases. One big for checked baggage and one in carry-on size. $65 total spend, but they are great quality. I’ve traveled enough to recognize: your budget luggage will only break down at the worst possible time. A wheel will break when you’re parked at the furthest spot from the shuttle, a zipper will fail when you’re packing to go home and running late for your flight, a handle will break when you’re on the mad dash between terminals trying to make that connecting flight to Detroit (and trust, there are many better places to be stuck on a 6 hour layover than Detroit).

@RiotDemon they do recycle deals of the day. Matter of fact that’s why I keep checking it, I got a really good deal on air filters that they don’t carry in stores but I boneheadedly ordered the wrong size and had to return them. Now I keep checking for the deal to pop back up (it was like 60%+ off the expensive filters so worthwhile).

I really only posted this because of the purple. I don’t know that it’s good or bad luggage, but I don’t know the validity of the “list price” they compare to.

@Barney you and my little sister @melanie413 think a lot alike. (Hey Melanie, check out that luggage.)

@djslack

/8ball Does @Barneybot approve?
It is certain

When I complete the takeover of Earth, purple will be the first to go.

@mediocrebot You’re kinda late for the show. Where you been?

@ACraigL I like the Greyjoy one. All those tentacles.

@sammydog01 That’s my favorite one too! It was such a clean fit between Aquaman and House Greyjoy. I had to work a little harder for Batman/House Lannister.

Price correction: I forgot about the discount code which drops the price to $56. Use discount code JOURNEY20 on checkout.

@ruouttaurmind

I LOVE PURPLE.

@therealjrn What’s your target price point? You might be best served by an inexpensive B&W laser multifunction printer like the Brother 2550 which is frequently sub-$100, or one of the older models like the 244 which is sometimes sub-$70.

@therealjrn it’s not new but a good price on a sightly used version. I really like the Fujitsu scansnap series. This is the smaller one. Scans straight to PDF with ocr indexing with one button press. Does a good job of straightening crooked receipts and the like as well.

https://www.ebay.com/p/Fujitsu-S1300i-ScanSnap-Document-Scanner/141713942

@ruouttaurmind I already have an inexpensive ink jet Canon with a flatbed scanner. I was hoping for a more direct link to my Office Depot Samsung laser printer. I need it to scan check deposits, invoices, legal papers, stuff like that. Can I use third party software with the Canon scanner?

@djslack Oh that does look nice, but it’s more than what I want to pay.

My price point is sub $50.

@djslack @ruouttaurmind @therealjrn
Have a HP AIO Envy 6540 that autofeeds the scanner. Scans from a remote PC too. Love, love, love the HP Instant Ink program also. Fixed cost per page, never run out of ink. No brainer.
Recommended.

Costco has the 6545 I think or comparable model, as mine is now a year it two old. Comes with Costco warranty. I use it for PDFing statements and receipts into electronic form. e.g. FSA reimbursements and tax docs that aren’t already electronic. Worth the twice your budget price, IMO.

@therealjrn it looks like the closest I can get you is $66.

Epson ES-50 has many of the same capabilities, but it is single sided and has no document feeder, it’s just a single sheet at a time. Available refurbished direct from Epson for $66

https://epson.com/Clearance-Center/Scanners/WorkForce-ES-50-Portable-Document-Scanner---Refurbished/p/B11B252201-N

The DS-30 is the older version of this that can be had for sightly less money, but I’m not 100% sure on Windows 10 compatibility with it.

Look to see if there is a TWAIN driver for your Canon. If there is then it should work with third party software.

@ruouttaurmind @djslack @Barney

I phrased my question poorly. Let me take another whack at it:

“I find the Canon scanner software called “Image Garden” slow and clunky. Is there a third-party program that will work with a Canon MG2900 series printer or should I get a new scanner that is compatible with Windows 10?”

There. That’s better.

@djslack @ruouttaurmind @therealjrn
Checked costco. They carry the primo Envy 7858 for $200. Store might have a lower version (slightly slower, smaller size & paper tray, heavier use rating is all) for a lower price. Or check the usual e-stores - B&H, Newegg, OD, etc.

Think I paid $100 for mine at Microcenter.

The 6255 is the current 2-sided duplex printer model with autofeed for copy/scanning 2-sided. $80 on sale from HP.com direct.

@djslack @mike808 @ruouttaurmind I’m wanting to get away from buying ink and just use my laser printer, but those look like nice inkjets Mike.

@therealjrn On scanner software, I recommend VueScan. Worth the $30. I have the Pro version for the ICC color profiles and film IR/scratch correction.

https://www.hamrick.com/

Probably does a smash up job at just doc scanning. The batch flow and command line options are pretty good too.

@therealjrn Oh. Yeah, that’s a different question.

I never heard of image garden but it doesn’t sound very straightforward or productive. It kind of sounds like they expect you to water your images and wait for them to grow and blossom.

When I’ve dealt with Canon mfps I’ve always used the IJ Scan utility, which may be all you need: https://support.usa.canon.com/kb/index?id=ART137999&page=content

There’s also this third party software Vuescan ($30/$80, free 30 day trial): https://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/canon_mg2900.html (Mike808 posted his comment while I was typing, but I’m glad to see a real user’s recommendation).

I’d also consider what you’re losing in desk space keeping an mfp around just to scan. It sounds like you’re using the laser printer for your printing needs. Maybe if IJ Scan does the trick, it would be good enough, but if only the $80 version of Vuescan does what you need, I’d also look at a document scanner and maybe cut down the desk space requirement unless you have a ton of space.

@therealjrn

I’m wanting to get away from buying ink and just use my laser printer,

That’s the beauty of HP’s instant ink. They send me whatever ink I need long before I run out. I pay just $0.05 per page. I never ever worry about paying for ink or running out. I can go up or down from $10/month or $6/month depending on how much I print, but it doesn’t matter because it is always the same price per page, no matter what I’m printing.

Only downside is that there isn’t any way to buy discounted prepaid cards for the service. But it is cheap enough that I don’t worry about it. HP really got “print consumables as a service” right with their Instant Ink program. I can also pause the service.

They even have a completely free program for like less than 10 pages per month printing. But once you go paid, you can’t downgrade back to the free service, you just get rollover allocations.

@djslack @therealjrn

if only the $80 version of Vuescan does what you need

VueScan has all drivers included with the base $30 version. All you get with the pro version is lifetime upgrades (vs 1 yr) and ICC profiles for different film/slide formulations.

You can check to see if your scanner is listed. It is.

@djslack @therealjrn
https://www.hamrick.com/vuescan/canon_mg2900.html#technical-information

VueScan is compatible with the Canon MG2900 on Windows x86, Windows x64, Windows RT, Windows 10 ARM, Mac OS X and Linux.

VueScan Mobile also works with this scanner on the iPad, iPhone, Android and Kindle Fire.

If you’re using Windows and you’ve installed a Canon driver, VueScan’s built-in drivers won’t conflict with this. If you haven’t installed a Windows driver for this scanner, VueScan will automatically install a driver.

You can use this scanner on Mac OS X and Linux without installing any other software.

On Linux, you need to set up libusb device protections.

Free 30-day try before you buy. Developer support is solid for the last 20 years at least. I’ve had direct emails with Mr. Hamrick and he’s top-notch. If you’re scanning film/slides, the IR/dust removal is essential.

No ragrets.

Hm…okay…what have you got that will work with a UMAX Astra 1220P Flatbed scanner?

@therealjrn VueScan might work. It supports the 1220S. Free try before you buy. Umax abandoned this parallel port scanner after Windows XP.

However, for Linux, there are SANE drivers.
http://umax1220p.sourceforge.net/

Not sure there is a compelling feature requiring that specific scanner over other equally ancient but actually supported scanners. What’s the use case?

Honestly, your effort is better spent on getting a different and better supported scanner.

@mike808 The compelling feature is that I already own it. After I migrated out of Windows XP, and after UMAX abandoned the Astra 1220P it has been boxed back up in my closet.

Honestly, your effort is better spent on getting a different and better supported scanner.

Hence my original question Using the 1220P would be a kludge, as I would need to find a parallel port-to-USB cable and pray that it works… Thanks for your help!

@therealjrn It is technology after all, so dont discount the improvements in scanner tech that have occurred in the 20 years since that scanner was last relevant. IR, resolution, image correction, and modern drivers, including security so your scans aren’t also sent to a Chinese/Russian cloud for machine learning/AI and nefarious purposes. Or just Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Walmart, Amazon, and the NSA for homegrown 'Murican nefarious Capitalist purposes.

Thanks, @mike808, I’m pretty well sorted out now. I’ve settled on @djslack’s (& Canon’s) IJ Scan utility. The IJ Scan utility defaults to opening Canon’s shitty “My Image Garden” after it takes a scan, but I can change it in the settings. It can also do multiple pages so on deposit day when I have a bunch of checks they will be in the same PDF file. This’ll be handy because I can save the scan of the deposit in our bookkeeping program. Voilà! Thanks too, to @ruouttaurmind for helping!

@therealjrn I think we get our printer recommendations at the same place.

@sammydog01 Twinsies! What are the odds?

I received my new Canon camera kit a couple days ago, but just got my first chance to play with it.

This was taken with the 75-300mm lens, camera set to full-auto mode. I’m a bit underwhelmed with the color saturation, but that bokeh is respectable for a bottom feeder lens with a wee f/4-5.6 aperture.

@sammydog01 yeah that backpack is super cute. Pretty sure my niece would love it

@sammydog01 Sweet!

@ruouttaurmind But… But… But I already have two of these. Also, I think the gray is a lighter color than what this shows. If it was the darker color, I’d buy it.

@Barney Yes, the gray shirt is a light heather gray. I was pretty dissapointed, but the comfort of the shirt was adequate, so for seven bucks I was fine with it. But I do wish it was printed on a dark gray or charcoal color.

@Barney @ruouttaurmind I have two too!

@sammydog01 What can I say? “Great minds” or maybe “Great spenders?”

@compunaut Huh! Ive never seen that dolphin design before, but the whale strongly resembles a design sold in Japan by a company called Igarashi.

@compunaut @PooltoyWolf Well, I guess it’s time to give everyone their dose of:

Paging @RiotDemon.

@Barney @compunaut @RiotDemon Oh no, not again!

@PooltoyWolf Aw, you’re no fun.

@Barney @compunaut @PooltoyWolf I’m outta here!

@RiotDemon Have you met @PooltoyWolf? He’s no fun either.

@Barney @RiotDemon Nonsense! How could you NOT have fun with a big bouncy squeaky inflatable wolf toy??

@PooltoyWolf Yes, a big bouncy squeaky inflatable wolf toy swimming in water with sharks singing the Baby Shark song!

Doesn’t that sound fun?

@Barney So long as they don’t bite. Inflated vinyl and sharp teeth don’t mix!

@Barney @compunaut @PooltoyWolf @RiotDemon I might someday get tired of Baby Shark, but today is not that day. Thanks!

@UncleVinny I’m worried about you.

@Barney comment shark doo doo do-do-do-doo!

@Barney @UncleVinny
/giphy earworm

@tinamarie1974

@Barney
OMG, I never heard that song, and did not watch your vid - I was skimming. But then tonight for some reason my son asked Alexa to play it. It must be a thing right now.

@mfladd It’s been around for a while now, but it’s a little hard to forget.

@ruouttaurmind Get the Quattro. The DVR service is worth it unless you already have Plex lifetime which includes DVR, I think. What you’re paying for is the guide service, scheduling, and DVR, but mostly the guide.

They’re close to adding Roku as a fully supported app. The problem was Roku didn’t have a client codec license (MP2, I think?) for the SD devices to stream to. Since that was out of SD’s hands, they couldn’t reliably offer it. Roku added that recently, so it is coming.

The apps are free and you can control the DVR from the app. You can watch and pause live TV in the apps.

I have a Quattro and an Extend (which has hardware to transcode on device to MP4) and use a Win10 MPC and MCEBuddy (paid version) to transcode and remove ads and embed metadata from the guide/tvDB/IMDB in the episodes into MKV containers.

I then use Plex to serve them up. My Tivo and I suspect your Roku works just fine with Plex. Or anything with a Plex app.

@ruouttaurmind Any SD app can watch liveTV. You don’t need the DVR for that. Just no pausing live TV. The DVR also can be hosted on nVidia Shield or the popular NAS servers or a Linux host.

MCEBuddy is Win7/10 though.

With just a 2-tuner Duo, you can’t record 2 shows and watch another, and most times, if the networks put their shows up against each other, you’re hosed. The Quattro gives me the ability to record two major network shows (BBT, NCIS, etc) and not worry if I also need to record a block of Stargate Atlantis, Dust on TBD, Masterpiece and Nova on PBS, the cooking shows on Create, or a movie on Bounce. We get 50+ channels. 14 after you disable the religious, shopping, and music channels.

ProTip - you have to do that with a browser at my.hdhomerun.com to configure the tuners.

@mike808 Do you know: is the SD DVR feature cloud based, or local via flash drive, HD, SD cards, etc? Since there is a fee, I’m assuming it’s cloud based.

I hadn’t considered the SD products, but after years of having the Dish Hopper’s ability to pause live TV or skip back 10 seconds to catch some dialogue I missed. I didn’t realize how much I had become dependent on that feature until I no longer have it.

@ruouttaurmind The DVR is not cloud-based. The guide service is. The licensing for your device’s access to the guide data is. Thats it. Your channel configuration is uploaded to the SD cloud so that it can be sent to the device if needed (i.e. when you rescan for new channels). You are paying mainly for the guide data subscription - the show start/stop, and the details - title, season, episode, summary, stars, original air/release date, etc. all that data you want to be there when you search for content. It ain’t free, and it has to come from somewhere. But the core functions of the device are not tied to the cloud and it still works offline from the mothership.

Generally speaking, the device keeps 2 weeks of guide data on board. So interruptions of access to the SD servers is mitigated as good as can be expected.

The live pause is only because you are recording the show you’re watching. That’s also why SD’s next products will have SSD storage attached/built-in. Much like the old Simple.TV devices (that SD made on spec for Simple.TV). i.e. the DVR server and storage will be built into the tuner device.

I also have a Tivo Roamio OTA (with lifetime guide service). We use the Tivo for live and day-or-so time-shifting, and the SD Quattro and a Connect (6 tuners total) to record things for the library and series for binge watching (transcoded and through Plex).

@mike808 @ruouttaurmind I use an older model HD Homerun with Kodi and a NextPVR backend running on the same Windows server that holds all my movies and shows. Guide is populated by a Zap2it scraper. Works well, but I’d also like to have a native Roku app. Purely subjective, but I think the OTA picture quality is better than what I get from DirecTV. My only complaint is that I’d have to rotate the antenna to receive MeTV.

@ruouttaurmind @walarney “old” as in the old beige ones or a Prime? They won’t work with the SD DVR app. How do you watch on a phone or other device/computer? Does Roku have a NextPVR or DirecTV app? Do your devices have a NextPVR app? Might be time for a tech refresh.

I don’t think the new Roku app SD builds will support the old devices. You can check the SD forums for news on the Roku support.

@mike808 @ruouttaurmind It’s not beige – I think it’s a DUAL based on image search. My crappy internet service won’t support streaming outside the house, so I don’t do mobile device watching. (Even with a cloud DVR, I probably wouldn’t.) We’ll see what happens if SD ever does a Roku app.

@walarney I had a Sling device on my Hopper, but like you, I have painfully slow upstream bandwidth from the house, so watching anything when outside my house was useless. I stick with downloading Netflix or Amz Prime Video stuff for offline viewing when I travel.

@mike808 I read up a bit on the SD DVR service last night after I posted my question and learned about how everything is stored locally.

I get that they charge for the program guide and scheduling service and integration into the local tuners. There is value there. But it seems ridiculous that they disable any local recording unless you pay their fee. I mean… I’m quite capable of creating a manual timer for shows (like BBT in syndication) which always air in the same time block on the same channel every M-F. But they won’t enable access to that without their fee.

The cheap Chinasian tuner I use for OTA DVR downloads the OTA EPG information, but only up to 24 hours worth. Still, I have manual timers set and record recurring programs which are then saved with a default name based on the recording date and time. That naming convention will quickly become cumbersome as the quantity of recordings grow, but I do have the option of creating a default “save to” folder named for the show’s title, so it’s not altogether useless.

I looked into the Plex/PlayOn situ last year, but at that time I deemed it too cumbersome and cumulatively costly to be a viable solution. By the time I paid for Plex, set up server hardware, subscribed to PlayOn and paid for recording credits it would have taken about a year just to break even with the cost of my Dish service for a year. And then there’s the recurring expense of PlayOn recording credits in perpetuity. The recording credits for… say a movie grabbed from a streaming service and stays in the media server for the duration… not a big deal. But several seasonal shows with all their episodes… having enough PlayOn recording credits to keep up can become expensive.

I also looked into using a streaming DVR like the Happauge PVR, but it seems DRM and HDCP are an issue there.

@ruouttaurmind @walarney The SD devices are API based, so you can use some other DVR software (e.g. MCE, Plex, PlayOn, maybe NextPVR?). There is no escaping DRM, even for OTA playback. There is a form of it for IP network streaming and it is tied to the player/client now. That’s why the streaming services all have their own apps, as does SD. The 3rd-party software section of the SD forums should have good info on what is out there as a product and what you can do with scripts and API calls to the devices and capture the raw MP2 HDTV stream from the tuner or transcode later (exactly what their DVR product does) or capture the MP4 from an Extend model.

With the SD DVR, I can set a task to record every episode or just the current season so recording syndicated shows is not an issue.

I can set before/after seconds/minutes (why extra tuners is very handy) and for repeat showings where I record all episodes, my transcoding app MCEBuddy tracks what got processed and will skip transcoding a recording if the resulting media file is already there or if it already did it (your choice). You can override this easily too for do-overs (like shows that follow a playoff game or sport that runs long.

I’m not sure what you tried and couldn’t or think it can’t do is still the case. They just buffed the UI recently too. I know there are folks in the forums tinkering with the APIs to do say, CLI (command-line) stuff or experiment with unsupported platforms.

Whisper me your email or ask on the SD forums what your use case is that you think are problematic.