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Everything posted by len_mullen
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The Recast is on sale right now. $179.99 for the four tuner 1TB version (which I recommend) and $129.99 for the two tuner 500GB version.
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Not that there's anything wrong with that...
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I have been looking at big televisions again, but I am losing interest. I think I'm full.
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Should sell some Echo Show 10s. Not sure why Netflix client would not be rolled out to all devices.
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I always get loved ones the one single thing that will make their day. I pricematch, return/rebuy, and whatever else is necessary, but I have that one thing in hand almost as soon as I know what it is.
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Today, the outer box was in excellent condition and the packages were well packed. Unfortunately two of the items were open inside the well packed box. You get what you pay for.
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Interesting way to describe inventory no one wanted.
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Never agreed with this sentiment. If people want to work and other people want to shop, why should I care. When I was a kid, Sundays, holidays, and holidays that fell on Sunday were awesome. If you could figure out how to get paid for more than eight hours on a holiday that fell on a Sunday, you could take the rest of the month off.
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Spend some $ in there last year. I needed all their doorbusters. About ten years ago I bought a generator and a switch at Home Depot on BF. About ten years after we bought our house, we had a winter storm that left us powerless for ten seven days. The next time we lost power, my street was buzzing from all the generators running. I mocked my neighbors, "If we lose power for a week every ten years, I can deal with that." Well, we did and I couldn't. The following BF I cut through Home Depot on my way to Walmart to get out of the rain. They had generators piled to the rafters. Transfer switches too. Both steeply discounted for BF. I started talking to one of the employees about the generator. As I was preparing to head out, I said, "I'd buy both of these if you used this Lowes coupon to drop the price 10%." He did and I have been using that generator for a decade. 6000 watts for about $70 per year. I power my well (2), my boiler, the kitchen, my bedroom, and this circuit that feeds lights on every floor of my house. When we lose power, we are warm, drink cold beer, take hot showers, eat hot meals, watch television, and sleep is a warm waterbed (all of us). That is why I stop in to Home Depot every Black Friday.
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Right. Walmart announced that they [will] have a plan... I received three orders this week. Yesterday, I got a package from Amazon. Box was savaged but well packed and there was no damage to the contents. I reluctantly ordered two gallons of soy sauce and a half gallon of honey from Walmart.com. The items shipped as two orders. Both arrived at the same time on the same truck. Boxes were somewhat damaged and the packing was ineffective, but the durable plastic product containers held up. I got my Sling TV Anywhere DVR two days ago. The box arrived undamaged (UPS), the DVR and antenna were carefully and securely packed in the box. The individual packaging of the products was outstanding. So, it can be done. Just not by Amazon or Walmart these days.
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Here's a deal for those who have an antenna or are considering installing one. This, BTW, is a great time to install an antenna. Conditions are favorable to climbing on ladders and roofs but horrible for antenna reception. Leaves full of moisture, always a little wet, and in constant motion make reception difficult. If you can get things working in the fall, you will be good the rest of the year. This deal is for a whole house DVR. The $189 price includes a 1TB/four stream Sling TV Anywhere DVR, an indoor antenna, and three months of Sling TV (which will see you cord cutters through the election). Pay using a Discover card via PayPal before the end of the month to get 5% cash back ($9.45). https://www.sling.com/deals This DVR competes with the TabloTV DVRs and the Amazon Recast. I own and like all three of these DVRs. This group competes with set top DVRs and, to a lesser extent, TCL Roku televisions which can pause, rewind, and fast forward broadcast TV. A whole house DVR connects to an antenna and your network. They have tuners and local storage. Key features include the number of tuners, the quality of the tuners, how many streams can run simultaneously, internal storage, external storage, what devices can receive the stream, and whether the device can stream outside your local network. The Sling TV Anywhere has four tuners and can stream or record four shows simultaneously. It has a 1TB internal disk that can store 150 hours of HD content. Sling has promised the USB port will soon support external storage as well. Broadcast television can be accessed using Roku, Amazon Fire TV and iOS and Android devices. You can watch one stream outside your home. Sling TV Anywhere launched September 10th. The list price of $199.99 includes 1TB of internal storage and guide service. That compares favorably to the 1TB four tuner Tablo TV DVR which costs $239.99 and requires a subscription guide service. Lifetime guide service is $149.99. Sling TV Anywhere also compares favorably to the Amazon Recast which costs $279.99 for the 1TB four tuner configuration (which includes a free guide service). Right now, the 1TB four tuner Sling TV Anywhere is $99 when you prepay for three months of any Sling package at $30.00 per month -- or $189 -- and includes an indoor antenna. A good deal if you do not want an antenna or three months of Sling and a great deal if you have use for one or both of the bundled items. The quality of tuner on these devices is comparable. In my experience, the whole house DVRs tend to be softer than set top boxes due to compression required to get the stream to work over wireless. The Recast makes things a bit worse by saving files in 720p. Your content may be scaled to 720p by the Recast then sent to a television that re-scales to 1080i. the Recast looks great on my Echo Shows and 720p sets but a bit soft on the 4k sets. The Tablo TV lets you select the saved resolution. You can bump the saved resolution to 1024 for better quality or 480p to save space. It's not clear how the Sling TV Anywhere DVR saves files. I called their tech support. After a long wait on hold, the CSR said they 'think' their DVR saves at the incoming resolution. All of these DVRs have four tuners. The Tablo TV DVR and the Sling TV Anywhere DVR can record or stream four programs simultaneously. The Recast can record four programs simultaneously but can only stream two concurrently. Also, while the Tablo TV DVR and the Sling TV Anywhere DVR can stream to just about any streamer, tv, or phone, the Recast can only stream to Fire TV devices (including the Echo Show devices) and IOS and Android phones. And, while the Tablo TV DVR and the Sling TV Anywhere DVR can stream to devices which are not phones outside your home, the Recast can not stream to external devices other than phones. I should also talk about OTT. OTT or streaming includes apps like Netflix, Prime, Sling TV, Pluto, Philo, YouTube TV, and all the rest. The devices these DVRs run on support many streaming services. The Recast and Sling TV Anywhere DVR integrate some of these services into the DVR's electronic program guide. I love this integration. The Sling TV Anywhere DVR integrates Sling, of course. The Recast integrates Philo, Pluto, Sling TV, and Prime Channels into the Recast's program guide. This only works for FireTV apps. Echo Shows only list OTA channels in the guide. Still slick. All include 1TB of internal storage. The Recast and Tablo TV DVRs support additional storage via USB. Sling promises to add this feature via a software update (as Amazon did with the Recast). In my home, most of the televisions I watch regularly have a TiVo Roamio/OTA on top. I prefer a set top box for picture quality and responsiveness. I have a Recast for my Echo Shows and a few TVs not close to coax or ethernet. I bought the Sling Air TV DVR for use outside my home. Primarily for use of others. In fact, I will be looking for someone who would 'swap' external streams with me so we can add to our OTA programming. I did want to be able to follow the election, so the Sling TV Blue three month subscription represents value to me. I know people who could use the antenna, too. I got 5% cashback ($9.45) by using Discover via PayPal, so the cost of the DVR and antenna bundle was technically $88.55. I've just installed this DVR, but I'm impressed. Setup is simple, but requires a smart phone. Picture quality on my 55" 4K TCL Roku TV rivals my TiVo and is much better than the Recast. On my 32" 720p set, the picture is as good as the Recast. Tuner performance is on par with the TiVo and Recast. When one of my marginal channels became unwatchable on the Sling TV DVR Anywhere, it was also unwatchable on the TiVo and the Recast. I brought a 4K Fire TV Stick to work today. Plugged it into a television and AC power, signed onto the wifi network, ran the Sling app, and was watching television -- my antenna, Sling Blue, and Pluto. Very nice. I'm hoping to find someone to share antennas with. I did this with the Simple TV DVR. It was awesome. They planned to launch in Europe and I was going to swap antennas with someone in the UK. Happy Shopping!
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I think it depends on the amenities. If you golf and there are nine holes out back, maybe that does it for you. Tennis courts. A recreation center with activities. Restaurant and/or lounge. They were talking about building one in my sleepy town which had assisted living, a pharmacy, a clinic, and shopping. A large Chinese restaurant near where I work put in a drive in screen, socially distanced picnic tables, and started serving people in the parking lot.
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First Contest! Win a Mystery Shirt Prize Pack! [Winners Posted]
len_mullen replied to Brad's topic in 2020
Kill joy! -
The word that escapes you is flair...
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Informal poll about your holiday shopping plans & thoughts
len_mullen replied to Brad's topic in 2020
You are correct, of course. Push polling is very common and there are countless techniques to achieve some desired result based on a survey. FWIW... IOW, our data is good. Take my word for it! I totally discount the survey. -
My oldest no longer has a console and my youngest plays on an Xbox One. Neither is interested in either console at this time. My youngest is not sure which console he would upgrade to. Says he is waiting to see what the people he plays with do. Personally, I think the PS5 is a better console with better games and a more civil community.
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Maybe, but to a certain extent, you get what you pay for. I like this television for $118... https://www.walmart.com/ip/TCL-32-Class-720P-HD-LED-Roku-Smart-TV-3-Series-32S331/721539264
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Is 32" enough? Televisions have been steeply discounted all summer. Walmart.com has the 55" TCL 55S421 4K UHD HDR Roku Smart LED HDTV on sale for $278 with free shipping. It's in and out of stock and been on sale all summer, but I have two of these and like them very much... https://www.walmart.com/ip/TCL-55-Class-4K-UHD-LED-Roku-Smart-TV-HDR-4-Series-55S421/616382144
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I agree. I have not purchased candy yet and never decorate for Halloween. We live on a cul de sac of old people so I usually end up eating what I buy. Keeping my powder dry this year hoping to maintain my girlish figure! If you are looking for Halloween themed candy, Aldis has plenty of it at great prices.
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Informal poll about your holiday shopping plans & thoughts
len_mullen replied to Brad's topic in 2020
Did you find a description of polling methods? I could not. I'd like to know more about sampling of cohorts -- what percentage of those surveyed shopped in stores last year, for instance, or what percentage of those surveyed were black, high income, gen x, etc. -
Get an ADDITIONAL $15 off with promo code NEW. Happy shopping! https://www.qvc.com/Amazon-ALL-NEW-Fire-8"-32GB-Tablet-w-Software-%26-Case-Voucher.product.E234326.html QVC PRICE: Amazon ALL-NEW Fire 8" 32GB Tablet w/ Software & Case Voucher $59.96 +Free Standard S&H https://www.qvc.com/Amazon-ALL-NEW-Fire-8%22-64GB-Tablet-w-Software-%26-Case-Voucher.product.E234327.html QVC PRICE: Amazon ALL-NEW Fire 8" 64GB Tablet w/ Software & Case Voucher $89.96 +Free Standard S&H
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To be fair, it's been a LONG time since anyone has had a one-day-Black-Friday-sale. And there is Cyber Monday. Recently, November has been Black Friday Months with door busters and not-so-secret sales each weekend. If Amazon has Prime Days in October, that will mark the beginning of Black Friday -- unless Walmart has a preemptive sale.
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The future of malls -- community centers. I have seen two shopping centers built at new housing projects near major highways. Both are bus stops as well. Work all day, take the bus home, work out at the gym, and grab milk and eggs on your way to your condo. They have wifi on the buses, but now they need to figure out how to socially distance people on their commute.
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Probably not shopping at Staples this year. It's the end of an era, really. I have two bags of ink cartridges to recycle (October and November). I am eligible to recycle ink cartridges for two months. I'll get three more rewards 'checks' (October, November, and December). I have $145 in Staples gift cards. I have to spend $522.94 by the end of the year to maintain my Rewards status. That's only one fourth the story. I bought a new desktop last Black Friday. I have an HP 8620 all-in-one with maybe ten pages printed. I have enough ink for this printer to last me for the rest of my life. I have three boxes of paper and a drawer of specialty paper. We all have great laptops. That's only one fourth the story. My oldest if out of school and does not own a printer. My youngest is in a 'sustainable' program that does everything paperlessly. I print about a ream a year. That's only one fourth the story. Changes to Staples Rewards and Discover Cash Back have dramatically diminished the stream of unearned income I spent at Staples. Discover used to sell Staples gift cards at a 50% discount. Now the discount is about 15%. I only use my Discover card for the 5% deals as my Paypal Mastercard gives 2% on everything. So 1.15x(4x(75))) yields $345 in Staples gift cards -- about a third of the $1000 spend threshold to maintain rewards status. Free-after-rewards is gone. Rare coupons are heavily exempted. Price matching is over. Almost everything is less expensive somewhere else. That's only one fourth the story. I'll recycle my ink, spend my $265, and use my Staples Rewards to get discounts on Amazon.com. That's the whole story. It was fun while it lasted...
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Three years ago, I popped into Walmart on my way home from Thanksgiving dinner to pickup a pair of iPhones. Easy peasy and I got to sleep in Friday.