Things that annoy you beyond reason...(Vol. 7)

Things that annoy you beyond reason...(Vol. 7)

Author
Discussion

Dan Singh

829 posts

49 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2023
quotequote all
Ebay emails that quote a price for an item then when I go to the listing I find it is actually quite a lot more. This has happened enough times that it's really annoying me now.

droopsnoot

11,810 posts

241 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2023
quotequote all
stemll said:
What you need is MakeMKV and Handbrake. Can't remember the last time I actually used a DVD in a DVD player, they all sit on the NAS now and play through Plex and not a menu in sight. The discs themselves are all in archive sleeves to remove the massive waste of space (in comparison) that a DVD box uses up. Each one now barely takes more shelf space than the disc.
I've heard of Handbrake, I think that's been around ages - a mate in work more than 10 years ago was doing exactly the same thing. These aren't things I'll watch over and over again though - I've picked up box sets for nothing or next to nothing for some stuff that passed me by when everyone else was watching it. Sometimes because it just did, and sometimes because it was on satellite or elsewhere. For what I'm doing with them, setting up some sort of shared media sharer and ripping all the discs to it isn't going to be a time saver. Thanks for the reminder, though, as there is some stuff that I might want to do that with.

Dan Singh said:
Ebay emails that quote a price for an item then when I go to the listing I find it is actually quite a lot more. This has happened enough times that it's really annoying me now.
Yes, when you find that the headline price is actually for a 3/4" long USB cable and the thing you actually want is much more expensive. No point sorting results by "price including P&P" any more.

Wombat3

11,969 posts

205 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2023
quotequote all
droopsnoot said:
stemll said:
What you need is MakeMKV and Handbrake. Can't remember the last time I actually used a DVD in a DVD player, they all sit on the NAS now and play through Plex and not a menu in sight. The discs themselves are all in archive sleeves to remove the massive waste of space (in comparison) that a DVD box uses up. Each one now barely takes more shelf space than the disc.
I've heard of Handbrake, I think that's been around ages - a mate in work more than 10 years ago was doing exactly the same thing. These aren't things I'll watch over and over again though - I've picked up box sets for nothing or next to nothing for some stuff that passed me by when everyone else was watching it. Sometimes because it just did, and sometimes because it was on satellite or elsewhere. For what I'm doing with them, setting up some sort of shared media sharer and ripping all the discs to it isn't going to be a time saver. Thanks for the reminder, though, as there is some stuff that I might want to do that with.

Dan Singh said:
Ebay emails that quote a price for an item then when I go to the listing I find it is actually quite a lot more. This has happened enough times that it's really annoying me now.
Yes, when you find that the headline price is actually for a 3/4" long USB cable and the thing you actually want is much more expensive. No point sorting results by "price including P&P" any more.
I've tried ripping DVDs with Handbrake. My problem is that my PC is so old (though perfectly fine for what I need it for day to day) it would take decades to rip them all smile

RizzoTheRat

25,085 posts

191 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2023
quotequote all
droopsnoot said:
I've heard of Handbrake, I think that's been around ages - a mate in work more than 10 years ago was doing exactly the same thing. These aren't things I'll watch over and over again though - I've picked up box sets for nothing or next to nothing for some stuff that passed me by when everyone else was watching it. Sometimes because it just did, and sometimes because it was on satellite or elsewhere. For what I'm doing with them, setting up some sort of shared media sharer and ripping all the discs to it isn't going to be a time saver. Thanks for the reminder, though, as there is some stuff that I might want to do that with.
The trouble now though is that when DVD's first came out, a 480p or PAL picture on your 27" TV looked fantastic when you were used to VHS or a bit of atmospheric interference on the analogue TV signal. Now we've got used to 4k on a TV 4 times the size, plus 5.1 Atmos etc. they look and sound a little dated biggrin

Bluedot

3,573 posts

106 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2023
quotequote all
droopsnoot said:
stemll said:
What you need is MakeMKV and Handbrake. Can't remember the last time I actually used a DVD in a DVD player, they all sit on the NAS now and play through Plex and not a menu in sight. The discs themselves are all in archive sleeves to remove the massive waste of space (in comparison) that a DVD box uses up. Each one now barely takes more shelf space than the disc.
I've heard of Handbrake, I think that's been around ages - a mate in work more than 10 years ago was doing exactly the same thing. These aren't things I'll watch over and over again though - I've picked up box sets for nothing or next to nothing for some stuff that passed me by when everyone else was watching it. Sometimes because it just did, and sometimes because it was on satellite or elsewhere. For what I'm doing with them, setting up some sort of shared media sharer and ripping all the discs to it isn't going to be a time saver. Thanks for the reminder, though, as there is some stuff that I might want to do that with.

Dan Singh said:
Ebay emails that quote a price for an item then when I go to the listing I find it is actually quite a lot more. This has happened enough times that it's really annoying me now.
Yes, when you find that the headline price is actually for a 3/4" long USB cable and the thing you actually want is much more expensive. No point sorting results by "price including P&P" any more.
Ebay has really shot itself in the foot with this, it's pretty much unusable now thanks to the 'price from this to this' listings.
I use Amazon now as my go to place to buy something quick.



TameRacingDriver

18,048 posts

271 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2023
quotequote all
I can't understand why these companies always end up doing something to completely ruin the experience. Whenever something gets popular, they'll eventually make changes that seem to achieve nothing but drive people away from it.

I notice YouTube are doing their best to drive people away too with their adverts and other ridiculous annoyances such as playing things deliberately in low quality, or pausing things because you haven't moved your mouse (obviously, because I'm watching a fking video), and so on. Even the content creators themselves are complaining about the silly rules and policies they have to adhere to and some of them are now setting up on other channels like rumble.

Jonmx

2,535 posts

212 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2023
quotequote all
Cufflinks. Not all of them, just those cheap bobble ones that seem to be the only ones you can ever find when in a rush. They were clearly designed by someone with three hands and the dexterity to use them. Bloody things.

ro250

2,734 posts

56 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2023
quotequote all
Dan Singh said:
Ebay emails that quote a price for an item then when I go to the listing I find it is actually quite a lot more. This has happened enough times that it's really annoying me now.
While on the subject of ebay, I rarely sell stuff but I just sold something for £55 and the fees were £7.34. I don't remember them being so steep when I sold stuff years ago.

yellowjack

17,065 posts

165 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2023
quotequote all
Dan Singh said:
Ebay emails that quote a price for an item then when I go to the listing I find it is actually quite a lot more. This has happened enough times that it's really annoying me now.
Much the same with many online stores, even those that have "bricks and mortar" shops. Put up a headline price for, eg: a cycling jacket. Customer (me!) who has been searching for a cycling jacket thinks "excellent - a known, trusted brand at a ridiculously low price, I shall investigate further..."

Then you click the link, and find that, while there is A jacket available at THAT price, it's for a very weird colour jacket and then only to fit either a silverback Mountain Gorilla or an Ewok. If you want the jacket in anything resembling an aesthetically pleasing colour which will actually fit an anywhere normal-sized human being, it'll be double the price please.

Same at physical shops. Big red "Sale!" sign on the end of a rack. Go to rack, see a jacket I like the look of. See the price of that jacket at £34.99, down from £79.99. Cool. I'll get one. Pull out a nicer colour in my size, further back along the same sale rail, only to find it's reduced by far less or not reduced at all. Go back to the less palatable colour only to find it's only left in stock in sizes suitable for Orangutans or House Elves.

Currently annoying me? Broken promises by internet suppliers. I went to a local bicycle shop. I found the exact jacket I wanted, in the colour I wanted for £65.00. Tried on a size medium, I could get into it but it was a little too snug to be comfortable. I asked, they didn't have (nor could they order) a size large for me. They apologised for the disappointment and I went back to the internet. Now armed with the knowledge that I needed a size large in that style, I searched. Everyone, everywhere was out of stock of the yellow in a large. So I ordered it, on Sunday night, for £29.99, size large, in blue, and got an email thanking me for my order. An email that promised to "keep you updated on the progress of your order". It also promised that the item would be dispatched from the business on Monday and should arrive between Wednesday and Sunday. Since then, not a peep from them. I'd at least like to know that they did indeed have stock, and that it did, as promised, get dispatched on Monday. I accept that they can't influence what the courier/Royal Mail do with it once it's out of their hands, but they assured me at the point of order that I'd be kept updated as to it's progress. And if it hasn't been dispatched, for whatever reason? Then I'd hope to have been told that by now, and why, because it's a rather urgent need for me and if they can't fulfil that order by the weekend I'd want to know sooner rather than later so that I could at least go out and buy something "far less desirable but better than getting wet" in it's place.

popeyewhite

19,622 posts

119 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2023
quotequote all
yellowjack said:
Then you click the link, and find that, while there is A jacket available at THAT price, it's for a very weird colour jacket and then only to fit either a silverback Mountain Gorilla or an Ewok. If you want the jacket in anything resembling an aesthetically pleasing colour which will actually fit an anywhere normal-sized human being, it'll be double the price please.
Amazon has been guilty of this for years.

Advert: the boots I want, at half price as well!!
Website: oh, child size three.

Richard-390a0

2,224 posts

90 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2023
quotequote all
ro250 said:
While on the subject of ebay, I rarely sell stuff but I just sold something for £55 and the fees were £7.34. I don't remember them being so steep when I sold stuff years ago.
There's no listing fee's or paypal fee's these days so rather than three smaller bites of the cherry they're now just taking the one so the high cost of selling is more obviously apparent than when it was split between the listing, final value & paypal fees imho.

Cotty

39,389 posts

283 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2023
quotequote all
SteveStrange said:
I can find a cassette player and a record player, but not a CD or DVD player.
My DVD player on my PC packed in recently so bought an external DVD drive for £25 its smaller than a DVD case

Zumbruk

7,848 posts

259 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2023
quotequote all
mko9 said:
I remember what a great thing it was when your photos came back with a CD included, forever preserving them digitally. Fast forward 20 years and there doesn't seem to be a computer sold today that comes with a CD/DVD drive. In another 20 years, all of that (fairly useless) data will be lost forever.
https://www.dell.com/ae/business/p/optiplex-7060-d...

21st Century Man

40,660 posts

247 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2023
quotequote all
Cotty said:
SteveStrange said:
I can find a cassette player and a record player, but not a CD or DVD player.
My DVD player on my PC packed in recently so bought an external DVD drive for £25 its smaller than a DVD case
The CD/DVD drive on my lap top stopped being supported, could not refresh or reinstall the software, thought I was being clever buying an external drive, that won't work either. It's like they decided on a certain date that it was fk you day, and my drive was never going to work again. Can't play CD's or DVD or anything on a disc anymore.

Cotty

39,389 posts

283 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2023
quotequote all
21st Century Man said:
The CD/DVD drive on my lap top stopped being supported, could not refresh or reinstall the software, thought I was being clever buying an external drive, that won't work either. It's like they decided on a certain date that it was fk you day, and my drive was never going to work again. Can't play CD's or DVD or anything on a disc anymore.
I transferred all my CDs to my phone years ago and haven't touched an actual disk in years. Also I can fine anything I want on YouTube currently listening to Pink Floyd - Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun and I don't have that on CD.

I really need a DVD player though as I have 400+ DVDs and like to watch stuff again.

droopsnoot

11,810 posts

241 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2023
quotequote all
RizzoTheRat said:
The trouble now though is that when DVD's first came out, a 480p or PAL picture on your 27" TV looked fantastic when you were used to VHS or a bit of atmospheric interference on the analogue TV signal. Now we've got used to 4k on a TV 4 times the size, plus 5.1 Atmos etc. they look and sound a little dated biggrin
You're quite right, though I'm still on either a 32" or 40" TV watching broadcast SD TV because I can't be bothered getting up to switch it over when the local news comes on, or if I do, I can't be bothered switching it back afterwards. I love the quality of these new TVs, but mainly when I'm watching demos in the shop.

r3g

2,919 posts

23 months

Wednesday 22nd March 2023
quotequote all
Bluedot said:
droopsnoot said:
stemll said:
What you need is MakeMKV and Handbrake. Can't remember the last time I actually used a DVD in a DVD player, they all sit on the NAS now and play through Plex and not a menu in sight. The discs themselves are all in archive sleeves to remove the massive waste of space (in comparison) that a DVD box uses up. Each one now barely takes more shelf space than the disc.
I've heard of Handbrake, I think that's been around ages - a mate in work more than 10 years ago was doing exactly the same thing. These aren't things I'll watch over and over again though - I've picked up box sets for nothing or next to nothing for some stuff that passed me by when everyone else was watching it. Sometimes because it just did, and sometimes because it was on satellite or elsewhere. For what I'm doing with them, setting up some sort of shared media sharer and ripping all the discs to it isn't going to be a time saver. Thanks for the reminder, though, as there is some stuff that I might want to do that with.

Dan Singh said:
Ebay emails that quote a price for an item then when I go to the listing I find it is actually quite a lot more. This has happened enough times that it's really annoying me now.
Yes, when you find that the headline price is actually for a 3/4" long USB cable and the thing you actually want is much more expensive. No point sorting results by "price including P&P" any more.
Ebay has really shot itself in the foot with this, it's pretty much unusable now thanks to the 'price from this to this' listings.
I use Amazon now as my go to place to buy something quick.
wobble

Amazon is worse than Ebay for doing this st.

Bluedot

3,573 posts

106 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
r3g said:
Amazon is worse than Ebay for doing this st.
They're really not.

For example:
Search for 'usb charging lead' on both sites, Ebay is far worse.

popeyewhite

19,622 posts

119 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
Bluedot said:
They're really not.

For example:
Search for 'usb charging lead' on both sites, Ebay is far worse.
That's not the same context described by r3g and others. I don't think they're describing the search facility, rather the veracity/misleading nature of the advertising.

Bluedot

3,573 posts

106 months

Thursday 23rd March 2023
quotequote all
popeyewhite said:
Bluedot said:
They're really not.

For example:
Search for 'usb charging lead' on both sites, Ebay is far worse.
That's not the same context described by r3g and others. I don't think they're describing the search facility, rather the veracity/misleading nature of the advertising.
I used the term 'search' as that's surely how anyone finds most things on Ebay or Amazon ?
I was just providing that as an example, if you search on either site you will indeed see the veracity/misleading nature of the adverts.
In my opinion, Ebay is far worse when you compare the two.