Unsought experience
May. 31st, 2018 11:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
robotech_masterExperience is what you get when you were expecting something else.
I got some experience with that refurb Roku Stick I ordered. I thought I was doing a good thing by getting the very latest model, but it turns out it has a wee little incompatibility issue with my old receiver. My old receiver only does plain-vanilla Dolby Digital and DTS. However, online streaming services carry their signal in DD+, which isn't compatible, and so plays via older devices as stereo rather than surround.
To play surround through older DD devices, there's one specific version of Roku that I need—the 2016 Roku Ultra. It, alone, has the ability to downmix DD+ to DD and work with older receivers. 2017 models do not.
Of course, Roku customer service didn't know anything about this when I contacted them to ask about it. They only asked me if I'd already tried the troubleshooting guides on the website. (I had.) But that's what customer service representatives do.
I only learned the actual reason for it by dint of Google and a Roku user forum thread. And there's no way I would ever even have thought to look into Dolby Digital vs. Dolby Digital+ before actually getting the device and coming face-to-face with the problem. So, back it goes to Amazon.
At least I learned something, and picked up a little experience in home theater setup. But, as I said, I was expecting something else.
Meanwhile, matters plumbing-related have finally come to a head. Ever since last winter, I'd been dealing with leaky faucets on my tub dripping into my kitchen ceiling, and the corroded drain trap keeping the tub from draining out. Finally, it got to the point where my tub wouldn't drain at all, and my garbage disposal had stopped working, too. And I got a voicemail from a plumber soliciting a free inspection and estimate, so why not. I managed to get the day off from work, and now I've got a plumber at work fixing things.
The century-old condo I live in has a number of little idiosyncrasies, including in its plumbing. Perhaps the weirdest is the way the tub's faucets are against the outer wall, so the plumber had to knock a hole in the wall to get to them instead of being able to access them from the back. Likewise, he had to knock a hole in the kitchen ceiling to get at the tub from below—but given how much it had leaked, the plaster just pulled right out in his hands.
The plumber has had cause to remark on various other oddities of the configurations of the pipes—but given that his company specializes in older houses, it's not the most unusual he's ever seen.
About the only thing we're not having done is the garbage disposal, as my brother wants to fix that himself. (And given that he's paying for the rest of it, I'm happy to let him make those decisions.)
It will be nice having a bathtub that actually drains properly (and the new drain system will actually have a switchable drain, rather than requiring one of those flat rubber things held down by water pressure). I only wish it wasn't costing so much money.
Of course, I'm not paying for it, but I still feel bad about the extra expense, and the additional strain this is going to put on my relationship with my brother. I also feel this odd sense of guilt that somehow it's my fault for letting the damage get this bad, but on the other hand these problems existed before we even bought the place—it's not as if I caused them.
I got some experience with that refurb Roku Stick I ordered. I thought I was doing a good thing by getting the very latest model, but it turns out it has a wee little incompatibility issue with my old receiver. My old receiver only does plain-vanilla Dolby Digital and DTS. However, online streaming services carry their signal in DD+, which isn't compatible, and so plays via older devices as stereo rather than surround.
To play surround through older DD devices, there's one specific version of Roku that I need—the 2016 Roku Ultra. It, alone, has the ability to downmix DD+ to DD and work with older receivers. 2017 models do not.
Of course, Roku customer service didn't know anything about this when I contacted them to ask about it. They only asked me if I'd already tried the troubleshooting guides on the website. (I had.) But that's what customer service representatives do.
I only learned the actual reason for it by dint of Google and a Roku user forum thread. And there's no way I would ever even have thought to look into Dolby Digital vs. Dolby Digital+ before actually getting the device and coming face-to-face with the problem. So, back it goes to Amazon.
At least I learned something, and picked up a little experience in home theater setup. But, as I said, I was expecting something else.
Meanwhile, matters plumbing-related have finally come to a head. Ever since last winter, I'd been dealing with leaky faucets on my tub dripping into my kitchen ceiling, and the corroded drain trap keeping the tub from draining out. Finally, it got to the point where my tub wouldn't drain at all, and my garbage disposal had stopped working, too. And I got a voicemail from a plumber soliciting a free inspection and estimate, so why not. I managed to get the day off from work, and now I've got a plumber at work fixing things.
The century-old condo I live in has a number of little idiosyncrasies, including in its plumbing. Perhaps the weirdest is the way the tub's faucets are against the outer wall, so the plumber had to knock a hole in the wall to get to them instead of being able to access them from the back. Likewise, he had to knock a hole in the kitchen ceiling to get at the tub from below—but given how much it had leaked, the plaster just pulled right out in his hands.
The plumber has had cause to remark on various other oddities of the configurations of the pipes—but given that his company specializes in older houses, it's not the most unusual he's ever seen.
About the only thing we're not having done is the garbage disposal, as my brother wants to fix that himself. (And given that he's paying for the rest of it, I'm happy to let him make those decisions.)
It will be nice having a bathtub that actually drains properly (and the new drain system will actually have a switchable drain, rather than requiring one of those flat rubber things held down by water pressure). I only wish it wasn't costing so much money.
Of course, I'm not paying for it, but I still feel bad about the extra expense, and the additional strain this is going to put on my relationship with my brother. I also feel this odd sense of guilt that somehow it's my fault for letting the damage get this bad, but on the other hand these problems existed before we even bought the place—it's not as if I caused them.
