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Post by ashpit on Apr 1, 2016 2:37:55 GMT -8
I know that this thread had pretty much died in the earlier part of this month; however, it bothers me that an item can no longer have a ten year lifespan without being considered an antiquity! With that attitude, we have programmed ourselves into accepting the fact that everything must be replaced after X amount of time! Electronics are ripe with this built-in automatic obsolescence perception. The wife and I bought a new 2014 Chevy Sonic this spring. At the time of deal closure the sales manager made a statement that new car warrantees end at 3 years, because the electronics will start to fail at that time! Just what I wanted to hear after shelling out almost 20 grand for a car!!!
I understand that to stay on top of the GAME "New and Exciting" must be included in the advertising! However, my money would more easily fall from my wallet if "Robust & Long Life" were a part of the sales pitch!
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Post by riogrande on Apr 1, 2016 8:23:27 GMT -8
I know that this thread had pretty much died in the earlier part of this month; however, it bothers me that an item can no longer have a ten year lifespan without being considered an antiquity! There isn't anything complicated here, or sinister. On the market for products, they will be compared to competing products. If something much better comes out, the other things will be compared to it and there you go. It's a free market economy so if you like Tsunami and are pleased, enjoy it. Me, if the cost is about the same, of course I'm going to pick the best product I can find. I don't really know about all the above but what I do know, is that I am really impressed with the sounds of the Loksound decoders I have heard demonstrations of. Cars, sound decoders, or what have you, a better product comes along, people are going to shift to it as a general rule. It's not a bad thing, it's just a natural process. |
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Post by mlehman on Apr 1, 2016 12:28:48 GMT -8
SNIP Cars, sound decoders, or what have you, a better product comes along, people are going to shift to it as a general rule. It's not a bad thing, it's just a natural process. I wouldn't say it's a bad thing. I'm a bit skeptical about it being a natural process, though, when we're talking about part of this being driven by marketing. Of course, some outfit that's made a big investment wants to earn a return on that investment. Soundtraxx has been doing that for almost a decade with the Tsunami. Others like you to think there's a whole bunch of new in this year's edition, when it's just a new form-factor, new files, whatever. Soundtraxx does the same thing, but more from the angle of consistency. Their method of how the sound files are firmware is dated now, which tends to show the advantage of doing those as uploadable files, but that's going to be changing... Then there is that whole "keeping up with the Jones" thing in our culture...if you can afford to play. Most decoders sold go into new installs, rather than replacing older ones. True, they are sometime sold as replacements for existing sound decoders. Then, the consumer needs to decide if the incremental changes are enough reason to invest in a new decoder for a loco that they already have sound installed in in many cases now, since sound has been with us for some time. And people do pop up declaring they've invested time and money in doing just that. But my guess is that this is less than 10% of the total market sales. Can you be satisfied with that "old, outdated, moribund, last generation, superseded" decoder? Actually, people probably are in most cases (at least from the Tsunami generation forward.) I was reminded of that at a recent ops session here where two of the major operators in these parts were observing and listening to a brace of double-headed Blackstone K-27s. They were just floored by how good the sound was, in part because I'd spent some time tuning the DDE to get them working well together. I doubt they would find much believable, at least in terms of pulling out their wallets, in much of what's been said here about the Tsunami (discounting that which has been mainly grumpiness about diesels Tsunamis). Seriously, I had to pick their jaws up off the floor and hand them back. I didn't have the heart to tell them how "old, outdated, moribund, last generation, superseded" that sound was supposed to be... |
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Post by ashpit on Apr 3, 2016 3:58:31 GMT -8
No loss. It's 10+ year old technology. And that sums it up right there. How many have a 10+ year old cell phone? Yea, I thought so. As soon as Tsunami II or whatever hits the shelves, there will be Tsunamis all over Ebay as many will try to upgrade to the latest and greatest. There is no way that Soundtraxx is going to just roll over and go away, or be content producing an occasional Blackstone release. They know what they are doing and obviously have something up their sleeve. Jim The above comment is what prompted me to reply to this thread! While I can't disagree with what GP40P2 has said, however, how he said it bothers me, as it seems so matter of fact that things simply don't last and that we must constantly shell out more and more money to stay as close to the crest of the technology wave as we can! The comment makes me wish I would have stayed with DC control! (I now realize that I was commenting about something stated on the first page and my post was placed on the seventh page). I guess that is O.K. as my cell phone is a track-phone and only provides phone service and the phone I have in my bedroom is a dial phone that I still know how to use! I'm sorry; but, I am not O.K. with the fact that everything electronic that I own becomes obsolete the second I buy it! This is a commentary by a 66 year old! |
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Post by riogrande on Apr 3, 2016 5:16:11 GMT -8
ashpit, I'm definitely not one to keep on the cusp of the bleeding edge of techonlogy. I had a "dumb" cell phone until one year ago, and only switched to a cheap Nokia Lumia Win 8 smart phone last year because I could use wi-fi and pay as you go to cut my phone bills in half for the family. I have noticed most people around me have I-phones and extremely high monthly bills; one guy at worked told me for him, his wife and his kid they spent $250/mo. lining Apples pockets. My wife and I and her son pay probably around $30 or so per month. I did get a Digitrax Chief way back in the late 1990's because I never cared for controlling trains by blocks, I still have the same system although since I didn't have a place to build a layout it's been in storage along with my trains until last couple years. As for sound, I probably won't replace my inferior QSI and Tsunami, but if I buy any new sound decoders, I'll try to get LokSound.
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Post by mlehman on Apr 3, 2016 7:54:46 GMT -8
Cell phones? Yeah, they make good throttles, but I wouldn't have one or two around if not for that  But cell phones are a good example of how the incremental addition of new features designed to encourage consumers to get their wallet out applies to decoders. Fortunately, your decoder only has to run your loco while making appropriate noises. Like making a phone call or acting like a digital Walkman (remember those?) once it can do the basics, the rest is gravy. The "what would be nice" category has to really add up before you shell out the big bucks for a new phone or decoder. Then there's there the case for putting those bucks into new equipment. I'd much rather have a new K-36 equipped with that new Soundtraxx decoder than 4 of whatever is next in decoders from Soundtraxx to re-equip 4 older locos with a new decoder when I'm basically as happy with what's in them currently as I was when I acquired them stretching back nearly a decade. And on my limited budget that's what will happen, all the more so when visitors seem to have no issues with the now-old school sound. |
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Post by ashpit on Apr 6, 2016 2:53:17 GMT -8
Mike,
Are you actually using cell phones to control trains? Do they allow you to adjust CVs, too?
I remember the Soundtraxx Tsunami coming on the market, just after the Tsunami wave hit the Malaysia/Sumatra area in Christmas of 2004. I remember thinking "Tsunami" was a poor choice of names for it, because of this disaster and since then thinking what a great name! If Soundtraxx is going to come-up with a new Sound Decoder, I would call it a Tsunami II.
My kids glomb onto technology so much faster than I do! I could likely get my Grand Daughter to help me with my DCC questions and my thoughts are she would read one of the decoder manuals and grasp what is stated right away, whereas I read it over and end up with my eyes glazing over and not understanding until maybe the 9th-10th read over. I was a tool and die maker, able to read over prints and absorb what was shown on them with ease and I knew how to carry-out the process of building things with machine tools. I wouldn't last 2 minutes working for a company like Soundtraxx! At any rate, I manage to get the job done, sooner; or, later with decoder installs and changing CVs; but, my guess is it takes me far longer than you; or, other younger folks. I have a friend, who is now 70! He understands technology far better than I do. Good for him! These are just the ramblings of an older generation Model Railroader.
Mark
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Post by mlehman on Apr 6, 2016 12:10:21 GMT -8
Mark, Yes, using smart cell phones, not the old school kind. That's one of the main reasons I have JMRI on the layout now, the other being DecoderPro to keep all my CV settings straight. Info on the WiThrottle Mac device app is here: jmri.sourceforge.net/help/en/package/jmri/jmrit/withrottle/UserInterface.shtmlThe Android version is called EngineDriver. JMRI can still get you scratching your head sometimes, but they are improving it. Since it's free and a serial to USB adapter is cheap is easy to get into it. WiThrottle is $10 for the full version, free for the cheap one. EngineDriver is free IIRC. I can customize the Function buttons for each loco with WiThrottle. But you can't program directly with it. It does allow you to work various screens on the main box, so there is a backdoor way around that if you really need it (I don't and the screen would be too small IMO, unless you use an iPad). However, you do get access to throw turnouts if you have them decoder equipped. You can also put other info like schedules, route diagrams, ops stuff, etc on the JMRI webserver (which is what could allow a workaround to control CVs.) The whole mess operates on the home Wifi network, thanks to my wife's geek skills.  Normally, that's easy to do with this (so don't fear it), but our system is a bit different because of security needs when working at home from her job. |
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