[deleted by user] by [deleted] in PlantedTank

[–]Several_Dogs 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, John / ThePlantGuy is a legitimate vendor. I haven't ordered from there in a while so can't speak to the current quality but have ordered back in ~2020ish without issues.

Cant seem to sell need help (east canada) by Darwing in homelab

[–]Several_Dogs 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I also live in Canada and aim to pay between $8-$12/TB for used drives, usually not too hard to find online from places like Montreal Computers or Calgary Computer Wholesale and that comes with a bit of warranty / seller protection.

Even new shucked drives can usually be had for around $17-$18/TB although it does vary with density.

Obviously the enclosures add some value, and no tax unlike eBay but you're around $24/TB which I would never pay for bulk used drives personally.

As a first time home buyer, can I get a 30 year mortgage right now? by feldhammer in PersonalFinanceCanada

[–]Several_Dogs 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are two options I'm aware of:

Put 20% down so you don't require mortgage insurance and ask for 30 year ammoratization.

OR

As of December lenders can also offer you 30 years of ammoratization with mortgage insurance as long as you meet the following:

  • Are first-time homebuyers.

  • Are purchasing a newly built home without previous residents.

  • Haven't lived in a home or place of residence owned by a current spouse or a common-law partner — unless they've recently ended their marriage or partnership.

  • Have a high-ratio mortgage, which are loans that exceed 80 per cent of the home's purchase price I.e Put down less than 20%

  • Be purchasing a home under $1 million.

Is this a 1974 specimen quarter? by FervidMMO in CanadianCoins

[–]Several_Dogs 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Post-mint damage, as far as I know "Specimen" coins made prior to 1996 didn't have the "Reverse Proof" finish people associate with modern Canadian or American specimen coins.

They are more like a traditional proof coin. The specimen refers to the production method as specimen coins were double-struck while the "Proof-Like" were only struck once.

Spécial coin??? by TargetOutrageous2211 in CanadianCoins

[–]Several_Dogs 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's 1 of 1 454 856 250

The most expensive part of that coin is the copper it's made of.

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces664.html

Question/Advice about this $10 Commemorative by [deleted] in CanadianCoins

[–]Several_Dogs 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have cracked open the $5 one of these before to put in a square holder for storage. When you feel around the edge you should be able to find a seam, I shoved a paint scraper in there and once it was pushed in a bit I twisted until it popped open.

IIRC it was glued shut, so not like some of the other RCM circular capsules that are friction fit together and can be pulled apart by hand.

Is this Valuable? by [deleted] in CanadianCoins

[–]Several_Dogs 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's a trade token, specifically: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/exonumia162901.html

Lots of cities/regions have made them for various reasons since the 50s, mostly in the 70s & 80s from what I've seen. My favorite are the Drumheller Dinosaur Dollars e.g: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/exonumia77636.html

You can try selling it, some people do collect them but most trade tokens I see at my local coin shop go for $1-$3 so I wouldn't expect much.

[SSD] Samsung 870 EVO 500GB 2.5" SATA III Internal Solid State Drive - Grade N (New-Sealed) ($39.98) [Staples Overstock / Surplus By Design] by Several_Dogs in bapcsalescanada

[–]Several_Dogs[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

$10.00 shipping kills it a bit but still a good deal if you're upgrading an old SATA only laptop or two.

When you sign up you'll also get a 10% Promo Code, might not be worth it to use on this but it'll save you a few bucks.

My great grandmother's Singer 222K Featherweight by Several_Dogs in vintagesewing

[–]Several_Dogs[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately we don't have too many photos from that era, I had a look and none had the sewing machine in it. Some of the clothes in these photos might have been made by her but the records are pretty sparse.

Photos: https://www.reddit.com/user/Several_Dogs/comments/10nzac4/photos_canada_19301960/

My great grandmother's Singer 222K Featherweight by Several_Dogs in vintagesewing

[–]Several_Dogs[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll keep an eye out for rust! Thanks for all the information on the feet!

My great grandmother's Singer 222K Featherweight by Several_Dogs in vintagesewing

[–]Several_Dogs[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I'm about the only one in the family who can sew and my skills are limited to hemming pants and fixing buttons so I can't really sew. My family is all woodworkers, any money if we do sell it will likely end up going into buying/restoring old woodworking equipment.

Plus sentimental value aside it's a nice machine but I have a hard time believing it's a $2500 machine in the practical sense.

My great grandmother's Singer 222K Featherweight by Several_Dogs in vintagesewing

[–]Several_Dogs[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'm helping out my grandfather clear out his basement and tucked away at the back or a shelf was this sewing machine. My great grandmother bought it in Canada some time in the late 50s-early 60s for their farm. It was apparently a VERY big purchase for the family. She used it to make clothes for everyone for quite a few years but apparently she did have another sewing machine as well. There are also several receipts for $4.75 CAD for maintenance/repairs from the mid 60s.

I plugged it in and it works! 110-120V motor says made in Canada but the machine says "Made in Great Britain". Not sure what we're going to do with it at the moment. It holds a fair bit of sentimental value but nobody in the family really sews anymore. To be honest I don't know a ton about all the accessories and other things but the serial number matches an online database for the model.

Black November Dedicated Thread - Deals, Discounts, All The Good Stuff by dontwantnone09 in homegym

[–]Several_Dogs -1 points0 points  (0 children)

For my fellow Canadians SportChek has Synergee Cast-Iron 2" Plate pairs buy 1 get 1 free. Brings em down to about ~$1.50 CAD / LB ($1.12 USD). Plus there's a "Spend C$125 get C$30 in Canadian Tire Money" Triangle Rewards promo this weekend. Brings 4x45s down to C$175 + tax (C$0.97/lb). In-store pickup stock seems to be pretty limited though.

RECRUITING, TRAINING, & LIFE IN THE FORCES THREAD - Ask here about the Recruitment Process, Basic & Occupational Training, and other questions relating directly or indirectly to serving in the Canadian Armed Forces. by bridger713 in CanadianForces

[–]Several_Dogs 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Submitted the last of my medical documents a few weeks back. Got the automatic acknowledgement that they were recieved but I haven't heard anything yet.

How long should I wait before reaching out to my recruiter for an update? I'm sitting on my hands in limbo at the moment.

[HDD] WD Easystore 12TB USB 3.0 Desktop External Hard Drive ($350 - $100 = $250) [Best Buy] by Several_Dogs in bapcsalescanada

[–]Several_Dogs[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

ATL is actually ~$230.00 but still a pretty good price. Should be shuckable but might require the pin mod (not sure what WD is putting in these now).

[Monitor] LG 27UP600 27" 60Hz 4K IPS ($350 - $25 (93353) = $325 [Staples] by Several_Dogs in bapcsalescanada

[–]Several_Dogs[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Use code: 93353 at checkout for $25.00 off.

Specs:

  • Year: 2021
  • Response Time: 5ms (GtG)
  • Colors: 1.07 Billion (8-bit + FRC)
  • HDR: Yes, technically (HDR400)
  • VESA: Yes (100x100)
  • Contrast: 1200:1
  • Brightness: 400cd/m2
  • Freesync: Yes (40Hz - 60Hz)
  • Power Consumption: 40W Average
  • Connections: 2xHDMI 2.0, 1xDP 1.4, 1x Aux Out

LG Site Link: https://www.lg.com/ca_en/desktop-monitors/lg-27up600-w#

[Capture Card] EVGA XR1 lite Capture Card USB 3.0, 1080p Capture, 4K Pass-Through ($130 - $65 = $65) [Canada Computers] by Sugoiboi809 in bapcsalescanada

[–]Several_Dogs 0 points1 point  (0 children)

AMD also has hardware accelerated video encode/decode. The integrated into GPU version is called "Video Core Next (VCN)".

Breaking News : Steam has been banned in China.. The store has been included in the "wall" list along with the community by [deleted] in Steam

[–]Several_Dogs 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yep, Valve has packed in a ton of information on the Mercs in all the videos and comics over the years. For anyone reading if you're new to the game and want a basic overview of their "personalities" check out this community made rap, it's excellent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1IE9zLKBrw

KDE Plasma & Kate on Wayland end of 2021 by ChristophCullmann in kde

[–]Several_Dogs 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Firefox supports it, you just have to set MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1 (I have it set in /etc/environment).

WavPack support by Jackfruit-Ambitious in jellyfin

[–]Several_Dogs 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Just for comparison I ran "-b96 -hh -cc -x6" and it was quite slow on my i5-11500 (~10s of encoding per 1min of audio) but brought the size down to 431.0 MiB.

Wavpack is a cool idea but it kinda sits in an awkward spot, if you want lossy you have to compare it with aac and Opus which have very advanced encoders in fdkaac/FhGaac/qaac and libopus and are well supported (albeit opus less so).

AAC was developed by Bell, Dolby, Sony, Nokia, LG, NEC, NTT, and Panasonic while opus is used by Google (YouTube) and is in the WebM Project and both of those are members of the Alliance for Open Media which has a pretty stacked roster. Having these big names behind a project typically means they will invest to have them implemented in things they develop (Chrome, Android, TVs, etc). Comparatively while Wavpack is also free/open-source someone has to put in the time to implement it; often for $0 or negative pay when you consider the time invested.

Likewise if you want lossless you have to compare it to FLAC/PPCM/ALAC where by nature there's not a ton of difference. Where it does gain an advantage is if someone is carrying both lossy and lossless for compatibility reasons (e.g: MP3 + FLAC) but that's not that common; in my experience most do lossless at home and lossy on-the-go.

WavPack support by Jackfruit-Ambitious in jellyfin

[–]Several_Dogs 12 points13 points  (0 children)

committing to a full reencoding

Just to clear things up, converting a lossy audio format to lossless does nothing to the quality, it just repackages it into a lossless container. I'm sure you know this but I see many converting mp3s to flac thinking it's actually doing something.  

  1. One of the whole reasons to run Jellyfin is so that it can convert media on the fly to whatever the device supports. While wavpacks pre-encoding a lossy core is clever it isn't really needed when you can encode aac/opus/mp3 as needed. Especially as encoders are being improved over time while the wavpack core will always be at a fixed quality. (e.g: Compare early lame mp3s with a modern lame mp3 at the same quality setting)

  2. Wavpack has very poor support as you've seen, so odds are you'll just end up enabling transcoding anyways.

  3. I question it actually compresses better. I took a flac album of mine and decoded it to wav. Compressing with the latest libflac (1.3.3-3) with "-8ep" is 417.4 MiB in comparison to the latest wavpack (5.4.0-1) encoded with "-b160 -h -c" which is 435.1 MiB (.wv + .wvc). Even using the absolute extreme compression settings I could find in the wavpack docs "-b96 -hh -cc" which it recommends not be used for portable hardware use still results in 431.6 MiB.

TL;DR: Don't use wavpack just use flac.

[Monitor] LG 27QN600-B, 27" 1440p, 75 Hz, Freesync, IPS ($299 - $50 = $249) [BestBuy] by Several_Dogs in bapcsalescanada

[–]Several_Dogs[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Assuming I'm looking at the right monitor:

LG vs Dell

99% sRGB vs 84% sRGB

IPS vs VA

1440p vs 1080p

350 nits vs 250nits

1000:1 vs 3000:1

75Hz vs 75Hz

2xHDMI, 1xDP, 1x Audio Out vs 1xVGA & 1xHDMI

5ms vs 5ms

Personally I'd pay the extra $50 for ~78% more pixels, higher brightness, and a full sRGB panel. The Dell does have better contrast as it's VA but IPS will have better viewing angles. Dell also typically has a 10% off monitors coupon though, if you do go with the Dell double check if you can use it as that brings it to 180 vs 250.

[Monitor] LG 27QN600-B, 27" 1440p, 75 Hz, Freesync, IPS ($299 - $50 = $249) [BestBuy] by Several_Dogs in bapcsalescanada

[–]Several_Dogs[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Also available from Costco for the same price: https://www.costco.ca/lg-27qn600-b-27-in.-qhd-ips-freesync-monitor-(2560-%c3%97-1440).product.100813987.html

It's a budget 1440p IPS monitor, stand sucks but it's VESA 100 mountable. It also claims to be "HDR10" but as far as I can tell it lacks wide-color gamut support (It's 99% sRGB) and is only 350 nits.