Calavera's Goodwill/Flea Market Finds 2: Resurrection

[Calavera]

I picked up a "Gamer V Portable" for $2.




It is loaded with a bunch of crappy 8/16 bit style games. When you turn it on it boots to a "220 in 1" screen with all the games. It had batteries in it so I was able to turn it on and check it out. The games all look pretty crappy but it has a nice screen and a nice compact shape. I bought it hoping there was some way to mod it and load it up with NES games and have a pretty nice portable NES. Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be a way to mod it at all. A shame really, a cool little system but filled with crap games and thus will never be used.

[ian]

Just play one of the off brand tetris games on it, and then shove it in a pile. (it's cheap so it'll have at least 3 off brand block falling games.

[Calavera]

Windows 8 Pro 32/64 bit full version for $3. Will be selling it immediately as I have no use for the awfulness that is Windows 8!

[Calavera]

Pick up the Star Wars soundtrack record. Pretty nice for a dollar. Now I've got the Star Wars soundtrack on record and 8-track!

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Nice find. Nice price. Nice cover.

[Calavera]

Picked up a bunch of records the other day. I'll take a picture and upload it soon. For now here are a couple random things I bought.

First is just an old GE "Walkman" type device. Thought it looked cool and the cassette player actually still works. As time goes on more and more cassette players are non-working due to broken belts.




Up next is a universal remote control from 1990. It looks like it is brand new. I really love the look of it. I've tested it and it worked fine with my modern flat screen TV. It should work for any device as long as you have the original remote for said device. To program it you press the button you want to be programmed on the universal remote. You then point the original remote at the bottom of the universal remote and press the button. For example you would press volume up on the universal remote then point your original remote at the bottom of it and press volume up and then it is programmed. So not only do you have to have the original remote for the device you want to program but you also have to do it one button at a time. Very interesting. It came in the original box with the manual. It looks like somebody got this back in 1990 took it out of the box then couldn't figure out how to work it and put it back in the box and there it sat for 30 years until I bought it.

[ian]

That remote is cool.
And having it program from the original remote is a feature they ALL need to have. because if you don't have a code, you can actually make it universal.

I suppose it would work for anything with an IR beam?

[Calavera]

I suppose it would work for anything with an IR beam?

It just might, I never thought of that. I have an old Atari Flashback that uses those wireless IR controllers. I'll have to get it out and see if I could program the remote to work as the controller. I bet it will work.

[melancholy]

I suppose it would work for anything with an IR beam?

It just might, I never thought of that. I have an old Atari Flashback that uses those wireless IR controllers. I'll have to get it out and see if I could program the remote to work as the controller. I bet it will work.

Back in the day, we programmed our Sony universal remote to work with our air conditioner using the IR learning function. So you totally should be able to program anything that has an IR signal.

[Calavera]

Back in the day, we programmed our Sony universal remote to work with our air conditioner using the IR learning function. So you totally should be able to program anything that has an IR signal.

I kind of accidentally did that with my old air conditioner. For some reason the #9 on my Vizio TV remote would act as the power button for it and the TV power button would change it between cooling and fan. If I still have this remote out next summer I'll probably program my AC into it just to have an extra remote just for the heck of it.

I did try it out with the Atari Flashback 4 and yep it worked!


On the menu I sometimes have to press the direction several times to get the menu to move but honestly the included Atari IR remote isn't much better. I used the numpad (4=Left 6=right 8=up 2=down and 5 as the fire button) It is kind of a nifty feature that you can program any button to do whatever. If you want record to be volume up then go for it! If it was able to accept codes for devices that you've lost the remote to and do the IR programming it would be the ultimate universal remote!

I don't know if anybody noticed but in the pictures I posted of it but the first one has the light on for the screen. To turn this light on you have to hold in a little button on the left side of the remote. It seems like it would be helpful for in the dark but there is one major problem. It doesn't like up any of the keys just the screen! So when you are watching TV at night will all the lights off you'll easily be able to see the time and day of the week, you just won't be able to see any of the function keys. It seems odd that they did this, they could have pretty easily made the buttons light up. Even 30 years ago that would have been easy to do.

[Calavera]

I've needed a card reader for my PC for quite awhile but have never bought one. They had a bunch of internal card readers in the box for $1.99 (about $1.40 after discount). So I picked one up. Here is a crappy picture of it installed.



It hooks to a USB header on the motherboard for the 4 different cards. In addition to that it had a sata cable and a firewire header for eSata and firewire. I just cut them off because they were in the way and I've never needed an esata port and my motherboard doesn't even have a firewire header.

I also picked up a pair of Logitech G430 headphones. They were $5 ($3.50 after discount) I have to say they sound pretty damn good!



It looks like they go for around $30-$40 used so $3.50 was a great deal. The first thing I did before I even plugged them in was to remove the ear cups and give them a good washing. They look pretty much like brand new now. The headphones I was using before were some that have no name or model number on them at all.. They still sounded pretty good but these are much better. They are 7.1 headphones which I don't totally understand. I don't see how a system that uses 7 different speakers can be replicated on a pair of headphones with only two speakers. I guess I need to try some kind of Dolby 7.1 demo with them and see how they sound.

It seems like it is getting more and more rare to actually find something decent at Goodwill anymore. It used to be nearly everytime I'd go I'd walk out with some kind of old electronic device. Now when they actually do have something I want it is usually WAY overpriced. Cassette decks that used to be $5 all the time are now $20, it is similar with VCRs. The really crazy thing is that they either don't test them at all or know they don't work and still put them out for $20. I've plugged in a couple of overpriced cassette decks just for the heck of it to see if they worked and they do not. When I got the card reader and headphones they had a set of Sony speakers for sale. It was the left and right speakers plus a subwoofer. I should have took a picture but I didn't. They looked similar to these.


but they looked older than the ones pictured. Probably from an early to mid 2000s stereo. Anyways it was just the speakers and the sub no main unit and they wanted $50 for them. That is ridiculous. I understand them not wanting to sell things for nothing but $50 for those speakers to me is ridiculous. I'd say $20 tops. Their pricing is inconsistent too. You might go in there a month or two from now and they will have a different set of speakers of the same or better quality for $10. About a month ago I picked up an RCA SP0500AW Powered Subwoofer for my Sherwood receiver I have hooked up to my computer and it was only $5. It was $5 and it pounds! It sounds great! The Sony sub was just a standard non powered sub.




Well that is my Goodwill buys plus rant for today. I also picked up a few records so maybe I'll post them later.

[ian]

The problem bargain hunting is that a non technically inclined someone sees a record player go for hundreds of dollars, so they think they are all worth that and you end up with a no name, piece of shit being tagged for the same price as a like new, high end Technics or Pioneer.

same in ANY electronics category. But it's starting to hit CRT's real bad atm. NO your shitty Haier 34CM tv is NOT worth the same price as a Sony 34cm PVM. They're either free as rubbish, or so expensive you wouldn't even bother.

similar at all the used shops around me. they got a whiff of retro prices on the rise, and now they all want a piece.
Fucked electronics at more than ebay prices.

[Calavera]

Fucked electronics at more than ebay prices.

It pisses me off when they have an item and look it up and Ebay and see one listed at lets say $100. So then they slap a $100 price tag on it. First off just because somebody is asking $100 for something on Ebay does not mean they will get it. Second lets say that the item is a turntable and it sells for $100 with free shipping. Between Ebay and Paypal the seller will pay about $15 in fees. Then since it was free shipping it will cost somewhere around $20 to ship. So $15 in fees + $20 in shipping brings that $100 down to $65. I hate when anyone asks Ebay prices for an item for that reason. They never factor in the fees and/or shipping. If I have a turntable that is selling for $100 on Ebay I would gladly sell it in person for $50. It is worth losing a few dollars to not have to mess around with shipping it.

Now onto what I recently bought!



42 Brand new sealed Sony HF90 cassette tapes. 4 boxes of 10 plus 2 loose ones. Also included was a cassette tape holder which I really didn't need but it was included in the lot. All of this for $10 even! I picked it up from a local online auction. A pretty good deal I must say. I already had two sealed boxes of those exact same tapes so now I am up to 6 boxes!

[Calavera]

I've been messing around with my Betamax VCR and wanted to get some more tapes to record onto. So I picked up this lot of 16 tapes for only $15!






They are all ex-rental tapes and came in the old school rental boxes. I think these cases are really cool for some reason. The majority of them are not rewound despite several having the "Be Kind Please Rewind" sticker on them! I plan on just using them as blanks to record onto. Just like VHS all you need to do is put a piece of tape over the write protect tab to be able to record onto them since they are pre-recorded tapes.

The most recent tape of the lot is a movie called "A Time of Destiny" It came out in theaters in April 1988 so the tape most likely was released in late 1988. I doubt there were too many people still renting Betamax in 1988.

One tape which has a movie called "The Spoilers" from 1942 is kind of unique as it has blue reels.



Now that probably isn't too exciting to most people but I thought it was kind of neat since I've never seen a Beta tape with colored reels before.

Well that is all for now. I've also purchased another Betamax item recently but it hasn't arrived yet. When it does I of course will post it here. What could it be? I know you are all on the edge of your seats wondering what it is!

[Calavera]

You wanna see some cool ass shit well get a load of this!





Aw yeah! That's right we're talking BRAND mutha fuckin' new Betamax cassette. The newest Betamax you can get from when they discontinued them in March 2016. Now the question is what do I record onto this brand new Beta?

[ian]

put a bunch of OLD VCR ads on it.

[Calavera]

There is an indoor flea market in the same town as the main Goodwill I go to but I rarely go there anymore. They hardly have anything good anymore and when they do have something I like it is way overpriced. The best thing I've got from there in several years is my Sony SL-HFR70 Betamax for $20. With a random porno tape included!


I decided to stop in and see what they had. In one of the first places I looked I found a Pioneer SX-1080.




I actually first heard about these not too long ago. Apparently they are considered super great for some reason. They go for around $1,500 on Ebay in good working order. They also sell just the restoration service for the receiver for $500! That is just insane!

Here is a receiver I purchased a few years ago for $5.

A Pioneer VSX-818V Receiver




Look at all those inputs! It was $5 so why not add it to the other many receivers I have!

I honestly wonder if you compared that Pioneer VSX-818V(2008) receiver to the Pioneer SX-1080(1978) with the same speakers would there really be that noticeable of a difference?

Looking at the specs the 1978 says "The SX-1080 puts out 120 watts into 8 ohms. "
The 2008 says "120 watts x 5 (.05% THD @ 8 ohm, 1kHz)" Surround Power and
"95W per channel (20Hz to 20kHz, THD .06%, 8-ohms)" Stereo Power

Also the 2008 has
Dolby Digital 5.1/EX, DTS-ES 6.1 Discrete, DTS 96/24/Neo6, Pro Logic IIx/Game Mode, WMA9 Pro, 9 Advanced Surround modes, 7-channel stereo, Virtual surround back, EX HD Surround

While the 1978 probably just has stereo.

I just don't get why anyone would spend that kind of money on a 43 year old receiver and act like it is better than newer receivers. I understand collecting this kind of stuff but idk. I am just really doubtful that the 1978 receiver would be able to blow away a newer one.

Back on topic about the one at the flea market for $400, I kind of doubt anyone is going to buy it at that price. The fact that he is asking $400 means he knows what he has which also means he knows that they go for $1,000+ in good working order. There are even a couple sold listings for around $800 sold AS-IS not working or needs repairs. So if I had to guess I'd say that thing is more than likely totally fucked. Anyone who would be interested in it isn't going to just drop $400 at a flea market booth without being able to test it out or even talk to the seller. I don't know how long it has been there but it will probably be there until he takes it back home.

[Calavera]

Well dang I was hoping someone would comment and either tell me why I'm totally wrong about new receivers being better than old ones. Or agree with me that new ones are better. I did a search about it and found some forum posts of people saying how "they don't make'em like they used to" but they didn't give any real reasons why.