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LGR - Sassy's Green PC/Shuttle XS35GT
🕑 Added 2022-03-21 21:41:39 +0000 UTCHowdy, folks! Got another LGR computer retrospective/restoration-ish thing for your early viewing pleasure. This one is all about a nifty little PC that I found while thrifting some years back, known as the Sassy's Computers Green PC from 2011. Yeah it's a little mini PC running Windows, billed as a lower-power, eco-friendly desktop to the people of Asheville, North Carolina. Which is just down the road from me here in the mountains of NC! I don't get the chance to go hyper local very often when talking about a computer, so that's something. And yeah, in reality it's just a Shuttle XS35GT V2 that was assembled by Sassy's back then, but still. It was a nice change of pace to talk about something literally close to home.
Oh! And this is also the first LGR episode that's been recorded entirely with my newest camera: the Lumix GH6 from Panasonic. Scenes were captured using its ridiculous 5.7K 60fps mode. That's a resolution of 5728x3024 at a 300,000kbps bitrate! The resulting file sizes and encoding time are enough to make me wanna cry, ha. I'm not sure how often I'll use the full capabilities like I did here, as it's probably only worth doing so for certain shots where the additional resolution and bitrate will be well-utilized. But still, I'm putting it through all its paces and having a good time doing so.
By design, the visual results here shouldn't look too different from my usual Lumix GH5S fare, if at all. Like, it's still being uploaded in 4K for YouTube and the site does its usual compression crud to the final processed video regardless. But yeah, I'm still figuring out the new color science, white balance handling, shutter speed and ISO options and all that, so there's a good chance I'll need to tweak some settings going forward.
And of course, thank you for your support here on Patreon, since it's your backing that makes upgrades like these feasible!
This may be the last upload for another week or so, I'm really not sure yet. Things are very much rolling forward with the house I'm buying and the closing date is fast approaching at the very beginning of April. Either way, I hope you enjoy this technological diversion with the Sassy's Green PC!
Comments
Richard Burgess
I miss those little computer stores, worked at two and actually ran one at the ripe old age of 19. I am surprised Sassy's lasted that long, they must have had a fairly decent business acumen to keep it going. With the big box stores and then the increase in online purchasing, not to mention our throwaway attitude and the decrease in cost of hardware, days are certainly numbered for the ones that are left. Congrats on the new home btw!
Aaron Lea
Did anyone else think this episode was being hosted by a guest host based on the thumbnail?
LGR
A nettop or mini PC like this is definitely worth looking out for! They can do a surprising amount and can often be found pretty cheap, especially those from this era. Shuttle made tons of models :)
LGR
A BIT hippie dippie is an understatement, haha. Depending on which part of Asheville and what events are going on. I love it though, very much my vibe. And the food scene is seriously top notch. I believe there are four places up for a James Beard Award this year alone.
Zachary Outen
I used to live outside asheville and yea, they are pretty hippie dippie, great food though, and great mini green computers too apparently lol
CubicleNate
I NEVER heard of these and I would LOVE to play with one of these. This would be a great machine for running home assistant or something like that.
Valora Inverse
Woooof, that starting performance gives me some rough flashbacks to my last call center job full of woefully underspecced thinclients trying to run Windows 7 and all the crap we needed for doing our jobs. Fun times. The outcome is delightful, though.
LGR
ooh yeah, I didn't even try getting this one online. Can't imagine that's much fun at all.
LGR
That's only with the frame limiter enabled though, right? The framerate actually gets up into the 60s and 70s in simpler indoor scenes. I think I'll add a quick section showing that!
Robert Launder
Heads up, the PC port of San Andreas is capped at 25 FPS. I love this type of low end computer. I always enjoy tweaking games to run just well enough to enjoy. I have a friend who had a similarly speced machine at the time, and he even played S.T.A.L.K.E.R. on it.
LGR
Thank you! I'm pretty stoked to set up a new studio space, but having a nice living area I can really make my own is gonna be stellar
Evan B
Ahh yes, those old Atom PCs ... I have a Samsung Netbook with one of those. .*definitely* not useful for the modern web anymore, which is a shame, as the form factor was rather great for travelling.. re: new house! Oh wow, congrats -- hope things go smoother than most of the house-buying stories I've heard!
Adam Christensen
Congrats on (soon) being a home owner. I made the leap last year and it comes with a whole heap of new things to learn and do, but it's very rewarding! Best of luck!
Hernando Heilbron
I know right? "Look ma, I gots the cable shows on my computer!"
LGR
If it is I can't find it anywhere so far, and I've spent ages in menus and documentation changing everything that looks related. It's always been a default thing I thought. The feature is over on a dedicated autofocus button beside the M/AFC/AFS switch, which like yeah, it works. But it's set to where you tap a spot to focus on and then press the button after that to actually focus, which seems unnecessary. I've confirmed with Colin of TDNC that his GH6 doesn't have this either! Although it seems like it's an option in photo mode, but not video... here's hoping for firmware fixes, ha
LGR
I wish I could've found my Windows Media Center remote as well. It was fun to navigate those menus using that thing back then, really felt fresh in the days before Smart TVs and Smart Everything
Jim Leonard
Tap to focus in manual mode was something I use a hell of a lot; that's insane that it's missing. Maybe it's an option you can turn on.
LGR
Morrowind would be okay I bet, especially with that SSD, so I'll have to give it a shot sometime! Oblivion would definitely be pushing it, heh. That poor collection of chips in there really struggles with any kind of open world like that.
Akselmo
Wonder how it would have run Morrowind and Oblivion. I have old netbook from around same era, however it had only intel GMA 950 or something of the sort.. And it ran Morrowind in 30 fps.
Hernando Heilbron
Netbook performance sounds about right, I pretty much used one as a portable N64/PS one back in 2011 or so. Also that media center software was pretty nostalgic, haven't seen it in years!
LGR
Thank you! Here's hoping 👍
Luke Powell
Best of luck with the house! Hopefully you'll be breaking out the wood grained champagne flutes soon 😆
LGR
Indeed, about half the footage has it enabled here, the rest does not as I was constantly swapping settings while getting a feel for things. It really makes a nice difference in the right lighting! There's also a bunch of unexpected trade-offs, it's been a mixed experience in some respects. Small stuff they either removed or altered that I still find to be better on the GH5S. Like the back panel click wheel being less clicky, tap-to-focus in manual focus is gone, synchro shutter begins at 60.3 instead of 60.1 when shooting 60fps, the new front record button is too easy to accidentally hit, the top record button is way too squishy, the fact that stereo audio tracks are now split mono channels, and on and on... nothing game-breaking but yeah, I'm definitely keeping the GH5S on-hand for certain projects.
Jim Leonard
Always have dynamic range boost on the gh6 turned on, it gives it just about the same dynamic range as the gh5s. Looking forward to checking out the footage!
