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Tesla Insanely Coil posted:Re: headphones. When I decided I wanted a better pair I of course found the SA thread on headphones because there is a thread for anything. That's where I learned that people will drop $300 on headphones, which seems crazy to me but I also learned a lot about the technology. Psssh, $300? Try these: http://en-de.sennheiser.com/hd-800 $1499 on Amazon.
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Jul 12, 2012 20:27
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lancelott posted:Is it a bad idea to try to transcribe on DT or FF with $5 earbud headphones? That's the only pair I currently own. The sound quality is OK, not great, and I have a good quality dedicated sound card. Buying in store severely limits your options and can easily cost twice as much. The cheapest headphones I'd recommend are the Monoprice 8323 http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10823&cs_id=1082302&p_id=8323&seq=1&format=2 or Sennheiser HD 201 - You can often get these for $15 on sale. http://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD201-Lightweight-Over-Ear-Headphones/dp/B0007XJSQC If you're really poor you could go with Monoprice 8320 http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10823&cs_id=1082303&p_id=8320&seq=1&format=2 These are probably the best sub-$20 IEM. I really am in love with these, and they're cheap enough to replace when your cat thinks they're a new toy. edit: If you must go in store, there's usually a pair of closed Sony MDR-somethings for $20 which should work.
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Jul 12, 2012 20:33
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lancelott posted:Is it a bad idea to try to transcribe on DT or FF with $5 earbud headphones? That's the only pair I currently own. The sound quality is OK, not great, and I have a good quality dedicated sound card. I'm using Sony MDRs (not exactly sure of the model) that were about $20 on Amazon and they work just fine. The key is closed cans. You want them to cover your ear entirely to block out the ambient noise. It makes a world of difference in being able to understand people. If you hunt, you should be able to find something in the $15-30 range that'll suit. (My very first pair were Plantronics I picked up from Office Depot for a song, and they lasted me like four years before I had to replace them, still bummed about that.) And yeah, DT loves large numbers on the schedule sheet. Lots of their stuff is in the 45-60 minute range, so if you only put yourself down for 30 you'll miss out on quite a bit. It's kind of annoying for people like me who juggle a lot of clients -- 30 mins per client per day is the perfect number for me. Just don't go nuts and ask for more work than you can handle, and remember, 120 minutes of production-quality interviews is one almighty gently caress of a lot different than 120 minutes of business transcription. 
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Jul 13, 2012 01:04
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lancelott posted:Is it a bad idea to try to transcribe on DT or FF with $5 earbud headphones? That's the only pair I currently own. The sound quality is OK, not great, and I have a good quality dedicated sound card. I'll echo everybody else and say yes that's a terrible idea that will cost you time and sanity, but you don't need audiophile level headphones either. I replaced a pair of ancient headphones with these Panasonics for $30: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0014IPE4Y/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00 And it made a big difference in the amount of time it was taking to do work; I had no idea how bad my old headphones were, and the new ones aren't exactly top of the line. Coby earbuds aren't going to cut it. And Newegg occasionally has those Sennheiser HD 201s on sale for $15 with free shipping if you subscribe to their newsletter, they advertise it every few months so if you keep an eye on both sites you can probably snag them cheap. I have a pair as backup.
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Jul 13, 2012 01:50
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Got my application to that TextMaster site rejected today after applying about a week or so ago. The reason they gave was that in the sample writing test I had one apostrophe error. I must have just missed it when reading it back over before submitting but that was the only error and they still turned it down, saying they want only the most excellent writers or something to that effect. So good luck with that if they're paying what the rest of these content mills do. On the flip side if you're looking to get content you can rest easy knowing it'll probably be pretty well proofread.
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Jul 13, 2012 04:28
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That''s funny I just got approved by them, though at a '1 star' level. N'ot sure if that is a judgement of the quality of my writing or just some kind of newbie badge/experience level thing. EDIT-I logged in to see what it's like, but there's no tasks available. Whether that's due to a dearth of work in their system, or that as a '1 star' writer I don't qualify for anything, I'm not sure. Scaramouche fucked around with this message at 05:11 on Jul 13, 2012 |
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Jul 13, 2012 04:59
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I've read here that Leapforce pays by the hour, but how are jobs scheduled? I'm looking for a weekend job. Would I be able to work for Leapforce mainly on the weekends?
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Jul 14, 2012 20:09
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You log in and you're given an interface with available tasks you can claim and do. When you're done, you claim and do another one. As long as you're working, you note down the times started and ended for each task, and bill Leapforce for that time at the end of the month. If there are no available tasks you can't work and thus can't bill them for time. On the flip side, you can work whenever you want day or night for as little or as long as you want, assuming tasks are available. The one down side with weekends is that more people work weekends, so you're more likely to encounter no available tasks. Whether or not you do depends more on the amount of work Leapforce has available than the number of people online, though.
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Jul 14, 2012 20:51
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So LiveOps finally processed my request and I'm filling out the electronic paperwork now. I signed a thing saying they could run a background check but I didn't have to pay for it. Did I miss a step here? The link they provided to FirstAdvantage doesn't work so I can't even double check.
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Jul 15, 2012 01:59
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I just rejected some work from Daily Transcription because apparently I need to open these QuickTime files as .bwf files in order to view the timecode in order to transcribe properly. Anyone know how to do that? I spent like 20 minutes looking for converters and messing around in QuickTime and Inqscribe to no avail.
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Jul 15, 2012 15:47
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Spartan421 posted:I just rejected some work from Daily Transcription because apparently I need to open these QuickTime files as .bwf files in order to view the timecode in order to transcribe properly. Anyone know how to do that? I spent like 20 minutes looking for converters and messing around in QuickTime and Inqscribe to no avail. Ah, jeez, those are those weird wave format files -- did you try just opening them in InqScribe and selecting "use media time code"? I know I got assigned a job with those a while back, but I can't remember if they worked in InqScribe or if I had to kick them back out.
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Jul 15, 2012 19:37
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Yeah, tried that. Oh well.
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Jul 15, 2012 21:38
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"Hey kazmeyer, I've got a project coming up that you might be interested in. All I am allowed to tell you is that the NDA is frankly terrifying." "...I'm in." (Do your time in the salt mines, junior transcribers, and you get to have some real fun.)
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Jul 19, 2012 03:41
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That sounds like some high level security clearance poo poo right there. I did my first 1.25/min file last week and I guess I'm now on the mailing list for rush jobs because I'm getting $1/min e-mail offers now. So I must be doing something right.
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Jul 19, 2012 04:26
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Jeez, I'm doing a "dialog list" transcription, which seems to be not as detailed as it could get in the way that I'm not listing out shots and cuts, but I'm marking the in points AND out points to every piece of dialog. The rate is terrible compared to normal work. It takes me twice as long.
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Jul 19, 2012 17:18
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One more question about the Daily Transcripts test... I'm going to submit this thing eventually, I swear. Am I missing something about timecodes, as in, is there a way to transfer them automatically from the transcription program to your word processor? Or do you just have to copy and paste a new entry and edit the time for each new speaker? I'm not even sure how you could do it automatically but it's super tedious and it takes me longer than anything to copy and paste a new code, put Express Scribe back to 100% speed because it doesn't display time correctly when you reduce the speed, figure out exactly when the speaker started, and then edit the timecode.
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Jul 19, 2012 18:00
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I seem to remember there was some way to get Express Scribe to drop timecodes -- or maybe that was a third-party program, back when I first started transcribing. Honestly, that's one of the reasons I switched to InqScribe; it handles timecodes much better. (In InqScribe, you hit a single key to drop a timecode into your document at the current time, and you can set them to begin at a certain TC or you can go back and adjust them at the end of the job all at once.) And I had a feeling that dialogue list job was going to be a nightmare; I passed on picking one up. That's my one big complaint about DT -- the rates they offer aren't always commensurate to the amount of work you have to put into their jobs. I always check files over very carefully and read the client requirements before I confirm anything, and if it looks like it's going to be a death march I turn it down. And they still get me; I had one a while back that looked innocuous except for the client's "everything either person says, even if it's just mmm-hmm or uh-huh" requirement. Turns out the interviewer said "mmm-hmm" and "uh-huh" every 1.5 seconds while the other person was speaking, and the 30 minute tape had nearly 600 separate lines of dialogue. That's why I love per-page or per-hour gigs. They're kind of rare, because it's a pricing structure that makes it difficult to estimate job costs to the end client, but it's the only way to really make sure you're paid adequately for the amount of work you put in. And no, the super secret job isn't government work -- that's what you get if you respond to those ads looking for Pashto or Farsi transcription -- but I can say that having found out the client, yes, if I revealed details, they'd put my career up against a wall and shoot it.
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Jul 19, 2012 18:23
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What's a good per-page rate? I just got a client that pays per page. Also, +1 for me too with the super secret stuff. I had to sign a gigantic NDA and install encryption software, but it's more work coming in. Edit: Also, does DT get butthurt about turning down stuff? I'm thinking of not doing these dialogue lists. Zapf Dingbat fucked around with this message at 18:54 on Jul 19, 2012 |
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Jul 19, 2012 18:43
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Zapf Dingbat posted:What's a good per-page rate? I just got a client that pays per page. It depends on their actual page format. Some places offer a per-page rate, but they want tiny margins and spacing and it ends up screwing you over in the end. I've only got one client doing per-page at the moment, and it's $1.50 per page, but with the double spacing and everything else in the format it usually works out to about $1.50-$2 per minute for standard stuff, more if there's multiple speakers. As for turning down work, it's hard to say. Decline too much and you will make yourself kind of a nuisance to them, just because it affects their scheduling. I'm kind of a diva when it comes to DT work and they know that, they just don't offer me certain types of jobs because they know I'll balk -- but I make up for it by trying to knock the stuff I do complete out of the park. And worst case scenario, if DT ever did get fed up with me, I've got a lot of other irons in the fire. If DT is your only (or biggest) client at the moment, I'd be as careful as possible when it comes to kicking stuff back, and make sure you do it early on and not just on a whim. I really do think they'll have to up the rate on these dialogue lists; I can't see a lot of transcribers relishing that amount of work for that small a bump in the rate.
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Jul 19, 2012 19:13
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Zapf Dingbat posted:Okay, I've got a technical problem this time. I have a Quicktime audio file that has a drop-frame timecode embedded in the file. My transcription software (Express Scribe) doesn't seem to be able to display this embedded TC, and I can't control quicktime player with a foot pedal. kazmeyer, do I just need to suck it up and buy another piece of software? Or is there a workaround? For Express Scribe timecodes, you first need to right click on the file in ES and under Dictation information, enter the time offset. Then you need to program a hot key, which is under Options - you want "Copy Time". I don't use it very often so I don't know if it loses time or not.
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Jul 19, 2012 21:43
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Has anyone gotten a task at all from TextMaster? I've been dutifully logging in and checking but there's never anything there.
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Jul 20, 2012 03:21
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So LiveOps says my phone line cannot be Vonage, is this something they are able to verify? I have a Vonage line and I'm moving in a little over a month so I'm not going to pay for the installation of a phone line at my old apartment now. I potentially just created a major headache for myself, what a pain. Oh well, I guess I'll sort this nonsense out at some point.
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Jul 21, 2012 03:53
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Spartan421 posted:I just rejected some work from Daily Transcription because apparently I need to open these QuickTime files as .bwf files in order to view the timecode in order to transcribe properly. Anyone know how to do that? I spent like 20 minutes looking for converters and messing around in QuickTime and Inqscribe to no avail. I had this same problem tonight. I think this is the solution: http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/qt_timecode_display_gary.html I have the free version of QT on a PC and this worked for me, though granted I might submit my assignment and have DT tell me I got it wrong. This info was really hard to find, though the solution is apparently easy. The files are .mov and the guide says to open as .bwf but I didn't have to do anything special, just change that little drop down menu in Quicktime. Edit: Hmm, when I opened the file in Inqscribe, it automatically had the correct timecode so maybe this is different from what you experienced. Tesla Insanely Coil fucked around with this message at 09:01 on Jul 21, 2012 |
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Jul 21, 2012 06:32
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Cool, I bookmarked your link in case I need it for later, thanks. I just accepted a rush job with some hosed up formatting. Different colors for timecodes and spoken text and centered speaker names. Don't people realize this is a giant pain in the rear end  I'm not exactly a Word genius so tons of copy/pasting for me.
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Jul 21, 2012 23:41
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Lyon posted:So LiveOps says my phone line cannot be Vonage, is this something they are able to verify? The requirement is that you have a traditional landline. With that being said, I use vonage and have used it for some time. Just be sure to log into your account and turn off your voicemail and call waiting before logging in to take calls
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Jul 21, 2012 23:46
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Spartan421 posted:Cool, I bookmarked your link in case I need it for later, thanks. I just accepted a rush job with some hosed up formatting. Different colors for timecodes and spoken text and centered speaker names. Don't people realize this is a giant pain in the rear end Try setting up individual styles for the various elements. I do a lot of script-style as-broadcasts, and have separate styles for character names, dialogue, action, scene, TCs, etc. It's still a pain in the nuts, but it makes it a little more tolerable.
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Jul 22, 2012 03:30
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Trying to figure out how to downgrade express scribe to the free version is insane. If you get the popup saying your trial is over: you need to go to the uninstaller in Programs and Features and downgrade it to the free version. This help article from them sure helped! http://www.nch.com.au/scribe/kb/1571.html "It'll automatically downgrade!" Yeah, OK.
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Jul 22, 2012 11:25
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Haha, I heard ExpressScribe was free but never could figure out how to get it to work after the trial was over so I switched to InqScribe which is better imo.
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Jul 22, 2012 14:58
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Derek79 posted:The requirement is that you have a traditional landline. With that being said, I use vonage and have used it for some time. Just be sure to log into your account and turn off your voicemail and call waiting before logging in to take calls Oh thank god, I didn't want to deal with that nonsense particularly right around a move. Are there any settings that I need to know about for the Vonage line besides voice mail and call waiting?
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Jul 22, 2012 16:50
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Spartan421 posted:Haha, I heard ExpressScribe was free but never could figure out how to get it to work after the trial was over so I switched to InqScribe which is better imo. Yeah, I literally used Express Scribe for one tape at the very beginning of my career and went "gently caress this" and found InqScribe.
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Jul 22, 2012 22:27
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Almost ready to turn in my application for Focus Forward. A few questions, first. Should I put in when they repeat words while they're thinking? Like, "Well, I'd have to say that—that—well, that's actually hard to say," or, "You men—you mentioned th—that." I assume so, and is the way I did it correct? Also filler words they don't list. Leave them? The two subjects in this transcription say "Oh" and "Right" a lot. They don't serve a purpose and the instructions don't address it. I'm guessing I should leave it alone. Laughing: do I put [LAUGHTER] once per person or just once for whoever is currently talking (probably)? Slang/dialecty stuff: person says hasta instead of has to, which should I write down? Anything else I should consider? I just don't want to give them any reason to deny me! Thanks for the help.
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Jul 23, 2012 17:39
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Lyon posted:Oh thank god, I didn't want to deal with that nonsense particularly right around a move. Are there any settings that I need to know about for the Vonage line besides voice mail and call waiting? Nope, just make sure those are turned off and you should be good to go.
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Jul 23, 2012 19:37
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I just received an email about being a Title Duplicate Checker for Demand Studios. Anyone know anything about this job? I know that DS has been pretty bad lately so I'm not going to bother if this is going to be the kind of thing where I get one task an hour. Or is this kind of work more steady than the writing side?
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Jul 25, 2012 05:48
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Anyone have any pointers for advertising on facebook? I think I'm gonna take up doing some affiliate marketing.
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Jul 25, 2012 05:51
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PoorUser posted:I just received an email about being a Title Duplicate Checker for Demand Studios. Anyone know anything about this job? I know that DS has been pretty bad lately so I'm not going to bother if this is going to be the kind of thing where I get one task an hour. Or is this kind of work more steady than the writing side? DS has actually been picking back up, but in niche areas. The days of logging in and seeing hundreds of thousands of titles (and up to 50 writable ones) are long gone, but I've managed to snag a few $25 articles a week this summer. Their editing cadre has been way pared down though, and it takes forever to get approvals, but more titles are entering the system this month and they've been advertising for new writers. As for this position, I have honestly no idea what kind of workload you'd be looking at. In any case, it's not a bad idea to land the permissions just in case; having access to more gigs is always better than less.
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Jul 25, 2012 07:02
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How hard is it to actually get accepted to DMS? My main question is what do they want in their resume and how you are meant to format it?
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Jul 28, 2012 04:53
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Seems like DMS came back to life for writers, but I think they have much stricter requirements now, including article spines that basically tell you what you have to write and editor created tests to get into each section. As for me I'm done with content mills and looking at business blogs and financial news sites that pay freelance writers. Forbes seems like it's hiring a lot of freelancers but it could be tricky to get in, also Business Insider, CNNMoney, and Fortune seem like they are hiring.
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Jul 28, 2012 10:01
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Does anyone have some tips for advertising on twitter? I think that I will make sponsored tweets.
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Jul 28, 2012 15:28
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Derek79 posted:The requirement is that you have a traditional landline. With that being said, I use vonage and have used it for some time. Just be sure to log into your account and turn off your voicemail and call waiting before logging in to take calls Ok, one more question, are they able to verify any of the wireless stuff or is that sort of BS as well? Basically will I be able to use a cordless phone and wireless internet?
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Jul 29, 2012 16:47
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Lyon posted:Ok, one more question, are they able to verify any of the wireless stuff or is that sort of BS as well? That is my set up exactly. You'll be just fine.
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Jul 29, 2012 17:27
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