Modding to hit TV soon?

[Starbuck3733T]

http://www.modthemachine.tv/ <--- saw it on bit-tech. Man o man!

[fillip]

Not sure what to make of it really.

I generally feel that when something like this starts to hit the mainstream it spells it's doom.

[Vis]

I honestly don't see modding as a niche idea at all these days. Heck my local PC store sells laser cut grilles, water cooling kits, CCFLs etc. I'd hardly call Milwaukee PC "niche" (I'd call them astronimically expensive but that's another story)

When people ask me about modding I always tell them it's like hot rod building for people who can't afford or don't have space to build hot rods. As with customizing cars there is more than one level involved here.

On the one hand you have the people who will bolt a fancy fan grille onto their cpu cooler, stick a CCFL in their pre-windowed case and call it modded (it isn't, it's accessorized) and then there are people like G-Gnome, Mashie and Bill who are always pushing to find something new and spending up to a year to build a work of art from scratch. People who will pay attention to every conceivable detail and for whom nothing short of perfection is acceptable. To call those two groups the same is like comparing Ed Roth to some chav scumbag who spends a weekend bolting an ugly bodykit onto his Nissan Micra.

Elitism is always a bad thing but there will always be an elite in this or any field. People who's "Elite" status comes not from snobbery but from a commitment to raising the bar time and time again.

I'm sure we'll see people eventually say things like "Yeah I got out of modding once it went mainstream" These are like the people who stop liking a band once they've had a hit single. People who's attachment to modding comes not as a result of appreciating the fine art and science of it, but from a sense of belonging to a small group. From the sense that having a PC in a modified case makes them part of an exclusive club.

To those people I say "Good riddance. You were never what modding was about to begin with and we don't need you."

[zer0]

looks cool but i noticea a few big things 1 there site isnt very well thought out (probly done by one guy who knows html and photoshop.) so its had to navagate. ok well that dosent have much to do with the show but .... on real images of the show at all.

and based upon the images of tho hostest she dosent look like some one who would be moding too much...

[fillip]

You make the band comparison, but unfortunately many bands that do make it tend to lose site of what they started in the first place, and as such the quality and innovation of their music suffers greatly.

The same thing has started happening with modding now. True, there will always be those who are great at it and push the boundaries and this holds true in my band analogy above - just that there are very few of them, but in the last 12 - 18 months there's been an influx and mass produced factory crap that is being sold at almost every PC store the world over. The more people start to pick this stuff up and the more the manufacturers start pedelling it, the more diluted the entire scene becomes. I don't deny that on some level there is a certain amount of pride to be had from belonging to a niche that breaks with convention and achieves something out of the ordinary but over-commercialisation rapes you of the purity of something and leaves you with a tacky, neon-lit pre-mod

[scopEDog]

The site looks pretty bad imho but the idea is cool. Can they properly execute the modding "lifestyle"? That has yet to be determined but it wont deter me from modding at all. I just keep doing what i do because its fun and creative. I could care less if it hits mainstream, it was going to happen anyways. As long as theres a group that appreciates the real deal(go wizd!), then i'm all for it.

[fillip]

As long as theres a group that appreciates the real deal(go wizd!), then i'm all for it.
Too right.

[Vis]

Yes there are bands like that (*cough*U2*cough*) but I honestly don't think the same applies to modding. If ten thousand people rush out and buy lights to stick in their crappy premod case then that doesn't in any way detract from the sheer jaw-dropping beauty of a project like Orac3 or Aquasphere.

[fillip]

Yes there are bands like that (*cough*U2*cough*) but I honestly don't think the same applies to modding. If ten thousand people rush out and buy lights to stick in their crappy premod case then that doesn't in any way detract from the sheer jaw-dropping beauty of a project like Orac3 or Aquasphere.
Indeed it doesn't, but such beauties become even rarer as a result of the heaving masses of crap that'll come pouring out. It's the manufacturers who are to blame for attempting to cash in on a new fad when they have no understanding of it. Whats more, because big companies are doing it every Tom Dick and Harry thinks they should follow suit with the garish neons and horrid cast plastic 'gaming' cases.
The show could turn out to great, so i'll wait to pass judgement on that but it seems far too 'impersonal', for want of a better word, for it to be of the same standard as some of the work that resides on these, and other forums.

[Vis]

One concern that I have is that suppose you end up being able to buy modding parts everywhere that sells electronics? What will happen to businesses like Mnnpctech, Mountain Mods and all the other small turnover businesses who sell the top notch stuff? If they get forced out of business then me may end up drowning in a sea of brittle plastic and stamped metal. I'm sure there will always be the niche market for top quality parts, but if even a few of these businesses go under then what effect is that going to have on pricing?

[fivecheebs]

Its funny you shuld day that vis because as i was reading this thread i was thinking how good it would be for bill's business. As more people learn to appreciate the "good stuff" he should pick up custom from people who want to get in on the scene but dont have the skills or tools to do the work themselves. Going back to the car comparrison, you will still get the people who buy bolt on aftermarket parts to bling their nissan micras (gah they are uglie enough as they are! i should know i have a really old one<_<) but quality will allways have a market. I dont think this will diminish becase more aftermarket bolt on crap is avaliable.

[fillip]

I s'pose in some sense we've all been spoilt over the past few years as we've seen some sensational pieces of work - anyone reading this who hasn't seen Mnpctech's Harley Davidson tribute get ya friggin' ass over to the chop shop now! - and haven't had to put up with people passing crud off all the time. These forums have been especially blessed in this sense.
Maybe the inrush of 'cheap and tacky' will make appreciate work like Bill's even more...

[dutchcedar]

American Chopper and the Biker Build-Off series hasn't hurt the custom bike building industry... just the opposite, in fact... so I would seriously doubt there's a downside here.

The more the merrier, I would say. B)

[Breach]

I think anyone who does real mods (just to be clear, there are mods and then there are customs) like mnpctech, mashie, crimsonsky, piloux, just to name a few will always be well in theyre own, showing everyone else what a mod looks like compared to a factory made peice of crap stuffed full of accesories. I wont knock on pre-mod stuff too much though, things like lighted fans in a way just save some of us the time of making it ourselves. And of course, there are the illustrious ones who take premod stuff and mod it into something else ;)

[Vis]

If it has an effect, which is by no means certain, then yes I can see the desire for mod parts (And custom built modded cases) increasing. What I can also see happening is increased demand leading to better quality low end parts (Like say, fan grilles) at lower prices as mass production becomes a workable option for more manufacturers. Right now theres a huge gulf between cheap parts and quality parts but will people still pay $20 for an item when they can get a part off the shelf at Best Buy for $3 that is only marginally inferior? On the other hand, companies like Skyhawk and Kingwin haven't put Lian Li or CM out of business so maybe Im worrying unduly.

I hope you're right Cheebs, I really do. I can only hope that at this point I'm being needlessly pessimistic. If my worst fears do come to light at least there is one silver lining. The best of the best on the modding scene will continue to turn out work of astounding quality and if they cant get the high quality parts they'll damn well fabricate their own. Which will kind of put us back to square one, won't it?

The one thing I did notice on the site is that being a competition there is going to be a time limit. It doesnt mention how long that is going to be. Considering that some things, especially painting, sometimes take a number of days or even weeks to do properly I doubt that we'll see work of the quality that we're used to seeing in the chop shop. If we do then I'll be very pleasantly surprised.

[zer0]

you guys are right about a lot of thease things how ever i dont think stores witch well quality parts will do much better infact i see there feild of buyers shrinking from people interested in moding there case and makeing it unique to people like bill and a few others who dont mind putting out a lil extra money to have a well built quality mod.

on the other hand the influx of new and creative minds could make for some very interesting cases...