Posts

Hearing loss and equalizers

  There is now a set of USB powered speakers for watching movies on my laptop.   Until my power station is up to par, I occasionally watch movies, television on my laptop's 1080p screen. The audio has, unfortunately, not been adequate.   The VLC player has a feature that allows cranking the volume up to 200%. That helps.   I recently replaced my decaying Sennheiser headphones with a new-old Sennheiser RS 65 wireless headphone set. The plastic in the wire of the old set had dried out, become brittle, and was cracking every couple of inches.   The new phones are nice but suffer from inadequate audio. Useable but could be better.   Previously, I had connected an Alesis me-230 stereo equalizer to the audio network in my entertainment system. This allowed me to watch movies on the big screen with audio that had been adjusted to compensate for my hearing loss.   The headphones came with a transmitter-charger. The transmitter has a phono cable to plug into th...
Post a Comment
Read more

February 2025 update - moving the "furniture"

 Rearranged the 'furniture.' Up to now, I've been using a lot of power strips to accommodate all the electrical plugins I have. Some at the rear wall for the power and Movie hdd bank. The HDDs were moved up to the TV. I removed the hdd shelf on the back wall and relocated the shelf just below the TV, accessible but not intrusive.I removed the two pieces of clapboard and replaced them with the plywood sheet that was holding the turntable over the AVR. The turntable has been removed to the top of the right Altec speaker cabinet. A center speaker module sits on top of the AVR. A blueray player sits on top of the left Altec cabinet. The three 3.5" sata drives and the 2.5" drives ,and their hub ,are now on the shelf.  I updated the Plex and Jellyfin software. The Senhneiser WiFi headphones are working but I removed the circuit board when the unit became intermittent and finally seemed to die. Removed from the plastic housing, the unit works acceptably, though the plugi...
Post a Comment
Read more

More software development

 I continue to develop the script that processes incoming movies. The script began as several separate scripts performing specific tasks. I combined them into a single bash script. Recently, I took up the task of local database development again. I have a lical version of the IMDB database in Sqlite format. A series of csv files comprise a local OMDB database. They can be imported into an Sqlite database as well. I downloaded what seems a reliable and accurate Kaggle version of the TMDB database to complete the set. I need to determine the metadata I will use and the source, then develop a script tobextract the data and import into movie files. This will rliminate the need for MetaX, though that app has many desirable features. One of the features fetches poster images for perusal and selection. That I can do but time and a list of sources will be needed. Until then I will continue to use MetaX. I do not intend to replace the program 'Rename My TV Series.'
Post a Comment
Read more

Laptop media center. Updated

 I have purchased a couple of HP computer speakers to use with my laptop. I need a set of headphones. The Apple lightning to mini-phone jack adapter did not work. I suspect the adapter is not bidirectional, but is one way. Bottom line: I could not use my iPhone ear pods with my laptop. Update: I bought, and have been using wireless headphone set from Sennheiser. There id a wifi/charging base with a slot for charging an extra batterry. Two batteries came with the unit but I bought two more for spares.
Post a Comment
Read more

AVR issues

 After the lightning strike, my AVR front panel display does not light. The unit seems to work fine otherwise, but I need to repair or make a workaround.    This is the 1023-k. I still have the 42 Elite which can be made to run by bypassing one of the safety circuits. I may do that. Right now, the 1023 has the advantage of being programmable for bi-amp sound. Newer amps ste showing up at the outlet I discovered. I may get another from there sometime.
Post a Comment
Read more

TV Accessory Freebies

 A few months ago, my promary laptop stopped working (after I dropped the thing to the floor). A replacement was found for free on Facebook's Marketplace site.  There was a box of cables and miscellaneous hardware along with the laptop. After a good cleaning and charging, the laptop was almost as good as new (2015). But, in the box of 'stuff' were two things of interest. The first was a Roku desktop box with remote, and the second, an Android desktop box to make ordinary TVs connect to the web, i.e., become 'Smart.' My TV is a 55" LG OLED and does not need a desktop smart box. The Roku works and I'll give the unit a test run when I have more time.
Post a Comment
Read more

Philips Hue lights Updated

 Philips Hue lights are known for the ability to program brightness, saturation, and hue using software. Most people use one or more cellphone apps to control their Hue lights. I've a history in computrer science and electronic technology and engineering, so took this up as a new interest. WiFi control of light bulbs' colors has interested me ever since I read aboout the topic some years ago. There happened to be seven Hue bulbs available from one eBay seller and for a reaosnable fee, approximately $20. A bridge device is used to communicate with the bulbs, so I waited for a good deal on eBay and got one. Philips has evolved a developer community and resources for those who want to explore the possibilities in lamp light control. The user joins the communnity and gets a temporary API key, formerly referred to as a 'username', good for one session. Then a browser or app, can be used to send commands to the bulbs. There are other avenues of communication. Python libraries...
Post a Comment
Read more