Home Entertainment Center

 I have given a lot of time and thought to the software used to serve the video collection. I like jellyfin, but there are things that need to be fixed and things that need to be changed. There is a software program that is considered the most popular from what I have been able to find out.  The program is Plex. When I first started searching for media server software, I tried Plex, but the first time I downloaded and ran the program, the screen was setup for something like a 360p screen and difficult, if not impossible to use. I went to a forum and complained and got a less than stellar response by what must have been Plex die-hard groupies. Recently, I decided to try again. This time the program that installed was much more sophisticated and usable. The more I used the program, the more I liked the features and ease of use. The program is capable of many things, and accordingly, can be complex to use. Adapting takes some time but is, I think, worth the effort. Major change n...

 My drives have a new rack to hold them. Hot glue and square wood dowels provided the materials with which to build the rack. I used zip ties and a small computer fan attached to the end of the rack to provide cooling air ventilation for the drives. This will increase the lifetime of the drives. Previously the were stacked on top of each other and became noticeably warm during use. The wiring really was bad. Too many cables/wires held together with zip ties. I added a surge protected outlet strip of a newer, more sophisticated design. I rearranged the system wiring to minimize the number of outlet strips and the disarrayed wires. Two strips were screwed to the wall. One was removed. The circular strip was moved from the entertainment center to a work table beside the other two strips and combined with them to supply all devices attached to the system. The strip removed replaced the circular strip in the entertainment system.  Overall, the current setup works better. Both syste...

 The owner of Emby has blocked my using the WebOS access method of using Emby. I discovered the method and posted on the product's forum. That software is no longer my media server and has been removed from my computers. I replaced Emby with Jellyfin. Jellyfin is the evolved Emby open sourced. Emby was originally open source (and free) but was privatized and monetized by the creator. Many considered that move unethical.  The last open source version became the basis for Jellyfin,  easily competitive with Emby and almost, if not equally, well known. I've been using Jellyfin for about a year, perhaps more. The software has issues but is in constant development but is very useful in the current state, version 10.8.5.

  The SimpleDLNA media server has been replaced by the Emby media server, which, may in turn, be replaced by the Jellyfin media server. The reason for the change arose from the server not loading external subtitles. There are subtitles files built into a video file, and there are subtitles files that occur as separate files, known as external subtitles. There are over two hundred movies in my collection that have external subtitles files. Those would be excluded by the SimpleDLNA media server. The software is on github and someone forked the software and supposedly modified the source code to load external subtitles. I tried that version with no success. There is a media server, more sophisticated than others, that started out on github as open source, but became proprietary. A free version was made available as well as a fee based version. There were obstacles to overcome installing and running the software on an older laptop, the T61. Eventually, I succeeded. The system has stabi...

  The Windows 7 operating system was more attractive, but less effective in the software environment I was working in. I decided, for that reason, to upgrade the laptop to Windows 10. To capsulate, I have an IBM Lenovo ThinkPad T61 laptop to replace the Raspberry Pi 4B and the SimpleDLNA software to replace the miniDLNA software. Overall, a decided improvement.

 I have replace the Raspberry Pi 4B and miniDLNA software media server, with a new sytem. The new system is an IBM Lenovo T61 Thinkpad with SimpleDLNA software. I decided to save the Raspberry Pi for another project. I purchased a used T61 for $15 from a local used stuff store. The purchase included a docking station and power cord. The software was available online, free of charge for non-commercial use. I went through the usual learning curve and reduced the system to a single USB hub, the Amazon Basics hub, and five drives. The drives show up in the DLNA system as individual drives on the LG TV and my iPhone's VLC network.  I can add two more drives, later if needed. One advantage is the software does not rebuild the database as often, thus reducing the time to access when the system is booted. There is also an option to use a web page to display and access the drive contents. The Raspberry Pi will be the test unit for a blindspot collision detector on my Jeep Renegade Spor...

  The current state of the entertainment system. Elements:=========================================================== LG oled Smart-TV, 55-inch Pioneer VSX-1023 AVR (Audio Video Receiver) B&O RX-2 turntable w/ Soundsmith replacement phono cartridge, RIAA compensation box Alesis MEQ-230 30 band Equalizer Altec Valencia speaker cabinets w/ fixed, external cross-over filters for bi-amp use Polk Audio 50w Subwoofer Samsung blu-ray player - This has been removed and will eventually be replaced by a newer model that will play UHD 4k discs. The existing unit does not play UHD.  Hauppage Win-TV computer television receiver dongle and  RCA antenna for local television signals, with Channel Master antenna signal booster Sennheiser headphones Panasonic VHS VCR EasyCap VCR tape digitiser A Netflix subscription Latest addition: Raspberry Pi 4B/2gb SoC (computer System On a Card) with  miniDLNA software to connect 3000 video files on eight hard drives, to the TV via WiFi. A Be...

Finally, the mini wireless keyboard works Some time ago, I ordered a mini wireless keyboard. The unit is a clone of more familiar products by Rii and iPazzPort. The instructional pamphlet with the unit was minimally useful. When I last used the thing, I had discovered that I had to have the unit next to the back of the TV where I had plugged the accompanying dongle. The unit has been in storage for the last couple of years.  I was cruising YouTube and ran across a video that provided some insight into my problem. The unit goes into 'sleep' mode automatically if not active. There's not a constant need for a keyboard with a TV so the unit spent most of the time in 'sleep' mode. Unfortunately, after a while the unit would disconnect from the TV. The wireless transmissions would stop. At that point I would have to place the unit next to the dongle on the back of the TV and unplug/plug the dongle to restart. A nuisance to say the least. The video pointed out that the don...