Posts

SDR - software defined radio

I'm devoting this post to the RTLSDR. This device is a dongle for laptops and tablets/phones that have USB ports and software written for the particular device. The SDR is a radio frequency receiver. Sounds simple. The radio spectrum is divided into segments dedicated to particular functions and by assorted agencies. The idea behind a SDR is a programmable radio that can be configured and reconfigured for different  spectra and formats. Two different agencies, e.g.,governments, may transmit data in different formats. If the format information is available, the SDR can often incorporate the standards into the unit programming and receive/record transmissions from those sources. The most common uses are to receive commercial FM radio bands, NOAA weather bands, Air traffic control bands and weather satellite imagery. Recently, digital radio, HDRadio, receiving software became available. The digital radio broadcasts are, for some reason, encrypted. A researcher decrypted t...

HDTV work around remote app found

I found an app to replace the Google Chrome remote desktop app. The name of the app is Team Viewer and works well. The app gives me a remote trackpad on my laptop that can run the laptop remotely. I use VLC player for Windows, and the iOS VLC Remote app to play videos on my laptop using my HDTV as the display screen. I hook up my laptop  to the TV using an HDMI cable. I can select and play the videos from my easy chair using my iPhone. UPDATE: My current setup includes the Googl Chrome remote desktop app to control my PC. My PC is connected to my 55" oled via an HDMI cable. With this setup, I can watch movies stored on my laptop (using the VLC player/streamer) but not yet moved to a remote hard drive.

Speed limit on router USB ports

The idea of attaching hard drives to my router was a good one. There is a drawback: the setup is too slow for some 4K UHD content. Some 4K videos will start to pixelate and freeze. The same videos will play normally when connected to the HDTV USB ports. Lower resolution content will still play normally, but the 4K videos had to be removed. USB hubs would be of use in this situation. A hub funnels several USB devices into one USB port. As a matter of fact, I tried that earlier but found the HDTV would only recognize one or two of three drives on the hub. I have since learned that powered hubs have been working for some. The hub I tried was a passive unit. Any power needed had to come from the HDTV's USB port. My next step is to purchase a powered USB hub and make the same trial. Hopefully, the powered hub will work. The addition of one or more powered USB hubs may allow me to expand the number of drives I can use. I am currently limited to three on the HDTV and two non-UHD ...

Added hard drives to router USB ports.

I have five hard drives. Four 1Tb(Terrabytes) and one 4Tb, drives. Three have been connected to the LG oled TV USB ports. I found a way to add the two remaining 1Tb drives by connecting them to the TP-Link AD7200 router's USB ports. As stated in a previous post, I had problems playing some of the videos on one drive due to incorrect aspect ratios. I found I could play them using VLC. I connected that drive to the router and now have access to the drive from VLC. The videos on the two router connected drives can be accessed by my laptop and played on the TV, or accessed by the TV directly through the wifi/LAN connection. A total of nine terrabytes is now available. Correction, eight and a half terrabytes. One of the drives is five hundred gigabytes, i.e, one half terrabyte.

4K UHD work-around

My TV is 4K capable. I have several 4K videos that play, but not in the correct aspect ratio. I use VLC video player as my go to for video. I can select different aspect ratios. First off, I tried altering the DAR(Display Aspect Ratio), primarily a metadata change, to reflect the correct ratio. This worked in VLC but not on the TV. Making the equivalent change in the SAR(Sampling Aspect Ratio) would take eight to ten hours per video. I found a work around. I can connect my laptop to my TV using an HDMI cable. This allows me to display my laptop screen on my TV. Now, I watch the problem videos on my TV by running connecting the external hard drive containing the 4K UHD videos to my laptop via a USB port. I open VLC with the correct aspect ratio for the problem videos and play. There was one remaining problem, a matter of convenience. My laptop has to be next to the TV with the short HDMI cable. I don't want to use a long cable because of noise and loading issues. A long cabl...

Sansui amplifier ans SPICE model - stage 2

Image
Much has been added, and the circuitry duplicated for stereo reproduction. A recent image is shown:

Sansui AU-505 and SPICE model

Image
I've begun building a SPICE model of the Sansui amplifier. This will aid in troubleshooting the circuitry. This is the initial stage of development. I focus on the output stages and ignore unrelated elements such as phono input circuitry.