General Discussion Thread

[the-pi-guy]

It's interesting how different parts of the country have different signage and stuff.

It was either Ohio or Indiana had a dedicated stop light for u-turns, as well as dedicated lines to turn around.

Most of the time, that just seems to be at your own discretion and not something controlled.

Another difference (not actual wording) "bridge might be icy", i think when we were in West Virginia, it was worded as "bridge becomes icy before
road"

[Legend]

At least we all drive on the correct side of the road  

[the-pi-guy]

There are also a lot of areas in Virginia where there are stop lines that are way further back than I've normally seen.

[kitler53]

It's interesting how different parts of the country have different signage and stuff.

It was either Ohio or Indiana had a dedicated stop light for u-turns, as well as dedicated lines to turn around.

Most of the time, that just seems to be at your own discretion and not something controlled.

Another difference (not actual wording) "bridge might be icy", i think when we were in West Virginia, it was worded as "bridge becomes icy before
road"

lived in michigan for a while.  the left turns alway infuriated me.

[Legend]

(Heads Up!) Biscuit Basin in Yellowstone National Park temporarily closed due to hydrothermal explosion. More info: https://t.co/tcDR8oRNSx pic.twitter.com/YP7CkwNrQR

— Yellowstone National Park (@YellowstoneNPS) July 23, 2024

JUST IN: Biscuit Basin in Yellowstone National Park has blown up, destroying a nearby boardwalk as tourists could be seen running to safety.

According to Geyser Times, there were no injuries.

A radio report noted: "First large pool at biscuit basin... large explosion... lots of… pic.twitter.com/gyzqvysRBR

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 23, 2024

Pretty cool. I love geysers.

[kitler53]

we were just there a few weeks ago.  glad i didn't die.

[Legend]

Google when I'm signed out randomly decided to start using dark mode.

I googled "why is google dark" and that switched it back to white mode.  

[kitler53]

Google when I'm signed out randomly decided to start using dark mode.

I googled "why is google dark" and that switched it back to white mode.  

the age of AI is upon us.   now i finally see why AI companies have seen ridiculous growth in their evaluations.  this idea is worth billions...

[Legend]

Ok maybe google search is on to something. Google "president donald" and it will auto complete with donald duck, not Trump.

Only other autocomplete option it gave me was President Donald Regan with a picture of Ronald Reagan.

[the-pi-guy]

Does anyone have a paid wi-fi router, or are people just using what their ISP gives them?

I bought some Deco's a year ago, and those are kinda cool. The ISP routers are usually very bare bones feature wise.

Like apparently I could set up a VPN client and/or server on the router. I could set up different networks for IoT, WIFI 6Ghz. Prioritize devices, secure different things. And I can adjust this stuff from the app.

I mean none of it is crazy stuff, but ISP routers usually barely do anything; so it feels kind of cool by comparison.

[Legend]

That's cool. I have an extra one just sitting in a box. Maybe I should switch to that and stop paying for the ISP one.

[the-pi-guy]

I have too much fun with the plex stuff.

I like reading about movies/TV shows.
I like buying movies/TV shows.
I like ripping the discs and organizing everything.
It's also interesting to use software to upscale. I've also been using software that generates subtitles.

Not to mention actually using it and having your favorite stuff in one place.



And I know this is like the 100th time I've talked about this.

[the-pi-guy]

This is my post somewhere else.

I don't get to write big posts very often, but I felt good about this.

That's all you guys talk about are Movies on 4K Disc, because most of you don't have good Solid Fiber Streaming.  So your Streaming is very weak and poor, but there are a lot of good Streaming options.  Amazon Prime, ATV+, and Netflix have been putting out some very good Movies and TV Series...I'm just pointing them out!

I have fiber internet, and get 400Mbps download and upload.

None of these streamers will provide you anything close to even 50 Mbps. This is an issue on their end. They intentionally limit bitrates. I don't even think they provide 30 Mbps most of the time.  

Bravia Core from what I understand is the best at up to 80 Mbps. Although I haven't used it myself, and I'm not sure how frequently it gets there.

A number of 4k discs will go up to 150 Mbps in short bursts.  The highest that I have currently for an average is about 110 for Groundhog day, although that includes all the different audio streams.

The highest average bitrate for video I have is Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio at 95 Mbps.  

You always lower yourself to name calling just because I prefer Streaming instead of Discs.  My Symmetrical testing is below, with the setup I have the Streaming Picture and Sound Quality is very good.  Even though WiFi gives me Pixelation on rare occasions!

Your Test History

Date   Download Speed   Upload Speed   Latency (Ping)
8/17/2024 1:42pm   90.30 Mbps   93.04 Mbps   42 ms
8/17/2024 1:42pm   92.22 Mbps   92.57 Mbps   43 ms
8/17/2024 1:41pm   90.77 Mbps   92.78 Mbps   34 ms

People shouldn't be name calling for having different preferences, if that's what is happening.

If you really wanted the best streaming experience, what you would need is better internet (optional for remote access) a better router or wired preferably, and plex/jellyfin and rip 4k discs.  


That's assuming someone is most interested in getting the best quality.


Overall though, no matter how someone watches their movies and TV shows, there is always going to be some kind of compromise. Whether it's quality, cost or availability.

Availability: There's plenty of stuff that's not on disc obviously. There's also stuff that's not streaming anywhere. And you can pay more for more streaming services to get access to more shows/movies. Discs will obviously tend to be for slightly older shows. But we also are able to keep discs, whereas a lot of streaming shows get rotated.  

Quality: Obviously this will vary per person and per content. Different people care about different video issues. Like I think I care more about aliasing issues, whereas if things are colored a little bit wrong, I'm probably not going to notice as much. I like to have the best versions, but there's definitely things I wouldn't notice.

Personally there are times where I think streaming looks fine, and there are times where I notice crushed blacks that I just haven't seen while watching 4k discs.

Cost: A single streaming service is pretty cheap, but if it doesn't have what you want, that might mean buying from Apple TV+ or subscribing to another service.



All of these factors are dependent on what matters to you as a viewer.

If you're someone who like to watch Breaking Bad 15 times a year at home, buying the discs is going to be pretty cheap, and high quality.

If you're someone who likes to watch a brand new movie every single night, and you don't care about quality too much, then streaming services just can't be beat. Unless you're reasonably wealthy and really want a giant shelf full of movies you never watch again.  

If you're someone who wants to watch their favorite movies at the absolute best quality, then you're going to need to get those on 4k discs. Maybe that will change in the future.

Everyone is different. Most people seem to be pretty content with the quality and access that streaming services provide, and that's totally good for them, especially because it's pretty affordable for most people.

[Legend]

Hulu's bitrate is so bad at times. Shogun would have been much better if watched on a regular bluray.

The olympics on peacock were sometimes worse than vhs quality. It was crazy how those streams jumped around. 4K look for just a bit here and there, 720p look a lot of the time, and a sub vhs smear far too often.

[the-pi-guy]

The weirdest ad I've been getting on YouTube is My Vampire System.

I've gotten the ad like 20 times for some reason.

I found a Facebook link to it
Instagram link for people who hate FB but like Instagram....


There's an imdb reference, so it looks like there's a TV show that goes with it from 3 years ago. I'm pretty the imdb date is wrong.

I think it's supposed to be this, but this looks so much worse and has different actors.

I don't understand why I've seen so many ads for this.