Reclaiming the Living Room Gallery

A little ahead of Joel and May's recent visit, I noticed a new problem with my television setup.  A bridge had collapsed.

For six years, a modest little application had quietly linked my online photographic archive directly to the television. The app cost less than five dollars to install. That was a bargain. Time, however, is rarely kind to aging code. Operating system updates and newer streaming hardware finally caught up with its plumbing, leaving the software unable to load a single frame. When our guests arrived, the only recourse was casting directly from a phone. It worked, but barely. Handsets disconnect, notifications intrude, and managing an album on a small glass handheld is a poor substitute for a native television interface.

The proper remedy arrived shortly afterward. My AI collaborator suggested looking into an updated viewer called FlickFolio. After a short evaluation, securing a pro lifetime license felt entirely fair. The application treats an archive that now stands at 50,207 photographs on Flickr as a true exhibition. That collection spans a lifetime of visual record, holding everything from snapshots taken this morning right back to scanned paper prints from my earliest childhood years. One can navigate directly to a specific journey with a click, complete with original dates and locations discreetly noted in the corner, or simply leave the screen to wander through decades of our milestones and global travel during quiet hours.

The living room gallery is back in service. It is properly catalogued and ready for the next round of guests without any casting gymnastics. Testing the feed earlier today, photographs of a camel trek from this June flashed across the display, its golden desert tones rendered with startling clarity. Sitting back this afternoon, watching old moments rekindle in vivid colour across the screen, it felt as though decades of a life well lived had stepped back into the room.

Old Habits

We have watched the Survivor TV series since it started. We still do. In fact, we are watching a streamed episode right at the moment.

   

I finally let my Nvidia Shield update to Experience 9.2 this morning. The device has been responsible for all my video streaming services for almost five years. It feels like new because of the new software upgrade.

Where We Live

This small video segment shows our part of the city in New Westminster, British Columbia.  If you click on this static image, the entire 2 min 20 sec video should open in a new browser window.  On the new screen, you will have to start the video.  It may start as muted.

 

Making Use of What I Have

I've been eyeing a NAS drive for our home network. I have a mobile drive with a collection of movies and it'd be handy to be able to stream them from the network rather than directly plugging the drive into the television.  For example, on my Nvidia Shield, there are excellent programs to sort and maintain info on my entire, current collection of around 1,000 titles.

   

The cheapest, 2-bay network-accessible drive enclosures go for about $CA 250 and that's without the actual disks!  I cannot justify paying over $CA 500 for this solution. So, I dug through the closet and located a really old Android TV box. 

I should be able to plug my existing 5TB mobile drive into the device. I won't even bother with video output from the box as I'll just need the movie files' network locations to play them. I may even be able to plug this box/disc combo into the extra ethernet port on the bedroom mesh router.  Yay, something new to try.

What's Your Favourite Movie?

For years, I've had a dedicated mobile drive for a collection of popular and favourite movies. The current red Seagate drive is 5TB with lots of remaining space. I have around a thousand mp4 and mkv files preserving films from the 1920s through this very year. 

Most recently, I'd been accessing the digital accumulation by plugging the drive's USB directly into our LG TV.  Its WebOS software player worked well for the task. 

I am extremely organized and have accurate file names.  The drive has folders for every decade and subfolders for individual years.  Still, that was not a very efficient way of browsing hundreds of feature films.  Therefore, today, I decided to directly plug the Seagate drive into my modem/router.  

Modifying the router's firmware to use one empty USB port was not very difficult.  Then, I set up the drive as network storage so all devices in my apartment can access its folders.  Android was a cinch but getting Windows 10 to access via BCRM-LVG took a bit of sleuthing.  Yay, success.  There is no more need for plugging and unplugging the movie drive!

      

I happened to find the most marvellous Android software for my Nvidia Shield. It's called Nova Media Player.  It is an open-source app based on the former Archos player.  As it allows for passthrough, my receiver can best decide what to do with the audio tracks.

Perhaps the best part is how Nova runs a great library front-end.  It scrapes IMDb for movie posters and tons of information.  It automatically organizes everything into a large number of categories.  Because a TV-friendly version runs on my Shield device, I can simply pick up the remote and, by saying the name of the title, search the collection.  Every time I add a new file, the app will automatically add it to the easy-to-use menus.  It has been years since my movies have been this well organized.

Another Day, Another Delivery

I'm happy enough with my selection of local TV stations. Presently, I pay $CA 80 per year for TV over IP from my Internet provider. SurfTV is pretty dependable and their Android app on my Nvidia Shield works just fine. 

However, in Mexico, I set up a new TV for our Mazatlan apartment. All the high-def  'Over-The-Air channels' looked great. At the time, I thought I would pick up an antenna to hide behind my own television here in New Westminster. One arrived today, and I'm a bit disappointed. 

Digital TV reception depends almost completely on OAS orientation to the broadcast towers. The towers are on mountains looking down on Vancouver, whereas our apartment windows in New Westminster look southward. As expected I got all the non-US-network channels from Bellingham, WA.  I already get them and really wanted just the Canadian local networks: CBC, CTV, and Global. I only get reception from CTV in Victoria as they must have a repeater somewhere close by. 

The situation wasn't completely unexpected but I still found it somewhat frustrating. The cheap antenna from Amazon didn't break the bank and I guess it was worth $20 to learn that what I had heard about digital reception was accurate.

Another Device I'm Convinced I Need

Today, I found out that my TV provider has created a new version of their Android APK. Unfortunately, I discovered that it requires Android Oreo at minimum. The current TV box I'm using is too old. So, I started looking on Amazon Canada today for a new, cheap, streaming box. 

Yet, you know me. I had to know specifics. I found myself writing a question on a specific device that went something like this: 

"Does this device allow HDMI passthrough of a Dolby 

Atmos signal to a capable receiver?"

In typical Amazon fashion, they queried an average Joe customer who felt the need to answer that he/she really didn't know what I was talking about.

Well, I'm not surprised as it was a relatively technical question.  My experience of not being able to find specifics has pointed me towards a new Nvidia Shield TV.  Damn, there's is always something for me to buy, isn't there?

Is 4K a Noticeable Improvement?

I guess I need to visit a retailer to see if 4K television is noticeably better. I don't know if London Drugs has some actual 4K feeds to compare with ordinary HD. I will go and see.

This question was prompted because I see that our local company, Telus, is starting to get a little more aggressive with the pricing of the 50 Mbps Internet packages. That is the minimum necessary for UHD.

To Scrobble

About a year ago, I lamented that it was pretty hard to keep up with what to watch nowadays. Television produces some petty amazing stories. There are more movies available than time to watch them. It's all about picking and choosing in 2017. Today, I quit an app called TVShow Time as I found I really didn't keep up entering what we'd seen and where in a series we were.

When we binge a series, it is pretty easy to remember. For example, I know that we completed just six episodes of the season four of Black Sails. We'll finish up soon by watching a couple of episodes a night. Sometimes, it gets confusing though.

I thought I'd try trakt.tv. I think it may keep keeping track a little easier. At least I can supposedly try automatic scrobbling from Terrarium TV.

Streaming Showbox to the Living Room TV

Back in 2014 I wanted a good-quality Android streaming box. At the time that sort of meant buying a Minix. I had to wait a bit for an X8-H to come from Hong Kong. It was supposedly a powerful beast. I was never terribly impressed, although it did have 2/16 GB ram and did some things exceedingly well. I waited and waited for the company to come up with some system updates, but Minix never did. It wasn't long before new models became the focus of their attention.

My box travelled with us to Luxor, Egypt last winter where it was attached to an old tube TV. We ended up streaming more on the big laptop but it did work. We depend on several apps for keeping up on current TV shows and movies. Yet last night, it didn't make it past the beginning splash screen. When I tried this morning, I couldn't get any result out of the HDMI port.



So, I was easily convinced to order something new on amazon.ca today. I figure a new Leelbox M9S Pro will fun to learn and play with. In actuality, my very old Chromecast is probably enough to make my TV smart. This is especially true since I figured out this afternoon how to use allcast to stream showbox to it. Either my Android tablet or phone could have sufficed. I do so like un-boxing little electronic gadgets though.

Self-Taught Film Aficionado

We live in rather a unique time in film history. Until quite recently, it was not possible to view most any title, from nearly any decade, right in one's own home. This flat screen in my living room beats any silver screen I grew up near. In addition, the picture clarity and sonic experience, especially of remastered classics, rival the actual theatrical prints of yesteryear. I can hardly recall the last time I saw dust or a stray hair in a frame! Even better, nowadays, an mp4 file can never break in the middle of a show!

As well as keeping up on a plethora of recent productions, I make it a habit to regularly expose myself to older movie classics. During months that my Internet bandwidth usage is low, I download and store. I'll tell you, lots can fit on an external 2TB portable drive!

Selecting Stuff for Screens

Television isn't for kids anymore. (Well, maybe there's great kids' programming; I wouldn't know. I meant to imply that it takes a fair bit of organization to keep up with all the great TV that is produced today.

Luckily I found this app to keep track of what we're watching: TVShow Time. It's meant, as most Internet social media sites, for sharing one's data with others. I expect to mainly use it just to let me keep track of shows. After watching an episode, it is easy to mark. The calendar shows what will be released each day. It's rather a miracle now that so much is out there on the Internet.

My other related and invaluable find was the website called put.io and I was so curious I bought a month of subscription. OMG, it borders on amazing. Of course, if you don't know why someone would need a 100GB of cloud space for external torrenting, then I cannot explain here. If you'd like to know more, let me know though. We could even share one account! I love nerdy things but have no nerdy friends.

Bags of Vegetables - Day 111

I cannot find many photographs of the Tuesday Qurna market on the Internet. Of course, this could be due to a translation problem as the area might also be written as Kurna, Gourna, Gurna, Qurnah or Qurneh. However it's spelt in English, it is an amazing place for us to pick up all sorts of vegetables and fruit. (We're never in the market for live chickens or goats, it seems.)








On a day like today, it was enjoyable in the warm sun. It no longer feels strange in any way after all these months in Luxor, Egypt. I usually manage to get a few photos I really like. I took twice as many as were posted here. I have sort of developed a gorilla-style of shooting at the hip. Surprisingly, I end up discarding very few!

These photos probably are not very impressive on a phone or tablet. When I open up on my the notebook, I can see a lot of detail often lost on a small screen. Actually, I cannot wait to view the whole collection from Egypt on my TV back in Canada. One reason, I shoot primarily in a 16 x 9 format, is that none of these images will probably ever hit paper. Although many photos may be cropped when edited, they still look amazing in high definition on our 47" screen.

Vevo Control Smack Down

Today, we spent a bit of the afternoon watching music videos.

Rather than the Android box, I was using the tablet to make selections over the Chromecast. There's surely a large variety of genres and years available. It was interesting to see some of the new videos as I only knew the music from streaming the audio on my phone. We'd watch a new video and then something like an 80's Pattie LaBelle. I could have also grabbed my phone and controlled the flow of music on that device as well.

What if everybody at a party had the Vevo app on their phone? It could be a free-for-all. On the other hand, what a democratic way to pick tunes!

Goodbye, Academy Ratio!

I suppose I have spent the majority of my screen life at a 4:3 ratio. That was how I watched Gilligan's Island. Yet, I think even for standard photographs, it is time to switch to a wider format. Today, I took this picture in the lobby of the Landmark Cinemas in New Westminster. I have switched my phone camera to save in this format even though that means giving up a bit of the image. Wide images have begun to personally feel more normal than the older standards.

I have always been intrigued by screen ratios. I've studied a lot about them on my own. This topic is a perfect way to show how most technology is incremental rather than revolutionary. Society sort of became accustomed to the old TV standard by decisions made long before the advent of broadcasting. It all goes back to failed patients by Edison well before even the previous century. It is strange that decisions from the late 1800's affected televisions until 16x9 screens became the most commonly sold format five short years ago!

There has been a lot of wild experimentation in between. These formats look very silly: 2.35:1, 2.39:1, or 2.40:1. It never really made sense to go that wide as theatres never suddenly increased in width. The top and bottom of the images were simply cut. That may have been novel but it surely wasn't an improvement..

1.77:1 is the ratio of a 16x9 screen and is the perfect modern compromise. I'd like to see all Hollywood films shot in a compatible format. Oh, and stop making iPad or Android tablets in any other dimensions!

In 1963 Our TV Wasn't in Colour

It must have been yesterday's CGI-filled movie which prompted me to find Jason and the Argonauts.

I have set up a spare, external mobile drive to act as the movie storage device for my Minix Android box. It surely was not difficult to find an mp4 copy of the 1963 film.

Technological changes were not lost on me. I found a 50+ year old film, copied it to a slim 2.5 drive. I have started playing the movie through a tiny box about half the size of a VHS tape. It looks great on the 47" living room TV. Well, it looks as great as the special effects of the day allowed. What are these flying purple and blue batmen thingies I'm seeing?

I'm now awaiting the sword fight with the skeletons!

The Idiot Box

Television has never been better.

I can remember when one watched whatever happened to be on. A missed episode was really gone. Shows sunk or swam by counting how a few eyeballs were divided between a handful of networks. Lastly, what one fondly remembers as classic TV was mostly juvenile, formulaic rubbish.

My, how TV has changed for the better! The quality of some programming exceeds major motion pictures. One problem, now that much of television arrives over the Internet, is figuring out what one would like to view. The second, just as important problem, is figuring out when to fit it all in.

Binging Brings Bonuses

My Nexus 7 makes the best remote I've ever owned. We're currently chromecasting an episode of Terra Nova. For quite a few months, we've been inhabiting the new world of television. Namely, we now binge on entire seasons of progamming over a short period of days or weeks. We began doing this before I came across the term.

It seemed silly to let broadcasters dictate when we had to sit on the couch. That problem was solved two decades ago by timeshifting, first to VCR and then on PVR. Still as the programs came one dribble at a time, there was an enormous break in continuity. Why bother with a weekly schedule? Actually, I think that binge viewing allows producers to attempt much more quality content. It allows us to partake in stories much more complex than a single movie could allow. Once liberated from set time and content restrictions, the sky's the limit.

Chromecasting

Before I comment about a new toy, I usually wait until I've lived with it for a while. This is one of the only ways to ensure that it's just not a love-at-first-sight phenomenon. A few times in the past, I've become enamoured with a device or item just to later find out it was not really life changing.

When we were coming back home from our five-day road trip, yesterday, I stopped by the Best Buy in Bellingham, WA. I knew that getting one's hands on a Chromecast dongle is rather is hard as they're as rare as hen's teeth. There were none available online, but as long as I was so near a US store I thought I might check. Surprisingly, five of the devices were in in stock and I bought one.

I didn't try plugging it into my living-room widescreen until this morning. How cool! I can cast Netflix and YouTube directly to the screen via a PC, phone, or tablet. It just plugs into a spare HDMI input on a widescreen TV. It becomes a device on one's wireless network, so although the selection process is made on the smaller device, the actual Internet connection is via the Chromecast hardware itself. This means high definition is clear.

So far only Google's own apps, YouTube and Netflix work on it. More streaming sites are promised. Three months of free credit on Netflix are given so the little device worked to be around $11. I've already gotten more enjoyment out of it than that!

Web Episodes

We have been back almost a month now. Of course, there were lots of little errands and chores after being away for four and a half months. Everything has seemingly fallen back into place. Not that it was an initial task, yet we've even managed to catch up on a lot of missed TV.



Today, I started to catch up on a personal favourite of last season. Season 2 of Arctic Air is available for viewing via the CBC website. (Most probably only to those residing in Canada though.) I hadn't really thought of checking until today.

The clever folks at the national broadcaster have made the entire series available. Kudos for clever and clear thinking! The way in which some broadcasters manage what stays online is ridiculous. For example, why would I be interested in the last five episodes of a program I've never watched? In order to make most series approachable, the whole kit and caboodle has to exist for online viewing. Advertisements could be included, so why be stingy with the programming? I wouldn't have bothered with any of Arctic Air, Season 2 had I not been able to start from the very first episode. It's on right now, in fact.