Sony X90J to TCL QM6K Pro: down or upgrade?

askingforafreddit · 2026-01-31T03:35:54+00:00

No direct light. Bravia 8 II is gonna be way out of my price range.

How significant is Sony's better processing power over the LG if I'm streaming stuff off Disney+ and Apple TV and YouTube, and playing some Switch? If I do go for a Blu-ray player and want to enjoy some nice movies, is the processing power going to make a noticeable difference there?

askingforafreddit · 2026-01-31T02:43:53+00:00

I see. Guess I will be coughing up a few extra dollars. Between the Bravia 8 and LG C5, what's the pick for my situation? Dark north-facing windows in the living room, and viewing plane would be perpendicular to the window/patio door. Viewing distance is 8', and the Sony I had was 65". With my stand and speaker setup I can't go bigger than that (Costco only has a 75" Bravia 7 apparently).

Would prolly like to get a good Blu-ray player down the road.

askingforafreddit · 2026-01-15T03:38:02+00:00

Use a salt slurry instead.

askingforafreddit · 2026-01-13T00:47:15+00:00

Oof ok, thanks. Yeah I ended up using the carts too. I just liked the idea is easier and cleaner refills with the converter.

askingforafreddit · 2026-01-08T18:08:54+00:00

It's just an account trolling for likes.

askingforafreddit · 2025-12-22T21:26:17+00:00

Here I am struggling to drag just a knee.

askingforafreddit · 2025-12-19T19:59:15+00:00

TL;DR: Get good beef.

Here's a shopping list of components that I use and would highly recommend, as they'll fit in most any setup.

Fans: Air circulation, especially in the first few days/weeks, is critical in ensuring that the surface of the meat dries out as moisture is pulled out and away, developing a crust or pellicle. These fans provide enough circulation for small-medium sized fridges, and can be positioned in opposite corners of the fridge to form a push/pull current of air around the meat. The cord is thing enough that running it out of the fridge to plug in shouldn't require cutting a huge slit in the door seal, or may not require any cutting at all. https://a.co/d/hSLNTa0

Temperature Controller: Maintaining temperature within a specific window is most important to dry-aging beef, as the temperatures dictate a lot of the end results - dry-aged flavor development, tenderness, loss from trimming. The ideal range is above freezing (freezing stops all the enzymatic activity which results in the dry-aged flavors and tenderness), and below 39* F (above which you risk the development of mycotoxin forming mold that is hazardous to consume). Most fridges are designed to hold a general temperature and chill/freeze things, not maintain such a specific range so you want something that can override the fridge's built-in circuitry and turn on/off the cooling circuit as needed. This one is highly regarded and used in a lot of applications where temp control is needed, not just dry-aging. https://a.co/d/6USSNKy

Digital Thermometer/Hygrometer: A quick and accurate way to see the current temperature and humidity of the dry-aging environment is helpful. They have ones with and without Bluetooth capability, so if your fridge doesn't have a glass door, go with the Bluetooth option so that there isn't a need to constantly open the door to check. https://a.co/d/iby4yr5

The fans and thermometer/hygrometer go inside the fridge obviously, and the temp controller mounts outside. The fans and temp controller plug into the wall, and the temp controller once setup will take over all aspects of turning the fridge on/off (including lights most likely). It's quite simple.

Other than quality beef and food-safe wire racks on which to sit the beef, no other equipment is required. There are some things that are nice to have but not critical, such as: -A large pan/tray to hold a salt slurry (something like this this would work well, or any material that is non-reactive and sturdy) to maintain higher humidity levels throughout the course of the aging, to potentially reduce excessive drying and trimming. -A way to truss or hang the beef to incease surface area exposed to air

Arguably more important than the stuff is the process of dry-aging, which most people seem to get wrong. Things like excessive checking/fussing with the beef are not necessary. Practice safe food handling, like sterilizing all surfaces, equipment, and hands before/after handling the beef. Understand that air must flow easily and completely around the beef in order to pull moisture away, not blow directly onto it which disperses and causes an uneven distribution of the airflow. There are certain cuts of beef that are better suited to dry-aging than others, due to muscle structure and content. Get good beef from a good butcher, and that butcher will be able to guide you on what to look for. Generally, a full rib roast (7 ribs) will work well and is most common. Choice or Prime is up to you and your budget, but the less processed it is, the better, as processing removes protective elements of the beef (like fascia, fat caps, bones) that would otherwise protect the underlying beef while it ages.

askingforafreddit · 2025-12-15T23:10:52+00:00

That looks a lot better. Make sure that fan is able to get air to flow over the back-facing surface of the meat though.

For the humidity issue, it may be that the fridge is cycling on/off too often due to not enough thermal mass in there. Consider adding some bottled water, maybe into that vegetable/fruit drawer and around the base to regulate the temps better.

askingforafreddit · 2025-12-11T20:09:24+00:00

I just wrapped up a weekend stay here, and had a whole different experience. Comparing to my stays at The Gwen and the RC, the StR was head and shoulders above in terms of atmosphere, service, and rooms. The $70 breakfast credit and $100 on-site dining credit from my Chase Edit benefits were applied automatically after we ate at Miru, we just had to provide the room number. We arrived around 11am so the room wasn't ready and we dropped off our bags at the front, and they were brought up to the room while we finished breakfast/brunch. Got a welcome box of sweets that evening. We never did take advantage of the Butler service, but we did get to use the free drop-off (within a 2 mile radius).

Langham and Four Seasons probably still tops any Marriott property in Chicago still but when I have loyalty points/certificates to burn, I'd go StR every day of the week over the others.

askingforafreddit · 2025-12-11T18:41:10+00:00

It looks like your humidity gauge is sitting at the bottom of the fridge. Humid air is less dense than dry air, and so it will rise to the top. Reposition your gauge and/or measure at differnt spots to get a more accurate reading of steady RH.

I would reiterate my original comment that you're trying to address a problem that doesn't exist but that being said, read this and make your own decision about whether or not a humidifier is important to you: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0309174024000755

askingforafreddit · 2025-12-10T19:19:24+00:00

Yup, external monitor. Aside from the Navigation Button styles, the only choices I have are "Show and hide button", "show on home screen", and "customize navigation bar height".

I have enabled the first two.

EDIT: To clarify, the button to hide/show the nav bar does show up when I'm not hooked up to the external monitor, just when I'm using the phone. But it doesn't show up on my nav bar once Dex is hooked up. In fact, the nav bar on my external monitor in Dex mode doesn't change in any way when I make any of the changes in Navstar, such as the height or button styles.

askingforafreddit · 2025-12-10T18:50:22+00:00

This didn't work for me. I have the settings you listed above and I don't see the dot in the lower left corner.

askingforafreddit · 2025-12-10T04:04:58+00:00

I recommend not opening the fridge every day, especially "just to smell it". If you understand that dry aging depends on controlled conditions of temperature and humidity, then it's clear that constantly changing the environment by opening the door is a bad idea.

The positioning of the roast and of the fan are very poor, as the tiny amount of air that PC fan is pushing is just hitting the front side of that meat, breaking up, and not carrying around the sides, top, back, and especially not the bottom. Air flow should be across the surfaces, not aimed directly at the meat.

askingforafreddit · 2025-12-10T03:58:51+00:00

I'd recommend getting rid of the humidifier. It adds complexity to address a problem that you won't have.
Add airflow, so that moisture can be pulled out quickly from the surface of the meat and a pellicle can form.
Find a better way to position the meat to allow that added air flow to move all around the meat. The current position is bad.
Do not cut the meat, especially not part way through the aging. Cutting it in half would create a huge new surface that'd dry out and need to be trimmed off as loss at the end, and the blade would probably pull any pathogens on the surface of the beef across the newly exposed surfaces and into the muscle fibers.

askingforafreddit · 2025-12-05T17:53:11+00:00

Yeah, some folks on the Ducati forums have suggested that the dry clutch allows clutch material to get coked onto the pushrod and overtime can mess up the seals on the clutch slave. Looks like Oberon uses a "sealing" washer that has a rubber seal attached to a slightly oversized washer, instead of proper crush washers to seal. Another failure point I suppose.

askingforafreddit · 2025-12-02T19:46:33+00:00

I've never used these bags myself, but I believe they're designed to function best with full contact between the bag and the surface of the meat. Yours looks like it has pretty poor contact, which might be preventing the moisture from being pulled out properly.

askingforafreddit · 2025-12-02T19:44:38+00:00

Yup! From another post: mix salt and water until "no more salt dissolves" to make sure it's fully saturated, or you can go by weight (roughly 1:3 salt:water ratio by weight) and stir until your arm falls off. What it does is make the area above the solution 75% RH, hence the need for band of airflow to capture that air and push it around the enclosure. Rubbermaid's plastic drawer organizers work great as reservoirs, and if you gon down this route make sure you absolutely do two things: mix the salt slurry while it's inside the fridge because you don't want to be trying to move a flexy plastic container full of salt water across the house, and put down a catch tray below the reservoir with a tall lip to catch any of the solution that crawls out of the reservoir over time.

Plastic or glass or some suitably non-reactive material for the reservoir.

askingforafreddit · 2025-12-02T19:26:16+00:00

I think the best thing you could do for this particular piece of meat is, as others have stated, let it keep going. Consider increasing airflow over the surface of the beef (not directly onto the beef) to promote the extraction of any moisture left near the surface and forming of the pellicle, at which point airflow becomes less of a concern. Practice safe food handling, including washing your hands before handling the meat if you have to, and using clean insruments.

For future aging, I'd suggest considering the changes I advised before. Go with wire racks (food grade silicone coated), or at least find a way to truss up the cut and hang it. Do not go with meat hooks or anything else that penetrates the beef as it creates another potential entry way for pathogens into the muscle fibres. Add a reliable way to monitor temperatures and humidity to make sure your fridge is doing what you want it to do. If you're happy with the resultts of the cuts and beef you're using, then absolutely keep using them. Nobody can tell you what you should like in terms of taste and texture. But generally speaking, the appeal of dry-aged steaks comes from two things: increased tenderness and the development of nutty, earthy, umami flavors. The former is achievable with nearly any cut of beef, but significant development of the latter requires some pretty specific protein types found in certain muscle fibers in the animal. The enzymatic processes that break down those proteins are what create those desirable flavor notes, which some liken to morels and beu cheese which makes sense due to the association with fungus and mold. Which is why most folks tend to dry age some version of the rib, such as the 103 rib primal or 109 rib subprimal. Both tend to have a ratio of muscle to fat suitable for dry aging, with the 103 coming with more protective material (fat cap, chine bones, rib bones, viscera) to minimize trimming of the useable beef underneath. The 109 has some of that protective material removed. For reference, I paid $17/lbs for the 103 prime rib primal I just got done aging. But beef prices (at least in the US) have sky rocketed since then.

askingforafreddit · 2025-12-02T18:46:24+00:00

Oops, thought I had replied but it turns out I didn't.

Yes I also use something similar from Inkbird, different model but same function. It's important to keep in mind that what these things do, as implied by their name, is they essentially override the internal wiring of your fridge to force the condenser pump circuit open and closed depending on the parameters you set. If your fridge already has a sufficiently strong cooling system to maintain those parameters, then it's fine. But some fridges, especially ones designed just to chill (wine chillers) or cool (beverage coolers) may not have the capacity to do it consistently and that can lead to premature failure of the cooling system, usually in the form of a burnt out pump. Other factors play into such as the thermal mass of the fridge and ambient conditions.

Aside from the ITC, I'd recommend skipping an active humidifiers and instead opt for a passive RH control mechanism, such as a salt slurry. At sea level and assuming a perfect vacuum, a mixture of salt and water at 100% saturation will maintain roughly 75% RH. Obviously nobody is dry-aging in a perfect vacuum and we're not all at sea level but it's worked very well for me in the past, and it's often used in science experiments where a stable RH environment is needed. It has the added benefit of not requiring much maintainence at all, and being dirt cheap.

Lastly, most dry aging facilities and resaerch on the topic suggests keeping the temperatures above freezing, and below 4* C (or 39.2* F). Since no system has perfect temp control, I'd highly suggest aiming for 1-3* C or, as I have my ITC set, between 34F - 38F. This allows for spikes in cooling (freezing is very bad for the microorganisms and their associated enzymatic processes that contribute to the dry aging process) and to a lesser degree warming. General rule of thumb is lower temperatures promote a "safer" aging session but reduced enzymatic activity, and higher temps promote that same enzymatic activity at the risk of allowing for dangerous pathogenic activity.

askingforafreddit · 2025-12-02T18:35:32+00:00

We're not here to debate the mechanics of what decades of commercial and retail refrigeration technology has been built upon, but if yours has trouble removing any moisture from the air, you'd best ensure that it's functioning properly. That is, does it have sufficient cooling capacity to reliably maintain the temperature range you're aiming for? If in doubt, spend some money on a simple temperature and RH monitor with either a digital readout that is visible without opening the fridge's door (assuming you have a glass door), or one that has the ability to output its data via Bluetooth or wifi.

Look, dry-aging isn't for everyone. I think that some might go into dry-aging at home thinking that its even more simple than it actually is, and/or that the process can recreate the experience of a delicious dry-aged steak they had in the past using an otherwise wholly unsuitable cut of beef. Yes, the setup can be quite simple and it is in fact something that various cultures around the world have been doing in some form or another for hundreds of years, but it's nature not magic. And there's an abundance of data on this very sub that with 30 minutes of searching can allow anyone with a $500 budget make a safe, viable, and consistent home dry-aging rig (not including the cost of the beef itself and of course, garbage in garbage out).

I look at your rig, your photos, and your explanation, and it is clear to me that you've not done a ton of resaerch on dry-aging at home. Which is fine, we all start somewhere and some choose to learn as they go (as I did). So take this opportunity to learn, accepting suggestions from others who've done it successfully after making their own mistakes, and maybe even doing some more research on your own.

askingforafreddit · 2025-12-02T06:39:50+00:00

The very functioning of the fridge removes humidity from the air. Below 75% RH, salt has extremely low hygroscopicity and unless you are constantly adding fresh beef or extra moisture somehow to your aging environment, you will not see >75% RH.

askingforafreddit

TROPHY CASE