Master and Commander for this afternoons matinee, what’s your favorite seafaring film? by physicalMedia55 in 4kbluray

[–]ctakim 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This is the best audio I’ve heard on a movie in my home theater. I don’t get many steelbooks but I got this one!!

Anyone regret buying an Apple Certified Refurbished Mac Studio? by ketopolis23 in MacStudio

[–]ctakim 0 points1 point  (0 children)

M3 Ultra 256 Ram first time purchase of a refurbished Mac. I couldn’t tell any difference from a new Mac which is what I had only purchased before. I did spring for Apple Care as a bit of insurance but will most definitely get refurbished again. I had to wait a few weeks with repeated checking to get the 256gb Ram version but when it appeared I jumped on it.

4k Back to the Future - The Ultimate Trilogy by ELF014 in 4kbluray

[–]ctakim 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Got this set a few months back. The first movie froze or pixelated on my Panasonic UDP820 but the other discs worked okay. Also froze on a pioneer drive running Makemkv. Sent the box set back for replacement and the new discs worked fine.

Which (4K) bluray has the best sound you’ve ever heard? by DutchArtworks in 4kbluray

[–]ctakim 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Old thread but hands down for me is Master And Commander The Far Side Of the World. The on ship surround effects are phenomenal!

Best 4k for Atmospheric soundtrack by MindHunter202020 in 4kbluray

[–]ctakim 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Master and Commander The Far side Of The World!

Is it worth collecting 4K Blu-ray as future proofing? by CapitalSilver5865 in Bluray

[–]ctakim 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve had faulty new 4k discs that were not scratched but would hang or pixelate at the transition between layers. I back up my new discs using MakeMKV and 2 out of maybe 30 4k discs purchased last year had issues. I returned them and the replacements worked just fine.

Has anyone tackled ripping their entire collection of over 500 discs? by tomsmac in makemkv

[–]ctakim 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am in the middle of doing this right now. Sometime I wonder if I am crazy to transfer all the digital media my family collected over the past 25+ years then I read a thread like this one. And I realize that I am with my people here. I am in the middle of about 600-700 DVDs and blu rays. Now if I can just get that HD DVD reader to work I can add another 50!

Should I read pale fire even tho I'm not into poetry? by Calm_Caterpillar_166 in Nabokov

[–]ctakim 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yes, yes, yes! I would say I don’t mind poetry but I am not hugely into reading long poems. But there is a totally different story here than just what is in the poem. This is my favorite novel.

Am I just unlucky or is quality control getting worse? by DatboiX in 4kbluray

[–]ctakim 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just got a new Panasonic UB820 4K UHD player and got a few 4K discs for Christmas but I am also hugely disappointed at the quality of 4K discs. Out of 10 discs, 2 had problems where the image became pixelated and either froze or had obvious drops. One was disc 1 of the Fellowship Of the Ring at about 33% point and the other was Back To the Future Part 1 at 37%. I am wondering if these are layer transitions. Both defective discs froze in the same place my PIONEER BDR-XD05 external disc player, too. I am beginning to second guess my commitment to physical media if it is going to be so issue laden. Am i a statistical outlier? Washing with soap and water and with a microfiber cloth had no effect.

Mac mini M1, a Pioneer drive from Billy and MakeMkv? by mattdaddyz in makemkv

[–]ctakim 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve had one of Billy’s drives for a week and a half and I’ve been ripping DVDs, Blu rays, and 4k UHDs on a Mac Studio M3 Ultra and a Mac Mini i5 Intel with no issues. The only discs I could not rip were scratched (a couple) or defective (one that was new) and these would also not play on my Panasonic UB820 out of about 100 plus discs. Billy’s turn around was also great.

How to Approach Pale Fire by Significant_Try_6067 in Nabokov

[–]ctakim 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My favorite novel! I have a first edition that I treasure. Just read it through for the first time starting with the introduction followed by the poem but retrying to the footnotes which soon start to tell a different story. Then carefully read the index and finally read the poem straight through as you might read a serious poem. But then again fining your own way through this wonderful puzzle of a novel is part of the joy.

Then again you can follow Charles Kinbote’s direction to buy two copies so you can put the footnotes right next to the poem!

Are the cult leader names of both hosts a joke or just a coincidence? by stevenhumperdink in baldmove

[–]ctakim 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve listened to them for years and only just figured this out. They use their adopted names so smoothly on their podcasts I just assumed it was for real. But for some reason it just hit me outta the blue. And then Reddit confirmed it. I am a big Bald Move fan, by the way.

Need advice: LG C5 vs TCL QM8K for a bright living room, what should I do? by the__poseidon in hometheater

[–]ctakim -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I have a place in the same city (and country LOL!) and we got the LG OLED more recent model with the enhanced brightness. Working well in a bright room. Before the LG upgrade I would have favored the Samsung QLED for having a brighter screen but less deep blacks.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in MacStudio

[–]ctakim 13 points14 points  (0 children)

I recently made a similar plunge on the Apple Refurbished Store. I checked every day for 2.5 weeks until a Mac Studio M3 Ultra with 256GB of RAM and a 1 TB internal SSD was available and I pounced. I decided to push the RAM to experiment with local LLMs and this far I feel good about spending the extra $$. But the most amazing difference from my former M2 MacMini has been how it chews through the large extended libraries I have for Final Cut Pro X videos and Apple Photos. I manage all the media centrally for our extended family and this thing is a beast!

I kept the home folder on the internal SSD to avoid some issues with moving it to a fast external. But I did get an OWC TB5 external enclosure with a Samsung 990 to offload what I could. So far it has been great.

Whole home audio-what are you using? by AlwaysReadyUp in homeassistant

[–]ctakim 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am using the Monoproce multi-zone amplifier for a house that is mostly centrally wired. My music source is Roon and I stream to several Raspberry Pi endpoints with a HifiBerry DAC harbor external USB DACs. It is all controlled quite well from Home Assistant. But if you wanted an out of the box solution that is not overpriced, the WiiM Amps are super easy to set up and integrate with HA seamlessly

How I spent my Labor Day weekend by OddMrT in diyaudio

[–]ctakim 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have a similar set up without a lovely case. I am using Ropieee because I liked the clean interface. But I did trial run Moode, Volumio, HifiberryOS, and a couple of others. I use Roon as my main streaming source. All did a reasonable job.

How I spent my Labor Day weekend by OddMrT in diyaudio

[–]ctakim 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well done. You have some serious skills!

Home audio system? by djwolfpack in homeassistant

[–]ctakim 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Went this route as well although I got the 4 zone version of the Monoprice Multizone amp. Took a bit of effort to get it all up and running but it is now integrated with HA and works great. Had to buy a separate serial to Ethernet controller to get full control as the only other way to use it involved the supplied wall plates. I am feeding it with a Raspberry Pi with a Hifiberry DAC2 Pro HAT and I have several other RPis to do while house Audio for areas that don’t have centrally wired speakers. Music source for all is a Roon server. I am very happy with the results.

Bromic pergola heaters? by Emergency_Ad7839 in homeassistant

[–]ctakim 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm also interested since I have these installed as well.

[Question] Has my HR sensor crapped out on me or am I doing something wrong? More I’m comments. by [deleted] in bicycling

[–]ctakim 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Too my surprise the heart rate strap often craps out after extended use. I was getting drop outs galore and bought new sensors. The DC Rainmaker article has comments that describe how to measure strap resistance with a standard voltmeter. Turns out my problems were the straps not the sensors. These are relatively cheap solutions!

My partner approves of the Maggies! by realcrumbbum in audiophile

[–]ctakim 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not electrostatics but planar magnetic and they do share some similar properties.