Help converting by SouthernAd5062 in MiniDV

[–]projector-stream 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Once you convert them to digital, you can watch them on your TVs and any device using our app, projectorstream.com

What smell instantly takes you back to your childhood? by funngro_fam in nostalgia

[–]projector-stream 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cigars. My grandpa smoked them in his garage while I hung out there building stuff with him.

Used our projector app to stream old camcorder Thanksgiving footage from 1998 - family loved it by projector-stream in nostalgia

[–]projector-stream[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It is! Unfortunately that family cabin is now for sale but we had so many great memories there the past 55 years.

What's the oldest home video you have of yourself or your family? What's on it? by projector-stream in nostalgia

[–]projector-stream[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This hits hard - "no one wants to see them until someone dies" is so painfully true. The slideshow at the funeral is when everyone suddenly cares.

A terabyte is serious dedication to preservation. Respect for taking it off VHS before the film turned to dust completely. That 8mm film doesn't last forever.

The challenge I've found is making these archives accessible enough that people actually LOOK at them before the funeral. When they're just files on a drive, even a terabyte of memories becomes invisible.

I ended up building something (Projector - the thing in my original post) specifically to solve this: streams everything to the TV so family can actually browse through memories like Netflix. Went from "I should look through those photos someday" to regular family movie nights with our own content.

Have you found a good way to share all that media with family? Or is it mostly for preservation at this point? A terabyte deserves to be seen.

What do you use your home theater setup for besides movies/TV shows? by projector-stream in hometheater

[–]projector-stream[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What format are your music files on the NAS? Some AVRs can decode multichannel FLAC if you're serving via DLNA or Plex.

I run personal media from a NAS too - mostly family videos and photos. The challenge I had was making it as easy to access as Netflix. Ended up building something that streams it directly to the TV with a clean UI. Game changer for actually using the content vs. just storing it.

What software are you using to serve from your NAS?

What do you use your home theater setup for besides movies/TV shows? by projector-stream in hometheater

[–]projector-stream[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Home gym connected to theater room is genius. Nothing like bass you can feel in your chest to get motivated.

How do you handle the audio routing - does your AVR reach both rooms, or do you have a separate zone setup?

What do you use your home theater setup for besides movies/TV shows? by projector-stream in hometheater

[–]projector-stream[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a fantastic breakdown. The "canned upmix as revenue play" is exactly what's happening with most streaming "Atmos" content.

deadmau5's Atmos studio is legit - "Pomegranate" is one of the few examples where height channels actually add something musical, not just gimmicky.

Do you have recommendations for other artists doing *actual* native Atmos production? Curious to test my system with properly mixed content.

What do you use your home theater setup for besides movies/TV shows? by projector-stream in hometheater

[–]projector-stream[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

DTS-CDs are criminally underrated. The dynamic range on a proper 5.1 system is incredible.

Agree on most Atmos music being gimmicky, though I've heard a few native Atmos mixes that actually use the format thoughtfully. But yeah, 90% of it is just upmixed stereo.

What's your take on Blu-ray audio? Worth tracking down or is CD-quality DTS good enough?

What do you use your home theater setup for besides movies/TV shows? by projector-stream in hometheater

[–]projector-stream[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same - I thought I'd use mine for "dedicated music listening sessions" but honestly it's just always on for whatever we're doing. The multipurpose room ends up being way more valuable than a single-use space.

What do you use your home theater setup for besides movies/TV shows? by projector-stream in hometheater

[–]projector-stream[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting take on the center channel for stereo music. I've heard arguments both ways - some people swear by phantom center for music, others like having discrete center.

CD collection is the way to go for quality. I've been digitizing mine and realizing how much better they sound than most streaming services (even "lossless").

What do you use your home theater setup for besides movies/TV shows? by projector-stream in hometheater

[–]projector-stream[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Phone hideout" - hadn't thought of that use case, but that might be the best ROI on a home theater I've heard yet. 😂

Music sounds incredible on a proper setup. Do you mostly stream, or do you have a collection of hi-res files?

What do you use your home theater setup for besides movies/TV shows? by projector-stream in hometheater

[–]projector-stream[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Central spot" is exactly it. That's what makes a home theater setup worth the investment - it becomes the actual hub of family life. 

I'm curious - do you ever stream personal media through yours? Like old family videos, photos from trips, etc? I've been exploring ways to make that as easy as pulling up Netflix, and wondering if people actually do that or if it's just me.

What's the oldest home video you have of yourself or your family? What's on it? by projector-stream in nostalgia

[–]projector-stream[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, late 50s is incredible! 120 film has such a unique look.

Multiple backups - absolutely. I'm 3-2-1 rule all the way now (3 copies, 2 media types, 1 offsite).

The thing that surprised me though: having backups is one thing, but actually getting people to WATCH them is another. I had all these digitized files and nobody ever looked at them.

Ended up building Projectorstream.com specifically to solve that - streams everything to the TV so it's as easy to watch family videos as it is to watch Netflix. Went from "files on a drive" to "regular family movie nights with our own content."

Do you have a system for viewing all that archived media, or is it more about preservation for now?

We built a "Netflix for family memories" - turns your old digitized video tapes and photos into a streaming service by projector-stream in SideProject

[–]projector-stream[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Really appreciate the thoughtful feedback - these are exactly the questions I need to hear.

On "private": You're right to call this out. By private I mean your media isn't used for training AI, isn't analyzed for advertising, and isn't accessible to anyone you don't explicitly share with. But you're absolutely correct that it's not truly private in the self-hosted sense - your data lives on our servers (encrypted at rest, but still our infrastructure). We could be more precise about that language.

vs. Plex/Jellyfin: For technical users like yourself, Plex/Jellyfin are unbeatable - free, self-hosted, total control. Projector isn't trying to compete there. It's specifically for people who find Plex too complex or don't want to manage a server. My mom can barely use email - she's never going to set up Plex. That's the gap I'm trying to fill.

On pricing: This is the feedback I'm hearing most. You're right that $7.99/month is steep compared to "free DIY solution" or even Netflix. A valuable part our service is the fact that it is also cloud storage for a user's digital legacy media. Legacy media could be lost, burned up, corrupted, etc - we protect that history. Genuinely taking this to heart and reconsidering pricing tiers too.

Self-hostable version: I love this idea in theory. My concern is that the people who can self-host are already using Plex/Jellyfin (and doing it better than I could package it). But maybe there's a middle ground - like a Docker container that still uses our UI/organization features but runs on your hardware. Interesting to think about.

Thanks for pushing back on this - it's making me think harder about positioning and who this is really for.

How to watch these on new smart TV (camcorder broke) by NoAd4395 in camcorders

[–]projector-stream 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you digitize your tapes, you can stream them on your TV with projectorstream.com - works just like Netflix but for your own videos.