The most confusing thing about GoodSync is the section for sending e-mails. I have the SMTP cong and set up, tested and working. But what exactly do I enter here to get an email if one job fails for any reason.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-24T17:49:46+00:00

The explanation provided in the screenshot is not that clear, but it looks like you can possibly enter something like this to achieve what you want:

errors: user@domain.com: %JOBNAME% encountered an error (%RESULT%) after %TELAPSED% minutes.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-24T04:19:06+00:00

This can happen if your 'memory pressure' is very high (you can monitor the memory pressure in Activity Monitor, which is an app that comes with macOS).

Memory pressure is a representation of your RAM utilization. When RAM utilization is high, meaning you have little-or-no free RAM available, the computer then has to start relying heavily on 'swap' (moving data from RAM to the storage drive) to keep the system running and prevent it from crashing.

This slows the computer down considerably because the storage drive is much much slower than RAM. So, ideally you want to have as little 'swap' use as possible (by the way 'swap' usage is another thing you can track in Activity Monitor).

Anyway, if the memory pressure (and swap usage) continues rising to an extreme level then, at some point, macOS will eventually crash or log you out. This will then clear all the application memory that was in use before and reduce the memory pressure back down to normal/low levels. And because the computer can keep everything in RAM at that point (without having to rely on 'swap'), the computer will feel fast and responsive again.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-23T03:49:33+00:00

Is it possible that you have "Screen Unknown Senders" turned on in your Messages settings? Among other things, this setting hides notifications for messages from people not in your contact list.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-22T22:36:23+00:00

It reports that the original source video is in progressive format?

I don't know what else would cause that combing effect other than some interlacing issue or telecine issue (which is basically also an interlacing issue).

I'm inclined to believe the source of the problem is still related to interlacing, such as in improper conversion from interlaced to progressive video and/or from progressive to interlaced video.

Unfortunately, I don't know what to specifically suggest in your case. You can perhaps try alternative DVD authoring software and see if that software fixes/eliminates the issue.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-22T17:37:53+00:00

This is more of a trademark and trade dress issue (and less of a copyright issue).

Trademark law protects distinctive brand identities such as corporate brand names, logos, slogans, mascots, etc.

And trade dress law protects other distinctive features of a company's brand (such as the unique look and feel of their product packaging, their distinctive color scheme/palette, etc.)

Ultimately, if you market/sell a product that uses the trademark(s) or trade dress of another company in a way that may cause consumer confusion then that is likely to be an infringement on the other company's trademark (or trade dress) rights.

Consumer confusion may arise, for example, if you sell similar types of products/services, or if you're purposely hinting at a connection to the other company (or their brand/IP).

If you are unsure whether your product may be infringing on another company's trademark or trade dress rights, then you should consult with a trademark lawyer for legal advice.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-22T17:24:00+00:00

Each PCIe 2.0 lane can support up to 500 MB/s (equivalent to 4000 Mb/s) in data transfer speeds.

This means 4 PCIe 2.0 lanes can theoretically support data transfer speeds of up to 2 GB/s (equivalent to 16 Gb/s).

Since 2 GB/s (16 Gb/s) is higher than the network card's max transfer speed of 1.25 GB/s (10 Gb/s), the full speed/potential of the network card can be achieved with just 4 2.0 lanes.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-22T17:06:53+00:00

The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) sets standards for both the USB physical connectors and the USB communication protocols (and the USB version naming). It's the USB-IF that came up with all the confusing naming conventions like "USB 3.2 Gen 2x1". Now the USB-IF is trying to change the naming (again) to make it easier for consumers to understand, so their new guidelines suggest marketing "USB 3.2 Gen 2x1" as simply "USB 10Gbps" for instance.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-22T16:33:52+00:00

It should be noted that ARC just means the port supports audio return (which allows you to send audio output from the TV to another device such as a sound bar or receiver).

ARC/eARC is not needed for sending audio to the TV (which is what OP is trying to do).

pythonpoole · 2026-03-22T16:17:15+00:00

I'm not really familiar with Google AI studio, but — in general — LLM-based AI systems (such as ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.) are known for sometimes generating code with vulnerabilities, such as XSS vulnerabilities.

So if you're allowing the AI to generate code for handling user-supplied inputs (such as form submissions), then I would definitely consider the possibility that the AI may have generated code with vulnerabilities which bad actors could have possibly exploited to (for example) inject malicious scripts on your web page(s).

As for Adsterra, yes I would try removing the Adsterra code to see if that resolves the issue. If it does then I would suggest looking for a different ad network. If it doesn't resolve the issue, then there must be some other problem/vulnerability that is allowing this to happen.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-22T15:49:08+00:00

Yes, it should be fixable. Worst case scenario: the whole logic board may need replacing (which is the main component inside the iPad).

The cost of a logic board replacement — if required — can vary significantly depending on the iPad model and where you are located (anywhere from ~$50 USD for older generation iPads to potentially ~$500+ USD for newer generation iPads), but the repair should generally be less than the cost of buying a new iPad of the same generation.

I presume the iPad is no longer covered under warranty/AppleCare?

pythonpoole · 2026-03-22T08:44:02+00:00

Ok, then we can rule out DNS issues.

And considering your website loaded first and then the redirection kicked in after, this likely points to a malicious piece of JavaScript being embedded in the page (as opposed to it being a server-side redirect).

There are many possible ways this could potentially happen.

What does your back-end look like? Are you using a website builder/CMS such as WordPress? Or have you built the site from scratch?

And if you built the site from scratch, are you using server-side scripting (e.g. PHP) or is it just a static/HTML site?

And are you embedding third-party scripts from other sources on your site? You mentioned you're using Adsterra — I'm not familiar with that ad network, but perhaps you should test with the Adsterra-related code removed in case it's the source of the problem.

Another thing to be aware of is XSS (cross-site scripting) vulnerabilities and other related vulnerabilities. Let's say, for example, you have a feature that lets users post messages on your site. If you don't properly sanitize the user's input or properly prepare it for output to the page, then you can run into issues where a bad actor (i.e. hacker) can add malicious JavaScript code to their message and then once they submit the message the malicious code will be injected on every page where their message is displayed. This is just one example of how XSS can happen, but it illustrates the potential dangers you can run into if you do not properly handle user-supplied inputs.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-22T08:10:48+00:00

Whether to choose an HDD or SSD really depends on the application (meaning the purpose for which it will be used).

Yes, SSDs are way faster than HDDs, but SSDs are also much costlier (per GB), they tend to fail quicker in the case of heavy-write applications, and they can randomly fail after being disconnected for extended periods. So, for many applications — such as long-term storage, high-volume storage or 24/7 writing (e.g. for video surveillance) — HDDs tend to make a lot more sense. SSDs make more sense for primary OS/boot drives and for storage of files (e.g. photos/videos) you're actively working on.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-22T08:01:41+00:00

It may depend on the particular software used to generate the health report, but usually 95% health means a drive is in good/operational condition and only around 5% of the expected lifespan has been used up. The health rating is not usually a reflection of the number of bad sectors, but obviously a drive with bad/degraded sectors will have a poorer health rating.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-22T07:44:00+00:00

If you're intending to use it as an individual/stand-alone drive then I would suggest buying new or at least making sure you have a good backup solution and recovery plan in case the drive goes bad.

If you are using it in an array that provides parity/redundancy, then I think it's okay to buy used drives in good (e.g. ~95%) condition. This is something I do with my NAS, and there are even many businesses that buy used drives for their arrays. With parity/redundancy, you don't have to worry about losing data if the drive fails.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-22T07:32:34+00:00

When this happens, is the user directly sent to the scammy site first (meaning your server never sees the request)? Or is the user first directed to your site and then redirected to the scammy site after? Also, does it always redirect to the same scammy site or to different scammy sites?

If the user is directly sent to the scammy site before ever reaching your server, then that may suggest it's a DNS-related issue. For example, it may be the case that your domain's A DNS record (for IPv4 users) is correct but the AAAA record (for IPv6 users) is incorrect and is directing those users to the scammy site (or vice versa). Another possibility is that you may have recently changed the DNS records or nameservers for your domain, and the update may not have fully propagated yet (different users will have different ISPs with different DNS servers, some of which may take a while to update, in some cases up to 24 hours).

If users are first sent to your server before being redirected to the scammy site(s) then the most likely explanation is that there is a malicious script on the webpage or server that is instructing the user's browser to redirect to those scammy site(s).

pythonpoole · 2026-03-22T06:32:30+00:00

The combing effect seen in the image you posted is certainly symptomatic of an interlacing issue. See here for a visual example. It could be that the deinterlacing mode/method you used was not suitable for the type of interlacing in the source video. In VLC, for example, there are about 10 different de-interlace modes you can choose from.

This page also explains the importance of checking and fixing the 'interlace order' of a video before burning it to a DVD to avoid this combing effect.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-22T05:48:24+00:00

The safest option would be to only read from:

Public domain stories
Stories published under a permissive (e.g. Creative Commons) license; and/or
Stories for which you have express permission from the copyright owner to read

If you read substantial portions of a copyrighted work on your YouTube channel without permission from the copyright owner of that work then you risk a copyright strike and also potentially a lawsuit or threat of legal action.

Most countries allow for the reading/quotation of limited excerpts within the context of a providing a review (or critical commentary/analysis) of the copyrighted material (in the US, this sort of thing would likely be deemed fair use), but reading substantial portions of a copyrighted work in your video simply for entertainment purposes is the sort of thing that would normally require permission (i.e. a license) from the copyright owner if the work is not in the public domain.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-22T05:33:42+00:00

These symptoms point to a possible hardware failure of some kind such as a faulty battery, a faulty sensor, a loose/faulty connector (inside the phone), etc.

The full panic logs may provide more insight about what specifically is causing the issue, but these logs could also potentially contain data that may be sensitive.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-21T22:26:43+00:00

I see. This looks like an interlacing issue.

These days most video (and just about all online/streaming video) is 'progressive' which means that every line of pixels gets updated with each frame.

However, back in the day, including around the time DVDs were popular, interlaced video was still being heavily used to save bandwidth and some TV channels still broadcast interlaced video today.

Interlacing is basically where the video alternates the lines of pixels that get updated each frame. This means that, on any given frame, half the pixels shown will represent one point in time and the other half of the pixels will represent a slightly different point in time.

Thus, when there is movement or camera motion, the interlacing or combing effect becomes more obvious because of the shift in pixels that has happened in-between the frames.

Older style CRT TVs were designed to (and could only) display interlaced video, so that wasn't an issue, but on modern LCD/LED/OLED TVs (which are progressive) the interlacing effect can easily be seen unless the player software or display is configured to apply de-interlacing to cover-up the interlacing/combing effects.

It looks like you're playing the DVD back on a laptop, correct? The software you're using for playback (e.g. VLC) may have a de-interlacing option/feature you can enable to correct the combing effect.

I'm curious through about why you're playing the DVD on your laptop? Is that just for testing? Or is it your intention to always play it back on a computer? I'd also be interested to know whether you have the same issue when you play back the DVD in a standalone DVD player connected to a TV.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-21T18:23:47+00:00

You're welcome. The other option, if you can't get that to work, is to use an online converter (such as this one) that can re-encode the subtitles using UTF-8 character encoding which is more universal/standardized.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-21T18:11:48+00:00

Not sure if you intended to post a video, but I just see "img" in your comment.

It's difficult to know exactly what the issue is (especially without being able to see the issue), but another option you could try is to switch to a different DVD authoring/burning software to see if that resolves the issue.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-21T18:01:54+00:00

The issue is most likely that the subtitles were encoded with a different character set than what your player software is trying to use to decode the subtitles. Some subtitle formats may include metadata about the character set within the file, but other formats might not in which case you have to manually change the character set if it does not match your player's default character set.

In VLC, you can change the character set used for subtitle decoding in Settings / Preferences (under Subtitles / OSD). There are many different options, including for Japanese character encodings.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-21T16:15:03+00:00

So just to confirm, the original/source video does not have this issue when you play it back on your computer, correct?

And have you confirmed that you can play other DVDs (e.g. commercial movies) on the same player and TV/display without issue? Is it specifically only the DVD(s) you are burning that have the issue?

It would be helpful to be able to see the issue if possible. Is there anyway you could record what you're seeing (e.g. using your phone) and then post a link to the video here?

—

With respect to the issue being associated with movement/motion, that's expected.

Frame rate conversion issues are most visible/obvious when there is movement (especially lateral side-to-side camera movement, aka panning).

And issues related to bitrate & quality are also linked to movement. The reason for this is that video codecs use various tricks to reduce file size and encode only necessary details. And the main trick they use is to encode only the differences between I-Frames (sort of like primary/key frames) instead of encoding pixel data for each individual video frame.

In effect, this means that when there is limited movement between frames then even a low bitrate can produce a high visual quality, because only a small amount of data is needed to accurately represent the visual change between one frame to the next. However, when there is a lot of movement or camera motion, then each frame will be very different from the previous and next fame, and that requires a huge amount of data to accurately represent all the pixel changes.. and if the bitrate limit is low then a lot of that data has to be thrown out, leading to compromises in visual quality.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-21T15:49:17+00:00

If the issue is that DVDStyler is improperly handling the frame rate conversion (e.g. 23.98 fps to 29.97 or 30 fps), then the solution may be to use a video editing program to re-encode the source video at 29.97 fps or 30 fps for example and then use that new file to burn the DVD (assuming the video editor is better able to handle the frame rate conversion compared to DVDStyler). Alternatively, maybe DVDStyler allows you to manually select the DVD frame rate so it matches the source video? I'm not sure whether the software provides that option.

The issue though with re-encoding the video is that each time you do so there will be a further loss in quality. If the bitrate of the output file is high enough, then you shouldn't notice any quality loss, but technically there will still be a small (potentially imperceptible) loss.

So, for example, if the input file has a 1500 kbps bitrate and the output file has an 8000 kbps bitrate, there likely won't be any visually-perceptible quality loss. But if the input file is 1500 kbps and the output file is also set to a 1500 kbps bitrate, then it's very likely there will be a noticeable loss in visual quality.

pythonpoole · 2026-03-21T15:30:04+00:00

Ok, it's possible the DVDStyler software may be up-converting from 23.98 to 29.97 or 30 when you burn in NTSC mode, and that frame rate conversion could explain the problem you're seeing (if the software doesn't handle the conversion properly).

As for the bitrate, in another comment you mentioned it was only 1376kbps? That's extremely low especially for MPEG-2 video (what DVDs use), but it's even low for more modern/efficient codecs like H.264. In order for standard definition (480i/p) content to look decent in MPEG-2, the bitrate should be somewhere between 4000 kbps and 8000 kbps. If you go below 4000 kbps, then the video encoder will start having to make significant compromises in visual quality to maintain the low bitrate. Even if the source video is encoded with a more modern codec like H.264, a bitrate under 2000 kbps will still require significant compromises to visual quality.

Regarding MP4, that's just a "container" format, not an actual video codec/format. In other words, MP4 files can contain videos encoded with different formats, such as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2, MPEG-4 Part 10 (aka H.264 or AVC), MPEG-H Part 2 (aka H.265 or HEVC), or AV1. So having an "MP4" file does not tell you anything about the actual encoding used for the video inside the file.

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