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Ordered it yesterday and was due for delivery on Tuesday, but it came at 10am this morning.
Rather happy with it so far. I was rather optimistically hoping that using the Google Assistant, it might know which films I already own on each platform, but nope, it assumes films I want to watch are on Google unless I tell it otherwise. The remote can be used to control power/volume/inputs on the TV, but all 10 Hitachi codes failed to work on mine, but the first code for Bush TVs worked straight off, so that pretty much relegates my original TV remote.
The available apps are very US-focused it seems, so there's no Britbox (although that's not on the Xbox either, so I've still yet to even trial it) or UKTV Play etc, but it has all the core apps I use really.
I tend to speak pretty quietly, so trying out the voice stuff, I tested out 'play die hard 2' as I had that in my Google Library, only it heard 'play bad blood' and promptly loaded up Spotify and played Taylor Swift at me instead.
devilman wrote:
I tend to speak pretty quietly, so trying out the voice stuff, I tested out 'play die hard 2' as I had that in my Google Library, only it heard 'play bad blood' and promptly loaded up Spotify and played Taylor Swift at me instead.
Welcome to the future where Taylor Swift is no longer optional.
TheVision wrote:
devilman wrote:
I tend to speak pretty quietly, so trying out the voice stuff, I tested out 'play die hard 2' as I had that in my Google Library, only it heard 'play bad blood' and promptly loaded up Spotify and played Taylor Swift at me instead.
Welcome to the future where Taylor Swift is no longer optional.
Welcome to the MaliVerse
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Robin feeder.jpg
I like that
I saw a birdhouse feeder Kickstarter on IG the other day which was basically like a Ring doorbell, but for birds. It was over £100 which made it unattainable to me (being only one of the issues, the second being my lack of garden) but maybe they will be a new thing one day? I hope so 
My neighbour is a bit of a bird nerd with a big garden, and he has a load of little wildlife cameras about. He's being doing bird surveys for decades, which apparently the RSPB love as it's quite rare to get continuous data from a single spot for that long.
MaliA wrote:
I like that
Me too. And I hope the robins do.
They've not been getting their fair share, as I have a feeding station thingy with five hooks for various food holders and a tray for other food, but robins are ground or table feeders so I wanted something specifically for them and other smaller birds and that the squirrels can't get to.
Trouble is, I don't have many suitable places to hang the new feeder, but if they don't take to it where it now is, I can buy a pole that it screws on to, so I could have it almost anywhere.
Mimi wrote:
I saw a birdhouse feeder Kickstarter on IG the other day which was basically like a Ring doorbell, but for birds. It was over £100 which made it unattainable to me (being only one of the issues, the second being my lack of garden) but maybe they will be a new thing one day? I hope so
Our neighbours bought me a nesting box with an internal camera for Christmas a few years ago. It works quite well, but regrettably no birds have ever used it.
Squirt wrote:
My neighbour is a bit of a bird nerd with a big garden, and he has a load of little wildlife cameras about. He's being doing bird surveys for decades, which apparently the RSPB love as it's quite rare to get continuous data from a single spot for that long.
This could be my next project.
Warhead wrote:
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Robin feeder.jpg
Not pictured: a small army of squirrels drawing up plans.
Our immediate neighbour has just bought a fancy pants bird feeder for their garden, and I can't help but feel it's a little unfair on the birds given the danger posed by 5 cats living next door.
I am in the same boat, I think next door have 4, and they seem to party on my lawn 
Adds an element of suspense and danger.
Jem wrote:
Our immediate neighbour has just bought a fancy pants bird feeder for their garden, and I can't help but feel it's a little unfair on the birds given the danger posed by 5 cats living next door.
It’s lovely of them to provide a cat feeder for you.
Would prefer it if Quincy didn't bring his kills inside and drop them all over the sofa though.
GazChap wrote:
Warhead wrote:
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Robin feeder.jpg
Not pictured: a small army of squirrels drawing up plans.
There are three of them and I have a feeder especially for them that they are gradually destroying. It's one that was for the birds, but the squirrels gnawed through some of the wires to make it easier for them to extract whole nuts, so I now fill it with nuts just for them.
There used to be quite a few cats in the area, but recently there are more dogs. This seems to keep the cats away and the dogs only tend to chase the squirrels, so it's worked out quite nicely.
We used to put monkey nuts out for the squirrels, by they'd just bury them and then either magpies or crows would dig them up, and they never tidied the shells away, so we gave up on that.
Some Velcro straps for tying up cables. Aren't they pretty?
A Nest system.
Had to replace the HIve as it was not compatible. As screwfix did not sell the combi receiver on its own. Thought I would spend a few pounds more and get the nest.
I can now shout and the heating can change.
Had to replace the HIve as it was not compatible. As screwfix did not sell the combi receiver on its own. Thought I would spend a few pounds more and get the nest.
I can now shout and the heating can change.
TheVision wrote:
Some Velcro straps for tying up cables. Aren't they pretty?
I just got the black ones
A sign for the house. Obvs
Done a few on call shifts so treated myself to an early Christmas pressie. This cute little drone:
It's an amazing thing, weighs 242g, range for miles if you want it, shoots rock solid footage in 4K. I took it out for a solo trek up the hills the other day (hasty edit because I threw it together whilst following some Davinci tutorials):
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PXL_20201201_121041661.jpg
It's an amazing thing, weighs 242g, range for miles if you want it, shoots rock solid footage in 4K. I took it out for a solo trek up the hills the other day (hasty edit because I threw it together whilst following some Davinci tutorials):
KovacsC wrote:
A sign for the house. Obvs
ZOMG! DOX!
I've had my eye on one of those drones for a while now but the price puts me off.
I imagine the original Mavic Mini might be cheaper now so I might take a look at one of those instead... Anyway, that video looks great!
I imagine the original Mavic Mini might be cheaper now so I might take a look at one of those instead... Anyway, that video looks great!
markg wrote:
Done a few on call shifts so treated myself to an early Christmas pressie. This cute little drone:
It's an amazing thing, weighs 242g, range for miles if you want it, shoots rock solid footage in 4K. I took it out for a solo trek up the hills the other day (hasty edit because I threw it together whilst following some Davinci tutorials):
Attachment:
PXL_20201201_121041661.jpg
It's an amazing thing, weighs 242g, range for miles if you want it, shoots rock solid footage in 4K. I took it out for a solo trek up the hills the other day (hasty edit because I threw it together whilst following some Davinci tutorials):
In your hand there it looks like it might just pop up and look at you with cute little LED eyes, like in Batteries Not Included.
markg wrote:
Done a few on call shifts so treated myself to an early Christmas pressie. This cute little drone:
It's an amazing thing, weighs 242g, range for miles if you want it, shoots rock solid footage in 4K. I took it out for a solo trek up the hills the other day (hasty edit because I threw it together whilst following some Davinci tutorials):
Attachment:
PXL_20201201_121041661.jpg
It's an amazing thing, weighs 242g, range for miles if you want it, shoots rock solid footage in 4K. I took it out for a solo trek up the hills the other day (hasty edit because I threw it together whilst following some Davinci tutorials):
Doesn't the music scare the wildlife?
TheVision wrote:
I've had my eye on one of those drones for a while now but the price puts me off.
I imagine the original Mavic Mini might be cheaper now so I might take a look at one of those instead... Anyway, that video looks great!
I imagine the original Mavic Mini might be cheaper now so I might take a look at one of those instead... Anyway, that video looks great!
Honestly I'd say it's not worth the saving unless you could get a really good deal on a used Mini 1 from someone upgrading or something. The main difference is the improved connection which is night and day better than the original and there's nothing as anxiety-inducing flying these as connection quality issues.
markg wrote:
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PXL_20201201_121041661.jpg
Ths reminds me of 3D Shark Attack, heheh.
markg wrote:
TheVision wrote:
I've had my eye on one of those drones for a while now but the price puts me off.
I imagine the original Mavic Mini might be cheaper now so I might take a look at one of those instead... Anyway, that video looks great!
I imagine the original Mavic Mini might be cheaper now so I might take a look at one of those instead... Anyway, that video looks great!
Honestly I'd say it's not worth the saving unless you could get a really good deal on a used Mini 1 from someone upgrading or something. The main difference is the improved connection which is night and day better than the original and there's nothing as anxiety-inducing flying these as connection quality issues.
I've just bought one of these. Expect lots of newbie questions soon...
DBSnappa wrote:
markg wrote:
TheVision wrote:
I've had my eye on one of those drones for a while now but the price puts me off.
I imagine the original Mavic Mini might be cheaper now so I might take a look at one of those instead... Anyway, that video looks great!
I imagine the original Mavic Mini might be cheaper now so I might take a look at one of those instead... Anyway, that video looks great!
Honestly I'd say it's not worth the saving unless you could get a really good deal on a used Mini 1 from someone upgrading or something. The main difference is the improved connection which is night and day better than the original and there's nothing as anxiety-inducing flying these as connection quality issues.
I've just bought one of these. Expect lots of newbie questions soon...
They're pretty user friendly and capable but they have limits. Lots of videos on YouTube of people flying them really far away and in high winds, if you don't do that, make sure you've got no warnings before taking off, always keep awareness of what's around you and make sure that the return to home height is set higher than anything it could fly into then you should be good. But don't worry about filming first of all. Forget all those interesting locations you have in mind for the first few goes, wait for a good day and find the biggest, emptiest field you can and get to know all the controls and functions.
Expensive day today.
Two LG 22MK600M monitors - I like my monitors to be quite high up and our new desktop in the home office isn't going to have a separate shelf like my current desk.
My current monitors (Samsung S22C300Hs) don't have VESA mounting holes on the rear, and whilst there are adapters they look proper unsightly and would be too far forward.
And of course, a monitor stand for them to be mounted on:
The new office has network ports built into the walls that feed in to a cupboard area, so we need a switch for things to go into (router doesn't quite have enough ports to be comfortable), so a quick TP-link jobber does the trick:
My Logitech MX Master's battery life is shocking these days - time was it used to last for 6 months+ between charges, and although nowadays I'm obviously using it far more often on account of working from home, I'm lucky to get a week out of it. So, a replacement battery (and feet pads as they need taking off to get at the battery) are the order of the day:
Currently my main PC runs 24/7/365 as it has my Plex server on it and various other services. I have an 8TB drive and 2x 4TB drives attached (the 4TBs acting as a backup of the 8TB) but they're all external drives so they use up a lot of power sockets and desk space. So, a NAS it is. In this case, a QNAP TS-251B. Just a basic 2-bay NAS that I'll be setting up in RAID1.
And two 8TB drives to go in it. Toshiba as they were about £30 cheaper than the Seagate Ironwolf ones but (other than complaints about being a bit louder) were just as well rated.
And finally, my adventures with my A1200 recapping are now over, but I can't actually test that it all works because the PSU that came with it has a European plug on it (originally the A1200 was from Greece) - so, a little Type C/F to Type G adapter:
Two LG 22MK600M monitors - I like my monitors to be quite high up and our new desktop in the home office isn't going to have a separate shelf like my current desk.
My current monitors (Samsung S22C300Hs) don't have VESA mounting holes on the rear, and whilst there are adapters they look proper unsightly and would be too far forward.
And of course, a monitor stand for them to be mounted on:
The new office has network ports built into the walls that feed in to a cupboard area, so we need a switch for things to go into (router doesn't quite have enough ports to be comfortable), so a quick TP-link jobber does the trick:
My Logitech MX Master's battery life is shocking these days - time was it used to last for 6 months+ between charges, and although nowadays I'm obviously using it far more often on account of working from home, I'm lucky to get a week out of it. So, a replacement battery (and feet pads as they need taking off to get at the battery) are the order of the day:
Currently my main PC runs 24/7/365 as it has my Plex server on it and various other services. I have an 8TB drive and 2x 4TB drives attached (the 4TBs acting as a backup of the 8TB) but they're all external drives so they use up a lot of power sockets and desk space. So, a NAS it is. In this case, a QNAP TS-251B. Just a basic 2-bay NAS that I'll be setting up in RAID1.
And two 8TB drives to go in it. Toshiba as they were about £30 cheaper than the Seagate Ironwolf ones but (other than complaints about being a bit louder) were just as well rated.
And finally, my adventures with my A1200 recapping are now over, but I can't actually test that it all works because the PSU that came with it has a European plug on it (originally the A1200 was from Greece) - so, a little Type C/F to Type G adapter:
You'll be wanting one of these for that A1200
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amiga-500-60 ... 3125604994
Just to encourage you to spend more money!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Amiga-500-60 ... 3125604994
Just to encourage you to spend more money!
Aye, I looked at those but I'm not sure it's strictly necessary - assuming the PSU that I have works fine (and it's probably been switched on for under 10 minutes in its entire life so I'd hope so, barring any component leakage etc. I guess)
You are right but the European power pack would worry me.
Personally, I wouldn't trust one of those little adaptors. I bought one for my Atari 800XL but as soon as it was plugged in and looking all massive and wobbly, I changed my mind and went for the whole power pack instead.
Personally, I wouldn't trust one of those little adaptors. I bought one for my Atari 800XL but as soon as it was plugged in and looking all massive and wobbly, I changed my mind and went for the whole power pack instead.
TheVision wrote:
You are right but the European power pack would worry me.
Personally, I wouldn't trust one of those little adaptors. I bought one for my Atari 800XL but as soon as it was plugged in and looking all massive and wobbly, I changed my mind and went for the whole power pack instead.
Personally, I wouldn't trust one of those little adaptors. I bought one for my Atari 800XL but as soon as it was plugged in and looking all massive and wobbly, I changed my mind and went for the whole power pack instead.
Aye it’s just for testing at the mo, if I end up putting it in the little “retro station” we have planned I’ll spring for a proper pack.
Can you not just rewire a UK plug onto it?
How the fuck did that not enter my mind? I've even got a plug sat on my desk that we chopped off an extension cord last week.
GazChap wrote:
:facepalm:
How the fuck did that not enter my mind? I've even got a plug sat on my desk that we chopped off an extension cord last week.
How the fuck did that not enter my mind? I've even got a plug sat on my desk that we chopped off an extension cord last week.
You are welcome. Consulting hours are 3-4pm Tuesdays and Thursdays
I’ve got a rather snazzily named RG351P!
It’s just for emulation but, for some reason, comes with a LOT of games included across multiple platforms, which is a bit funky as I got it from Amazon.
The build quality is really lovely though. Super nice clicky buttons and it feels absolutely solid. The screen is real nice too. Emulation so far is pretty flawless even with the Dreamcast stuff although I haven’t given it a good beating yet. So, yeah, RG351P, the P stands for pirate. Probably.
It’s just for emulation but, for some reason, comes with a LOT of games included across multiple platforms, which is a bit funky as I got it from Amazon.
The build quality is really lovely though. Super nice clicky buttons and it feels absolutely solid. The screen is real nice too. Emulation so far is pretty flawless even with the Dreamcast stuff although I haven’t given it a good beating yet. So, yeah, RG351P, the P stands for pirate. Probably.
It actually stands for plastic, as that's what it's made out of. Can you guess what the M model is made out of?
I know that, fool. I watched a thing before I brought it.
Mind you, I don’t think they do a magnesium version of the RG351 yet, dontchaknow.
Mind you, I don’t think they do a magnesium version of the RG351 yet, dontchaknow.
TheVision wrote:
It actually stands for plastic, as that's what it's made out of. Can you guess what the M model is made out of?
Sales of the marzipan version weren't great.
Satsuma wrote:
I’ve got a rather snazzily named RG351P!
It’s just for emulation but, for some reason, comes with a LOT of games included across multiple platforms, which is a bit funky as I got it from Amazon.
The build quality is really lovely though. Super nice clicky buttons and it feels absolutely solid. The screen is real nice too. Emulation so far is pretty flawless even with the Dreamcast stuff although I haven’t given it a good beating yet. So, yeah, RG351P, the P stands for pirate. Probably.
It’s just for emulation but, for some reason, comes with a LOT of games included across multiple platforms, which is a bit funky as I got it from Amazon.
The build quality is really lovely though. Super nice clicky buttons and it feels absolutely solid. The screen is real nice too. Emulation so far is pretty flawless even with the Dreamcast stuff although I haven’t given it a good beating yet. So, yeah, RG351P, the P stands for pirate. Probably.
Ugh, retro graphics
Mr Chonks wrote:
Satsuma wrote:
I’ve got a rather snazzily named RG351P!
It’s just for emulation but, for some reason, comes with a LOT of games included across multiple platforms, which is a bit funky as I got it from Amazon.
The build quality is really lovely though. Super nice clicky buttons and it feels absolutely solid. The screen is real nice too. Emulation so far is pretty flawless even with the Dreamcast stuff although I haven’t given it a good beating yet. So, yeah, RG351P, the P stands for pirate. Probably.
It’s just for emulation but, for some reason, comes with a LOT of games included across multiple platforms, which is a bit funky as I got it from Amazon.
The build quality is really lovely though. Super nice clicky buttons and it feels absolutely solid. The screen is real nice too. Emulation so far is pretty flawless even with the Dreamcast stuff although I haven’t given it a good beating yet. So, yeah, RG351P, the P stands for pirate. Probably.
Ugh, retro graphics
Wot you got against “retro graphics”, whatever that is?
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Beko.jpg
@Gazchap, how is the QNAP NAS working out for you? Do you run plex on it, by any chance?
@DavPaz - seems great so far. I've since stuck another 6GB of RAM in it (for a total of 8) and yes, I'm running Plex on it, along with my other storage requirements (I'm currently syncing my OneDrive to it for example, so I'll be able to use that as the source of my OneDrive data on my network while not losing the OneDrive syncability...)
Essentially, by the time I'm done it'll have effectively made redundant all three of my external hard drives on my main PC, along with quite a bit of the other data I'm storing too.
Plex does seem to struggle a little bit more than my main PC did, particularly with H265, but not to the point that anything becomes unwatchable.
Essentially, by the time I'm done it'll have effectively made redundant all three of my external hard drives on my main PC, along with quite a bit of the other data I'm storing too.
Plex does seem to struggle a little bit more than my main PC did, particularly with H265, but not to the point that anything becomes unwatchable.