random, sporadic thoughts
I want a new TV. A big one, with deep dark black and vibrant colors.
But that’s it.
I don’t want something that can’t talk with other vendors speakers or locks down the remote control inside some Wifi-Direct tunnel.
So, I’ve been trying to get information about the possible products before buying, I really don’t want to have to buy an item to figure out what I can do.
As an arch-nerd I dabble with home automation, I loath closed source stuff and really don’t trust anything cloud based. What does that leave me?
After looking around for a while I decided to look at Home Assistant.
Even though I have always worked with Unix’ish systems my desktop has always been Windows based due to workplace requirements. But, as I now do not have those requirements anymore I figured I would take the plunge and go all out Linux.
But this was a shock, had nothing new come around since I last did Unix desktops back in the 90’s?
Starting up with home automation I’m testing out some promising items, time had come to test the Ikea Trådfri lights.
I’m going all in for Snapcast at my home, it seems like the only viable alternative to the vendor specific, closed source, protocols in the market today which locks you into a specific audio universe.
But, I see a few challenges moving forwards.
I pretty much selected the components I want to use moving on in my hifi project, this will basically be Mopidy, Snapcast, Pulseaudio, Librespot and Shairport-sync.
First I’d like to thank the developers, a lot of brilliant work went into these packages, any comment I have is from my point of view and absolutely no universal truths or critique of their work.
But, there are some work to be done for it to work optimally for me and some issues to address. Some of these comments might come from ignorance, if so I’ll be happy to receive correction.
Be warned, this one is long….
I’m always amazed on how solidly old dinosaurs are anchored into our life, like the media industry who over the years have pushed so many security mechanisms on us to stop the pirate business only to have them broken by the swarm of open source programmers, or the protectionism of the cable tv industry.
In Norway we typically have TV and Internet bundled together, by law they are required to sell them independently but pricing and ‘technically difficulties’ usually are hurdles to pass before we can get a ‘pure’ ISP.
Why do we still have TV signal distribution on coax cable?
After spending the better part of the evening trying to get anything out of my “smart” TV, a Toshiba 40L3451DN, I’ve started wondering why anyone would like to have a smart TV? Ye, I know it’s old but still, the Smart TV software updated to current release as I started it for the first time. Continue reading ““Smart” TV”
It seems that these days all vendors are aiming for their own protocols for everything, no standardization and no interoperability – it’s the app syndrome, close the user into a little bubble where they control everything and don’t let them speak to anyone else unless you want them to.
I would like an open wireless multiroom speaker protocol, an open remote protocol for wifi and bluetooth, protocol for audio communication over networks, requirements for implementing HDMI-CEC on all connected gear. I grew up in a era where we could pick and choose speakers, amplifiers, audio sources and it all interconnected. I see it as a given that we should be able to hook up any wireless speaker to any audio source.
As a part of my hifi project I want to integrate my TV setup. The basic components are a Sony KDL-46W4000 TV, a Denon AVR 1907 surround receiver, a Getbox II recorder from a local cable company and a Raspberry PI 3 with Libreelec.
Now, the Getbox II is some kind of custom combo box, it handles the internet connectivity/security and the TV connectivity. I.E. my cable company is my ISP.
So, how do I hook this together?
Musings of a fragile mind 
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