BirdObserver

I put my microfiber cloths in one of those delicates laundry bags and toss it in with a regular load on cold, then let them air dry. Never had any problem with them scratching lenses.

I actually just spent a year or so doing this during break times at work with EAC. I ripped everything to WAV because storage is cheap, it’s a bit faster, and you can tag WAV files now, so I saw little reason not to, though FLAC is usually just as good and has wider support, so it’s up to you (you can easily convert back and forth if you change your mind, since either is lossless).

The key factor with EAC is to use it with AccurateRip (which is built-in to the app, but you need to configure it with your drive properly for it to work). There’s a lot of info on configuring this online but like with anything that touches audiophile communities, there’s a lot of bullshit you have to sort through as well. You’ll see a lot of people saying to set it to the slowest option to ensure a perfect rip, but 99% of the time you don’t need to do this - AccurateRip will compare your CD to what other users have ripped and ensure a bit-perfect match. In the event you have a rare CD or it doesn’t match the database, that’s when you set EAC to run slowly (secure mode) and set it to test and verify the tracks. After ripping, I use MP3tag to search musicbrainz or Discogs to tag the tracks and it’s good to go. In the event you’ve got a slightly defective disc AccurateRip/EAC point out errors in, you can even use an app called CUEtools to scan the database and repair the files.

I was paranoid about getting everything right on my first try, since the last thing I wanted to do was rip every CD I had again (well over a thousand) due to some dumb configuration mistake, so feel free to send me a message if you’ve got any questions. I nerded out and took a stupid amount of step by step notes about what I did so if this post isn’t long and annoying enough for you, I got plenty more where that came from.

Uhhhh if someone is asking for a randomly generated authentication code you might want to double check who you’re talking to and make sure you’re not being scammed.

Edit: seems it might be normal? https://forums.xfinity.com/conversations/customer-service/customer-service-asked-for-my-2fa-code-to-verify-my-account-over-the-phone-despite-the-text-saying-not-to-share-with-xfinity-reps-normal/6410d59641879c3c4d1c6128

Holy shit that’s bad practice. Great way to get less tech savvy people used to customer service reps asking for verification codes and trusting them without hesitation.

Yeah what I love about the witch is that it captures more than just the horror of like, you know, a witch, but also the hopeless 17th century Puritan nightmare of being excommunicated, ostracized and left to fend for yourselves in the woods in an unfamiliar country.

Haha, “the only thing it has going for it” is 100% why it’s important and we need to keep it around. I’m a big fan of it not being a crapshoot as to whether or not my expensive movie ticket is going to be a miserable experience due to an awful audience.

(Bonus Alamo protip: get the chocolate chip cookies. Freshly baked and delicious. I write “cookies” on a slip after they take my main order but before the movie starts, then prop it up when I’m finished. Cookies then miraculously appear midway through the movie - half the time I don’t even see those ninjas deliver them.)

Oh yeah, 160ms is definitely brutal in that context. I’m surprised there’s not a game mode or something to cut that down.

And you’re totally right, VR is generally USB-C when wired. I was more commenting on where 8K and up is actually going to make a noticeable difference, which really has little to do with HDMI. It’s not such a bad thing for the cable standards to be ahead of the tech, but I think we’ve got a while before hardware that can really push that well is in the mainstream.

As for the barfing - I’ve found the better the tech (clearer visuals, higher refresh rate) the lower the barf rate! I definitely know the feeling

The one place where I think 8K and up is really gonna matter is VR, when you’ve got pixels inches away from your eyes, but that tech is still niche and a long-term work in progress (Apple jumped the gun trying to make it mainstream too soon). 4K and HDR are great, but 1080p really does still look good even on a big TV.

Also, I’m the biggest freak in the world about input latency but even in the craziest rhythm games, there is no possible way just over 0.1ms of lag is screwing you up unless you are an actual machine. That’s 1/10,000th of a second! Guessing you either meant .1 second or you’re Skynet.

Yeah, that’s weird. Like, I get the idea, but the tech just hasn’t caught up to it yet. It needs to be as convenient as just putting on a light pair of glasses - on top of not being especially light or comfortable, VR is still a “process” which requires a degree of effort and adjustment every time you use it, which really kills the whole concept of it being a convenient tool.

I think Apple is probably more likely than most to make something like this take off eventually (Google Glass’ biggest failing was also that it made you look like a total dork, whereas Apple somehow managed to make AirPods cool), but this seems more like a software proof of concept for hardware that doesn’t exist yet.

I don’t think Apple themselves marketed it this way, but viral photos of people being spotted on subways and walking down the street wearing one probably didn’t help sell the product.

No, but it’s the only reason for HDMI (along with AV receivers) because it’s all the manufacturers support, so all of us home theater nerds that do care about this stuff have no real* choice but to keep up with the HDMI world. Yes, you can set up a media server that streams 4K video, but you’re not going to find a DisplayPort 4K UHD player, or a 7.2 AVR that plugs into your 77” OLED and supports all of your game consoles. HDMI is just the unfortunate reality there.

That said, the tech that actually takes advantage of the new cable specs tends to lag behind significantly, and new gaming consoles that support HDMI 2.2 likely will in a limited (ultimately disappointing) capacity for years, just like previous versions.

(Also the top comment in this thread doesn’t really seem to reflect modern reality for most people I know. Most people are using their TV to stream at 1080p - 4K, not watching broadcast TV - in which case, yeah, get a $60 720p LCD or whatever, HDMI specs won’t matter to that kind of viewer. Still, subscription streaming quality definitely doesn’t take full advantage of your expensive shiny new TV the way physical media - or a media server - might, but that’s another conversation).

4K discs are so niche that this just isn’t really true, since they simply don’t bother to add that stuff anymore with the money all going to streaming. Almost every 4K disc I have just loads right into a bland generic menu with only a skippable logo for universal or whatever at the beginning. On top of that, they’re all region free. Odd that when the consumer base for physical media is smaller than it used to be, the consumer experience is better.

Now most of these 4K discs also come with a regular (often older) Blu-ray which contains the features from previous releases or whatever, and THAT’S where the bullshit you’re talking about is - lots of trailers (with it being a crapshoot whether you can skip straight to the menu, need to skip one at a time, or have to actually fast forward them), and, worst of all, defunct BD-Live stuff that in some cases you have no way to skip loading at all, even if you completely disable network connectivity in the player. None of this junk is in any of my 4Ks. Sometimes the features are even on the 4K too, if you’re really lucky.

But yeah, modern 4K discs are mostly great and still absolutely way better video and audio quality than any streaming service I’ve used - the worst thing you usually get is maybe one dumb copyright notice. (LG’s 4K players were terrible anyway though making the experience bad for consumers for a different reason, but that’s for another comment).

Yeah, I fully support protest votes against dysfunctional two-party systems in deep $COLOR states - that’s where a lot of people don’t vote because they think they “don’t make a difference” but that’s how little trends start to form over time. Just gotta do what we can with what we have.