Projector upgrade. Not really much of a upgrade but something that can handle a few more HD resolutions from the HDMI port.
Old: Mitsubishi HC1500 720p
New: Epson 880 Native Resolution: 1920 x 1080 24/30/50/60


The Denon receiver upscales video to 4K when the projector is off but switches to source native 1080P/24 when both TV and projector show the digital stream from the BlueRay player.

A few Aliens freeze frames.



Full sun washout.

 

Got a 'cheap' full DVD (the original video quality was nothing special on TV) box set of the EXPANSE. I've watched a few episodes but decided to see the whole thing from beginning to end.

Playing on the Sony upscaling BR machine.


4K TV in/out from the Denon receiver handling HDMI source switching. The TV needs a good color calibration.


Rescaled to 1080P front projection.

Audio to 12 speaker surround.



No bad for a DVD source.

 

Got a 'cheap' full DVD (the original video quality was nothing special on TV) box set of the EXPANSE. I've watched a few episodes but decided to see the whole thing from beginning to end.
View attachment 285581
Playing on the Sony upscaling BR machine.
View attachment 285586
View attachment 285587
4K TV in/out from the Denon receiver handling HDMI source switching. The TV needs a good color calibration.

View attachment 285588
Rescaled to 1080P front projection.
View attachment 285589
Audio to 12 speaker surround.
View attachment 285592
View attachment 285590
View attachment 285591
No bad for a DVD source.

Nice! ... one of my favorite series, ever. It's real sad that they cancelled it!

 

For a while there was a lot of good Sci-Fi coming from Canada/US (I believe) Such as The Expanse, Dark Matter and Killljoys.

Not so much now.

Of course, I'm not subscribed to all of the "+" channels, so there may me some there...but I heard shows like "Picard" are a bore.

 

The Expanse seems to be available on Blu-ray and UHD 4K discs, and from Amazon Prime at up to 4K. I settled for 720p scene-release downloads since those looked just fine on my 1080i/720p TV.
I have to admit, though, that seeing 480p DVDs in progressive scan gave me renewed respect for the format. Blown up to 55", the pictures look "soft" but still awfully film-like. But I want everyone responsible for releasing movies in non-anamorphic widescreen to spend eternity visiting every level of every culture's hell. I have to rip those to mkv and play them on the WDTV Live media player because it allows me to zoom them to full width; fortunately the scaler in that box doesn't introduce any artifacts that I can detect. I don't know a suitable punishment for those who release DVDs in the wrong aspect ratio, but thankfully it's possible to force the correct AR using mkvtoolnix, and the WDTV Live will display it properly without needing to re-encode.

 

The Expanse seems to be available on Blu-ray and UHD 4K discs, and from Amazon Prime at up to 4K. I settled for 720p scene-release downloads since those looked just fine on my 1080i/720p TV.
I have to admit, though, that seeing 480p DVDs in progressive scan gave me renewed respect for the format. Blown up to 55", the pictures look "soft" but still awfully film-like. But I want everyone responsible for releasing movies in non-anamorphic widescreen to spend eternity visiting every level of every culture's hell. I have to rip those to mkv and play them on the WDTV Live media player because it allows me to zoom them to full width; fortunately the scaler in that box doesn't introduce any artifacts that I can detect. I don't know a suitable punishment for those who release DVDs in the wrong aspect ratio, but thankfully it's possible to force the correct AR using mkvtoolnix, and the WDTV Live will display it properly without needing to re-encode.

The DVD set is fine for ripped iso playback with VLC. The files are on the house main media server so I can watch it anywhere in the house but it will mainly be on workstation computers instead of the media room big screen. The level of special effects for the first few seasons look better, "soft".

 

Rebuilding (the old system used X10) the home automation system using Matter switches and dimmers. Have a Google (2nd-gen) Nest hub (on sale for $60) as the Thread router. That's tied to the HA server that really runs things.
https://www.home-assistant.io/

Old server repurposed.

Stripped, cleaned, dumped the bad drives (click of death on drives from 2008) and rebuild with Debian Linux and an install of https://github.com/home-assistant/supervised-installer

It uses Docker Container System for the HA processing environment.

1 500G and the 3TB drive was usable for testing.

Mini HDMI monitor and touchscreen. The HA system has SSH access on the local home network for updates and development.


https://www.home-assistant.io/examples/

One of the cool things about Home Assistant is the ability to integrate 'energy' data into the automatons. https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/#energy
The next task is the build a plugin (from a working example) that uses my local generated MQTT server data from the Solar and Battery mateQ84 FM80 energy tracking interface into the system to manage RE energy usage.
Example: https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/solarlog/

 

Making progress in integrating Home Assistant into the Google platform, my mateQ84 solar monitor, AV devices, lighting, AC power control and various other systems in the house.

Google Nest Hub 2nd Gen - Smart Home Display with Google Assistant (I have two in the house) photo slideshow to Home Assistant control.

Switching HA media sources on the Display using the web interface. There is a HA phone all too. This is all open source.

Starting to integrate the Solar monitor data into the HA system. (details will be in the FM80 thread)

Predicted chart vs actual generation/usage for the day.

 

https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/19...w-edition-smart-home-voice-assistant-hardware
Home Assistant’s new voice assistant answers to ‘Hey Jarvis’

Home Assistant Voice Preview Edition is a privacy-focused voice control device for your smart home that can work without an internet connection. (And has some cool wake words)

 

https://www.eenewseurope.com/en/xmos-powers-open-source-voice-enabled-home-assistant/

A microcontroller developed by XMOS in the UK is at the heart of the first open source voice-enabled Home Assistant.


The open source hardware and software supports the voice assistant built into the Home Assistant software for natural language processing.

https://voice-pe.home-assistant.io/resources/

 

The Blue-ray is wonderful with good video and surround sound.



11.1 surround setup.
https://manuals.denon.com/AVRX3700H/NA/EN/DRDZSYrjomlmpo.php
https://manuals.denon.com/avcx3700h/eu/en/DRDZSYyrtgycpw.php