Keep America Beautiful
I saw the tear but couldn’t remember the old TV commercial so I had to look it up. It’s for Keep America Beautiful.
Now with a URL!
television
Researching OLED Television
No upgrade is imminent, but curiosity calls…
Current OLEDs from Sony and LG all use the same panel made by LG. That panel is the same panel used in all models (at least in the LG lineup of B, C, G, E, and W). So the most basic and the most decked out LG OLED display are essentially the same picture. The hardware surrounding the screen is the main differentiator.
Focusing on the LG lineup. The B-line the cheapest LG series but is not widely available. Costco sells it and Target has the older model.
Two sizes are available at 55-in and 65-in, but I’m looking at the 55-in model.
The B6 is a good deal since the B7 has marginal improvements that may not justify the higher cost. Costco only has the B7. Here’s a B6 review.
The B7 loses the component inputs the B6 has. But the B6 component input is “shared” with the composite input (not sure what shared means).
The B7 has better support for gaming, able to keep up without lag. The B7 has WebOS 3.5, while the B6 has verion 3.0.
Dolby Atmos on the B7 is currently a waste of time since the Atmos sound can only come from the dinky television speakers, not through external speakers.
Active HDR. I don’t know what that is but the B7 has it. The B6 does not according to LG’s specs.
LOL. The B7 has 802.11ac wireless and the B6 has “802.11 a/c.” Same difference.
Here’s the LG-OLED-B6-B7-comparison.
TL;DR. The B6 looks like a deal right around $2000. But the $2150 B7 has some useful improvements, and if bought at Costco with the Costco credit cards, it includes two more years of warranty.
From Hurricanes to Stranger Things
Well, there went a planned outing to the cabins at Bellows due to the hook and slice of Hurricanes Madeline and Lester. With Bellows cancelling stays starting from Saturday, we now had lots of free time over the Labor Day weekend. That time was spent watching (and finishing) the inaugural season of Stranger Things.
This Netflix series came highly recommended by @gquiks487, and @locke02000 said it was the only series he seriously considered binge watching in one sitting. So with three days of canceled plans, we watched all eight episodes of Stranger Things. Averaging about one hour per episode, the show isn’t what I imagined with supernatural occurances in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana. Yeah, I liked all the kids, but Dustin was my favorite with his John Riggins curls and his unique cleidocranial dysplasia. If I could only place that red, white, and blue hat of his… kinda looks Montreal Expo-ish or old school Chicago White Sox of the MLB.
Other than the kids, I thought Winona Ryder did an excellent crazed and desparate mother. The Hawkins Chief of Police, Hop, was my favorite adult character with more skills than he lets on.
Of course, the best, best, best part of the show is its retro setting in 1983. The paramount encapsulation of that is the opening title sequence with its old school animation and graphics and that theme song. I’m simply transfixed by it.
I won’t go into summarizing the storyline since it’s been done many times already. Just go watch it and enjoy the ride. In the meantime, take a listen to the theme song and also see the titles for Season 2.
The Biggest Loser on Stranger Things
The absolute biggest loser of Season 1 of Stranger Things has to be Barb, Nancy’s best friend. Luckily Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show captures all of Barb’s sentiments.
Is the Shannara Chronicles Done?
So after ten episodes of the Shannara Chronicles, is it all done? Is this storyline/saga over and will there be follow-on shows? I admit this series has been fun with solid costumes and effects although some of the big bads didn’t seem that bad. There are still questions to be answered, and not having read the books, I don’t know how faithful the television adaptation has been. But still though, definitely a fun ride through the Four Lands.
Oh, here’s music from the Shannara Chronicles.
Next up, the end of Downton Abbey. 🙁
Advertising Fresh Off the Boat
As an Asian, I gotta give props to promoting the new television show, Fresh Off the Boat. Although I don’t think this form of advertising is permitted in Hawaii. Perchance a FOB is unaware and is responsible for this?
What Happened to Family Feud?
While waiting for a car battery replacement, I had the luxury of watching Family Feud. What happened to this show??? Granted I really haven’t watched the show since the days of Richard Dawson and Ray Combs, but the questions and format had always been predictable. Today with Steve Harvey at the helm, the questions and answers were just weird. Okay, so Steve Harvey was masterful with the families especially the nervous family members (like Gemma, a professional “pot head” which is supposed to be a Filipino wedding dance of some sort).
Anyways, I digress. I forget the exact question, but it was something like, “What can typically be described as firm?” The answering family got the top three answers but struck out on naming the last two. The opposing family was going for a steal with an answer of “handshake.” I thought they had the steal, but no, they struck out as well. One of the remaining answers both families missed – “a chick’s boobs.” Okay, the answer may have been “a chick’s boobage,” but the answer definitely contained “chick’s.” Who and where does the show poll for answers?!?
There Be Perverts at Club 939
No really, and there’s at least six of them hanging around the club. Oh wait, Perverts 1-6 are only extras for the filming of Hawaii Five-0 at Club 939. But you gotta wait for episode 4 of season 5 to catch pervert 6 at 939.
Tivo Roamio Upgraded
Instead I used the difference in costs between the basic and Plus models to buy a larger hard drive. The basic comes with a 500 GB drive that can record up to 500 hours. I got a highly rated WD Red 2 TB drive to replace the stock drive. I was thinking of getting the AV-tuned, Green line of WD drives, but the cost was more, and Amazon reviews said the Red line works just as well in a Tivo. Again because of costs, I didn’t go all the way with a 4 TB drive. As is, this 500 GB to 2 TB increase quadruples recording time which is good enough for my recording habits.
Anyways, upgrading the internal drive in the Roamio is very easy now. No special software utilities needed. Just swap out the physical hardware, and the Tivo firmware takes care of the rest upon startup. For more details about the hard drive upgrade, check out this Tivo Community thread.
Getting the side clips unclasped was the hardest part of the upgrade in my opinion. Unmounting the original drive just takes time and patience to remove the screens and mounting brackets.
If you’re installing a CableCard (multi-stream only), look on the underside of the Roamio for the CableCard slot.
After putting the Tivo back together and hooking it up, the Roamio initializes the new drive and doesn’t skip a beat.
What can I say? The Roamio is way faster than the Tivo HD. The interface is better but sometimes the old school, low resolution screens show up. The peanut shaped remote is smaller with some different button placement but is more responsive relying on RF signals rather than strictly line of sight IR.
I connected the Roamio to my Tivo HD to transfer existing recorded shows. For speed, I connected the two units with an Ethernet cable (straight through, not a crossover). The Roamio saw the HD unit whereupon I could transfer its content to the Roamio. After several hours, this process was done (truthfully I thought this would take much longer).
So far so good with the Roamio although I went through the settings to stop the auto-recording of suggested content. At times, I noticed the red light was illuminated indicating shows were recording. I didn’t have any applicable Season Passes scheduled so I wondered what was going on. After disabling this auto-record feature, the red light no longer goes on randomly.
Definitely a worthwhile investment for sure.
Here are more pictures of my Tivo Roamio drive upgrade.
What’s Up with That, ASB Hawaii?!?!
I try not to watch television commercials while using my Tivo. But this recent commercial from American Savings Bank caught my eye (for the wrong reasons).
Ummm, no, ASB Hawaii. Just no.
Darn You DWTS Mirrorball!
Darn you Dancing with the Stars!! After staying away for the last season, I made the mistake of taking a peek at Season 17. One unbelievable dance lead to another, and now I’m hooked once again. Week 1 was indescribable. Each performance got better and better. I was waiting for the first to fall or taper off the progression. Due to their “experience,” I didn’t expect much from Bill Nye and Valerie Harper, but they definitely entertained.
Okay, there seems to be some unfair advantages with performers in the mix but still, dancer for dancer, this is a talented season. With the stiff competition and the sentimental vote for the elder dancers, you cannot predict who’s going home each week or who’s going to win the DWTS mirrorball.
Skipping ahead to Week 2, here’s my favorite with Jessie Spano aka Elizabeth Berkley dancing samba.
Finding TC’s Chopper
There it was flying overhead, none other than TC’s infamous helicopter from the past hit Hawaiian television series Magnum P.I.
Yes, the distinctively patterned helo, aka “The Chopper” is “back” in Hawaii, doing tours for Paradise Helicopters. As a fitting tribute, this restored helicopter is even signed by Magnum’s Roger E. Mosley (TC) and Larry Manetti (Rick). So while you’re cruising the highways in your red Ferrari, scan the Hawaiian skies for this nostalgic sight, and sing along.