Like all maps, this one needs a date. For example, Canada and Denmark now share a land border (Hans island)

generate some minor descriptions for generic stuff in my TTRPG campaigns.

Need a quick 200 word description of the interior of an apothecary? Or a band of marauding orcs? It’s been a huge time saver for me.

Interesting. I will take a look and see if that fixes it. Thanks for the tip!

The layout of Plex definitely fits my brain waaaaay better with respect to navigation. But I hardly use it because I keep running into playback stuttering which doesn’t happen on Infuse, which I point at Jellyfin in my Synology. Will give this version another try.

I used this line when cancelling with my ISP. The chat agent didn’t get the reference but responded with an “oh my” (or equivalent, I don’t really remember the details).

Darn. I have no idea where I got my code and don’t have one to share (I just looked on my profile). It looks like others have helped out. FYI the latest 4K version (1.0) is from February…

There are multiple versions. I suggest you get these from the official site (free, but donations support the cost of equipment, purchasing film reels, and HDD space) and make sure you have the most recent 4K version. I don’t think you will know with certainty which version you have if you try to get this through other means.

I get the sense it was a tricky restoration due to the film stock (and film scanning equipment) they had available, which was spread across 16mm, Kodak 35mm, and Fuji 35mm (which had better colour preservation but was incomplete). They explain it much better on their website, but it is an iterative process, and earlier versions might have a different quality.

I guess it depends on the piece. Is the movie trying to be entertainment or art?

Certain kinds of art are definitely “not for me”, yet are entertaining to some. And I still consider the films I find entertaining to be “art”. I wonder if this is a false dichotomy?

Addendum: I will admit that well written characters and dialog isn’t as easy to come by in Hollywood media. But movies that mainly focus on the writing and are great do exist.

I find it helpful to not conflate good writing, good characters, and good dialogue. A story does not require dialogue to have its plot be propelled forward, to make us feel what is at stake is important, to make us care deeply about what happens to the characters (e.g. A Quiet Place, Wall-E, for example). Similarly, excellent dialogue simply isn’t possible if the audience doesn’t care about the characters nor the stakes - the words will simply fall flat. It’s all connected, and there is considerably more to writing than dialogue.

The spinning top totem at the end of Inception. Neo stopping the bullets in The Matrix. The first shot of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. The Nazis’ faces melting in Raiders.

Dialogue can be wonderful. But visual storytelling that treats the audience with respect is what cinema is all about.

Check out the (now defunct) YouTube channel Every Frame a Painting. The video on Drive in particular opened my eyes to how Refn composes shots to incredible effect.

And it is NOT about capturing “pretty” scenes, but about manipulating the viewer’s emotions in ways they do not even perceive.

This response was 💯

Agreed. The syncing can be managed other ways. The only thing I’m left with is using on a work computer for some reason, where one’s own devices aren’t available/permitted? But that’s probably not a common usage case.

To sync across different devices maybe?

Yeah that’s what I expected. I think the Kodi suggestion for the Shield is the most promising lead. Hope it works out.

Infuse for Apple TV will do this. You can point it to any folder on your NAS as an SMB share. It’s how I play back my own Blu-ray Discs, 4K or otherwise. It doesn’t do menus that I remember, but you can select the title easily enough.

Highly recommend also pointing it to your Jellyfin instance and using that as your front end for other files as it seems to me to have the best ability to do direct playback without transcoding, and the fewest hiccups for audio playback sync issues which can be annoying.

While you can just point Infuse directly at your other folders, its metadata cache gets dumped frequently by the OS, and it has to get rebuilt which is slow and annoying when you just want to watch something. Pointing at Jellyfin also lets you use whatever custom Jellyfin posters you’ve selected which helps for keeping special versions/collections identifiable visually.

I was very satisfied with their pricing for offsite backups, and the ease of setup. Definitely worth a look.

I’ve never used the atv

We can tell, because…

Why doesn’t the remote have T9-like keys, or voice input?

It absolutely has voice input.

For passwords, copying and pasting my long, unique, complex passwords from my phone is way easier than any T9 input would ever be.

I have used numerous smart TVs native systems, Google TV boxes, and the NVIDIA Shield. I could not tolerate the UI paradigms or THE FUCKING ADVERTISEMENTS on literally every other system. It is repulsive.

Bonus points to the NVIDIA Shield for being alone it it’s ability to do Atmos from my own media files, though…

If you’re thinking about becoming a GM, I cannot recommend enough Justin Alexander’s (of The Alexandrian fame) new book So You Want To Be a Game Master. It’s a really great step-by-step hand holding guide that we probably all wish we had growing up, or that the DMs Guide actually provided but doesn’t (yet?)

His whole website is full of practical tips for the more advanced GM as well.

Can’t say I’ve noticed video differences, but Infuse has had the fewest audio sync issues for me. However the Plex layout simply fits my brain better. Especially the ability to reorder media and use collections, and integrate my OTA antenna.

Is it still true that only the Shield Pro does Atmos for my own media?

You can buy a lifetime license for Infuse. Alternatively the Jellyfin app is available too (as Swiftfin on the Apple TV App Store, but displays as Jellyfin on the Home Screen).

Shame is a mismatch between ego and ego-ideal, whereas guilt is a mismatch between ego and super-ego. The ego-ideal in shame does depend on social norms. But that is by no means “artificial”.