Category: video

Unifi Access Point U6 Enterprise Review

I finally broke through the WiFi gigabit barrier with the Unifi U6 Enterprise Access Point. You can watch my full review of it here. I integrated it with the other Unifi equipment that I have looked at in my previous videos about my home network.

My other Unifi access points in the house are the smaller and lighter Lite units that feel a lot like a small frisbee. The U6 Enterprise is significantly larger and heavier, weighing in at more than 2 pounds! So if you’re mounting other access points on a ceiling tile you’ll need to have a different strategy for this one.

The big difference the U6 Enterprise brings over their U6 lite access point is that the U6 supports the 6E standard that operates over the 6ghz. Additionally it can support 160mhz wide channels for data transfers over one gigabit per second on both the 5ghz and 6ghz frequencies for clients that support that. In order to exceed those transfer rates the U6 Enterprise has a 2.5 gigabit ethernet port for faster backhaul data transfer rates.

In my testing with a clear line of sight to the AP we saw speeds of around 1.5 gigabits per second in both directions using a 6ghz Wifi 6E client. Those speeds drop off with distance and obstructions. But I did find throughout my testing that transfer rates were much better as compared to the AC lite access point I was using previously.

Like other Unifi products the access point uses Power Over Ethernet (POE) to power the device. They do not include a power injector in the box and unfortunately do not offer an affordable POE switch that delivers 2.5 gigabit speeds. What I did was purchase an Engenius EPA5006HAT injector (affiliate link) that did the trick. Any POE+ compatible injector or switch should work as well.

This unit costs significantly more than the lite model (affiliate link) so if you’re on a budget it might be best to use the Enterprise units in high traffic locations and the Lites in the lower traffic ones. In my testing I saw no difference in performance on an 80mhz Wifi 6 connection between the two.

All in this works well and integrates just as easily and seamlessly as my other Unifi gear. But for cost I will be purchasing an additional lower cost Lite model to complete my household conversion to Wifi 6.

All About Plex Subtitles

This month’s sponsored Plex tutorial dives into a frequently requested topic: subtitles.

I will confess that I am not a frequent subtitle user but I know that many of you out there use them quite frequently. One of the challenges of subtitles is getting them to work in a way that won’t trigger a transcode.

Many of us use Plex as a way to store our Blu Ray movie library on our server for convenience. And typically Blu Rays use the PGS subtitle format which are essentially image files that Blu Ray players overlay on top of the video being played. So if you are ripping Blu Ray files and including subtitles in that rip you’ll have those PGS files embedded inside the MKV file you’re using.

The problem with the PGS format is that very few streaming players support them natively. In my testing I’ve found only the Nvidia Shield TV and Apple TV support that. All of the other players I tested triggered transcoding to bake in the captions before sending the video to the client.

The most compatible solution I’ve found are SRT formatted files. These are essentially ASCII text files with time stamps that most players support natively without the need for an additional transcode. Plex Pass users can search for and add SRT files in the Plex interface using the OpenSubtitles.org database right on the content playback page. If you don’t have a Plex pass you’ll have to hunt down those files yourself.

Finding subtitles can be tricky as lengths vary from one version of a film to the next. As studios re-release old films on different formats sometimes things don’t line up or like in the case of Star Wars they change a few things here and there that ultimately impact the timing of dialog. Plex does have a subtitle offset feature that we’ll cover in a future video to better align dialog.

A PGS Encoded Forced Subtitle

Another topic we covered are “forced” subtitles that only appear when another language is spoken. A great example of this is when Jabba the Hutt is speaking at the beginning of a Return of the Jedi. Force subtitles need to be enabled for playback like other types of subtitles and the same rules for transcoding apply here too – if you have a PGS encoded forced subtitle it’s going to force a transcode even if those subtitles are used for a very small portion of the film. These are the types of subtitles I use most often.

There is much more to cover on this topic but I have found SRT encoded subtitles to be the most compatible but also the least attractive. How they look will largely depend on how the client renders them. The good news is that because they are just straight ASCII text they are very easy to edit.

Subtitle Edit for Windows

I found a great open source (free) utility called SubtitleEdit that is extremely powerful for editing SRT files. It can even convert PGS to SRT. It only runs on Windows but there is a version that runs in a web browser on their site.

There is much more to cover on this topic. Definitely check out the video and leave a comment about what you’d like to see next!

Xfinity / Comcast Rips off My Mom!

Check your cable bills! I checked my Mom’s bill the other day and what I found is the subject of my latest video.

The worst part is that the cable boxes she’s paying for are old digital to analog adapters that she’s had for the better part of the decade. Techs even came out at some point and hooked these things up, with RF connections, to her HD televisions!

Initially these adapters were around $3 a piece but Comcast has slowly increased the monthly cost on them over the years. When she changed her plan a few years ago they sent her an additional HD box for one of her televisions but never suggested or offered to take the older boxes off the plan.

A Comcast Digital adapter my mother was being charged $10 a month for

Comcast’s customer service was not very helpful. They work extremely hard to direct everyone to the website first – in fact this weekend I couldn’t even talk to an agent unless I went back to their website to request a call. When I did they sent me back to the website and use their equipment return page to initiate things. The problem is that only the two HD boxes showed up – not the other three adapters!

To rectify things I ended up using their Twitter support and got the ball rolling there. They sent us some return boxes and labels and I’ll be getting those back to Comcast this week. My hope is that they’ll take everything off the bill as those three adapters are still not showing up on her online account.

Thankfully Comcast offers customers a simple option for avoiding box rental fees by using a “partner device.” The best and most affordable option at the moment are Roku devices. Apple TVs also work pretty well too. I set up Mom up with a few Rokus are on her TVs this weekend.

I was able to save my mother $720 a year by removing the boxes and another DVR service add-on they slipped in that she didn’t need or use. All of this stuff sits outside of the contract she was on for service so Comcast can raise those rates whenever they want.

If you have loved ones that are a little challenged when it comes to technology definitely give their bill a close look. My video also provides a checklist of what you need to have ready to help.

It’s so frustrating that monopolies behave in this way. It’s especially unfortunate that because I’ve found Comcast’s network to be reliable and consistent in its performance. If they focused on making customers happy vs. ripping them off perhaps they’d be better positioned now that their business is getting significantly more competitive.

All The Things You Can Do with a Roku Express

Roku remains the market leader for streaming TV devices. They got there by being largely the first to market way back in 2008 in collaboration with Netflix when they began their streaming business.

These days Roku’s are cheap and functional with support for nearly all streaming providers. Their latest entry level model, the Roku Express, is the subject of my latest review.

The Express is a no frills device – it lacks some of the universal remote capabilities of other Roku’s in the product line and only outputs at a 1080p resolution. But for an old dumb television they work quite well. Just note that Roku dropped support for older standard definition sets – you’ll need an HDMI port to use it.

Roku ladders their product line in such a way that an additional $10 or so gets you to the next level. So if you’re looking for universal remote capabilities the Express 4k+ will deliver that for only $10 more and will work on 1080p and 720p televisions.

But for an entry level streamer the product is quite functional. It performs adequately enough for navigating between apps and streaming media. And when paired with their excellent mobile app you pick up the ability to do private listening via headphones and stream your personal media to the television.

Roku’s interface remains fairly clean and although it has advertising it’s not as intrusive as what you’ll experience on a Fire TV or Google TV these days.

And for Apple users Rokus work exceptionally well as Airplay destinations. You can mirror your iPhone, iPad or Mac’s screen to the Roku with just a click or two. It works just as well as it does on Apple’s much more expensive Apple TV devices. I demo all of that in the video.

All in Roku remains a great choice for people looking for simple streamers. They support all of the major subscription services (at the moment anyway) and offer a ton of great free advertiser supported content options.

Roku Express Setup Guide

Roku currently has five different streaming players on the market with about a $10 ladder between each model. Every couple of years I like to take a look at the entry level model (the Roku Express) to see how much value can be squeezed out of it.

We’ll have a full review up on my main channel soon but in the meantime I thought I would make a “how-to” video on setting up one of these Roku Express devices. You can check it out here on the Extra’s channel.

In the video I step through the setup process and also recommend that you install the Roku mobile app that adds some helpful functionality like a keyboard for passwords, private listening via headphones, and a few other things.

The Roku Express sells for $29 right now (affiliate link) and is their least expensive option.

Lenovo ThinkBook 14s Yoga Gen 2 Review

I am finally beginning to get caught up on my backlog of laptop reviews! My latest one is of another Lenovo Thinkbook – the 14s Yoga Gen 2. You can watch it here.

This one is a middle of the road 2-in-1 with an i7-1255U processor, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. This is the kind of laptop that goes on sale frequently on Lenovo’s website so definitely keep an eye on their product page (affiliate link) if you’re looking for a deal. It’s currently starts at $840 and the one we’re looking at is around $1000.

Performance and battery life are pretty good on this one. It scored well on benchmark tests and in line with other laptops running with this generation of Intel processors. Cooling is efficient and quiet with very little throttling happening under sustained processor loads.

Like other Yoga’s we’ve looked at they have a small pen that “garages” itself on the side of the case. I noticed the pen feels a little more natural than prior iterations, with the screen introducing a little more resistance to make writing feel less slippery.

For upgradeability the Yoga 14s Gen 2 has a second NVME SSD slot that allows for the installation of a second drive. This might be a fun way to dual boot a linux operating system. There is a single RAM slot on the motherboard for memory upgrades, however half the RAM (8GB) is soldered on the main board. So the best you’ll do with this one is 16GB max by adding an 8GB module.

I recommend either purchasing a 16GB configuration or upgrading to 16GB yourself to ensure the system runs in dual channel memory mode – without that RAM slot occupied you won’t get the max performance out of this machine.

My only complaint on this machine is its display. It’s dim at 300 nits, only 1080p, and runs with a narrow 16:9 aspect ratio (most laptops these days have a taller 16:10 ratio).

Will Moonlight & Sunshine Work as a Gamestream Alternative?

A few weeks ago I posted a video about Nvidia sunsetting their “Gamestream” feature on the Nvidia Shield TV that allows for personal streaming of games from a PC. It worked exceptionally well especially as it would automatically adjust settings for supported games to best fit the display the Shield was connected to.

While the Shield TV was the only officially supported device for Gamestream an open source project called Moonlight brought the feature to many other devices including tablets and smartphones. Many were concerned that the demise of Gamestream would also spell the end of Moonlight.

But a companion project called Sunshine was launched to provide an open source replacement to the streaming server provided by Nvidia. In my latest video I took Sunshine out for a spin to see how it compares to the soon-to-be-dead Nvidia option.

The bottom line is that Sunshine delivers a high quality image with very little latency. But it lacks all of the creature comforts that made Nvidia Gamestream work as seamlessly as it did. Among the challenges I encountered were adding Xbox Gamepass games that I downloaded along with having to manually set the resolution for each game I was playing off of a 16:10 gaming laptop.

But I see a lot of potential here – not only for gaming but also for just general high performance desktop screen sharing. Sunshine is completely free and open source and can sit safely behind a firewall. Most of the other solutions that offer its level of performance are wrapped around a subscription service that allows outside access.

I am sure we’ll be revisiting it in the future so stay tuned!

Gulikit Nintendo Switch Joycon Hall Effect Stick Replacement Review

My latest video is a review of a set of replacement joycon sticks from a company called Gulikit. What makes these sticks unique is that they make use of the “Hall Effect” to track their position.

Hall-based joysticks use magnets for better accuracy and don’t tend to develop drifting issues over time. But they are usually more expensive. The Gaming Setup has a good explanation of how they work.

Nintendo Joycon sticks suffer from drifting issues where the stick reports movement even when it’s not moving. Nintendo has likely resolved the issue in more recent versions of their hardware but there are likely millions of faulty sticks out in the wild.

Nintendo eventually acknowledged how wide spread the problem is and have set up a free repair program for customers impacted by it. But if you’re a “do it yourselfer” these sticks are a good alternative to the originals.

Installation was not too difficult but does require some patience and caution as there are small delicate parts inside the Joycon that have to be manipulated. You can see my livestream of the installation process here. I suggest checking out iFixit’s helpful guide for a great step-by-step guide.

I found the Gulikit sticks feel smoother and track more accurately versus the original sticks. The only issue I encountered is that the tops of the Gulikits are a little more slippery vs. the stock Nintendo sticks and might require some extra grip to be applied. Gulikit says the stick tops are replaceable so you might be able to find something a little grippier.

Unihertz Tank Phone Review

Unihertz is known for making really tiny phones like their Jelly series of smartphones. For their latest devices they went in another direction and built what is likely the biggest and heaviest smartphone on the market. They call it the Tank phone and it’s the subject of my latest review.

The tank integrates an enormous 22,000 mAh battery into an Android 12 powered smartphone. The phone can run for at least a week on standby but can also do double duty as a powerbank and charge other devices.

On the back it has a large “camping lantern” LED light that can output up to 1200 lumens. It’s super bright and even warns the user not to stare into it when turning it on.

On the back it has a night vision camera with infrared illuminator, a 108 megapixel “AI Camera” and a 2 megapixel macro lens. Like other Unihertz phones the camera system here disappoints.

The high resolution camera spits out large 20+ megabyte image files but they lack the detail I expected to see from a camera supposedly north of 100 megapixels. I suspect they’re using a much lower resolution sensor and interpolating up to a higher pixel count. Video quality out of the cameras is equally disappointing as you’ll see in the video.

Performance of the phone is on par with a low to mid-range smartphone. It’s adequate for nearly every android app and game you’ll find on the Google Play store. Along with its Mediatek Helio G99 processor it has 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. It does not have an SD card option.

The Tank phone is unlocked. Here in the USA it works on TMobile and Verizon but not AT&T. Verizon customers need to activate their sim card on another device first and then move it over to the Unihertz.

All in this is another crazy phone from Unihertz. Like their other phones it’s well constructed and fills a very small niche in the marketplace. They are masters at finding these little slivers of need in the huge smartphone market!

Why I Stopped Doing YouTube Shorts

You’ll recall I was enthusiastic about the new format a few weeks ago when they rolled out the new monetization program. I felt it was something that would fairly compensate creators similar to how the YouTube partnership program has worked for many years. Unfortunately that’s not the case. I take a deep dive into my experiences with YouTube Shorts in my latest video.

Shorts monetization is very different from YouTube’s partnership program for longform content. Revenue is pooled and creators receive 45% of that pool based on what looks to be on a rate per thousand basis (RPM).

Unlike the Partner program where YouTube is transparent about how much they are collecting from advertisers on a per video basis, the actual amount of the pool is not disclosed. And because it looks like whatever revenue they decide to share with the pool is shared equally, there’s no active marketplace like there is for long form where certain topics drive higher RPMs based on the topic.

The result is that creators can expect pennies on the dollar when comparing Shorts revenue vs. long form. Currently creators are reporting about 3 cents per thousand views on Shorts. Comparatively I generally see RPMs in the $5-6 range on my long form content.

With YouTube pushing Shorts as heavily as they are I’m concerned that they are trying to drive viewers and creators away from a much more fair model of revenue sharing. What’s even more concerning is that YouTube’s Creator Liason, Rene Richie, says that Creators shouldn’t even be thinking about YouTube revenue opportunities when planning content.

My fear in hearing this from a YouTube employee is that the company is trying to pivot away from their partnership model and into something more in line with Instagram and TikTok where there’s very little content that’s not bought and paid for. How I’m able to do what I do with very few sponsorships is because of revenue I receive from YouTube and affiliate marketing links.

With Shorts, there’s very little revenue shared and Shorts make it very difficult for users to visit outside links. Richie says that this is one of the opportunities of Shorts but in my own analysis very few people clicked outside links embedded in one of my Shorts and those who did were largely on computers – not mobile devices that make up a bulk of Shorts viewers.

The bottom line is that if I were to invest more time and effort into Shorts it would come at the expense of my revenue. It just doesn’t make good business sense for me especially as even just a few hundred long form views will generate far more revenue vs. thousands of views on Shorts.

What’s Plugged Into My TV?

We review a lot of TV boxes on the channel.. In fact TV boxes are about the only thing that performs well on my YouTube channel these days. So I thought it might be fun to show you what I have plugged into my TV! See it all here.

The TLDR is that I’ve really embraced the Apple TV 4k over the last couple of months primarily because it does a few things that I’m looking for quite well. On my bedroom TV it works pretty seamlessly with my Airpods for private listening, and on my home theater TV it can switch into 24p mode better than anything else out there.

For a long time I was relying on the TV’s built in apps, but my aging LG C7 is running rather slowly and doesn’t have all of the apps we’re using these days. The television from a viewing perspective is still perfectly fine (it’s the best TV I’ve ever owned) but it definitely needs to be supplemented by a device these days.

The Nvidia Shield is still my go to for Plex Pro home media serving but the Apple TV is doing everything else. See more in the video!

Automating with NFC Tags!

I hinted at a home automation project I was doing the other day involving NFC tags and Wednesday I posted up a video that detailing what I’ve accomplished so far.

For the uninitiated NFC tags have RFID chips that can store data and spit it back out. The tags are powered by the radio waves coming from the scanning device. When it’s powered up by the phone scanning it the tag emits a low powered radio signal that contains the tag’s unique ID and whatever data is contained on board.

They come in many shapes and sizes and are very affordable. You can see a few that I found on Amazon here.

In the video I initially demonstrated how you might turn a light bulb on and off via Apple Homekit. I created an Apple Shortcuts script that checks the state of the bulb and then executes a command to turn it on if the bulb is off, or or off is the bulb is on. The tag acts as a trigger which then fires off the script. The best part is that no data is stored on the tag, so if somebody else scans it nothing will happen.

I’m currently using a tag in my studio that will turn on and off my studio lights and noisy air handler in the room. One tap when I sit down to record is all I need to do to get started! Next I’m going to set up an additional action that will turn on my production PC when the script fires off.

As you’ll see in the video I was able to get my Wyze devices integrated with Homekit thanks to the Homebridge open source project. Homebridge allows devices normally not compatible with Homekit to work on Apple’s platform. I have it running in a Docker container on my Synology NAS.

Kensington Slimblade Pro Trackball Review

My latest review is of the Kensington Slimblade Pro Trackball.

I’ve been a Kensington customer for over 30 years. You’ll see my Apple IIgs trackball in the video from 1988 or so! This new one has a similar footprint but of course is much more modern.

The trackball uses an optical tracking system vs. rollers to gauge the position of the ball. It’s also wireless and can be used via Bluetooth or its included 2.4ghz dongle that garages itself on the bottom of the unit. It can also operate directly connected to a device via its USB-C port although those who are looking for a direct connection may want to look at the slightly less expensive non-pro version that retains most of the feature set here. The Pro edition also has a DPI setting that can adjust the sensitivity of the tracking on the fly.

What I found most innovative about its design is its nifty “twist to scroll” feature. Twisting the ball will scroll the active screen up and down. When twisting the mouse makes a clicking sound to differentiate it from its regular tracking mode. It very seamlessly switches from pointing to scrolling in use.

On the Mac and Windows there is a configuration software called “Kensington Works” that allows for some customization features with its four buttons. One of the neat ones is an option to lock in the x or y axis of the mouse to help draw straight lines up and down.

All in this feels like another solid Kensington mouse which is no surprise given they’ve been at this now for decades.

Disclosure: The Slimblade Pro was provided free of charge from Kensington for this review. I also produce informational videos for Kensington as a compensated consultant on occasion.

TinyNES Review – A Super Niche NES Console

My latest review is of a device designed for a very specific niche called the TinyNES. On the surface this might look like yet another NES clone console but it merges original NES hardware with a modern, open source design.

What it uses from the original NES are the CPU and PPU (graphics processor) chips. Although the NES uses a 6502 processor, the CPU chip used on the original NES and Famicom had its sound hardware also on the CPU die.

The TinyNES can be ordered with genuine chips but is also compatible with clone processors as the originals are no longer being manufactured. It’s not clear whether the genuine chips in this particular unit were pulled from dead consoles or leftover unused parts. The CPU and PPU chips on the TinyNES are socketed and can be swapped out easily.

The rest of the components are new and modern resulting in cleaner video and audio output. But nothing is added here – the console only outputs composite (not RGB component) and has no HDMI option. The design is open source so it’s conceivable somebody could add this functionality in later.

Part of the reason behind a lack of modern video options is that the original NES PPU output its video signal on a single pin as a composite of red, green and blue. Later revisions of the PPU did offer RGB output options but most NES and Famicom systems had the single pin output.

The TinyNES main board does support the RGB variants of the PPU but they are apparently much harder to find. There will be a solderless RGB add-on module available in the future for those lucky enough to have one of the RGB PPU chips.

So with no modern video outputs why does this thing exist when a real NES can be acquired for less money? Viewer Destructodisk has a good summation:

Now obviously this is a very niche device for an audience that wants something very specific… but there is a point and reasoning to it. Much that same as some people don’t like emulators because it isn’t as close to how real hardware plays. Some people aren’t satisfied with FPGAs. And then there’s the extreme that aren’t satisfied with the quirks a video signal add on brings. Its great everyone seems to have a perfect device being built for them.

The fact that the makers of the TinyNES found enough people willing to fund its production is proof enough that there’s a market for it. Not a large one, but a market nonetheless.

A big thank you to viewer Handheld Obsession for letting us borrow his unit for the review!

Dell XPS 13 9315 Review

For many years the Dell XPS line has been the flagship of Dell’s fleet. This year they’ve bifurcated their 13″ models into a premium “Plus” edition with a new keyboard and trackpad design along with a more affordable option that retains a more traditional layout.

My latest review looks at the low end of the XPS line, called the 9315.

The 9315 starts right now at $799 (affiliate link) which isn’t a bad deal for what it offers. It has a 1080p equivalent 16:10 display which for its size is adequate given the pixel density even at that resolution. It’s also very bright at 500 nits.

With the 1080p display it’s possible to get at least 10 hours of battery life out of this when sticking to the basics. Other activities like gaming will reduce that longevity of course.

But Dell has tamped down the performance on these lower end XPS models. So those looking to do video editing and light gaming will see better performance out of the more expensive Plus models.

The metal casing is slim and lightweight, coming in at just over 2 and a half pounds or 1.17 kilograms.

As Windows laptops go this one checks many boxes for those looking for a decent Windows application for work related tasks. It’s slim and light, has great battery life and doesn’t cost all that much for its premium build and display. But the value proposition comes at the cost of performance.

New Plexamp Features: Guest DJ and NFC Tags

In my latest video we take a look at two new features recently added to Plex’s awesome music client called Plexamp. In full disclosure this piece was sponsored by Plex.

The first feature, Guest DJ, utilizes Plex’s sonic analysis feature that we covered in a prior video. The way it works is that it will look at the sonic fingerprint of the song you’re currently listening to and slip in other songs that sound similar.

What’s neat about how Guest DJ works is that it will continue to progress through the album or playlist you’ve selected. Some settings insert a single song others will do more. You can even veer off and have it keep suggesting sonically similar songs. If you decide to switch it off you’re back in control of what comes up next.

Plexamp also recently added support for NFC tags. These are very inexpensive devices that can be found on Amazon that allow small amounts of data to be written to them wirelessly. Plexamp can write a shortcut that can point at an album or playlist to the tag through its share sheet. Scanning the tag later will pull up Plexamp and bring you right to the album or playlist for playback. One use case could be attaching tags to your physical albums – scanning one can start playing that album immediately in Plexamp.

Plexamp requires a Plex Pass but is one of the many benefits of their subscription plan for Plex Pro users. See more Plex content on my channel!

Thinking About the Year Ahead

2023 will be a year of uncertainty with many different external factors impacting the type of content I’ll be producing. Navigating these complexities is the subject of my latest weekly wrapup video.

There are two major forces that will drive things this year. The first is the economy – specifically the economics of the consumer electronics industry. Consumer needs in 2023 will be very different as we climb out of the pandemic disruption.

As noted in my video both PC sales and smartphone sales are down significantly. With less consumers shopping for phones and computers, views to my channel and others covering these devices will be down as well. PCs made up most of my top 10 videos of 2020 and 2021 but not one made it to the 2022 list.

Another factor involves YouTube’s plans for growth which center almost entirely around their new “Shorts” feature. Shorts monetization will begin tomorrow, February 1st, incentivizing creators to produce more of the short form videos. YouTube is determined to claw back market share from TikTok meaning they’ll be doing more to promote shorts vs. longer form content.

I have been experimenting with Shorts a bit on my channel and have seen them attract new subscribers to the channel each time I post one. My plan is not to start singing or dancing but rather supplementing my tech coverage with short previews of longer form content.

Here’s one that previews a review of a trackball I plan on uploading soon. It was a good way to gauge viewer interest in the topic.

This one is of a Hallmark Sega Genesis Christmas ornament I picked up for $5. This is something that wouldn’t work well as a long form video but works great as a fun short review:

And here’s one I shot at the Kennedy Space Center of the launch of Artemis 1 – I was able to upload this while I was still editing my longer form piece:

My friend Metal Jesus Rocks posted an example of a great Short with this look at an officially licensed Halo game for the Atari 2600. It’s informative, interesting and enhances his brand. This is the kind of thing I hope to do on my channel too:

But to be clear I don’t plan on becoming a Shorts channel. I still plan to upload multiple long form reviews and analysis every week. The trick will be finding the right topics and products to cover in what will very likely be a challenging year ahead for tech content creators.

Have suggestions? Let me know!

MuffinTerm is the Best Way to Access Retro Telnet BBS Systems on a Mac, iPad or iPhone

Computer Bulletin Board Systems, aka BBS’s, were how many of us “went online” back in the days before the commercial Internet. Thousands of systems were set up all over the world and many were even connected to one another in massive hobbyist networks like FidoNet. I covered the basics of the BBS world in this video from seven years ago.

The other day I stumbled across a great post on the Byte Cellar about a new app called MuffinTerm. This is the subject of my latest video.

Muffinterm is a free telnet client that runs across the Mac, iPad and iPhone designed specifically to connect to retro BBS systems complete with full ANSI and IBM PC graphics support. It also supports Commodore PETSCII systems (something I never experienced back in the day). Some other formats will be added to it in the near future.

The BBS system I profiled in the piece is called “Captain’s Quarters II” which is run on the more modern Mystic BBS platform. It’s a great example of what a good BBS looked like back in the day: an active community with a great file section and a fun assortment of games.

BBS systems largely died out in popularity in the mid 90’s when the Internet made the entire world accessible without long distance telephone charges. It was pretty crazy how fast everyone pulled up stakes and went on the ‘Net. If you missed this era of computing I do suggest to check out Jason Scott’s excellent documentary on YouTube. It not only covers the history of computer bulletin boards but also has interviews with some of the people that made it all work.

MuffinTerm is available in the Mac and iPhone/iPad app stores. For PC and Linux users Syncterm is great client. A browser based alternative called fTelnet is another good solution. And if you’re looking for a BBS to connect to the Telnet BBS Guide maintains a list of active bulletin board systems that can be filtered down by BBS software. You’ll even find bulletin boards running on original retro hardware!

Using Docker to Add RTSP Functionality to WYZE Cameras via a Synology NAS

Yes this headline is a mouthful! But I stumbled across a great solution for Wyze camera users who want to keep their cameras up to date yet still use them via RTSP to their own security NVRs. Setting this process up is the subject of my latest “how to” video.

With Wyze pulling their official RTSP firmware some super smart community members figured out a way to build a “bridge” that takes video out of the Wyze cameras and makes that video available as an RTSP, RTMP or HLS stream that can be used by any compatible security DVR/NVR. It does this through the use of a Docker container that can run on just about any compatible Linux based device.

Once installed and logged into your Wyze account, any compatible camera on the same network as the computer hosting the container will be available. Your security NVR will connect to the stream on the container which will in turn bridge the video from the camera. Since this process mostly passes a relatively low bandwidth video stream it’s not very resource intensive and even a Raspberry Pi can get the job done.

As of the time of this writing it’s compatible with most Wyze cameras with the exception of their new “OG” cameras and their Video Doorbell Pro. It’s likely Wyze is disabling whatever loophole existed in their older hardware to prevent this circumvention around their subscription services on newer devices. You can learn more about their push to subscriptions in my recent video on the topic.

In my Docker how to video we connected my cameras to Synology’s Surveillance Station – a pretty robust NVR that’s included with most Synology NAS devices. I did a tutorial series a few years ago on it. But this should work with just about anything including some of the popular open source projects.

Docker is something I’ve been learning about over the last year or two and this is a great first project to play with if you’re interested in dipping your toes into containerizing applications. Synology has a great graphical Docker interface that helped me wrap my head around how it all works.

If you’d like to learn more about Docker I found this video from Networkchuck to be a great summation of its power and potential.

Wyze Cam Pan V3 Review

Our look at some of the new Wyze cams continues with a full review of their Wyze Cam Pan V3. This latest iteration of their pan and tilt camera is nicely improved over prior models but it loses a lot of the free functionality those had. See my full review here.

The biggest changes here have to do with its industrial design. The camera now has a wider range of motion (a full 180 degrees vertically) along with an improved image sensor that has great infrared night vision along with a low light color mode.

The camera’s motor, while still audible on recorded clips, is much quieter than before. It also has a neat privacy mode where the camera shuts down and also points itself at the base for added privacy.

Missing though are a lot of the free out of the box features of the prior versions. This model does not support RTSP nor will you get any cloud video storage without having to pay an additional fee. And it’s not compatible with their “name your price” subscription plan called Cam Plus Lite. We detailed most of these changes in my video from last week.

I also got in the new Wyze Cam OG and OG Telephoto. I unboxed both on the Extra’s channel the other day and provided a quick look at their image quality (spoiler, it’s not good). Both of those cameras have the same restrictions for non-subscribers so unfortunately a lot of the value proposition Wyze delivered with their new cameras is not going to continue.