The Tech Random Crap Thread
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figmentPez
Staff member
When my internet was out the other day, I tried hooking up my Blu-ray player to my monitor, but the picture was heavily magenta tinted (I didn't think to grab a pic with my phone at the time, sorry.) The player displays fine on my television, and my PC looks fine when displaying on the HDMI port of the monitor. I tried a different cable, changing color format settings, and nothing made any difference.
Any idea why an HDMI signal would turn magenta?
Any idea why an HDMI signal would turn magenta?
The only reason I can think of would be a bad connection, make sure it's plugged all the way in, and the connectors are clean? It sounds like you already did that so... That's the best I got
Oh, and try updating the firmware of the Blu-ray player? Depending on how old it is it might not know that to do with your monitor, and make sure it's not trying to activate hdr or anything else that might not be supported
GasBandit
Staff member
All HDMI isn't created equal. There are actually several "versions" of HDMI, usually varying by resolution/bandwidth and HDCP support. HDCP is the bane of my existence, but I don't think that's your problem because usually if something goes bad with HDCP, you get a completely blanked out screen, or a screen with a solid single color (usually red or green - and note, not magenta).
I second Poe's notion of updating the firmware on your blu-ray player, and if your monitor is 4K, make sure you have an HDMI cable that supports at least HDMI 2.0 (preferably 2.1).
figmentPez
Staff member
I'll hook it up to the internet and see if there's any update. It's pretty old, though, and I don't expect it to have any updates. ... It did not have any updates.
The screen isn't solid magenta, I can see the menu and play video, but it's like all the green is missing from the signal.
Monitor is only 1080p, as is my TV.
Oh well, I don't have much reason to watch Blu-rays. I only own 7 movies on Blu-ray, and 6 of those are Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
This may seem dumb, but is the tint control all the way to the M side?
It's possible you're missing the green channel, but I don't know how that would be happening over HDMI. Internet seems to think this is a sign of a failed handshake between the devices--not necessarily HDCP-related, just handshake in general.
--Patrick
figmentPez
Staff member
If it is, it's switching to that when the Blu-ray player is connected, but not when my PC is connected to the same port. I'll check that if I try again, though.
GasBandit
Staff member
So, I looked more into this this week, and have an answer I should have thought of earlier.
The answer is Color Space.
There are two primary types of color space for electronic displays - RGB and YCbCr (also sometimes called YUV, or YPbPr in analog component video). A brief explanation of the difference is RGB defines colors as three bytes of info (1-255) defining how much red, green, and blue goes into each pixel, whereas YCbCR gives a value (Y) for "Luma" and "difference" values for calculation of the difference between Y and red and blue. The reason for this basically boils down to YCbCr takes less bandwidth to send compared to RGB, sort of like how JPGs take up less space than BMP files. Using YCbCr means a movie takes up less space on a disc, and doesn't need as much HDMI cable bandwidth to get to your TV.
RGB is what most computer monitors want, and YCbCr is what most consumer grade blu-ray players provide, as they assume they will be connected to TVs. TVs generally have a chip to convert incoming YCbCr into RGB values to be displayed in their pixel matrix, whereas computer monitors usually don't (because they assume they will be hooked to a graphics card). You can get one that does, but it costs more. Likewise, you can also get blu-ray players that can pick whether they send RGB or YCbCr, but they also cost more.
Basically, the best way to play Blu-Ray discs on a computer monitor is to simply grab an external blu ray drive (which should be $50 or less) and plug it into your PC, which your monitor is still on. There used to be problems with doing this back in the day because Windows 7 and earlier typically didn't "come with" the licenses you needed to decode blu-rays, but Windows 10 pretty much does.
figmentPez
Staff member
My Blu-ray player has options to change the color from YCbCr to RGB, but that didn't change anything. Maybe I need to change the setting and then restart the machine, or something.
I'll just watch movies on my TV, if my internet ever goes out again. It's in a room with more windows, and thus more glare, but beggars can't be choosers. I've got more important ways to spend $50 than getting a drive for my tiny movie collection.
Thanks for the information, though.
figmentPez
Staff member
Google and Apple being petty to each other:
GasBandit
Staff member
Never-before-seen malware is nuking data in Russia’s courts and mayors’ offices
CryWiper masquerades as ransomware, but its real purpose is to permanently destroy data.
arstechnica.com
So, every year, my wife and her sisters get their parents a gift. This year, somehow, they've decided that a beamer would be a good idea. For the grandkids to watch a Disney on large screen, for the family to re-instate the old dia watching parties they used to do but with digital pictures, etc. Nothing too demanding. And yes, since I'm supposedly the IT guy in the family, they then turned to me collectively and said "your turn! But the right tool for the right job!".
Except:
A) I don't know Jack about beamers, really.
B) the budget this year is €90+whatever my wife and I add in. Which means, for beamers: basic bottom of the barrel. I love my parents-in-law, they're great, really, and we are in a more comfortable situation than the other sisters so I don't mind ponying up more than them, but...Well, no doubt we'll be paying €250+ while they've all pitched in €30 or €50. Thanks. Maybe next time don't promise a gift otuside of your budget? Oy.
Luckily they don't actually need a beamer that's 4K super light with a battery and can be used from 50 yards away in broad daylight, but still.
Ideally, it'd be at least "good enough" to work in a dim room and show a decent quality image. One of the main things would be that it'd have to be easy to connect to, so some sort of bluetooth or wifi or whatever connection would be really nice.
I've been looking at the LG CineBeam PH510PG (HD ready, 550 ANSI Lumen so okayish in semi-darkroom, but no wireless source options - needs a Chromecast or similar) and Nebula Apollo (WVGA and 200 ANSI Lumen so pretty much needs a completely dark dark room, but wireless options so it should be able to stream from whatever smartphone).
Anyone have any good suggestions or ideas? Other than "just don't buy them a beamer for such a budget, it's never going to be really good", because I'm well aware but
Except:
A) I don't know Jack about beamers, really.
B) the budget this year is €90+whatever my wife and I add in. Which means, for beamers: basic bottom of the barrel. I love my parents-in-law, they're great, really, and we are in a more comfortable situation than the other sisters so I don't mind ponying up more than them, but...Well, no doubt we'll be paying €250+ while they've all pitched in €30 or €50. Thanks. Maybe next time don't promise a gift otuside of your budget? Oy.
Luckily they don't actually need a beamer that's 4K super light with a battery and can be used from 50 yards away in broad daylight, but still.
Ideally, it'd be at least "good enough" to work in a dim room and show a decent quality image. One of the main things would be that it'd have to be easy to connect to, so some sort of bluetooth or wifi or whatever connection would be really nice.
I've been looking at the LG CineBeam PH510PG (HD ready, 550 ANSI Lumen so okayish in semi-darkroom, but no wireless source options - needs a Chromecast or similar) and Nebula Apollo (WVGA and 200 ANSI Lumen so pretty much needs a completely dark dark room, but wireless options so it should be able to stream from whatever smartphone).
Anyone have any good suggestions or ideas? Other than "just don't buy them a beamer for such a budget, it's never going to be really good", because I'm well aware but
GasBandit
Staff member
TIL other parts of the world call projectors "beamers." Here that would just be something a boomer calls a BMW.
Unfortunately my knowledge of consumer-grade projectors is not very extensive - most of the ones I work with cost $2000-$10000 and are used in professional environments at 5000+ lumens.
There's a lot of deals on sub $100 projectors on amazon right now, but I have to stress Caveat Emptor stronger than ever - Amazon has turned into a minefield of cheap chinese knockoffs using blatantly false (not just misleading) pictures and specs. Read the reviews and especially the negative reviews. But also bear in mind your parents probably won't know any better and will be wowed by a big picture at night.
But I agree it was pretty crappy of your wife's sisters to give you 90 euros and send you off to make a (quick google) 1800 Euro purchase.
Unfortunately my knowledge of consumer-grade projectors is not very extensive - most of the ones I work with cost $2000-$10000 and are used in professional environments at 5000+ lumens.
There's a lot of deals on sub $100 projectors on amazon right now, but I have to stress Caveat Emptor stronger than ever - Amazon has turned into a minefield of cheap chinese knockoffs using blatantly false (not just misleading) pictures and specs. Read the reviews and especially the negative reviews. But also bear in mind your parents probably won't know any better and will be wowed by a big picture at night.
But I agree it was pretty crappy of your wife's sisters to give you 90 euros and send you off to make a (quick google) 1800 Euro purchase.
The €90 is actually from all three of her sisters together. So, you know. They saw there were ~€150 beamers/projectors/whatever available and figured one of those would be good enough... But those are all beyond crappy, usually 640x480 with <200 lumen. I have no idea what that would be useful for except pretty lightshow effects in a baby room
GasBandit
Staff member
Like I said, there's several under $100 USD that claim to be 1080p and have 4+ star average reviews with thousands of reviews... but given my recent amazon purchase, I'm extra skeptical. They're all brandless or brands I've never heard of, of course.The €90 is actually from all three of her sisters together. So, you know. They saw there were ~€150 beamers/projectors/whatever available and figured one of those would be good enough... But those are all beyond crappy, usually 640x480 with <200 lumen. I have no idea what that would be useful for except pretty lightshow effects in a baby room
Bear in mind too that a lot of these will say "1080p" when what that means is that the EDID on the input HDMI says it can take 1080p content... but it will scale it down to 480 (or 720 if you're REALLY lucky) for actual projection.
But then, will your blind old parents really notice the difference (if they're not watching something with subtitles)?
GasBandit
Staff member
All that said, if I were looking for a cheap projector, I'd probably go with this one. Do not believe the "7500 lumens" stat, it's probably in the 300-400 range at most.
It's $80 usd, has a good review count and ratio:
And lots of reviews that have provided pictures of its performance.
I found this one particularly impressive - That mofo put his $80 projector OUTSIDE in dusk level light and got a usable picture.
As the reviews state, though, you'll probably need to get a soundbar for it too.
It's $80 usd, has a good review count and ratio:
And lots of reviews that have provided pictures of its performance.
I found this one particularly impressive - That mofo put his $80 projector OUTSIDE in dusk level light and got a usable picture.
As the reviews state, though, you'll probably need to get a soundbar for it too.
Yeah, I don't know what they're using for lumen measurements these days, but it's complete nonsense. ANSI lumen are more accurate though still somewhat iffy.
That one actually does look halfway decent. No wireless connectivity, but I know they have an old Chromecast lying around. Probably has a US plug though, which is a pain. Hmmmm
That one actually does look halfway decent. No wireless connectivity, but I know they have an old Chromecast lying around. Probably has a US plug though, which is a pain. Hmmmm
GasBandit
Staff member
Speaking as someone who set up a chromecast for his grandfather just last week... maybe get a roku express.
GasBandit
Staff member
I remember doing calculations with throw distance and lumens and lux 3 years ago when I got my Avixa CTS cert, but never once actually used it professionally so I've completely forgotten all pertinent information about it >_<
I was all set to say they still aren't available in Belgium, buit apparently they are!
figmentPez
Staff member
Adobe continues to be a shit company:
bug 1947 While Grace Hopper was working on a Mark II Computer at Harvard University in 1947, her associates discovered a moth that was stuck in a relay and impeding the operation of the computer. Upon extraction, the insect was affixed to a log sheet for that day with the notation, “First actual case of bug being found”. While neither she nor her crew members mentioned the exact phrase, "debugging", in their log entries, the case is held as a historical instance of "debugging" a computer and Hopper is credited with popularizing the term in computing. For many decades, the term "bug" for a malfunction had been in use in several fields before being applied to computers. (Wikipedia)
Looking it up to the best of my ability, catfish and catfishing being used to mean people lying on the internet does come from the documentary, but the documentary gets it from a story about catfish being used to keep cod active during shipping, and this story about actual fish seems to date back to the 90s and was a common story told by a TV preacher/author.
figmentPez
Staff member
figmentPez
Staff member
It's wild to me that there are a significant number of young people who have mainly used cellphones, tablets, and Chromebooks for their computing experience. There are teens, and probably college students, who have extensive experience with the internet, and computing, but have never spent any significant amount of time using a Windows PC.
Believe it or not, scientists are currently going through a "wait, it doesn't actually work? it did the first time, though!" phase. The main reason is because they didn't want to touch their old results in case they didn't ever work again...
Man, I was looking around to get a feel for good gaming laptops (apparently they've come quite a way since the old days?), and....ok, so, most of these will obviously blow my desktop out of the water, but.....€3500? And then the next one on the list €1200? and then €3800? What kind of useless lists are you showing me, Internet?
Go for a Steam Deck 
Yeah, I know, I know.Go for a Steam Deck
See, currently we have my gaming desktop, and my wife's old battered laptop. I mean "twelve years old".
So both are kind of in need of a replacement.
I could replace my pc with a Steam Deck.
I could replace her laptop with a tablet.
But I don't want to do both - having a regular old pc to use word, print a file, make excel sheets, whatever, is useful and sensible.
So now I'm considering a laptop and a tablet. Or a steam deck and a laptop, I guess could work too. Or whatever other combo. She suggested a tablet, a laptop and a deck, but that seems wasteful.
I haven't quite decided yet, which is why I was looking at capabilities and prices of gaming laptops. Which are still all over the place.