Show us your most recent mundane, stupid, non-MST3K accomplishment

I’ve recently started using Plex for my MST3K collection – I own virtually every episode that’s ownable, and some that aren’t, so 200+ episodes. I find Plex works very well for this, but my husband is the one who set it up so don’t ask me any questions :grin:

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troll GIF

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AAAAAaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…

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Plex user here and, yeah, it has been pretty cool.

Current uptime is a little over 109 days and the last restart on that box was to move it to a different UPS.

Pros include:

  • No more pulling physical media out to use it.
  • Plenty of media server install options to accommodate most people out there.
  • Reasonable system resource requirements.
  • If autotagging’s your thing, there’s a semi-smart autotagger. However,…
  • If you tag things yourself and know you only want your tagging, it’ll follow instructions.
  • The music collection set includes smart playlists.
  • PlexAmp will probably be your app of choice for taking music on the go; simple with all the features you want.
  • Plex Pass is available but, if you don’t need its associated features and perks, Plex remains free.
  • Some VR capabilities.
  • Library sharing is easy (just ensure the folks won’t gobble your bandwidth).

The not-so-pros:

  • Plex is very, very particular about the naming on series media, to a point where it’s counterintuitive. Once you understand it, you can work with it. Get friendly with sites like The TVDB.
  • For many folks, even the general settings can be daunting. The advanced settings are really where Plex earns some muscle but you have to work your way up to them.
  • While Plex claims they’re not broadcasting telemetry, they’re broadcasting telemetry. If you care about this, adjust the server accordingly.
  • The Windows 10 flavor of the client (not the media server) has an oddity where, after a certain point in time, it’ll obtain and apply updates to the current stable build and then roll itself back. It’s an ongoing issue for about 2 years now. But this seems to be only affecting long-time Plex people and not newcomers.
  • Dipping into the free curated content comes packed with adverts. They have to make $$$ but still. The frequency is a tad high.
  • There is a “watch with friends” feature but it comes with a bunch of “excepts” and obstacles. In its current state, it’s not really worth it. There are alt strats that work better if this is a feature you want to have.
  • There’s a third party aftermarket of plugins but most are dubious.
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Many, apparently. I have and I’ll split the difference: For movies, it’s fine. For TV series, ripping the DVDs and getting the titles right…Well, I’m not a big TV guy in the first place so I’m always ripping something I don’t care about and it takes way longer than most movies. (If you care about extra, ripping about any kid DVD means wading through 40 files of 80% ads.)

Yay.

I was just looking into that dubious area. :expressionless:

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There are diamonds in that rough. It sorta ultimately comes down to how often you’ll feel you’ll use the plugins’ powers and how much you trust them running on the host.

I hear that the array of plugins for manga readers are well-loved and well-maintained (I don’t use them so no first-hand opinion).

Some of the plugins that curate a menu of “channels” have been nice in the past. Plex’s semi-new, in-house option fills that space now (and it’s kind impressive how much content they got the rights to provide) but I think the plugins will still have a need and a home.

The hardcore collector plugins will make sense to hardcore collectors. But the majority of Plex users will probably never need 'em.

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Oh, I hadn’t thought of that as a possibility. That’s kind of interesting.

Fair.

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Once a year, I dedicate a week to pranking my wife. I’ve spent the last few months collecting my father’s AARP mailings/magazines and adding my wife’s name to them. Now I’m starting to hide them around the house.

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Ah, so you have a comfortable couch then, eh?

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Nope! Guest bedroom.

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Oh, that’s way better than couch! Godspeed.

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I was hurrying to class and I ran into the wall instead of going through the door. I now have a bruise about two inches long on my arm. I hit the wall hard enough that, if I had hit my wrist, I think I might have broken it.

Go me.

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I’d say “facepalm,” but…

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Nice! You should join us in this thread: Gardeners' Corner

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Oiooooh! :heart_eyes:

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Bought four brand new tires today! This could also go on the griping thread because it was quite a pretty penny for me…but I’m choosing to look at the positive. I could afford new tires! And also. No more terrible cabin noise from the sound of my winter tires on dry pavement! :sweat_smile:

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Oh. That’s terrible. I think I know just what you mean. Huge bruise, but at least you didn’t hit the wall edge-on with your face…

Well, it’s called cinco de maya for a reason, and it’s probably for luck or something.

Me, I accomplished getting home this evening, and, no, I was not out reveling (these occasions tire me).

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I just paid off a set last month myself, and I didn’t have to buy cheap ones this time!

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Tried a generic midi file on my Roland FP30 and it played all the instruments just fine (I had previously only tried piano midi files on it). Two years ago when I bought the thing I remembered people writing that it had the full midi set, it just wasn’t in the documentation, but I never got around to trying it until just now after checking out some midi files on midiworld.com. Best file I tried on that site today was Bohemian Rhapsody.

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Cleaned a bunch of old toxins out of the hallway utility cupboard yesterday. Oils, paints, fixatives, solvents, cleaners, and such which were almost exhausted or expired or which we never use anymore. Drove them out to Metro for safe disposal.

Today, I’m hoping to go look at an external hard drive for my old Mac OS X High Sierra. I really need to try and figure out whether it’s better in the long run for me to just shell out an extra $100 instead and just get another used Mac like this one, but with more memory. Supposedly the drive could run $100 or $200 by itself, so… If you tech heads want to chime in with tips or a brand/type of either thing which you like, feel free. (Use DMs if you don’t want to derail the thread.) I’m not actually going to plunk down any money for another week or so. I’m just investigating.

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