lemann

throwing SMART pre-fail warnings 30 seconds after your warranty expires

WD does something very similar to this for its Red SATA drives 🥲

I thought the piped accounts did exactly that, or is it only playlists that sync?

https://github.com/FireMasterK (the piped repo admin)

Could be an issue with the device are you trying to playback on, and the source media format?

Smart TVs and web browsers are generally not great devices for media playback, most TVs do not support Dolby Digital, EAC audio for example in third party apps (which would cause transcoding). Other smart TVs may not be able to display the subtitles, again causing server transcoding.

IMO to avoid transcoding on hardware that can handle it, typically look at Android devices, games consoles, a Shield or a regular computer

I think they're best suited for different use cases tbh.

Plex makes it great to handoff and resume media on multiple devices, has native apps for everything (from Linux, to PS3, to Firestick, to XB1, literally you name it), makes it easy to share media with friends and family, has excellent media file name recognition, and lastly has Plexamp (which for me is an extra deal maker).

Recently visited a friend's house, and after logging into my Plex on their TV I could instantly resume whatever I was watching at home, as easily as I would have for a Netflix account.

If you do all your media consumption on a single device, or have no need to organise different libraries of media... then something like Plex/Emby/Jellyfin could be overkill - Kodi would be awesome in that case

Edit: typo

Quite a few NewPipe mentions here 😁. Another option is NewPipe SponsorBlock, which has support for Return Youtube Dislike and of course SponsorBlock

Samsung historically has had a habit of poaching features from their Smart TVs as they age, eventually leaving you with a not so smart TV after a decade or so. Not sure if other manufacturers do the same

Yepp - hop on Ebay or some surplus auction site, and search for commercial/signage displays. Don't bother buying new unless you have the money for it IMO, they are expensive unless you get them used

Edit: typo

Newer "smart" sets, particularly from Vizio and a couple other brands, will not let you exit the setup or use the inputs without an internet connection

Feels like a symptom of poor education to me.

Society in general seems to give up quickly on people who might need extra support to learn, without really considering the consequences

100% this. I don't like supporting big oil, but at the end of the day I value the ability to repair a vehicle at an affordable cost.

Things like a 20k battery replacement? Hell no thank you, I'll grab another aspirated one with 100000 on the clock, and many more to go.

Network is more effective IMO, as you don't specifically need GPS to get someone's location. You can use nearby WiFi MAC address lookups, bluetooth beacons, cell towers, or plain old IP lookup if there's internet etc.