Category: Tech

Cast Away

Audio electronics manufacturer Onkyo/Pioneer disappeared for a while, and after a period of uncertainty about its survival the company returned. I first realized they hadn’t gone out of business when my Onkyo — or, as some say, Oinkyo — receiver announced it had a firmware update to install.

The receiver has all of the apps I want, except for SiriusXM. I could use Bluetooth from my Google Pixel 4a phone, but it would have to be kept in proximity with the receiver. Chromecast was the way to go, except it wasn’t working through the SiriusXM app. It would attempt to connect, then give up. The cast icon in TuneIn had only slight success, sputtering badly with a buffering indicator.

The phone was showing only the Onkyo and the Google Chromecast “puck” on the porch TV as available devices. I had no trouble connecting and disconnecting the phone with the Chromecast puck. Which made sense, as both gadgets were made by Google. I opened Google Chrome on a PC and clicked the casting icon on a YouTube video. The browser had a different “cast list” that curiously didn’t include the Onkyo.

So there was some inconsistency to be found in Google’s various software implementations. With that in mind, I decided the thing to do was forget about trying to invoke Chromecast from within the apps. I went to the Google Home settings on the phone. As before, it showed only the two devices. Would a casting connection work, by making the phone send all audio to the receiver?

BOOM! YES! It came up and played instantly with no sputtering. It even directly adjusts the receiver’s volume control. How I love workarounds.

Looking Back on the Bag

A few posts ago, “Little Green Bag” is in stereo. My copy of the recording, on a CD, is in mono, like the original single.

That very nifty record player looks like a Voice of Music A1272, from 1972. I had one, very briefly. Voice of Music record changers were everywhere on house brand stereos, but five years after the A1272 the company went out of business.

record player

This video has a good view of the complete unit. Not an audiophile quality turntable, but good enough for all practical purposes.

Tech Tweaks

Computer Tech – 1

Did PHP 8 make this site faster and more responsive than it was? In the past, Google’s speed tests have rated it from poor (42) to no better than average (67). The results are still variable, but they now include hits in the excellent range.

Performance graph
Google Speed Test – Mobile
speed test graph
Google Speed Test – Desktop

Computer Tech – 2

Nine years ago (NINE YEARS??) I posted this item about what was then my new netbook.

The last of the Windows 7 netbooks

Now retired from general use, the netbook (now running Windows 10) is my Logitech Media Server. Checking on it last summer, I could hear the fan was running at double speed, so I wasn’t surprised by the heat coming out of the side vent.

laptop computer

The workaround was as low tech as it gets. I flipped the netbook over for passive cooling from the bottom vents. This time of year, at times the fan doesn’t even need to run, but I do need to check occasionally for dust in the vents.

TV Tech – 1

Six years ago (SIX YEARS??) I wrote about getting a cheap Personal Video Recorder.

Doing my HomeWorx

I later replaced the Mediasonic Homeworx with a vastly superior TiVo DVR that continues to work well. The PVR sat in its box for years, until I recently pulled it out for use with my bedroom TV, so I can pause live television. The TV is a 12-year-old 32-inch Samsung I bought for my offspring, who no longer needs it.

Being pleased with the Roku streaming stick on the porch TV, I bought one for the bedroom. So the TV went from having no HDMI devices to having two of them. Then the Roku’s sound went out. Not muted, but silent.

Hmm. I swapped its HDMI port with the PVR. The PVR had no sound. Then the Roku had no sound. I moved the Roku to the third HDMI port, and it likewise went quiet. The sound was fine when using the TV tuner.

Hmm. I went online and found how to enter service mode on the TV. I did a factory reset, and the sound returned on the HDMI ports. But then the Roku flashed a message saying its HDMI port had a problem. It suggested trying another port, which I knew was pointless.

Hmm. Would a firmware update fix the problem? Given the set’s age, I doubted Samsung would have one available but, yeah, they do! I put the file on a flash drive, ran the update, and that was the end of the problem. Kudos to Samsung! For the heck of it I checked the porch TV I bought ten years ago (TEN YEARs??), and it came with Samsung’s final firmware release for the model.

TV Tech – 2

Regarding Roku, it has a problem that Amazon’s Fire TV doesn’t. The current models of both products support 5 GHz WiFi, but neither device supports Dynamic Frequency Selection for 5 GHz WiFi. Fire TV is okay when the router tries to negotiate DFS, but Roku chokes on it sometimes. The result is the SSID’s for 5 GHz networks disappear.

The solution is to disable DFS on the router, which should also be checked to see if the Roku has been blocked, after repeated failed attempts to connect. This may or may not be something an average Roku user is willing or able to do on their own. It would be much better if Roku had a firmware update to properly handle DFS negotiation.