Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Thursday, December 8, 2022

Product Review: Samsung Electronics UBD-K8500 3D Wi-Fi 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player (2016 Model)

 


This is a blu-ray player that can play 4k ultra-high-definition discs, as well as regular blu-rays and DVDs. It is region 1 locked, meaning it will only play discs from the US and Canada, and any region-free discs, but discs from other countries like the UK will not play on it. When paired with a TV capable of providing a 4k output, you get great picture and sound. There are, however, a couple of cons. First, the remote control is very small, and hence the buttons on it are extremely hard to use, especially if you are watching in a dark room. If you have another Samsung remote, however, that one should work with this player without any additional setup. Second, discs do freeze from time to time, even when the firmware has been updated. When a disc freezes, the only workaround is unplugging the player and plugging it back in. Sometimes the disc will start from where you left off, but most of the time it boots to the menu screen again and you have to find where you left off. I should also note that one time when I played a disc, the player made a weird humming noise, that lasted about two minutes into the playback of the movie, but that only happened when playing that one disc, so it has not been a recurring issue.

Overall, the player is good, especially for one of the more affordable players. You definitely want to keep the firmware up to date and get a good HDMI cable (the player does not come with a cable) to get the most out of the A/V quality.

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