u/LakeTwo

There have been several posts about this in the past but I thought I'd try again perhaps with more specifics.

I have a large, aluminum antenna and am around 8-10 miles from the broadcast antenna. All local channels come in with strong signals.

For channel 3 (WISC / CBS / Channel3000), my digital tuner usually scans and locks onto channel 25 (UHF) which typically shows a high signal quality very consistently.

However while using channel 25, if I watch the tuner monitor (using an HDHomeRun device) for a while, once every few minutes the signal entirely drops out for about 1s. The result is corrupted video.

If I'm lucky sometimes I can rescan and the tuner will lock onto channel 11 (VHF) which is rock solid and does not have the odd signal drop outs.

Unfortunately my tuner (and most) do not have the ability to customize which channel to actually use for virtual channel 3.1.

Is there something wrong with the channel 25 transmission? Has anyone else seen this? Or do I have some interference gremlin near me?

So I try my best not to overcomplicate my configuration and automations. But regardless, my setup is really complicated and specific to my devices, needs, people, etc.

I mean just for example, just one of the automations I have shows outdoor cameras on one of the TVs when the dogs bark. Their sensitivity to people is far better than camera detection hence this automation. It requires Echos configured to detect barking, an Echo routine, a custom switch in HA, an HA automation, Blue Iris configured to re-broadcast a group of cameras, and integration with the TV to trigger the app display launch.

How on earth would one provide such a solution to a normal, non-geek or how would they do it themselves?

Even without complex automations like that, there's still straightforward things like "in the summer, two days a week Molly works late so keep the porch lights on until 11pm." I can say it easily but how would a non-geek implement that?

Some of the answer is likely AI but even that can't handle when your Zigbee thermometer drops and needs re-pairing.

Is home automation and Home Assistant only and forevermore a hobbyist endeavor? Do any of you actually sell your services?

I'm considering buy a hail-damaged car that may have a salvage title or, in Wisconsin, there's a specific Hail Damaged title which I think does not require inspection.

However one important piece is access to OnStar / GM / SuperCruise.

Does anyone have experience with what GM does to salvage title cars regarding their connected services like OnStar / SuperCruise? Do they disable it?

From what I understand GM leased many many equinoxes in maybe 2024 or 2025. I’m guessing many of those are two or three years. Since most seemed to have a high residual on them, nobody is going to buy them and they’ll just turn them in.

So when do we think this large number of lease returns is going to happen pushing the price down even further for used off lease?

I realize I sound like a crazy Boomer (am not) recounting some non-existent time of glory so this is sort of a rant.

But why is it that recently (10-20 years) the finer the dining, the rarer the meat?

Regardless, it seems, of how we order our meat, we get somewhere between blue and rare.

It's gotten to the point where I don't order grilled / pan cooked red meat anymore.

I used to like duck breast (arguably red meat) and swear that I used to get it cooked. Now every time I have ordered it, it's almost inedibly rare. Medium steak? Rare. Pork? Rare.

If I wanted uncooked meat, I could just grab a steak from the grocery cooler, throw some salt on it and gnaw.

Is this a style? Are kitchens overworked? Are cooks just unable to correctly cook meat?