Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit | xafke's commentslogin

OP here

I hope so!


OP here

Definitely crossed my mind! Especially the slot system!

Rewinding could be fun as well. I could use our Sonos speakers to play the VHS rewinding sound, lol


> slot system

I have a similar setup but I've been using chip cards and a card reader. I find it much more intuitive than just placing an NFC card over a reader. The card reader blinks when a card is inserted, changes colour, it's all very obvious and physical, with immediate feedback.

In my case I only use it with music though (I deem them still too small to choose movies themselves).

I've been using reclaimed chip cards (various bank cards mostly) which all have an easy to read kind of ID, but I haven't been able to find a way to write things to blank cards as easy as one can do with NFC cards though.


Kids are gonna go to college still believing you have to rewind discs.

Do it. That's a long game prank.


My mum got mad at me once, when I was younger, because I wouldn't rewind the DVD before I returned it to the rental shop. My dad had to confirm before she believed me; thought I was just being lazy.


Hahaha excellent!


OP here

Wow, thanks for sharing this! I used to pay for Infuse as well, but switched to Plex for the deep linking. Might go back to Infuse because the Plex app occasionally freezes at startup.


OP here

I actually hadn't considered QR codes.

To be honest, I had some NFC tags laying around and I was desperate to find a project for them ;)

QR codes might be more complicated because you need a camera and a well-lit environment. NFC tags don't have that issue.


My thought process was to laminate them to make them easier to make at home. I agree that it’s definitely more child friendly. This maybe a project I attempt at home and will post if I’m successful.


I was surprised that you opted to use the tag ID as a primary key instead of writing the relevant metadata to the NFC tags in the first place. NTAG215s have about 500 bytes worth of rewritable storage, so you could even embed the full deep links if you so desired.

https://www.shopnfc.com/en/content/6-nfc-tags-specs

It also seems that ESPHome has support for reading / writing this arbitrary metadata, once you move to the PN532:

https://esphome.io/components/binary_sensor/pn532.html#ndef

(It's not clear that you can access the metadata with the RC522 through ESPHome, but the hardware should support it.)

But hey, what you've got works.


Home Assistant scans the tag-IDs by default, so you use them as a trigger, with little extra effort for each new card. "When card with ID X is detected, do Y".

I have something similar setup in my home office for my music and I just use the ID, no need to complicate it any more than it already is.


OP here

I do have all the Blurays. They're collecting dust in the garage ;)

My kids are only 3 and 2. They would probably destroy the disks and the player in no-time. Also: I don't have a Bluray player connected to the TV (apart from the Playstation, which I definitely don't want them to fiddle with yet). I use an old computer to rip the discs.

I might let them use the discs when they're a bit older.


OP here

You make a good point. The "it was better in my day" argument isn't always valid. I didn't mean to imply that something is inherently good just because it existed in the past.

But I do believe that having a smaller collection is nicer. It leads to a deeper appreciation for what you have. Each item in your library feels more special and valuable. And getting something new becomes exciting (I still remember getting a copy of The Lion King on VHS). This isn't something I get from browsing Netflix because new stuff is constantly being added.

As a bonus, it also helps with decision paralysis, which young kids are more susceptible to. At least that's my experience. Give them lots of toys and they'll play with none. Keeping the toy selection limited and rotating them is better (at least for my kids).

Thank you for letting me reflect on this! I will rephrase the post.


That was very well said! We have our own experience with too much toys and I don't like it.

I really appreciate the effort you took for your kids here. Thanks for showing us!


OP here.

Fair question! I have all the disks. They're in the garage gathering dust.

My kids are 3 and 2, so letting them handle the disks isn't a great idea right now. Might do that one day though!


Mine are 3 an 0. The three year old handles them fine - but kids are different;)


OP here.

Same here! I have debated making something similar for my personal music collection. I used to meticulously organize my albums in iTunes and listen to them in full. Somehow I stopped doing that with Spotify. The magic of the album is gone for me.


OP here.

Thank you and congrats! Enjoy the ride!


Author here.

I was quite surprised of the printing quality as well.

Never had it clog up. But I have all kinds of issues with that printer. Always connects to the network but randomly refuses to print. Sometimes it only prints half a page. Sometimes it prints half a page and retries by itself. Scanning is pretty much impossible on macOS because the drivers aren't maintained. etc...

It's horrible. But when it prints, the quality is good...

Honestly, I get cold sweats from the thought of having to print something.


Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: