LeMarchand

My two experiences are with non-smart Samsung: Great picture and still going strong after many years for Bonus Daughter #2. Currently a Philips, which is also great (and I love the Ambilight!). I'd definitely go QLED if you can afford it (I assume OLED is out of your price range - it was for mine) and the biggest screen you can. You can get switches to extend the number of HDMI ports; I have the HTPC and main on one and PS4/PS3 on another. I chose Philips as it was Android TV rather than a "custom" OS - so hopefully support will be longer as the PS4 is quite power-hungry if you check. That said, there are plenty of options for "smartening up" a TV after the OS stops having apps updated. The Philips also supports 120 Hz on one of the HDMI inputs, which wasn't common at the price point when I bought. Some of the cheaper end brands like TCL and HiSense get surprisingly good reviews, but do a lot of reading - there can be regional differences in panels even on the same model. I'd set up an alert, or a few, on HotUKDeals as there are often bargains to be had, especially if you can get to a CostCo. Just remember to cancel them after you've made the purchase to avoid tears when you find that, had you waited... Also be prepared to do a lot of fiddling with picture settings. I find that Amazon often needs further adjustment even though most other sources now look great. Whilst I have a soundbar, I don't think it's always a necessity these days. Mine is mainly to try to get a bit more depth to the sound and because Mme LeMarchand has some hearing problems with certain ranges, so using "night mode" and the highest level of "voice enhance" means that the volume doesn't have to be too loud at night whilst our house is still under occupation.

In the Blood (Prime Video) Ava's father brought her up to be able to handle herself in pretty much any combat situation. Orphaned as teenager, she has survived and has just got married to the heir to the heir of an affluent holiday. On their honeymoon, her husband is injured in a zip-lining accident, but the ambulance never makes it to the hospital. It's time to break out her particular set of skills. If you're looking for a throwback to those sort of films you'd find on the bottom shelf of the video rack, this may scratch that itch. Otherwise, don't waste your time.

^^^ Definitely this. Projector bulbs are likely to become hard to source soon (due to the mercury).

But it's FOR THE KIDS!!!

Well, that was duff information from Gamespot. After I'd set an alarm so I didn't forget, too! Allegedly next week's is "Sunless Skies". This one is actually listed on the Epic store so fingers crossed.

Looks like it's happening: https://gizmodo.com/spaceballs-sequel-josh-gad-mel-brooks-amazon-star-wars-1851547503 May the Schwartz be with you!

Given that SMT here don't do anything until way after 5 years anyway...

OK. My main school can hand over the "Tightest School in the UK" crown.

Will Teams 365 run in a browser?

This should get you there: https://admin.microsoft.com/adminportal/home#/subscriptions/vlnew/downloadsandkeys (assuming you have the rights). Use the language dropdown to select ENG INT.

Have you disabled "Hide protected operating system files"?

Rocky and Rani (Prime) AKA Rocky and Rani's Love Story, AKA Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani AKA रॉकी और रानी की प्रेम कहानी Mild but loud swearing in trailer Rocky and Rani are two very different people from two very different families. When they fall in love neither family approves so they decided to "swap" their families so that both "sides" can get to know them and see that they really are each other's "ones". My first Indian romcom! Watched over a couple of nights as it's almost 3 hours long, which is a bit odd as some sources say it's ten minutes shorter but originally 12 minutes longer (there is a subplot that just seems to disappear and we never see Rocky fulfil his "horse" promise). The subs on Amazon are a bit weird, sometimes it looks like they are trying to capture the characters' accents (in the English bits, I don't speak Hindi!) but sometimes it just looks like the work of someone who's not great with English. Anyway, initially a bit of a slog and the eponymous couple go from animosity to lurve way too quickly but Mme LeMarchand and I both warmed to it and ended up enjoying the movie. Probably not the best start to watching Indian movies, but if you've ever wondered if you should give an Indian romcom a go then it's worth a look.

Next week's Epic freebie: Lego Bricktales.

3x KS1/2 schools, all fairly early adopters of Arbor. Onboarding was fairly easy and improved each time. Best thing: MIS queries to me have dropped to 0. I think the easy transition was helped by the heads pushing it and its advantages. It's not perfect, but loads better than SIMS. I think I've had to look at SIMS maybe twice in the intervening 3 or 4 years - and one of those was to help a citizenship claim for an old pupil who had been "lost" in the system. Most people say Bromcom is better for power users/secondary, though I haven't heard of Arbor suing if they feel they haven't had a fair crack at the whip.

Probably cheaper, but definitely less fragile.

Just checked. She did, but slightly toned down(?).

Similar thing with Virgin. Going V6 to the new 360 formats the disk. Also the 360 seems to be a lot less feature rich. I'm slowly adding my recordings to my "Just Watch" list as, if Virgin drop/rename a channel, playback is stopped and I figure that if I haven't watched a recording months old I probably won't - though I'd like a list I can consult if I ever want to track something down.

Just finished S2 of "My Life is Murder". One of Mme LeMarchand's faves, it's an easy to watch cosy crime drama set it New Zealand (S1 in Australia). Nothing special, but it generally keeps me awake due to mainly being shot in the sun. Presumably Lucy Lawless is getting to use her actual accent for once.

He's back!

Admit it: You've heard that they've launched a channel dedicated to the works of Britain's greatest actor - Jason Statham.

When I was in retail, 30% was a low markup. If publishers can't allow their stuff to be sold cheaper elsewhere, how come GOG, Humble and other vendorrs manage to do just that?

Bad Boys: Ride or Die (Cinema) NSFW trailer - lots of load swearing. "The Cartel" has infiltrated the Miami PD and framed the late Captain Howard for their crimes. Mike and Marcus are determined to prove his innocence, but end up on the run. I quite liked the last one, but this has the edge. Not the sort of film you'll "love" but worth a look - probably when it hits streaming rather than theatrically. Bit hard to see Vanessa "High School Musical" Hudgens as one of Will Smith's exes, though.

If you're throwing them out...

Not got time to test this theory, but I have had various after-market Bluetooth receiver/transmitters in my car that show up as the name of the dongle. Don't see why this wouldn't work with any BT headset you like. Would require 2 things to be plugged in, though: Dongle to USB to provide power and 3.5mm from dongle to headphone jack for sound. You can get ones that just go into the headphone socket, but these rely on the staff member ensuring the dongle is charged. >£10 + headphones of your choice. Might also be worth looking at "TV" and/or "gaming" BT headsets, which are sometimes similar to the above in principle, but many come with a charging base/transmitter. Or there are cheaper versions of the Jabra: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-Bluetooth-Microphone-Canceling-Headphones-Black-Gold/dp/B0BSF2S71X

Probably the most relevant thread for this. I think I've been watching too many Indian movies. Spotify is now recommending me Bollywood music Netflix is trying to get me to watch an Indian chat show Amazon's top "Movie You'll Love" for me is "The Hunger Games"... dubbed into Hindi!