At Home with Tech

Unlock the power of all your technology and learn how to master your photography, computers and smartphone.
September 22, 2024

Don’t Tell Anyone I’m Watching Star Trek: Prodigy 

“Star Trek: Prodigy” is a kids’ show also made for adult Trekkies. Here’s why season 2 is so good.

It’s not logical. But they keep making animated versions of Star Trek. In yet another example, Netflix picked up the cancelled “Star Trek: Prodigy” from Paramount+ and has given us season 2.

Clearly intended for kids by Nickelodeon Animation and CBS’s Eye Animation, “Prodigy” focuses on a group of teens having the same types of Trek adventures usually reserved for the adults in the captain’s ready room.

Talk about watering down a classic science fiction property. Sounds insulting, right? But surprisingly, it’s not.

Star Trek: Prodigy
The writers are clearly Trekkies and have made full use of Federation history. They dig deep and bring back details and characters we all know and love… assuming you’ve been paying attention across these past decades.

The younger target audience couldn’t possibly catch all the easter eggs. Only the adults in the living room will appreciate all the Star Trek references.

And that’s why this series works so well for all ages.

Star Trek: The Animated Series
I must admit I’ve never entirely understood the whole Star Trek animation thing. The original animated series (1973-1975) felt like a cheat instead of bringing back the actual show. But the Saturday morning cartoon was at least something in a world and time that only had the original series’ 79 episodes. It was both terrible and wonderful. A juicy morsal.

Star Trek: Lower Decks
I was confused when I watched the first episode of “Star Trek: Lower Decks” (2020 to present). An adult comedy? But I quickly figured it out.

This series is poking fun at the entire Star Trek universe. But it’s not a parody. It’s smart, clever and spot on, brought to you by writers who really know their Trek.

And the crossover episode on “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” was pure genius.

Star Trek: Voyager Returns?
Then “Star Trek: Prodigy” showed up in 2021. I hardly paid attention. But when I finally checked out the first episode, the series quickly grew on me. Season 2 is even better.

As a Trekkie, how can you not love a show that after more than two decades brings back Captain (now Admiral) Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and our favorite Emergency Medical Hologram doctor (Robert Picardo). Plus, we’ve got a new USS Voyager and a rescue mission to find Chakotay (Robert Beltran) who’s marooned in another time.

Yes, there’s time travel. Plus, alternate universes. And surprise iconic cameos. You’ve got to break out your full Trekkie knowledge to take it all in. In fact, the plot is somewhat complex. (You may need a kid to help you keep track of it all.)

And this beautifully animated series is the only format that could have possibly made this “Star Trek: Voyager” reunion happen after so many years.

These are the Voyages of the Starship Protostar
Beyond the Voyager thread, there’s a new set of characters who drive the story. Led by young Dal (voiced by Brett Gray), six misfit teens from different worlds are thrown together by circumstance. Through a series of fortunate events, they’ve also got their own baby-sized starship (USS Protostar). And of course, the Protostar transports them through their many adventures.

They’re a silly bunch, but totally endearing… again designed for a younger audience.

This team’s journey through a complex and well-designed “Star Trek” storyline, fully emersed in Trek canon, makes it so enjoyable for any adult in the room. (Seasons 1 and 2 both contain 20 episodes.)

The Kid in All of Us
Yes, “Star Trek: Prodigy” is a cartoon for kids. But, if you’re a life-long Trekkie, it’ll latch onto you faster than a Borg implant.

Each nostalgic episode offers a little gift of Trekkie joy, as it taps into the optimism and can-do attitude that centers around everything Star Trek.

It’s not encumbered with the need to reimagine Starfleet into the darker and edgier versions reflected in “Discovery” or “Picard.” Dangers are presented, but we all know how it’s going to work out.

Live Long and Prosper
Some people practice meditation. Others work out to maintain their balance. Watching a geeky dose of “Prodigy” fuels my Zen.

It’s entirely uplifting and continues what is an illogical but successful tradition of Star Trek animation.

I shouldn’t admit that I’m watching “Star Trek: Prodigy.” But I am. Each short episode, which I often stream after dinner has left me with a smile on my face and a little less stress to end my day.

If you know the difference between a Klingon and a Cardassian, I present “Prodigy” for your pointy-eared consideration.

Leave a comment
September 15, 2024

How to Rescue Family History Locked Away in an Old DVD

You’ll need to first extract your unusable ‘VOB’ video file that’s buried in your DVD and convert it to a file format that your computer can play. Here’s how I did that with this fifteen-year-old DVD I made for my father about his life.

You may recall that DVDs were once used to save VHS and analog video files from extinction. It was the magic ‘digital’ solution! Then technology moved on, and DVDs effectively disappeared as streaming and cloud platforms took over our lives. Physical media was history! (Well, not completely.)

All the DVDs that I had ‘authored’ containing family videos simply went to the back of my closet, forgotten for another day.

Is that your story too?

Old DVDs are Drink Coasters
Should you eventually want to play one of these DVDs again, you’ll need a working DVD player hooked up to a TV or a computer with a DVD drive. Both scenarios are increasingly unlikely. So, it’s time to face the reality that you really need to rescue your video files before it’s too late.

I recently confronted that exact moment with a DVD I had burned fifteen years ago. It was originally a gift to my dad for Father’s Day. It was a little documentary I had made for him about his life. Now, of course, it’s an irreplaceable keepsake, and it came back to me after he passed in 2022. But if I can’t access the media, it’s effectively a worthless drink coaster.

Copy the VOB File to your Desktop
The first step is to find a way to copy the video file off the DVD to a computer. And that may not be a simple process. Fortunately, I still own a portable optical Apple drive that I had purchased with an old iMac. (They still sell the Apple USB SuperDrive for $79.)

When you look at the file structure of an authored DVD from your computer screen, it’s complex. The file you’re looking for is the ‘VOB’ file (mostly likely the largest one).

Dragging the .VOB over to my Mac Studio took some time. (My old SuperDrive is a USB-A relic.)

But don’t get too excited just yet. Clicking on the VOB file on your desktop is useless. You’ve got to convert it to be able to play it. Here’s how to do that…

Rename the Extension from VOB to MPG
That’s right. All you need to do is rename it as a .mpg file. That’s because it’s really an MPEG-2 file. Once you name it that way, it should play fine on your Mac. But you’re not totally done.

That’s because .mpg is an old, bulky codec. Sure, it may play on your computer today, but it’s not that compatible anymore. So, the next time you click on it, who knows what may happen. You should take the next step and convert it to an .mp4 or .mov.

Convert the MPG to MP4 or MOV
There are any number of ways to do this. If you’ve purchased the ‘Compressor’ app for your Mac, that will do the trick.

Alternately, if you own Roxio’s ‘Toast’ software, that will also convert VOBs directly to MP4s. I had to pay to upgrade my older Toast software to Toast 20 Platinum to get it working on my Mac Studio.

And if you’re looking for a free software solution, ‘HandBrake’ is another path to take.

Where’s my Original Edit?
You may be wondering why I didn’t just find my original video edit from fifteen years ago. That way, I could have avoided my whole DVD file-conversion dance. But that assumes I still knew where that old file is.

Sadly, I’m not as digitally organized across the decades as I had hoped.

The good news is I still had my drink coaster to convert. And this message in a bottle is now found, updated and living happily in its converted form.

Rescue your Past
DVDs are history. Computer hard drives won’t live forever either. Cloud solutions offer better future-proofing comfort, but that assumes these companies stick around for the decades to come. It can make your mind spin faster than a DVD in an optical drive!

I think the only way to address this challenge is to just take it… one decade at a time. For now, focus on extracting your video files from your old DVDs.

Good luck!

Leave a comment
September 8, 2024

20 PG-13 Movies to Stream with your Family

If you’re looking for a good movie to stream with your family, here are some choices I strongly recommend with your popcorn.

Every Friday, I spend at least 30 minutes scouring through the streaming apps I pay for to see if there are any new movies for my family to watch that night. It’s become an increasingly frustrating experience, as there just aren’t that many new films moving through the pipeline these days.

Yes… I know. There are thousands of hours of available content and nothing to watch. That’s how I feel.

But to be fair, I’m still limiting my search to PG-13 movies. I think one day soon, we’ll cross into ‘R-rated’ territory. Still, finding a movie that successfully threads the needle to meet the interests of my entire family is not easy.

The Usual Suspects
Fun and action-packed is a good combination. “Star Wars,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” and MCU movies of course fit the bill, but we’ve seen them all… multiple times. And it doesn’t help that the only MCU flick this year was “Deadpool and Wolverine.” No, we’re not at all ready for that one yet. (I did enjoy it in the theater with a couple other dads, even though there were a few sloppy timeline and multiversal inconsistencies.)

Look Backwards
So, I think the answer is not to wait for the drip/drip of the next movie to show up on your app, but to look back to see what you might have missed. There are strong options that aren’t on the apps’ top 10 lists.

I’ve been maintaining my own list of movie choices for years. It’s a good reference for my family’s weekly conversation of which film we might stream next.

Here are 10 flicks for your consideration that my family has enjoyed watching together.

10 Older Movies to Watch

  • “Free Guy” (2021)
  • “Red Notice” (2021)
  • “The Adam Project” (2022)
    (Yes, they’re all PG-13 Ryan Reynolds movies that hit the sweet spot for my family.)
  • “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” (2017)
  • “Jumanji: The Next Level” (2019)
    (These are rare movies that are totally funny and border on silly. But silly still works for my 14-year-old son as long as it’s done right. Note: Dwyane Johnson movies are usually appealing.)
  • “The Other Guys” (2010)
    (Entirely goofy misfit cops with Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell)
  • “Ready Player One” (2018)
    (Imaginative virtual reality and directed by Steven Spielberg)
  • “Passengers” (2016)
    (Space travel with Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence)
  • “Knives Out” (2019)
  • “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” (2022)
    (Daniel Criag stars in these clever, funny and offbeat murder mysteries.)

3 Tom Cruise Action Movies

Over the years, Tom Cruise effectively created his own genre of action movies that are suitable for the whole family. So, his films usually show up on my list. Here are just three.

  • “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning” (2023)
  • “Top Gun: Maverick” (2022)
    (Arguably better than the first)
  • “Edge of Tomorrow” (2014)
    (Our son really liked the “Groundhog Day” plot device for this intense alien invasion flick.)

2 Holiday Movies for the Family

There’s that time in December when someone says, “Let’s watch a holiday movie!” Well, here are two for you.

  • “Spirited” (2022)
    (Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell make magic together. It’s a riff on “A Christmas Carol” that’s nice and just slightly naughty. Plus, it’s a Broadway-quality musical with tons of laughs. Move over “It’s a Wonderful Life.” This is the new standard.)
  • “8-Bit Christmas” (2021)
    (It took me two years to convince my family to watch this. Its trailer doesn’t capture the true warmth of this very silly and satisfying look back at the 80’s. It’s another instant classic to keep on your list of flicks to watch over the holidays.)

5 Movies I’ve Yet to Convince my Family to Watch

Every potential movie goes through a Lester pre-screening process. That always involves watching the trailer. Sometimes the trailers for older movies are unappealingly dated. Other times, the trailer is surprisingly missing on the app. Instead, there’s just a scene included from the movie. That doesn’t cut it at all. And that omission usually spells doom for that flick.

Here are a few of those that we have yet to watch:

  • “Twister” (The original from 1996)
  • “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” (2017)
    (Certainly not as good as “The Fifth Element” from 1997, but still worth watching)
  • “Hellboy” (2004)
  • “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” (2008)
    (Directed by Guillermo del Toro. Need I say more?)
  • “John Carter” (2012)
    (A failed Disney tentpole, but I think still worth checking out. I also must admit that this is a running joke with me and my son, as he’s declined the ongoing option to watch this movie for almost half his life!)

Prepare for your Next Family Movie Night
You can’t expect everyone in a family unit to have the same interests in movies. So, if you’re a curator of options to stream, it helps to have a healthy list of choices to offer. You’ll have a better chance to find consensus on at least one.

And don’t forget to look backwards during your research. Older movies are just as good. And sometimes much better!

1 Comment