AV Rant- Home Theater and AV Questions Answered

AHA HT #001: Soft Launch

October 14th, 2026 Tom Comments off

Welcome to the 1st Actually Honest Advice Home Theater Podcast episode! Pardon our dust. It’s a bumpy start. And farewell to AV Rant. It’s AHA HT from here on out.

NVidia Shield TV Pro gets a $100 price hike, despite being over 7 years old. HDTV Test crowned their picks for the Best OLED and Best TV Overall for 2026. And we introduce our Monthly Movie segment.

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjD7vNm

00:00:00 – Intro

Introducing Actually Honest Advice Home Theater! AHA HT.

Pardon our dust. We are beyond open to critiques, suggestions, and help!

And we have our new website: https://actuallyhonestadvice.com/

And our new YouTube address: https://www.youtube.com/@ActuallyHonestAdvice

00:07:08 – New Monthly Movie Segment

We’re going to try some new things, and see how they go.

One new idea is basically a “book club” but for movies. We’ll pick a movie ahead of time, everybody can watch it, and then at the end of the month, we’ll chat about it.

For the end of October (we’ll record on the 27th), the Monthly Movie is: “The Last House”. It’s available on Netflix.

00:13:01 – Contact Info

We have new email addresses, too!

Question at ActuallyHonestAdvice dot com

Tom at ActuallyHonestAdvice dot com

Rob at ActuallyHonestAdvice dot com

00:17:32 – What We Watched

Tom watched the first 2 Seasons of Overlord. Rob watched Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.

00:34:26 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are our 116 Patreon Patrons over at: https://www.patreon.com/actuallyhonestadvice

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude from: Aaron, Gurinder, Infinite Gary, Dev, and Karl. Thank you to everyone for listening!

In the news:

00:37:11 – News: NVidia Shield TV Pro Price Hike

It’s been available for over 7 years, but the NVidia Shield TV Pro got a big price increase, and the tube-shaped Shield TV has been discontinued: https://tinyurl.com/4zpkx76z

00:39:21 – News: HDTV Test Crowns Best TV of 2026

After crowning the Sony Bravia 9 II as the Best LCD, HDTV Test went on to crown the Best OLED, and Best TV Overall: https://tinyurl.com/mpps8ab9

QUESTIONS:

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AHA HT #000: Thus it Begins

October 13th, 2026 Tom Comments off

We’re Actually Honest Advice. Your podcasts for honest advice. And we’re starting with Home Theater!

AHA HT

Tom and Rob certainly aren’t new to podcasting. We recorded over 1,000 episodes of a show called AV Rant. But after well over a decade, we decided to freshen things up a bit!

When we first decided to make the change, we thought it would happen fairly quickly. Boy, were we wrong! But we recorded this quick introduction episode to walk you through our thought processes and the reasons why we decided to make this big change.

For now, these episodes will show up both here and in the old AV Rant feed. If you have Home Theater questions, submit them to Question at ActuallyHonestAdvice dot com. We’ll answer your questions, honestly.

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AV Rant #999.9z: End of an Era

October 7th, 2026 Tom Comments off

This is the last AV Rant ever! But don’t worry; the podcast lives on. AHA!

New Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K fails to impress. The Paramount Skydance – Warner Bros. Discovery merger is complete, and the whole thing is just called Skydance now. HDTV Test determined the best LCD TV of 2026.

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjD6Pzj

00:00:00 – Intro

It’s the last AV Rant episode! But we’re not going away. We’re just changing to a new name and a new brand…little by little.

Pardon our dust: https://actuallyhonestadvice.com/

00:22:18 – Happy Birthday, Tom!

Yup, he’s a year older.

00:23:34 – What We Watched

Tom’s been watching the World Athletics Ultimate Championship. Rob watched Soulm8te.

00:35:41 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are our 116 Patreon Patrons, as well as Aaron for sending another movie code, and Brandon and Nelson for offering to help Dazz and Patrick, respectively.

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Vince, Dazz, Brandon, and Billy. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:40:18 – News: Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K

It’s slim, it’s got a better remote, but with its limitations, we wouldn’t buy one: https://tinyurl.com/3p3phym5

00:43:05 – News: Paramount – Warner Bros Merged

The lawsuits were settled, so Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery have merged to form…Skydance: https://tinyurl.com/bdh92wyt

00:47:58 – News: HDTV Test Best LCD of 2026

No real surprise which LCD TV won the shootout. And now it will take on the OLEDs: https://tinyurl.com/38nu7npm

QUESTIONS:

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AV Rant #999.9y: Liminal Rob, Tom Crawls

September 30th, 2026 Tom Comments off

AV Rant #999.9y: Liminal Rob, Tom Crawls

RTings’ How To Use a Smart TV Offline guide. Samsung ending QLED? LCDs getting more expensive. What we watched wasn’t for us.

RTings made a step-by-step guide for How To Use a Smart TV Offline. Samsung appears to be winding down their QLED TV moniker. All LCDs will get more expensive. And we watched and read popular content that isn’t for us.

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjD6ghQ

00:00:00 – Intro

00:04:20 – What We Watched

Rob watched Backrooms. Tom read the first three books in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.

00:42:06 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are our 119 Patreon Patrons, as well as Aaron for sending movie codes for us to test.

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Mike, Rob S, James, Adam, Aaron, Bertrand, Galen, Jorge, Dev, and Ilango. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:46:21 – News: RTings’ Smart TVs Offline Guide

A helpful, step-by-step guide for how to use pretty much every brand of TV without any internet connection: https://tinyurl.com/zxv9fkr7

00:50:44 – News: Samsung Ending QLED?

Recent production cuts suggest the QLED moniker is stepping aside: https://tinyurl.com/ew4nmhhp

00:53:44 – News: LCDs Getting More Expensive

The manufacturers of the actual LCD panels have warned that prices are going up: https://tinyurl.com/4rbk6w7j

Comments:

00:56:25 – Comment: Ilango – Sofabaton X1S Success

He had his Sofabaton X1S Remote sitting in its box for a long time. But now that it’s finally open, it turned out pretty good.

QUESTIONS:

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AV Rant #999.9x: The Most Offensive Subwoofer

September 23rd, 2026 Tom Comments off

AV Rant #999.9x: Most Offensive Subwoofer

Tom’s back! Thanks, Lee for last week. New Epson Home Cinema projectors. CD sales growth. FiiO CD Player. Krovatar and DpBlue Ultra HD Blu-ray players.

Tom has returned! We find out what kept him away last week. And thanks to Lee Overstreet for guest co-hosting. New Epson Home Cinema LS5000, LS6000, and LS7500 projectors bring lasers and 4K/120 support to lower price points. CD sales have grown, and FiiO’s DP11 is an affordable, dedicated CD Player. Krovatar KBU-300 and DpBlue DP-5300 are reasonably priced Ultra HD Blu-ray Players.

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjD5JVe

00:00:00 – Intro

Tom is back. We find out what kept him away last week. And thanks to Lee Overstreet for guest co-hosting.

00:15:22 – Rob Updates

00:16:45 – Tom’s House Updates

00:25:26 – What We Watched

Tom just watched sports. Rob watched The Housemaid (2010). Tom will update us about Dungeon Crawler Carl next week.

00:40:39 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are Dan and Steven for their PayPal donations, plus our 129 Patron Patrons.

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Karl, Aaron, Patrick, Manuel, Jefferson, Dazz, Gurinder, John, and Steve. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!