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AV Rant #827: From the Car-Cast

September 29th, 2022 Comments off

Tom is away this week, under hurricane evacuation order. So Lee Overstreet is here to pinch hit for us. And Rob’s already makeshift setup gets even whackier as he records from his car! Obviously, audio quality is suspect this week.

Pictures shown in this episode:
https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjA93nS

00:00:00 – Intro & What We Watched
Rob watched the first episode of Andor, and has thoughts about its frame rate. Lee watched 1917 and Things to Come.

00:11:19 – Listeners of the Week
Our Listeners of the Week are our 138 Patreon Patrons, as well as Dale P for sending Rob an Amazon gift card.
We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Dale, Aras, Jim, Gurinder, Dale P, Dazz, Matt, Luke, Greg, and Nathan. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:17:33 – News: Official Denon & Marantz AVR Lineups
New Receivers and a Pre-Pro were officially announced, with the rumors of HDMI 2.1 switching, and (future) Dirac support all proving true. We also dig into the good (dedicated tactile transducer output) & bad (“directional” subs) options afforded by those four subwoofer pre-outs.
– Denon: https://bit.ly/3RiGtbJ
– Marantz: https://bit.ly/3ChDpbK

00:30:55 – News: Google’s Project Caviar
Alternatives to Dolby Vision & Atmos “based upon existing codecs”: https://bit.ly/3fvuZog

QUESTIONS:

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AV Rant #826: Kill Your Bass to Make it Better

September 22nd, 2022 Comments off

We have thoughts about bass. Controversial? Maybe. Against the grain of most of the online home theater community? Definitely. Also, Perlisten has the first THX Dominus certified in-walls.

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjA82Nc

00:00:00 – Intro & What We Watched
Rob didn’t watch anything, but it turns out he did have covid-19! And Tom watched Thor: Love and Thunder, and The Imperfects.

00:17:29 – Listeners of the Week
Our Listeners of the Week are our 138 Patreon Patrons, including Jeremy & Michael, as well as Ilango for sending Rob an Amazon gift card.
Thanks to Gurinder, Bertrand & Jeremy for sending photos with permission to use them on https://avgadgets.com/
And we appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Gurinder, Ilango, Brandon, Aras, Bertrand, Michael, Jonathan & Jeremy. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:22:08 – News: Infrasonic Bass Doesn’t Matter
We’re bound to ruffle some feathers with this one. You don’t need frequencies below 20Hz: https://avgadgets.com/everything-you-know-about-bass-in-home-theater-is-wrong/

00:24:35 – News: Perlisten THX Dominus In-Walls
New S-Series & R-Series in-walls: https://bit.ly/3ByzjdI

Comments:

00:28:30 – Comment: Josh – Blast from the Past
It’s Tom’s old, old setup: https://bit.ly/3xHKY8H

00:31:23 – Comment: Kerry – FM Radio Delay
A profanity buffer is the likely explanation.

00:32:02 – Comment: Dazz – MDF & Blank Screens
Tips about buying DIY panel framing material, and still getting black screens.
– https://avgadgets.com/why-does-my-screen-go-blank/

00:33:15 – Comment: Jonathan – Sofabaton X1 Disappointment
Not the Harmony replacement he hoped for.

00:35:09 – Comment: Damien – TriCorn Black Paint
Blacker than your projector’s black bars: https://bit.ly/3Bw0VQF

QUESTIONS:

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AV Rant #825: Get Roasted

September 15th, 2022 Comments off

Gonna be a long while yet before Rob’s back in his apartment and back to normal audio quality. Still makeshift for now.

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjA6UqE

00:00:00 – Intro & What We Watched
Rob watched Thor: Love and Thunder. Tom watched Morbius, and is keeping up with The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

00:17:45 – Listeners of the Week
Our Listeners of the Week are Herb for his PayPal donation, plus our 138 Patreon Patrons, as well as Nathan for sending a Canadian movie code to Rob.
We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Greg, Julian, JT, Bret, Ryan, Eric, Herb, and Gurinder. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:23:04 – News: Denon AVR-A1H 8K Flagship AVR
15 amps built-in, 4 independent sub outs, optional Dirac, for $6,500: https://youtu.be/oDTW9N8n0jg

00:25:59 – News: TCL R655 6-Series TVsMini-LED QLED TVs with more zones of local-dimming, 144 Hz VRR, and Roku: https://bit.ly/3Bg0d9Z

00:27:47 – News: 77″ QD-OLEDs in 2023
Samsung Display showed 77″ Quantum Dot OLED panels: https://bit.ly/3deg9BD

00:28:34 – News: Sonos Sub Mini
A smaller, cheaper Sonos subwoofer: https://bit.ly/3qBqdrl

QUESTIONS:

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AV Rant #824: Denon & Marantz 2022 Rumors

September 8th, 2022 Comments off

Sorry, once again, for Rob’s poor audio quality, but we’re stuck like this for quite a while yet. Information about Denon & Marantz 2022 Receivers & Separates supposedly leaked last week. We’re not sure we believe all of it. LG’s OLED Flex bends on command. And several 7.1.4 SoundBars were announced.

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjA64As

00:00:00 – Intro & What We Watched
Rob watched The Purge and Star Trek: Lower Decks. Tom watched The Dragon Prince, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, and Grace and Frankie.

00:13:21 – Listeners of the Week
Our Listeners of the Week are Allen and Raf for their PayPal donations, plus our 138 Patreon Patrons, including Rob M, as well as Aras for sending Rob a donation for his apartment restoration, and Eddie for sending Rob a Canadian movie code.
Thanks to Jason for sending photos with permission to use them on https://avgadgets.com/
And we appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Dazz, Rob M, Aras, Gurinder, Jason, and Allen. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:17:20 – News: Denon & Marantz 2022 AVRs
Official announcements are supposed to happen at CEDIA in about a month. So we’ll soon find out how much of this “leaked” information is correct: https://bit.ly/3THUVfM

00:32:22 – News: LG OLED Flex
Bend your OLED monitor on command: https://bit.ly/3x343BW

00:33:52 – News: 7.1.4 SoundBars
– Sennheiser AMBEO Max & Plus: https://bit.ly/3QoOqvt
– TCL X937U: https://bit.ly/3cOgYB6
– JBL BAR 1000: https://bit.ly/3RqZrxR
– https://avgadgets.com/just-stop-with-the-atmos-soundbars/

QUESTIONS:

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AV Rant #823: The King of Phantom Centers

September 1st, 2022 Comments off

Still a makeshift episode this week. Sorry for Rob’s poor audio quality. Updates on both our theaters. New AVRs from Arcam, a long-awaited Yamaha firmware update, & lots of questions!

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjA53vT

00:00:00 – Update on Rob’s Apartment

00:03:12 – Tom Updated his Theater

00:09:44 – What we Watched Rob watched Arcane: Bridging the Rift, and BattleBots. Tom watched She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and Predator. And he got Resident Evil cancelled by Netflix: https://bit.ly/3COu2AP

00:17:50 – Listeners of the Week
Our Listeners of the Week are our 139 Patreon Patrons, including Andy.
Thank you to Travis for attending the Audio Advice show, and giving Tom permission to use his photos on https://avgadgets.com/

And we appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Eric, Travis, Dale, Gurinder, Rohan, Ari, Tony, Julian, Andy, Andrew, Raf, and Aras. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:21:14 – News: Arcam 2022 Receivers
Arcam AVR11 can power 7 speakers, but process 11. AVR21, AVR31, and AV41 Pre-Pro can all process 15 speakers. And they all have Dirac: https://bit.ly/3Rm4mQ7

00:29:58 – News: Sony Raises PS5 Price
PS5 Consoles are more expensive: https://bit.ly/3TnE55I
Sony DualSense Edge customizable controller: https://bit.ly/3wJqOLa
Xbox prices are staying put: https://bit.ly/3PXefCM

00:32:26 – News: Avatar Pulled from Disney+
Disney wants you in theaters for the 4K HDR re-release: https://bit.ly/3q1bWEd

00:33:58 – News: 3 Months Free of Apple TV+
2018 – 2022 Samsung TVs: https://bit.ly/3AZF1pD
Roku: https://bit.ly/3KCriIU

00:36:14 – News: Yamaha VRR Firmware Update
Yamaha VRR is finally here: https://bit.ly/3RpYAgw

00:37:00 – REVIEW: Anker Soundcore Space A40 & Q45 Headphones
Tom was very impressed: https://avgadgets.com/soundcore-space-a40-and-q45-headphone-review-insane-value-at-any-size/

Comments:

00:42:08 – Comment: Travis – No Love for Dayton Sub
Being an SVS PB12-NSD owner, Dayton’s SUB-1200 couldn’t stack up.

00:43:07 – CORRECTION: Lior – Audyssey Editor App
Lior corrects Rob’s mistake about Audyssey Editor App target curve changes.

QUESTIONS:

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