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AV Rant #776: Another Brother

October 17th, 2021 Comments off

It’s a second episode in one week! Playing some catch up here. Rob is joined by Lee Overstreet to tackle our backlog of questions after a week off. Sony is trolling us. And Zappiti has new media player models.

Pictures shown in this episode:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmWXhmJ8

00:00:00 – Intro & Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are our 131 Patreon Patrons, including Karl M. & Martin, as well as Vincent for sending Rob an Amazon gift card.
And we greatly appreciate the notes of gratitude and encouragement from: BJ, Bertrand, Yuri, Bob, Ariel, Karl, Martin, and Blake. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:09:57 – News: Sony Perfect for PS5
Right after finally updating X900H TVs to support VRR (except…not really): https://is.gd/gM2OHM
Sony announced their Perfect for PlayStation 5 marketing plan: https://is.gd/UuLKkD
2021 Bravia XR TVs and some older models will get two new features, but are still waiting on VRR: https://is.gd/mVj6an
And Auto HDR Tone Mapping is nice, but not a Dolby Vision replacement: https://youtu.be/UJrWSuREBCo

00:16:32 – News: 2020 LG OLEDs get 120Hz Dolby Vision
While Sony markets and waits, LG OLEDs check all the HDMI 2.1 boxes: https://is.gd/vmB0xF

00:18:53 – News: – New Zappiti players (& MakeMKV)
Zappiti Neo, Reference, and Signature bring Dolby Vision and HDR10+: https://www.zappiti.com/our-products
– http://makemkv.com/
– What is LibreDrive: https://is.gd/J7GmcH
– How to flash the firmware of a UHD optical drive, or just buy one that’s ready to go: https://is.gd/p8x9TW

Comments:

00:24:18 – Comment: James shares hidden LG menus
Info, diagnostics, and Control4 setup screens for LG TVs.
– https://youtu.be/dnUUAZY9HnQ
– https://youtu.be/5zVtt59Jx0I
– https://youtu.be/v9XneXymASs

00:29:39 – Comment: Gurinder suggests Andover Mills rug
We discussed black paint, velvet, and carpet. But if you want a Jet Black rug, the Andover Mills Marsily might be it: https://is.gd/VipN7d

QUESTIONS:

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AV Rant #775: New Epson Laser Projectors

October 15th, 2021 Comments off

Did ya miss us? We’re back after an extremely rare week off for us. We weigh in on the YIO Remote 2 on Kickstarter, and why we suspect Epson’s new 4K laser projector models actually use native 1080p resolution panels.
And we’ll have a second episode in just a few days to catch up on what we missed!

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmWU1c9T

00:00:00 – Intro & Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are Matt and Ben for their PayPal donations, plus our 131 Patreon Patrons, including Karl M., as well as Scott S. for sending Rob a thank you gift directly.
We also thank David for giving Tom permission to use his photos on https://avgadgets.com/
And we greatly appreciate the notes of gratitude and encouragement sent to us by: Derek, Junior, Nathan, Curt, Brandon, Billy, Karl, and Matt. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:09:51 – News: YIO Remote Two
Another universal Hub-based remote comes to Kickstarter, but we’re a bit cautious about it: https://is.gd/eTEpx7
Youthman hosted an hour+ live stream about it: https://youtu.be/-L5vM8cEyX0

00:14:51 – News: Epson LS11000 & LS12000
Epson Europe/UK will launch two new 4K laser projectors this year, and they’ll come to North America in 2022. We explain why we think they’re actually using 1080p resolution LCD panels that flash four times per frame.
– LS11000: https://is.gd/l98t4a
– LS12000: https://is.gd/7u0Dxb

00:20:55 – News: Disney & Scarlett Johansson settle lawsuit
Out of court, and they look forward to working together again. Who could have guessed? https://is.gd/C1s1bs

QUESTIONS:

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AV Rant #774: Blackest Home Theater EVER

October 1st, 2021 Comments off

A stealth Denon AV Receiver launch gives us hope for even more models with more than one HDMI 2.1 input this year. And pre-production Sofabaton X1 reviews seem like mostly good news, too.

Pictures shown in this episode:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmWSQzW4

00:00:00 – Intro & Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are Eric and Randall for their PayPal donations, plus our 133 Patreon Patrons, including Eric, as well as Randy & Jonathan for both talking us up to SVS, and Jorge for talking us up to GiK Acoustics.
Jorge also kindly gave permission to use his photos on https://avgadgets.com/
And we greatly appreciate the notes of gratitude sent to us for keeping the podcast going from: Joe, Jon, Chris, Jason, Jorge, Eric, and Randy. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:10:08 – News: Denon S760H stealth launch
Some people managed to purchase the new 7.1-ch Denon AVR-S760H that includes three HDMI 2.1 inputs: https://is.gd/9q30LQ

00:13:32 – News: Sofabaton X1 pre-production reviews
Sofabaton X1 remains available via Kickstarter: https://is.gd/jbkZ5e
Some of our questions about soft buttons and how to navigate the screen have been answered by videos such as OSReviews’: https://youtu.be/ExNE1klrPPs

00:19:15 – Comments:

– Gurinder tells us about a way to fix the rubberized backing on your Harmony remote when it gets sticky and gross.

QUESTIONS:

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AV Rant #773: SVS Price Hikes

September 24th, 2021 Comments off

Prices for SVS’ lineup of speakers and subwoofers are going up across the board on Oct. 4th, and LG announced some huge, modular Direct View (DVLED) displays for the luxury home market to take on Samsung’s The Wall.

Congratulations to Andrew on joining https://avgadgets.com/ as a writer.

Check out DJ’s interview with Brett from Kaleidescape over at:
https://www.brightsidehometheater.com/episodes/kaleidescapebrett

Pictures shown in this episode:
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmWHqpD1

00:00:00 – Intro & Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are our 133 Patreon Patrons.
We also want to thank Jonathan, Tom K, Gurinder, Karl, Max, Mike, DJ, Dave, Michael, and Jack for their notes of gratitude to us for keeping the podcast going. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:12:06 – News: SVS increases prices Oct. 4
All subwoofer and speaker models at https://www.svsound.com/ are going up in price.
Monoprice Monolith subwoofers remain listed at their current, lower prices, although almost all are currently out of stock: https://is.gd/puVS5Y

00:16:02 – News: Roku Streaming Stick 4K
Dolby Vision is added. $50. Ships Oct 14: https://is.gd/Co6fq3

00:16:26 – News: LG DVLED modular displays
LG’s Direct View LED modular displays are taking on Samsung’s The Wall in the luxury home market. Sizes range from 81″ to 393″, with prices from $70K to $1.7 million: https://is.gd/Q5pDS5

00:20:08 – Comments:

– Karl notes that JVC NX Series projectors are selling for quite high prices. Good news for those looking to upgrade to the new NZ Series. Not so great news for anyone looking for a deal on a used NX model.

– Anthony warns that his Sofabaton U1 wouldn’t connect to his Samsung S21 Ultra via Bluetooth, but it was fine with older phone models.

QUESTIONS:

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AV Rant #772: Denon Switch Up

September 17th, 2021 Comments off

There’s finally a way to have more than one HDMI 2.1 input on Denon & Marantz Receivers. SVS looks to enter a whole new subwoofer category. And Amazon is going to push a lot of mediocre TVs.

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

00:00:00 – Intro & Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are Mike and Jonathan for their PayPal donations, plus our 133 Patreon Patrons, including Rafael and Bertrand, as well as Infinite Gary for sending us a Digital Copy code.
We also want to thank Dave, Dazz, Jonathan, Rafael, Fred, and Bertrand for sending us notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:04:29 – News: Denon & Marantz HDMI 2.1 switch
The Denon AVS-3 & Marantz VS3003 are 3-in, 1-out HDMI 2.1 switches to expand the single 8K input on their 2020 AV Receiver and Pre-Pro models.
– https://avgadgets.com/denon-marantz-3-in-1-out-8k-hdmi-switcher/
– FAQ: https://is.gd/Rh5dLb
– AVR Control Setup: https://is.gd/qz5nYP
– Audioholics: New Audyssey Update info: https://youtu.be/jFTBnPMySYc?t=2191

00:15:51 – News: SVS 3000 in-wall subwoofer
Via Clara – SVS won a CEDIA award for their first in-wall subwoofer, which appears to be based on the 3000 Micro.
– https://youtu.be/RaKtgh1Y1x8?t=1122

00:17:36 – News: Amazon Fire TVs
There’s a new Fire TV Stick 4K Max: https://is.gd/jxzZlM
And Amazon’s own brand of 4K HDR TVs, the 4-Series: https://is.gd/yoo2mp & Omni: https://is.gd/FzehFr

00:25:06 – Comments:

– Jason mentions Elac’s Outlet Store: https://is.gd/g3XTmZ

– Nathan reminds us that UPS Battery Backups only spec 3-5 year lifespans for their replaceable batteries.

QUESTIONS:

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