Joe Klusnick returns to guest co-host this week while Tom is away. Paramount and Skydance will merge. Samsung and LG reduce their investments in microLED. MacOS Sequoia adds HDMI Passthrough. And Joe shares his experiences at MWAVE 2024.

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

00:00:00 – Intro

Welcome back to AVRant, Joe!

00:02:39 – What We Watched

Joe watched A Quiet Place: Day One, and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. Rob watched Love Lies Bleeding, and A Haunting in Venice.

00:19:09 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are Sasi for his PayPal donation, plus our 134 Patreon Patrons.

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Sasi, Gurinder, and Mark. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:21:08 – News: Paramount Merges With Skydance

Paramount Global’s owners have finally found a buyer, but we have some apprehension about Skydance Media’s plans for New Paramount: https://tinyurl.com/2czpdyze

00:26:22 – News: MicroLED Investment Reduction

Samsung Display and LG Display are pumping the breaks on microLED development: https://tinyurl.com/37e5hvkr

00:31:41 – News: MacOS Sequoia HDMI Passthrough

Via Karl: The latest MacOS Beta adds HDMI Passthrough audio, but it doesn’t appear to offer multi-channel lossless formats yet: https://tinyurl.com/3xdvp344

– Techthusiasm’s testing: https://youtu.be/LV7p6vH6VbI

Comments:

00:36:37 – Comment: Nathan – Elite Screens Cinegrey 5D

Nathan’s had a positive experience using Cinegrey 5D ambient light-rejecting projection screen material.

– CarbonBlack was the 0.2 gain material that Rob couldn’t remember the name of: https://www.screeninnovations.com/materials/carbonblack/

00:43:24 – Comment: Sasi – Search, Spreadsheet & Interviews

Sasi shares his method for quickly finding the home theater info he’s looking for. He’s giving away his Subwoofer Selector spreadsheet tool completely for free for anyone to further develop. And where are the AVRant interviews?

– Subwoofer Selector Spreadsheet: https://tinyurl.com/2vvpf82e

QUESTIONS:

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Happy 4th of July! Happy Canada Day! And you’ll be happy Tom is back on his regular mic!

The six Alamo Drafthouse locations that shut down will all be reopened. Redbox’ parent company files for bankruptcy. Tidal’s app will only be available on the most popular operating platforms moving forward. And Arendal Sound announces a new luxury 1528 Series of speakers.

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

00:00:00 – Intro

Shout outs to James, Joe, Nathan, and our many YouTube commenters for your feedback about the microphone Tom tried out last week.

00:13:50 – What We Watched

Rob watched I Care A Lot, and The Creator. Tom sparks a discussion about why the box office has been unpredictable this year.

00:35:54 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are Raf for his PayPal donation, plus our 134 Patreon Patrons, as well as Mark for alerting Tom about some links that needed fixing on his websites.

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Sasi, Joe, Paul, Vince, and Brad. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:39:35 – News: Alamo Drafthouses Reopening

The six locations that abruptly closed down will all reopen this summer: https://tinyurl.com/mws45xhu

– https://drafthouse.com/dfw/content/closure

– https://drafthouse.com/twin-cities/content/closure

00:41:26 – News: Redbox Bankruptcy

Redbox’ parent company has unsurprisingly filed for Chapter 11: https://tinyurl.com/47wjbda5

– https://avgadgets.com/rent-from-redbox-now/

00:42:57 – News: Tidal App on Limited Platforms

The Tidal App is no longer on Roku, Fire TV, or non-Google TV platforms: https://tinyurl.com/3xnwfsyb

00:46:27 – News: Arendal 1528 Series Speakers

No details yet. But a new luxury speaker Series is coming: https://arendalsound.com/1528-series-the-saga-continues/

Comments:

00:50:42 – Comment: Infinite Gary – Perfect Height Stand

He just had to show off his custom, hand-made Center speaker stand.

QUESTIONS:

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Tom is trying out another new mic again. How’s this one? Netflix House locations will open in malls next year. Tidal drops MQA and commits to Atmos. Redbox misses an important debt payment. And The Last Screenwriter – a film written by AI – has its theatrical premiere cancelled.

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBwQ8p

00:00:00 – Intro

Tom tries out another new microphone this week: https://cherryxtrfy.com/microphones/ngale-r/

Here’s the boom arm he likes: https://cherryxtrfy.com/mic-accessories/ngale-boom-arm/

And you can find his son’s Twitch channel here: https://www.twitch.tv/nomasjr

00:19:08 – What We Watched

Rob congratulates the Florida Panthers for winning the NHL Stanley Cup, and watched Creed III. Tom’s really gotten into watching weightlifting.

00:39:46 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are our 134 Patreon Patrons.

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Mohsen, Rob, Mike P, Dazz, and Mike H. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:41:10 – News: Netflix House

Netflix will take over two former department store locations to offer experiences, food, and merchandise, but not theaters: https://tinyurl.com/28h5yubz

00:45:36 – News: Tidal Drops MQA

Tidal will stick with Hi-Res FLAC and Dolby Atmos while dropping less popular formats: https://tinyurl.com/mr3vhkfa

– https://avgadgets.com/what-is-mqa-and-should-you-care/

– https://avgadgets.com/the-deep-state-squashes-mqa/

00:51:37 – News: Redbox Debt Woes

Debts have ballooned, lawsuits have been lost, and installments haven’t been paid. Seems bad: https://tinyurl.com/2bm4y9df

00:55:12 – News: The Last Screenwriter Premiere Cancelled

The first feature film written entirely by ChatGPT won’t debut in theaters after all: https://tinyurl.com/y3nrsr7p

QUESTIONS:

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Yes, Tom is back to using his old mic! Thanks for all the feedback. Isn’t it nice when we can all universally agree on something? News-wise, the Alamo Drafthouse chain of theaters has been purchased by Sony Pictures Entertainment for an undisclosed amount.

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

00:00:00 – Intro

What was up with Tom’s mic last week? We discuss. And shout outs to: Jonathan, Mark, Joe James, Nelson, Yanick, Mario, and Sammy, plus many others on YouTube and elsewhere for all the feedback!

00:17:40 – What We Watched

Rob watched Anatomy of a Fall. Tom watched Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. And we both watched the 3rd episode of The Acolyte.

00:43:51 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are Tyler and Nelson for their PayPal donations, plus our 134 Patreon Patrons, including James, as well as Infinite Gary for sending Tom a movie code.

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: John, Mike, Steve, Joe, Dazz, and Kris. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:47:35 – News: Alamo Drafthouse Sold to Sony Pictures

Sony Pictures Entertainment will wholly own the Alamo Drafthouse theater chain, with intentions to keep most of it the same, including Fantastic Fest, and making it a major part of their new Experiences division: https://tinyurl.com/yfhdv7pa

Comments:

00:56:58 – Comment: Gurinder – When a Speaker’s Not Attached

Can a speaker be disconnected without anyone noticing?

QUESTIONS:

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Tom is using a new mic. We welcome your feedback. Neither of us is impressed :p ELAC announced new Debut 3.0 Series speakers. Microsoft announced “new” Xbox Series X/S consoles. And TCL will probably make 130-inch TVs, with up to 148-inches being possible if they want to.

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

00:00:00 – Intro

It wasn’t our plan, but Apple forced a rant out of Rob in particular.

00:15:35 – What We Watched

Rob watched The First Omen. Tom watched Big, finished X-Men ’97, and started watching cricket. We both watched Eps 1 & 2 of The Acolyte.

00:38:53 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are Steve for his PayPal donation, plus our 135 Patreon Patrons, as well as Vince for sending Lee a movie code, and Sasi for giving Tom permission to post his Subwoofer Selection Spreadsheet Tool on https://avgadgets.com/

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

In the news:

00:42:37 – News: ELAC Debut 3.0 Speakers

Via Dazz – The first ELAC Debut Series without Andrew Jones gets new cabinets & drivers and a small price increase: https://elac.com/debut3-welcome/

00:49:37 – News: “New” Xbox Series X/S Consoles

A white Series X with no disc drive. A white Series S with more storage. And a Galaxy Black Series X with more storage and a dumb price. But zero performance improvements: https://tinyurl.com/yx5cc8jm

00:52:10 – News: Even Bigger TCL TVs?

130-inch LCD panels seem likely. And they could go as large as 148-inches if they want to: https://tinyurl.com/scd26tew

Comments:

00:55:08 – Comment: Sasi – Subwoofer Selection Tool

Sasi incorporated our suggestions, and would welcome AVRant Listener feedback!

– Sub Selection Spreadsheet Tool v.0.3: https://tinyurl.com/m283eype

00:55:27 – Comment: Sasi – miniDSP Flex

It costs more than the miniDSP 2×4 HD, but if you want balanced connections and other options, the Flex might be the way to go: https://tinyurl.com/36pp4pw2

00:57:47 – Comment: Andrew – Atlona HDBaseT

A way to send both HDMI and network signals over a single ethernet cable: https://tinyurl.com/4mu53cnc

00:59:21 – Comment: Infinite Gary – 100 Nit G3 OLED Achieved

Gary’s professional calibrator found the perfect OLED Light setting for him.

QUESTIONS:

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