Home > Podcast > AV Rant #403: Josh Pollard of Entertainment 2.0

AV Rant #403: Josh Pollard of Entertainment 2.0

October 10th, 2014

This week we thank listeners Kendrick and Stephen for supporting the podcast. We welcome Josh Pollard from Entertainment 2.0 to the podcast. He answers all your questions about home theater PCs and home automation covering recent news, remote control selection, front end programs, and more. Jonathan lets us know how he liked Rob’s tailgating recommendation, Jeff reminds us of another Oppo player with 7.1 analog outputs, and Raul fixed his bass. Jerrod wants to know what color to paint his room and has a question about absorption panels, Jeff and Steve have power conditioner questions, and John has a question about the gamma setting on his display. Lastly, Jim wants to build boxes for his in-wall speakers and wants to know what we think. We’ll probably record two podcasts to catch up on the questions. If yours hasn’t appeared, it is coming. Thanks for listening. Now, don't forget to:

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  1. Rob H
    October 13th, 2014 at 08:05 | #1
    Reply | Quote

    Logitech has updated the Harmony Remote lineup to include the new Harmony Home Hub, Harmony Home Control, and Harmony Ultimate Home.

    These add a whole bunch of home automation devices and control to the Harmony library and look like a very cool way to go well beyond controlling just your AV gear with your universal remote.

    http://www.logitech.com/en-us/harmony-remotes

    CNET and Engadget have some helpful write-ups:

    http://www.cnet.com/news/new-logitech-harmony-remotes/

    http://www.engadget.com/2014/09/17/logitech-extends-harmony-to-control-your-home/

    Looking to add an OTA tuner to your Home Theater PC?

    Josh recommended the Silicon Dust HD Home Run DUAL:

    http://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun/hdhomerun-dual/

    It’s a dual tuner that connects to your home network rather than being installed directly inside only one computer. As such, it can be shared by multiple computers. And if you need more than just 2 tuners, you can have multiple HD Home Run DUAL units on your network. They will be allocated to each computer as needed.

    When you want to build your own HTPC, Josh suggested starting at Tom’s Hardware, a great PC component review website:

    http://www.tomshardware.com/

    AVS Forum also has a great HTPC section that includes some great guides and FAQs on building your own HTPC:

    http://www.avsforum.com/forum/26-home-theater-computers/

    Confused by all the competing home automation hubs out there?

    You’re not alone! Josh mentioned a great write up over at Zatz Not Funny where three of the popular hubs battle it out to find a winner:

    http://zatznotfunny.com/2014-08/battle-of-the-home-automation-hubs/

    AV Rant Listener Jerrod K. —

    wanted to know what color to paint the walls of his home theater.

    While matte black will give you the best possible contrast and least amount of reflected light for a dedicated front projection setup, most people aren’t willing to have a completely matte black room in their house.

    A neutral gray is the next best choice as it won’t bias your eye towards or away from any particular color.

    Munsell gray is the most neutral gray out there, and RP Imaging sells Munsell gray paint:

    http://www.rpimaging.com/store/manufacturers/gti/munsell-neutral-gray-paint.html

    But if you’d prefer something a little less expensive and straight off the shelf at a local hardware store, this post from the Home Theater Shack can help you out:

    http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/diy-screens/4915-neutral-grays-simple-off-shelf-solutions.html

    AV Rant Listeners Jeff E. and Steve W. —

    are both on the lookout for power conditioners and battery backup.

    We recommend APC most highly as a power protection brand.

    Their H-Type units can provide voltage regulation and filtering:

    http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=H10BLK

    But we like their J-Type units even more.

    The J25B provides battery backup:

    http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=J25B

    While the J35B provides voltage regulation and battery backup:

    http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=J35B

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