AV RantAV Rant #632: Philips Hue Giveway

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AV Rant #632: Philips Hue Giveway

March 4th, 2019 Tom

Our Listeners of the Week are our 84 Patreon Patrons, and Infinite Gary for talking us up to Philharmonic Audio.

GIVEAWAY: James C. has kindly offered to give away a Philips Hue 2-Bulb Starter Kit. Donate $5 or more to AV Rant before March 11, 2019. We will randomly select one donor’s name and put you in touch with James. If we receive $200 or more in total donations by March 11, James will also include an Echo Dot.

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmBjnef1

In the news, Microsoft is adding Dolby Surround Upmixing built into Xbox One consoles.

Matthew H. provided links to the BenQ Direct Online Refurbished Outlet and Epson Clearance Center. Both are great places to find deals on projectors.

0:16:08 Billy asks where he should place his acoustic panels, and why we don’t recommend Klipsch speakers.

0:21:58 Infinite Gary read an article about immersive audio for live TV broadcasts, but wonders if we should look forward to it. He asks if Dolby Cinema HDR theatrical releases require a separate mastering session, which is covered in Dado Valentic’s How Hollywood Movies are Color Graded for HDR & SDR video. Then we talk about using Marantz’ 2ch Playback and Smart Select features to conveniently recall different speaker settings.

0:33:47 Alvin C. gets all the details about the Audyssey Bypass L/R option.

0:36:16 JayDee asks if the Polk MC80 in-ceiling speakers are a good option for Atmos, since prices are higher in Canada. We recommend the smaller Polk MC60to save money, or the Micca M-6C to match JayDee’s existing speakers, with the Monoprice Caliber in-ceilings from Prime Cables as the cheapest alternative.

0:41:08 Moanis wants to know if the HDR Optimizer on the Panasonic UB820 Ultra HD Blu-ray player is the right choice for his JVC projector.

0:46:29 Dave wants to backup his discs, so we let him know that MakeMKV is all he needs to…well…make MKVs.

0:48:52 Karl R. gets our take on Audiophile Review’s Good Sound is 1% Inspiration and 99% Moving Furniture article.

0:54:39 Jim C. has a TV with only one HDR input and a SoundBar that cannot pass through HDR. So we recommend a Sewell SwitchDeck and using his TV’s optical output so that he can connect more than one HDR source.

0:59:25 Jonathan R. asks if he should run two wires/cables for absolutely everything in order to have redundancy.

1:01:22 Tap T. has us talk through the whole house audio Yamaha MusicCast options.

1:09:36 Jon Z. asks about aiming and placement for the Ascend Sierra-2 speakers, and we mention the optional Q-Plug port plugs.

1:18:01 Francis A. finds out why he was disappointed with the lack of sound coming from his Front & Rear Height speakers when using his Xbox One S. Then we talk about what to do if a speaker or subwoofer’s dust cap gets pushed in.

1:23:17 Phil D. is getting a dedicated theater room, but it’s open on one side. We talk about curtains, printed acoustic panels from GiK Acoustics and Acoustimac, the importance of two subwoofers and where they are placed when your room is not enclosed, how we would tackle his Surround speaker placement, and we recommend he go with a JVC X790 projector and a 120″ Silver Ticket screen.

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