It’s our first Q&A episode of 2020! Welcome back!

0:04:23 We start right away with a tale of what went wrong with Tom’s projector over the holidays.

We reached over 100 Patreon Patrons! So congratulations to “Turned Toast”, whose name was drawn, and will receive a sci-fi themed model from Andrew L.!

Our Listeners of the Week are Daniel, Matthew, Herb M., and Herb S. for their donations; our 102 Patreon Patrons, including Alan C. and Andrew L.; as well as, Infinite Gary for talking us up to SVS, Damien D. for talking us up on Facebook, and Michael I. for letting Accessories4Less know our recommendation led to his Denon X3500H purchase.

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

In the news:

– CES 2020 happened, but the TV announcements were mostly evolutionary.
– Sony announced their lineup with minimal changes: https://is.gd/C8vreF ; https://is.gd/MCzc5u
– LG added FreeSync and their 48″ OLED size: https://is.gd/V3qEyn
– Samsung reiterated The Wall, 8K QLED, and how they hate bezels: https://is.gd/lahgj9 ; https://is.gd/CC3ANv ; https://is.gd/HwQ9id
– Hisense is betting on dual-layer LCD: https://is.gd/rNSU0c
– TCL is betting on mini-LED: https://is.gd/kmuwhR
– Vizio is going big, and getting into OLED: https://is.gd/7qiY7s ; https://is.gd/34mM10

– HDMI announced mandatory certification for Ultra High Speed cables: https://is.gd/6Soz4C
– And Blue Jeans Cable explains what that means: https://is.gd/u6Rikn

– Dolby announced Dolby Vision IQ to sense ambient light conditions: https://is.gd/BPj4U5

– The Monoprice Monolith HTP-1 16-channel Pre-Pro made its 2019 launch (barely), and actually has working Dirac onboard: https://is.gd/K8TJZS
– And ironically, if you need RCA instead of XLR amp connectors, Monoprice’s XLR-to-RCA cables won’t work, but Emotiva’s will: https://is.gd/742VsS

Comments:

– Bernard T. warns of a bad experience with the SVS SoundPath Wireless Audio Adapter (we continue to like Outlaw’s OAW4 best: https://is.gd/f5Ys5P ), but great customer service.

– DJ shared the false wall he built on his back wall to hide acoustic treatment.

0:27:28 Infinite Gary asks how “separation” of individual instruments is achieved, if we should expect a new streaming video codec in 2020, whether higher pixel density leads to better image sharpness when scaling is involved, and whether it’s still worth measuring if he’s happy with the way things sound.
– Streaming Media’s coverage of video codecs: https://is.gd/C9DbhG

0:44:24 Daniel W. asks about OLED burn-in, where he can find exact local-dimming zone counts, and which QLED to buy if he goes that route.
– HDTV Test reviews: https://www.youtube.com/hdtvtest

0:50:52 Joe T. gets us to go through his Panasonic UB9000 Ultra HD Blu-ray player settings, and talk a bit about 4:4:4 vs. 4:2:0 chroma sampling.

0:59:16 Brian F. asks about manually adjusting speaker settings after running auto-setup, and how to make sure he’s using the correct listening mode, including upmixing options.

1:10:49 Glenn M. wants an articulating mount for his OLED, and a $1,500 5.2.2 system suggestion.
– Sanus: https://is.gd/aueQPb
– VideoSecu: https://is.gd/WYmcfo
– Denon X2400H from A4L: https://is.gd/mQLnqt
– Boston Acoustics SoundWare 4.5: https://is.gd/pRIV7O
– Ascend Acoustics HTM-200SE: https://is.gd/PyGon6
– NHT SuperZero: https://is.gd/waSvtP
– Dayton SUB-1200: https://is.gd/oZlbyW

1:18:42 Ted M. wants to know if the “golden trapagon” is the ideal room shape for acoustics.

1:21:08 Chris T. asks if it’s ok to make backer boxes out of OSB, and why all movies aren’t reformatted to a 16:9 aspect ratio for home releases.

1:25:29 Damien D. asks about motorized curtains, drop ceiling tiles, flipping a door, possibly adding more Surround speakers, in-ceiling speakers, speaker wire wall plates, long HDMI cables, building a riser, and waiting to position his acoustic panels.
– METechs motorized curtain rods: https://is.gd/KPMZmj
– Rose Brand acoustic fabric: https://is.gd/dOadh2
– Acoustical Solutions ceiling tiles: https://is.gd/Qtu05t
– Aperion in-ceiling speakers: https://is.gd/34S8J1

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