Home > Podcast > AV Rant #999.9c: Moar Panels!

AV Rant #999.9c: Moar Panels!

April 29th, 2026

There’s still time to enter our free draw to giveaway at least one Sofabaton X1S universal remote! Just email us. RGB-backlit LCD TVs go by many different marketing names, but four of the biggest brands have revealed screen sizes and prices they’ll be offering this year. Valve’s Steam Controller has a price and a release date. Microsoft actually lowered the price of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, but with a catch.

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCSgb2

00:00:00 – Intro

00:01:50 – Sofabaton X1S Giveaway

There’s still time to enter your name into our upcoming free draw to giveaway at least one Sofabaton X1S universal remote!

00:06:07 – Personal Updates

Improv and parenting alone for a week. Spring cleaning.

00:12:27 – What We Watched

Rob watched Rental Family.

00:24:12 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are our 123 Patreon Patrons, including James.

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Greg, Leighton, Gurinder, Terry, Hubert, Kevin, Eric, Mark, James, and Greg H. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:26:43 – News: RGB-Backlit LCD TV Prices

LG MRGB95B Micro RGB Evo, Hisense UR9S RGB Mini-LED, TCL RM9L RGB-Mini LED, and Samsung R95H & R85H Micro RGB LED TVs all get screen size and price announcements: https://tinyurl.com/3atnnpwf

00:39:23 – News: Valve Steam Controller

Still no word on the Steam Machine and Steam Frame, but the Steam Controller is arriving May 4th for $100: https://tinyurl.com/ysrw4kdu

00:43:03 – News: Game Pass Price Lowered

The recent, massive price increases were, in fact, too much. So Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass are coming back down…a bit. And there’s a pretty big catch: https://tinyurl.com/mwmayrv3

Comments:

00:49:43 – Comment: Gurinder – PJ & Screen Updates

We still can’t diagnose the power issue he had, but at least his JVC projector has been functioning fine. And he convinced himself his screen actually is acoustically transparent.

00:51:25 – Comment: Infinite Gary – Panasonic RF-1080

Another old Panasonic product find from the stash in Gary’s basement.

00:52:33 – Comment: Karl & Herb – Critical Listening w/ Hearing Aids

Karl shared an article discussing the link between untreated hearing loss and dementia. Herb mentions acoustician Leo Beranek who continued doing his professional work while wearing hearing aids.

– Audiology.org article: https://tinyurl.com/yeynjzpc

– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Beranek

00:55:02 – Comment: Eric – Completed Theater

He had most of the plans in place prior to finding our podcast. But listening to us helped him tweak some decisions, and he’s happy with the results.

QUESTIONS:

00:57:27 – Greg: BACCH Presentation & Q&A

BACCH from Theoretica Applied Physics is adding more capabilities, such as: Stratos for reproducing Atmos from just two speakers, and a future release that will let two listeners enjoy BACCH using just two speakers.

– https://www.theoretica.us/

– Audiophile Foundation video: https://youtu.be/d90BdaCTABY

01:17:37 – Leighton: Looking at Graphs & Panels

He put up a ton of thick panels and took REW measurements. We examine his results, and give some rarely-suggested advice.

01:35:14 – Terry: OLED Actually an Upgrade?

He settled on a screen size, and he found a great price. But – honestly – will he notice the difference if he gets an OLED?

01:45:05 – Infinite Gary: Vacuum Tubes in Decibels?

He found an old vacuum tube tester. Why is its gauge in decibels?

01:47:14 – Andy: Minor Quibbles

We attempt to diagnose the rare flashes he sometimes sees on his OLED, why he can’t get Dolby Atmos from YouTube, and why “Grammar Rob” says a puzzling phrase sometimes.

01:52:38 – Anonymous: Which Mic for REW?

If they just want to dip a toe into taking measurements, is buying a certain mic a requirement?

– https://avgadgets.com/ultimate-rew-tutorial-taking-measurements/

01:55:43 – James: Automatic Pro Logic?

Dolby Pro Logic decoders might have been replaced by Dolby Surround Upmixing, but has there ever been a way to automatically switch between 2-ch Stereo and Dolby Surround based on whether matrixed channels exist within the signal or not?

Thanks for listening. Now, don't forget to:

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