We will be randomly drawing the names of the winners of our Sofabaton X1S Universal Remote giveaway next week! So now’s your last chance to enter the draw. Email us!

Sony is downgrading OTA integration and features. And Electroluminescent Quantum Dot displays have a new initialism, and a projected release year.

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCT4zJ

00:00:00 – Intro

Adjectives for Canadian weather are out-of-control.

00:05:13 – Sofabaton X1S Giveaway Last Chance

We’ve had an amazing response. And there’s still time to enter! Email us. We’ll be drawing the names of the winners next week!

Don’t want to wait?

You can still get 35% off when you purchase a Sofabaton X1S through our affiliate link and enter our promo code in the Payments section during checkout:

– Sofabaton X1S affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4rLZW73

– Promo Code: TOMX1S35

00:07:55 – Personal Updates

Some of our viewers can probably make out the mess behind Tom on his webcam. Tom’s kids are home. And we probably invited a bunch of awful comments from the bot farms.

00:17:24 – What We Watched

All of the components of Tom’s home theater seem to be in hand now, but he still hasn’t watched anything. Rob watched Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die.

00:26:53 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are our 121 Patreon Patrons, as well as Jack for generously offering to cover the shipping costs for our Sofabaton X1S, which he thankfully won’t have to do, since Sofabaton themselves are coming through for us. So thanks to them, too!

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Greg, Tom, Greg H, Adam, Scott, Brian and Troy. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:34:31 – News: Sony Downgrades OTA

Via Mark – Sony is removing a bunch of functionality from their OTA tuners and set-top box integration on most of their newest TVs: https://tinyurl.com/3ewknz95

00:38:35 – News: Electroluminescent Quantum Dots

At SID Display Week, electroluminescent quantum dot displays got a new initialism: EL-QD. And a predicted year when they’ll hit the market: https://tinyurl.com/bthh9cdv

Comments:

00:44:58 – Comment: Infinite Gary – More Panasonic

Some blast-from-the-past manuals found in his basement.

00:47:08 – Comment: Jonathan – Schiit’s Honest Press Release

Schiit Audio’s new $99 Buf tube buffer gets an honest description in their own press release: https://tinyurl.com/55x9vm4m

QUESTIONS:

00:50:46 – Greg: Does He Need an Amp?

He added more speakers, and now he hears less detail. We explain why he might actually benefit from adding an external amp, but also why he might not, and how to figure it out ahead of time.

01:05:54 – Gurinder: Static Noise Cause

Once in a while, he gets what sounds like static noise in his Front Right channel. What causes that?

01:11:03 – Infinite Gary: Perceptual Color Differences

Two professionally calibrated displays don’t look like they show identical colors. Why not?

01:15:39 – Leighton: Removing Panels?

It’s extremely rare for us to say someone has too many acoustic panels. But he might. And we discuss which ones we’d remove.

01:24:46 – Scott: Spending $500

We definitely don’t think he needs Atmos. And we discuss what we’d do to upgrade the audio system in his Great Room.

01:33:36 – Joe: Protection Mode & Out of Phase

He asks interesting questions about having too many Watts and phase plugs in your speaker drivers. But we attempt to set the record straight on the real causes for Protection Mode and out-of-phase warnings.

01:43:52 – Brian: Hiding Wires

We think he should put his TV on a stand. And we suggest affordable wall plates.

– https://avgadgets.com/safely-running-power-to-your-projector-or-wall-mounted-tv/

– Mount It! TV anchor: https://tinyurl.com/4ns6mbwy

– EchoGear in-wall TV wire kit: https://tinyurl.com/3mpfx2rz

– RUIPro Detachable HDMI cables: https://tinyurl.com/yzmmywhy

– Monoprice in-wall Subwoofer cable: https://tinyurl.com/yc4ybjs7

– Monoprice Keystone Wall Plates: https://tinyurl.com/sfkfkp4v

– Outdoor Speaker Depot Wall Plates: https://tinyurl.com/ynmnb9t4

01:54:59 – Kev: Random Power On

Both of his AV Receivers have started randomly powering on, sitting idle for a bit, and then powering back off. Are the recently-connected PS4 consoles to blame?

01:59:38 – Troy: Positioning Surrounds

Where should the Surround speakers go in his basement setup with only one side wall?

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

• Check out the AV Rant YouTube channel to watch our show videos.
• Download Tom’s FREE superhero-themed ebook Bob Moore: No Hero.
• If you like it, you can purchase the two full-length follow-ups -  Bob Moore: Desperate Times and Bob Moore: Hostile Territory.
• Check out AVGadgets.com where Tom is the new Editor-in-Chief!
• Download Tom's NEWEST book, Touch of Pain from Amazon now!

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