Sofabaton was forced to push back the release of their X2 Smart Remote by two weeks. Electronic Arts (EA) agreed to a $55 billion buyout that will take them private. President Trump said all movies made outside the USA will be subject to a 100% tariff. And Tom watched two whole movies in his new home theater!

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCvN4Y

00:00:00 – Intro

00:01:42 – World News Headlines

Rob’s about ready to give up on providing context each week. But there was one amazing announcement of successful Huntington’s Disease treatment worth celebrating: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cevz13xkxpro

00:04:40 – Personal Updates

Some sad news on Rob’s side of things. And Tom remains very, very busy with his new house.

00:12:56 – What We Watched

Rob watched The Naked Gun. Tom watched KPop Demon Hunters, and Thunderbolts*.

00:25:21 – Contact Info & Comments Section

Rob explains why comments are closed on YouTube again, sadly.

00:27:39 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are Raf for sending another PayPal donation, plus our 128 Patreon Patrons.

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Jack, Karl, Alex, Infinite Gary, Raf, Jason S, Jason E, and Gurinder. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:29:36 – News: Sofabaton X2 Delayed

Unforeseen circumstances have led to a 2 week delay in shipping and launch. We’ll wait until we actually have them in hand before talking about the X2 Remote again.

00:31:11 – News: EA Sells for $55 Billion

A massive leveraged buyout by private equity will take Electronic Arts private about a year from now: https://tinyurl.com/3fdjd7ee

00:36:42 – News: 100% Tariff on Non-US Movies

Nobody seems to know how it will be calculated, or enforced, or why it’s a threat to national security, but President Trump announced that any movies made outside the USA will be subject to a 100% tariff: https://tinyurl.com/yem5zemp

QUESTIONS:

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We mention Jimmy Kimmel and tariffs. Will that get us indefinitely suspended? TCL announced its 2026 flagship TVs in China. X11L will get Super Quantum Dots and WHVA panels. QM9/Q9M & QM10/Q10M will get RGB mini-LEDs. Microsoft is raising Xbox console prices for the second time this year. And if you want to learn more about AoIP, AES67 & Dante, Storm Audio made a webinar to explain.

Pictures shown in this episode: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCv9RD

00:00:00 – Intro

00:01:45 – World News Headlines

Context for what’s been on our minds besides home theater this past week. A little longer this time, because, yes, we had to talk about Jimmy Kimmel.

– The Vergecast “Brendan Carr is a Dummy Special Update”: https://youtu.be/NSymehINBgY

00:15:09 – Personal Updates

Tom’s been very hard at work getting moved into his new house. Rob wound up helping Jason Steele from FilmCow identify an earworm:

– Jason mentioning the “mystery music” that was stuck in his head from the day before: https://www.youtube.com/live/ZtA-xRbIYIA?feature=shared&t=485

– It stirred something in Rob’s head, too, and he got it! https://www.youtube.com/live/ZtA-xRbIYIA?feature=shared&t=5932

00:26:03 – What We Watched

Rob watched KPop Demon Hunters.

00:39:50 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are Dan and Raf for their PayPal donations, plus our 128 Patreon Patrons.

Thank you to Joe for giving Tom permission to use his photos on https://avgadgets.com/

And we appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Aras, Jason, Mark, Ilango, Joe, Adam, Raf, Henry, John, and Mohsen. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:44:27 – News: TCL 2026 Flagship TVs

TCL held an event in China to announce their new TV tech coming in 2026. X11L with Super Quantum Dots. And QM9/Q9M & QM10/Q10M with RGB mini-LEDs: https://tinyurl.com/56h67z87

00:49:48 – News: More Xbox Price Increases

5 years into this console generation, and a top-end Xbox Series X will now cost you $800: https://tinyurl.com/32atps3u

Comments:

00:53:49 – Comment: Jason – JVC ECO Mode IR

Jason heard about Julian’s remote control issues, and he thinks JVC’s ECO Mode might be to blame.

00:56:16 – Comment: Joe – Introduction to AoIP

Want to learn more about Audio Over IP, AES67, and Dante? Storm Audio has a webinar: https://tinyurl.com/vazpx2b4

QUESTIONS:

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Welcome back, Tom! And recording from his new house, no less! Our thanks to Lee Overstreet and Joe Klusnick for co-hosting last week. We check out the news from Apple’s iPhone Event. Perlisten has brought their more affordable A-Series speakers to North America. And we put a little dent in that backlog from Sasi!

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

00:00:00 – Intro

Our thanks to Lee Overstreet and Joe Klusnick for co-hosting last week while Tom was away. Super fast CEDIA trend mentions.

00:02:58 – World News Headlines

Context for what’s happened in the world this past week, but now easier to skip than ever. And it’s not all bad!

00:08:05 – Personal Updates

Tom is in his new house! Rob has a personal warning about scammers.

00:25:18 – What We Watched

Tom watched Dark Waters, and High School Musical. Rob watched M3GAN 2.0.

00:44:25 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are Sasi for his PayPal donation, plus our 127 Patreon Patrons, as well as Kris for sending Rob an Amazon gift card, and Infinite Gary for sending Tom a movie code.

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Henry, Allen, David, Gary, Daniel, Nathan, Kris, Greg, Sasi, Dan, and Eddie. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:48:24 – News: Apple iPhone 17 Event

New iPhone models, Apple Watches, and AirPods Pro 3: https://tinyurl.com/yr9rdjxs

00:55:58 – News: Perlisten A-Series Speakers

Perlisten’s less expensive A-Series speakers have now come to North America: https://tinyurl.com/y4tt9h5d

QUESTIONS:

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This is our CEDIA 2025 Special!

Joe Klusnick is back, having attended the CEDIA Expo in Denver, Colorado in person. We quickly catch up with Joe, and then dig right into this year’s noticeable trends

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

00:00:00 – Intro

Welcome back, Joe Klusnick!

Don’t forget, we also posted a regular news, comments, question and answer episode this week with guest co-host Lee Overstreet.

00:01:17 – What Joe’s Been Watching

Joe has been regularly keeping up with: Alien: Earth, Peacemaker S.2, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

00:03:07 – Setting the Stage

Views from the Colorado Convention Center, and how Joe got his press badge.

00:07:03 – This Year’s Trends

What were the common themes that made themselves apparent at this year’s CEDIA Expo?

00:19:37 – The Slideshow Begins

Virtual Publications in place of print magazines, and a selfie from Sound Room Row.

– https://cedia.org/

– CEDIA Expo Show Directory: https://tinyurl.com/frztct2f

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Tom is away this week, so Lee Overstreet joins Rob H. And keep your eyes peeled for a 2nd AV Rant episode this week, as we will be posting a CEDIA 2025 Special with Joe Klusnick! Dolby Vision 2 and Dolby Vision 2 Max were announced. Magnetar announced new MKII versions of their universal disc players. CalebRated is finally back after settling their lawsuit with Digital Trends. And we have a specific release date for the much-anticipated Sofabaton X2 Smart Remote, and it’s not too far away!

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

00:00:00 – Intro

Quick world news headlines. And keep an eye out for our 2nd episode this week, which is a CEDIA 2025 Special with Joe Klusnick.

00:08:04 – Catching up with Lee

00:13:24 – What We Watched

Lee binge-watched The Last of Us S.2. Rob watched Suspiria (2018).

00:30:15 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are our 126 Patreon Patrons, as well as Jack for coming through on sending Dan D his Dayton OmniMic, and Greg for offering to provide another measurement mic for a future giveaway.

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Brad, Brian, Eric, Ilango, Julian, Karl, Henry, Gurinder, Dan, and Jason. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:34:27 – News: Dolby Vision 2

We’re not entirely sold on the stated new features, such as gaming white point adjustment, bi-directional tone-mapping, and Authentic Motion. But that won’t stop Dolby Vision 2 and Dolby Vision 2 Max from coming to future devices and content releases, so we might as well familiarize ourselves with it: https://tinyurl.com/37vmnnay

00:43:49 – News: Magnetar MKII Universal Disc Players

The new UDP800MKII and UDP900MKII aim to improve image processing a lower mechanical noise, but mostly focus on audio upgrades: https://tinyurl.com/nhemj67y

00:49:47 – News: CalebRated is Back!

The lawsuit with Digital Trends has been settled, and Caleb Denison is back posting videos: https://www.youtube.com/@CalebRated

00:50:44 – News: Sofabaton X2 Release Date

They’ve given a specific release date: Oct 18. And the list of features and details has us excited: https://avgadgets.com/sofabaton-x2-smart-remote-first-look/

Comments:

01:03:15 – Comment: Nathan – JVC NZ700 Justification

He figures the JVC NZ700 is a bigger upgrade over an NX7 than we made it sound, so he lists more advantages that we didn’t highlight.

QUESTIONS:

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