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AV Rant #804: Don’t Buy Gurinder’s Niece’s Book

April 22nd, 2022 Comments off

RSL has a new SpeedWoofer subwoofer. Insteon has vanished without warning. And IMDb TV gets a new name: Freevee.

Gurinder is a long-time listener, and his 12-year-old niece published a novel on Amazon! It’s titled, “The Orb Oracle”. But we would never promote that. No, sir. What sort of precedent would that set? We’d certainly never mention how she also made her own cover art. And we’d never link to where you can buy it, like this: https://amzn.to/3vwYs5y . Not gonna happen. Sorry.

Check out Tom’s newest novel, “Touch of Pain”:
https://amzn.to/3JRVzSu

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

00:00:00 – Intro
Tom watched Spider-Man: No Way Home and Metal Lords. Rob watched West Side Story and The Batman.

00:15:13 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are our 146 Patreon Patrons, including Bertrand, as well as Peter for sending a Movies Anywhere code.
Thanks to Keshaun and Dane for giving Tom permission to use their photos on https://avgadgets.com/
And we appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Peter, Nathan, Jorge, and Gurinder.

00:21:08 – The Orb Oracle
A novel by Gurinder’s niece, who also did her own cover art. It’s too bad we refuse to mention it or link to it, like this: https://amzn.to/3vwYs5y

In the news:

00:23:09 – News: RSL SpeedWoofer 10S MK II
An updated version costs $50 more, but digs down to 22 Hz: https://is.gd/Qnw0hm

00:26:35 – News: Insteon Shuts Down Servers
Without warning, Insteon home automation seems to have closed up shop and vanished: https://is.gd/fhSPrV
– Options for Insteon users: https://is.gd/93Xdvg

00:31:08 – News: IMDb TV is now Freevee
The Amazon-owned streaming service gets a new name, Apr 27: https://is.gd/mPFFKe

Comments:

00:33:08 – Comment: James – RTI Remotes
A dealer-only, universal remote option: https://is.gd/efBv5a

00:36:00 – Comment: Nathan – JustWatch
Another good universal search and watchlist option: https://www.justwatch.com/

00:37:56 – Comment: Dazz – Vacation TV Horrors
SoundBars, Bose Cubes, and smoothing, oh my!

QUESTIONS:

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AV Rant #803: Plex Search FTW

April 15th, 2022 Comments off

Plex’ new universal search, watchlist, and discovery features are surprisingly good right out of the gate. Klipsch’s new entry-level looks promising. And YouTube joins us in the 1990’s with 5.1 audio.

Check out Tom’s newest novel, Touch of Pain, on Amazon.

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

00:00:00 – Intro
Rob’s getting ready for the 6th and final season of Better Call Saul. And Tom’s been watching Cracow Monsters, The Bubble, and stand-up comedy…but only if it’s recent!

00:06:41 – Listeners of the Week
Our Listeners of the Week are Patrick for his PayPal donation, plus our 146 Patreon Patrons, including Dale and Bertrand, as well as Kris for sending us a code for Spider-Man: No Way Home.
We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Keshaun, Dale, Bertrand, Jack, Joe, and Gurninder. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:10:10 – News: Just Plex It
Plex Universal Search, Universal Watch List, and Discovery manage to actually function across every streaming service out there. And you don’t even need a Plex account to use Search.
– https://www.plex.tv/
– Just Plex It: https://is.gd/OR24Kp
– Netflix 2 Thumbs Up: https://is.gd/SnyiTN

00:18:10 – News: YouTube & YouTube TV 5.1 Audio
Still a lot of limitations, but 5.1 audio is slowly rolling out.
– YouTube: https://is.gd/g4YxZ3
– YouTube TV: https://is.gd/frqWuV
– More coming: https://is.gd/AwJC4m

00:20:06 – FlatPanels HD Ultra HD Blu-ray Database
Quickly search by HDR, audio format, and 4K vs 2K DI: https://is.gd/0IFv1G
– https://www.nextgenhometheater.com/

00:21:30 – News: 2022 Klipsch Reference Series
Klipsch’s 7th generation borrows from the Klipsch Reference Premiere Series: https://is.gd/zjjgAn

QUESTIONS:

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AV Rant #802: Sofabaton X1 First Impressions

April 8th, 2022 Comments off

Rob’s early take on setting up and using the Sofabaton X1 Universal Remote. Is it the Harmony replacement we’ve been hoping for?

Check out Tom’s latest novel, Touch of Pain, on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3JRVzSu

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

00:00:00 – Intro
Rob’s been catching up on Supergirl, and Tom has started Moon Knight and saw Turning Red, as well.

00:09:05 – Listeners of the Week
Our Listeners of the Week are Raf for his PayPal donation, plus our 144 Patreon Patrons, including Dale and Chris, as well as Jack for pointing out a glitch over at https://avgadgets.com/ , and Karl for picking up Touch of Pain: https://amzn.to/3JRVzSu

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Miguel, Mark, Tim, Dale, Chris, and Allen. Thank you to everybody for continuing to listen!

00:13:33 – Sofabaton X1 Impressions
David wrote in last week with his take, and Rob compares his initial experience setting up and using the new universal remote: https://is.gd/Yq8xPu

Comments:

00:39:57 – Comment: Gurinder – Wii 2 HDMI Adapter
Only $8: https://is.gd/mLl4ts

00:41:20 – Comment: Mark – Zap-Pop-Pop caused by Wireless?
Trying to help out John with his NVidia Shield audio problems.

QUESTIONS:

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AV Rant #801: DIY or DI-don’t

April 1st, 2022 Comments off

Tom has a new book available! Download Touch of Pain on Amazon.
We’ve got lots of discussion about DIY subwoofers, IMAX, and how absolutely nothing of interest happened at this year’s Oscars.

Pictures shown in this episode:
https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzHB51

00:00:00 – Intro
Tom watched The Adam Project and Dune.

00:02:11 – Touch of Pain
Tom released a new novel!
Purchase “Touch of Pain” digitally on Amazon for $4.99: https://is.gd/5Zod07

00:09:33 – Listeners of the Week
Our Listeners of the Week are Billy for his PayPal donation, plus our 146 Patreon Patrons, including James, as well as Billy again for talking us up to Seymour AV.
We also greatly appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Raf, Julian, Kevin, Gurinder, Will, David, Ari, Alex, and Jonathan. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

00:13:24 – Sofabaton X1 Tease
Rob, David, Andrew, and maybe Tom will all weigh in next week!

In the news:

00:17:53 – News: PlayStation Plus Tiers
PlayStation Plus: Essential, Extra, and Premium (or Deluxe) will be coming in June to take on Xbox Game Pass: https://is.gd/03GKTe

00:25:31 – News: Apple TV+’s CODA wins Best Picture
A first for a streaming service: https://is.gd/Mk7Agc

Comments:

00:26:42 – Comment: Gurinder – Flex Ducts
Phrasing!

00:28:36 – Comment: Jonathan – DIY Sub Experience
Details of costs and time, plus his thoughts on tuning via miniDSP.

00:31:33 – Comment: Karl – JVC Power On
Weighing in on Jason’s question from last week about having to press Power On multiple times.

QUESTIONS:

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AV Rant #800: 800 Down, 800 To Go!

March 25th, 2022 Comments off

We’ve reached another milestone! And we celebrate with the most professionally executed giveaway ever!
We cover Epson’s Home Cinema LS11000, Audyssey’s ACM1-X calibrated mic, LG & Samsung OLED prices, Apple Movie purchases & rentals disappearing, and Netflix cracking down on password sharing.
Thank you all so much for sticking with us for 800 episodes! Here’s to 800 more!

Pictures shown in this episode:
https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzGK7u

00:00:00 – Intro
No movie review this week. But Tom does have a scathing review of the LSU tour he took.

00:07:10 – Listeners of the Week
Our Listeners of the Week are Nick for his PayPal donation, plus our 145 Patreon Patrons, as well as a big thank you to Ash for our Episode 800 artwork, and Lee Overstreet for guest co-hosting last week.
We also greatly appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Mark, Gurinder, Jeremy, Ash, Andrew, and Nathan. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!
Plus, an extra special thanks to James “House of Cards” for supplying his open box UMIK-1 and SPL Meter for our giveaway!

In the news:

00:18:58 – News: Epson Home Cinema LS11000
An attractive price for a well-spec’d 4K/120 laser projector: https://is.gd/1aoBTe

00:23:15 – News: Audyssey ACM1-X Calibrated Mic
Not quite what we hoped for.
– https://avgadgets.com/audyssey-multeq-x-what-you-need-to-know/
– ACM1-X: https://is.gd/jpWCQA
– MultEQ-X demo: https://is.gd/QtpGi9

00:30:31 – News: ’22 LG & Samsung OLED Prices
97″ is expensive, 77″ & 83″ start cheaper, Samsung surprises.
– LG 97″ G2: https://is.gd/hsxeIq
– LG C2: https://is.gd/sJQLYy
– Samsung S95B: https://is.gd/8INql6

00:32:41 – News: Apple TV App Downgrade
Android TV, Google TV & Fire TV apps won’t let you rent or buy: https://is.gd/LINYji

00:33:29 – News: Netflix to Charge for Sharing
“Add an Extra Member” outside your household: https://is.gd/vmKc31

Comments:

00:38:10 – Comment: Tom – AV / Wine Closet
A warning to control humidity.

00:40:38 – Comment: Ilango – Summing Cable
Castline USA Summing Cable: https://is.gd/8ERgo2

QUESTIONS:

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