We are back! Sorry for missing last week. We play catch up on lots of news. Dirac Live ART is now available for Denon & Marantz Receivers. Harman, a Samsung Company, fully owns Sound United now, and they announced their plans. Xbox Game Pass gets new tier names and a big price hike. Apple drops the “plus” from the name of its streaming service.

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

00:00:00 – Intro

Apologies for missing last week.

00:03:13 – Personal Updates

Tom has been making lots of progress on his new house. Rob’s been dealing with illnesses, both his own and other family members.

00:17:05 – What Happened to World News?

We’ll only comment on world news headlines we absolutely cannot avoid mentioning from now on.

00:19:27 – What We Watched

Rob watched Whiplash. Tom watched Secret Level

00:35:51 – Listeners of the Week

Our Listeners of the Week are Timothy for his PayPal donation, plus our 127 Patreon Patrons, including John, Ahmad, and James, as well as Dan for offering to make Tom some AVRant-branded drink coasters, and Greg and Curt for sending Movies Anywhere codes.

We also appreciate the notes of gratitude for keeping the podcast going from: Raf, Daniel, Gurinder, Nathan, Karl, John, Greg, Dan, Tim, Nate, Jack, Ahmad, and James. Thank you to everyone for continuing to listen!

In the news:

00:42:38 – News: Dirac Live ART for Denon & Marantz

Active Room Treatment can now be purchased as an add-on to compatible Denon & Marantz Receivers and Pre-Pros: https://www.dirac.com/live/dirac-live-active-room-treatment/

00:47:03 – News: Harman’s Plans for Sound United

Harman, a Samsung Company, fully owns Sound United now, and they’ve announced their plans for the many audio brands: https://tinyurl.com/eke77exk

00:55:22 – News: Xbox Game Pass Price Hikes

The tiers get new names, and the price for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is very high now: https://tinyurl.com/3at8hsz6

01:00:48 – News: Apple Drops the Plus

Apple’s hardware, app, and streaming service all have the exact same name now, for some reason: https://tinyurl.com/39k6xchd

Comments:

01:01:54 – Comment: Raf – Thick Panel Success

He found a deal on a bunch of 8″ thick absorption panels, and mounting them all on his front wall turned out great!

01:03:41 – Comment: Infinite Gary – LG OLED Timer & Cassettes

You can set a sleep timer on LG OLEDs if you’re worried about accidentally leaving them on with a paused image. And he thinks the very best consumer audio cassettes can be genuinely Hi-Fi.

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Sorry, everyone! AVRant Podcast was forced to take a week off. Rob got sick (just a nasty cold). So we hate to miss an episode. But we’ll be back next week to talk about what we watched, the news, and answer YOUR home theater & A/V questions! Thanks

(Posted: 25-10-08)

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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