HDTV and Home Theater Podcast

KEF T-Series 5.1 Speaker System We all tend to agree with the idea that you can’t have your cake and eat it too, especially when it comes to speakers in your home theater. You can either get small, good looking speakers that match your aesthetic decor, or you can get good sound. You can’t have both. KEF, and their T Series speakers, would like to respectfully disagree. Braden recently ran into a listener who ordered some T series speakers when he realized we had never posted a review of them. One of the more requested KEF lines is the T Series because of their unique thin profile. We haven’t listened to every KEF speaker, so our standard response to questions was that they looked good, but we couldn’t really judge the sound because we just hadn’t heard them. So we got some a while back. We were, though, a bit skeptical that a speaker that thin could sound as good as a speaker with a standard depth cabinet. System The T Series line of speakers are very thin, high performance home theater speakers designed to compliment your flat panel television. The speakers themselves only measure 1.4 inches or 35 mm thick and are designed to be flush mounted to the wall. In the literature and on the website KEF promises “several landmark innovative driver technologies” that are supposed to allow speakers this thin to sound as good as traditional, bigger bookshelf style speakers. KEF sells the T Series in three configurations; all three are comprised of different combinations of the same three basic units, the T101 satellite speaker, the T301 satellite speaker and the T-2 subwoofer. All three include a T301c for the center channel and a T-2 subwoofer. The T105 system includes four T101 sats for the front and surround speakers and retails for $1699 US ($1649). The T205 system steps up to T301s for the front left and right speakers and keeps the T101s for the surrounds and goes for $1849. The top of the line T305 system uses T301 speakers in the front and the surround and retails for $2199. We have the T205 system. Design The speakers look great. They have a diminutive design that, as you would expect, doesn’t stand out, but tries to blend somewhat seamlessly into a flat panel environment. The speakers all have black grilles and thin black bezels with a small KEF badge. The T301c center speaker has a sideways name badge so it looks right when you mount it horizontally as you typically do with center speakers. The T-2 subwoofer is thin and unobtrusive as well. At 7 inches, it isn’t quite as thin as the speakers, (measures 15 x 14.6 x 7), but it is very easy to get it out of sight to make it heard, but not seen. Installation The T Series come with small pedestal stand you can attach so that they can be placed on a cabinet or a shelf, or you can leave the pedestal off and mount them to the wall. They also come with a wall plate that can be attached to the wall for mounting the speakers as flush as possible. To make it easier, they come with templates you can use to get the wall plates aligned and installed just right. Speaker wires are attached in a smart way that doesn’t require binding posts, so there really isn’t anything pushing the speaker off the wall at all. Performance Once you get them installed and have admired how nice they look, you’ll want to actually get some sound cranking through them to test the promise of high performance in a thin package. To be perfectly honest, we weren’t expecting to be blown away. Having been conditioned for years on what size cabinet it takes to really make great speakers, we were hopeful that the speakers would be decent, but didn’t want to really judge them against “real” speakers. Boy were we surprised. We’re home theater guys, so we started right in with 5.1 content. We threw every piece of test content we could find at the speakers to see how they would perform and where they would fall down - and we were amazed. They did a great job with just about everything we handed them. From loud, intense action scenes like you find in Transformers and Spider-man 2 to the more subtle sounds you find in movies like Road to Perdition or Gladiator, the T Series speakers were great. At high volumes, they sounded loud, crisp and very clear. At low volumes they still had enough punch and clarity to deliver all the subtle details. Of course, the T-2 subwoofer is a must. It clearly rounds out the full surround sound effect and without it you’d be left feeling somewhat flat. But we were surprised at how well it, too, was able to deliver a strong, powerful sound from such a small package. The specs say it will reproduce sound down to 30Hz. It doesn’t go as low as other subwoofers we’ve used, and we didn’t measure it to double check the 30Hz claim, but to our ears it certainly went low enough to deliver the boom you need for good home theater surround sound. The key is how seamlessly the sound blends between the speakers and the sub, making the whole surround sound experience quite smooth and seamless. W

Axiim Q Wireless Home Theater System This podcast is going on eleven years and one thing that we have heard from the beginning is that there are too many wires required to setup a 5.1 or 7.1 home theater system. Wireless has always been the dream but it's never been good enough. That is until today! The Axiim Q is a multi-channel wireless HD audio/video system that is WiSA compliant and supports up to 7.1 uncompressed 24bit/96kHz surround sound that is simple to setup and use. And right now you can buy a 5.1 system for $1,500 (7.1 for $2,000). This price will go up after the beta period. Features: HD Wireless Audio - Up to 7.1 surround sound with WiSA compliant wireless 24bit/96kHz audio. Bluetooth connection for audio streaming. Audio Format Support - Up to Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio. Audio Control - 10 band graphics equalizer, volume, and distance calibration per speaker. HD Video - Up to 1080p 60fps and 3D modes. Inputs - Six HDMI inputs with CEC. Four USB 2.0 and eSATA for connected peripherals. Outputs - HDMI output to TV. Remote - Bluetooth remote and IR port for users with universal remote control (i.e. Harmony). Network - Gigabit Ethernet and 802.11ac WiFi. Network Features - Firmware update. Connected Drive Features - Music discovery from USB and eSATA connected hard drives. Apps - iOS and Android remote control apps. Setup It took fifty minutes to get up and running and that included opening the shipping boxes and removing the packaging. The speakers themselves are beautifully built and have some heft to them. The only cable coming out of the back is a power cable. Once you have the speakers placed you connect the AVR to power and a TV and then begin the setup. First you connect to wifi and then the system sends a tone to a speaker. You identify which speaker it is and bam! Your system is configured. Then you calibrate your speakers. This is the only place where the system is not ideal. You use your phone's microphone to and point it towards the individual speakers as instructed on screen. It is used to determine distance and levels, no EQ. However, nothing will prevent you from using a third party app to determine EQ and then manually set it. There are even EQ presets and to be honest they sounded pretty good. We really don’t think this is a deal breaker at all. Performance First let’s talk about wireless before we get into the speakers. We could not see any lag in audio and video. If you didn’t know it you would think you were watching/listening to a wired system. During our testing we turned on the microwave and had a home full of wifi transmissions and did not experience one audio dropout. We didn’t hear one hiss, pop, or click! Dead silent when it was supposed to. We had a true 5.1 audio system in a room that was not setup for any home entertainment! The dream was realized. Axiim is using the WiSA standard: WiSA defines a set of attributes for Wireless Speaker and Audio technology that combine to deliver unmatched performance and ease of use for the home theater consumer. WiSA technology transmits 24-bit audio at sample rates up to 96k/second, with robust error recovery for uninterrupted listening enjoyment. With extremely low latency and negligible speaker-to-speaker delay, it offers flawless wired-quality performance and reliability. WiSA technology operates in the relatively unused 5.2 to 5.8 GHz UNII radio frequency spectrum, reliably transmitting uncompressed HD audio from 2-channel stereo to 7.1 surround, along with system configuration and calibration data. Older wireless technologies, by contrast, operate in the same crowded frequency band used by cordless phones, baby monitors, security monitors, wireless Internet hubs, and microwaves—resulting in interference and poor quality audio. The WiSA Association was created to provide an interoperability compliance program for speaker brands and manufacturers of CE devices. Consumers purchasing products bearing the WiSA logo can be confident that these products will work together flawlessly in the home theater environment. This level of compliance is especially critical for new and emerging technologies such as wireless audio. What that means is you can buy an AVR from one company, speakers from another, and a subwoofer from yet another. Right now Klipsch, Definitive Technology, and Martin Logan are selling WiSA compliant speakers in addition to Axiim. From an audio point of view the speakers performed quite well. Ara’s first Home Theater in a box was a Yamaha that cost $1,000 and had terrible speakers that sounded like they were tin cans. This system costs a little more but it is night and day better quality. The center channel measures just 5.8 x 14.1 x 5.7 in (147 x 358 x 145 mm) but produces audio with depth and clarity, and texture of larger speakers. The system comes with a ten inch sealed subwoofer with a frequency response of 20 - 100 hertz. Our test material for the subwoofer was the final boxing match in Real Steel. When the

So You Need to Replace a Plasma… Whether you’re a plasma owner lamenting the day when you’ll need to replace or upgrade it, or you always wanted to be a plasma owner but missed your chance before they went extinct, there are options out there you may not be too bummed out about. We’ll admit, the Pioneer Kuro demo we saw at CES several years ago is still the single most jaw dropping television demo we’ve ever seen. But it may not have actually been the best TV we’ve ever seen. The History While Plasma TVs were still an option for us, the big debate was between plasma technology and the competing flat panel tech, LCD. Eventually LCD came to include LED LCD in addition to the traditional bulb or CCFL based LCD sets. Let’s be perfectly honest, both had their pros and cons. We talked about it quite often on the show when the debate was hot. Sure, plasma was great, but let’s not rewrite history. It had its detractors. And as we all know, it ultimately lost the war. Plasma Pros / LCD Cons: Plasma has better off angle viewing. This has been helped tremendously on LCD sets with the advent of IPS or In-Plane Switching, but LCD remains no match for plasma in the off-angle viewing department. Plasma has better color saturation. The colors on a plasma TV are more accurate than the LCD screens because plasma technology is better at controlling the relative light intensity for each individual pixel. Which also yields... Plasma has better contrast ratios and black levels. Plasma technology is much better at producing those rich, inky blacks we all want to see. LCD is helped enormously by local dimming, but still not a match for plasma. Plasma has better response times / refresh rates. Delays in refresh rates or slow response times produce what is known as motion blur on a television. This is when a fast moving object or scene loses clarity or definition as it passes by. LCD suffers from it, plasma does not. Plasma Cons / LCD Pros: LCDs are brighter. Plasma may produce deeper blacks, but LCDs are far brighter. Plasma also tends to suffer from worse screen reflections, making LCD a far superior experience in bright rooms or rooms where it is difficult to control ambient light. LCDs are lighter. Let’s be honest, plasmas are crazy heavy. LCDs are far easier to move, to mount, to install, to work with in general. LCDs are more energy efficient. You’ll save a little on your electricity bill and feel like you’re giving back to the environment. While the gap was never as big in reality as LCD manufacturers would have led you to believe, LCD is a less power hungry technology. LCDs emit less heat. Plasmas can really heat up a room. Depending on where you live, and the time of year, this may not be an issue, but LCDs emit far less heat. LCD has better resolution. LCD is the only 4k technology of the two. If you remove CCFL LCDs from the equation and focus only on LED LCDs, all of the pros and cons are the same, but the gap is far smaller. LCD is still better in the areas where it has always outperformed, even increasing the margin in some areas like energy efficiency. On the LCD cons list, they all remain, but LED narrows that lead significantly. LED TVs can produce very good blacks, have improved on contrast ratios and with increased refresh rates have dramatically reduced motion blur. Of course this has lead to the Soap Opera Effect, but that’s something else altogether. Plasma vs OLED The debate between plasma and OLED was rare. Plasma was available at a normal price, OLED was astronomical. By the time OLED started to drop, plasma had already died a lonely death. That didn’t stop a few of us from debating the relative merits of the two technologies during their brief overlap. The debate was over quite quickly. OLED outperforms plasma in pretty much every category. It has a better color gamut, better black levels, better contrast, better brightness, better response times, everything is better. Well, maybe not everything. At the time we were able to debate it, the plasma was still cheaper and available in larger screen sizes, so it had two wins in its column. Some claimed better off angle viewing, but only because they were comparing with curved OLED. Since we all know curved is a goofy gimmick, we can throw that one out. So at the time, plasma was an inferior display technology, but it was one you could actually afford, so it had that going for it. The Decision So the decision today is: do you replace a plasma with an LED TV or an OLED? It’s pretty obvious that if OLED is a superior display technology to plasma, and plasma is better than LED, then it stands to reason that OLED is far better the LED. Now that you can buy a 4k OLED, there really isn’t any display technology category where LED has an edge over OLED. If picture quality is the only consideration, the choice is clear: replace the plasma with an OLED. However, we all live in the real world, a world where picture quality isn’t the only consideration. We have budget conside

ELAC B5 Debut Bookshelf Speakers Last year Ara went to The Home Entertainment Show (T.H.E. Show) in Newport Beach where he saw some extremely expensive AV equipment. There were rooms full of gear costing more than $100,000 and speakers from companies, some of which you have heard of, and many more from companies that only audiophiles would know. There was so much to be impressed with but alas, they were only a pipe dream for Ara as he still had a mortgage to pay and a daughter to put through college. By the way, this year’s “Show” is June 3 - 5 at the Hotel Irvine in Irvine CA. What caught Ara’s eye, or ears for that matter, were some extremely affordable speakers from ELAC USA. They were showing off a new design by world renowned speaker designer Andrew Jones. Andrew Jones had previously designed a line of affordable speakers for Pioneer. There were about twenty people in the room when the music started. Everyone’s reaction was pretty similar… disbelief that a small bookshelf speaker costing $230 a pair could sound so good and produce deep deep bass! Now that Debut line is available we bought a pair of the B5s (Buy Now $230) and put it through it's paces. But first the specs: Speaker type: 2-way, bass reflex Frequency response: 46 to 20,000 Hz Nominal impedance: 6 Ω Sensitivity: 85 dB at 2.83 v/1m Crossover frequency: 3,000 Hz Maximum power input: 120 Watts Tweeter: 1-inch cloth dome with custom deep-spheroid waveguide Woofer: 5.25-inch woven aramid-fiber cone with oversized magnet and vented pole piece Cabinet: CARB2 rated MDF Port: Dual flared Binding posts: 5-way metal Width (each): 7.87 in / 200 mm Height: 12.75 in / 324 mm Depth: 8.75 in / 222 mm Net weight (each): 11.5 lb / 5.2 kg Gross weight (packaged pair): 26.2 lb / 11.9 kg Fit and Finish The speakers are quite basic in appearance. You can have any color and finish as long as it's black brushed vinyl. The build quality is first rate though. It's essentially an uninspiring box with sharp edges. ELAC chose to spend the money on sound while keeping costs down rather than esthetics. Performance Our typical approach to reviewing speakers is to give you our subjective opinions on the performance. But for these speakers we wanted to measure the frequency response objectively. However, our measurement microphone did not arrive in time so we resorted to checking online and found that others were measuring acceptable levels down to 50Hz and a relative flat response until about 10KHz. After that it starts to drop off and at 20KHz the signal is about 7dB less. To drive the speakers we were using an Audioengine B1 Bluetooth Receiver (Buy Now $189) connected to an Audioengine N22 Desktop Amplifier (Buy Now $199). We listened the the speakers right out of the box and were blown away. There was a sense of openness to the music that sounded great regardless of what we were listening to. The Bass! Wow how could a speaker of that size have so much low end? We couldn’t wait to hear what these were going to sound like after they were broken in! After about thirty hours of playback we fell even more in love with the B5s! We played the gamut of music, Classical, Rock, Country, and Jazz for our critical listening. First up was Ode to Joy from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Specifically from the Immortal Beloved soundtrack. When we were at Sony Pictures we watched this movie over and over again testing our equipment so we know how it's supposed to sound. What we listen for are the triangles about four minutes into the track. They were there but they were not as pronounced as we have experienced before. Next up was Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds performing Crash Into Me. This is such an incredible track that Dolby used it on one of their demo discs a few years ago. This may sound redundant but it sounded “Live”. Like you were there. You could make out the instruments in clear detail. Everything from the musicians striking the strings of the guitars to the texture of Dave Matthews’ voice. Speaking of live, in Melody Gardot’s “Worrisome Heart” you could hear the room dynamics. And talk about a voice, these speakers were made for her deeper voice. Now it's time to test the bass and for that please forgive us but we turned to LMFAO’s “Sexy and I know it”. At one minute in you could feel the bass in the floor. We were surprised at how good the entire track sounded. Nothing sounded muddled, vocals were clear and precise, and high frequencies pierced through the bass. Regardless what you think about this track, it shows off what these speakers can do. We were impressed with everything we listened to. The B5s really perform in a way that makes you wonder how they can only cost $230 a pair. Credit needs to go to the designer Andrew Jones for such an achievement. Home Theater There is no reason why you can’t use these speakers as part of a home theater: 2 x Debut F5 Tower Speakers $280 each ($560 Total) 4 x Debut B5 5.25" Bookshelf Speakers $230 pair ($460 Total) 1 x Debut C5 5.25" Cent

Nvidia Shield 4k Review The market for streaming boxes is pretty crowded. You’ve got the Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Google Chromecast just to name a few. The market for 4k streaming boxes is even getting pretty crowded lately. So is there still room for one more? Nvidia would like to think so. And we love everybody, so we were willing to give yet another set top streamer a chance. This one is called the Nvidia Shield 4k (Buy now, $193). About the Nvidia Shield 4k NVIDIA SHIELD is an 4K Ultra HD (as well as Full HD) home entertainment system, delivering incredible resolution in favorite apps like Netflix, HBO, HULU, YouTube, Major League Baseball, NBA, KODI /XBMC, and PLEX. Vivid 10-bit color and rich Dolby 7.1 surround sound make this a true home theater experience. Or plug your headphones into your SHIELD controller or SHIELD remote for a private listening experience. Say "Oscar-winning movies" or "launch Netflix" and let Google's advanced voice commands find content for you on your Android TV. Get personalized recommendations on your home screen. Even cast a show or pictures to your TV from your PC, Android, or iOS device with built-in Google Chromecast support. SHIELD makes your smart TV experience fast and easy. Download premium Android games – from family games and indie hits to the most advanced Android TV titles with rich gameplay and intense multiplayer action. Or join GeForce NOW to connect to NVIDIA's gaming supercomputers and enjoy unlimited streaming of popular PC games or buy newly released games from the online store. Enjoy what the Wall Street Journal calls “the highest performing streaming TV set-top box ever made”. NVIDIA SHIELD is over 4x the performance of new Apple TV, new Fire TV, or Roku 4. NVIDIA SHIELD comes with 16GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot for external storage, 802.11 2x2 wireless AC with MIMO, Gigabit Ethernet, two USB 3.0 ports as well as a game controller as well as an HDMI cable. Setup Setup is pretty easy. It includes all the cables you need to get it plugged into power, your TV and to charge the included game controller (which also serves as your remote). The included HDMI is a nice touch, many streamers don’t include one, but it is a bit short. We used one of our own so we could have it installed in the right spot. Then you connect to Wifi (hard wired is also an option) and log into your Google account. There’s a simple way to do it using a laptop, and a code from the Shield, but we couldn’t get that to work, so we went the more cumbersome email address and password route. After you sign into Google, the Shield kicks into an automatic software/firmware update. This took For. Ev. Er. Perhaps the slowest update we’ve ever seen, certainly not snappy. This is more than coffee break time in the setup routine. For us it took over an hour. After the update, you have the option to update your controllers as well. This only took a few seconds, luckily. Then you’re in an ready to start using the Shield. Performance Streaming apps like Netflix and YouTube work perfectly. They are very fast and very responsive. Often when using an app like this in a TV, you get sluggish performance. The cursor struggles when you’re typing in a password or searching for content. Things take a while to load, etc. But with the Shield, things are incredibly snappy. The videos look as good as any other streaming box we’ve used. Nothing to complain about. If you’re an Apple user, of course you can’t get to that content. No Vudu either. But if you’re a Google user, you’re set. You can side load the Amazon video app if you use prime video alot. Online rumor mill says Nvidia is working on the deal with Amazon, they just don’t have it in place yet. Might be able to side load Vudu as well. We didn’t try. Local media playback is awesome. You can cast to it from an Android or iOS device. There is a built-in playback app. In addition to that, Plex comes pre-installed so you can use it as a media zone in your whole house video server setup. Listen to last week’s show for a full review of Plex as a media server option. You can also install the VLC app to get access to a wide array of file types and encodings that you may not have support for in the other apps. The Shield has a couple USB ports you can plug portable or external drives into for local playback and to increase the storage of the unit itself. In addition to local media playback, there is an HDHomeRun app you can use to play over the air television directly on the Shield. It’ll set you back a cool 99 cents, but if you can swing it, the app does convert your Shield into a cord cutter’s dream. If you want to supplement that with live cable channels, you can add the SlingTV app and subscription as well. You’ve got the likes of Netflix, Google Play and Hulu for new release and catalog content, local media playback, OTA HD content and cable content from SlingTV. It’s quite an impressive array of possibilities. Gaming is the best we’ve had on

Plex Media Server If you have been with us for a while you know how fond we are of media management. The first time we saw the Kaleidescape system back when we first started the podcast we became obsessed with having all our videos available to stream to our televisions. Over the years we tried many different solutions from XBMC and Boxee to iTunes and the AppleTV. Ara settled on the iTunes solution because he was so heavily entrenched in the Apple eco system that it made the most sense. Over the years we have received plenty of emails asking us to check out Plex and Ara did, but because he was so committed to the AppleTV it was nothing more than a rudimentary look. That all changed when Apple opened up the AppleTV to developers. The developers at Plex quickly released a version of their client SW for the AppleTV and now Ara had no excuse for not thoroughly looking at Plex. What is Plex? Plex organizes your video, music, and photo collections and streams them to all of your screens both in your home and when you are away. Whether you are watching on a smartphone, tablet, computer, or set top box, your entire library is available to you. View Plex user interface slide show. Key Features: Stream your content from anywhere that you have an Internet connection Automatically add metadata in a gorgeous interface Total control of your media. You manage who can see what. (Plex Pass) Beautiful Music Interface Automatically get access to high quality online trailers and extras for the movies you have in your Plex library. (Plex Pass) Mobile Sync - Simply tell Plex what you want to take with you on your phone or tablet and Plex will keep your content up to date. (Plex Pass) Cloud Sync automatically optimizes the media you choose and uploads it to places like Dropbox, Google Drive, Bitcasa and Box. It's like having a media server that's always on. (Plex Pass) Plex Channels provide access to numerous sources of online content, like TED Talks, Vimeo, Revision 3, and more. Easily save online videos from your favorite sites to watch later, even on the big screen. Supports DLNA What do you need? Plex Media Server - This is the brains behind the operation. The media server is the host for all your content. Support for Windows, Mac, Linux, and a bunch of NAS devices. Plex Mobile Apps - Plex apps for Android, iOS, Windows, and Windows Phone let you browse and enjoy on your device of choice. Plex for smart TVs, game consoles, and streaming devices - Watch your content on the Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Fire TV, Xbox, PlayStation®, and other devices stream from your Plex Media Server with ease. Plex Media Player - Bring your content to your computer screen. With support for Windows and Mac Setup Getting up and running is quite easy. You install the server and then point to where your media resides. Plex will then analyze your content and download the necessary meta data. We found that it was really accurate but there was some tweaking that needed to be done. Part of the setup is signing up for the optional Plex Pass ($40 upgrade) which gives you access to premium features. Plex Player Our experience with Plex from a playback point of view was on the iPhone, iPad, Computer, and AppleTV. The features are identical but the interactions are a little different. We won’t delve into the details of the interaction but rather the experience as a whole. Also, there are a lot of features and we won’t cover all of them here. We encourage you to visit Plex online for more information. The GUI is gorgeous! Movie and music art look stunning! There is quite a bit of information about your movies plus there are extra features similar to DVDs and Blu-rays on most movies. The extra features are streamed from the Internet. There are ratings from Rotten Tomatoes on on the AppleTV there are reviews. You can even see who is in the movie but it looks like that feature is still a work in progress. One of the nice things about Plex is that it allows you to play just about any format file. That’s why you need a reasonably powered server so it can transcode on the fly. We threw mp4 and mkv files and had no issues over our LAN. We even watched the videos over the Internet as well albeit at a lower data rate. You can setup your player to use different data rates and resolutions depending on whether you are watching in your home of away. You will have to know how to open up ports on your router to be able to watch over the Internet but there are easy to follow instructions online to walk you through it. Music is just as wonderful. The album and artist art adds polish to the interface. If you have paid for the Plex Pass you can even watch Vevo videos for your tracks. In fact you have access to all the videos of an artist regardless whether you have the track or not. You don’t have access to any premium music service tracks that you may have downloaded. Conclusion One of the reasons Ara didn’t give Plex a fair shot was because of how invested he was into iTunes

TCL Roku LED TV Review Smart TVs are all the rage these days. It seems like everyone has their own Smart TV platform that is supposed to be better, faster, cooler, more awe inspiring than the other guys’. But what is an upstart TV manufacturer like TCL, without the resources to go off and build it’s own smart TV platform supposed to do? Partner of course. They chose to partner with Roku to give you a jaw-dropping Smart TV out of the box without having to invest in building or maintaining their own. Sort of brilliant if you ask us. Roku is a great Smart TV platform, whether standalone or embedded. We grabbed the 48” model that was selling at Costco for $349 to test it out, At that price it was considerably less expensive than the other more well-established brands, and it came with Roku built in. Not something we could easily pass up. The specific model we tested was the TCL 48" Class (47.5" Diag.) 1080p Roku LED LCD TV 48FS3750. You can pick one up for yourself from Costco for $349.99 or from Amazon for $349.99. Features Make it yours- Personalize your Home screen, put your favorite cable/satellite TV, streaming channels, gaming console, and other devices front-and-center. No more flipping through inputs or wading through complicated menus. Find what you want- Search through the widest selection of channels – by keyword, actor, or title. Follow your favorite entertainment and always know when it is ready to stream—on what channel and at what price. Control with a smartphone or tablet- With the free mobile app, transform your smartphone or tablet into a Roku remote and even browse and add new channels. Plus, find what you want fast with voice search - a fun way to find what you’re looking for. Little screen, meet big screen- Send photos, videos, and music from your smartphone or tablet to the TV. Plus, cast movies, web videos, and more to your TV with with Netflix and YouTube mobile apps. 1080p Full HD Resolution Clear Motion Index 120 Refresh Rate 3 HDMI, 1 USB, Built-in Wi-Fi, & Roku Streaming Software Setup Setting up the TV is simple, but it is a little different than you would expect. First steps are easy: setup your inputs and connect to WiFi. Setting up the inputs is pretty cool. You tell it what you have plugged into each of the inputs in the back of the TV, such as a Cable Box, Satellite Box, Blu-ray player, Gaming system, etc, and it adds an icon to the home screen for that device. No more scrolling through inputs, you just select the device icon like you would any other app and away you go. Connecting to WiFi is the same as any other network TV or set top box. Once you get on the network, you’re given a code to register the device to your Roku account using anything with a web browser, could be a desktop, laptop, tablet or smart phone. If you don’t have an account, you create one. If you have any other Roku devices, you just add the TCL TV with the registration code and away you go. You use the online account to select what apps (Roku calls them channels) you want on the TV. We thought this was going to be awesome. At first the idea of creating a Roku account just to use the TV seemed cumbersome. But if we were able to select the apps we wanted, then sign into each of those apps on the web, using the full keyboard we had available on the laptop, it would save a ton of time. Subscription info would be pushed down to the TV, and there you go, instant Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video, Pandora, you name it. Unfortunately this wasn’t the case. You select the apps online, but you still have to sign into them from the TV using the tiny remote. Wasted opportunity if you ask us. Performance Once you have everything setup and the Apps are registered and authenticated, you’re good to go. You can use the TV as a standard television, or select from any of your configured apps. The Roku platform has by far more available app choices than any other Smart TV we’ve used. Because it is a neutral platform, you can get things like Netflix, Amazon, Google Play and Vudu all on the same box. Of course, no Apple. They’re still learning how to place nice with others. From the Smart TV and apps point of view, it worked great. Beyond your standard streaming audio and video apps, Roku has other apps like Plex and its own Roku Media Player to get access to your own content from USB or the network. The TV can operate as an Video server playback device without the need for any external boxes. It even supports SlingTV so you can watch live television without having to pay a Cable or Satellite subscription. The TV is very versatile and we found all the apps to be snappy and they performed quite well. As a television, the TCL is fine. It’s really what you would expect from a $350 almost 50 inch HDTV. The picture quality isn’t stellar. There are occasional artifacts on the screen, but it isn’t terrible. It is still quite a bit better than even the HDTVs from 5 or 6 years ago. The sound is pretty bad, but if you’re looking for good sound

Marantz SR6010 It was a couple of years ago that we heard our first demo of immersive surround sound. It was at CES that the then SRS Laboratories made sounds dangle in mid air. Then we heard about Dolby Atmos which did the same thing first in the cinema and now in the home. Speaker manufacturers quickly jumped on board and created upfiring speakers that bounce sounds off the ceiling to create a dome of sound and receiver manufacturers developed products that made the speakers work. One such receiver is the Marantz SR6010 (Buy Now $1399). The SR6010 is loaded with features and specifically is Atmos capable. The major features are listed below: Features: Dolby Atmos Built-In; DTS:X Ready - Supports 5.1.4 or 7.1.2 channel Atmos experience provided that you add an external stereo amplifier. Support for DTSX is provided with a firmware upgrade. High Grade Audio Components Built-in Bluetooth & Wi-Fi; Music Streaming; AirPlay Latest HDMI 2.0a Connectivity; HDCP 2.2 Compatible; ISF-Certified - The SR6010 is about as future proof as you can get right now. It supports 4K Ultra HD 60Hz video, 4:4:4 Pure Color sub-sampling, High Dynamic Range (HDR) and 21:9 video, 3D, and BT.2020 pass-through so you can buy your new Ultra HD player and connect it to this receiver with confidence. Certified by the Imaging Science Foundation and comes with a full suite of video calibration controls (for use by an ISF technician), along with ISF Day and ISF Night video modes. The SR6010 will upconvert standard definition and high definition analog and digital video content to 4K Ultra HD Powerful 7 Channel Discrete Amplifier with ECO Mode - Each channel is rated at 110 watts (8 ohms, 20Hz~20kHz, .08%THD), and all channels can drive 4 ohm speakers with no issues. The receiver adjusts power consumption according to signal level and the power reduction is displayed on your screen in real time. Audyssey Platinum DSP Suite - With the supplied measurement microphone, MultEQ XT32 analyzes each speaker's output (including the subwoofers) at up to 8 measurement locations and generates precision digital filters that optimize each channel for the correct frequency and time domain response. Multi-Source/Multi-Room Dual Subwoofer Outputs External Control Capabilities - The SR6010 can also be set up and operated by a home computer on the network via IP control, either via wired LAN connection or via Wi-Fi wireless connection. The SR6010 also features Control4 SDDP (Simple Device Detection Protocol) and Crestron Connected certification for quick and easy integration with Control4 and Crestron home automation equipment. Setup Setup was like just about every other receiver with the following notable points. In order to use the Atmos speakers you need an external amp. In Ara’s case that meant disconnecting the rear surround speakers from the Emotiva amp and connecting them to the Marantz. The Kef Atmos speakers were connected to the Emotiva amp and the Atmos pre-outs connected the Marantz to the Emotiva. Setting up the receiver was really easy because of the cool setup wizard that Marantz developed. You simply respond to the questions on the screen and then listen to make sure the speaker is sup up correctly. This eliminates the need to determine which mode you need to put the receiver in to get your Atmos setup right. To be honest Ara doesn’t even know what the speaker settings have been set to, but he knows it works! Next up was to run the Audyssey calibration. Marantz includes a cardboard mic stand which makes placing the mic in 8 locations easy. Give yourself some time for this step. The sequence is run for each speaker times eight spots. The onscreen guide tells you where to place the mic so you get a proper calibration. Albeit a long process. Music While we discuss how well music sounds on each receiver it's not the focus of our reviews. For completeness we’ll tell you that the SR6010 sounds quite good. We listened to music via Airplay and through an AppleTV. Classical piano sounds phenomenal! Rock and roll was tight and jazz had some great bass. To Ara’s ear the music sounded a little brighter than the Pioneer Elite that it replaced. It will play FLAC HD, ALAC, WAV192/24 and DSD. In a nutshell, even audiophiles will find the SR6010 as a capable receiver. From Marantz: The SR6010 uses very high grade audio components that have been carefully selected. The whole internal circuit further enhances audio quality by delicately handling all signals via the Marantz designed HDAMs in Current Feedback topology before they reach the speakers. Marantz HDAM (Hyper Dynamic Amplifier Module) technology found on the company’s™ Reference Series components provides superior low noise wideband performance in an all-discrete configuration, compared to conventional op amp ICs. HDAM technology provides an ultra-fast slew rate for true wideband response and maximum dynamic range to deliver optimum sound quality with today's high resolution audio formats. Movies As stated

CES 2016 It’s that time of year again, the time when hordes of people descend on Las Vegas, Nevada to get a glimpse of all the new technology manufacturers are showing off. Last year over 170,000 people attended. This year, there will be two less. With one HT Guy in Seattle, we weren’t able to attend in person. But luckily many of our peers were, so we get to sift through their highlights without having to walk for miles through countless booths and crowds to see everything. Samsung, Philips and others bring Dolby Atmos Soundbars Samsung introduced a soundbar (HW-K950) that will attempt to create a Dolby Atmos experience using a wireless speakers. The system includes a soundbar with three forward facing speakers and two pointed towards the ceiling. The system uses wireless surround speakers that also include Atmos speakers. Finally, there is a wireless subwoofer that gets you a 5.1.4 Dolby Atmos system with only four speaker enclosures. No pricing or ship date was announced. Philips is also shipping a Dolby Atmos Soundbar. Called the Philips Fidelio soundbar it includes 18 drivers, including two upward-firing speaker modules. Angled tweeters create a wide soundfield. Total output is 400 watts, including 8-inch 220-watt wireless subwoofer. Other features include Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 decoding, dedicated center-channel speaker, two HDMI 1.4a inputs, HDMI audio return channel, and optical and coaxial inputs. no pricing was announced. Samsung’s Family Hub Is A Fridge Of The Future Among the reasons why this is deemed a smart home technology of the future is it touts 21.5-inch 1080p monitor outside and few cameras and sensors within so you will know what is inside the refrigerator without the need to open its door or view the interior of the fridge remotely on your smartphone. This is specifically advantageous if you are in a grocery store but do not know what particular foods to buy. You can tag expiration dates on refrigerator items so you use them before you lose them. The giant screen is more than just a peek inside the box, you can use it as a family message board, sync your family calendar to it, shop for groceries or surf the web for recipes. It has speakers, so you can listen to music, and we assume the web interface would allow you to get to Netflix or YouTube as well, but we don’t know for sure. LG Annouced Premium LCD-Based Super UHD, 8K TVs LG announced a premium line of UHD TVs (UH9500, UH8500 and UH7700). According to LG, they will all be brighter, better contrast ratios, and include a wider color gamut and HDR. LG will also introduce their first 8K TV, the 98 UH9800. For reference, Sharp’s 8K screen goes for close to $130,000! According to LG the UH9500 and UH8500 increase the color gamut to approximately 90% of the Digital Cinema Initiative (DCI) P3 color space. LG is also claiming high quality sound from the UH9500 due to a Harman Kardon speaker system. Pricing was not available LG's rollable OLED display LG is showing the 30R 18-inch rollable display. They claim the display can be "rolled-up like a newspaper." They have been showing flexible OLED for a couple years, so how this display improves on concepts we saw in 2014 and 2015 isn’t obvious, but we expect it to have better resolution and perhaps some built-in electronics for use as an actual television/monitor. The benefit of a rollable display in a consumer environment is pretty obvious. As TVs get to be rediculously large, transporting them, getting them in the door, etc. will become very difficult. If the screens could be rolled up, then just tacked up on a wall once you get them home, it could make 100” screens in every home a reality. Not to mention video walls that can turn into faux-windows ala Total Recall would be pretty sweet. Simple Control Adds Amazon Echo Integration Simple Control announced that its popular iOS apps for control of AV gear and smart home devices have been certified by Amazon for use with their Amazon Echo product. Amazon Echo includes Alexa, a cloud-based voice service that can be used to give commands to Simple Control. Once Simple Control is paired with Amazon Echo, users can control the home environment simply by speaking commands to Alexa, such as "Alexa, tell Simple Control to turn on the TV in the kitchen." The Simple Control and Simple System apps operate thousands of devices like TVs, cable and satellite boxes, receivers, Blu-ray players, lights, switches, thermostats and more. Ford A Ford Mustang you can order online with free shipping for Amazon Prime members? No, but the automotive company is partnering with Amazon to let you control your smart home from your car through Ford's Sync Connect and AppLink services and Amazon's Echo home-automation hub and Alexa voice-concierge service. Beyond Amazon, Ford announced it plans to work with the Wink smart home platform to provide similar levels of voice commanded functionality straight from your driver's seat. HARMAN’s Mark Levinson® Previews № 519 Audio

Predictions for 2016 Time for the HT Guys to look into our crystal ball and try and predict the HDTV and Home Theater landscape for 2016. Our crystal ball is never as clears as a good HDTV but we give it a shot nonetheless. Ara: Competitor to Sling.com Sling.com was the first into this market but they won’t be the last. Look for one of the major cable or sat providers (or even Apple) to offer competitor to sling.com. And if it's Apple look for local channels as a bonus. UHD Blu-ray player will be available for less than $500 This one is simply a shot in the dark. Rumor has it that the first UHD Blu-ray players will go for more than $1,000. But lack of demand and memories of the whole Blu-ray/HD-DVD debacle will drive prices down. But don’t expect to see this until Black Friday. There will be a 100 inch 4K UHD with HDR and wide color gamut for less than $10,000 This is my shoot for the moon prediction. If this comes true, I may never upgrade my projector and opt for this solution instead! But realistically, this has about a 10% chance of coming to pass. But I like to dream! Samsung will re-enter the OLED market This is kind of a gimmie. Samsung did have an OLED (KN55S9CAFXZA) but we haven’t seen anything commercially available since. With the success of LG’s OLED TVs Samsung won’t be able to stay out of the market. We’ll have a good idea if this is correct next week at CES. Apple to stream Hi-Res Audio With so many music streaming platforms out there Apple will look for a way to differentiate itself. It already has the Mastered for iTunes program. Why not Apple Hi-Resolution? Also, look for more radio stations like Beats 1 in the higher resolution audio. Braden: HDTV and VR mashup With the popularity of the Oculus Rift and the Growing investment by other firms such as Microsoft and their HoloLens, someone will produce video content that takes full advantage of the immersive experience of Virtual Reality. There are apps that allow you to watch movies on the Oculus Rift, but nothing (that I know of at least) that has been produced to provide a native 3D experience within a VR headset. probably nature footage, but it’ll happen. Somebody *will* get into the live TV streaming game, but still no locals Amazon, Apple, Google or Sony - one of them will offer native television streaming from their platform to match the service offering of SlingTV. So you’ll either get an iTV app on your Apple TV, or a TV app on your FireTV, you get the picture. Once you pay your fee, you get access to everything on TV right now for a select set of cable channels. And maybe, if you’re lucky, a national feed from the major broadcasters. 80” Televisions for under $2000 This is a carry-forward from last year; I think I was just one year too early. Both OLED and 4K will push prices down for 1080p TVs. Wanting to capitalize on the desire for a larger screen, Manufacturers will push prices down for the big 1080p sets to get them flying off the shelves. So the price for a starter series 80” TV will drop to under $2000 at some point this year. Maybe Black Friday, maybe for another event, but it’ll drop. Lightbulb speakers for Surround Sound The best way to get the height channel experience from sound formats like Dolby Atmos it to actually have them in the ceiling. The up-firing speakers that bounce sound off the ceiling are cool, just not quite as precise. It isn’t always easy to cut holes and run wires to add speakers to your ceiling. Somebody will create a box, either an add-on for your amp, or built into the receiver itself, that lets you send audio from specific surround channels to specific bluetooth devices. Bluetooth light bulbs are a perfect fit. Proliferation of Home Automation Glue Platforms/Hubs Apple is already working on making HomeKit the central hub that glues all your automation devices together, but it won't be the only one. Google will release one, maybe based on Nest/Thread, maybe not. Others will want into the game as well. The underlying idea? Any device, one platform. Buy any smart bulbs, locks, sensors, gadgets you want, regardless of the underlying protocol: Insteon, Z-Wave, ZigBee, WiFi, Bluetooth, etc. and plug them into your home. They become part of the system as if they all spoke the same language. Google Translate for Automation devices.

Prediction Review for 2015 It's hard to believe that another year has gone by! With that it's time to see how we did with our 2015 predictions. This year's scorecard: Ara a respectable three out of five! Braden a decent 2-2.5 out of five. Ara’s Predictions: There will be a 65 inch production OLED TV for less than $5,000 Look for LG and Samsung to continue to push OLED technology. They’ll finally figure out that no one wants a curved model and produce a 65 inch flat panel OLED. Bonus prediction - It will be LG that makes this prediction a win for me! Nailed it!! At the time of this writing not only is there a 65 inch OLED for sale at Amazon but it's made by LG! Its also 4K. LG Electronics 65EF9500 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD Flat Smart OLED TV $4997.99 There will be a production Quantum Dot TV available for sale This is my hedge against the OLED prediction totally failing. We saw the first quantum dot TVs at CES about three years ago. LG is pushing forward with the technology. It produces higher yields than OLED and better pictures than current LEDs so this is a no brainer technology to pursue. Well as it turns out this was a true statement when I made it. In 2014 Sony had released TVs with Quantum Dot technology and it marketed it as Triluminos. However, it's not very clear that they are still doing this. Regardless this is a fail. Apple will open up the AppleTV to developers After seeing the potential of the FireTV from Amazon, Apple will realize the AppleTV is falling behind the competition. Look for a new model (AppleTV 4) with game support that will use iPhones and iPads as controllers. By the way, the 4 in AppleTV 4 stands for 4K. I can dream can’t I?? Predict something enough and it's bound to come true! With the release of the AppleTV 4 Apple opened up the platform to developers. This coming year should make or break the platform! Apple to stream 4K movies and television programming If you are going to dream might as well dream big! What good is a new set top box capable of 4K content if you don’t have 4K content. Sure they will support Netflix 4K streams but the real deal will be buying and renting movies and TV shows from iTunes in 4K. No 4K streaming! Not even a 4K AppleTV. Oh well… Maybe I’ll hold this over for 2016 :-) Sonos to debut a dedicated 7.1 home theater system One of the main reasons people don’t have full surround systems is the need to string speaker wire everyplace. Sure the front is easy enough but why should you have to string wire when you can have freedom to place speakers wherever you want. Sonos has the best sounding wireless solution we have heard to date. So why not make a complete 7.1 system without the need of speaker wires? It would be easy to setup with almost no configuration required. When your aren’t watching movies you could repurpose the speakers for music without the need of turning on an amplifier. Now if we can only do something about those pesky power cords! Success on this one. Sonos has a home theater category on their site (Sonos Home Theater). Yes it uses a sound bar for Left, Center, and Right channels. There is also a subwoofer and you can use four Play:1,3, or 5s for the surrounds. The Sonos Home theater can be used in music mode when not watching movies so what’s not to like? Braden’s Predictions: At least 5 major studio movie releases will be available online concurrent with cinema release With “The Interview” now out there as a pilot for what is possible, Sony will do it again at least once, and other major studios will try their hand at it as well. Theater owners will threaten not to run the movie(s), but if the studios choose wisely, theater owners will be forced to run them because they’d stand to lose too much in ticket sales if they didn’t. Complete flop. There were some huge stars in day and date released movies, but most were backed by lesser known production companies. Ethan Hawke in Predestination, Chris Evans in Before We Go, Samuel L. Jackson in Big Game, Hugh Grant in The Rewrite? Speaking of rewrite, if I changed the prediction to major, A-list actors, I’d have nailed it. Curved televisions will go away Nobody really gets it. Manufacturers seem to be the only ones that understand the value in the curved screen. Realizing there’s no demand for it, manufacturers will make them disappear. This means we’ll be on the hunt for another gimmick to boost television sales. Look for 4k to try to fill that gap. But it’ll still be a bit niche, so look for something else as well. Automation integration in your smart TV? Could this be the year of home automation? Let’s be generous and go with partial credit on this one. Curved TVs are still around, but not nearly as prominent as they were a year ago. It feels like a very small percentage of televisions on display in most stores are curved anymore, and we really aren’t seeing nearly as many ads for them. Looks like 4K really is the next big thing, at least for 2015. Live television streaming won’t be coming to you

Ultimate Home Theater in a Box for 2015 Each year we design a Home Theater setup that is considerably better than a typical home theater in a box. We have seen complete setups for less than $500 from manufacturers like Sony and Panasonic that quite frankly do not sound good. While our system costs more than a name brand HTIB your satisfaction will be dramatically more. Plus we include EVERYTHING you need to actually setup a home theater. Minimum components for our system are a HDTV, Blu-ray Player, Receiver, and 7.1 speakers. For this feature we choose components that we either have direct experience with or have experience with a similar model made by the same manufacturer. In years past we would set a maximum price but this year we are not doing that. We are defining a system that can had by anyone who is serious about home theater. These systems will look and sound great by anyone’s definition! Braden: Samsung UN65J6200 65-Inch 1080p Smart LED TV (2015 Model) ($1198) Borrowed from the HDTV buying guide. My TV is a bit smaller than last year’s Sharp 70-inch Aquos but it’s also $400 cheaper. We’ve already talked about it, but this set combines great features with a really affordable price - even for Samsung. Its Smart TV technology allows you to access movies, games, streaming services, and other apps so you can easily get to your favorite media. Surf the web using the built-in Wi-Fi, or use the screen-mirroring feature to play your mobile content on the big screen and you can plug into the USB port to watch your own media. Great TV, great price, no brainer. Denon AVR-X3200W 7.2-Channel Full 4K Ultra HD A/V Receiver with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi ($999) Maybe it’s cheating a bit, but I snagged a receiver from the buying guide as well. Because we all know Denon makes the best receivers...this one has everything I need and more. It’s a bit more expensive than the Onkyo TX-NR636 from last year, but I had a little wiggle room with the less expensive TV, so we dropped that into the receiver. This bad boy is a 7.2 channel A/V receiver that packs 105W of power per channel. It has 3D and 4K Ultra HD/60Hz full rate pass-through with 4:4:4 color resolution, HDR, BT.2020. 8 HDMI 2.0a inputs (incl. 1 front) and 2 HDMI outputs with full HCDP 2.2 support. Of course, built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. And let’s not forget Dolby Atmos (up to 5.1.2), DTS:X ready (via firmware update). Instant content Airplay, Spotify Connect, Pandora, SiriusXM Internet Radio Internet Radio, DLNA, DSD,FLAC, ALAC and AIFF High Resolution streaming. And the new IP control capability with the HEOS Link turns any stereo system into a wireless zone (HEOS LINK sold separately). Hsu Research Hybrid 1 - 7.1 Package in Satin Black ($1449) Speaker prices went up a bit this year, sorry. Last year was the Klipsch RF-42 II Reference 7.1 system for $1299. This year it’s the HSU Research system for $150 more. So I’m typically a Denon and a Klipsch fan-boy. Admittedly. Not ashamed. Denon made my list this year but Klipsch did not. Cuz it’s all about the boom. A full 7.1 speaker system with a killer sub. You won’t need you upgrade these speakers for a long time - if ever. Miscellaneous Logitech Harmony 700 Rechargeable Remote with Color Screen ($64) Last year was the Logitech Harmony 650 for $60. That remote is now up to $86. Although the 700 has been discontinued, you can still get it at a great price. Great remote, ties all your devices together, has hard buttons for everything you need to do, and barely even changes the total budget at all. It’s a no brainer. And, unlike the 650, the 700 is rechargeable. No batteries to replace. Forget Blu-ray, they’re commodity. Add $50 and pick up anything you want. Add about $100 for cables and a power strip and another $100 for the streaming box that suits your needs and you should be all set. Sit back and watch some HDTV. Summary Total cost, end to end, for a killer, big screen, 7.1 home theater: $3960 (ip from $3583 last year, but that didn’t include a streaming box). Ara: LG Electronics 60LF6100 60-Inch 1080p LED Smart TV $865 Home Theater in a Box systems are typically about getting you an introductory setup and this TV is a perfect centerpiece for your theater. A 60 inch TV will allow for a more cinema like experience in a smaller family room. This HDTV has decent picture quality and good reliability numbers so buy with confidence! Sony BDPS3500 Blu-ray Player with Wi-Fi $70 In years past I went with Oppos but I no longer feel you need to spend $500 for a Blu-ray player if the main thing you are going to do is watch Blu-rays. The Oppo is well worth its price tag but only if you need the added features. The Sony streams video from all the big players and you can stream video from your Android device via Miracast. For those who don’t have a hardwire connection near the TV the 3500 supports the MIMO protocol for improved speed and reliability. Yamaha RX-V677 7.2-channel Wi-Fi Network AV Receiver with AirPlay ($380) This is th

HDTV Buying Guide 2015 Tis the season for us to go wishlist shopping and help you spend your money - one of our favorite times of the year. If you happen to be lucky enough to have budget for a new HDTV this Christmas, but still aren’t sure which one to buy, we’ve got you covered. Unlike years past, we’re going to skip the budget categories, and the screen size categories and jump right to our top picks. We each pick three TVs and one ‘money is no object’ / ‘dare to dream’ TV for you to consider. For those who don’t still have last years buyer’s guide handy, here are few of the sets from last year along with their prices. As odd as it sounds, most of the prices actually went up. Unlike receivers, it may not pay to wait a year to get a set on the list. So check out this year’s list and jump on the good deals before they’re gone. Seiki SE50FY35 50-Inch 1080p 60Hz LED TV (was: $349, now: $556) LG Electronics 65LB6300 65-Inch 1080p 120Hz Smart LED TV (was: $1299, now: $1199) Sharp LC-60LE660 60-Inch Aquos 1080p 120Hz Smart LED TV (was: $799, now: $1049) LG Electronics 55EC9300 55-Inch 1080p 3D Curved OLED TV (was: $3499, now: $1797) Sharp LC-90LE657U 90-inch Aquos HD 1080p 120Hz 3D Smart LED TV (was: $6195, now: $6688) Braden’s Picks VIZIO E50-C1 50-Inch 1080p Smart LED TV (2015 Model) ($498) I didn’t want to do anything smaller than 55 inches, but a 50 inch TV for $498 is tough to pass up. Especially when Vizio has emerged as a brand that you can trust for the most part to deliver on quality and reliability. They aren’t just a value brand anymore, but they maintain an excellent, affordable price point. Full-Array LED: for light uniformity, and up to 12 Active LED Zones for deeper, more pure black levels. Smart TV: built-in high-speed Wi-Fi for apps like Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, and YouTube. You can step up to 4K for $200 more, but at 50” it probably isn’t worth it. Samsung UN65J6200 65-Inch 1080p Smart LED TV (2015 Model) ($1198) Samsung is probably the gold standard these days in HDTV, or at least the most popular brand out there. And 65 inches is probably the sweet spot for really big screens at very reasonable prices if you do some shopping around. This set combines great features with a really affordable price - even for Samsung. Its Smart TV technology allows you to access movies, games, streaming services, and other apps so you can easily get to your favorite media. Surf the web using the built-in Wi-Fi, or use the screen-mirroring feature to play your mobile content on the big screen and you can plug into the USB port to watch your own media. It doesn’t have micro-dimming for better contrast, but you can get that for $360 more in the 6300 series. Sharp LC-70UE30U 70-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz Smart LED TV (2015 Model) ($1931) Sharp tends to be my go-to brand for really big panels at really deep discounts and this TV is no exception. There are some Vizio models that you might want to compare with it, but it packs a punch for under $2000. Sure it’s only 5 inches larger than the Samsung UN65J6200, but it is 4K and has local dimming for great contrast. The Revelation Upscaler displays all content at near-4K quality. It even has Smart TV features built on Android TV with access to the Google Play store, so you can customize the Smart TV experience to your liking. The only thing you don’t get is HDR, but that’s rare right now and costs quite a bit more. Your best bet for HDR is to upgrade to OLED, but that’ll easily cost more than double what this TV costs for the same screen size. Honorable mention: Sansui SLED6516 65-Inch 4K DLED LCD TV 120HZ TV ($899) A 65” 4K TV for $899? You might be rolling the dice on quality and/or reliability, but at $899, it could be worth the gamble. Ara’s Picks Last year: LG Electronics 60LF6100 60-Inch 1080p LED Smart TV $865 This year I am all about large format 1080p TVs. I love my 4K Vizio P-Series but after a little more than a year of ownership I can count the number of times I have watched a 4K show on one hand (not including testing for the show). So this year it's about saving money and getting some fantastic TVs at great prices. First up is this 60 inch LG. LGs are actually pretty decent in quality and reliability and for $865 what’s not to like? It's not going to blow you away with video processing features. Its 120Hz refresh rate and LED lit. Beyond that it is a smart TV. The main reason for making my list is that it's 60 inches and only costs $865. And it only weighs 52 pounds! Sharp LC-65LE654U 65-Inch 1080p 120Hz Smart LED TV $997 It used to be that our list was full of Japanese manufacturers. This year Sharp is the only TV that makes my list from Japan. This is a 120Hz smart TV with good picture quality. Built in Wifi makes it easy to get you streaming video from Netflix and Youtube. Samsung UN75J6300 75-Inch 1080p Smart LED TV $1997.99 My next TV is a step up in size and quality and two steps up in price. It uses something that Samsung calls Micro Dim

Receiver Buying Guide 2015 It is that time of year where we get to spend your money again! This week we concentrate on receivers. Our goal with these guides is not necessarily about getting the latest product. It's about getting a good product at a great price so you may see some of last year’s gear on the list. All these receivers are readily available online or at a big box store. Just like last year’s Buying Guide, we’re going to skip the budget categories jump right to our top picks. We each pick three receivers and one ‘money is no object’ / ‘dare to dream’ receiver for you to consider. Braden’s Picks Onkyo TX-NR545 7.2-Channel Network A/V Receiver ($440) This 7.2-channel receiver can power a 5.1.2-channel Dolby Atmos speaker setup: 5.1 standard surround configuration plus two in-ceiling or height channels: 5.1.2. All HDMI inputs support the latest TV video displays, and with three of six inputs handling HDCP 2.2. Built-in Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Airplay (including Pandora and Spotify) to stream virtually any audio from your smartphone, tablet, or PC to your home theater. And support for playback of Compressed, Lossless, and Hi-Res Audio via Local Network (MP3, WMA, WMA Lossless, FLAC, WAV, Ogg Vorbis, AAC, Apple Lossless, DSD 5.6 MHz, LPCM). Denon AVR-X3200W 7.2-Channel Full 4K Ultra HD A/V Receiver with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi ($999) Because we all know Denon makes the best receivers...this bad boy is a 7.2 channel A/V receiver that packs 105W of power per channel. It has 3D and 4K Ultra HD/60Hz full rate pass-through with 4:4:4 color resolution, HDR, BT.2020. 8 HDMI 2.0a inputs (incl. 1 front) and 2 HDMI outputs with full HCDP 2.2 support. Of course, built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. And let’s not forget Dolby Atmos (up to 5.1.2), DTS:X ready (via firmware update). Instant content Airplay, Spotify Connect, Pandora, SiriusXM Internet Radio Internet Radio, DLNA, DSD,FLAC, ALAC and AIFF High Resolution streaming. And the new IP control capability with the HEOS Link turns any stereo system into a wireless zone (HEOS LINK sold separately). Denon AVRX6200W 9.2 Channel Full 4K Ultra HD A/V Receiver with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi ($2199) Two Denons? Is that allowed? The X3200 is the reasonable choice. the X6200 is the less reasonable, but “wow” choice. The amplifier has 9 discrete output stages with identical circuit topology and high current transistors. Each channel is rated at 140 watts. Of course the AVR-X6200W features the next-generation sound formats Dolby Atmos, dts UHD and Auro 3D (upgradable) which allows you to add Height/Top speakers to dramatically expand the soundstage. Featuring a total of 8 HDMI inputs, the AVR-X6200W also has 3 HDMI outputs for flexible multi-room options, with full HDCP 2.2 support. This receiver is also equipped with advanced video circuitry capable of upscaling video signals to 1080p and up to 4K/60Hz full-rate video passthru with support for 4:4:4 color resolution, HDR, and BT.2020. Ara’s Picks Yamaha RX-A850 7.2-Channel MusicCast AV Receiver with Built-In Wi-Fi and Bluetooth $899.99 This year I am only selecting receivers that are HDCP 2.2 compliant and support 3D sound. As a result my lowest cost receiver comes in at a penny under $900 but it supports a 5.2.2 Atmos setup and you can send it any 4K Ultra HD source with HDCP 2.2 and HDR. The 850 has support for Hi Res Audio as well as Pandora, Rhapsody, SiriusXM, and Internet Radio. There is also support for Yamaha’s proprietary wireless multiroom audio system called MusicCast. Pioneer SC-91 7.2 Channel Networked Class D3 AV Receiver with Built-in Bluetooth, Wi-Fi & Dolby Atmos $999 I have never been disappointed with the audio quality of a Pioneer Elite receiver and based on my recent experience with its little brother, the VSX-90, I can fully recommend this receiver to anyone who wants to take a step up in this department. This unit is 130 watts per channel which will fill even large rooms with sound. It supports 4K pass through and of course Dolby Atmos. The SC-91 has MCACC Pro calibration, Subwoofer EQ, built-in AV Navigator, plus an easy initial setup app. Marantz SR6010 7.2 Channel Full 4K Ultra HD AV Sourround Receiver with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi $1399 I have one and so should you. While this unit only has 7 amps (110 Watts each) it does have 13 preouts which with an external amp will provide you with the most immersive audio experience! The 6010 supports both Dolby Atmos and dts UHD. Of course it supports 4K Pass through and is HDCP 2.2 compliant. It streams all kinds of services but we all have a set top box that can do that don’t we! Ultimate Present Integra DTR-70.6 11.2-Channel AV Receiver $2,800 I have never been able to get my hands on an Integra receiver but if I can dream this is what I would want. It checks every box and then some. Its THX Select 2 Plus certified and can be calibrated so that the video processing in this receiver actually does something to improve the picture on your TV. Components are heavily screened to

What we're thankful for '15 Each year at this time of year we do a show where we discuss what we are thankful for. There are the obvious things to be thankful for like our families, especially our wives who put up with our home theater obsessions. And of course we are thankful for you, the listener/reader of our show. So as is tradition over the last many Thanksgivings, on today's show we give you our list of consumer electronics things we are thankful for. For 2015: Ara’s List: Apple Music - and by extension all other music services. Being able to stream pretty much any song I want at any time is fantastic. I even like the Beats One music channel. I pay 5 times more per month (five Radios but only one family subscription for Apple Music) for Sirius Satellite radio. If Apple gives me a Country music channel similar to Beats One, it's bye bye Satellite radio! Sometimes you need a DJ. OLED - To be honest, I never thought OLED would make it since LEDs have gotten so much better for a fraction of the cost. But it's nice to see prices coming down and screen sizes going up. In actuality, I am thankful for OLED buyers. Thanks to you, I will be able to afford my next TV, which will be OLED. DIY Speakers - This year I got into DIY Speaker building, well assembly anyway, but you do have to pick the right components! I have had a ton of fun and build some fantastic sounding speakers for a fraction of the cost. Next up is a subwoofer! More on this to come in the upcoming year! Dolby ATMOS - How can I not be grateful for a technology that gets me to go out and spend more money on a new receiver and speakers. All kidding aside, anything that immerses the viewer into the movie is a great thing. Netflix/Amazon/Hulu - There is so much HD content out there and now with these guys they are creating even more. And the best part is a lot of it is in 4K and some even use HDR and the wider color gamut! Most of the content is decent but there are some really great shows that are big network quality in production value. So much so that every out of work actor should rejoice! Braden’s List: Amazon Prime Now - This may not be entirely home theater related, although I have used it to buy batteries for remote controls and even a new TV for a bedroom. The idea that you can get almost anything you need, including home electronics, delivered to your door in two hours or less is absurd. There are so many times I didn’t want to have to run out to the grocery store to get something. Now I don’t have to. Need banana plugs to make speaker/amp/receiver installation easier? Yeah, they’ve got that. Front Projection - I recently took a few of my boys to see a movie in the theater. Ignoring the fact that we spent way too much money to see a pretty bad movie, and had we waited to watch it at home it would have only cost $5-6, the experience was sub-par. The film was grainy and full of static. The sound was muddled and the surround sound was almost non-existent. For the entire two hours of the movie I just kept telling myself how much better it would have been to watch at home. Front projection is awesome. Dish Network / The Hopper - Dish Network is doing a great job adding features to their existing service. They’ve added Pandora integration into the Hopper and Joeys, they added Netflix to both as well. They have a new sports app in the DVR that helps you locate games, news, etc for your favorite sport of favorite teams. They now have a wireless Joey even. But the single biggest feature is Auto-Hop. Whenever that question comes up at the beginning of a show, I do a little happy dance on the inside. 4K TV - This is a little odd for me, since I still don’t own a 4K TV, to be thankful for Ultra High Definition, but it isn’t what you think. Now that 4K is the new big thing, how often are we hearing about 3D? It’s almost as if we’ve filed 3D away under the “do not care” category and completely left it in 4K’s wake. For that reason alone UHD is worth more than words. All we’re hearing about now is 4K TV penetration, 4K content, 4K Blu-ray, and on. Sure it might get old after a while, but for now I’m really thankful for the lack of 3D talk. Home Automation - Automation is a fun hobby. Something happens, you want to do something in your house, and after a while you start to think of ways you could automate that task. It’s a strange, but very fun, addiction. Although I haven’t started playing with it yet, I can’t wait to get the Amazon Echo working with the Insteon gear in my home. Voice control for home automation? Yeah, that’s next level. Alexa, lower the lights and set the temperature to 72 degrees. Done. I’m in.

Black Friday Preview 2015 Black Friday is an ever-evolving event and every year we can’t get enough. This year, some stores are opening way earlier, others are skipping Black Friday altogether. If you’re planning to wait in line, we wish you the best of luck. Just like prior years, the deals are as good as ever. Looking back, the deals we thought were unreal are totally inflated now. In 2008 the cheapest Blu-ray player was $128 and a 50-inch 720p plasma was going for $900. In 2009 the Blu-ray player price dropped to $78 and you could get a 50-inch 1080p plasma with a Blu-ray player for $1000. Not inflated, last year the lowest price for a tier one brand HDTV was a 50" Panasonic 1080p LED for only $199.99 Our research came from our favorite goto sites for Black Friday circulars, including: www.bfads.net, www.blackfriday.com, and blackfriday.gottadeal.com. WalletHub put together a pretty cool analysis of 2015’s Best & Worst Retailers for Black Friday Deals. The lowest price tier one brand HDTV is at Best Buy Toshiba 49" 1080p 60Hz LED HDTV (49L310U), $149.99 The largest TVs are at Sears and h.h. gregg Sears - Samsung 75" 1080p 60Hz LED Smart HDTV (UN75J6300), $1,999.00 h.h. gregg - Samsung 75" 1080p Smart HDTV (UN75J6300), $1,998.00 h.h. gregg - Sony 75" 4K Ultra Smart HDTV (XBR75X850C), $2,998.00 Honorable mention: Wal-mart - Vizio 70" Smart LED HDTV (E70-C3), $898.00 The list has multiple 720p TVs 32 inches or larger, more than we expected to see. There were three last year. Wal-mart - TCL Roku 32" 720p LED Smart HDTV (32S3700), $125.00 Target - Samsung 32" 720p 60Hz LED HDTV (UN32J4000), $177.99 Target - Westinghouse 32" 720p 60Hz LED HDTV (WD32HT1360), $99.99 Sears - LG 32" 720p 60Hz LED HDTV (32LF500B), $209.99 Sears - RCA 32" 720p 60Hz LED HDTV/DVD (LED32G30RQD), $199.99 Sears - Samsung 32" 720p 60Hz Slim LED HDTV (UN32J4000), $179.99 K-Mart - LG 32" 720p HD LED TV (32LF500B), $209.99 K-Mart - Samsung 48" 720p Slim LED HDTV (UN48H4005), $429.99 K-Mart - Seiki 32" 720p LED HDTV (SE32HY), $159.99 h.h. gregg - Proscan 39" 720p LED HDTV (FLDED3996A), $188.00 h.h. gregg - Samsung 32" 720p LED HDTV (UN32J4000), $178.00 h.h. gregg - Samsung 32" 720p LED Smart HDTV (UN3234500), $198.00 The list has multiple 4K TVs as well, also more than we expected to see. Best Buy - 10 Wal-mart - 2 Target - 3 Sears - 6 h.h. gregg - 24 Deal lists: Amazon Amazon announced in a press release that holiday deals start on Friday, November 20, with new deals added as often as every five minutes for eight straight days - so keep an eye on their Black Friday Landing Page in order to not miss anything! Customers will have access to 10 coveted Deals of the Day starting at midnight on Thanksgiving, and up to 10 more on Black Friday. They can also shop limited-time Lightning Deals on thousands of sought-after products per day throughout the eight days of deals. Best Buy Logitech Harmony 700 8-Device Universal Remote, $49.99 Sony USB Stereo Turntable, $64.99 Amazon Fire 7" 8GB Tablet (Black), $34.99 Panasonic Streaming Wi-Fi Built-In Blu-ray Player (BD903), $39.99 Samsung Streaming 4K Upscaling 3D Wi-Fi Built-In Blu-ray Player, $87.99 Sony Streaming Wi-Fi Built-In Blu-ray Player (BDPS3500), $49.99 Onkyo 805W 7.1-Channel 4K Ultra HD & 3D Pass-Through A/V Home Theater Receiver, $249.99 Amazon Fire TV Stick, $24.99 Google Chromecast (2015 Model), 2 FOR $50.00 Google Chromecast Audio, 2 FOR $50.00 Roku SE Streaming Player, $24.99 Roku Streaming Stick, $39.99 Insignia 2.1-Channel Soundbar w/ Wireless Subwoofer, $99.99 Insignia Soundbar w/ Bluetooth, $49.99 Klipsch Reference 10-in. 300W Powered Subwoofer, $174.99 Klipsch Reference Bookshelf Speakers, $124.99 Klipsch Reference Dual 6-1/2-in. Floorstanding Speaker, $174.99 Klipsch Reference Dual 8-in. Floorstanding Speaker, $224.99 Samsung 400 Series 2.1-Channel Soundbar w/ 6.5-in. Wireless Active Subwoofer, $147.99 Samsung 500 Series 2.1-Channel Soundbar w/ 7-in. Wireless Active Subwoofer, $247.99 Insignia 40" 1080p 60Hz LED HDTV (NS-40D420NA16), $159.99 LG 24" 720p 60Hz LED HDTV (24LF452B), $79.99 LG 43" 4K 60Hz LED Smart HDTV (43UF6430), $399.99 LG 49" 4K 60Hz LED Smart HDTV (49UF6430), $499.99 Samsung 24" 720p 60Hz LED Smart HDTV (UN24H4500AFXZA), $147.99 Samsung 32" 1080p 60Hz LED Smart HDTV (UN32J5205AFXZA), $227.99 Samsung 40" 1080p 60Hz LED HDTV (UN40HS003AFXZA) & Xbox One: The LEGO Movie Videogame Bundle, $499.98 Samsung 40" 1080p 60Hz LED Smart HDTV (UN40J5200AFXZA), $317.99 Samsung 48" 1080p 60Hz LED Smart HDTV (UN48J5201AFXZA), $379.99 Samsung 55" 4K 120Hz 3D LED Smart HDTV (UN55JS8500FXZA), $1,499.99 Samsung 55" 4K 60Hz LED Smart HDTV (UN55JS7000FXZA), $999.99 Samsung 60" 1080p 60Hz LED Smart HDTV (UN60J6200AFXZA), $697.99 Samsung 60" 4K 60Hz LED Smart HDTV (UN55JS7000FXZA), $1,299.99 Samsung 60" 4K 60Hz LED Smart HDTV (UN60JU6390FXZA), $799.99 Samsung 65" 4K 120Hz 3D LED Smart HDTV (UN65JS8500FXZA), $1,999.99 Sharp 50" 1080p 60Hz LED HDTV (LC-50LB370U), $299.99 Toshiba 49" 1080p 60Hz

AppleTV Gen 4 It's fair to say there are three big names in streaming set top boxes, Roku, Apple, and Amazon. Yes we know there are others but these are the biggest right now. We reviewed the Amazon Fire TV a few shows ago (Podcast #710) and we will review the Roku 4 in the near future but today it's the AppleTV 4. It comes in two incarnations, the 32 GB will run you $149 and the 64GB will run you $199. We took the 64 GB version for a spin. The one big feature that is missing is that the AppleTV does not support 4K. Is that a deal breaker?? Read on to find out. Features: Glass Touch Remote - Fluid and precise control with a swipe of your finger Voice Control (Siri) - Just say you want to watch or ask about the weather New UI Design Fast app switching - Double tap the home button and toggle between open apps App Store - Third party games and entertainment are now available iTunes, Home Sharing, and Airplay If you have owned a previous version of the AppleTV you won’t be too surprised at what you find in the box. The AppleTV 4 is about twice as thick but about the same in the other dimensions. On the back Apple added a USB-C port but eliminated the optical digital port. In fact to install our new unit we literally unplugged the existing cables from the Gen 3 and then plugged them into the Gen 4. Since the power supply is internal to the box, Apple used the same power cord between versions. This also helps in being able to find a spare plug in your power strip. Then we walked through the screens to get our AppleTV online. It was straight forward but then it became a major hassle. The only way to enter data was with the remote. Ara has a long password so it was a pain to enter it using the remote. There is no mobile app to do this as there is on the Gen 3 AppleTV. This is a major oversight by Apple. It wouldn’t be so bad if it were just for setting up your iTunes account or your Homeshare, but you have to do the same thing with Hulu, Netflix, HBO, and on and on. To make matters worse, Ara has three AppleTVs so it needs to be done at all three TVs. We were perplexed as to why Apple just didn’t keep the cable system login on file and not force you to verify it with every video app you download. And why not have the capability to replicate another AppleTV on your network. What we really didn’t understand is how could Apple release the AppleTV without a companion iPhone/iPad app? By the way, the current IR remote still works with the Gen 4 AppleTV. We had to switch our Simple Control remote back to IR so that we had the ability to control it with the iPad. But realistically once you use Siri you don’t want to go back! Performance: Now that you have gone through the headache of setting up the AppleTV it's time to start watching. And here is where the product does quite well. In actuality from a picture and sound point of view, there isn’t any difference between the Gen 3 and Gen 4. But that’s not a bad thing. The picture and sound quality of the Gen 3 was already very good. But what about 4K? We don’t know why Apple didn’t release a 4K model. At this point in time it really doesn’t matter especially if you are watching on a TV that is less than 70 inches. To be honest sitting at 12 feet you probably need 100 inches to see the difference in 4K and 1080p if all other things are equal. Not going 4K probably kept the price down. Once we get content that makes use of the wider color gamut and HDR you will probably see a 4K AppleTV. In the meantime don’t get hung up the lack of 4K. If picture and sound quality are the same why do I care about upgrading? Good question! You may not need to upgrade now. The big thing is that there is an App Store for the AppleTV and that means there will be all kinds of apps in the future that will make the AppleTV a very versatile box and platform. We can see the day when the major networks will have apps for their channels and you can tell siri to launch the app. You will be able to say, “Watch ESPN 2” and the AppleTV will go there. In fact you can launch ESPN now via voice. You can launch any app via voice and it launches right away. We even asked Siri to play the latest episode of Brooklyn 99 on Hulu and within a few seconds Jake Peralta was screen making us laugh. The other feature that I (Ara) really like is the “What did he/she Say” capability. Have you been watching a show with someone who for some reason never understands what was just said? It can be very frustrating!! This feature was made for you. You simply pick up the remote and hold the Siri button and say, “What did he say”. Then Siri backs up about 15 seconds and turns on subtitles for you. Once you hit the point where you asked the question Siri turns off subtitles. If the application does not support the subtitles activation, Siri just rewinds 15 seconds and lets you listen harder. You can also ask Siri, “Who’s in this”? You are then presented with a list of the actors in the show. But as far as we could tell, it only incl

Review: Pioneer Elite VSX-90 7.2 Channel A/V Receiver The HT Guys upgrade equipment faster than most just so we can stay on top of the latest technology. So when the 4K Fire TV product was released and our current receiver could not send a 4K signal to the TV we figured what better reason to upgrade. We chose the Pioneer Elite VSX-90 7.2 Channel Receiver with Atmos mainly because it is a capable receiver and it didn’t break the bank (Buy Now $699.99) Features: 7 HDMI inputs with 2 outputs 100 W/ch (8 ohms 20 Hz-20 kHz THD 0.08 % 2ch Driven FTC) 4K 60P Ultra HD upscaling and pass-through Built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Simplified connection and setup Dolby Atmos DSD playback Subwoofer EQ and dual subwoofer pre-out Spotify Connect and Roku ready Energy-saving ECO Mode Intuitive setup with icon-based Graphical User Interface (GUI) Offers both RS-232c interface and full IP control Setup: We have gotten really good at swapping out receivers. Probably a skill most will never need to master but it helps us from time to time. Our speakers are connected via Banana plugs so recabling the receiver took about three minutes which included 7.1 speakers, 5 HDMI connections, Ethernet, and power. Then we ran the calibration setup which Pionner calls MCACC Multi-Channel Acoustic Calibration. The VSX-90 uses the Pro Version of this technology. Like pretty much every other auto calibration system, Pioneer’s measures every speaker noting size and distance, sound levels and timbre from the listening point. The subwoofer is also analyzed and adjusted using four different frequency parameters to correct phase and timing errors. The VSX-90 uses the ES9006 Sabre Premier audio DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) which should provide smoother audio. And you audiophiles may like to know that there is support for 192 kHz 24-bit AIFF, Multi-channel WAV, FLAC, and Apple Lossless up to 96kHz 24-Bit. The VSX-90 offers both RS-232c interface and full IP control providing compatibility with the most popular home automation systems. For custom-installed home theater solutions, it offers multi-zone capability audio video support. For tablet and smartphone users there is the iControl AV5 app available to make using the receiver a breeze. Performance: First up is video. The main reason we upgraded our receiver was to be able to pass 4K content from our Amazon Fire TV device to the 4K TV. In this regard it is important to note that only the first three HDMI ports are HDCP 2.2 compliant and without that you won’t be able to pass protected 4K content through to the TV. The receiver will upscale all digital content to 4K but we found that the best picture was obtained by simply passing the original signal (Pure Mode) through and letting the TV do the upscaling. The Amazon Fire TV looked fine with 4K content (See Review Here) that was unprocessed by the receiver. We subjectively compared the video straight from the Fire TV to that of video that went through the reveier. We could not see any difference which is what you would expect in the Pure mode. It should be noted that this receiver does not have video processing beyond a scalar. In general we feel this is a good thing because we have not found a good receiver that also processes video well. Then it was time to listen to some audio. We had high expectations due to the Sabre DAC and we weren’t let down. Our listening material included lossless audio, 256 Kbps AAC, and streaming audio. Everything we listened to had more punch and the midrange sounded clear and crisp. If we had to sum up the listening experience it would be that the music sounded bright. The VSX-90 had no issues with reproducing an accurate sound stage with good instrument separation. When it came time to watch (listen) to movies we were impressed with how good our subwoofer sounded. Same subwoofer same Dolby True HD content but a noticeable improvement in the bass. The only real complaint we had with the unit was source switching. Whenever we switched between sources it took as long as six seconds to get video back on screen. Odds and Ends: Dolby ATMOS sound technology - We did not test this feature Remote - Typical receiver remote. Multi-zones - The VSX-90 can send audio and video to a secondary room. WiFi - The unit also has dual antennas to extend the range. MHL compatibility - One port Bluetooth and Airplay Streaming Music - vTune, Pandora, and Spotify ready Conclusion: The Pioneer Elite VSX-90 is a feature rich receiver that won’t break the bank and allow room for some future growth. You may not be in a position to upgrade to Atmos but it's nice to know that when you want to the VSX-90 will be ready for you. It's relatively easy to setup and configure with the use of the onscreen instructions. For those who really like to listen to high quality music this receiver fits the bill. We couldn’t ask for a better mid-range AVR to handle both movies and music.

Instant Home Theater in Two Hours or Less Amazon Prime changed the game. You can have pretty much anything you need, including an entire home theater, delivered to your home in two days or less. And you never have to get off the couch. A recent conversation with a friend who needed a TV and an HDMI cable and had them delivered in an hour using the new Prime Now app got us thinking. What if you wanted an entire home theater delivered to your home within an hour or two? Is that even possible? The scenarios are endless. You have company over and everyone decides to watch a movie, but they brought kids and the kids need something to watch too. Or you and your family, friends, guests, whatever can’t decide if you want to watch a live sports event or that night’s episode of Dancing with the Stars, so, in the spirit of ‘why not both?’ you need to add a second home theater to keep everyone happy. Or, simply, just cuz. Prime Now is a new service from Amazon, available to Prime members in select markets at no additional charge, that allows you to order products for delivery in two hours, sometimes less, depending on your proximity to the distribution center. We assume the products available may vary by market, since not all distribution centers would have the exact same inventory, so this adventure is what the HT Guys would be able to put together from their local distribution center in Orange County, California. Prime Now is currently only available as an app for your smartphone. You cannot tap into it from your computer, not yet at least. For our discussion we’ll provide links to the products at the main Amazon website, but if you want to get them delivered in an hour, you’ll need to download the app and find them there. Televisions Every home theater needs an HDTV. What options are available from Prime Now? We assumed they would be small TVs, easy to store and easy to deliver. What we found surprised us. There were a bunch of options for HDTVs from Prime Now. Small TVs, like you would imagine, a 32” model from LG or Sharp, 43” options from Vizio and Sharp, etc. But they also had some bigger sets available. There’s a 50” Vizio, a 55” Vizio, and a 55” LG. Sure 55” isn’t huge, but it isn’t tiny either. A 55” TV would make a pretty good cornerstone in a 2 hour or less home theater. LG Electronics 55LF6000 55-Inch 1080p 120Hz LED TV. If you buy it from the Amazon website, you’ll pay $647.99 and the strange thing is, it isn’t available for Prime shipping - you actually pay an extra $36.36 for shipping. If you buy if from the Prime Now app you pay more than $100 less, $538, and you get same day shipping. That’s a great deal. VIZIO E50-C1 50-Inch 1080p Smart LED HDTV. Probably not the way to go unless you’re a huge Vizio fanboy, the TV is 50 inches compared with the 55 inches of the LG, but you only save $10. It costs $528 from both the Amazon website, where it is available for Prime shipping, and from the Prime Now app. The consistence makes sense, but the price for the screen size doesn’t. VIZIO M55-C2 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED HDTV. If you want to go super impressive in a couple hours or less, there is one 4K TV available from Prime Now. For some reason this one is also more expensive from the website than from the app, and isn’t available for Prime shipping from the site either. At Amazon.com you pay $921.99. Although the shipping isn’t Prime, it is free. From Prime Now you only pay $849.99. Projectors But what if your emergency home theater needs to go really big? You want to watch in the backyard by the pool or set the kids up in the front yard so they can share with the whole neighborhood. Prime Now has you covered there as well. These should be much easier to stock and ship, making it that much easier to be an instant hero. Optoma HD141X 1080p 3D DLP Home Theater Projector, $574 from Prime Now, 3000 Lumen Optoma HD26 1080p 3D DLP Home Theater Projector, $649 from Prime Now, 3200 Lumen BenQ W1070 1080P 3D DLP Home Theater Projector, $696 from Prime Now, 2000 Lumen And of course you’ll need a screen. The Epson Duet 80-Inch Dual Aspect Ratio Projection Screen is $105.78 from Prime Now, includes a floor stand and can be expanded to the size that best meets your needs - old school 4:3 or widescreen 16:9. Surround Sound This is where it gets tricky and you have to be a bit creative. We didn’t find any AV Receivers through the app, and the speakers we could get were all more computer speakers than home theater speakers. That said, the Logitech Surround Sound Speakers Z506 would probably do a decent job for you, and at $57.99 they aren’t going to break the bank. You get a center speaker, four satellites and a subwoofer for that price. Certainly better than the built-in TV speaker. There are a couple of sound bar options, like the VIZIO SB2920-C6 29-Inch 2.0 Channel Sound Bar for $78 or the VIZIO SB4051-C0 40-Inch 5.1 Channel Sound Bar with Wireless Subwoofer and Satellite Speakers for $348. With the inclusion of the w

Amazon Fire TV (4K) We are big fans of streamers. Whether it be Roku, Apple, or Amazon there is a streamer out there that makes watching movies as convenient as pressing a button on your remote. So when all three updated their offerings we knew we were going to be spending some time in front of the TV evaluating them. First up is the Amazon Fire TV in 4K (Buy Now $99). Features: All-new Amazon Fire TV now supports 4K Ultra HD for true-to-life picture quality. Watch high-definition 1080p streams on Amazon Video, Netflix, Hulu and more, even without a 4K TV. Now with Alexa, use your Fire TV Voice Remote to check sports scores or the weather, play music, and more - instantly Enjoy over 250,000 TV episodes and movies on Netflix, Amazon Video, HBO GO, and Showtime Anytime, plus games, music, and apps Cutting the cord? Watch the best of live TV on NBC News, NBA Gametime, and Sling TV, which includes ESPN, CNN, HDTV, AMC, A&E, Cartoon Network, and more. Say it. Watch it. Simply say the name of what you want to watch and start enjoying in seconds. Now with 75% more processing power, a dedicated graphics engine, better Wi-Fi support, 2 GB of memory, 8 GB of storage and expandable storage of up to 128 GB With over 800 games - the most games of any other streaming media player - there is something for the entire family, including Minecraft, Lego Star Wars, and Pac-Man 256 Amazon Prime members get unlimited access to Prime Video, including original programming like Transparent, plus over 1 million songs with Prime Music Setup The physical setup is simple, connect the device to your TV (or receiver) via HDMI, connect the Ethernet cable or use wifi, and the plug it into power. If you are a Prime member it is already configured to your account so you can start watching Prime content immediately. The Fire TV comes with a few programs already installed but if you want Netflix or Hulu you’ll need to install them. That takes a couple of minutes depending on your internet speed. You’ll also want to update the firmware on the device. The main reason is that you get Dolby Digital Plus instead of Stereo on Netflix! Also, an update for older Dolby Digital systems (not Dolby Digital Plus) will be distributed on November 30th. We did run into a few issues that were not a fault of the Fire TV but issues that you may run into as well. The first time we connected the device to our receiver, a Denon, that did not support HDCP 2.2. Of course everything worked, we just couldn’t get an 4K content to display. A message on the video setup of the Fire TV told us that the port is connected but since it does not support HDCP 2.2 we would only be able to get 1080p. We first verified that the TV supported HDCP 2.2. And it did on all HDMI inputs but only input five was HDMI 2.0. As it turned out, you can get 4K content over HDMI 1.4 as long as it supports HDCP 2.2! Next up was to upgrade the receiver. See what we do for you guys!! We ended up buying a Pioneer Elite VSX-90 7.2 ATMOS receiver. A review on that will be coming in a few weeks. We also verified that we were using high speed HDMI cables. For our test, they were Amazon Basic HDMI cables that cost about $10. All the pieces were in place and we were ready for 4K! Unfortunately, there wasn’t any to be had. As it turns out only the first three HDMI ports on the VSX-90 are HDCP 2.2 compatible and it says that nowhere except in some tiny print in the manual. In fact the sticker on the front proudly proclaims 7 HDMI inputs and HDCP 2.2. Regardless, the Fire TV was moved to an input that supported HDCP 2.2 and the message saying that 4K was not possible went away. One last note. Removing the battery cover on the remote is one of the most difficult things I have had to do for any device I have owned. Seriously?? What were they thinking. Fortunately there is a video that will help you with this task (https://youtu.be/cjyUo18DQdg) Performance For our testing we looked at three apps, Netflix, Amazon Prime Videos, and Slingbox. There are plenty of video apps but we figured that Netflix and Amazon have a decent amount of 4K content so it made the most sense. Slingbox The Slingbox app makes the Fire TV a killer product… well if you have a Slingbox anyway. You could take the Fire TV with you on vacation and have access to all your TV anywhere you go. Or you could setup a Slingbox someplace where you want access to local content and access on your TV at home. Regardless, this is a cool feature. Unfortunately it didn’t work. The Slingbox app kept trying to load and never really worked. We’ll try again later but right out of the shoot there were issues. In general, we found there to be some quirkiness with the player. Amazon may be one or two firmware updates away from a rock solid system. Netflix Next up was Netflix and some 4K content. Amazon is touting something called ASAP (Advanced Streaming and Prediction). Its supposed to start streaming instantly. Here is what we found. If you select a movie and tak

CEDIA 2015 Each year CEDIA (Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association) holds an event where the industry gathers to show off their wares. Kinda like a mini-CES, but also like a best of CES, we’ve been to a few of these and actually enjoy the show more than CES. It takes the parts of CES that we are interested in and compresses it down to a more manageable show. We didn’t go this year but that won’t stop us from talking about some of the products we think are interesting. This year the show was from October 14-17 in Dallas, TX. Sony Electronics Announces 4K Home Theater Projectors at CEDIA 2015 Sony Electronics is expanding its home theater line-up by announcing new projectors at CEDIA 2015. The new projectors include the VPL-VW665ES and VPL-VW365ES, which deliver native 4K resolution and a new long-lasting lamp gives both up to 6,000 hours of performance, with high brightness and high contrast for even more vibrant images. The VPL-VW665ES is compatible with HDMI input of HDR (High Dynamic Range) content with a 300,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio. Sony is developing HDR support across its portfolio and the VPL-VW665ES gives home cinema enthusiasts the opportunity to experience total immersion in whatever they are watching. The new VPL-VW665ES and VPL-VW365ES use advanced SXRD™ panels for a native 4K picture, with no artificial manipulation of pixels. Both new models allow users to enjoy up-to-date 4K content services through the latest connectivity options using the latest HDMI standard and HDCP 2.2. The new projectors will be available in October 2015 at a suggested retail price of $3,999 for the VPL-HW65ES, $9,999 for the VPL-VW365ES and $14,999 for the VPL-VW665ES. SunBriteTV Unveils 84-, 55-Inch Outdoor 4K TVs SunBriteTV has announced its entry into 4K UHD with two new outdoor televisions, including an 84-inch Pro Series model (SB-8418UHD), its largest screen size to date, and a 55-inch Signature Series unit (SB-5574UHD). Designed for permanent outdoor installation, both the SB-8418UHD and the SB-5574UHD feature weatherproofing technology that protects internal components from rain, snow, dust, salt corrosion, insects, and humidity. Specialized high-brightness anti-glare screens differ from those of indoor televisions for a 3840 x 2160p 4K UHD viewing experience. Both units come with a 20W detachable weatherproof speaker bar. Shipping dates and pricing for both units will be released later this year. The SB-8418UHD, part of SunBriteTV’s Pro Series, also features a glass shield to provide extra protection for the LED panel. The unit has an (800 NIT) LED screen and Direct Sunlight-Readable capability with a built-in heating and cooling systems that keep it operating in temperatures from -40° to 122°F. The SB-5574UHD has a 3.5-inch depth and is fully functional in temperatures from -24° to 122°F. Epson Unveils New Line of Premium Ultra-Bright Pro Cinema Projectors Epson unveiled an expanded line of Full HD 1080p Ultra-Bright Pro Cinema Projectors, the Epson® Pro Cinema G6970WU, Pro Cinema G6570WU, Pro Cinema 4855WU, and wireless Pro Cinema 1985. Featuring up to 6,000 lumens of color brightness and 6,000 lumens of white brightness. Epson's latest projectors provide custom installers, sports and AV enthusiasts versatile solutions specifically designed to provide exceptional image quality and wireless connectivity in large, open ambient light environments that compete directly with traditional flat panels. The Pro Cinema 1985 wireless projector shines bright and supports the latest in connectivity – transforming the projector into a versatile home entertainment hub. Users can stream media from a smartphone, tablet, or laptop using wireless projection with Miracast® and Intel® WiDi. For brilliant entertainment right out of the box, the projector features built-in sound and two HDMI® ports to connect cable and satellite boxes, gaming consoles and more. In addition, the Pro Cinema 1985 supports MHL-enabled devices, including Chromecast, Roku®4 and Amazon® Fire TV Stick. Pro Cinema G6970WU: $6,999 MSRP, 6,000 lumens Pro Cinema G6570WU: $5,499 MSRP, 5,200 lumens Pro Cinema 4855WU: $3,099 MSRP, 4,000 lumens Pro Cinema 1985: $2,499 MSRP, 4,800 lumens The Pro Cinema G6970WU, G6570WU and 1985 will be available in November through CEDIA and specialty dealers. The Pro Cinema 4855WU is shipping now. Control4 Delivers Enhanced Smart Home Security and Entertainment Experiences Control4 released OS 2.8, the latest version of its smart home operating system. With OS 2.8, Control4 rolls out a reimagined smart home security experience that easily integrates with today’s leading security systems, smart locks and cameras; offers native streaming of music services from Pandora, Deezer, and TIDAL; and updates other capabilities to make it easy for Control4 homeowners to search, browse, listen and watch their favorite media. Additionally, OS 2.8 delivers a number of enhanced dealer tools, most notably the ability to back up

Chromecast Audio We have been enjoying whole house audio for years now. Braden has a nice Sonos system in place while Ara has gone with an Airplay solution. We each have multiple zones including the garage and bathrooms where we can listen to our music in a casual setting. The Sonos solution uses Sonos designed speakers or it can use a bridge to add powered speakers or receivers to the system. Apple uses their technology called Airplay which allows you to connect powered speakers connected to an Airport Express or one to the many receivers and third party powered speakers that support Airplay. Both systems are flexible and reliable. You can mix and match speakers, receivers, and even set top boxes. You can choose to have different music playing in the various zones. And everything can be controlled from the palm of your hand. The systems can cost a few hundred dollars all the way up to thousands. The playing field just got a little more crowded with the introduction of the Chromecast Audio. It's a small device about the size of three silver dollars stacked on top of each other and it only costs $35! And no you can’t get it at Amazon! Seriously…what are those guys thinking?? The Chromecast Audio plugs into your powered speaker via the 3.5mm audio input jack for streaming music through WiFi. If your speakers or receiver only accept RCA inputs you can use a cable that is 3.5mm on one end and RCA on the other. Once set up, simply use your iPhone, iPad, Android phone and tablet, Mac and Windows laptop, or Chromebook to send your music to any zone in the house. Setup Setup is quite easy. First connect the Chromecast Audio to power and use the supplied 3.5mm cable to your speakers. Then download and launch the Chromacast app for your mobile device. Follow the onscreen steps and in less than a minute you will have your fist audio zone up and running. Repeat the steps for each zone you are setting up and just like that you have multiroom audio! Depending on the speakers you choose you can spend anywhere from $50 up to $500 or more per zone. But if the listening is strictly causal and for ambiance you can easily setup up a five zone system for less than $500! Performance To start playing audio (on an iOS device anyway) you simply launch an app that is Chromecast capable select the speaker and enjoy. Google Play, Pandora, iHeart Radio all support Chomecast Audio. In fact the list of supporting apps is quite large. Check out the Chromcast Audio website for a full list. Unfortunately but not unexpectedly for iOS users Apple’s own apps do not support the Chromecast Audio. Once you have started streaming control is handed off to the Chromecast which streams directly from the cloud. So if you get a call or notification you don’t stop or interrupt the music. This is a nice feature if you are having a party and you don’t want the music to stop. If you are at home and you prefer it to be quiet you can always pause the track. You can also cast from a desktop Mac or Windows PC but you’ll need to use the Chrome Browser and install the Chromecast Extension. Once you do this any audio that is coming into your browser can be sent to the speakers. So far the experience has been real nice, but what about the audio quality? Well how much quality can you expect from a device that costs $35? We found the audio was a little thinner than when listening through the same speakers connected directly to the phone or tablet. The lows didn’t have that punch and the highs just seemed washed out. We couldn’t find detailed specs on the converter used but that’s probably because it's not very good. In general we found the Sonos did a much better job. But this isn’t a real knock on the product. It's just a reminder not to expect miracles from the device. For what it is, the Chromecast Audio is a nifty little product that does a decent job. The current firmware does not support sending audio to multiple zones at once. Google says there is an update coming later this year that will enable that feature. Conclusion Let’s be honest, the Chromecast Audio is not going to win over any audiophiles, but what it will do is make it possible for just about anyone, with a limited budget, to deploy a multi zone audio system for casual listening that won’t break the bank!

United Object Smart Beam Laser Projector You could probably start a pretty healthy debate if you asked a group of home theater enthusiasts what the single most important piece of gear is if you want to truly transform a home video system into a legitimate home theater. Surround sound is important. Without surround sound you’ll never feel like part of the action, and your home theater will never feel like a movie theater. The subwoofer provides the punch you need to really feel the action; the center channel provides all the on-screen action and the surround speakers put you right into the middle of that action. But equally as vital is the front projector. Sure TVs are getting bigger, and they’re really good - even at the really big sizes. To be honest, big TVs that are really good is a relatively new phenomenon. In the past the really big screens, the rear projection screens, were good, but they were really more about size than quality. But not true today; there are some killer home theaters built around large plasma and LED TVs. But for the authentic big screen experience, you really need that big screen. Something you can still only get from a front projector. But if you turn that debate inside out a bit, if you ask about the single most important piece of equipment for a portable theater setup, the answers change. Surround sound isn’t as important, because who would travel with 7 speakers. Obviously you wouldn’t travel with a full television set, so you could say a really good, portable screen is key. But most people would tell you the projector is the most important. And small projectors, pico projectors, are starting to really develop into a strong category. One such pico projector that’s getting a lot of attention is the United Object Smart Beam Laser pico projector. Not only is it tiny, small enough to fit in any travel bag, it has some unique features that make it quite compelling as the centerpiece to your portable home theater. We had the opportunity to play with one recently and it was a lot of fun. Granted it won’t ever be able to anchor your true home theater experience, it is cool enough to anchor your portable video needs and turn any portable electronic viewing device, like a laptop, tablet or phone, into a portable home theater rig. Basics The United Object Smart Beam Laser Projector is square. It measures about 2.2 inches on a side and can fit in the palm of your hand. They bill it as the smallest HD laser projector in the world. It has a maximum brightness of 60 ANSI Lumens using, of course, a laser power source. The display itself uses LCoS (liquid crystal on silicon) technology and is capable of 720p (1280x720) HD video resolution. It’ll go as small as 20” all the way up to a maximum 100” screen. You can buy it online direct from United Object for $419. Or from Amazon for the same price, but you do get Prime shipping. Setup and Use The projector needs power and a video source. It includes the power cord and an MHL cable, but you can also use micro HDMI, but you’ll need to provide your own cable for that. The unit is battery powered and the manual claims you can get up to 120 minutes of video from a full charge. We didn’t test that, but because it also supports a couple wireless video options, you don’t need to have it plugged in at all times to use it. You can connect to it using Miracast, mirroring from iOS, or using DLNA over WiFi. Plugging into power is, of course, trivial. Once that’s done, plugging in a micro HDMI cable (you can get from Amazon for a couple bucks) and using the Smart Beam like a traditional projector is a snap, assuming you have a device that supports either HDMI or MHL. At that time, you have a 2-inch cube portable projector that fits in the palm of your hand. The Smart Beam includes an MHL adapter that is needed for some MHL devices, but we went with straight HDMI and it was ridiculously easy to setup and use. It took all of 30 seconds. Going wireless really doesn’t take that much more work. When you turn it on without an HDMI/MHL input, the home screen shows you a Miracast Device name to connect to. We assume that is trivial, but didn’t have a Miracast device handy, so we didn’t try it. To use it with iOS or DLNA, you have to switch it to DLNA mode by tapping the power button twice quickly. Then it turns into its own WiFi hotspot and tells you how to connect to it. You join it as if it were a standard, open WiFi network and use AirPlay to mirror a device to it or DLNA to send content to it. This added an extra minute or two to the setup. Performance One really cool feature of the projector is that it will auto focus for any supported screen size. You can’t zoom, so you have to move it to the proper distance to get the right screen size, but once you have it at the right distance, it’ll automatically focus for you. We found the focus to be much sharper at larger screen sizes than smaller ones, but that could also be a function of how far we were from the screen,

Ultimate DVR We have been using DVRs now for the past 10 years or so and they have come a long way since when they were first introduced. But with that said there are still a few features that could take the DVR to a whole new level. We have a few ideas for the Ultimate DVR and so do you. Pause In One Room And Pick Up In Another Most of our DVRs can already pick up recordings in different rooms at the last played spot but it's a bit cumbersome. The way it works for most of us is to turn on the TV in the other room go to the recording list select the show and then hit resume. We would like to make it simpler. How about when you hit pause you are given an option to select another TV for continuation. Then you turn off the TV and go to the other room and turn on the TV. A dialog box will already be displayed on the screen asking you to hit play to resume. With a single click of the remote you are back in business! User Profiles User profiles would make life much easier for homes with multiple inhabitants. The interface should allow for quick filtering of the recorded programs based on users. That way we don’t see the shows that our children and/or spouses recorded. Anytime a new program is added to the season pass manager it will show up in everyone’s list until you accept or reject it. You can also show the full unfiltered list with a simple toggle. But the real power will be in tracking where you were in a program. If someone in your household watches a show that you also have in your list it should not indicate that its been watched by you until you watch it. If someone else is 30 min into the show and you are 15 min into the show the DVR should keep track of that as well. True iTunes/Netflix/Amazon/Youtube Integration It would be great if you could log in via your DVR and then whatever subscriptions/TV/movies you have purchased would show up in the program list. Sure you can switch over to a Smart TV application or external set top box. It would be really cool if they just show up in the playlist. Listeners Ideas I would like to be able to record 4-6 shows simultaneously, watch DVR from my phone, set recordings more easily (too many steps), watch from any TV/device. Thanks! Shawn Faherty Stafford, VA via Facebook Due to there being so much content out there to watch, some intelligence can be added to recommend shows that you would like based on what you record and shows that you watch via the "Catch Up" feature. I find that there is a lot of good stuff out there, but we just don't seem to find it and if we do find it, the shows are a few episodes in already. For shows that you generally record, highlight them within the "Catch-up" section. I prefer to watch via "Catch-up" then via the recorded shows since then I don't have to skip commercials. Glen South Africa via Facebook Cloud based dvr so that recordings are available to view on all devices. Could be practical now that dsl speeds are much higher these days. Integration of catch - up and on demand within the EPG. This could allow for scrolling 'back in time' through the epg to launch a catch up show, straight from the epg itself. Duncan via Facebook In today's day and age, if a game runs late, the dvr should automatically adjust @409SWH via twitter An interface that's easy to use with less clicks. The @XFINITY X1 DVR is example of poor/stupid UI. @HiFiGuy528 (and many others!) via twitter Honestly, way before any fancier feature, I'd just like the damn thing to work SMOOTHLY. My Comcast box is just slow enough responding to button presses that it drives me crazy. I spend an inordinate amount of time just trying to fast forward through commercials without overshooting the beginning of the next program segment. Then, rewinding... Then, oops, back forward... Then back... Then screw it, I'll just watch this last commercial. At the end of a program I hit stop and WAIT for the option to delete, then hit OK and WAIT for it to delete, then WAIT for it to respond to the "exit" button for the DVR menu to go away. Then I'm about 10 seconds away from smashing the remote. Also, on the Comcast DVRs, you have to add about 3 minutes to every recording because the thing acts squirrelly near the end of any recording, in ways too specific and weird to explain here. Oh, AND, for no reason, they changed the play button's function during playback from simply showing the play timeline to now pausing the program. GRRR.... So the feature I want the most? JUST WORK RIGHT. The next complaint is simply the guide / schedule. Program reruns show up as new and either don't get changed to a rerun listing until right before it airs, or never change and get recorded, filling up the drive. And our local PBS station CONSTANTLY has errors in listings. On other stations, series recordings just disappeared for the upcoming season, and we had to re-create them. Nuts. So then after all the basic stuff, I'd like one DVR that remembered where you were in any recording, no matter how you were pla

Yonomi - The Automation Consolidation App Being able to control anything and everything in your home from your smartphone is pretty cool. Having to open multiple apps to do it is kinda lame. That’s what the developers behind Yonomi are hoping to solve for you. Sure if you have a central server or hub, you can do it all there and control everything with one app, but is there really one server that can control any smart device? We haven’t seen it yet. Of course, Yonomi can’t control any and every smart device you can imagine, but because their approach is different, they have support for more than you can imagine. And it feels like it will be easier for them to add support for more devices faster than a server or hub product could do. About the App From the Website: “Smart devices are here: Wireless thermostats, activity monitors, networked music systems and a whole host of devices in the home. Wouldn’t it be great if they all could communicate together? Wouldn’t it be even better if they worked in unison to make your daily routines easier and more enjoyable? Now there is an app that does all that and works in the background so you can get back to the things that really matter.” “Yonomi resides on your phone and in the Cloud. No need for a hub, controller box or other additional hardware. Yonomi magically finds and enhances your existing connected devices allowing them to interact with one another in ways never before possible.” Supported Devices August Smart Locks Belkin WeMo Switches, Plug Modules, Motion Sensors, Bulbs and Netcams Belkin Wemo enabled Crock-Pot Belkin Wemo enabled Mr. Coffee Cree LED Bulbs Egg Minder GE Link LED Bulbs Jawbone UP Mimo Baby Monitor Nest Thermostat and Smoke Detector Parrot Flower Power Philips HUE Lights Quirky Aros Air Conditioner, Door & Window Sensors, Water Sensors Sonos Devices Withings Pulse, Activite, Smart Body Analyzer, Wireless Scale Using the App First of all, the app is totally free. We aren’t sure how they plan to make money and stay around for the long run, but hopefully they have a plan. It is a bit scary to rely on it as your home automation server to only have it disappear out from underneath you. But then again, it’s free, so you’ve lost nothing but the time it took to get it up and running. Installing the app is as easy as any other app. Then you register by providing your name, email address and a password. Once done, it scours your WiFi for compatible devices and adds them. Once you have some devices in the app, that’s when things get really fun. It starts by suggesting routines that match with the devices you have. Almost like a Harmony remote, when you add a TV and it tells you that you should really have a Watch TV activity, etc. But it goes way beyond just the devices it found. You can tell it where your home is located and it can use date and time, sunrise and/or sunset, the location of the phone (you leave home, you arrive home, etc) and a lot more to customize your routines. Much like an automation hub or server, you can configure all kinds of routines to occur based on your life, and even things you didn’t know your devices could do. You can have your Sonos speakers talk to you, like saying ‘Don’t forget your lunch’ at 7:45 in the morning as your kids are headed out the door for school, then play Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) by Bananarama as they’re walking out. Or it can say, “Welcome home, Dave” when you get back from a long day at work, then start playing your favorite relaxing slow jam mix to help you de-stress. Even turn on some lights and start a pot of coffee. Events that occur on the phone can set off routines in the smart devices as well. Flash the lights in the whole house when you get a phone call. Mute the Sonos speakers, or pause the music, when you answer or make a call. Have the Sonos speakers announce the weather when you shake the phone. It’s fun, easy to use, and very easy to configure. Because the app works with the Sonos Playbar, there are a bunch of cool potential routines to tie into your home theater as well. We didn’t get the chance to try it on multiple phones, to make sure they could set independent routines, like different slow jam mixes when different people arrive home, but since the phone was added as a supported device during setup, we assume it would be as simple as logging into the app with the same account and creating some new routines. We’ll try this later and report back.

Binge Watching TV We have talked about Binge watching on the show many times. It's a relatively new phenomena where you watch multiple episodes of a TV program in rapid succession. In the early days that meant you would buy or rent seasons of the program you were interested in on DVD. Today it can be that or more likely you stream the program from Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, or the network’s website. We have never in the history of television had more content available to watch than we do right now. From old series to new made for streaming series you no longer can say there is nothing to watch. But has Binge watching improved the experience? Will take a look. Some Statistics A recent Tivo study says a little more than 90% of you have binge watched television. Seventy percent of the respondents to the Tivo survey say there is nothing wrong with it. Some of the reasons for binge watching include, catching up on missed episodes, finding out about a series a season or two or five after it first aired, and some just want to power through a season without having to wait for the show each week. The undisputed champ of binge watching is Netflix with 66% of the Tivo respondents saying that’s how they binge watch. It's not all roses for those who binge watch either. Thirty One percent of the survey takers said they have lost sleep because of their binge and 37% say they have lost an entire weekend to the habit. There is another study that binge watching can lead to depression although it may be that those who suffer from depression like to binge watch. Remember the old adage, everything in moderation! It applies to binge watching as well. Water Cooler Discussions Not What They Used To Be Who remembers watching Lost and then going to the office the next day to talk with co-workers so that you could decipher the previous night’s episode? It was almost like a ritual that a small group of us would discuss nuances of the show. It made for a nice social interaction with friends and co-workers. Fast forward a few years and now with Twitter you can watch a TV show with hard core fans and get real time discussion or you can interact with the actors after the show with Twitter Q&A. With binging these social elements of watching programs are no longer there. You may have spent the entire weekend watching Daredevil (Fantastic show by the way) on Netflix but your co-worker is only 5 episodes in. You have to hold back on your enthusiasm in your discussion for fear of a spoiler. Speaking of spoilers, now we have to speak in code to make sure that the person you are speaking with is caught up. We have all been upset with someone who says something like, “OMG, I can’t believe they killed Beth!!” (Spoiler alert, they killed off Beth in The Walking Dead). We have on this very show had to be careful in what we say for fear of spoiling an episode or series for our listeners. How long do we have to wait before we can freely talk about a show without fear of upsetting our friends? Here is a survey from the Sydney Morning Herald: Content Creators Are Adapting It not just the viewers who are changing, so are the producers of television. It's not very long after a season wraps up that all episodes are available on Blu-ray and DVD ready to be shipped to your door so you can binge. So many of you would tell us that we should watch “Burn Notice” and “The Walking Dead” that we ended up getting the discs from Netflix and catching up in a few weeks. We remember how depressing it was when we ran out of old episodes and had to wait each week for the next one. Although the Monday Morning Debrief, as Ara’s daughter calls it, is also fun. Creators understanding that we can watch more content at any time are giving us more things to watch. For streaming you don’t need an audience of ten million people to make the show viable. Networks have a finite amount of time to fill so they only want to fill it with shows that draw huge numbers. Streaming can get by on a lot less. Plus, since the show was meant to be streamed the producers don’t care when you watch. As a result more shows are getting green lit. The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was passed on by NBC and then picked up by Netflix. It has been a huge success and is nominated for an Emmy. Do you remember when mid-season finales were big? Well no reason to do that anymore. Also, what about seasonal episodes? Shows that are made available all at once no longer can do the obligatory Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas episode. But is does allow creators to be free from the limits. not having to “waste” episodes based on seasonal elements allows the creators to experiment. Not fearing being canceled after two episodes allows the creators to develop the plot and characters at a slower pace. Binge watchers may have to wait four or five episodes to get the full picture, but who cares, that can be done before lunch. This way you don’t feel like you’ve invested an entire month on a show before deciding that you don’t

New TV Shows for Fall 2015 Few things in life are as highly anticipated as television premier season every Fall. The Super Bowl maybe? A wedding or the birth of a child perhaps? But most of them pale in comparison to the awesomeness that is premier season. All of your favorite shows coming back for another year, and a ton of new shows to potentially add to the DVR. One of them might just become your new favorite show. Media Life Magazine has a great post with all the Fall Premiere Dates by date, time, and Network. ABC Blood & Oil Premieres: Sunday, Sep. 27 at 9:00 PM Don Johnson won't be getting Blood & Oil all over his Miami Vice linen clothes in this dirty series about a modern-day oil boom in North Dakota. Johnson plays an oil tycoon who's the antagonist to ambitious young couple Billy (Chace Crawford) and Cody (Rebecca Rittenhouse), who do everything they can to break off a little piece of that oil pie for themselves. Will everything of theirs — including their marriage — stand up to the challenge? Dr. Ken Premieres: Friday, Oct. 2 at 8:30 PM Community's Ken Jeong, who was once a real-life doctor, can now say he plays a doctor on TV. Jeong stars as the titular character, a great physician who lacks bedside manner and a husband and father of two who drives everyone up the wall. The multi-camera comedy should be a good fit on Friday nights, where it will be paired with Last Man Standing. Suzy Namamura, Tisha-Campbell Martin, Dave Foley, Jonathan Slavin and Albert Tsai also star. The Muppets Premieres: Tuesday, Sep. 22 at 8:00 PM Everyone's favorite (or at least top 10) puppets are coming back to television, but this time, they have even more sass. This new version of The Muppets is presented as a modern-day documentary catching us up with Kermit, Miss Piggy and everyone else as they go on with their professional (running a late-night show) and personal (puppet romance!) lives. ABC is pitching this as a more adult version of The Muppets that's still good for kids of all ages. The Big Bang Theory's Bill Prady will run the show. Quantico Premieres: Sunday, Sep. 27 at 10:00 PM Let's just call this one How to Get Away with Terrorism, because this twisty ensemble thriller has a lot in common with ABC's big hit from last fall. A new incredibly attractive (obvs) class of FBI recruits at Quantico all joined the FBI for different reasons, which will be shown to the audience via flashbacks. But the real interesting part? One of the recruits — we don't know who — is responsible for the biggest domestic terrorist attack on U.S. soil since 9/11. Let the twists begin! Priyanka Chopra, Jake McLaughlin, Johanna Braddy and Graham Rogers star. Wicked City Premieres: Tuesday, Oct. 27 at 10:00 PM Anthologies, period pieces and murder dramas are all the rage, and ABC smashed 'em all together in Wicked City. Set in 1980s Los Angeles, the first season is all about a detective (Jeremy Sisto) chasing down coupled-up serial killers (Ed Westwick, Erika Christensen) who prey on young women. Enjoyment tip: Try not to think about how half the cast wasn't even born when the series takes place. CBS Angel From Hell Premieres: Thursday, Nov. 5 at 9:30 PM Jane Lynch stars as a guardian angel. Or does she star as a crazy person who thinks she's a guardian angel? That's what Maggie Lawson's character — a straight-laced dermatologist — will have to figure out in this oddball buddy comedy. But you'll have to figure out when to laugh — this is a rare single-camera comedy on CBS. Code Black Premieres: Wednesday, Sep. 30 at 10:00 PM Marcia Gay Harden stars in this medical drama about an emergency room in Los Angeles that's overcrowded, understaffed and under-equipped. But the doctors get it done, because this is a television show! Based on Ryan McGarry's award-winning documentary of the same name, Code Black also stars Luis Guzman, Raza Jeffrey, Benjamin Hollingsworth and Bonnie Somerville. Life in Pieces Premieres: Monday, Sep. 21 at 8:30 PM A fantastic cast highlights this multi-generational family comedy that's told from the point of view of every family member. Babies will be born, kids will go to college and sitcom situations will go down at funerals. Dianne Wiest, James Brolin, Colin Hanks, Zoe Lister-Jones, Angelique Cabral, Thomas Sadoski, Betsy Brandt and Dan Bakkedahl star. Limitless Premieres: Tuesday, Sep. 22 at 10:00 PM You thought the movie was OK, now see the television show based on the OK movie! This thriller stars Greek's Jake McDorman as a man who takes a drug that gives him access to 100 percent of his brain, meaning he's gifted physically and intellectually. Naturally, that makes him the perfect person to solve crime! Jennifer Carpenter, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Hill Harper co-star. Bradley Cooper, the star of the original 2011 film and executive producer of the series, will recur and reprise his character. Supergirl Premieres: Monday, Oct. 26 at 8:30 PM Add CBS to the list of networks riding on the cape of the superher

Today we go through emails and news and a discuss a post by Scott Wilkinson at AVS Forum that provides 12 Tips to Tune up your HDTV with guest host Stephanie Derderian. Don't worry, Braden will be back next week!

DIY Automation Controls using Amazon’s Dash Buttons Amazon released a new little product a couple months ago, to very little fanfare. The Dash Button is a tiny device that allows you to instantly order a specific product for Amazon Prime delivery. We thought it was a bit of a novelty and didn’t see much use for it, but as with just about anything in technology these days, give it time and someone will find a way to repurpose it and put it to better use. About the Dash Button Each button is about the size of a portable USB drive and, in Amazon’s own words, it “...comes with a reusable adhesive and a hook so you can hang, stick, or place it right where you need it. Keep Dash Button handy in the kitchen, bath, laundry, or anywhere you store your favorite products. When you're running low, simply press Dash Button, and Amazon quickly delivers household favorites so you can skip the last-minute trip to the store.” They are currently available in limited quantities to Prime members only. Each Dash Button costs $4.99. Not bad for the convenience factor. When we first heard about them, we thought it could be pretty neat. Buy a button, tell it what product you want it to order for you, and place it in a convenient location. Do you use a lot of AA batteries for remote controls, kids toys, etc? Place the Dash Button by where you store your batteries and when you’re running low, click it and you’ll have more on your doorstep in two days. But that’s not exactly how it works. The idea is the same, but the Buttons aren’t nearly that configurable. Each Button corresponds to a predetermined product, and includes that product’s logo on it. If you find yourself constantly ordering and reordering one of the available products, it could be great for you. If not, the Dash Button may seem useless. That is, unless you find your own unique way to hack the Dash Button to get it to do something else that makes sense for you. Right now there are 18 Dash Buttons available: Tide Detergent, Bounty Paper Towels, Cottonelle Toilet Paper, Glad Trash Bags, Gillette Razor Blade Refills, SmartWater Water Bottles, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Gatorade Sports Drinks, Huggies Diapers, Larabar Nutrition Bars, Izze Sparkling Juices, Wellness Natural Pet Food, Amazon Elements Baby Wipes, Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, Maxwell House Coffee, Olay Skin Care, Gerber Baby Formula, and L'Oreal Youth Skin Care. Repurposing the Dash Button The whole idea comes from a post at Medium.com by Ted Benson called How I Hacked Amazon’s $5 WiFi Button to track Baby Data. Which, we’ll admit, sounds a bit creepy, but it isn’t. It was a dad’s quest to track when and how often his baby woke up at night. You can get the full details if you read the post, but he had tried baby tracker apps, but wasn’t satisfied, so he decided to put the Amazon Dash Button to use for just that purpose. Those familiar with networking know that any devices you connect to your home network must have a unique identifier so your router can tell it apart from all the other devices on your network. This identifier is called a MAC address. The Dash Button is no different. Each one has a Mac address so it can connect to your home Wifi, then connect to Amazon over the Internet to make your product order. That MAC address, and the Dash Button’s ability to connect to your home Wifi are the secret to unlocking the device’s full potential. To save battery life, the Dash Button completely shuts off when not in use. This means that when you click the button it has to wake up, connect to your Wifi network, then place the order. So if you can track when it connects to your network, you can get an alert every time the button is pressed. The author decided to monitor his network with a simple python script running on his computer. The source code is available at the post if you want it. But if you’re inventive, there are multiple ways to detect a new device joining your network. Since each Dash button has to have a unique MAC address, you can have as many as you want and detect each one independently when they’re pressed. The author went on to enhance his python script to add a line to a google spreadsheet. He was able to use two different Dash Buttons to track two different baby activities at night, without having to turn his phone on, launch the app, track the activity, etc. Just click a Dash Button and you’re set. Of course, as he points out, you want to make sure the Dash Button isn’t actually associated with an item at Amazon so you don’t end up ordering something every time you click it. But instead of writing a line to a Google spreadsheet, this is where the world becomes your oyster. Yours can do anything you can script to occur from the computer tracking the network for Dash Button activity. If that computer happens to be your automation server, imagine the possibilities. Do you have an automation activity you perform constantly that a single button press would make so much easier when a light switch isn’t

Mobile HDTV Motorola Mobility, one time subsidiary of Google, now a part of Lenovo, just released a new app in the Google Play Store called, yep, you guessed it, Mobile HDTV. The app enables select phones and portable devices, with the proper hardware, to watch live, over-the-air HDTV right on your Android device. The concept is pretty simple, and you’d think very compelling, but it turns out most people can’t use it. The question is, why not? According to the description of the app, “Digital HDTV brings the broadcast TV experience to mobile devices with HD quality, making the experience more personal and more universally available.” The app is both a tuner and a DVR, so it allows you to... “Watch TV while away from home: Digital HDTV brings the HD broadcast TV experience to the mobile device, with the additional support of the EPG (Electronic Program Guide) and Ginga, for user interactivity.” “Record the TV program that you like: You may record the program you are watching, so that you can see it again later, or share something you liked with others.” “Choose when to watch your favorite program: You may love a TV program but you may not necessarily be available to watch it when it plays. This feature gives you the ability to schedule it to be recorded, so that you can watch it later, when you like it.” However, “This application has been designed to work on the Motorola models that support Mobile HDTV.” That’s the catch. So how many Motorola devices support Mobile HDTV? Turns out we weren’t able to find any for the US market that include the necessary hardware. Google and Amazon searches for devices with built-in DTV tuners came up empty. There are a handful of external DTV tuner/antennas at Amazon, but they’re based on the now defunct Dyle TV platform. So what gives? TV on your Phone According to the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters), “The process of integrating mobile TV transmission with an existing ATSC broadcast TV plant is not difficult. These are the basic devices required for local origination and network services: A video (AVC) and audio (HE AAC v2) encoder for each added program stream An IP path into the facility (for remote component ingest) An IP encapsulator to encapsulate all program streams and non-real-time files into the appropriate transport protocol A service multiplexer to multiplex the conventional ATSC stream with mobile TV data A mobile TV enabled exciter to replace the existing exciter in the ATSC transmitter The Mobile TV architecture provides full compatibility with all industry-standard ATSC equipment. Additionally, the system is compatible with all current microwave and fiber STL systems.” And they list a ton of benefits for the broadcaster, “When a mobile TV system is implemented, broadcasters can expect the following operational and financial benefits: Leveraged investment in ATSC transmission Delivery of robust digital TV signals to mobile TV receiving devices Extension of local branding to mobile users The ability to redirect local news, weather, sports and traffic information to "consumers on the go" The addition of up to eight program (streams) of mobile content per station New revenue opportunities based on subscription, advertising and sell-through transactions” We (The HT Guys) started talking seriously about Mobile HDTV back in 2010 when a group called Mobile Content Venture (MCV), a joint venture of 12 major broadcasters, announced a commitment to upgrade TV stations in 20 markets in order to deliver live video to portable devices. Their goal was to deliver mobile video service in markets representing more than 40% of the US population by late 2011. That group eventually released a platform of hardware and applications called Dyle TV. But as of May 22, 2015, Dyle mobile TV is no longer in service, and Dyle-enabled devices and their apps will no longer be supported. Some may remember that Qualcomm tried and failed as well. They developed a technology called MediaFLO for transmitting audio, video and data to portable devices for mobile television and branded it in the US as FLO TV. But in October 2010, they announced they were suspending all new sales of the service to consumers and in December 2010, AT&T acquired Qualcomm's broadcast spectrum licenses in the 700 MHz band. FLO TV was officially shut down as a service in March of 2011. What gives? Many of us remember how many portable TVs were sold in the 1980’s. How many Watchman TVs Sony was flooding the market with. And back then you had to carry a separate device with you just to watch TV. Often they were only black and white screens, and sure they were “portable,” but not nearly as portable as today’s cell phones. How is it that free, over-the-air television, with no cost to consumers - no data charges, no minutes used - isn’t a feature on every cell phone and tablet in America? This is very different than the Aereo situation. With Mobile HDTV the same broadcaster is airing the same content in the same mar

Sorting Through Atmos and DTS:X Receivers and Pre-Pros by Rob H. A Couple of Thoughts on Immersive Audio Setups There are differing opinions on which additional speakers beyond the standard 5.1 layout deliver the most immersive experience: - Mark Henninger, Senior Writer at AVS Forum, stated during an episode of the Home Theater Geeks Podcast that he feels that four overhead speakers are necessary in order to get a good sense of panning and movement of the audio objects. If he were limited to 9 speakers, he would favor 5.1.4 over 7.1.2: https://youtu.be/GTaBj-L8etI?t=1h1m42s - Representatives from THX, Matt Severaid and Craig Buckley, stated on an episode of the AV Forums Podcast that they feel the Surround Back speakers actually play a critical role. They also feel that the Surround and Surround Back speakers should still be elevated as opposed to being at seated ear level, which is the new recommendation from Dolby. With elevated Surround and Surround Back speakers, they would opt for 7.1.2 with Surround Back and Top Middle speakers if limited to 9 speakers total. https://youtu.be/hx_uOquSs44?t=18m4s General statements that might help you to quickly narrow down the field: 1) There are quite a few models that can decode Dolby Atmos but are unable to decode DTS:X (and will never get an update to do so). This is the case with ALL models that were released in 2014 - except for the flagship Denon AVR-X7200W Receiver and Marantz AV8802 Pre-Pro; those are the only two models that were released in 2014 that can be updated to decode DTS:X. There are also some 2015 models that decode Dolby Atmos but do not decode DTS:X. This list from High Def Digest has done an excellent job of separating the DTS:X + Dolby Atmos models from the Dolby Atmos-only models: LINK:http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/DTS/dtsx/Dolby/Atmos/Receivers/Home_Audio/Speakers/Pioneer/Denon/Marantz/Integra/Onkyo/Yamaha/KEF/Klipsch/hdds-dtsx-dolby-atmos-gear-buying-guide/24564 2) There were no models released in 2014 that included HDMI 2.0a with HDCP 2.2. While several 2014 Onkyo & Integra models touted HDCP 2.2 support, those ports were limited to 10.2 Gbps, which is insufficient for High Dynamic Range video signals that require the full 18 Gbps bandwidth of HDMI 2.0a. Once again, the only exceptions were the Denon AVR-X7200W and Marantz AV8802, which can have a hardware upgrade performed. No other 2014 models can be upgraded. Since the bandwidth (10.2 Gbps or 18 Gbps) is rarely listed on any spec sheets, the key features to look for are support for UltraHD/4K at 60 fps along with 4:4:4 chroma subsampling. Those features are the "code" that lets you know if a model has the full 18 Gbps bandwidth. 3) So far, in 2015, Pioneer & Pioneer Elite have not announced any models that can decode DTS:X or are able to receive an update to do so. This could change if they announce new models. 4) So far, in 2015, Onkyo & Integra have not announced any models capable of using more than 7 speakers simultaneously (5.2.2). This could change with the announcement of new models. 5) Denon & Marantz are the only mass market brands offering any models capable of decoding the Auro-3D immersive audio format. It is a $200 optional upgrade. It is only available on all models capable of using 9 or 11 speakers simultaneously. 6) In 2015, Denon & Marantz are the only mass market brands offering any models capable of using Front Wide speakers. Getting into some of the finer details: 7) Denon & Marantz have announced several models that are not yet listed in the High Def Digest article linked above. That is because the official announcements were made in Europe, but they have not yet been officially announced in North America. The official North American announcements are expected soon - certainly during or before CEDIA Expo 2015. You can view an English language translation of the European announcements below: LINK:https://translate.google.com/translate?depth=1&hl=en&ie=UTF8&nv=1&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http://www.areadvd.de/tests/special-dm-neuheiten-und-highlights-aus-dem-bereich-core-und-new-media/ 8) The additional Denon & Marantz models listed in a similar fashion as the High Def Digest article: DTS:X & Dolby Atmos Receivers Denon AVR-X6200W - ($2299, October) 9.2 Channel A/V Receiver, Supports Additional Amp for 11.2 Channels, 4K HDCP 2.2 Compliant, Auro-3D ($200 option) Marantz SR6010 - ($1199, September) 7.2 Channel A/V Receiver, Supports Additional Amp for 9.2 Channels, 4K HDCP 2.2 Compliant, Auro-3D ($200 option) SR7010 - ($1699, September) 9.2 Channel A/V Receiver, Supports Additional Amp for 11.2 Channels, 4K HDCP 2.2 Compliant, Auro-3D ($200 option) AV7702 Mk. II - ($1999, October) 11.2 Channel A/V Pre-Amp/Processor, 4K HDCP 2.2 Compliant, Auro-3D ($200 option) 9) If you would like to be able to use 11 speakers simultaneously, the number of mass market DTS:X options is limited: Denon AVR-X7200WA AV Receiver with 9 internal amps - $2999, a

2015 HDTV Shootout Each year Value Electronics, an audio/video integrator with a showroom in Scarsdale New York, pits the top TVs from big name manufacturers against each other to determine the King of HDTV. This year there were four contenders: Panasonic 65” Pro 4K Ultra HD Smart TV 240hz- CX850 Series- TC-65CX850U $3,200 Studio Master Drive- Helps 4K TV’s reproduce more detail and richer, more natural colors during dark scenes An advanced LED Backlight Design, DCI 90-98% Color Space, which produces a wider color range Firefox© OS to ensure ease for you to access smart apps and content Voice Assistant Pro allowing to operate your TV just by talking to it with a remote control Netflix© Recommended TV Sony XBR75X940C 75-Inch 4K Ultra HD 120Hz 3D Smart LED TV $8,000 HD is upscaled to impressive 4K Ultra HD Our best contrast ever with up to 3x brightness range Brilliant, expanded color with TRILUMINOS™ display Streaming 4K Ultra HD is enhanced for improved clarity Android TV with Google Cast, voice search & Play Store apps Powerful front-facing speakers and built-in subwoofers Precise motion clarity with Motionflow™ XR 1440 Stream PS3® games directly to your TV Black levels of plasma, brightness of LED Samsung UN78JS9500 Curved 78-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV $10,000 Experience our Most Superior Level of Color, Contrast, and Brightness Enjoy a Brighter, More True-to-Life Picture with a Wider Range of Colors Experience the Full Vibrancy of your Favorite Media and Entertainment Experience a Greater Sense of Depth with Optimized Contrast LG Electronics 65EG9600 65-inch 4K Ultra HD 3D Curved Smart OLED $7,000 Curved 4K OLED TV webOS 2.0 SMART TV Magic Remote Harmon/Kardon Sound Netflix Recommended TV The competition was conducted over two days with both professional and consumer evaluators. All in all just over 80 judges rated the TVs for Black Level, Contrast, Color, Off Angle Viewing, Screen Uniformity, Motion Clarity, and Day Mode viewing on professionally calibrated sets. Each category carries equal weight. The average scores for each category and overall average is listed below. Observations Consumers were tougher than the experts in their ratings except for when it came to off angle viewing. This translated to lower overall and average scores when rated by consumers. However the difference was small, less than percent or two. The difference between the best TV and the worst TV was 1.51 | 1.38 The price difference between the number one and two TVs are $3,000. With the number two Samsung costing more! The lowest scoring TV and highest scoring TV’s price difference is $3,800. You can decide if the curved OLED is worth it based on the scores. LED technology has come a long way in off axis viewing but apparently it still has a ways to go. OLED beat the other TVs by a wide margin. As far as color accuracy goes, OLED was tied for last with the SONY when viewed by experts but it won the category when viewed by consumers. If you do a lot of daylight viewing of TV you may want to go with the Samsung although the other TVs are only about a point lower in rating. OLED had the worst screen uniformity. OLED really won this competition based on three categories, Black Levels, Contrast, and Off Angle viewing.

Costco Shootout: Curved vs. Flat Costco has multiple TVs all lined up side by side. Some are worth comparing to each other, some are like comparing a Ferrari to a Kia. Both great for their own purpose and budget, but not at all similar enough to be compared. We happened to stumble into a Costco recently that had two 55 inch 4K LCD TVs side by side, one curved and one flat. And you can imagine we saw the challenge in that. We decided, right then and there, to do our own shootout of Curved TVs and Flat TVs, all other factors being the same. Both TVs in this case were made by Samsung. Both were side by side on industrial shelves with horrible fluorescent lighting. Both seemed to be set to the default, full bright, dynamic/showroom setting. Neither were professionally calibrated for sure. Both were 4k; both were LCD. As of this recording, Costco.com has multiple Curved and Flat TV sets available online. We compared two Samsung 55” TVs. They also have 65” versions of both styles available. There are many 55” models available at Costco.com two of them are the same ones we saw in store: Samsung 55" 4K Ultra HD Smart Curved LED LCD TV (Model: UN55JU670DFXZA) Price: $1,479.99 (or $1,297 from htguys) Features: Clear Motion Rate 120, UHD Upscaling and Dimming, Built-in Wi-fi with Full Web Browser, Quad Core Processor, PurColor Samsung 55" Class 4K Ultra HD Smart LED LCD TV (Model: UN55JU650DFXZA) $1,269.99 (or $1,197.99 from htguys) On sale for $1,179.99 After $90 OFF & Free Shipping Features: Clear Motion Rate 120, UHD Upscaling and Dimming, Built-in Wi-fi with Full Web Browser, Quad Core Processor, PurColor Visual Performance As you can imagine, both televisions are visually stunning, even without being calibrated. Both are 4K or Ultra HD sets, so the clarity of the picture was impeccable. Neither showed any signs of pixelation nor motion blur. The colors on both sets were very good. Neither showed like an OLED TV, but neither showed like the overly bright, washed out colors of the LCD TVs of yesteryear. Both can produce very respectable black levels - we aren’t talking Kuro plasma - but a solid ‘A’ for effort. No detail is ever lost in a dark scene; everything shows up with perfect detail. Which leads us to the actually clarity and detail in the picture. With the HD demo content we saw, the TV looked perfect. It was probably either a Blu-ray playing or a Blu-ray quality demo feed, so with high-quality 1080p the TVs are both amazing. We can only imagine that native 4k content will look at least as good and probably even better. We didn’t see any overly compressed HD or standard definition content on the screen, but it stands to reason that both TVs would perform just like any other HDTV with ugly input. Garbage in, garbage out. To Curve or Not to Curve That is the question. If you buy the hype, and they typical price bump you see on curved TVs, you would naturally assume the curved set is better for some reason. Maybe not an important reason, but at least for some reason. The typical reason you get is that the picture will look more natural, because the screen matches the curve of your eye. From our side-by-side comparison, that was not true at all. From straight on, it was nearly impossible to tell a difference in picture quality or overall viewing experience. Moving away from a straight-on viewing angle the TVs did differentiate a little. The flat model seems to hold the most consistent off-angle viewing experience, while the curved TV could look different from wide angles. We couldn’t tell for sure if the curve itself just reduce the off angle capabilities of the TV, or if some of the differences were similar to the geometric issues the cnet author mentioned, but either way, the flat TV had a better off-angle experience. Some articles online report the curved TV is better for a room with a lot of ambient light, the curve minimizes the reflection surface. Other sites claim the exact opposite, that the ambient light is reflected in strange, fun-house, hall of mirrors style - distorting the reflection and making it even more distracting. We had the same, consistent florescent lighting for both, so we weren’t able to really verify either point of view. In our observations, they were roughly the same on ambient light reflection. Conclusion In our limited test and sample, we came to the same conclusion cnet came to, the curve is cosmetic. There’s no real benefit in viewing experience nor picture quality on the curved screen. If anything, it reduces where you can use the screen by wanting to have the vast majority of your viewers coming from a straight-on seating position. Curved is like 3D: if that’s what you’re into, go for it. Have a blast. But if you end up buying a flat TV instead of a curved one, you certainly aren’t missing out on anything.

Atmos Processor Discussion with Dipinjeet Sehdev Today we discuss some receiver options for Atmos. We are joined by Dipinjeet Sehdev Internet Marketing & Brand Relations of Kef Speakers. Here are a few receivers/pre-amps that support Atmos. DTR 40.6 7.2 Dolby Atmos Ready Network AV Receiver Denon AVR-X5200W 9.2 Network A/V Receiver with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Dolby Atmos $1,999 Onkyo TX-NR1030 9.2-Ch Dolby Atmos Ready Network A/V Receiver w/ HDMI 2.0 $1,699 Marantz AV7702 Audio Video Preamp/Processor $1,990 Yamaha RX-A2050 9.2-Channel Network AV Receiver with Built-In Wi-Fi and Bluetooth $1,599 Onkyo PRSC5530 11.2-Channel THX Certified Network A/V Controller with Dolby Atmos $2,499

Top Ten Selling TVs at Amazon July 8, 2105 Best Sellers in Televisions 10. LG Electronics 42LF5800 42-Inch 1080p Smart LED TV (2015 Model) $398.00, 4.1 out of 5 stars 9. Samsung UN40H5003 40-Inch 1080p 60Hz LED TV (2014 Model) $327.99, 4.2 out of 5 stars 8. Samsung UN32J4000 32-Inch 720p 60Hz LED TV (2015 Model) $237.99, 4.3 out of 5 stars 7. LG Electronics 42LF5800 42-Inch 1080p Smart LED TV (2015 Model) $398.00, 4.8 out of 5 stars 6. Samsung UN32J5003 32-Inch 1080p LED TV (2015 Model) $247.99, 3.7 out of 5 stars 5. VIZIO E32-C1 32-Inch 1080p Smart LED HDTV $269.99, 4.1 out of 5 stars 4. Samsung UN40H5203 40-Inch 1080p 60Hz Smart LED TV (2014 Model) $377.99, 4.3 out of 5 stars 3. VIZIO E50-C1 50-Inch 1080p Smart LED HDTV $528.00, 4.1 out of 5 stars 2. VIZIO E24-C1 24-Inch 1080p Smart LED HDTV $168.00, 4.1 out of 5 stars 1. LG Electronics 42LF5600 42-Inch 1080p LED TV (2015 Model) $348.00, 4.5 out of 5 stars Statistics: By Brand Samsung : 4 VIZIO : 3 LG : 3 By size: 30-49" : 8 >49" : 1 By Price $300-500 : 5 >$500 : 1 By Resolution: 1080p : 9 720p : 1 By Display Technology LED / LCD : 10 Top UltraHD / 4K TVs: 35. VIZIO M50-C1 50-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED HDTV $798.00, 4.2 out of 5 stars 40. Samsung UN55JU6500 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV (2015 Model) $1,097.99, 3.6 out of 5 stars The #100 selling TV is #3660 overall in electronics. No OLED TVs appear in the top 100. The #1 selling OLED TV is #5132 overall in electronics; #2 is #15374 overall. The #1 selling plasma TV is #6641. Best Sellers in OLED TVs 1. LG Electronics 55EC9300 55-Inch 1080p 3D Curved OLED TV (2015 Model) $2,499.00, 4.5 out of 5 stars 2. LG Electronics 55EG9600 55-inch 4K Ultra HD 3D Curved Smart OLED TV (2015 Model) $4,999.00, 4.3 out of 5 stars Best Sellers in Plasma TVs 1. LG Electronics 50PB6650 50-Inch 1080p 600Hz PLASMA TV (2014 Model) $699.00, 4.3 out of 5 stars Top Ten Selling TVs at Amazon Sep. 2014 10. LG Electronics 32LB5600 32-Inch 1080p 60Hz LED TV $270 9. LG Electronics 47LB5900 47-Inch 1080p 120Hz LED TV $480 8. LG Electronics 39LB5600 39-Inch 1080p 60Hz LED TV $350 7. Samsung UN32EH4003 32-Inch 720p 60Hz LED TV (2012 Model) $250 6. LG Electronics 55LB5900 55-Inch 1080p 120Hz LED TV $680 5. VIZIO E241i-B1 24-Inch 1080p 60Hz Smart LED HDTV (Black) $180 4. Sharp LC-32LE451U 32-inch Aquos HD 720p 60Hz LED TV $199 3. Samsung UN40H6350 40-Inch 1080p 120Hz Smart LED TV $500 2. VIZIO E500i-B1 50-Inch 1080p Smart LED HDTV $550 1. Samsung UN22F5000 22-Inch 1080p 60Hz Slim LED HDTV (2013 Model) $170 Two TV over 50 inches Two 720P TVs Lowest cost TV $170. Its $199 if you consider 32 inch as the smallest usable TV. Four LGs, three Samsungs, two Vizios, one Sharp No 4K TVs

High Resolution Audio Vs CD Over the past few months you have heard us mention high resolution audio on the show. There are audiophiles out there that swear that if you want the best quality audio then you must listen to high resolution audio. Others out there will tell you that CD quality is just as good. Then there are some that say mp3 or AAC files will suffice for the kind of listening most of us do. On today’s show we will take both an objective and subjective look at the subject. But this will be a different type of show this week. We’ll discuss the subject on the podcast but there is a companion video that will greatly help in the understanding of the topics discussed. Its available on our Youtube channel (HT Guys) or you can find it embedded on the website for today’s post. Before we get into the discussion let’s define a few terms for the purposes of our discussion: Hi-Res Audio - (From Wikipedia) There is no standard definition for what constitutes high-resolution audio, but it is generally used to describe audio signals with bandwidth and/or dynamic range greater than that of Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA). This includes pulse-code modulation (PCM) encoded audio with sampling rates greater than 44100 Hz and with bit-depths greater than 16, or their equivalents using other encoding techniques such as pulse-density modulation (PDM). High-resolution audio file formats include FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF and DSD, the format used by Super Audio Compact Discs (SACD). It should be noted, however, that audio encoded into one of these file formats is not necessarily high-resolution audio. For example, a WAV file could contain audio sampled at 11,025 Hz and quantized at eight bits, which is lower quality than CD-DA. CD Audio - (From Wikipedia) Digital audio encoding: 2-channel signed 16-bit Linear PCM sampled at 44,100 Hz. Objective Comparison For the objective comparison we start out with a Hi-Res audio file (24 bit 96KHz Sample Rate) and then we encode a CD version (16 bit 44.1KHz Sample Rate) from that. We also created 256Kbps AAC file from the CD version for the subjective test. We imported the 24 bit version into Audacity then we did the same but inverted the track. If the files are identical they should cancel out and the only thing you would hear is silence. That is exactly what happened. The next step was to import the both the 16 and 24 bit files and then invert the 24 bit track. We expected to see a difference but not by much. What we saw was a resultant audio track with audio from 14KHz to 20KHz. The audio was not loud enough to hear. Our conclusion is that the two tracks are virtually identical. Subjective Comparison For this portion of the test we used an application called ABX. ABX is a cross platform (Java Required) blind audio test application that makes this type of testing fool proof. Our setup was a Macbook Pro, Audio Engine D1 24bit DAC (Buy Now $169), and Bowers and Wilkins P5 Headphones (Buy Now $250). While not audiophile territory, it's a far cry from earbuds connected to your phone. We had friends and colleagues listen to the Hi-Res vs the AAC file and we found that Ara and two self proclaimed audiophiles were able to hear a difference between these files about 70% of the time. The remainder of the participants could not hear a difference . No one could hear a difference between the 24 and 16 bit audio tracks. Some Thoughts Is this a conclusive test? Not really. We will never say that no one can hear a difference between hi-res audio, CD, and AAC/mp3. So much has to do with the quality of the recordings, the hearing of the listener, and the equipment being used. On the video we import some music that has been mastered since the loud wars started (late 90s) and it's pretty obvious that there is not much dynamic range. Do you really need 24 bits when everything is maxed out? If you are used to listening to music that is loud with little or no dynamic range then you listen to something that is pure and full of dynamic range you are amazed. Truth be told you would be impressed even if you weren’t listening to a hi-res recording. When there are just a few instruments and a vocal you can hear everything including little nuances in the recording. That’s why almost every demo I have heard used artists like Norah Jones or Chris Botti. Its because their music has a lot of dynamic range and the detail in the recording usually blows you away. You can also get that detail with CD quality while saving some money and being just as blown away. Our recommendation is that you rip your CDs in two formats. Do a lossless version for listening at home in a dedicated environment. Then create a compressed version for your portable devices. If you try the test and can’t hear a difference then just go compressed. If you try the test and you can hear a difference, congratulations on having some fantastic hearing skill. This is a blessing and a curse. Finally, don’t get so caught up in listening at the music to

What the H? In the transition from High Definition Television to Ultra High Definition TV, we’ve seen the acronym dictionary go from bad to worse. On the good side, HDTV was multiple video resolutions and display formats, like 480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080p, while UHD is essentially just one. Some call it 4K, some call it UHD, some call it 2160p, but it all really boils down to the same thing for the TVs we’ll buy as consumers - 4 times the resolution of 1080p. HDTV to UHD There are differences between what the professional video industry considers 4K, which is a resolution of 4,096 by 2,160, and what the rest of of get when we buy a 4K TV, or an Ultra High Definition television set, which is typically 3,840 by 2,160 resolution, but the two are quite close. Some TVs support the slightly higher resolution, but for the most part we’re dealing with the one, quad-HD format, that defines UHD. In some ways, this makes the transition from HDTV to UHD very simple. In early HDTV days, there were the EDTVs: plasma TV sets that could display HDTV content but scaled it down to a native resolution of 480p. Then there were two dominant resolution formats, 720p and 1080i. 720p was better for fast moving action while 1080i had better resolution and produced sharper images. Eventually we got 1080p sets, the best of both worlds, and the debate was solved. With UHD, we don’t have to worry about it,. We get 2160p televisions. That’s it. Nice and simple. But that’s not the whole story. It isn’t just a resolution change in the migration from HDTV to UHD. There are so many more changes under the covers, so many more changes built into the transition that are intended to improve our lives and make the entire viewing experience better and more advanced. We’ve talked about many of them before, but sometimes it’s easy to get them confused or to gloss over the relationships between all of them. They build a somewhat twisted web of interconnected relationships it’s easy to get turned around. It happens to us all the time. HDMI 2.0 The High-Definition Multimedia Interface 2.0 specification is typically considered part of the UHD or 4K transition. HDMI cables have been heaven-sent. One cable that carries high definition audio and video in the same connection makes wiring up your home theater soe much easier - so much simpler than the days of old with a coax or SPDIF audio cable and three component video cables, or one DVI cable if you were so lucky to have digital video support on both ends. As the demands for what you can watch on your HDTVs evolves, the HDMI spec has had to evolve as well to support the better video. HDMI 1.4 actually supports 4k resolution, but only at 24 or 30 frames per second. If you want full 4k resolution at 60 fps, you have to get a system that supports HDMI 2.0. In addition to the higher frame rates, the higher bandwidth supported by HDMI 2.0 also allows more audio and video information to travel across the cable. For example, HDMI 1.4 is limited to 8-bit color, HDMI 2.0 can go to 12-bit. That higher bandwidth paves the way for something called HDR or High Dynamic Range. HDCP 2.2 But before we get to HDR, let’s take a brief detour to discuss HDCP 2.2, the next rev of the High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection spec also commonly associated with Ultra High Def TV. HDCP has been around since the beginning of HDMI. It is the copy protection part of the spec aimed to keep pirates from getting their hands on pristine, high quality digital formats that they could turn right around and post on the Internet for anyone to download. It is designed to protect the content owners from the evil pirates who want to post movies and TV shows on bit torrent and other file sharing sites. However, what it typically does is just make all of our lives harder. Many of the HDMI communication issues we’ve all experienced between set top boxes, receivers, and other home theater devices are due to the copy protection part of the spec. A part of the spec that probably, in most cases, isn’t even enabled for the content we’re viewing. But HDCP 2.2 is the next evolution, so if you want to make sure you’ll be able to watch copy protected 4K content, you’ll need gear that supports HDCP 2.2. Odds are they’ll never turn on the content protection for most of what we watch, because it would create so many issues with people trying to view it that it wouldn’t be worth it, but if they do decide to enable it, all the devices in the chain: set top box, blu-ray player, receiver, television, etc. will all need to support it for you to see the content. The biggest bummer is that we’ll probably have a whole new batch for HDMI incompatibility issues as some devices begin to roll out with HDCP 2.2 and try to talk with legacy devices that don’t support it. HDMI, for all its benefits, hasn’t been without its issues, and HDCP will most likely compound them, not make them any better. HDR If you can get past the copy protection, and get your devices all talking w

Audioengine B1 Bluetooth Receiver Both iOS and Android device users have easy ways to wirelessly transmit audio. For Apple users, Airplay sends music to the AppleTV and various Airplay speakers. Android users have Chromecast which has similar functionality. But what if you want to OS agnostic solution? Fortunately for you there is the Audioengine B1 Bluetooth Receiver (Buy Now $189). The B1 streams high-quality audio from your Bluetooth enabled smartphone, computer, or tablet to any music system or powered speakers. Audioengine used the aptX codec which enables your mobile device to transmit 24 bit audio to the B1. The aptX® audio codec algorithm originated in the late 1980s at Queen’s University Belfast. The research was focused on bit rate reduction and achieved significant bit rate efficiencies while preserving audio quality. Features: Fast Setup Plug-n-play, no software to install Superior sound and extended range Streams audio from any media player (iTunes, Amarra, Youtube, etc.) Connects to any music system with an audio input Setup: The physical part of the setup is pretty straight forward. Connect power via USB and connect the audio, either RCA or Optical. Then pair your source device through its Bluetooth settings. That’s it! The entire process is less than 5 minutes. Then on your device you select the B1 in your bluetooth settings and anything you listen to will be routed to the device. That means all apps work with the B1. If you have a player that makes use of 24bit audio you are good to go! If your app is only 16 bits, the B1 will pad out the bits to 24 which will get you a better signal to noise ratio. Audio: We tested the B1 with four songs played on an iPhone, Macbook, and Samsung S5. We tried to find music that had a lot dynamic range, (Diana Krall - Fly Me to the Moon, Eagles - Hotel California) as well as some Rock from our youth (Van Halen - Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love) and finally some current stuff (Imagine Dragons - Its Time). The sound was quite good. Highs on the first two songs were crisp and airy. You could swear the piano was in the room with you. The mid-range was smoother than a fresh jar of skippy. Bass was tight and felt full. In all you could close your eyes image the soundstage in front of you. The music was easy to listen to and didn’t sound cluttered or muddy. Summary: Now we’re not saying that the B1 made the music better or clearer but we are saying that it didn’t add any artifacts that would distract from listening to it. If you are looking for a cross platform cross device product that allows you to share your music in crystal clear quality, the Audioengine B1 is made for you.

4DX: The Savior of Cinema? Movie theaters are faltering, at least in our opinion. The large format home theater has reached a price point where it is attainable for many of us. And TVs are so big, you can practically create a large format home theater with just an LCD TV. No need for a projector or a screen or the hassle of running wires to the back of the room. And if anyone can have a huge home theater, what’s the allure of the traditional movie theater? We’ve talked for a long time about the cinema owners and operators needing to modernize. They can no longer rely on being the only game in town. To date, the biggest moves in making the old school cinema house more attractive have come at the concession stand. Full restuarants with in theater service, full bars with beer, wine and cocktails delivered to you while you watch. It totally transforms the experience and some of those theaters are doing really well. Other theaters have renovated the room itself. They have larger, more plush seating that fully reclines, or small couches you can share with a date. The rooms themselves are more elegant, mores intimate than the giant sticky packed houses we’ve been used to in the past. Some even allow you to reserve your seat in advance so you don’t have to worry about getting bad seats. This helps, but even so, most of us would still prefer our couch at home. 4DX To the Rescue But what if the cinema owners could differentiate on technology again. They used to be the only game in town for big screens, surround sound, booming subwoofers. But now we all have those. Then they were the only option for watching movies in 3D. Then that technology made its way home, where we all hate it just as much as we did in the theaters. The next big thing very well may be what South Korean company CJ 4DPLEX is calling 4DX technology. If you’ve been to a 4D movie experience at a theme park, odds are you’re familiar with the concept. 4DX is more than just picture and sound. It combines 3D video and multi-channel surround sound with moving seats, wind, mist, and event scents and smells, al synchronized to the movie, to provide a totally immersive experience. Your chair moves in sync with the movie, wind blows when you’re moving or something flies past you on screen, It all works in harmony to bring you into the movie going experience. A theater can be built or retrofitted with special equipment to support 4DX features, which include: Seat Motion (tilt left, tilt right, tilt forward, tilt backward, raise up, drop down) Vibration Leg Tickler Back Poker Face Air Jets Left and Right Neck Air Jets Water Spray Wind Lightning Fog Scents (from a collection of 1000 scents) Bubbles Rainstorm Snowstorm Heated Air Due to the complexity of the equipment needed to provide this total body experience, theaters must be specially built or retrofitted to accommodate it. In many cases, the work is so drastic theaters can’t even be retrofitted but need to be totally stripped down and rebuilt. And it isn’t cheap. In 2011, the cineplex company Cinépolis invested $25 million and partnered with CJ Group to open up to 11 4DX theaters. That’s roughly $2.3 million per room, and there’s no telling how much the partnership offset the total cost. For starters, every seat has to move, and they all move independently. So you have the seats and the actuators to buy and install, and the wiring to the control unit to make sure they move on time. Then there are the fans and misters, some have these built into the seatbacks, so that’s already included, unless you’re in the front row. Then there are the scent bubble machines. And of course the controlling units to make sure all of these items fire at just the right time to draw you into the movie. It’s complex and complicated. Getting 4DX at Home So what are the odds we’ll ever get anything like 4DX in the home? That’s a tough one. Looking at the surface, it’s probably a long shot. But there are so many technologies in the home today that we never could have fathomed would be there had we took a guess 10 years ago, so if history has taught us anything, it’s that someone will find a way to make it happen. Entrepreneurs listen up. We’re looking for you to show up on Shark Tank with an idea, or set of ideas, for getting 4DX into the home. There are multiple challenges in making this a reality. First are the chairs. Sure there are things like D-Box controlled seats available now, but the 4DX seats take it to the next level. And you have to have one for anyone that may come over to watch a movie. Its almost like the 3D glasses dilemma, but instead of a couple hundred dollars for a few extra pairs of glasses, you’re talking about tens of thousands to add additional seating. Braden’s family alone would need 7 chairs - not even sure 7 of them would fit in the theater room. Next you’d need devices for the wind and mist and maybe even the smells. You might be able to get away with one scent delivery unit to fill the whole room with an

T.H.E. Show The Home Entertainment Show (The Show) was in Irvine last week and we had an opportunity to stop by and see some really cool products. The Show is like CEDIA and CES but on a much smaller scale and with a focus on high end audio. It is a much more intimate way of seeing some of the most expensive products in the home audio world. Since the attendance is a fraction of what you would see at CES or CEDIA you get more hands on time with the gear and direct contact with representatives who can spend a little more time with you discussing their products as well as those of other vendors. There were more than a hundred exhibitors from all over the world. Next year’s show will be June 3 - 5 and if you live in Southern California or are looking for a reason to visit you should start making plans now. There were amps, speakers, turntables, headphones, cables and pretty much anything the audio lover would want to see and hear. Too many products to checkout in the afternoon that we had at the show. We want to highlight a few and recommend that you look for a reason to attend next year. Woo Audio We met with Mike Liang of Woo Audio and he gave us a great demo of their vacuum tube headphone amplifiers. These amplifiers not only sounded great but looked like art. The WA7 Fireflies goes for $999 with a solid state power supply and $1398 for the vacuum tube WA7tp linear power supply. They sounded incredible. I (Ara) even had my daughters in on the action. This is a picture of myself and my daughter Stephanie checking out the equipment. They had a prototype portable DAC that is also tube based and will run about $1,000 when it's released. Its a bit bigger and heavier than the Audioengine D1. But the coolest thing we saw at Woo Audio was their $16,000 WA-234 multiblock headphone and speaker amplifier. One for each channel. This amp comes with multiple tubes so you can optimize your experience based on the music you are listening to. An amp of this caliber required something more than ear buds and for today I used a pair of Abyss AB-1266 Planar Magnetic headphones (MSRP $5495). Imagine… I had $21,500 worth of gear creating music for my ears! I listened to Classical, Jazz, and Rock and was amazed at how full the music sounded. Abyss AB-1266 Planar Magnetic headphones These headphones do not go over your ears in the typical way. They are supposed to rest on your head and stay just off your ears. As a result the are extremely comfortable and can be worn for long periods of time. The frequency response on these phones go from 5 Hz to 28KHz. That would be overkill for most humans but the range I can hear sounded good. ELAC Speakers Elac showed a line of speakers created by noted speaker designer Andrew Jones called Debut. This was my favorite thing I saw for two reasons, one they sounded fantastic, incredible low end from a bookshelf speaker, and two, they are affordable. The frequency response on the bookshelf is 44Hz to 20KHz. A pair will run about $275. They will also sell these as a set that supports Dolby ATMOS with a speaker that sits on top of the bookshelf or floor standing speakers and aimed towards the ceiling. They also showed a subwoofer that can be calibrated via your Smartphone. Friend of the show Ray Coronado posted a video detailing the process: Nordost Audio and Video Cables Way up on the 14th floor where all the really expensive gear is was a cable company called Nordost. So we figured that a cable company on the 14th floor must mean really expensive cables. And boy were we right. Nordost showed off their ODIN 2 line of cables. Which just might be the most expensive cables you have ever heard. For instance: RCA or XLR .6 M $20,000 for the stereo pair. Power Cords 1.25 M $17,000 Speaker Wire 1M pair $30,000 It was a fun show. It had a completely different vibe than CEDIA or CES. There is little chance that we will ever be able to afford the gear that was demoed at the show. But for those who can afford it, there is plenty of manufacturers that cater to your needs. Most of the equipment is handmade with much of it made right here in the USA.

What is the Future of TV? We came across an article written by Jason Hirschhorn posted at LinkedIn titled 7 Deadly Sins: Where Hollywood is Wrong about the Future of TV. It is a very well written, thought provoking article with a great deal of supporting data. And charts. Lots of charts. This is our re-tweet/re-linkedin of Jason’s post, with a bit of our own reaction to and discussion of his points. “Over the past few years, the television landscape has been as dramatic and character-filled as the best of Game of Thrones episodes. To that end, it should come as no surprise that there have been threats that have gone unseen or under-addressed by the major and minor television networks. After a few lively conversations ... we came up with “7 Deadly Sins: Where Hollywood is Wrong about the Future of TV”... Not every threat applies to every network – nor are they equally menacing – but as a whole, we believe they’re critical to both understanding and planning for the future of television.” – Jason Hirschhorn 1. By the Time You’re Ready for OTT, You’ve Already Been Supplanted The article surmises that the traditional TV networks are still playing a wait and see game with respect to Over-The-Top content delivery. Not eager to disrupt the existing revenue model, they will hold onto their cash cow for as long as possible before making any drastic shifts in delivery. But this is a risky strategy. While they wait, the OTT providers are growing, expanding, generating more content and gaining viewers. It might even be too late already for some of the traditional providers. “In the first quarter of 2015, Netflix’s 41M US accounts averaged nearly 2 hours of video on the service each day – making the “network” bigger than two of the four major US broadcasters and twice as large as the largest cable network. At its current pace, the OTT giant will become the most popular video provider in the US by the end of 2015. Not to be forgotten, Amazon Instant Video and Hulu are roughly 75th and 100th largest respectively, and continue to grow quarter over quarter.” Our take: We agree, this is certainly a risky move, but we do see the networks starting to embrace OTT. In fact, CBS’s Video Streaming Service Now Offers Live TV In Over 60% Of The U.S. Live TV is something the big OTT providers still aren’t doing. Nothing live on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc. With the advent of time-shifting, live may not be all that important anymore, except for events and some contest shows. As long as traditional TV is the only place to get the content live, at the time it is occurring, they still hold a very strong hand. It’ll all go OTT eventually. But if traditional TV can hang onto the live content, or if Netflix and Amazon ignore that segment, traditional TV will still be in high demand, either via OTT or the good old living room set. 2. The Future of Millennials and Pay TV Here the article discusses how the younger generations may not reach the point where they want to buy into traditional TV. The theory is that they all will eventually, when they make enough money, have a family, buy a house, etc. But what if that isn’t true? What if they decide the right way to consume content is the same way they’ve gotten used to since adolescence? What impact would that have on traditional TVs revenue model? “However, Millennials and Gen-Z’s are first generations to have these non-traditional substitutes available – and they show levels of engagement with this content that far exceeds that of traditional TV. As a result, we truly cannot know what the future holds. What we do know is that young audiences love these substitutes today.” Our take: This is a genuine risk. Our children love the big TVs and projectors we have, and they demand watching movies and sports in the traditional way, however they watch a ton of content on their phones and tablets. Braden’s two year old is just as content with an iPad as he is with a 100” screen. And when they grown and have kids of their own, their kids will probably be fine with tablets too, so why go traditional TV? There will always be the enthusiast, the one who wants a big screen and traditional TV for movies, sports, etc. But could this become the exception, not the norm? During the 2000s, pay TV service penetrated nearly 90% of US households. Imagine if even half the households in America didn’t have a traditional TV set. This would be a huge cultural shift, but would also be a gigantic blow to traditional TV. There’s no reason the big networks couldn’t go OTT and thrive in that model, but they’re behind. 3. Outdated Organization Model and Priorities The argument here is that the model of thousands of channels to try to appeal to anyone and everyone at any time of the day is broken. Pay TV providers continue to add more channels in an attempt to gain more eyeballs. Love golf? We have a channel for that. Love game shows? Yep, we have that too. But with these extra channels comes a substantial increase in price. Somet

Vinyl Records: A Love/Hate Relationship We have spent a lot of time discussing high vs low quality audio on the show lately. A full feature on the subject is still in the works and should be available sometime in the summer. But along the way we have had a few of you tell us that you still listen to Vinyl on turntables. At the same time we have seen a few companies reintroduce turntables to the market so figured why not take a listen and more specifically introduce some younger ears to how we used to listen to music back in the day. The purpose of this is not to say vinyl is better or worse than digital, but to discuss how the digital age has totally changed how we listen to our music. There are some out there that say vinyl is better because there is no compression and it captures exactly what the artist wanted you to hear. Others say that it just sounds warmer. Regardless of what you think of the quality listening to music on vinyl is a dedicated experience that can’t be taken on the road or while you workout or pretty much anything else. The experience is about the music. Pioneer PL-30-K For our listening experience we chose the Pioneer PL-30-K Audiophile Turntable (Buy Now $299). Features: Full-Automatic Operation Dual-Layered Chassis with 4 mm-Thick Metal Plate Low Center of Gravity Built-in Phono Equalizer It took about ten minutes to setup the turntable. A nice feature of the PL-30-K is that you have an option to connect it to your receiver through a normal RCA input because of the built-in phono equalizer. There is also an adjustment of the amount of weight the needle puts down on your albums which is there to help in tracking and skipping. That’s something you don’t think about with digital files. Experience I (Ara) pulled out all my old albums, some in atrocious condition and some in nearly pristine condition. As a control I bought the latest Taylor Swift album, 1989. I needed something my kids would want to hear plus they are very familiar with the digital version so their young ears should be able to hear any difference in sound. My kids were very amused at the spectacle of removing this large black disc and carefully handling it only by the edges and then placing it on the turntable. Then with the press of a single button the arm lifted and moved its way over to the first track which resulted in Taylor’s dulcet tones emanating from my Kef speakers. I was quickly taken back to when I was a kid. I grabbed the album cover from my kids and immediately started looking at the pictures on front and back and on the inside. I even showed my kids that they would put the words to the songs on the album sleeve. My youngest was enjoying the song and her non-critical ears really didn’t hear any difference. That is until I pointed out some static that was barely noticeable on some quiet passages. This surprised me, even on a brand new album pressed in Germany I was hearing static. Perhaps the arm adjustment could have been made to eliminate/minimize the static, but I was not accustomed to hearing pops and clicks no matter how hard I listened for them in my music. Then the song ended and my daughter wanted to hear a song that was on another disc. I hit the stop button, take the disc off the turntable and put it back into the sleeve, then I pull out the new disc place the correct side on the turntable, and finally raise the arm move over to the track she wanted to hear and miss the starting point. I lift the arm reposition it and lower the needle at the beginning of the song. My daughter laughs and says if I knew it was going to be so complicated I would have just listened to the next song. Sigh… I explained that, for the most part, we would listen to albums in a linear fashion and that many albums tracks were selected in a particular order to convey some sort of meaning. Of course there were plenty of pop albums that had one or two good tracks and the rest were just filler. My oldest daughter kind of liked the experience and wanted to have a party with her friends to listen to my old albums. I think it was more of a retro thing than anything else. But she could see how you could make an evening out of listening to music. When it was all said and done, I think there is no way my daughters will give up their portable music that can go anywhere they go and allow them to create playlists on the fly to compliment their mood of the moment. Although my kids were done with the experiment I still had stacks of old LPs to listen to. So I dug through disco, rock, pop, and even comedy albums from the early 70’s to the late 80’s. And what I found was that I took atrocious care of my old LPs. On the stuff I listened to over and over in highschool you could hear pops and clicks that ruined the music. But still I had a smile on my face. The only thing I could think of was that not only was I listening to the music of my youth, which I can do at a moment's notice on my iPhone, but I was ACTUALLY listening to the music of my yo

What to watch, What not to watch It’s that time of year again. The time when television executives clean the slate to prepare room for the new shows that will debut next fall. Also the time when you get to go through your scheduled or recurring recordings, your season passes, and clean out the ones that have been cancelled. Every year something gets cut too early. Hopefully one of your favorites isn’t on that list. We pulled this data from http://tvline.com. Our sincerest thanks to them for assembling all the info in one place. CBS Officially renewed: 2 Broke Girls: Officially renewed for Season 5. The Amazing Race The Big Bang Theory: Already renewed for Seasons 9 and 10. Big Brother: Season 17 premieres June 24; Already renewed for Season 18. Blue Bloods Criminal Minds CSI: Cyber Elementary Extant: Season 2 premieres July 1. The Good Wife Hawaii Five-0 Madam Secretary: Picked up for a full season; Officially renewed for Season 2. Mike & Molly: Officially renewed for Season 6. Mom: Officially renewed for Season 3. NCIS NCIS: Los Angeles NCIS: New Orleans: Officially renewed for Season 2. The Odd Couple Person of Interest Scorpion:Officially renewed for Season 2. Survivor Under the Dome: Season 3 premieres June 25. Undercover Boss Officially cancelled: Battle Creek CSI: Officially cancelled, but with a cool twist The McCarthys The Mentalist: series finale aired Feb. 18. The Millers Reckless Stalker Two and a Half Men: series finale aired Feb. 19. Unforgettable: Officially cancelled. Possibly renewed by A&E for Season 4. ABC Officially renewed: American Crime America’s Funniest Home Videos The Bachelor black-ish Castle Dancing With the Stars Extreme Weight Loss: Already renewed for Season 5. Fresh Off the Boat Galavant The Goldbergs Grey’s Anatomy How to Get Away With Murder Last Man Standing Marvel’s Agent Carter Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The Middle Mistresses: Season 3 premieres Summer 2015 (minus Alyssa Milano). Modern Family Nashville Once Upon a Time Rookie Blue: Season 6 premieres Summer 2015. Scandal Secrets and Lies Shark Tank Officially cancelled: Cristela Forever Manhattan Love Story Members Only Resurrection Revenge Selfie The Taste New shows: The Astronaut Wives Club: Premieres in 2015. The Whispers: Premieres in 2015. NBC Officially renewed: The Biggest Loser The Blacklist Celebrity Apprentice Chicago Fire Chicago P.D. Grimm Hannibal: Season 3 premieres June 4. Hollywood Game Night Law & Order: SVU The Mysteries of Laura The Night Shift Undateable The Voice Officially cancelled: About a Boy Allegiance A to Z Bad Judge Constantine Marry Me One Big Happy Parenthood: series finale aired Jan.29. Parks and Recreation: series finale aired Feb. 24. State of Affairs Taxi Brooklyn Unknown fate: A.D.: A long-shot. American Odyssey: A long-shot. New shows: Aquarius: Series premieres May 28. Heroes Reborn: Premieres Fall 2015. Mr. Robinson: Premieres Summer 2015. Fox Officially renewed: American Idol: Renewed for a 15th and final season. Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Bob’s Burgers Bones Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Officially renewed for Season 3. Empire: Officially renewed for Season 2. Family Guy Gotham: Officially renewed for Season 2. Hell’s Kitchen The Last Man on Earth: Officially renewed for Season 2. MasterChef: Season 6 premieres May 20. Already renewed for next season. MasterChef Junior: Officially renewed for Season 4 New Girl The Simpsons Sleepy Hollow: Officially renewed for Season 3. So You Think You Can Dance: Season 12 (with a tweak to the format) premieres June 1. World’s Funniest Officially cancelled: Backstrom The Following Gang Related Glee: series finale aired March 20. Gracepoint Kitchen Nightmares The Mindy Project: Officially cancelled; may live on at Hulu. Mulaney Red Band Society Utopia Weird Loners The X Factor New shows: Bordertown: Premieres in 2016. Wayward Pines: Series premieres May 14. The CW Officially renewed: The 100: Season 2 finale airs March 11; Renewed for Season 3. America’s Next Top Model: Officially renewed for Cycle 22 (to debut in 2015). Arrow: Officially renewed for Season 4. Beauty and the Beast: Season 3 premieres May 21; Already renewed for Season 4 The Flash: Picked up for full season; Officially renewed for Season 2. iZombie: Officially renewed for Season 2. Jane the Virgin: Officially renewed for Season 2. Masters of Illusion: Officially renewed for Season 2 (to debut in 2015). The Originals: Officially renewed for Season 3. Penn & Teller: Fool Us: Officially renewed for Season 2 (to debut in 2015). Reign: Officially renewed for Season 3. Supernatural: Officially renewed for Season 11. The Vampire Diaries: Officially renewed for Season 7. Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Already renewed for Season 3. Officially cancelled: Hart of Dixie: Season 4 finale aired March 27 The Messengers A&E Bates Motel: Season 4 is a sure thing The Glades: Officially cancelled Longmire: Renewed by Netflix for a 10-episode Season 4. The Returned: Season 1 premiered March 9; Season 2

Dolby Vision There has been a lot of talk about the HDR content for our new 4K TVs. There have been a lot of questions too. We decided it was best to go to a well respected source for some answers. On this podcast we speak with Roland Vlaicu Vice President of Consumer Imaging at Dolby and we discuss Dolby Vision. A Dramatically Different Viewing Experience Feel the drama of a blazing orange sunset over deep turquoise waters, or the power of red metallic muscle cars racing through city streets at night. Be moved as Dolby Vision™ images captivate your senses with astonishing brightness, incomparable contrast, and brilliant color you can feel. With a wider color gamut and high dynamic range (HDR), Dolby Vision revolutionizes the viewing experience in cinema and on TV, complementing ultra high-definition (UHD) TV (4K), so even the best TVs get better. For more information can be found at Dolby’s Website

How to care for your HDTV Most of us want to preserve the life of our home theater investments. Some, who want to upgrade, may not. For those, do the exact opposite of what we talk about. For the rest of us who want to protect our hard-earned investment, to make sure our televisions to last as long as possible, there are a few simple things to remember to make sure you get the most hours you can from it. Most of these apply to any piece of electronics you have in your theater: receivers, DVRs, Blu-ray players, projectors, you name it. Keep it cool Nothing kills a TV prematurely like heat. The TV, especially if you have a plasma, will heat up quite easily on its own. All this heat, if it can’t dissipate, can destroy the internal components of your television. If you don’t allow for adequate air flow or ventilation around the television, you may be killing your set off before its prime. Your television manufacturer will typically list ventilation requirements in your manual. If you live in a very hot climate, you should be concerned about the life of your TV. Not that it needs its own cooling system or dedicated air conditioning unit, but if it is difficult to get heat to leave the room, it will be that much more difficult to get heat to leave the TV. Proper ventilation is key, but you may also want to consider installing some small fans, either in your TV cabinet or near the television, to make sure the air is always moving. Some after-market thermal controlled fans can be used to turn on only when a specific heat threshold is met. It isn’t just heat, humidity can also cause severe damage to a television set. Liquid is the enemy of electrical components and humidity is no different. Do your best to keep the area clean and dry. If you don’t keep it clean, the moisture in the air could mix with the dust in the TV set and form some very damaging gunk on your sensitive circuit boards. More on keeping them clean later. But make sure you keep them dry. While very cold temperatures can impact the performance of the TV, very rarely will they have a negative impact on the life of the TV, unless the extreme cold is also coupled with moisture of some kind. However, rapid swings in temperature, where the set goes from very cold to very hot and then back again, in a short amount of time, can wreak havoc as well. The electronics are tested for extreme temperatures, but assuming you’ll be in Arizona if its hot or Alaska if it’s cold. Try to keep the environment consistent. Keep it clean Dust and dirt are another plague on the extended life of an HDTV. As we mentioned before, dust, especially when mixed with moisture from humidity or anything else, can cause severe damage to the TV. The dust-moisture mixture can cause electrical circuits to connect to the wrong chips, shorting them or overloading them. It’s like the classic problem of “bugs” in mainframe days. Anything on the circuit board that isn’t supposed to be there can cause problems. Proper ventilation is very helpful to reduce dust formation, but even with good airflow, dust still builds up on and around your television set. Routine cleaning is critical. Don’t allow the dust to build up long enough that it can cause an issue. Use a soft rag to remove the dust from the exterior of the television cabinet. If there are vents in the cabinet, blowing them out with a can of compressed air can be quite helpful. You’ll want to be careful with this, though. You don’t want to blow all the dust deeper into the TV and cause your own build-up mess deep inside the bowels of the television. Keep the usage smooth Your television likes to do what you ask of it. It likes to perform for you. But it doesn’t like to do tricks. The less you make your TV work, the longer it will last. For example, the climate issue of quick changes in temperature is not good for the TV. Keep the air temperature consistent as much as possible. Also, constantly turning the TV on and off can cause problems. It shouldn’t. And all manufacturers test this (or at least should be testing it), but the power up/self test/initialize sequence can be intensive. Performing that rapidly and repeatedly could be problematic. You should also look to keep the power going into the TV as smooth and consistent as possible. This more than likely means the use of a power center with power conditioning. Something that will sit between your TV and the wall outlet to make sure that a sudden jolt in power, or a momentary dip in power, won’t make it through to the TV. If you’re using a UPS to maintain power to the TV even if you lose power in your home, make sure the UPS provides smooth (sine wave) power, not choppy (stepped wave) power. For many years to come In the end some simple rules to follow and a couple quick maintenance steps can make sure you get the maximum life out of any HDTV, or any home theater component for that matter. Whether you want to preserve your TV or projector, receiver or amplifier, the rules are pretty much

ZyXEL 1200 Mbps Powerline If you have been with us for a while you know that we have been testing powerline adapters since the beginning. Our first product claimed that it could achieve 85Mbps. And in a controlled world it probably could, but in our homes we were lucky that we got 10Mbps. Still at the time, that was enough bandwidth to support Blu-ray players that didn’t come with built in WiFi. Fast forward to today and almost every device in your home theater needs an Internet connection and almost all come with WiFi. That should be good right? Well with all these connected devices and all your neighbors running wireless routers WiFi may not actually be enough, Especially if you want to stream 4K content. The good news is that the Powerline technology has improved leaps and bounds from the early days, and now there are devices that support the new AV2 MIMO technology. We saw some of these devices at CES and were told they would be available in the Spring. And wouldn't you know it, its Spring and we have one that is actually available for sale! The ZyXEL 1200 Mbps Powerline adapter supports AV2 and can be had for less than $95 (Buy Now $93). The big improvement with this device is that it can use the ground wire to transmit data. The acronym MIMO stands for multiple input multiple output. Theoretically this improves speed and reliability of the connection. ZyXEL claims that it will double the speed and improve reliability by a factor of four of their non-MIMO (600Mbps) devices. But will that translate to actual results? Setup Setup really doesn’t need its own heading because it will only take a few words to describe. Plug one adapter into power and connect it to your router. Plug the other adapter into power near the device you want to connect and then plug in your Ethernet cables. That’s it! ZyXEL recommends that you do not plug the adapter into a power strip or even and extension cord. The whole process take about two minutes. Performance We can say that these devices have come a long way! ZyXEL have speed Indicator LEDs that let you know how fast your connection is. This is the LED that looks like a house with a plug in it. Green means greater than 80Mbps, amber is between 20 and 80 Mbps, and red is 0 to 20Mbps. Our device was green but when measured with our network tools we were getting between 65 and 75 Mbps. The error could have been in our tool but we feel that the device itself was over estimating the speed. Regardless, 75Mbps is the fastest we have every seen over our power lines. Not gigabit by a long shot but fast enough to stream 4K content, browse the web, and listen to music simultaneously. The fastest ZyXEL product we tested prior to this was the ZyXEL 500 back in Podcast #596 where we were able to get 48 Mbps out of it. We didn’t double the speed but we did improve it by 56%. At the time we tested the 500 it cost $75. Now two years later for 25% more money you get almost a 60% improvement in performance. Of course your mileage will vary depending on your wiring and devices you have plugged in. Conclusion There is no easier, or cheaper, way to bring a very fast wired connection to your devices. While it is unlikely that you will ever get gigabit speeds through one of these devices, it it very likely that you will have more than enough bandwidth to stream 4K content as it becomes available.

Panasonic Home Automation Panasonic may not make plasma TVs anymore, forgive us for not being over that, but it still hurts. But they have jumped into the Home Automation game with a system they’re calling the Panasonic Home Network System. We got a chance to check out two of the bundles they have available to get you up and running quickly, the Home Monitoring & Control Kit (Buy Now $249.95) and the Home Surveillance System (Buy now $299.95). Setup We chose to setup the Home Monitoring & Control Kit first. The kit includes the control Hub, a smart plug, two window/door sensors, a motion sensor and a digital cordless phone. Setup is pretty easy, especially for the included devices. It takes a bit of time, but it isn’t complicated. Once you have the hub connected to the app on your mobile phone, each device has its own installation guide to help get that device installed and configured. Adding the included devices is very simple. If you already have them installed when you plug in and setup the hub, the initial installation wizard will add them to your system automatically. If not, or if you decide to add additional devices to your system, it’s as easy as using the app to tell the hub to look for the device and pressing the ‘add device’ button on the smart device itself. Discounting the time it takes to connect a sensor to a wall, windows or door, adding new devices takes seconds. Like plasma TV, Panasonic has also been in the telephone business for a long time. They have a solid history with both corded and cordless phones and business phone systems. Leveraging that expertise, the hub and the compatible home automation devices actually use radio waves to communicate. They use DECT 6.0 (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) that runs in the 1.92-1.93 GHz band. The same thing your cordless phone may use. The Russell house where we tested the gear no longer has a landline at all, so we weren’t able to test any potential interaction issues between existing cordless phones and the Panasonic Home Network System. And we also weren’t able to test the system’s use of the home phone line for additional automation functionality. While you don’t need a landline, it if you want the system to call you when the alarm is tripped, you’ll need one. For maximum coverage and noise-free communications, Panasonic recommends you place your hub at a convenient, high and central location with no obstructions between the devices and the hub in an indoor environment, which obviously isn’t practical. It should also be placed away from electronic appliances such as TVs, radios, personal computers, wireless devices or other phones. The wireless range of each device in the system is approximately 160 feet or 50 meters indoors. As far as range and installation goes, we would periodically see delay between when we clicked a button in the app and the action fired, like a light turning on or off. We never had a delay for automatic actions like turning on a light due to a motion sensor or camera. It feels like the issues could have been more smartphone or app related, or maybe even WiFi to hub to DECT conversion related, but we couldn’t tell for sure. But it didn’t feel like we had any issues with commands due to the range of the devices from the hub or the placement of the hub during testing. Automation Once you have all your devices installed and added to the hub, you can begin to automate them. Automation is all done through the smartphone app. It is very easy to do, but also quite rudimentary. Of course you can manually turn lights on or off, or you can set a scheduled (time-based) on/off trigger, a sensor based trigger or both, but only one of each. So the lights can automatically turn on at a set time, off at a set time, and/or on based on a sensor (door opens when you get home), but that’s it. You cannot setup activity groups in the smartphone app currently. Each device gets its own Smart Control settings and has to be configured independently. You can set multiple devices to trigger on the same event, so it feels like you have them grouped, but there isn’t a notion of groups or scenes for devices. There is an all on and all off button for the lights, and you can configure what happens when you arm the system for Stay or Away. The system includes high level actions to Arm or Disarm the entire system, much like a security system, but Panasonic is careful to point out that their equipment isn’t designed for security, but for surveillance. When armed, the windows and door sensors are put in an alert mode, armed for Stay the motion sensor is ignored, armed for Away the motion sensor is also put into alert mode. If triggered, the hub will play an alarm tone. It isn’t very loud, but you can hear it if you’re in the same room or closeby. Without a landline we couldn’t get the system to remotely notify us of any activity. You should be able to get alerts on your phone if you’re connected to the local Wifi, but we couldn’t get that to h

Next Generation Broadcast TV The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) have their year meeting in Las Vegas in the Spring every year. When we worked for Sony Pictures we would get excited about going and demonstrating the gear we were developing as well as seeing what other companies were showing off. It was not quite as hectic as CES but it was still a great time. Nowadays we are a little more focused on what we take away from the NAB show. In particular of interest this year is the ATSC 3.0 specification. This year there will be some demos of the technology. Layered Division Multiplexing This technology will cram more data into a single channel. Think of this as a bus traveling down the road where the road is the channel on your tuner. You can only get one lane of busses through that road. But what if now you had a double decker bus. On that same road you have doubled the data coming through to you. Its not as simple as just adding levels to the bus. Imaging a three level bus trying to go under an over pass. The main takeaway is that this technology will enable you to get UHD over the air while using only one channel. HEVC H.265 Compression is key to getting UHD content to you. Right now ATSC uses mpeg 2 and Blu-ray uses mpeg 4. With mp4 you get about a doubling of the data as you do with mp2. If you look at the current ATSC spec, television stations are transmitting streams of anywhere between 10 and 18 Mbps in mp2. You can get the same quality mp4 picture with streams of about 5 to 9 Mbps. And if you are using H.265 that drops to about 2.5 to 4.5 Mbps. But rather than give us current quality in less space, the goal is to give us better than Blu-ray quality picture and sound in the same spectrum (channel). The National Engineering Center for DTV from Shanghai, China will be demonstrating a full-chain Ultra HD TV system, which includes a UHD TV presentation system, as well as realtime UHD TV encoding, broadcasting, receiving and decoding. Targeted Ads, Better EPG, and Interactivity A US company will be showing off interactivity and rich media that won’t require a second screen like a tablet or phone. Broadcasters will be able to insert local ads more easily and the EPG gets a makeover. Broadcasters will be able to transmit HTML 5 applications that will support voting and polling. Now you’ll be able to vote for your favorite performer on whatever talent show you are watching right from your TVs remote. Object Based Surround We’re quite happy that its not too late to add this to the ATSC 3.0 spec. There are three competing standards to bring three dimensional sound into your living room. Of course you would expect Dolby’s Atmos and DTS’s DTS:X. But there is also one from Qualcomm and Technicolor. They are testing 60 sound tracks with each of the three systems. When is it all going to Happen? There is still plenty of time to enjoy your ATSC 2.0 TV. The specification won’t be finalized until 2016 and then it will take years before the broadcasters and manufacturers have equipment ready to accept OTA UHD. Look for there to be a brief period where you will be able to buy an external UHD tuner. We wonder if they will provide vouchers to buy UHD to HDTV converters.

Logitech Harmony Ultimate Remote and Hub If memory serves, the very first product review we ever did on the HDTV Podcast was a very early Harmony remote. Back in the days before Harmony was acquired by Logitech. Before the touchscreen models came out. But the remote was revolutionary in how simple it made it for anyone to control even a complex home theater with a single remote, and often just a single button. Continuing in the tradition of changing the game for home theater enthusiasts, the newest member of the Harmony family, the Logitech Harmony Ultimate Remote and Hub ($334) is the next generation of what Harmony started several years ago. As a side note, we paid $299 for it at Amazon when we bought it, so the price fluctuates. If you wait a little while, it could come back down. About the remote From the Manufacturer: One remote easily controls entertainment devices plus connected lights, locks, thermostats, blinds, sensors, and more Intuitive color touch screen: Simply swipe and tap to control channels, movies, 50 customizable channel Favorites and home automation devices such as Philips hue lights or Nest Learning Thermostat Harmony app turns iOS or Android smartphones or tablets into a second, personal universal remote control The Harmony Home Hub lets you control devices in closed cabinets Simple setup on computer or mobile app for control of 15 home entertainment devices and unlimited home automation devices: Works with over 270,000 devices, including your TV, satellite or cable box, Blu-ray player, Apple TV, Roku, Sonos, game consoles, Philips hue lights and more. Setup Getting the remote up and running is pretty simple. Getting it dialed in to exactly what you want takes a bit more time. The remote itself, just like the iOS or Android app, doesn’t send any commands directly to your devices. It sends the command to the Hub and the hub relays the commands to your devices. So to get started you plug in the remote to start it charging, plug in the Hub and position its two included IR blasters to transmit to your home theater devices. That step takes about a minute. Next step is to download the app to your smartphone or tablet. Once you have it installed, the real setup begins. If you’re used to programming harmony remotes, you can skip the app step and program it directly with your computer. Or if your smartphone or tablet doesn’t have bluetooth. But we went the new user route and did it all through the app, for the full experience. The app itself is very clean, simple and intuitive. First step is to connect the app to your Hub using bluetooth. When the app prompts, you press a button on the back of the hub to pair the devices. Once paired, you can connect the Hub to your home wifi network. After you get the Hub on wifi, you’re ready to start doing the real programming. This step took a couple minutes, but mostly waiting for devices to connect. When the hub connects to wifi, it will automatically discover a bunch of compatible devices and make them available for you to control. Ours found a few Sonos players, and a few streaming boxes like the Fire TV. That was pretty cool, but not what we needed to setup the home theater, so we left them alone and manually added our receiver, tuner box, blu-ray player and projector. All of the devices were instantly recognized. That took another couple minutes. If you’ve ever programmed a universal remote, you know that the next step is activities. The app does a good job of walking you through a step by step wizard to configure each device for the various activities like Watch TV, Watch a Movie, Listen to Music, etc. In many cases, you’d be done after this step. We have more complicated HDMI issues, so we had to do some fine tuning, but all told, it took about 15-20 minutes to get up and running using the app to program the remote. Performance The Ultimate remote has the same form factor as overall usage style as the Harmony Touch Universal Remote ($178) we reviewed a couple years ago. The remote maintains a few hard buttons, but really wants you to drive with the touch screen. It feels nice, but has some shortcomings on usability. For full details on the remote itself, read our review of the Touch from Episode 554. It’s a great remote, but not perfect. The addition of the Hub is really great for some use cases. Removing the requirement for line of sight to the devices eliminates issues you may have if you want to store your equipment in a cabinet, have a coffee table in the way, or constantly have people walking in front of you when you’re trying to use the remote. It really cuts down on the number of times you have to hit the help button. We liked that quite a bit. The app worked pretty well, but we found that it had issues at times connecting to the Hub. It would search the wifi network for the presence of the Hub and report that it was missing. We had to manually reconnect them several times. This somewhat diminished the usefulness of the app. It would have be

Wireless Surrounds that Work! We have been on a quest to find a wireless surround solution that not only works but works well! Maybe its because we live in a noisy home or neighborhood but we have not found a solution that has worked well. Either we would get static or in many cases we got nothing. Our last ditch effort took a product that worked with laptops and mp3 players and adapted it to work with our AVR. The centerpiece of the solution is the Audioengine W3 Wireless Adapter (Buy Now $149). The W3 can process USB audio up to 16 bits/48KHz with no compression. However, for our application we used the analog audio input via a 3.5mm minijack which should be just fine for a surround application. For use in a home theater application you would take the surround left and right preouts and hook them up to an RCA to 3.5mm minijack cable. If your receiver has a USB input you could connect the W3 to that and you would have power. In our case we had neither. To get audio to the transmitter we used an adapter to convert speaker outputs to RCA (Rockford Fosgate RF-HLC High Level Speaker Signal to Low Level RCA Adapter $17.50) and then we used the RCA to 3.5mm adapter cable. The W3 includes a power adapter for either the transmitter or receiver. We used it for the transmitter. The final connection to the Cerwin Vega VE5Ms requires an amplifier and the W3 receiver. The amplifier we decided to use is the Audioengine N22 (Buy Now $199) for two reasons. One, its has great specs! Two, it has a powered USB port to plug the W3 receiver unit into. Power output - 22W RMS / 40W peak per channel (AES) THD+N - Frequency response - 20Hz-22kHz ±1dB SNR - >95dB A-weighted We could have gone with a much less expensive amp, and you can too to save the some money, but we felt the power and quality of the amp was worth it on our application. An alternative amp costing about $175 less that you could substitute is the Kinter 12V 2 CH Mini Digital Audio Power Amplifier (Buy Now $10.50) but then you would also need to use an adapter to provide USB power for the W3 receiver. Performance One word, success!! Ara’s wife had been giving him grief about having the surround speakers in the room just sitting there not making sound. The ultimatum was given, either get the speakers doing something or get them out of the room. This was the solution that not only got sound coming through the speakers but did so cleanly. The W3 has been transmitting sound to the surrounds for about four weeks now. There has not been one pop, click, or hiss in that entire time. And this is in an environment that has seen no less than three other wireless solutions fail miserably. Another complaint some have with wireless solutions is that it may affect the wifi performance in your home. In the same period no one has complained about spotty wifi or sluggish performance. At one point Ara thought that some of the issues he experienced with Cox Communications cable may have been a result of the the W3 interfering with his wifi. the good news is that after changing his DNS servers those issues have been cleared up and all is good. Final Thoughts If you have invested a lot of money in your speakers and are in a position where you can’t run speaker wire to your surrounds, we recommend this exact solution. The N22 can provide enough clean power with little distortion which will put a smile on your face each time something blows up or flies over your head. If you need something that works but just don’t want to invest a lot of money, swap out the amp with a lower cost model and you’ll still be happy when you hear something fly over your head!