HDTV and Home Theater Podcast

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Podcast #729: KEF T-Series 5.1 Speaker System Mar 04, 2016

Show notes

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. We compared it to a couple other subs we had laying around and it clearly outperformed a couple we thought should beat it, judging solely on the size of the box they were in.

We did take the time to listen to music, and we recommend using it as a 2.1 system, not a 2.0 system. The speakers by themselves without the sub lack the oomph you want to get from any style of music. So just like TV and movies, the subwoofer is a must for music through the T Series setup. But we cranked Guns n Roses, blasted latin music and jazz and brought it down for some symphony and classical guitar. Everything sounded great, at any volume level. Practically the only thing we didn’t try was country music, because we all know it would take more than great speakers to make that sound good (please direct all angry emails to Braden).

Conclusion

It turns out KEF has shown that it might just be possible to have your cake and eat it too. They showed us that modern technology can change some of the preconceived notions we all have about what it takes to reproduce great sound. The key is to choose what you’re comparing the T Series speakers with. If you try to compare them to more expensive speakers, they won’t sound as good. But you can expect the T Series speakers to perform right up there with any other speaker at this price point, regardless of the size of the cabinet. In some cases, the T Series might actually sound better. Top that off with a very pleasing aesthetic and you have a winning combination.

The bottom line is that Ara wouldn’t replace his KEF Q series speakers with the T Series because the Q speakers sound better. If they didn’t, why would KEF sell any speaker other than the T Series? Likewise, Braden won’t be swapping out his Klipsch reference speakers in his home theater for the T Series. But if you compare the T Series speakers with an equivalent alternative, like the Klipsch reference satellites from a few years back that we happen to still have a set of lying around, we found that the T Series sounds better. But speakers are like ice cream, everybody has their favorite flavor and they all taste slightly different to each of us. You need to trust your own ears when it comes to speakers and listen to them for yourself.

Podcast #728: Axiim Q Wireless Home Theater System Feb 25, 2016

Show notes

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 champion is announced and he jumps into the ring we were able to feel the thump as he lands. The Surrounds provided all kinds of ambiance that made you feel like you were part of the crowd. When the announcer did the intro the echo sounded realistic and added to the experience.

We also tested with Lone Survivor because there are a lot of effects that involve bullets flying overhead. The Q System had no issues with this or any other surround material we threw at it. We soon forgot that there were no wires and concentrated on how great a 5.1 system sounded in our living room. A room that only an hour before had no A/V system in it and had no wiring for speakers! We also listened to some music and we felt that it did a good job here too. A little on the bright side at first and then we adjusted the EQ and it sounded richer and fuller.

Odds and Ends

IR Remote - We pretty much ignored it and went with the iOS app to control the system after we got it on our network
Updates! - The people at Axiim are constantly tweaking the software which is why it's still technically a beta product. But we see this as a good thing.
No Dolby Atmos - The system supports 8 channels so at best it will be able to support a 5.1.2 configuration.
Multiple Zones - Right now there is no concept of this but after speaking with the company they are working on it.
Expandable - You can start out with a 5.1 system and then add an additional two speakers to upgrade to a 7.1 system.

Conclusion

Many of our listeners have asked us to recommend wireless solutions for their home theater over the years. We have tested and rejected all but a few and the acceptable solutions still required some speaker wire from an external amp. Not exactly wireless! The Axiim Q Wireless Home Theater System is the first one that delivers on the the promise of a truly wireless system that is simple to install, looks fantastic and sounds great! We hate having to send it back! It would be so easy to bring 5.1 to your master bedroom that we are seriously thinking about buying one!

Podcast #727: So You Need to Replace a Plasma… Feb 19, 2016

Show notes

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 considerations and screen size considerations, and those tend to map directly to finance and aesthetics committee considerations. LED TVs are still significantly cheaper, even in 4k resolution, and available in a much wider array of screen sizes. And for most of us, maximizing what we can get for our money is the biggest consideration. Any way you slice it, that will lead you back to LED.

This wasn’t meant to depress or confuse anyone. If you’re looking for the absolute best screen you can buy, a replacement for a Pioneer Kuro or a Panasonic Z series, that’s OLED. Hands down. If you’re looking for a great TV on a normal budget, or you want a really big screen, LED TVs are really, really good. And top that off with the 4k resolution and you should be quite happy for quite a while. When OLED drops to the same price for the same screen size, pick one up. And rest assured there will be another technology close on its heels that is even better, and even more expensive. Us plasma early adopters know that all too well.

Podcast #726: ELAC B5 Debut Bookshelf Speakers Feb 12, 2016

Show notes

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:

This 7.1 configuration will cost you $1,700 with free two day shipping from Amazon Prime. If you don’t want towers you can save $330 by buying another pair of B5s which would bring the total cost down to $1370.

Conclusion

If you are in the market for speakers you need to give these a listen. Especially if you are on a budget! We have no problem saying that the $230 ELAC B5s will give you the same enjoyment as speakers costing ten times as much.

Podcast #725: Nvidia Shield 4k Review Feb 04, 2016

Show notes

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 a streaming box. Certainly not Xbox One or PS4, but better then the Roku or FireTV if you’re a serious gamer. You can play any adroid games you can get on other platforms, plus additional games built specifically for the Shield. In addition, the GEForce Now service allows you to stream PC games directly on the Shield. They were great. And very fun. We aren’t hard core gamers, but they seemed the same as playing directly on another platform. This is where it got really, really close to Xbox or Playstation quality. And they are games you’ve heard of, Lego games like Batman and Marvel, Borderlands, Saints Row, Batman: Arkham Origins. In addition to the games you get as part of the $7.99 monthly subscription, you can also purchase other games to your heart’s content.

Conclusion

Is there room for another streaming box in the market? Sure. For the Shield, that’s like asking if there’s room for Ferrari in the automobile market. Choose for yourself what brand you would identify each of the existing streaming boxes with, but none of them would be a Ferrari. Yes the Shield is considerably more expensive, but it also does so much more. As always, if you’re an Apple fan and have all your content in iTunes, this isn’t the box for you. But for anyone else, and especially for those serious about cutting the cord, the Nvidia Shield deserves a serious look. After all, who wouldn’t want a Ferrari if you could pick it up for under $200?

Podcast #724: Plex Media Server Jan 29, 2016

Show notes

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 for music, TV, and movies. Having Plex on the AppleTV now allows him to co-mingle his vast TV season passes on iTunes, Netflix, and Hulu and listen to his Apple music while presenting his movie collection in a user interface that impresses everyone who sees it. Add the ability to watch movies outside of the home and sharing capabilities and you have an absolute must have for the AppleTV, FireTV, Roku and pretty much anything else!!

Podcast #723: TCL Roku LED TV Review Jan 22, 2016

Show notes

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 from a TV speaker, you’re probably not doing it right. All in all, average audio and video performance. Not a set you’d want to put at the center of your home theater, but not too bad for a bedroom, bonus room or garage.

Conclusion

Roku is a pretty killer platform. Having it built into the TV makes the set itself very versatile. With just WiFi and power you have access to a plethora of content options, including videos from your home network and live television using Sling TV. For $350 you can add a video server viewing zone to just about any room without breaking the bank. We wouldn’t suggest it for the home theater or family room, but if you get one of these in the garage, somehow we think you might find yourself out there more often.

Podcast #722: Marantz SR601 Review Jan 15, 2016

Show notes

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 earlier the SR6010 is as about future proof as you can get. From Atmos to 4K with HDR and the wider color gamut this receiver is made for video. We did not watch any 4K content or upconvert anything to 4K because this was installed in the projector room which is 1080p. The video was passed through without any processing and looked great. There was no noticeable change over the Pioneer that was replaced. But the main purpose of buying this receiver was to listen to Atmos movies. By the way, because we set it up in an Atmos configuration you are not able to use it with multiple zones. Not an issue in our homes but something to consider.

First up was American Sniper. We didn’t expect too much but we figured there would be some Atmos in helicopter scenes and the big dust storm. What we got was nothing. We removed the speaker grill to see if there was any movement on the speaker cone and we didn’t see anything. This had us wondering if they were set up properly. After a quick check we determined that everything was fine and moved on to the next disc.

San Andreas was up next. In this movie we got a lot of action as buildings were falling everywhere. We saw that the Atmos speakers were getting a workout in the appropriate places. But there was so much going on it was hard to say yes, I hear the Atmos speakers. This led us to question the need for Atmos in a smallish (18X20) room. We can definitely see that in a big theater having more speakers can immerse you in the auditory experience. But we have felt that way about a 7.1 setup as well. Perhaps these examples are too bombastic but the experience in our room was not earth shattering. Maybe it's supposed to be subtle and maybe Atmos was doing exactly as it was supposed to.

Then we watched Divergent. Right from the beginning you could tell that this was what Atmos was supposed to be. There was a brief Atmos demo before the feature that showed off the technology. The demo had what sounded like footsteps running across the ceiling that highlighted the Atmos speakers. It sounded so good Ara immediately called downstairs to his wife and kids to come up and listen to the demo. Everyone agreed that the demo was truly immersive. But in this case there were no explosions or buildings falling down to drown out the Atmos speakers so Dolby was able highlight the technology well. Once the movie started you could tell that this was a very good Atmos mix. You did feel that there was a bubble of sound around you albeit subtle.

By the way, the audio in general sounded incredible! The SR6010 matched with the Kef Q series speakers and the Hsu subwoofer sounded better than most movie theaters. Dialog was crystal clear deep and rich. And effects put you in the middle of the action. The subwoofer let you feel what was going on. A definite improvement over the older Pioneer Elite that was in it's place. The upgrade was worth it for that alone. Plus I am now ready for 4K and UHD Blu-ray.

Conclusion

When done right an Atmos mix is more immersive even in a smaller room. Not drop everything and upgrade better, but more like if I am going to upgrade my receiver to 4K I better make sure it supports Atmos too. Atmos speakers mounted in the ceiling would be the best way to experience this technology but the upfiring speakers do a decent job as well. Expect that the change in your movie experience will be subtle but noticeable.

Podcast #721: CES 2016 Jan 08, 2016

Show notes

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 Player: High-Resolution Wired and Wireless Streaming, Network, Disc and Digital Inputs

HARMAN International Industries previewed the forthcoming Mark Levinson № 519 Audio Player, an ultra high-end source component designed to accommodate every digital audio format. The № 519 was designed to be the heart of high-performance audio systems, with the ability to play back virtually any audio format from streaming music services to networked storage, to CD to high-resolution digital inputs and even Bluetooth® wireless. In addition, it includes high-performance headphone connectivity and integrated digital volume control allowing it to serve as a fully integrated digital music source. Designed and engineered at HARMAN’s Engineering Center of Excellence in Shelton, CT, USA, the № 519 provides a full compliment of wired and wireless digital audio inputs and as well as an integrated slot-loading CD player, making it a truly universal digital audio playback device. The integrated high-resolution DAC receives its nine digital inputs including USB asynchronous streaming and mass storage, Gigabit Ethernet, Balanced, Optical, Coaxial, as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless featuring aptX® technology for maximum resolution.

The Mark Levinson № 519 offers high-resolution digital decoding up to 24-bit, 192kHz from PCM and double-speed DSD. Its DAC incorporates an ESS Sabre32 Reference converter for superlative musical accuracy with exceptional resolution and dynamic range. The Mark Levinson № 519 Digital Player will be available in July 2016. No official pricing at this time but the buzz on the street is that it will run about $8,000.

UHD Alliance Defines Premium 4K Ultra HD Experience

The UHD Alliance (UHDA) has defined performance criteria that Ultra HD TVs and content must meet to deliver what the group calls a premium 4K experience. The association also introduced a logo that will appear on certified content to guarantee a premium experience for consumers. The Ultra HD Premium logo is reserved for products and content that comply with minimum requirements for resolution, bit depth, high dynamic range (HDR), peak luminance, black levels, and wide color gamut.

The UHD Alliance said its technical specifications "prioritize image quality and recommend support for next-generation audio.”

Home Kit

Kwikset announced the launch of its first HomeKit-compatible product, the Kwikset Premis. Available in 2016, no pricing announced.
iDevices - Introduced their Socket, Wall Switch, Dimmer Switch and Wall Outlet. The socket allows standard light bulbs to be used with homekit. The wall switch/dimmer and outlet bring Home Kit support to your lights and devices in your home. The new HomeKit accessories will be released throughout 2016, but pricing was not disclosed
Honeywell announced the Lyric Round™ Wi-Fi Thermostat Second Generation is available for pre-order $250.
Hunter Fan Company announced new Wi-Fi & Apple HomeKit-Enabled Celing Fans. Named Symphony and Signal the Symphony’s MSRP is $329 and Signal’s MSRP is $379. Both fans will be available spring 2016

UHD Players

Samsung announced that the UB-K8500 is available for pre-order right now, and will sell for $400.
Panasonic unveiled its Blu-ray player which it promised will be available in the US this year. A similar player was introduced in Japan in November which retails for roughly $3,300 USD. No word on pricing for the US version.
Philips will introduce a player that supports the optional Dolby Vision HDR technology
LG and Sony did not introduce UHD players.

Podcast #720: Predictions for 2016 Dec 31, 2015

Show notes

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.

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