AVexcel - Episode 50

Recorded on July 14, 2017 - Patrick and Robert celebrate a milestone with details of Alexa on Android TV, VR's increasing affordability, a little AV101 with LOUDNESS, an interview with the quantum dot masters at Nanosys, and so much more!

AVexcel is 100% powered by our awesome crew of Patreon supporters - thank you! 

Visit the AVexcel website for links, show notes, contact info, and more!

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AVexcel - Episode 50 show notes 

AVexcel - Episode 48

Recorded on June 30, 2017 

Patrick Norton and Robert Heron are upgrading the home theater goodness 

Our Patreon supporters make AVexcel possible, and we thank 'em all 

The tingly bits

• LG's 77-inch Wallpaper OLED arrives
• Dolby Atmos coming to Netflix
  • LG 2017 OLEDs ready to go
  • Xbox One S/X
  • Atmos title list
• Loving dynamic metadata
• Photo-emissive QD LCDs in 2018

Sub-$2500 projector delights

• Sony sweet 45ES 1080p 3D
• LG's sub-$1500 1080p laser
• Xiaomi's sub-$1500 5K-lumen laser
• DCI color options
  • Epson Home Cinema 4000
    • Projector Central's preview
  • Optoma UHD60/UHD65
• DCI + laser = (still) expensive

Amazon Prime Day

• camelcamelcamel
• Wirecutter deals

DAC doings

• JDS Labs
  • EL DAC
  • True Performance Design
• Schiit Fulla 2
  • Original Fulla = great deal
• audioquest DragonFly
• Sean Olive on blind testing

Thank you

Visit us at AVexcel.com

We appreciate your feedback

• Tweet
  • @avexcel
  • @patricknorton
  • @robertheron
• Email
• AVexcel sub-Reddit
• Facebook

Enjoy

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• iTunes
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• RSS

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Episode 34

Patrick Norton and Robert Heron are compiling the home theater goodness

Our Patreon supporters make AVexcel possible, and we thank 'em all

Post CES 2017

• Plague
• Eye candy
• Sweet sounds

TVs

• LG Wallpaper OLED
  • Ribbon cable for power+AV
• Samsung QLED
  • Quantum color volume
  • AutoCal via CalMAN
  • HLG DirecTV demo
• Sony
  • A1E OLED
  • Sweet Acoustic Surface
• Panasonic
  • EZ1000 OLED
  • Superb picture quality

Projectors

• Panasonic holographic projection film
• LG ProBeam 1080p laser projector
  • Smart apps + ATSC tuner
• JVC 4K HDR laser projector
  • DLA-RS4500 ~$35K
  • DCI color and beyond
  • Blue-laser light engine
  • 6-banks of 8-diodes
  • Fixed phosphor design
• Hisense 4K Laser Cast soon
  • Prototype w/95% BT.2020
• EVP/Elite Screens light-rejecting demos
• Sony 4K HDR short throw projector

TV tech doings

• Small HDR screens
• HDMI 2.1
• 3D ghosts
• HDR formats grow
  • Dolby Vision
  • HDR10
  • Hybrid Log Gamma
  • Technicolor
• Nanosys quantum dots
  • Not owned by Samsung
    • More strategic partnership
  • Next year: QD in color filter
  • Electro-emissive in 3-years

High-resolution audio

• Digital downloads down
  • Everyone streaming
• Hi-Res Audio Press Conference
  • Digital Entertainment Group (DEG)
• HDtracks
• Master Quality Authenticated
  • ~15,000 albums MQA now
  • 200+ MQA titles on TIDAL
  • Stereophile's Hi-Res Breakthroughs
• Pandora/Rhapsody/Napster going hi-res

All the sound

• Emotiva loudspeakers/amps/subs
• Audirvana
• AudioQuest
• Astell&Kern
• Panasonic
• Onkyo
• Mytek
• NAD
• Bluesound
• Air Motion Transformer
• KEF LS50 Wireless
• ELAC
  • Brother Paul requests a review
  • Debut
  • Uni-Fi
  • Adante
  • Element amp
• Revel Salon2
• Texas Instruments
  • High-Power Amps
  • Efficient
  • DIY potential

Dolby Cinema

• FINALLY arrives in San Francisco
• Dolby Cinema at AMC
• Dolby-enhanced Christe Digital 6P laser projector
• Mindblowingly colorful
• Superb contrast

Tips, tricks, and help

• @Kido1986 needs a smaller HDR screen
• @jellingwood eyeing sweet soundbars
  • Bose SoundTouch 300
  • Onkyo SBT-A500
• Nicholas Smith seeks portable FLAC
  • Astell&Kern AK Jr
  • FiiO X1

Thank you

Visit us at AVexcel.com

Connect with us

• Tweet
  • @avexcel
  • @patricknorton
  • @robertheron
• Email
• AVexcel sub-Reddit
• Facebook

Enjoy

Download the MP3
Subscribe to AVexcel on iTunes or RSS
Link to this episode page

Recorded on January 12, 2017

Episode #017

Welcome to episode 017 of the AVexcel podcast

Our Patreon supporters make AVexcel possible, and every bit helps

This week Patrick Norton and Robert Heron are shiny with the home theater goodness

For the love of headphones

• San Francisco Head-Fi Meet
• Saturday, July 16, 2016
• $15/$20

But first, a summary...

New Blu-ray movies this week

• Unsinkable Molly Brown
• My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2
• The Crush
• Cornbread Earl and Me
• Brothers Grimsby

Wirecutter's Best Soundbars

• Overall winner
• Best budget
• Sonos = great wireless speakers
• + a great app
• Vizio soundbars bring the value
• More great speakers/mounts

Connect with us

• Tweet
  • @avexcel
  • @patricknorton
  • @robertheron
• Email
• AVexcel sub-Reddit
• Facebook

Top 2016 Smart TV Platforms

• techradar article
  • Android TV at the top
  • Firefox OS
  • Samsung's Smart Hub
  • LG's webOS 3.0

Gregg wants a UHD BD Player

• Doesn't have HDR TV
• Resolution boost only
• Short answer: don't bother
• YouTube 4K video enjoyment
• 1080p vs 4K viewing experiment
• 4K projectors are awesome/pricy

Ron asks what's up with Vizio + HDR10

• Service rep said no HDR10 coming
• Vizio CTO: "...sometime later this Summer..."
• Robert's take: ain't happening
• No HDR10 = no UHD Blu-ray
• Samsung KS8000 = worthy alternative

The random

• Quake Champions
• Vizio 2016 E-Series spotted

Bo's eyeing SpectraCal's MobileForge app

• Free is good
• External video source = handy
• Amazon Fire TV provides most capable
• Android/iOS app for color/gamma only
• DVDO AVLab TPG

Thomas likes LG's LED projector

• Short-throw = close to screen
• LG PF1000U LED projector
• LG PF1500U for more light output
• Has apps + DTV tuner
• Add 80-inch portable screen
• More great projector options
• BenQ HT2050 = good value

Quantum Dot-ery

• Nanosys
• HD color filters in a UHD world
• Rec. 2020 optimized filters needed

LG E-Series OLED TV

• Comparing to the competition

Going long...for home theater love

Enjoy

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Recorded June 16, 2016

Episode #016

Welcome to episode 016 of the AVexcel podcast

Our Patreon supporters make AVexcel possible, and every bit helps

This week Patrick Norton and Robert Heron assist with the home theater goodness

E3 Expo and WWDC went down this week

Robert appreciating the glory of DOOM

• Inside the DOOM Soundtrack

New Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray releases

• Point Break
• Hail Caeser
• Ghostbusters and GB2
• Independence Day
• Vinyl: The Complete First Season
• Star Trek XI
• Star Trek - Into Darkness
• Green Zone
• Rollerball
• Rollerball (2002)
• Eddie the Eagle
• The Brothers Grimsby

Checking the top torrents (tor)

The death of the Xbox One DVR

• Promised recording of OTA TV
• Recommended alternative OTA DVRs
  • TiVo Roamio 1TB + lifetime service
  • Channel Master DVR+ review
  • Mediasonic Homeworx

Apple's WWDC coverage via The Verge

• New Apple TV/tvOS apps & updates
• Sling TV
• Fox Sports Go
• NBA 2K
• Minecraft Story Mode
• Sketch Party
• tvOS has 6,000 apps - 1300 video related
• App to feature-match Siri Remote
• YouTube voice search
• Single Sign-on
• Live channels

Apple's Home for iOS 10

• Control all your HomeKit products
• Control4 vs DIY
• Patrick's dying blinds
• Program that remote

Robert doings

• Samsung UI/UX Lab tour
  • Watching every button press
  • Iterative evolutionary process
• Nanosys lab
  • Start to finish tour
  • Emphasis on materials safety
  • LCD color filters
  • QLED TVs in 3-5yrs
• Nanosys pics

AVexcel doings

• Play Store coming soon
• We grow on the support of our audience
• Thanks to everyone who has sent us an email, tweet, Reddit, and/or positive thought

Dave wants to know if he can enjoy UHD Blu-ray on his PC

• Most PC Blu-ray drives won't read UHD Blu-ray discs
• Some LG BDXL drives will read UHD BD discs
• Need an HDCP 2.2/HDMI 2.0a GPU
• Playback software (BD only)

@josefabres0600 wants to optimize TV's contrast setting

• Using DVD/BD player as source device
  • Check player setup using TV's movie preset
  • Good test discs
    • Spears & Munsil
    • AVS 709 HD
      • White Clipping pattern info (PDF)
• Quick contrast setup
  • Reduce contrast to 50%
  • Increase until peak white levels disappear/change color
  • Reduce contrast to return detail/minimize color shifting

Matt in North Carolina asked about adding Bluetooth audio support

• Avantree BTTC-400

Francois is looking for a 46" 4K TV recommendation

• Suggest 55-inches+ for 4K TV
• Liking the Samsung KS8000

XBox One S

• The smallest Xbox ever
• Project Scorpio in 2017

Email us your comments and questions

• Tweet us too
  • @avexcel
  • @patricknorton
  • @robertheron

We love our supporters

The AVexcel sub-Reddit is a great place for group interaction

We thrive with our audience's participation - thank you

Enjoy

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Subscribe to AVexcel on iTunes or RSS

Recording date: June 13, 2016