May 31, 2021
Brett Bjorkquist, Senior Manager, Dealer Engagement, Kaleidescape joins us to discuss Kaleidescape, known for a hardware/software solution that brings full resolution audio and video movies to the home.
- A brief introduction to Kaleidescape.
- How do you measure the quality differences between Kaleidescape vs UHD disks, Blurays, and 4K streams?
- How do you see the different tiers of hardware breaking down by consumer?
- Your software gets great user reaction, what’s the latest on that? Any chance of a software only solution?
- Who do you see as the typical Kaleidescape consumer?
- What would you consider a minimum necessary home theater to get the most out of a Kaleidescape system?
- Are all studios on board? What about independents / Criterion?
- What’s on your roadmap for improvements to the system?
- The elephant in the room: Price. Is price a driving concern for you? Is there a big enough market for this service at this price? Is this price sustainable in a streaming first / subscription based world?
- There’s no ties to Movies Anywhere or any other storefront right? Is that something you’d consider?
- Is Apple’s effort to bring lossless audio to music a concern? If they go full lossless quality on audio in movies what then?
- What audio and video formats does Kaleidescape support?
- What is your own theater like?
- What do you wish people understood about Kaleidescape better? What would make using the system even better in their homes?
May 17, 2021
Special Guests: Tyler Pruitt of Portrait Displays (Calman) and Gregg Loewen of LionAV / Professional Video Alliance
Gregg and Tyler are on to discuss their work helping consumers get the most out of their displays, from monitors to flat panels to projectors.
- What’s the takeaway on calibration these days? Is is any easier for a lay person to get good results?
- What should enthusiasts look for in a calibration service? How can they decide to do it themselves vice getting professional help?
- Is Apple’s effort to build in calibration a gimmick or the real deal? Isn’t it better to calibrate at the display than the player?
- How has the introduction of HDR into the mix changed calibration?
- What’s the deal with all the HDR standards? Should we care about anything besides HDR10 and Dolby Vision?
- Can home projectors ever compete for accuracy again in an HDR world?
- Do we -really- need displays capable of 1000 nits or more to get ‘real’ HDR?
- Bias lights seem to have faded as a big deal, do you guys still recommend them? Are people still putting them in?
- Any thoughts on 3D or High Frame Rate from a calibration perspective? How about gaming?
- Where do you stand on streaming? Do streams benefit significantly from calibration? Are streams viable from an accuracy perspective?
- What do you wish people understood about your job better? What would make calibrating their theater better?
May 3, 2021
Mr. RAH is on to discuss his work restoring and preserving historic and important films, how he got started, how he sees the health of restoration efforts, and his side gig of giving “A Few Words About” recent releases:
- How he got started doing film restoration.
- How is restoration different than preservation?
- Thoughts on the colorization of B&W movies
- Color correction
- Restoration of 3D or High Frame Rate films?
- How badly did the pandemic affect studios efforts to restore films? Is the “industry” of restoration in bad shape? Are the studios losing their appetite for big restorations? Has studio consolidation or move to streaming affected the calculus?
- Has he embraced streaming?
- What films that haven't made their way to disk does he most want to see?
- What does he wish our readers understood better about restoration efforts?
- “A Few Words About”
Plus a hilarious Good Bad and Ugly
April 26, 2021
Note: the initial upload cut off the last 20 minutes, this version should be correct.
Bill Hunt is on to discuss his site The Digital Bits, how he got started and where he sees the industry going:
- How did you get started doing the site? How has it changed over the years?
- DVD or DIVX?
- Bluray or HDDVD?
- How do you add reviewers?
- Where do you stand on streaming? Are you 100% discs only still or do you dabble with streams? Are you subbing to any services like HBO Max or Disney Plus?
- What's your own theater like?
- Are you a movie goer when there isn't an ongoing pandemic or do you strictly stick to home viewing? (Sam's back to A-List with Nobody and Raya and the Last Dragon, plus Mortal Kombat tomorrow!)
- What films that haven't made their way to disk yet do you most want to see?
- What do you think is the next step for home theater, what would you like to see?
- Do you think consumers have a strong enough voice in the hobby? Do sites like yours help give that voice a megaphone at all?
- What do you wish your readers understood about your job better?
- When are we going to do another hollywood or vegas meet up =) Missed connections: The Birthday Bash with incognito celebs!
- State of the cinema and home theater post pandemic
Plus Good Bad and Ugly (jaja!)
April 22, 2021
Bill Hunt is on to discuss his site The Digital Bits, how he got started and where he sees the industry going:
- How did you get started doing the site? How has it changed over the years?
- DVD or DIVX?
- Bluray or HDDVD?
- How do you add reviewers?
- Where do you stand on streaming? Are you 100% discs only still or do you dabble with streams? Are you subbing to any services like HBO Max or Disney Plus?
- What's your own theater like?
- Are you a movie goer when there isn't an ongoing pandemic or do you strictly stick to home viewing? (Sam's back to A-List with Nobody and Raya and the Last Dragon, plus Mortal Kombat tomorrow!)
- What films that haven't made their way to disk yet do you most want to see?
- What do you think is the next step for home theater, what would you like to see?
- Do you think consumers have a strong enough voice in the hobby? Do sites like yours help give that voice a megaphone at all?
- What do you wish your readers understood about your job better?
- When are we going to do another hollywood or vegas meet up =) Missed connections: The Birthday Bash with incognito celebs!
- State of the cinema and home theater post pandemic
Plus Good Bad and Ugly (jaja!)
April 5, 2021
Special Guests Nicholas Brown and Larry McGough of SVS Sound join us to discuss the launch of their new dual driver 3000 Micro Sub and more:
- History of SVS
- What are the advantages of a Dual Driver sub?
- Can we expect larger versions to hit the market? Is this the start of a whole new category?
- Does having a dual driver help eliminate problems like room nulls?
- Prime Elevation: Can you explain how they differ from bounce and ceiling mounted Atmos speakers? What’s the best way to set them up in your receiver?
- Any plans for adding integrated Atmos bounce speakers?
- SVS is down to two models that feature the iconic tube design, is the age of tube subs coming to a close?
- How has the reception been to Prime Wireless? I enjoyed my time testing it!
- Larry’s top 5 subwoofer movie demos
- SVS using augmented reality on website
- New SVS SoundPath accessories?
- SVS Live Streams on facebook and Youtube, when is the next audiophile happy hour and how has the reception to that been going?
- What do you wish your buyers understood about subs and speakers better, both before and after sales?
March 22, 2021
Aspect Ratios in the Streaming Age
Physical Media outlook
Directors choices
Podcasting today and in the future
GBU
March 8, 2021
Join hosts Brian and Sam as they welcome Justin Sluss from High Def Disc News to discuss his site HDDN, how he got started and where he sees the industry going:
- How did you get started doing the site? What’s your current staffing like? Are you looking for more reviewers?
- Are you 100% discs only still or do you dabble with streams?
- Putting up quality screenshots
- You've recently expanded to having a Youtube channel. How's that going? It's currently silent with just screenshot comparisons, any thoughts on adding commentary?
- What films that haven't made their way to disk yet do you most want to see?
- What do you think is the next step for home theater, what would you like to see?
- Do you think consumers have a strong enough voice in the hobby? Do sites like yours help give that voice a megaphone at all?
- What do you wish your readers understood about your job better?
- When are we going to do another hollywood or vegas meet up =)
Quick Good Band and Ugly:
February 25, 2021
Join hosts Brian and Sam as they welcome HTF co-owner Dave Upton to discuss how to correct and calibrate home theaters using tools such as Room EQ Wizard (REW) and Audyssey, plus tips for physically modifying room layout and using wall treatments.
- Dave’s history with HTF again and dealing with recent snow in Texas
- What is Room Correction technology?
- Isn’t Audyssey all you need?
- What can consumers who have receivers without Audyssey do?
- Why Room EQ Wizard?
- Do you have to be an engineer type to use REW?
- What can REW do that Audessey can’t?
- What modifications can one do to a room to ‘fix’ what REW shows?
- What else would Dave suggest folks look into to make their rooms sound better?
Also, Good, Bad and Ugly media reviews including Dave's latest pick!
February 8, 2021
Join hosts Brian and Sam as they welcome HTF Reviewer Todd Erwin to discuss the current state of streaming and how frustrations stack up for movie and TV lovers in this brave new world.
- Current state of the Streaming ecosystem
- Subscription Services
- PVOD/VOD Services
- Available and best Devices for streaming
- What does the future hold for streaming and what do we happens next in this space?
Also, Good, Bad and Ugly media reviews including Todd's latest review!
