Home Theater Geeks (Audio)

THX has long been known for certifying the performance of commercial cinemas and consumer AV products. The company has also developed its own technologies, including its latest Spatial Audio, which expands 2-channel and multichannel audio into a fully 3-dimensional immersive sound field. In Part 1 of this exclusive interview, THX CEO Jason Fiber and Senior Director of Product Development Kasson Crooker explain what Spatial Audio is and how it works.

Host: Scott Wilkinson

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Always at the forefront of technology, Chief TWiT Leo Laporte recently bought a Samsung QN77S95C, the second generation of a new flat-panel TV technology called QD OLED. While he was on vacation, Leo invited Scott Wilkinson to check it out at his home. The image is gorgeous, but the only UHD Blu-ray player Leo has is an Xbox Series X gaming console, which gave Scott some trouble when he tried to play a setup disc to make some basic adjustments. Still, the TV produces an exceptional image worthy of The Tech Guy.

Get the Samsung 77-Inch Class OLED 4K S95C Series: https://amzn.to/415aeld

Host: Scott Wilkinson

Club TWiT members can discuss episodes in the Club TWiT Discord.

In most cases, when you buy a new TV, bring it home, take it out of the box, plug it in, and turn it on, the picture quality is preset to look rather garish and over-the-top. Many people think that's what it's supposed to look like, but it ain't necessarily so. Scott Wilkinson shows you how to make a few adjustments so the image looks much more natural and closer to what the content creators intended. The adjustments he discusses in this episode do not require any test patterns, just your TV's remote. As he mentions, manufacturers do not always use the same terminology for things; for example, Scott recommends a Picture Mode called Movie, Cinema, or Filmmaker, but in the examples shown on the screen (which are from a Vizio PX75-G1), there are no so-named Picture Modes. Instead, the best modes are Calibrated or Calibrated Dark; try each to see which you prefer. Both will give you a more natural, accurate image than any other Picture Modes.

Host: Scott Wilkinson

Club TWiT members can discuss episodes in the Club TWiT Discord.

Surprisingly, Sony did not announce any new TVs at CES 2023. Instead, the company opted to wait until March to unveil its 2023 lineup—and what a lineup it is! The highly anticipated second generation of QD-OLED is joined by new models of conventional OLED and LED-illuminated LCD TVs with upgraded processing and other new features that are sure to tempt any home theater geek.

Host: Scott Wilkinson

Club TWiT members can discuss episodes in the Club TWiT Discord.

After a 5-year absence, Home Theater Geeks is back! Scott Wilkinson offers a weekly dose of audio/video news, tips, and tricks to get the most out of your AV system, product reviews, or commentary—he has no shortage of strong opinions! Plus, he'll answer your questions, which you can submit via email to [email protected]. And once in a while, he'll have a special guest on the show to chat about his favorite subject.

You can still get legacy episodes of HTG for free on your favorite podcast apps. The new versions of Home Theater Geeks are only available ad-free on Club TWiT or Apple Podcasts. You can join Club TWiT for $7 a month and get everything the club offers, or just get the podcast for $2.99 a month. You can also get the ad-free audio versions for $2.99 a month on Apple Podcasts.

Host: Scott Wilkinson

Club TWiT members can discuss episodes in the Club TWiT Discord.

Mastering engineer Eric Boulanger talks about the process of mastering audio for music recordings. Topics include how he got into audio engineering after being a professional violinist, the process of mastering (especially for vinyl), the "loudness wars" (or as Eric prefers, the "loudness plague"), how he started his current facility called The Bakery, stories from mastering such titles as the soundtrack from La La Land and albums by Rufus Wainwright, Diana Krall, and Colbie Calliat, his involvement in Apple's "Mastered for iTunes" initiative, the real value of high-resolution audio, answers to chat-room questions, and more.

Host: Scott Wilkinson

Guest: Eric Boulanger

Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeks

Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Color-imaging scientist Jack Holm digs deep into high dynamic range. Topics include color volume, what artists might do with an expanded palette of colors and brightness, the actual dynamic range of most images, accurate versus preferred images, the difference between PQ and HLG HDR formats, the "look" of HLG, HLG's backward compatibility with SDR displays, the problems of delivering SDR and HDR streams, expanding SDR for HDR displays versus compressing HDR for SDR displays, the importance of the viewing environment, answers to chat-room questions, and more.

Host: Scott Wilkinson

Guest: Jack Holm

Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeks

Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Journalists Mike Heiss, Mark Henninger, and Tom Norton join host Scott Wilkinson to talk about what they saw and heard at the CEDIA Expo 2017. Topics include the new Sony projectors, such as the market-disrupting VPL-VW285ES ("4K for under $5K"); the new lower-cost JVC projectors; how none of the DLP projectors looked all that great (even the really expensive ones); ultra short-throw projectors, such as the Epson LS100; LED video walls; Samsung/SpectraCal auto-calibration; Fibbr fiber-optic HDMI cables; AV processors, such as the Emotiva RMC-1; speakers, such as the Definitive Technology Demand series and Creative X-Fi Sonic Carrier soundbar; the near ubiquity of voice control; our pics for the best video and audio at the show, answers to chat-room questions, and more.

Host: Scott Wilkinson

Guests: Michael Heiss, Mark Henninger, and Tom Norton

Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeks

Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Tyll Hertsens, headphone maven and editor-in-chief of InnerFidelity.com, answers questions from the chat-room. He starts with a new killer headphone for less than $100, then discusses a variety of topics, including dual- and multi-driver headphones, balanced-armature drivers, whether or not price correlates with performance, how measurements correlate with performance, wireless headphones, high-res audio on headphones, his measurement and review process, and more.

Host: Scott Wilkinson

Guest: Tyll Hertsens

Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeks

Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Personal-cinema architect John Bishop discusses how he rates the performance of commercial cinemas with a 100-point scale, which provides a benchmark for how home cinemas should perform. In this episode, he focuses on the visual aspects, including viewing geometry, flat-field uniformity, light levels, screen materials, viewing angles, and other factors. Next, he offers ratings of various reference and commercial cinemas as well as some of the best home cinemas he has worked on. Plus, answers to chat-room questions and more.

Host: Scott Wilkinson

Guest: John Bishop

Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeks

Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.