Podcast #726: 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.

Click to read more ...

Podcast #725: 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.

Click to read more ...

Podcast #724: Plex Media Server Review

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.

Click to read more ...

Podcast #723: TCL Roku LCD 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.

Click to read more ...

Podcast #722: Marantz SR6010 Review

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.

Click to read more ...

Podcast #721: 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.

Click to read more ...