HDTVs, projectors, and surround sound systems.
Home Theater
Scott Wilkinson ... Upgraded
Episode 1796
Scott got an email about whether it's a great time to upgrade from a 10-year-old TV and what TV should she buy? Should she go with LED or OLED? She hears that OLED TVs burn out too often and that a QLED is better. Scott disagrees. Most of the problems with OLED have been cured, though there is still a problem with burn-in if you leave it on the same image all day. But even then, with pixel shifting, the potential of burn-in is minimal. So don't worry about OLED, and it's far better than Sony's QLED.
Scott Wilkinson ... Getting Past It
Episode 1794
Scott joins Leo to talk about the news that Sennheiser recently got sold to a hearing aid company. They promise to keep things as they are, but it's a strange acquisition for an audiophile equipment company. Scott recently reviewed the Sennheiser IE300 In Ear monitors, which he says sound fantastic. Well balanced from bass to treble. He gives them 5 out of 5 stars.
How Can I Prevent a Neighbor From Taking Control of My Apple TV?
Episode 1794
Jeff fromJeff lives in a condo and he has a problem with his neighbor taking over his Apple TV (she has one too). Obviously, a remote from the neighbor's Apple TV is taking control. How can he prevent that from happening? Leo says to go in the settings, under Airplay, and turn it off. Settings->Airplay->Allow Access-> Allow nearby. But that may not prevent the remote from taking over. Leo recommends moving Jeff's Apple TV as far away from the wall as possible. Or, if possible, he could try and place a metal tray or sheet behind it to block the signal.
Why is My TV Flickering?
Episode 1793
Louie fromLouie is having home theater issues when he switches from his TV to blue-ray and back. He's getting flickering. Leo says that there's an HDMI handshake that happens between your AV receiver and the television. So, Leo says it sounds like the handshake may be failing for some reason. It could be as easy as a bad cable. Probably the HDMI cable. The TV ports may also be slightly expanding when they get hot. So try a different HDMI port to be sure.
Scott Wilkinson ... on the plus side
Episode 1792
In home theater news, Scott Wilkinson says that Chromecast and Roku have announced support for HDR 10+ high dynamic range content. Scott says this update is far more important than any boosting of resolution past 4K. Increasing the dynamic range can easily be seen from across the room, while a boost in resolution will not. So it'll have a much bigger impact to the viewer.
Don't Use an OLED TV as a Computer Monitor
Episode 1791
Jeff fromJeff calls in to warn that if you use an OLED TV as a computer monitor, you run the risk of burn-in from window elements like menu bars that are always on. That makes using an OLED a bad choice for a monitor. Leo agrees and suggests a 4K LCD TV with the highest refresh rate you can get.
Is the 77" LG OLED the Best to View Photography?
Episode 1791
Dennis fromKen recently automated his home with Google Nest, but the problem he's having is that when he's asking his phone to take a picture, he's told by Google Nest that they can't do that. Leo says that's a common issue as sometimes, Google doesn't know where to process a request. That goes away over time as Nest learns speech patterns. It also helps to be more specific in commands.
Apple Spring Event Loads Up with New iMacs, iPads, and AirTags
Episode 1791
In a prerecorded event that lasted almost an hour on the dot, Apple held their annual Spring Event and introduced the latest M1 iMac, M1 iPad Pros, updates to AppleTV, and finally the launch of the Apple Air Tags. Apple also announced a purple iPhone, and the ability for customers to build credit through the Apple Card. The Apple Air Tags will signal where your lost devices are, from keys to just about anything. Apple also added that any time an iOS device comes within range of an Air Tag, the tag will phone home and let the owner know where they are. That's pretty cool.
The GizWiz and the AccuVoice
Episode 1790
This week's gadget is the ZoVox AccuVoice, which makes the dialogue in old movies understandable again. It's different from other voice boosting systems that focus on equalization. AccuVoice combines compression, consonant-range boost, formant enhancement, minimization of bass output -- plus other proprietary techniques they prefer not to divulge. The AV157 uses 12 levels of dialogue boost – 6 stages of AccuVoice boost plus 6 stages of their new SuperVoice technology.
Scott Wilkinson and the Big Announcement
Episode 1790
Scott joins Leo to talk about a huge announcement at the Apple Spring Forward event. It's part of the new AppleTV (TVOS and iOS 14.5 respectively) and it's called automatic color balance. How it works is that users can pair their iPhone X to the AppleTV, and the AppleTV will calibrate your TV to make your streaming image closer to how content has been color balanced. The app will calibrate the color and gray scale by taking the phone and putting it up against your TV, and the forward-facing sensor will then tell the Apple TV to adjust its output based on what it's reading from the iPhone.