Home > Podcast > AV Rant #536: Over Your Head

AV Rant #536: Over Your Head

April 28th, 2017

Our Listeners of the Week are Nate and Matt for their donations.

In the news, the Oppo UDP-205 Ultra HD Blu-ray player focuses on analogue audio for $1,300. 2016 & 2017 Yamaha Receivers get Dolby Vision, HLG, and Tidal updates. Samsung and Amazon support HDR10+, but external HDR10+ sources will need HDMI 2.1 and updates. And Emotiva now offers free shipping to Canada.

Antoine says Reddit has made Micca speakers their “darling” for some reason. Bill R. persisted in getting his buzzing Denon AVR-X6300H Receiver repaired, and it paid off. And Tom K. received his Ascend Acoustics Sierra Luna Satellite speakers, and he offers his (very positive) first impressions.

Steve M. has a 35-foot-long HDMI cable inside his walls, and he asks for ideas as to how to test its bandwidth limits. Greg F. asks about  affordable Outdoor Speaker Depot in-ceiling speakers and angled in-ceiling speakers. Mark O. isn’t entirely satisfied after replacing his NHT SuperZero speakers with RBH Impression Series, so we discuss his setup and expectations. And Aidan C. has concerns about positioning his projector directly beneath an A/C vent.

Nelson A. replaced his pair of Vandersteen V2W subwoofers with dual SVS PB16-Ultras, but he feels a lack of mid-bass, so we offer a solution. Moanis wants to know if he should worry about JVC’s “real color imaging” DCI-P3 color filter that’s only offered on their more expensive projectors. And Karl R. needs a 50-foot HDMI cable that can handle 4K, so we suggest a Monoprice fiber optic HDMI cable.

Michael M. gets confirmation about his living room theater plans, and we discuss dual subwoofer setup and absorption panel placement. Jim C. gets advice on which Vizio SoundBar to buy. And Infinite Gary gets our speculation on matte and semi-gloss TV screens in the future, as well as our choice of screen size for a short viewing distance.

Justin B. gets our recommendation for an Emotiva TA-100 integrated amp. We also discuss some specs, subwoofer connection options, speaker crossover settings, and recommend Audio Engine Wireless solutions. Jonathan F. gets us to rant about a Stereophile editorial titled “R.I.P., Audiophilia. It Was Nice Knowing You.” And Jim B. upgraded to a Receiver with HDMI 2.0a and HDCP 2.2, but he needs some clarification on using its Zone2 HDMI output and feeding two displays: one 1080p, and one 4K.

Bob L. asks us to compare the Oppo UDP-203 vs. UDP-205, and we have a suggestion for a Region Free Oppo Ultra HD Blu-ray player. Brian gets some additional info about Monoprice Monolith amps and Emotiva XPA Gen3 amps, as well as the two sizes of Martin Logan ElectroMotion ESL Towers. Abhue F. asks how Ultra HD Blu-rays physically differ from Blu-rays, and whether any Receivers allow for 9.1.4 Atmos. And Kerry A. gets our thoughts on a filmmaker’s rant On HDR Displays and Grading.

Thanks for listening. Now, don't forget to:

  • Check out the AV Rant YouTube channel to watch our show videos.
  • Download Tom’s FREE superhero-themed ebook Bob Moore: No Hero.
  • Visit Tom's website for download links as well as links for the two full-length follow-ups -  Bob Moore: Desperate Times and Bob Moore: Hostile Territory.
  • Check out AVGadgets.com where Tom is the new Editor-in-Chief!
  • Download Tom's NEWEST book, Touch of Pain from Amazon now!

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  1. prinear
    October 25th, 2017 at 08:08 | #1

    Two rants.
    This comment window isn’t intuitively located,
    because it is below the logout prompt.
    Now, about your answer concerning the Oppo UDP-205.
    As you no doubt know, it has an HDMI IN, so the source (dvr, cable box, etc)
    Goes by here, then the two outs can be used for the tv and the processor or receiver.
    Then, the component outs can be routed to a aud input for 2 channel HiFi.
    Your answer to the question was income let’s at least and really just wrong.

  2. Rob H
    November 4th, 2017 at 09:24 | #2

    @prinear

    We’re just using WordPress for our website, so the comment field is stuck where WordPress puts it. We’re an amateur podcast – our financial goal is simply to break even. And we are only able to dedicate our limited free time to this venture, so we prioritize the gathering and answering of our Listeners’ questions over the aesthetics of everything else. We’ll take it as a compliment whenever anyone thinks we’re professional enough to dedicate more time than we are presently able. Must mean we’re doing a decent job of podcasting! 🙂

    As for our response about the Oppo UDP-205 – this episode was recorded back in April – the date is marked at the top of this post and in some form or another on every release format. You’ll notice that the number for this Episode is #536, and we are now up to Episode #563 as I type this.

    We make a point of correcting ourselves whenever possible, but we do not go back to previous episodes to edit them to contain current information. We greatly appreciate corrections! But in an instance like this, we’d request that you consider the age of the episode and then consider the possibility that we have corrected ourselves or updated our response with more current information in subsequent episodes.

    Such is the case with the Oppo UHD Blu-ray players. Oppo is frequently updating their firmware to add new capabilities, and we talk about the very fact that HDR10 pass-through has been added, and that it is possible to use the Oppo players as HDMI audio extractors, as well, sending 4K HDR10 video directly to a display from a 3rd device connected to the Oppo’s input while the audio is separated and sent directly to an AV Receiver – even one that does not support 4K or HDR.

    So it’s appreciated that you’re wanting to correct something that you heard that was wrong, but our episodes are not meant to be “evergreen”. Things change rapidly in this industry, and we also just plain make mistakes. But we do amend our answers as new information comes to light. So what was once wrong might very well be corrected in a more recent episode, so we hope you will keep that in mind moving forward.

    Thanks!

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