Home Theater Geeks (Audio)
78 episodes - English - Latest episode: 18 days ago - ★★★★★ - 131 ratingsGet the most out of your home theater with the latest advances, product reviews, and all things audio and video. Every Thursday, Scott Wilkinson shares his expertise, energy, and enthusiasm about how to make your A/V system sound and look its best. In this short-format podcast, Scott brings you news, reviews, interviews, and commentary, and answers your questions. You can join Club TWiT for $7 a month and get ad-free audio and video feeds for all our shows plus everything else the club offers...or get just this podcast ad-free for $2.99 a month.
New episodes every Thursday.
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Episodes
HTG 365: Quantum Dots and MicroLEDs
August 03, 2017 23:47 - 1 hour - 30.9 MBNanomaterial expert Peter Palomaki talks about quantum dots and microLEDs and how they apply to video displays. Topics include what quantum dots are, how they function, what they're made of, why cadmium-based quantum dots work best but are toxic, new materials used in the shells of quantum dots, the current and future ways they're used in TVs, replacing phosphors in LEDs with quantum dots, microLEDs and how they might be used in video displays, manufacturing microLEDs, answers to chat-room ...
HTG 364: Chat-Room Q&A - Answers to chat-room questions.
July 28, 2017 00:12 - 1 hour - 32.9 MBAVS Forum Associate Editor Mark Henninger and host Scott Wilkinson spend a pleasant hour answering questions from the chat room. Topics include why home projectors don't yet implement Dolby Vision, 4K/UHD projectors in the $2-3K price range, home-theater lighting control, whether we prefer the LG E7 or Sony A1E OLED TV, will there ever be a single HDR format, high-resolution audio, headphone virtualization, VR for movies, Dolby Atmos, and more. Host: Scott Wilkinson Guest: Mark Henninger ...
HTG 364: Chat-Room Q&A
July 28, 2017 00:12 - 1 hour - 32.9 MBAVS Forum Associate Editor Mark Henninger and host Scott Wilkinson spend a pleasant hour answering questions from the chat room. Topics include why home projectors don't yet implement Dolby Vision, 4K/UHD projectors in the $2-3K price range, home-theater lighting control, whether we prefer the LG E7 or Sony A1E OLED TV, will there ever be a single HDR format, high-resolution audio, headphone virtualization, VR for movies, Dolby Atmos, and more. Host: Scott Wilkinson Guest: Mark Henninger ...
HTG 363: 2017 TV Shootout - Digging into the annual event.
July 21, 2017 00:28 - 1 hour - 32 MBVideo technologists Joel Silver, Matt Murray, and Mark Henninger join host Scott Wilkinson to discuss the 2017 TV Shootout held during CE Week in New York City. Joel headed the event, Matt set up the entire system and was one of the judges, and Mark carefully observed the proceedings. Topics include the competing TVs, the addition of a Sony BVM-X300 4K HDR OLED broadcast-reference monitor, the move from audience voting to video-professional judges, the establishment of three performance cat...
HTG 363: 2017 TV Shootout
July 21, 2017 00:28 - 1 hour - 32 MBVideo technologists Joel Silver, Matt Murray, and Mark Henninger join host Scott Wilkinson to discuss the 2017 TV Shootout held during CE Week in New York City. Joel headed the event, Matt set up the entire system and was one of the judges, and Mark carefully observed the proceedings. Topics include the competing TVs, the addition of a Sony BVM-X300 4K HDR OLED broadcast-reference monitor, the move from audience voting to video-professional judges, the establishment of three performance cat...
HTG 362: Samsung QLED & HDR10 Summit - All about quantum dots & HDR10.
July 14, 2017 00:21 - 1 hour - 38.9 MBVideo specialists Joe Kane, Geoff Tully, and Ron Williams join host Scott Wilkinson to talk about the two-day Samsung QLED and HDR10 Summit we all recently attended. Topics include what quantum dots are, current use of QDs in video displays, replacing color filters with QDs, using QDs as direct emitters under electrical stimulation, LEDs, microLED displays, the variability of HDR compared with SDR, Joe Kane's vision for reducing that variability, HDR10+ dynamic metadata, Florian Friedrich's...
HTG 362: Samsung QLED & HDR10 Summit
July 14, 2017 00:21 - 1 hour - 38.9 MBVideo specialists Joe Kane, Geoff Tully, and Ron Williams join host Scott Wilkinson to talk about the two-day Samsung QLED and HDR10 Summit we all recently attended. Topics include what quantum dots are, current use of QDs in video displays, replacing color filters with QDs, using QDs as direct emitters under electrical stimulation, LEDs, microLED displays, the variability of HDR compared with SDR, Joe Kane's vision for reducing that variability, HDR10+ dynamic metadata, Florian Friedrich's...
HTG 361: Surrounded by Music - Music in 5.1 surround sound.
July 06, 2017 23:16 - 1 hour - 33 MBComposer John Keane talks about his latest project, a 5.1-channel album of electroacoustic music on Blu-ray. Topics include his background as a recording musician from the age of 10 or so, various recording projects, his current studio, conceiving the new album as 5.1 from the start, combining electronic and acoustic instruments, mixing the music in 5.1, creating a 2-channel mix, creating a binaural version that reproduces the 5.1 soundfield in headphones, the benefit of high-res audio, ans...
HTG 361: Surrounded by Music
July 06, 2017 23:16 - 1 hour - 33 MBComposer John Keane talks about his latest project, a 5.1-channel album of electroacoustic music on Blu-ray. Topics include his background as a recording musician from the age of 10 or so, various recording projects, his current studio, conceiving the new album as 5.1 from the start, combining electronic and acoustic instruments, mixing the music in 5.1, creating a 2-channel mix, creating a binaural version that reproduces the 5.1 soundfield in headphones, the benefit of high-res audio, ans...
HTG 360: THX Update - What's new at THX? Lots!
June 29, 2017 23:18 - 1 hour - 32.5 MBTHX CTO Scott Francis talks about the company's work in commercial - and home - cinema certification, product certification, and technology development. Topics include history of THX, some technical details of the iconic signature sound called Deep Note, a new partnership with Cinemark called THX Cinema Alliance, recommendations for speaker placement and seating distance in a home theater, immersive audio, high dynamic range, audio and video product testing and certification, the company's ...
HTG 360: THX Update
June 29, 2017 23:18 - 1 hour - 32.5 MBTHX CTO Scott Francis talks about the company's work in commercial - and home - cinema certification, product certification, and technology development. Topics include history of THX, some technical details of the iconic signature sound called Deep Note, a new partnership with Cinemark called THX Cinema Alliance, recommendations for speaker placement and seating distance in a home theater, immersive audio, high dynamic range, audio and video product testing and certification, the company's ...
HTG 359: Whole-Home Audio, Riva Style - The tech of Riva's WAND system.
June 22, 2017 23:41 - 1 hour - 30.3 MBDon North, president and chief designer at Riva Audio, talks about the company's WAND (Wireless Audio Network Device) whole-home audio speakers, the Arena and Festival. Topics include driver designs, passive radiators, built-in class-D amps, Wi-Fi networking, closed versus open architecture, casting, Trillium technology that creates a large stereo soundfield from a single cabinet, high-res audio, answers to chat-room questions, and more. Host: Scott Wilkinson Guest: Don North Subscribe t...
HTG 359: Whole-Home Audio, Riva Style
June 22, 2017 23:41 - 1 hour - 30.3 MBDon North, president and chief designer at Riva Audio, talks about the company's WAND (Wireless Audio Network Device) whole-home audio speakers, the Arena and Festival. Topics include driver designs, passive radiators, built-in class-D amps, Wi-Fi networking, closed versus open architecture, casting, Trillium technology that creates a large stereo soundfield from a single cabinet, high-res audio, answers to chat-room questions, and more. Host: Scott Wilkinson Guest: Don North Subscribe t...
HTG 358: LG 65C7 OLED TV - Evaluating the LG 65C7 OLED TV.
June 15, 2017 23:13 - 1 hour - 36.1 MBCalibrator David Abrams and host Scott Wilkinson talk about the LG 65C7 OLED TV. Topics include the features of this TV, the pre-calibration measurements of grayscale and colorimetry, the SDR calibration results, the effect of the color-management system (CMS), which actually works well in the 2017 LG OLEDs, the HDR calibration results, looking at the colorimetry with and without taking tone-mapping luminance errors into account, Dolby Vision calibration, real-world content, answers to chat...
HTG 358: LG 65C7 OLED TV
June 15, 2017 23:13 - 1 hour - 36.1 MBCalibrator David Abrams and host Scott Wilkinson talk about the LG 65C7 OLED TV. Topics include the features of this TV, the pre-calibration measurements of grayscale and colorimetry, the SDR calibration results, the effect of the color-management system (CMS), which actually works well in the 2017 LG OLEDs, the HDR calibration results, looking at the colorimetry with and without taking tone-mapping luminance errors into account, Dolby Vision calibration, real-world content, answers to chat...
HTG 357: Mixing Music to Chill By - Chill music mixed to taste.
June 09, 2017 00:16 - 1 hour - 32 MBGrammy-nominated surround-sound engineer and electronic musician David Miles Huber talks about his new ambient album, GAMmA. Topics include how he conceived the project and started recording, his exclusive use of hard-panned stereo tracks for each instrument, working in several studios in Seattle, Berlin, and Belgium, combining electronic and acoustic instruments, performing several different mixes in 2.0, 5.1, and Auro 3D, high-resolution audio, answers to chat-room questions, and more. We...
HTG 357: Mixing Music to Chill By
June 09, 2017 00:16 - 1 hour - 32 MBGrammy-nominated surround-sound engineer and electronic musician David Miles Huber talks about his new ambient album, GAMmA. Topics include how he conceived the project and started recording, his exclusive use of hard-panned stereo tracks for each instrument, working in several studios in Seattle, Berlin, and Belgium, combining electronic and acoustic instruments, performing several different mixes in 2.0, 5.1, and Auro 3D, high-resolution audio, answers to chat-room questions, and more. We...
HTG 356: The Future of Displays - Deep inside display technology.
June 02, 2017 01:25 - 1 hour - 30.9 MBJournalists Chris Chinnock of Insight Media and Mike Heiss of Residential Systems and TWICE join host Scott Wilkinson to talk about what we learned about the future of display technology at DisplayWeek 2017. Topics include color conversion of blue light to longer-wavelength colors using quantum dots and phosphors, the various forms of QLED technology (photo-enhanced, photo-emissive, electro-emissive), an early demonstration of a full-color electro-emissive QD display, bendable OLED screens,...
HTG 356: The Future of Displays
June 02, 2017 01:25 - 1 hour - 30.9 MBJournalists Chris Chinnock of Insight Media and Mike Heiss of Residential Systems and TWICE join host Scott Wilkinson to talk about what we learned about the future of display technology at DisplayWeek 2017. Topics include color conversion of blue light to longer-wavelength colors using quantum dots and phosphors, the various forms of QLED technology (photo-enhanced, photo-emissive, electro-emissive), an early demonstration of a full-color electro-emissive QD display, bendable OLED screens,...
HTG 355: Star Wars' 40th Anniversary - Mixing the sound of Star Wars.
May 26, 2017 00:04 - 1 hour - 31.3 MBOn the 40th anniversary of the theatrical release of Star Wars, 3-time Academy Award-winning re-recording mixer Mike Minkler talks about his work on that seminal movie. Topics include how he first got hired to work on the sound, the process of pre-mixing various sound elements, the first use of front-back panning, the birth of separate low-frequency effects (called "Baby Boom" at the time), Dolby Stereo, Dolby A noise reduction, the transition from magnetic to optical soundtracks, how THX w...
HTG 355: Star Wars' 40th Anniversary
May 26, 2017 00:04 - 1 hour - 31.3 MBOn the 40th anniversary of the theatrical release of Star Wars, 3-time Academy Award-winning re-recording mixer Mike Minkler talks about his work on that seminal movie. Topics include how he first got hired to work on the sound, the process of pre-mixing various sound elements, the first use of front-back panning, the birth of separate low-frequency effects (called "Baby Boom" at the time), Dolby Stereo, Dolby A noise reduction, the transition from magnetic to optical soundtracks, how THX w...
HTG 354: Going Out of Your Head - Headphone virtualization.
May 18, 2017 23:17 - 1 hour - 31.2 MBDarin Fong talks about his headphone-virtualization software called Out of Your Head. Topics include a quick summary of head-related transfer functions (HRTFs), how Darin wanted to simulate the effect of listening to a speaker-based stereo system in headphones, how he measures HRTFs in different rooms with different speakers to create presets, and how the software accepts the audio from a media player and applies the selected preset to create a binaural-audio file. We also play a few exampl...
HTG 354: Going Out of Your Head
May 18, 2017 23:17 - 1 hour - 31.2 MBDarin Fong talks about his headphone-virtualization software called Out of Your Head. Topics include a quick summary of head-related transfer functions (HRTFs), how Darin wanted to simulate the effect of listening to a speaker-based stereo system in headphones, how he measures HRTFs in different rooms with different speakers to create presets, and how the software accepts the audio from a media player and applies the selected preset to create a binaural-audio file. We also play a few exampl...
HTG 353: Sony A1E OLED TV - Measuring the Sony A1E OLED TV.
May 11, 2017 23:39 - 1 hour - 34.4 MBIn the first of an ongoing series of TV reviews on HTG, calibrator David Abrams starts with a description of his studio environment and measurement and calibration process, followed by a detailed analysis of the Sony A1E OLED TV. We talk about the X-tended Dynamic Range control and what it does, then take a close look at the grayscale and color measurements in standard dynamic range (SDR) at different window sizes and settings of X-tended Dynamic Range. We also look at the grayscale and col...
HTG 352: Immersive Hearing - HRTF, binaural recording, more.
May 05, 2017 00:58 - 1 hour - 30.8 MBKaushik Sunder, research scientist at Ossic, talks about how humans hear in three dimensions. Topics include the anatomy of the ear, head-related transfer functions (HRTFs), and how they affect the spectral balance of what we hear based on the direction from which a sound comes as well as individual characteristics such as the shape of the outer ear and size of the head. He also discusses binaural recording, and we listen to a clip of such a recording he made in Bali; for more of Kaushik's ...
HTG 351: NAB 2017 - 4K, 8K, HDR, ATSC 3.0, more.
April 27, 2017 23:44 - 1 hour - 32.8 MBCalibrator David Abrams, journalist Mike Heiss, and consultant Geoff Tully talk about what they saw and learned at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) 2017 convention this week. Topics include the first live 4K stream from space, the ATSC 3.0 UHD/HDR broadcast standard with a live demo at the show, how broadcast and studio reference monitors are getting larger and brighter, high dynamic range (HDR) in broadcasting, NHK's 8K demos and concept for a very large, flexible OLED screen...
HTG 350: The Future of Cinema - Screen walls, HDR, Bias lights
April 20, 2017 21:42 - 1 hour - 34.3 MBVideo guru Joe Kane talks about what he saw and learned at CinemaCon 2017, the trade show for commercial-cinema owners. Topics include the lengths to which theater owners will go to attract customers, such as augmented-reality lobby posters, first-class airline seating with meal and drink service in theaters, and the Barco Escape three-screen system. He also discusses the potential of direct-LED screen walls such as the Sony CLEDIS and Samsung Cinema Screen, the importance of bias lighting ...
HTG 349: The Best Blu-rays & UHD Blu-rays - Ralph Potts' favorite titles.
April 14, 2017 00:17 - 1 hour - 33.2 MBRalph Potts, Blu-ray reviewer for AVS Forum, talks about his home theater system and his favorite Blu-ray and UHD Blu-ray titles, including some of the best titles for image quality in both HD and UHD, immersive audio, and 3D. He also discusses high dynamic range (HDR), wide color gamut (WCG), high frame rate (HFR), and how he divides his attention between the technical aspects of the presentation and the movie itself. Plus answers to chatroom questions and more. Host: Scott Wilkinson Gue...