Home Theater Geeks (Audio)

Calibrator 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-room questions, and more. Host: Scott Wilkinson Guest: David Abrams Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeks Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Grammy-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 also hear two completely different mixes of the same track that are both available on the Pure Audio Blu-ray and from his website. Host: Scott Wilkinson Guest: David Miles Huber Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeks Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Journalists 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, micro LED, microdisplays, AR/VR, lightfield displays, a transparent flat-panel directional speaker, answers to chat-room questions, and more. Host: Scott Wilkinson Guests: Chris Chinnock and Michael Heiss Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeks Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

On 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 was born to assure the quality of commercial presentation, the movie's impact on the cast and crew the first time they saw it, how the future of movie sound was influenced, answers to chatroom questions, and much more. May the force be with you! Host: Scott Wilkinson Guest: Mike Minkler Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeks Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Darin 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 examples (be sure to listen on headphones to hear the effect!) and discuss various applications and plans for future developments. Plus answers to chatroom questions and more. Host: Scott Wilkinson Guest: Darin Fong Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeks Thanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

In 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 color measurements in HDR with a 10% window and X-tended Dynamic Range set to High. Plus, answers to chatroom questions and more. Host: Scott Wilkinson Guest: David Abrams Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeksThanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Kaushik 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 binaural recordings, go to https://soundcloud.com/soundmaps_beingthere. Finally, he describes the Ossic X headphones and how they reproduce 3D immersive sound. Also, answers to chatroom questions and more. Host: Scott Wilkinson Guest: Kaushik Sunder Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeksThanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Calibrator 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, virtual reality, direct-LED displays such as the Sony CLEDIS and others, answers to chatroom questions, and more. Host: Scott Wilkinson Guests: David Abrams, Michael Heiss, and Geoffrey Tully Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeksThanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Video 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 even with projectors, high dynamic range, answers to chat-room questions, and more. Host: Scott Wilkinson Guest: Joe Kane Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeksThanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Ralph 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 Guest: Ralph Potts Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeksThanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Brian Markwalter, Senior VP of Research and Standards at the Consumer Technology Association, surveys the current landscape of the audio/video marketplace. Topics include highlights from CES 2017, the state of virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR), beginning work on VR/AR content-creation guidelines, similarities and differences with 3D, the adoption rate of 4K/UHD, high dynamic range (HDR), ATSC 3.0 UHD broadcasting and its integration with Internet Protocol (IP), wireless audio, high-resolution audio (HRA), answers to chat-room questions, and more. Host: Scott Wilkinson Guest: Brian Markwalter Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeksThanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Technology consultant and historian Mark Schubin talks about the history of television, including how opera inspired the idea of remote listening and viewing. Next, he traces the development of TV technology, starting in 1843 with Alexander Bain's patent for a mechanical image scanner. Other topics include George Carey's early work on scanning cameras, the Siemens Artificial Eye from 1876, Boris Rosing's picture tube from 1906, Alan Campbell-Swinton's end-to-end system in 1912, and television demonstrations at the 1939 World's Fair. We end up discussing the current state of TV and what we might expect in the future, plus answers to chatroom questions and more. Host: Scott Wilkinson Guest: Mark Schubin Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeksThanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

With so much more to discuss than we could get to last week, host Scott Wilkinson continues his conversation with Paul Hales, founder of Pro Audio Technology. This week, he explains why he believes that audio science is relatively unrefined, leading to lots of dogma, misinformation, uncertainty, and inconsistency. Next, we dive into immersive-audio systems, including the importance of multiple subs, sophisticated bass management, and speaker directivity. Also, we talk about measuring sound pressure levels, answers to chatroom questions, and more. Host: Scott Wilkinson Guest: Paul Hales Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeksThanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Paul Hales, founder of Pro Audio Technology, talks about room correction—or as he prefers to call it, room compensation. Topics include some of his fundamental principles of room EQ, sound directivity from various objects such as violins and speakers, how microphones do not capture sound in the same way that human ears do, how sound interacts with small to medium-sized rooms, target response curves (including the X-curve), how conforming to the X-curve causes the sound to be louder and more harsh than it should be, his suggested modification to the X-curve, answers to chat-room questions, and more. Host: Scott Wilkinson Guest: Paul Hales Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeksThanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.

Journalists Chris Boylan from BigPictureBigSound.com, Caleb Denison from DigitalTrends.com, and Robert Heron from HeronFidelity.com join host Scott Wilkinson to talk about their recent trip to San Francisco for a deep dive into the 2017 LG OLED TVs. Topics include the improvements LG made compared with the 2016 models, a side-by-side demo of a 2016 E6, 2017 E7, and Sony X300 professional OLED monitor, HDR, Dolby Atmos immersive sound, the flagship W7's large soundbar/processor/input module, comments from our hands-on time with the W7, answers to chat-room questions, and more. Host: Scott Wilkinson Guests: Robert Heron, Chris Boylan, and Caleb Denison Subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeksThanks to CacheFly for the bandwidth for this show.