Mar 30 Podcast #524: Eden, Amazon and the Ultimate AVR
This week we are going to design the AVR of the future. This is a group effort! We will provide you with initial specifications and we would like you to add features that would make our new AVR the Ultimate AVR. Now we just need someone to build it.
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Today's Show:
Blu-ray Reviews:
News:
- Online Film Viewing in U.S. to Top Discs in 2012, IHS Says
- TiVo To Launch New 500GB Premiere DVR
- LG to launch their 55" OLED TV in May for around $7,900
Other:
- Netgear NeoTV Streaming Player (NTV200) $49.99
- Home Theater Cruise
- Judge Denies Kaleidescape in DVD Movie Storage Case
- MLB.TV, Comcast Xfinity TV, and HBO to go now available on XBOX 360
- Plex for Roku is now official
- Full myPlex support
- Audio and Photo support
- Revamped UI
- Direct Play
- Much more including bug fixes
- Panasonic Reveals Pricing on New models. VT and GT:
- TC-P65VT50 $3,699
- TC-P55VT50 $2,499
- TC-P65GT50 $3,299
- TC-P60GT50 $2,599
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- The HT Guys gratitude!
XBMC 11.0 - Eden
XBMC 11.0 “Eden” has been released and is loaded with new features and improvements. For those of you who don’t know what XBMC is:
XBMC is an award-winning free and open source (GPL) software media player and entertainment hub for digital media. XBMC is available for Linux, OSX, and Windows. Created in 2003 by a group of like minded programmers, XBMC is a non-profit project run and developed by volunteers located around the world. More than 50 software developers have contributed to XBMC, and 100-plus translators have worked to expand its reach, making it available in more than 30 languages.
Updates:
- Massive speed increases via features like Dirty-region rendering and the new JPEG decoder
- Better movie scraping of your library
- Additional protocol handling
- Better networking support
- Better handling of unencrypted BluRay content and structures
- Adjustable display refresh rate in OSX (to match the already available feature in Windows and Linux)
- AirPlay support
- An upgraded weather service with geoip lookup
- Much, much more.
Full list of updates can be found in the summarized changelog
Top Ten TVs at Amazon
- LG 32LK330 32-Inch 720p 60 Hz LCD HDTV $344 4.5 Stars
- LG 42LK450 42-Inch 1080p 60 Hz LCD HDTV $498 4.5 Stars
- Panasonic VIERA TC-L32C3 32-Inch 720p LCD HDTV $300 4.5 Stars
- LG 32LK450 32-Inch 1080p 60 Hz LCD VA Panel HDTV $380 4.5 Stars
- Philips 32PFL3506/F7 32-inch 720p LCD HDTV, Black $268 4.5 Stars
- LG 42LK520 42-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV $470 (Refurb) 4.5 Stars
- LG 37LK450 37-Inch 1080p 60 Hz LCD HDTV $432 4.5 Stars
- Samsung LN37D550 37-Inch 1080p 60Hz LCD HDTV (Black) $499 4.5 Stars
- LG 55LK520 55-Inch 1080p 120 Hz LCD HDTV $998 4.5 Stars
- Samsung UN46D8000 46-Inch 1080p 240Hz 3D LED HDTV $1590 4 Stars
The Ultimate AVR
This week we are going to design the AVR of the future. This is a group effort! We will provide you with initial specifications and we would like you to add features that would make our new AVR the Ultimate AVR. Now we just need someone to build it.
Our AVR needs to have the basics covered: Great Sound, Dolby and DTS processing, 7.1, 6 HDMI 1.4 ports, Network connectivity, and Automatic Room Calibration are table stakes. No our AVR needs to do much more than that! Let’s look at some features we want, some of which are available today and some that we want to see available soon.
Dolby Volume or Audyssey Dynamic Volume (or Both!)
We have all been there. We watching something late at night and we have to raise the volume so we can hear the dialog. All is well until an action sequence starts. Then its a mad dash to the find the remote and lower the volume before the children are woken or the neighbors complain. Both Dolby Volume and Audyssey Dynamic Volume level out the sound so you don’t need to do anything. We’ve heard both solutions and find they work the best at this task. This is a must have that’s available today in many but not all receivers.
Smart AVR
We have all heard of smart TVs well we’d like to see a smart AVR. Why not put Netflix, Hulu, and other apps right in the AVR? This eliminates at least one box in your system. Many receivers support DLNA so why not add a better user interface and stream content from your computer through the receiver. Better yet, add Airplay support for both video and audio! While we’re add it, we’d like to recommend that this mythical AVR actually spend money on a sexy new user interface. Many of these features are available on some receivers but the interface is so bland.
Digital Audio/Video Distribution
Let’s make this receiver an A/V distribution hub. Our AVR will be able to output multiple video sources to different zones. For this we suggest that smaller units be connected to the main unit via Ethernet or WiFi. Each of the remote units will have amplifiers so that you can add a surround system in your bedroom or den.
More Sophisticated Auto Calibration
The auto calibration in today’s receivers are good but we want a better system. One that uses multiple microphones to properly dial in a room. It should show you where you dead spots are and provide an analysis that you can use to add acoustic treatments to get the best experience from your system.
Odds and Ends
- Dedicated Subwoofer level control - Sometimes you need more bass and sometimes you don’t!
- On screen menus even for digital sources!
- Support for 802.11ac - Gigabit WiFi!
- Satellite and/or HD Radio
So there you have it. The beginnings of the HT Guys ultimate AVR. Please email us your feature requests or add them to this post for everyone to see. Then we need to have a pool to see when such a beast will finally come to market.
Reader Comments (12)
Here are some other things i would like
* Hardwired IR in/out
* A minimum of legacy connections (possibly one each of composite and component).
* 12 V triggers
* Full pre-out for optional external amp
I'd like dedicated center channel volume buttons for times when the dialog portion needs to be boosted.
Also, I like to stream audio from my iPhone to my receiver, but I'd like the receiver to come out of standby on it's own when I start airplay, so I can just start playing right from the phone.
Panasonic TC-P65GT30 <$2,000 at the HTguys store
I would like some type of cloud service, where you can store music and movies to stream to the receiver.
For Sattelite Radio, have a built in Attenna. I hate having to find a place to stick the external anttena.
Automatic updates in Firmware over Wi-Fi
More feedback on auto calibration, for example speaker placement and maybe some suggestions on what to upgrade to give you the best performance. I know you guys talked a little about this already
Dual video processors, kind of like crossifre on a computer. They both can work together to produce awesome video
Ultimate AVR:
Matrix HDMI switch!!!. Now I use the Monoprice 4x4 to switch 4 sources to 4 different rooms and on the main room I plug one outputs of the matrix to the AVR.
The AVR should take 4 or more HDMI sources and be able to send it to 4 or more TVs!. Monoprice does it for $150M. i would play $500 more for an AVR with this option.
Smart AVRs unfortunately can't compete with AppleTV or some version of XBMC. I think AVRs should incorporate XBMC native and stop trying with their own clumsy user interfaces. AVRs now license stuff from Dolby and Audessy all the way to Apple (airplay), why not incorporate a good XBMC or similar interphase with DNLA for all of us with "backup" servers?
The problem with AppleTV, PS3 and many similar DNLA to TV/AVR devices is the lack of universal Video/audio format support. AppleTV does not do anything but iTunes related. PS3 won't play many video formats, including MKVs. I just got an oppo hoping for the best after looking at the wiki on oppo, but I can't get it to play MKV with lossless audio yet. The only way to get this to work is through a MediaCenter or somekind of PC connected to the system, running front row, or XBMC or similar. PITA.
BTW, sorry for losing focus, but do you know of a roku/appleTV/ or similar that will stream MKVs (dnla) with 1080p and lossless audio?
Keep up the great work.
Forgot:
Good "remote app" on the receiver so you can listen to music streaming without having to turn on the projector or TV. Also gives the capability of controlling music through out the dfferent zones in the house without using the TVs. Think like the roku but simply using the AVR multiple audio zones and powered speakers.
All AVRs should have 7.1 output for leveraging external amps.
A huge feature I would like to see in an AVR would be a smaller size? Why are all these things so HUGE! I understand their are heat dissapation concerns and what not, but I have to imagine if manufacturers would stop slapping all those outdate composite & component ports in these things they could minimize the size.
With all that being said does anybody have any recommendations to a smaller size AVR that is out on the market currently?
How about 7 awesome amplifiers. Isn't great sound the ultimate goal of a great AVR?
For Brian Luebke:
Check out Maramtz for smaller sized receivers, at least shorter. NR1402 and NR1602. I have the 1402 and it is great. The 1602 has built in AirPlay.
Also, for much smaller, check out the Sherwood R-904N. This has digital amps and so is much smaller. Available at the HTGUYS store. (i.e. Amazon)
I think that in the AV and Audio Videophile world there is so much niche specialisation that the ultimate AVR should be a modular so that all these diverse companies could produce kits to go in the AVR.
My design would be like a bare bones frame arrangement where you can snap in your own needs and preferences. The emphasis would be on standardising internal and external connector specs with the view that the consumer could buy better or upgrade, some of the areas I would consider are;
A radio module
that could be a local format eg Australia as DAB+, am and FM or (none) and no satellite,
Input module
that could accept snap in/snap out HDMI (latest versions) cable or wireless (HDMI or new Blue tooth), RCA, Component or sufficiently powered USB and also network scaling (T-100, 1000 etc),
Power module that as well as scalability, might have "automation","green" or "power filter" features',
Processing Modules
that might have progressively have better DAC's and Image processing
Software OS modules that could allow cloud sources but also like the Logitech harmony database cloud calibration processing calculation, format and sound modelling tools as well as system checks, and
Intelligent speaker out modules
that like HDMI could have common connectors that carried two way data power channels so that speakers/microphones could be put into speakers for putting the sound right in the ears of the customer.
I guess I am saying that the AVR should be more like a upgradeable PC.
I think the avr should mostly focus on the sound quality and leave the dlna and streaming to something else such as roku/appletv/wdhub or a blu ray player.
Talking about using plex on the Roku, I have not had a lot of luck using it, limited set up information, but if you get Playon for roku, I think there is a free version and a cheap paid subscription, they have a channel called my media. I use my media to play movies from my hard drive, its great! some buffering, but you get that with netflix. it plays several types, avi, mkv, and a few other. check it out, great program