Podcast #766: Black Friday Preview 2016

If you’re going to set up camp and secure a great spot in line for Black Friday sales, you probably want to make sure you’re at the right store. There may be one killer deal at one store, but ten almost killer deals at another. We’ve done all the research so you'll know where to camp out Thursday night. Looking back on years past, in 2008 a 50-inch 720p plasma was going for $900. In 2009 you could get a 50-inch 1080p plasma with a Blu-ray player for $1000. Fast forward to last year when the lowest price for a tier one brand HDTV was a 49" Toshiba 1080p LED for only $149.99. That might be worth camping for.

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Podcast #765: Ray Super Remote

Just like a conductor’s baton a good remote control is mandatory to conduct and direct the use of your home theater. We’ve reviewed so many over the years. Ara has settled on the Simple Control application running on an iPad Mini while Braden uses the Logitech Harmony Remotes around his home. But today we are taking a look at the Ray Super Remote (Buy Now $249) which creators bill as the “the ultimate touchscreen universal remote control”.

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Podcast #764: Kodi

There has been an explosion of devices recently, or perhaps going back a couple years, that are based on the Kodi Media Center software or include Kodi as a standard app you can run along with other the other apps available on the device. A simple search at Amazon for ‘Kodi’ yields pages and pages of options for devices. Intrigued by this streaming platform that seems to have taken off like wildfire, we decided to pick up one of these little boxes and see what all the fuss is about.

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Podcast #763: Room Acoustics with David Kroll

On today's show we have an Interview with David Kroll KEF's World Wide Ci Product Manager and we discuss room acoustics. What are some simple things you can do to improve your sound and what are things to avoid.

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Podcast #762: Vudu Movies on Us

You’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t think Netflix totally changed the game in home entertainment. First, with the unlimited DVD rentals for a small monthly fee. They essentially ended the video store business. Then, with the shift into unlimited streaming movies, anywhere, anytime, again for a small monthly fee. It has changed the way most of us watch movies, and in some cases, television series. They’ve been so succesful, others, like Amazon, have tried to copy their model. But you can’t be king forever. Someone will eventually come along with a different game changer and dethrone you.

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Podcast #761: Tivo Mantis... Cord Cutter's Dream Box?

We have read countless emails from listeners who have cut the cord over the years and many of them have turned to Tivo to become the center of that process. With an antenna and a Tivo box you can cut your TV subscription services to almost nothing. Tivo boxes support Hulu, Netflix, Youtube, Plex, and Amazon Prime so you really don’t have to give up everything. Yes there are cable channels that you may miss, but many of those have an app where you can watch some of the programming for free. Worst case you may need to buy a few season passes of a couple of TV shows that are not available through an app. Regardless, you should be able to watch everything you want and dramatically cut your yearly bill.

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