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 #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 #635: Optimizing your wireless music system

Lots of information and news this week to discuss including some changes in the OLED manufacturing landscape, a new way to share your online movie collection with Vudu and UltraViolet and the potential for pay-as-you-go Internet at home. We close out with a discussion on Wireless whole house music systems, which really becomes a wider discussion on wireless networks in general and how to optimize them for multimedia distribution.

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Podcast #572: iTunes vs Vudu vs Blu-ray

We’ve watched streaming media go from incredibly choppy and blocky to smooth and nearly HD. As bandwidth increases so does the quality of streaming media. You can easily listen to CD quality audio but streaming Blu-ray quality video is a ways off... or is it? We have an interview with Mark Henninger, an AVS Forum “Newsbreaker”, and we discuss a series of articles he wrote where he compares movies on iTunes, Vudu, and Blu-ray.

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Podcast #525: Acer H6500 DLP projector

When we started the podcast back in 2005, CRT projectors dominated home theater. As great as they looked, they were big, expensive and required routine maintenance to keep them in top form. Today there are a wide variety of digital options that are both inexpensive and very easy to install and maintain. One option for those interested in trying out a 100” or 120” TV in their home theater is the Acer H6500 DLP projector.

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Podcast #511: HDTV and Home Theater Predictions for 2012

2011 was in some ways a wild year for HDTV and home theater, but in many other ways, fairly uneventful. We didn’t fare so well in our 2011 predictions, so we’re back this year with a vengeance. A lot of thought, research and soul searching went into these and we’re really hoping for a better than 50% score this year. Without further ado, the HT Guys HDTV and home theater predictions for 2012.

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