Home Theater Geeks Podcast

Kevin Wines, Image Technology Director for THX, talks about the history of THX and its commitment to preserving the content creators' artistic intent, what's involved in THX certification of 2D and 3D displays, the variability of measurements in THX mode, 3D technology at home and in the commercial cinema, how to optimize the 3D experience at home, THX Optimizer on discs and in set-top boxes, and answers to chat-room questions.

Run Time: 58:22

Alan Kraemer, CTO of SRS Labs and president of the 3D Audio Alliance, talks about the new Multi-Dimensional Audio standard, which replaces channel-based formats with an object-oriented transport stream. This future-proof transport stream specifies where each sound-emitting object is and how it moves in 3D space, and the rendering/playback system uses whatever resources it has—from a single-speaker cell phone to a full-blown multichannel home theater—to reproduce the sounds as best it can in their intended spatial locations.

Run Time: 46:29

Nelson Pass, founder of Pass Labs and legendary do-it-yourself guru, reveals how he got into electronics and discusses his work at ESS with Oskar Heil, co-founding Threshold Electronics, his new venture called First Watt, various DIY amplifier and speaker projects, the importance of the DIY community, the operation of various types of transistors (including the new static-induction transistors), and answers to chat-room questions.

Run Time: 59.30

Click below to see some photos of Pass projects.

Chris Huston—musician, recording engineer/producer, and acoustical engineer—shares stories from his incredible life, including growing up in Liverpool with the Beatles, getting arrested in East Germany with his band The Undertakers, having dinner with Charles Manson, and working and hanging out with The Who, Keith Moon, Jimi Hendrix, and other big-name musicians as well as how the art of making records has changed over the years, how the acoustics of recording studios and home listening rooms differ, and answers to chat-room questions.

Run Time: 51:51

Click on the title to see some photos.

Don Stewart, a third-generation owner/partner at Stewart Filmscreen, talks about the company's more than 60-year history, projection-screen basics such as gain and aspect ratios, white vs. gray vs. "black" screens, acoustically transparent screens, curved screens, 3D screens, and answers to chat-room questions.

Run Time: 58:08

Film and TV composer Jeff Rona talks about the difference between recording music for its own sake and music for movies and TV shows, the use of live musicians and electronic instruments, working in Hans Zimmer's studio, how audio-production technology has changed over the years, his own home-theater system, and answers to chat-room questions.

Run Time: 58:57

Bob Farinelli, president and CTO of Elan Home Systems, discusses what people need to think about when considering a whole-house A/V system; distributing audio via line level, speaker level, and S/PDIF digital; long HDMI runs; wired vs. WiFi IP distribution; wall-mounted keypads vs handheld remotes; eliminating audio delay in "party mode"; and answers to chat-room questions.

Run Time: 45:20