Al Griffin

Let’s hear it for dad! When I was a kid, mine smoked in the car while driving my brothers and I to and from Little League baseball, cursed a blue streak, and would whap us upside the head if we dared cuss in his presence. But we knew he loved us unconditionally, and we loved him unconditionally back.

Haven’t sorted out your Father’s Day gift plans? We’ve got two great deals you should hear about.

A return to regular? While there are always aspects of “regular life” that could benefit from change, getting back to our routines is something some of us could use right now, and what could be more routine—and reassuring—than an A/V receiver manufacturer updating its lineup with the latest tech? To that end, Denon has announced four additions to its X-Series A/V receiver family. Touted by the company as “the industry’s first 8K-ready A/V receivers,” the new models join the company’s AVR-X8500H, which lives on as the flagship X-Series receiver.

The presence of music in Dolby Atmos format on Tidal has been something of a well-kept secret since the streaming service started adding it in December 2019. Why? I suspect it’s because Atmos support so far has been limited to select Android smartphones and tablets—not exactly a premium method to experience immersive music. But things changed big time this week with Dolby and Tidal’s joint announcement that Tidal Hi-Fi subscribers can now stream Atmos music to home theater systems via an Apple TV 4K, Fire TV Stick, NVIDIA Shield TV, or other compatible device.

One highlight of Sound & Vision’s CES 2020 TV coverage was LG’s 48-inch CX series 4K OLED TV, a model the company touts as a desktop monitor option for gamers, as well as viewers with limited living space. LG has been gradually rolling out its new OLED line this spring, including the 65-inch GX series model that recently earned our Top Pick, but there’s been no sight yet of its new baby OLED. That situation changes in late June, when LG will ship the 48CX in the U.S. following release in select European and Asian markets.