Home Theater Geeks Podcast

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

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

Ty Roberts, CTO of Gracenote, discusses how his company maintains a huge database of metadata about CDs, DVDs, and other electronic media that can then be accessed by anyone who wants more info about those titles and/or discover new music and movies they might like; the future of IPTV; Gracenote algorithms that analyze musical structure based on the audio itself; and answers to chat-room questions.

Run Time: 57:04

Don Eklund, Executive VP of Advanced Technology at Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, provides a studio's perspective on 3D, 4K, online content, what happened with the original Blu-ray release of The Fifth Element, and more.

Run Time: 45:02

Electronic-music composer and mastering engineer Robert Rich discusses the creative process, how making and consuming music has changed over the last 25 years, the audible and cultural effect of data and dynamic-range compression, why surround music hasn't been more successful without a visual component, his all-night "sleep concerts" and 7-hour Somnium music DVD, and answers to chat-room questions.

Run Time: 56:34

Audio reviewer Steve Guttenberg, aka The Audiophiliac (not the actor!), explains why he thinks non-audiophiles don't really listen to music any more, the resurgence of vinyl LPs, high-res music downloads, 2-channel vs. multichannel music, bringing young people into the audiophile fold, what good sound sounds like, the difficulty of acoustic treatment, the value of headphones, and answers to chat-room questions.

Run Time: 52:07

JJ Johnston, Chief Scientist at DTS, talks about acoustics and audio perception, how audio codecs work, his emphasis on increasing audio quality rather than decreasing bitrates as codecs improve, the tendency in commercial music toward increasing loudness while decreasing dynamic range, how audio production differs between commercial cinema and the home, 3D audio, the latest DTS codec called Neo:X, the Neural downmixing algorithm, some hints about future developments from DTS, and answers to chat-room questions.

Run Time: 57:05