On today’s show we take a look at streaming services from different points of view. What’s the best service for your watching habits. We finish with looking at the different Active HDMI cables available at Monoprice.com. But of course no show is complete without reading your emails and checking out the news of the week!

Many of our listeners ask us about the best way to setup distributed AV systems. Mainly for audio but occasionally video as well. In the old days of analog this was a complex task that required a ton of wiring and big heavy equipment. Now that IP is almost everywhere (both wired and wireless) it's much easier to do. The following are things to consider when setting up a distributed digital AV system. We laso run down a list of top projectors in their category and ask what will it take to get you to go back to the movies in person.

Karl sent us an email with a link to a Youtube video loaded with stereo commercials from the 70s and 80s. It was fun going down memory lane. We go through the commercials and discuss what has changed over the years. We also round out the discussion with some cool Smart Home products and how you can optimize their use!

On today's show we take a look Android Apps for TV, discuss whether AT&T abandoned DirecTV, and we run down a list of what we are streaming. Plus we have some great content linked from YouTube that will help pass time while you are stuck at home.

On today's show we take a look at comparison of Set Top Boxes from Roku, Amazon, Google, Apple, and NVIDIA. More Info... We also found a cool video from 1989 that tried to predict what the home of 2020 would look like. They were eerily accurate! Video here Finally we take a look at the best outdoor security cameras for 2020. More Info...

On the last podcast we talked about using HDMI CEC to replace a universal remote for certain applications. Mainly for those who may have one or two set top boxes connected to their TV with the audio running through ARC to a sound bar. In this case we said that your TV’s remote could control everything. We received a few emails asking us to explain the concept a bit further.

Many of us have some sort of home automation device in our homes. Many of the products we had do not necessarily work together unless you are using a framework from Google, Amazon, or Apple. That’s where IFTTT comes in. IFTTT connects devices that normally don’t talk to each other with something called an Applet.

Today we discuss how MLB, NHL, and NBA might have to refund a portion of the m oney they rec eived for their TV packages. We also point out that there is a great deal going on on the Vizio P-Series QuantumX. Finally we run down which TV shows are cancelled or are coming back for another season.

The editors at RTINGS.com have just updated their Seven Best Best 4K TVs for the Spring and we bring those to you. RTINGS.com is a great resource when you are looking to buy a new UHD TV. They have the most thorough reviews of any site on the Internet. All the TVs that we discuss come with an in depth review that can be found at the links below.

Ever since we could remember Neilson has been the main way for networks to get their read on what America is watching. You would think by now with all the new technology that is available to us we would have a better method to rate what we watch. Enter the website TV Series Finale. The site was started in 2005 and was devoted to the last episodes of TV shows, It quickly morphed into a site that tracked if a show was renewed or canceled. In fact we use their info each year when we discuss the same topic with you.

The HT Guys would like to thank all our listeners for 15 years of support. Many of you have been with us since day one and others joined soon thereafter. Be kind when you listen to our first episode as we didn't have a clue to what we were doing. We hope you like this trip down memory lane The HT Guys Ara Derderian and Braden Russell

So you are stuck working from home or are on temporary furlough. Either way you may find that you have more time on your hand and don’t know what to do. The HT Guys have you covered. There are plenty of new movies that were in or scheduled to be in theaters that are available for digital purchase or rental. Today we’ll run down the list and hope you can find something worth watching!

On today’s show we discuss three articles: "I used cloud gaming exclusively for a month. Here’s what happened", "In a Potential Game-Changing Decision, NBCUniversal Will Make Theatrical Movies Available On Demand Immediately", and "Here’s how to try every major streaming service for free during the coronavirus quarantine."

On Today’s show, in addition to your email and news, we review the year 2013, ask you “How do you Stream your Entertainment, and finally look at your top streaming attributes.

How many TV services does AT&T have? Let’s count them. There is DirecTV, U-Verse, AT&T TV Now, and AT&T Watch TV. Kind of confusing huh. Well there is one more newly minted TV service from AT&T simply named AT&T TV.

By now you all know that we have been searching for the best large format TV to emulate a projector and screen. We know nothing beats a 120 inch screen but with that comes some drawbacks like installation, cost, and light control. Ara settled on an Ultra Short Throw Projector which does really well in a fully lit room. The entire setup cost him just under $4000. Braden is still looking for that one TV that will say buy me. Our friends at RTINGS.com must have known Braden was in the market for such a TV because they just published The 5 Best 80-82-85 inch TVs Winter 2020. Let’s see if we can get Braden a new TV?

On today's show we take a look back at the year 2012, discuss how to make your HDMI connected devices work with Hotel HDTVs, take a poll on home much our dedicated home theaters cost, and finally give you the top ten HDTVs at Amazon based on sales.

This week we Discuss options for streaming movies for free! And we take a look at the LG CineBeam HU85LA 4K UST Laser Projector

This week we review the year 2011 and why you shouldn’t buy a TCL Series 4 HDTV.

This week we discuss three articles: Seven of our best tips for your Sonos system - Popular Science, MicroLED vs. Mini-LED: Which display technology will power your next TV? - Digital Trends, and Want free 4K from an antenna? Here's the 2020 TVs with Next Gen TV tuners built-in - CNET

We were alerted to an article at Home Theater Review by one of our listeners, Tom Green, regarding Home Movie streaming. We link to it here: Home Cinema's Streaming Future Is Now. The author states that for reference material they still use UHD Bluerays “But for day-to-day viewing, many of us here on staff have migrated almost entirely to streaming consumption.”

This week we take a look at the best of CES.

After a few year Hiatus we returned to Las Vegas for CES. Because we were there on our day job’s behalf we did not get to see everything that CES has to offer. We focus on the main players. We’ll do a susquent show on the cool things that were reported on but not seen by us.

Happy New Year!! Today we discuss a network strategy for all those new Home Automation devices you bought for Christmas as well as reading your emails and discussing a few News stories.

At the beginning of each year we make predictions as to what we think will happen in the area of HDTV, Home Theater, and Home Automation. We usually hit at about 40% correct. This year, thanks to some generous judging we only got to 33%. So let’s see how close, or far, we came in our predictions.

We have been touting the Smarthome for a few years now but somehow have never put together a Buying Guide. So for 2019 we are going to fix that. After all, this is the year of home automation.

Back in the day you had top tier TV manufacturers like Sony, Panasonic, and even RCA. Everything else was second rate. That meant the picture wasn’t very good. There really weren’t any features to speak of. It was all picture quality. Yes you could buy a cheap 20 inch TV for your den or bedroom which didn’t look that great. But who cared you were probably only watching the news or Johnny Carson before you went to bed.

Each year in December put out seperate buying guides for receivers, speakers, and TVs. This year with the shortened buying window we decided to double up on our guides. Today we take a look at speakers and receivers. The things that make sound! We have also decided to give you a collective guide rather than our individual picks targeting an entry, mid, and “high” level product. We put high in quotes because in our hobby, high can be really high.

This week the HT Guys are thankful for all our loyal listeners who have been with us throughout our 15 years of podcasting. We also discuss a THX tuned speaker system that does not need an AV Receiver and the first DIY Security system that is HomeKit ready.

Well Black Friday is almost here. Just like all the years we’ve talked about it, there are some exceptional deals to be had. The question is where do you put your focus. If you’re going to wait in line somewhere, where is the right place to maximize your reward for that time?

We found this article over at CEPro titled Why Your Home Theaters Probably Stink which immediately put us on the defensive. We understand that CEPro is aimed at integrators and that in their context a Home Theater is not what we have in our family rooms. Regardless, we wanted to challenge the notion that our modest home theaters stink! We’ll go through the article point by point.

Network TV update and what are the best cheap earbuds from RTINGS.com

For the past year or two we have been talking about removing our projectors and replacing them with very large format TVs. There are a few manufacturers that produce TVs greater than 85” in size and we were stuck in analysis paralysis. There is a video that accompanies this review. Please watch it to help understand the capabilities of this projector.

We received a great email from our listener Dennis Comfort describing his journey to becoming a cord cutter. Well maybe a cord swapper. Whatever you call it he saved $90 a month! Thank you Dennis for sharing your experience with us!

This week we discuss two articles at AVS Forum. The first one is the “Best 4K Home Theater Projectors on Amazon”. The second article is the “Best Affordable 65” TV”.

One of the reasons Ara ended up buying his UST projector system is that he didn’t want to route new cables in his hard to reach crawl space. However, he may have reconsidered that decision had he known about the IOGEAR 4K UHD transmitter/receiver kit (MSRP $299.95).

Last week Amazon introduced a slew of new Echo based products. On today’s show we try to figure out when will Amazon take over the world!

It's that time of year when baseball crowns a world champion and football dominates our weekends. But there is something else that we are happy about at the HDTV and Hometheater podcast… TV is out of reruns! Today we run down the Fall TV schedule from ABC, CBS, CW, Fox, and NBC.

Last week more than 20,000 home tech pros and 500+ exhibitors convened in Denver for the 2019 CEDIA Expo. This week the HT Guys run down some of the cool product announcements that came out of the show.

This week we have an interview with Robert Spivack owner of DoItForMe.Solutions.

This week we take a look at what it takes to make your family love the Smart Home you created and what Hollywood directors are doing to make sure you watch their movies the way they intended.

This week we take a look at taking apart a $99 powered Ikea Sonos speaker and transplanting it into any speaker you want. No allen wrenches are required. Then we take a look at the Best Wifi speakers of 2019 and finally we discuss Samsung entering the OLED market.

When we first started doing the podcast many many years ago, the Home Theater PC was a thing. DIYers built them from scratch and others who were not so technically inclined could buy fully built ready to go products from third party vendors. Xbox owners were lucky enough to have the Windows Media Center client built into their gaming consoles so they could leave the PC in an office and still have the HTPC experience in the family room.

Sonos was one of the first companies that sent our fledgling podcast equipment to review. We were just starting as were they. It made us feel like we were legitimate and could make a go of this podcast thing. Now almost a thousand podcasts later we are still going and so are they. One of us has grown exponentially and the other records a podcast every week! This week we are going to profile Sonos Inc. Much of this information comes directly from the Sonos website.

Ara and Braden go back in time to talk about a then revolutionary communication protocol that they worked on.

We were asked by a listener to take a look at the Sevenhugs Smart Remote ($199 without contextual awareness and $299 with) a few weeks back. The makers of the remote call it “The world’s smartest and easiest to use remote control. Stop wrestling with remotes and apps and simplify how you control your entire home.” That’s quite a statement in a world that has plenty of smart remotes. The question is whether that is a true statement or not. There is a video that goes along with this review that will provide much more context on our youtube channel (The HT Guys)

The editors at RTINGS.com have just updated their Seven Best LED TVs for the Summer and we bring those to you. RTINGS.com is a great resource when you are looking to buy a new UHD TV. They have the most thorough reviews of any site on the Internet. All the TVs that we discuss come with an in depth review that can be found at the links below.

As we add more speakers to our home theaters our current AVRs may not have enough amplifiers to drive the system. A solution to this problem is a seperate amplifier. Power amplifiers have minimal functionality beyond driving speakers but they have quite a bit in the way of design to provide a clean signal to get the most out of your speakers.

We saw this poll over at AVS Forum, Dedicated Home Theater vs. Media-Friendly Living Room and since we are going through this same analysis we thought it would be good to share the results and discuss the pros and cons of each.

On this week’s show we discuss whether the new Ultra Short Throw projectors that Hisense is making are a viable replacement for large format LCD/OLED display. And are AVRs too complicated which accounts for the rise in sound bar sales. Finally we go through a list of the best Smart Plugs for 2019 as decided by CNET.