Brief 695 | AudioTechnica Headphone Amp, TuneCast Transmitter, Oppo Blu-ray Player, Sorenson Squeeze 6, doubleTwist & T-Mobile, Apple Tablet
Posted on: January 26, 2010
Posted in: Video
Posted by: Cali Lewis
Shownotes:
AudioTechnica has a new headphone amp with a built-in iPod doc called the AT-HA35i.
The Belkin TuneCast Auto Live FM Transmitter uses location information provided by the iPhone to determine FM settings likely to provide the best transmission experience.
I’d be interested to try the Oppo BDP-80 Blu-ray player. Oppo has really well reviewed players.
A lot of you have followed our quest to find the right compression software for producing the four formats of GeekBrief.TV. Sorenson Squeeze is our choice. It does a really nice job!!
T-Mobile and doubleTwist have teamed up to take iTunes head on.
Join me live for the Apple announcement Wednesday at 10:00 AM Pacific at www.calilive.tv.
Miz Calamity used my SquareSpace coupon code GEEK to save 12% when signing up to get an easy to build, easy to maintain website, HeyCalamity.com. You can too, and when you do, make sure you tweet me a link @calilewis!
Background image provided by Trey Ratcliff at Stuck In Customs
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January 26th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
$290.. might as well buy a PS3 for your Bluray needs. It’s the most futureproof, especially since it’s from Sony. Netflix streaming, too, to boot.
Doubletwist… does anyone else find this piece of software rather disappointing? I tried it when it first was available, and yesterday. My biggest goal was to sync with my Pre.
Unfortunately, I found the software very buggy, needing a lot of refinement, and just not ready for primetime. Videos, for example, are pulled from I think my Win 7 video library, even though I defined a completely different directory in the settings.
Not to mention it apparently hates my id3 tags (which work fine in foobar, itunes, and my pre)
January 26th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
$799 for Sorenson Squeeze, I don’t think I’ll be rushing out to get a copy. I’ll still use visual hub. Let’s see if we can find something a little more reasonable.
January 26th, 2010 at 11:05 pm
Kind of hard to compare Visual Hub and Squeeze 6 isn’t it? Visual Hub was $50 or less, (sorry I don’t remember what I paid) and Sorenson Media’s offering is $800! For now, the substitute for Visual Hub that I’m using is iVideo Converter. It has all the formats I can think of and an in-depth Advanced area for really tweaking your encoding settings, (similar to VH).
Cali, why did you have to bust our balloons about the tablet?
January 27th, 2010 at 5:15 am
for bluray get a ps3. that seems to be the player that all discs are tested against. have no need for bluray myself as my largest screen at home is 17″.
apple tablet? it’ll be tied to itunes and as there is no native client for linux i was thinking of giving up my iphone. having another apple product that doesn’t want to play with linux is not an option. will be curious to see if their device makes other manufacturers cop on and improve their game.
January 27th, 2010 at 6:44 am
I agree with Linh and Moylan, the PS3 is the way to go. I have one of the 1st gen PS3s (yeah I had to have it day 1) and it plays all of my BDs in tasty HD without fail.
Look forward to seeing everyone post Apple extravaganza.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:01 am
I was all ready to click on Squeeze6 site and buy it just because you recommend it then WOW!! $799.00 they can keep it! That price is outrageous.
January 27th, 2010 at 9:36 am
If VisualHub works good then why not relegate your transcoding duties to a mac that you don’t constantly upgrade to the latest Leopard/SL so that compatability isn’t broken with VisualHub? $800 is a lot of money that could be used towards a Big Trip or Cali Bundle :)
We’re having good luck with our Insignia (Best Buy) BluRay/Wireless Netflix streaming DVD player. Actually, all we do is stream Netflix. I don’t think we’ve ever played a BluRay in it.
January 27th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Anyone notice that Cali hasn’t worn her wedding ring since #690? She was wearing it for the “on location” parts of #694, but not the “studio” recorded bits.
It was #691 that she announced Dave Curlee’s involvement in the Brief.
What’s going on?
January 27th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
I thought I wanted the iPad, but with the cost this is one time I will not be an earlier adopter.
January 27th, 2010 at 11:52 pm
Re: Blu-Ray. I bought a Panasonic BD-60 for Christmas, and am very happy with it’s incredible picture and sound. Had no problem playing about a dozen BR discs so far. Read many great reviews plus a friend’s recommendation. Solid full featured low priced ($120) player that supports BD Live, 1080p upconvert, 7.1, 24p, TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, YouTube etc (no Netflix though).
I’m having a tough time getting used to Blu-Ray’s painfully slow load times though. Oh and what’s up with most BR discs not remembering where you were in the movie if you had to turn the player off and finish it later?
PS. Love your GeekBriefs Cali. Just found your site recently and I’m hooked. Always look forward to your outtakes at the end :)
January 28th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
I got really excited when I heard about a replacement for Visual Hub, but $800?!?! I don’t care how good it is, VH cheap and still works for most formats. Does anybody know about a cheaper alternative?
Long time viewer, love the show!
January 28th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
Great podcast!
I’m your fan
=)
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:40 pm
Glad you got to hear a Thiel + Bryston set-up. It would be good to know exactly what gear you got to check out, and if you had high resolution sources to enjoy.
I have a Bryston BDA-1, which is their external digital to analog converter, and it is rather awesome, especially with audio recorded better than CD quality. Some of that is offered at http://www.HDTracks.com and in the HRx series by Reference Recordings http://www.referencerecordings.com/HRx1.asp
Looking forward to the future report as you venture into the world of the audiophiles.
A fan,
AP
February 3rd, 2010 at 7:23 am
@AP – Check out Brief 701 (going up today, Feb 3rd). All the details there! :)