When Installers Become Publishers - A new chapter for InsideCI

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A home cinema business announcement turns into a full tour of what’s changing across UK AV. I’m sharing the news that I’m joining InsideCI as owner director, working alongside founder David Slater, with Steve May continuing to steer the editorial direction. If you rely on InsideCI for weekly trade news, reviews, and real installer perspective, the goal is simple: keep what works, add more video, more factory and showroom access, and more conversations that help integrators and enthusiasts make better decisions. 

From there, we get practical. We talk display tech in plain terms: LG’s push toward RGB backlights as a step up for LCD TVs, where it helps, and why OLED still sets the bar for consistency. We also dig into a training-first approach to better systems, including Monitor Audio’s new performance center and the Elevate Sound Performance Academy, built to sharpen system design, product knowledge, and support for integrators, retailers, and specifiers. 

The industry isn’t only about shiny new products, either. We highlight givingback.tech, a UK platform that helps charities access professional AV equipment by letting manufacturers, distributors, consultants, and installers donate surplus or older kit responsibly. Add in distributor moves like Crix landing with CAVD, a busy run of demo events, and an Optoma projector showcase at AWE featuring a bright 4K UHD RGB triple-laser model with Dolby Vision, and you’ve got a snapshot of where home cinema and AV integration is heading. 

We wrap with a quick but important calibration tip for Sony Bravia OLED owners: the Amazon Prime video setting can make content look painfully dark, so it’s worth checking before you blame the TV. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this with one person who loves home theater, then tell us what topic you want us to chase next.

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Transcript

Home Cinema Alliance Message

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Thinking of building your dream home cinema? Don't know where to start? Start with the HCA. At the Home Cinema Alliance, we connect homeowners with the very best in the business. Our members are trusted designers, installers, and technology experts who know how to turn any room into a breathtaking cinematic experience. Whether you're building from scratch or converting a spare room, our members are here to help you every step of the way. Visit our website to find your local member at homesinamaralliance.co.uk.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Hi, and welcome to the podcast. I'm your host, Stuart Virgis. A joy to be as ever on this week's podcast is my co-host, Sabby Gregory. Good evening, Stuart. How are you, mate? You again?

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Yeah, I'm very well, thank you. Uh hot and then cold, and then uh the weather's been up and down, and uh yeah, it's been a bit crazy, but uh looking forward to Easter.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Yeah, it's bit it's a bit funny. I was driving back today and it's like beautiful sunshine, the windows that are down in the car, and then I was talking to uh Ian Morris uh off together for Silabar, who was telling me that apparently at the moment there's eight inches of snow out in his uh his apartment out in the French Alps. Wow. So it's uh it's it's heavy snow over there, beautiful sunshine here. But you know, looking out the window here, because we're recording a little bit more early, is some already some rain clouds rolling in.

Stuart Takes Over InsideCI

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Rain clouds are coming in, but uh it's not it's not as dark as it was, which is is the main thing. But uh and and Stuart, you've got some breaking news for us, I uh I hear.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Yeah, well, hopefully, uh this podcast is planned to go out on the uh 7th, on Tuesday the 7th, I think it is of April. So today the press release should go out to say that I am joining the team at Inside CI as the owner director of InsideCI, which is a trade publication, uh, along with uh David Slater, who's the founder, and uh tech legend, tech journalist legend Steve May, who is the editor for the platform.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

There is only one, Mr. Steve May. He is a legend and uh a top guy all round. But uh so the background behind uh Inside C Inside C CI, it started with the SVI magazine, if I can remember, all those years ago with uh Bonnie and Chantel. Uh hello, if you if you're watching or listening, but uh yeah, so that that that was part of that magazine, is that correct?

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Yeah, so originally when David started it, um this around about 2012, maybe a little bit sooner, he approached uh SVI about doing a column uh InsideCI, the the the um the uh integrators' view of the industry. So he wrote a column for several years for the magazine, and then he got together with Steve Major, uh produced what is the insideci.co.uk website, which has been a hub for news, reviews, weekly newsletters, and that's been running really since what about the last 14 years that's been running, and actually the it's spookily similar to what we've been doing with HCA and what we've been doing, especially with HCA Tech Talk. So, especially like if anybody's watched the videos we did at ISE recently, you know, David was almost like the OG of doing that, he was doing that in like 2012-2013 going around talking to manufacturers and distributors. So, yeah, so the sort of like I hate the word, but the synergy between the two platforms meant that David reached out to me uh funny enough, when we're in Barcelona, when you were getting your ears bled by the void speakers, I was having a sit-down chat on the CDS stand with David about you know taking over the platform or getting involved with the platform and uh leading it on for the next generation, really.

SPEAKER_02 3:41

But the amount of top secret stuff that happens at uh uh uh at ISE is unparalleled, I think. Like everybody comes back a few months later, things start trickling out in the industry, and these this company's doing these speakers, and that company's doing another pair of speakers, and uh you're you're now joining uh as part of the Inside CI. But uh again, I I think you you hit the nail on the head. It's a a very good synergy from uh from what we do here and uh the HCA uh tech talk and that kind of stuff with uh Inside CI. So basically you're still gonna get the monthly email come through your inbox with all the latest and greatest. Is that right?

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Uh weekly weekly. So it goes out every yeah, it goes out every Monday morning. So the so Steve is gonna still be the editor and he will still be fundamentally in charge of the editorial side of the website. So it is a publication which has a uh industry-renowned journalist behind it. I'll be in charge of um you know the running of the business, the advertising. I want to try and bring in more of what we've been doing with the HGA, so a lot more videos, a lot more unboxings. You'll see this podcast, I think we're gonna we are gonna relabel it as the Inside CI podcast because I think it is very relevant to the integrators in the industry as well as the consumers. So we'll still have we'll still have both platforms. Actually, technically, we'll still have the three platforms. We'll still have host cinema alliances, uh the members like yourself and you know, New Wave and Cyberhomes and Cinema Rooms, who are all you know high-end creators in the UK building cinemas. Then the HCA Tech Talk will be the consumer-facing side of the business. Um, but one thing that I always kept on being mentioned to me by friends in our industry was like, it's great, but what we really want is a business-to-business side of the HCA. Uh, and then David got in touch with me as if it was a divine intervention. And um, so technically now we have a business-to-business side of the business, we have a business-to-consumer side of the business, and obviously we have the membership side of the business as well. So uh we will, but that hopefully will mean that we might get some more you know exclusive hands on like we did with Sonus. Um, we hopefully get some more unboxings and uh sit-down talks like we did with Wallace Rodia the other week. So exciting times ahead.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

Yeah, no, definitely. You've almost got too much time on your hand, uh Stuart. But uh I'm looking forward to the uh uh box unopenings because I I do like those and uh when you watch them online, you like and obviously we do it day in and day out, but uh have watching things on uh being unboxed on YouTube is uh is is is pretty pretty cool, and even I like them. So uh hopefully see more of those.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Well, I'd say I've always I still try to get the studio, I always say finish, but I haven't really done anything. You don't start it. Yeah, I know no, sorry, uh I have started it. I just need to get time to finish it. Time is the one thing I don't have.

Stepping Back From Installs

SPEAKER_02 6:32

Well, not not anymore, not anymore. Not with uh inside see high and uh uh everything else that you're doing, but um but yeah, so no no more installs or uh are you retiring from that or not quite yet?

SPEAKER_01 6:42

I think to quote Chris Williamson, the podcaster, you know, to he always says, you know, to pick up something new, you've got to let something go. And I think that I'm not gonna let go, but I'm gonna sort of like sidestep from the integration a little bit. You know, I still I still look after my customers, I'll still immersive cinema rooms will still be something. Uh I just might be a little bit more like you and be very hands-off and get other people to work for it.

SPEAKER_02 7:08

Your your knees will thank you for it, and uh, yeah, we're definitely getting too old for that.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

So well uh that and and in Venice, that that's you hit the nail on the head there. You know, I have I am having issues with the old knees, you know. You literally, yesterday, as we recalled, I was over at the local hospital having a scan on both knees. So I know I'm gonna need to have knee replacements at some point, and that puts you out for six weeks. You don't do both at the same time. So in the period of the next five years, I'm gonna have sort of like I don't know, look like three or four months where I'm not gonna be able to do anything. So anybody who knows who works for themselves who's listened to this knows that two or three months without work or three or four months without working, it means you ain't getting any money.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

No, definitely not. Well, well, I was saying inside CI weekly uh newsletter will definitely keep you busy. So uh no, but uh yeah, no exciting stuff.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Yeah, no, it's uh it's an interesting chapter uh going forward, and uh not much to change from the podcast. It's still going to be us talking, it's still gonna be us sitting down with people. We've got some interviews coming up with Meridian and CAVD, and then we've got a few more plaid for this year. So uh hopefully this will just open our doors to many, many more people that want to come on and chat to us two people about their latest tech and their latest uh showrooms.

SPEAKER_02 8:21

Yeah, I think so. Obviously, it's pretty tough out there at the moment, and uh there's lots of news going on and what's going on in the industry, but uh I say I think we've all got to just stay positive and and keep going. And I say a lot of speaker manufacturers uh are joining other distributors and stuff like that, which I think we're gonna talk about in a short while. And and others are are launching new showrooms, which uh is very exciting, which is what you and I did last week.

Quick Ask For Reviews

LG RGB Backlight Versus OLED

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Uh yeah, so uh yeah, we uh we had the uh we had the opening and the the podcast has gone live. I did I got around the other way. So the monitor audio podcast went up first, and then our podcast went up uh the other day as we recorded this. So um, but yeah, we'll get on to the monitor audio in the news, in my section of the news. Before we jump into the news, please can you comment, review, or subscribe to this podcast or video podcast, or vodcast, as I think the kids call it, uh, on any of the platforms that you're currently listening or watching on. It helps a lot and uh puts the podcast in front of many, many more people so we can get better hosts on and we can have better conversations. So, looking at the first news section, Simon, you are doing a bit of a comparison between RGB and OLED RGB.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

Yeah, I I saw this the other day, it was quite exciting, and uh obviously you have the backlight of uh A TV, L C D or whatever you want to use, and obviously there's only so much that that backlight can do. Obviously, OLED is the go-to TV platform which we all know and love, but obviously price does come into that. So, what I did see was uh LG are doing an RGB backlight, uh, which does give you uh uh a really high efficiency, brighter and more vibrant colours. Not as good as OLED, but let me just make that uh clear, but it is a good alternative. Um one thing the RGB doesn't do it's not it's not consistent. So the example I saw, uh I think the digital trends on YouTube, they did a little dot that went from left to right over the colours, and instead of saying white, it changed colour as it went through the different colour spectrum. On an OLED, that just stayed white all the way across. So I I I quite liked the fact that they are trying to do uh something a bit different rather than a white backlight um on on a on a on an LCD TV, but uh having it as an RGB, we all know back from our days in CRT TVs and plasmas and that kind of stuff, RGB was all the always the one that you uh would use if you if you could, and especially putting in a games console and stuff like that, and or even Scar. Did Scar use RGB? I think it did, didn't it?

SPEAKER_01 10:54

Yeah, it did, yeah. Yeah, because with the what I always loved about the Scar lead was that it to really annoy your mum and dad, you used to go down behind the back of the TV and just pull it out slightly so it was black or white. Um and then your dad would stand there for half an hour going, Why is this in black and white? Why is it not colour? I can't see what balls are on the snooker table.

SPEAKER_02 11:11

What about the pins that uh Scar had? I can't remember. Was it 24? But uh it didn't 24, yeah, 21. It didn't take much to just uh a little bit of tweak, or you didn't get any audio, did you? Like just push it in bruffly and uh away you go. So uh yeah, a bit of a brief news on that, but uh yeah, LG, you're trying to do something different. But I say OLED is the one you should be going for, but uh at least they're trying to bring something that's better to the mass market.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Did they say whether that's for a price point or is it just I think so, yeah, just new technology and a price point.

Monitor Audio Training Academy Launch

SPEAKER_02 11:42

So you'll you're getting the brightness. Uh obviously OLEDs are are a lot brighter as well nowadays, but uh so getting the better colour uh and efficiency is uh is what they're trying to aim towards. So again, no exciting stuff. And the next story, Stuart, is uh about monitor audio. So back over to you.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Uh yeah, so uh as you alluded to just a bit ago, we were at Monitor Audio's uh launch of their new showroom the other week, and the podcast is up live on the uh InsideCI YouTube channel as well as the HCA YouTube channel. Uh but I also just wanted to touch on uh because they've now officially launched the Elevate Sound Performance Academy. So taking a brief uh write-up from uh funny enough, from Steve May on Inside CI.

SPEAKER_02 12:26

Hey, click click on the link below.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Yeah, I know him. Uh so alongside the Experienced Centre Opening, Moyers Radio Group has introduced the Elevate Sound Performance Academy, a training and development platform aimed at integrators retailers and system specifiers. The initiative provides a structured program designed to help partners expand their technical knowledge, improve system design expertise, and deliver installations that fully realise the potential of the company's project uh sorry products. Uh Michael Johnson said the program is part of a bolder commitment to our trade partners. The Academy is built around three core areas training, design and technical support. So I know I'm gonna try and get up to there at some point and see them, but where if you watch the podcast from the other week where everybody was standing out in the foyer, they since have had their first sort of ads-on training where they bring in the desks and they sit down and talk about um, you know, the the products, the brands, and you know, fundamentally help integrators uh design better hi-fi and syllabus.

SPEAKER_02 13:35

Yeah, they had their first launch this week, didn't they? So uh that area you spoke about, they've got the big screen TV in there and got all the desks out and the seats and the chairs, and uh yeah, just uh trying to promote their their academy, which I think is a great idea. As I said earlier, times are tough out there, but they're trying something different, trying to almost upping their their ante and upping the levels of that that they're capable of and really, really going for it. So uh, but yeah, no great facilities. I said earlier in the podcast, James Brown and and the team there have done a great job, and uh I'm really uh really happy for uh Monitor Audio based in Rayleigh in Essex. So uh if you want to come down, either speak to myself or contact Monitor Audio and uh yeah, go and go and see what they uh they can do. It's uh really, really good.

SPEAKER_01 14:17

Well, I think it's just like so. I know both me and you have utilised other uh manufacturers' uh design services and specification designs, and I think that it's now becoming a bit uh more normal to you know have a helping hand for want of a better word, from because at the end of the day, the people as we found when we were talking to you know Michael Hedges and the guys at Monaster Audio, you know, the amount of RD and testing they do with their speakers means that they understand their brand way better than we ever could, unless we, you know, went away there for maybe six months or something like that. So to be able to look at the Monaster Audio brand and then say, look, you know, I've got this cinema room, you know, uh I need your help with it. And they can say, Well, look, come on the training, we can take you through the range, we can show you what the good case scenario is for each individual speaker, and and they can help you then get the knowledge and hold your hand go forward, you know, whether you're new to home cinema and you know you're not up to the standards or not standards, but you're not up to the industry standards of RP22, uh, they can sort of like hold your hand and point you in the right direction. But also, as I found in for many years, I have just focused on cinema. Uh, and Bombers for Audio, like many other uh companies, they also are hi-fi brand. Um, so to have the ability to say, look, I've done this£100,000 cinema for this guy six months ago using Bombs for Audio, and he's now told me he was a really nice set of hi-fi speakers. Ow, I don't really know hi-fi speakers, what should I recommend?

SPEAKER_02 15:54

No, I was just about to say that out of uh everything that uh we saw at the uh performance centre was was was there awesome hi-fi speakers and actually wanted me to make me sell more hi-fi speakers because I uh I started in 1998, so always love vinyl and obviously CD was uh just coming to fruition. But having a uh uh sound coming from a dedicated hi-fi speaker, especially the ones there, what they're called again the uh beautiful looking speakers, really unique as well, but sounding absolutely amazing. I think they're coming in at about 65,000, 75,000 pounds. But uh they they they did sound beautiful, and uh it did really want me to make me want to think about selling more hi-fi speakers. If you've got a dedicated room for that, then uh have a have a look at uh some decent hi-fi speakers and uh add that to your portfolio. But um, yeah, that was really good. And talking to the Michaels, you got the uh podcast out really early, which is really good. And sitting and chatting to them and their enthusiasm and their family vibe, I really like that and uh like what they uh were trying to achieve. So uh and I think they uh I think they've done it.

SPEAKER_01 16:56

Yeah, I mean on the hi-fi subjects. I've got a couple of clients out there who have got you know£30,000 plus hi-fi systems, and I quite enjoy going back there and doing my yearly service call because I will I will go up and do my stuff in the cinema on the control four system and do my programming, my software updates. Um but funnily enough, when it comes to doing the two-channel hi-fi, it always takes me a little bit longer because I just end up sitting there playing music and listening to music. And whenever I come back from doing a hi-fi system, I always turn around to my wife and say, We need to move, I need to bring a house. Because I think I don't I don't know, I don't appreciate it, but when you listen to uh audio on a proper set of hi-fi speakers, it it's just like it's just amazing.

SPEAKER_02 17:42

It is amazing. So when we did the uh went to see uh Steinway and Lindorf there, they're quarter million pound speakers, just you don't you don't get to hear speakers like that every day, and uh they they they sound phenomenal. And uh I was talking to a client and he was like, I really like Hi-Fi. And I was like, well, maybe come over to have a have a listen. So uh it's uh it's uh yeah, really good. So uh have a listen to any Hi-Fi speaker when you can.

Donating Surplus AV With Givingback.tech

SPEAKER_01 18:05

Yeah, excellent. Uh so right, the next news story is uh is going over to our friends uh givingback.tech, but which they've launched a new website uh to uh repurpose or repurpose AD equipment for UK charities.

SPEAKER_02 18:21

Yeah, so uh obviously Ian and uh the team at uh together for Cinema have have launched this. And I think it's a superb idea. I mean, I don't know about you, but we've got a few things lying around that we don't really need, but it's just sitting there. I've got some uh kefin ceiling speakers that have been in the van for quite a while. Do I need them? Do I not need them? And Stuart's asked a lot of the uh uh installers to sign up for uh for the website. And uh if they've got anything, then please donate. I think is is you write you put down on the on the website what actually you're you you've got. Uh you handle all the shipping to whoever it's gonna go to. Um but I think it's just a good way to get rid of excessive stock and don't not not waste them sitting there. I mean I've got a uh a power amplifier that's been it's very heavy and I can barely pick it up. So I'm I'm 50-50 whether to send it off into uh the world of uh of of of the home cinema. But uh it's it's a great way to get rid of old tech that you don't need anymore, and uh yeah, it's a it's a great setup from uh Ian and the team there.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

Yeah, so just look at uh uh the Hidden Wise website this was on. Uh we've been talking about the HCA members were trying it uh before it was officially you know released. But yeah, it's uh it's as it as it says here, a new platform for companies to donate surplus technology to community projects as launched in the UK. Givinback.tech, which is the website address, has been founded by Ian Morris to help charities and community interest companies access professional AV equipment without impacting limited budgets. The scheme enables manufacturers, distributors, integrators, consultants to be listed to list unwanted, second-hand discontinued or B stock equipment that could be repursed for community use. Smart Home and Control Manufacturer Cresheron has joined the initiative uh as the first founding partner. Basically, yeah, it's um without saying it's uh uh an eBay or it's an Etsy, it fundamentally is so Ian doesn't have really anything to do with the handling. So if I know, let's say for our I've been trying to flock one of my clients a new projector, uh get it to replace his uh uh seven-year-old Sony projector, uh, which he paid 25 grand for, and he's slightly reluctant to spend 25 grand on another one, but hey-ho, but that that projector has still got some life in it. So, I mean it's a laser projector. So the idea being is that we can take it out, and if the client is of the fact that he can doesn't want to sell it or he would rather want to pass it on to a charity, which obviously a lot of people will, uh I can then register at giveitback.tech. Uh I can then clean it up, take some photographs of it, and list it. And then basically any of the charities out there, and these are not these are not the charities that we're doing cinemas for, uh, for the sort of like for the main charity, um, but these are like anybody any registered charity can look at it and go, Oh, do you know what? We need to replace the projector because our projector's got 40, so they can get in contact with you, you package it up, and you send it's an um um that and then they may install it.

SPEAKER_02 21:24

Yeah, so you got you got 800 charities, so 800 charities can easily look on that website um and think, oh, I'll need a pair of speakers, or it could be anything really. So an old TV. I mean, I I used to have loads of old TVs lying around here, and you think, and actually uh Ian did take one, he'd go and pick it up in his car and put it in his back seat and drove it down to the uh to the charity. It was an old uh Samsung uh L uh L C D TV, which I've had for years, but it was it was superb. It was the picture was great, it still worked perfectly well, and little things like that. It doesn't have to be a big sixty five inch TV or something like that. 32-inch TV will do the job. But so you just have to handle the uh the postage. So there is that to consider. But uh they're definitely worthwhile calls, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

100%. I mean, you know, upcycling, you know, there's so much stuff I know over the last 20 years I've ended up just not throwing away, but just either taking it to charity shop. And the problem is, I remember when we were doing the catharay tube, you know, upgrade when we were doing stuff with Sony, and we were we were put that you could trade in your old TV. And I remember taking the catharade tubes to um because the British Art Foundation, and they were like, we can't touch them, we there's nothing we can do with them because by the time we we pay to have it electrically tested and all of that lot, uh the money we would get back mean that we would lose. So we were throwing away. I mean, God, I was probably throwing away 50 to 100 catharade tube TVs every month.

Node Audio And Buying British Hi-Fi

SPEAKER_02 22:51

Sinful, really. We look back at that kind of thing, you're like, how was that even allowed? It's uh yeah, it's uh pretty pretty shocking to be fair.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

So, yeah, so the next story for me is another British brand, uh Node Audio, wells with high-edom loudspeaker range. British company uh called Node Audio is looking to carve itself a significant slice of the crowded high-ed loudspeaker market with the launch of the Atom Range, comprising of the Atom 525 stand mount and Atom 650 floorstander. Uh, production models of the newcoming uh speakers made their public debut at the Audio Show Deluxe 2026 held at Whistlebreed Park, and the range is available to order now with the company signalling an expansion of its distributor network. Uh, central to the design of the Atom is a sculpture cabinet formed that avoids uh flat panels and sharp edges uh with the aim of reduced deflection and maintaining audio image. Uh the retail price for the Atom 525 uh stand mount loudspeaker starts at 15,800, while the 650 floor standard is priced at just under 21,000. I mean they are they are starting looking speakers.

SPEAKER_02 24:08

They are quite sexy, yeah. They do look very uh very uh nice indeed. So uh but they they should be for uh 20,000 or nearly 21,000 pounds, but uh it's uh yeah, very very nice indeed. But no, it's good it's good to see British based companies doing these things, and obviously that's where it shows you hi HiFi is back, baby.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Yeah, I mean the the full article, surprise, surprise, is on the inside CI website and written by Steve May. But the there's a theme, there's a theme here. There's a theme, there's a theme can. I don't I I'm not just gonna self-publicise the new platform we've evolved in every week. I will spoke. You said Hidden Wise earlier, so that's fine.

SPEAKER_02 24:44

We love the guys at Hidden Wise.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Yeah. I will I will I will I will promote essential install, I will promote Hidden Wise and I was just as much as I will promote Inside CI if there's news of stories that are relevant to the people who will be watching or listening to this. So yeah, I agree. I mean, there are some brilliant. I mean, we were up at oh, who was it? TPI, wasn't it? We were up at TPI um uh just after Christmas with Barry from Leicester, very good speakers. Yeah, yeah, you need to go a nose break on that function. We did. True story. Yeah, I mean, again, another British uh based speaker company that you know, a brand that was uh created out of a passion, out of like, oh, what if we can create a speaker like this and a system like that? Uh and I think there are some very small, you know, unsung, maybe not known of brands, uh British-based brands in this country, which, especially with what's going on in the world at the moment, you know, as you alluded to in the modest audio, it's like if it's built in Britain and and it's distributed in Britain, then you know, hopefully we're not going to get tied up in any tariffs or shipping costs and things like that.

SPEAKER_02 25:50

Yeah, 100%. I say that uh I think you quite rightly said that they are unsung heroes. And when I when I started in the industry in 1998, we went to go and see Leon and Name Audio and Kef and all these people, but you see behind the curtain, which is really like it's always nice going to looking at a magazine or looking on an inside CI uh website and that kind of thing. But actually going to see where they're where they're actually built, talking to the the people who've designed them and built them, and then you see the amount of effort that goes into these uh products, you think, wow, actually, there's a lot of care and attention, and that to me makes you want to buy them even more. So they I've just read that they actually come in leather as well, these speakers. Oh, oh nice.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

Oh yeah, I've got the idea. Seven leather options. Cabinets can be finished in either multi-layer uh acoustic fabric or a selection of seven leather options paired with precision machine aluminium structural components.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

Aluminium, unless you're in America and it's called aluminum. Fantastic. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 26:55

But uh no, I mean it's uh yeah, I mean I remember taking a customer down to Kef in Maidstone and uh and he stood in front of the well I actually took him to the I actually took him to the factory in in Maidstone and then a few months later or about six months later I took him to the Kef Gallery London and and he's the same age as me, so he's he's it he's 50 now. And uh I swear he was standing in front of those set of meurs, like it was my daughter standing in front of Taylor Swift. He was like pointing, say, can you take a selfie? Can you take a selfie? But um, but there are some just some really good brands, and you know, and any uh integrator or consumer watching this, you know, reach out to a manufacturer or just distributor of British made stuff, or if you're a consumer, reach out to a HA member uh because there are some really, really good stuff that because it doesn't sit on the shelf in some of the high street shore stores, you just don't know nothing about it. Um, and I think there's some really good plat um uh browser that we should we should support.

SPEAKER_02 27:55

Yeah, 100%. And so anybody wants to come down and uh have a listen to any of those, then uh yeah, just let us let us know and we can arrange that for you.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

I actually asked you said that I had a comment. I don't know if I told you a comment on the YouTube channel, yeah. Uh someone who is a monitor audio fan, and I don't think he was very far from there, so I say, Oh, well, you know, just reach out to Simon, who was the person doing the podcast, and uh he can take you down there and have a little tour around.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

Yeah, I think sort of monitor audio's heritage that a lot of people have got monitor audio speakers, and uh Monitor Audio never actually had that facility for for people to go to, but now that's there for everybody to to enjoy and experience, then uh yeah, it's uh yeah, come come on down.

SPEAKER_01 28:36

Well, I think that also that's one thing that I want to do, or probably it'll probably involve us doing because I'll be the cameraman and you'll be the presenter.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

And a good cameraman you are too, Stuart.

SPEAKER_01 28:45

But what I want to do is I want to do, you know, some actual light factory tours. So, you know, maybe we do some factory tours around monitor audio, around KEF, around, you know, HD Anywhere, places like that where you know the T um uh TPI again when you were downstairs and that beautiful weather.

SPEAKER_02 29:03

When it's a bit warmer though, Stuart, because last time we went there, it was freezing cold, they had this massive wood furnace trying to keep us warm. So it was uh very you were like a cat. You were like a cat in front of the fire. I couldn't get any closer, I would have started melting.

SPEAKER_01 29:16

Yeah, if you could curl up with a mug of coffee, you would have done something.

SPEAKER_02 29:19

Definitely so. But yeah, no, those kind of things. Again, not people don't people don't really see that and don't see what what's behind the scenes, and uh I think that's really, really uh uh fundamentally important in in any of the products that uh sold out there. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

So talking about being behind the scenes, uh we've actually been quite busy since we last uh podted. So we've uh we've had quite well, yeah, I've had quite a few events. You came to one of the events uh uh at Pulse, uh funny enough, in Essex, and that was uh pulse cylinders in Stanstairs. So do you want to tell us a bit about that day?

SPEAKER_02 29:53

Yeah, so it's a really good day, actually. It started off with uh some news about Kaleidoscape and what they were gonna tell us, um, and then it just spiraled into uh a relaunch of Pulse, I suppose. I think that they said that themselves that uh they've sort of been a little bit quiet recently, and obviously the takeover from uh from Midwitch and that kind of thing. So they had some news from uh Kaleidoscape. Uh obviously they've got the new uh mag uh speakers there in the in the smaller room, and then in the bigger room they got the uh alcon speakers. So uh a little fat little fat things have been done into the uh the the larger room. If you've been you you've you've you've know what it sounds like and and what how big it is and how beautiful it looks. But they've just taken it's not as dead sounding, so I think they had a bit too much acoustic treatment in there and things. So you've still got the excellent waveforming going on, uh and you've got the alcons, but uh in the smaller room where they did have quick speakers, they've now got uh the mag speakers, which personally I hadn't heard of. So they're they're more sort of in line with pro stuff, and they're actually in a lot of cinemas. Probably you've heard them already and hadn't realised it, but uh they they sounded really, really good. The subs were really impressive. It's a nice clean open sound as well, which uh I personally quite like. So uh it was a really good day. And then Collider Escape have uh uh I said earlier have announced uh a number of uh of things. I mean, you know a bit more about Collidescape than than I do, but uh it's I think it's out there now, or maybe when uh this podcast comes out. But so they've signed the dotted line on Disney uh being available on Collider Escape.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Yeah, I just be honest, you we're having this conversation with the crib, but I didn't hear that, so I was also after it's something chaos.

SPEAKER_02 31:36

It's not it's not what you know, it's who you know and who you ask at the right time. So uh I did grab the uh the representative from Collider Escape and uh yeah, we we we had a about a half an hour chat, which wasn't uh planned, but uh yeah, he told me all the ins and outs uh and the premiere range, they've they've got the final components for that, but they will be coming to their lifespan is coming to an end on the premiere range that that they do as well. So that's also uh uh a bit of news there for you.

SPEAKER_01 32:03

Yeah, well I suppose you know with the with the mag speakers, you know, looking at their website here, I suppose it's almost going back to what we said the other, well, we said this podcast before. I mean, the last episode we were talking about JBL synthesis, and then obviously we've also previously talked about the Barco or HDR by Barco, where you know, a lot of this stuff that I think as a consumer watching this, and maybe as an integrator watching this, you've never heard of the brand, but you've probably actually sat in and listened to it before. I mean, I was I was really pleasantly surprised. I mean, while I love her, I mean I I love Paulson, you know, ever since, you know, you know, the days of Mike and Kate's with you know with with uh Simon and Ski, uh with Simon and Charlie, you know, and Gibbo and that, it's always been one of those, you know, really nice places that you can get a good range of cinema. I mean, the room upstairs, the uh Paradigm Anthem Room is the one reason that Simon, who works with me, put that in his cinema in his house, which is our sort of showroom in Leatherhead. But I was pleasantly surprised because that little room has been through so many changes uh and had a sim racer in it at some point. But actually, to sit in there and watch uh I think it was the it was an opening scene to I can't remember the film now, but I've not seen that film before, so I wasn't expecting the bash and the crashes of the bang. So it actually, because of the dynamic range, it actually made me jump because I wasn't expecting it. And for what was, I mean, what was it? It's about it's not even a three metre wide room, is it? It's about two and a half metre wide by about five metres, four and a half, five metres long. Um uh but it was a fantastic little room, a great example of a cinema, little cinema that could be put in a double garage.

SPEAKER_02 33:48

Yeah, that's the way they sold it, really. It's uh it's their garage room. So, as you quite rightly said, they used to have a racing simulator in the simulator in there. They had red leather sofa seats, which uh wasn't particularly good. I think I've actually got a a little bit of a card there. So you can see the range. That's what it it did look like with the uh the uh the red red red seats there, but uh no, that I mean are you saying you you took jumped out your skin of one of the the demo scenes that they showed. That that is a good sign of a of a good system. And to be honest, they they only just got those speakers in. I think they got them in sort of a couple of days before, set them all up, did a quick calibration without too much else, to be honest. And uh yeah, no, it sounded pretty pretty pretty impressive. So uh again, go down and see the boys at polls if you want to come down, contact one of the HCA members as well, and uh I'm sure they can arrange for you to go and see their uh their new speakers and uh and facilities they got down there. But uh yeah, that was a really good day. Uh some good food as well. They've got little uh uh street a street food vendor in. I'm gonna call them that because uh berg burger van doesn't do it justice. But so yeah, we had Halloumi fries, burgers, and uh yeah, it's very nice. So probably making everybody feel a bit a bit hungry now.

SPEAKER_01 34:55

Who seems to have the first burger of the day, baby Charles?

SPEAKER_02 34:58

No, it wasn't me. I I uh I uh I saw somebody else uh nearly I saw somebody else have them, and I was like, yes, I'm going in, I'm very hungry. That that was predominantly to stop me having too many halloomy fries, to be fair. Right, okay. Fill up on the burger.

Crix Moves To CAVD

SPEAKER_01 35:10

Yeah, but no, but it's a really good day. So talking about cricks, obviously uh anybody who's listened to this and is in this industry knows that uh brands move around this industry from pillar to post all the time. So it's not it's not unusual to see a brand go from one company to the other company, and it's that's nothing to do with the brand, that's nothing to do with the company or distribution, just it may well be that you know they've had their time with that company and now want to move to a fresh company, or the company has now decided that they want to move on to a uh another brand. So the awesome Crick speakers, the uh Australian-made Crick speakers have now gone uh over to Jamie at CAVD distribution uh based in Marlowe. Uh we have a podcast coming up with them. Um it might be it'll probably be the one after this, I think. But they've now taken on distribution of uh Crix uh along with uh Leon and Origin Acoustics and some other brands like JVC that they have there. So, but no, I was down there the other day. They're gonna get the system fitted uh into the cinema that we went down to recently uh and looked at the other brand that they used to do there. Uh but yeah, I mean I think it's gonna be a good fit. I think Crix will fit really nicely with uh uh with CAVD. Of course, Mel used to sell it at the other distributor and she's selling it with Jamie now.

SPEAKER_02 36:31

Yeah, I spoke to Mel the other day, actually. I gave her a call and uh said congratulations on taking on the uh the the Crix brand. But as you said, they she has sold it before, so she knows knows it pretty well, the ins and outs of what they what what can be achieved with Crix and uh it's a great solution. So you just uh if you've got a screen, uh have a bat box as it were, so where the speakers can go, push the speakers in and the subs, and away you go. You've got yourself a decent system, so it's a really easy to install kind of system, and uh they they do the different size speakers, the different size rooms as well. And uh I think uh CAVD are a nice again, we're talking about Monitoral, a nice small family-run business, and obviously everybody knows Mel and uh she's great, and uh, but they really look after you. So the aftercare sales service and anything you need from those guys, they'll really look after you and uh and help you out. So uh no, but exciting times for uh for Crix and uh CAVD.

SPEAKER_01 37:25

Yeah, well we're doing the Crick's cinema at the moment uh in uh Beckingham. I mean we did one in Brighton, so we're doing the one in Beckingham, but that is uh that has got I think it's the MX30, which is a a predefined bath wall basically. So I've created a uh a letterbox in the wall. Uh by no means is it small. Well, I'll put up a picture now of the room that the unfinished room as I'm doing it, but yeah, it basically fits in there, so it's the LCR, and then I think it's uh two or four subwooffers I can't remember now, that are going in there, and then I've put the the speakers up, six speakers around the room, which are towed into the seater position with the four atmosphere in the ceiling, which again are angled in towards the seater position, so you can really sort of like angle the speakers to where they should be. But yeah, I mean there's lots of uh lots of stuff on YouTube. I mean, if you look at uh Tony at Building Montage on YouTube, he does a lot of stuff with Crix, he does a lot of tours uh around uh Crix's facility, so uh yeah, it's a good it's a good little brand, and uh I'm looking forward to switching on the Beckenham Cinema. I mean, I'll I'll go straight onto that now because I was gonna touch on that, but yeah, I mean we've been back there this week. Uh the whole room's been tracked out, ready for Roddy's Cinema Build Systems Fabric. I fitted the speakers yesterday, wired those all in, just covered them over uh so they don't get any dust on them. And then we're just gonna fit the MX30s on Monday, I think, as we record this. And then yeah, then it's test it and then fabric wrap the room, and then it'll all be ready, ready to rock and roll and hand over to the customer, hopefully, probably before May.

SPEAKER_02 39:03

Fantastic. I say definitely definitely test those speakers before you uh fabric wrap the room. So uh, but uh yeah, no, looking forward to seeing that, and uh yeah, sounds uh sounds an exciting uh little job.

SPEAKER_01 39:12

Oh, you can't believe the conversations I've had with the client. No disrespect to the client, but it's like can't you just start to fabric the room and then test the speakers? Uh no, no, the the the fabric is a is a hundred pounds per liliometer, and there's at least two and a half liliometres per run over each speaker. So it's like I don't really want to have to take 200 pounds or 250 pounds worth of fabric off the wall because one of the speakers isn't working. So, you know, fabric is the very, very, very last thing we do. So let's test the speakers, let's make sure that HDMIs are working, let's make sure the speakers are working, let's make sure everything's working, and then the carpet goes down, the fabric goes up, the screen goes up, and Bob's around call the cinema's down.

SPEAKER_02 39:53

It's such a tease shirt, but you you can you can see it from the client's point of view, they're very excited to get this system up and running. They see the speakers there and the stuff, they want the fabric in, they just want to enjoy their room as soon as possible.

SPEAKER_01 40:03

Yeah, so uh uh you had a photo shoot yesterday, not you, thankfully, but you had a photo shoot yesterday.

SPEAKER_02 40:08

I could have a photo shoot, what are you talking about? Um no. You were the drone pilot, were you? Oh yeah, so uh Amina doing uh case studies with Matt from Amina, and obviously we uh we saw those guys at uh ISE and um yeah, Red Line were involved in helping us doing the Tudor Building, which uh we actually won the Smart Home Award uh Media Room under£50,000. So they Amina wanted to do a case study, which is is a good idea, but obviously you can't see the speakers. So they're just trying to push what can be achieved with hidden speakers, which is is great. So it's a great backstory. There's a Tudor building, we were there for for for quite a period of time. Heritage England was was involved. Matt asked us to to do a case study, and yeah, the client was happy to to do that. So Matt came along, took loads of photos, we did some uh videos and things like that, and I got the drone out so hence the weather conversation right at the beginning of this uh podcast. But yeah, one minute it was sunny, then it was raining, then it was windy, and then it was like, right, let's get this drone up. But uh to see the the the the Tudor building and and say that the the history behind it, and there was uh walls that are from an old church um and things, so there's a lot of history there. But uh the house looks amazing. Inside, you've got the beautiful media room with the speakers uh hidden behind uh hydrofugo MDF wood, and then in ceiling is all lime and plastered as well. So, in there because it Heritage England wanted that, and that's how you did plastering back in the day. And then we've got a lovely kitchen and uh an orangry. So uh hopefully we can uh put the link on on here for uh for Amina and uh yeah, that was a it was a good photo shoot, and uh yeah, it was a good day had by all.

SPEAKER_01 41:47

Yeah, but it looks stone. I mean to see the bit what Matt was trying to do some recording outside and uh with the whole house for hiding. It looked like a studied building. So, yeah, I mean you sent me the YouTube link, so I'll put that in the description of this podcast. So uh yeah, go and have a look at it and see the amazing work Simon did, and you know, and actually, you know, what visible speakers are great for in respects of the you know enlisted tuna buildings. I mean, we did a new build in Faversham, I think it was after COVID, I can't remember now, yeah. It was uh we did a f we did one in Faversham and that has 16 speakers in the lounge. But when you walked in there, that was a meter as well. And when you walked in there, all you saw was a 77-inch LGO LED and a tiny, tiny vent uh of like where the is it AF 120 subwoofer at the time would have been in the wall. But the client loved bringing his friends in, sitting them on the sofa and saying, watch this. And then these friends would be like, You're just gonna show me Say Kernel TV, and all of a sudden this 16-channel cinema kicked in, and these friends were what the hell?

SPEAKER_02 42:51

Uh, where's that sound coming from? It's a great way to do it, to be fair, and it just shows you what can be achieved because you don't really know what in syn speaker speakers are capable of. So I first saw Amina speakers at uh Neo in uh XL. They had to show them uh there, and uh when I first saw it and well I didn't see it because I heard it because uh uh yeah, no, it kind of blew my brain. I was like, well, sorry, where's this sound coming from? It's like, yeah, well, the behind actually back then they had um it wallpapered. So they had the wall, and obviously the speakers were behind the wall, but they had it wallpapered as well. So that actually did make the sound you think a bit muffled, but uh it actually uh that did sound pretty good. But Red Red Line have uh just actually done their uh demo facility. Um they've done that up, so they've got a new demo room, and you can do a comparison there. So you can do a comparison with the mean speakers and sonat speakers, and obviously the mean are a plaster over, son that's a plaster up to. So it depends on your installation and what uh you need to do in that installation. Um and then you just can compare. So uh I think we can do a podcast there and uh after Easter and things and go and see the the the new uh showroom facility. But any any help you need with a meaner's.

Optoma Dolby Vision Projector Impressions

SPEAKER_01 44:00

speakers red red line will uh will help you out and uh help you do a white they offer a white glove service as well so they help you install the speakers and they kind of uh helped us doing this tutor building because obviously we didn't want to get that wrong so um that uh was fundamentally very very important but uh yeah no it's really uh really good little day and uh the photo shoot and the video come out very well as hopefully uh you'll click on the link and see uh yeah no I will I will basically put the link in the uh in the description uh and then you can yeah basically go and have a look at that and uh see the amazing job that you did for this Tudor building my last story uh is held on on my third day I think it was yeah my third day of uh tours in the same week I had literally like I think I had Monday here and then Tuesday at Pulse Wednesday at AWE Thursday at C A V D and then Friday I was in London at the Kef Gallery but you had a busy a busy week to say the least but uh and it's nice to do that though isn't it you because then you can you can compare what you saw and what you heard so I think that's actually a nice a nice thing to to do because sometimes you kind of forget what you heard or what you saw and then the fact you've done it pretty pretty one after the other is probably quite nice. Well yeah and I think it might be I mean I was literally talking to Steve this morning on uh email and uh he was saying that he just got back from Munich last night and he was he was back at Gatwick Airport this morning waiting out to go out to Paris for another event so I've got a feeling that where my previous uh in endeavours for the last 20 years is going to be you know building cinemas in the van travelling to build cinemas I think that uh my life going forward is going to be in the car uh or on the plane uh going hopefully just shoot videos and podcasts with uh all these amazing people but uh it was good and and of course you get to see lots of people of the industry but uh yeah I mean I went to AEWE because they had an Optoma event the projection brand or it wasn't just projections they were showing us they were showing us uh some big sort of professional displays some interactive displays and some LED displays um because I think a lot of people don't realise a lot of the technology that Optoma made or painted that is used across so many different platforms but the one that they showed us in the the big room in the big cinema at AWE which if you've not been to AWE they've got two cinemas there they've got the the big sort of thick eight seater cinema and then they've got a smaller sort of more not small cinema but more mainstream cinema but they were showing us it's the UHZ78LV and it's a uh bright 4K UHD RGB triple blazer home projector uh powered by Dolby Vision and their pure engine ultra technology he's got Dolby Vision HDR10 um they say it features a tripled laser which is capable of 98% DCP3 96% BT2020 and oh my god it was like it was 5000 lumens it's brighter than the sun Stuart 5000 lumens for 6,000 pounds retail that's a good price so that that's laser based as well I would assume yeah so that's a laser based RGB so triple laser technology but it you know it features IMAX and hard smokes you know it has it had brilliant lens shift so it didn't have lens memory unfortunately so if you are gonna do a so it's almost like the Sony 5000 or 5100 where you you have I mean it's actually probably not better but but the Sony has a manual shift on it. I don't know why I'm doing this with my hand in the air but the Sony had the manual shift on it this has a lens shift on it so it goes quite a lot left and right up and down so you can get exactly where you want but more for 69 screens and things like that I I would assume. Yeah so you could if you if you have it on light scope all the time so for instance you know if you have it on uh if you have all the scope screen so if you're watching a film then it'll be in scope if you have it on uh standard TV then you'll lose the images of either side but I think personally myself I do more 169 you know traditional size screens where you know the whole screen is your football or your EastEnders or your film and then when you go and watch a cinematic movie so in a 219 aspect ratio a scope aspect you have your back bars top and bottom same as you would on a like an OLED TV but just the fact of that it was you know 5,000 lumens where I think I think the entry level Sony's at about 4,000 pounds I think are about two to two and a half thousand lumens so twice the Lumen level for for 6,000 yes there's certain things that it doesn't deliver over some of the other brands but I think for just pure brightness maybe in a not totally dark room uh I mean it was studded I mean I was golfsmount when they told me it was six thousand retail for that price I think and that brightness I mean you you you are heading to all sort of barco brightness aren't you I think it's uh it's barco the bigger ones are a bit brighter but for for that brightness um for that price is is is pretty good but I didn't I like you know I didn't realise uh Optima did so many different things so I mean from my personal background I I kind of started when I was in retail I started getting in the different uh projectors and they they were very basic back then and obviously more office based I would have said like boardroom kind of thing but uh I think they're becoming more and more uh readily available and just obviously aiming towards the more uh in it's ins inside CI kind of home cinema installer so uh uh so yeah really nice seeing AWE obviously great guys and uh yeah again go down and have a look at uh what they could be achieved but uh but they did like the the um the displays as well did they they have like uh TVs or commercial stuff or it was more commercial so they had some sort of interactive uh whiteboards for what of the colours but like schools and things are I've seen them in schools and multi-touch like 10-point multi-touch yeah for offices and things like that but then they had some big sort of modular tile you know TVs um I I wouldn't you wouldn't generally I don't think use it in the same way as you might use uh a Samsung or Sony you know um modular TV or an A-Wall or something like that but I it was that sort of was more towards the you know because as in as integrators we sometimes get asked to do offices uh commercial buildings so that was very much for that that side of the business but that was really really interesting the way that you could actually program all the screens to work on one interface so you could control what's being shown on what screen from a laptop. Going back to the projectors I mean they can't remember the model number now but they had a little projector which I looked at it and thought that's perfect for the little room like my lounge where I've only got a like a three metre or three and a half metre uh flow ratio and as soon as I put a Sony or an Epsom or a JVC in I've lost you know a good 500 mil of from where the back of the projector is on against the wall to where the lens is but this little thing was probably I want to say like 10 inches and I was chatting to them and they're like yeah that would easily probably give you about a 120 130 inch 169 screen in that space where you know I've always had to seven well I've got a 77 inch TV and I was thinking like well maybe I might have to reach out to Gavin or to see if I could borrow one over Easter and see if I can get it get it working but um I thought what you were going to say is uh have it out in the garden for the World Cup.

SPEAKER_02 51:48

That that would be perfect like beating that up on the wall uh I think we don't like doing it but uh getting the old white sheet out and uh putting that up on there but uh unfortunately the World Cup for us is about 10 o'clock in the evening I mean the one thing just briefly going back onto the the Maid projects was the quite operation.

SPEAKER_01 52:06

I mean when James was playing that at full tilt you know so it wasn't in filmmaker mode so it was a full tilt full brightness the the fact of that there was virtually no noise or indistinguishable noise coming out of it uh for something that was throwing out so much operation.

Sony Bravia 8 Prime Setting Warning

SPEAKER_02 52:24

That's interesting because normally it's about 19 dB isn't it for a projector so now you can put it on like lower mode or eco mode but obviously not getting the brightness from that but to have that brightness and it still be pretty quiet was uh it's pretty good. Then you've got one last while which is a uh a Sony LED TD install that you've been doing yeah no we just did a uh we love Sony and we love the uh the OLEDs that they do so we uh got a client who had a system from us previously actually so uh we installed that in his house and then he needed a new telly because his old telly was one of those old curved TVs if you remember those oh wow so uh it was pretty old so uh the new uh Sony uh Bravia 8 was installed but one thing I do want to say there's a setting that they've just done on the Sony TVs whether it's all of them I'm not too sure because I've only only seen them on OLED is it's got uh an Amazon Prime setting. So you know when they did Netflix it's like as the director intended kind of thing but the new uh setting that they've got for the Amazon uh prime video setting is awful it's so dark it's unbelievable the client's like I can't see anything I'm like well I've just set this up to cinema mode and uh turned off everything that you can turn off or should turn off or on a on a TV when you uh install it and calibrate it but you scroll down and it actually says Amazon Prime video setting and I turned it back off and it all come to life nice and vivid how I intended it rather than look looking through at the TV like you've got a pair of sunglasses on. So please turn that off and why it's on there I've no idea.

SPEAKER_01 53:58

Well you know why because by far Amazon Prime is the worst streaming platform out there.

SPEAKER_02 54:02

So apart from a a few occasional gents like Fallout you maybe don't want to watch what you're watching because there's not lack of fair content on there in my in my opinion but uh yeah so if if you're watching it and your TV looks very dark and you've got Sony that is because that setting is on.

Where To Follow And Get Involved

SPEAKER_01 54:20

So just go into your settings and uh have it on cinema or whatever or custom uh it's been calibrated and uh yeah turn that setting off please uh if you if you're lucky enough to have an ISF day or night mode or or if you've got like a filmmaker mode um then they're they're pretty good they are almost calibrated mode but yeah a lot of that yeah for God's sake go and turn it off vivid because that's what a lot of TVs included Samps has come set or set in uh just go have a play with it. Yes it might look a little bit duller when you put it onto ISF bright mode or filmmaker mode but it is showing you the content as the director intended and uh yeah I've not seen that so I'll have to have a file of a modern Sony TV and have a look and see how how amazing their net uh their uh Amazon Prime mode is not excellent well that's it that's it for today's pod uh for the for the relaunched insideci pod but if you want to keep up to date with us uh you can go to insideci.com uh and dotco.uk uh the dot com is a website that it will probably move to eventually so dotco.uk is where it mainly lives at the moment but I will put a redirect for.com onto it. Obviously a lot of this will also still go up on the HCA Tech Talk website so especially if you're a consumer watching this go to the HCA Tech Talk website because there you'll find maybe links to products link to links to integrators where on the inside CI it's more you know business to business. You can follow insideci at insideci on Instagram and at insideci mag on TikTok.

SPEAKER_02 55:57

Simon where can people find you personally yourself and your business so uh Instagram and LinkedIn and things like that but uh yeah our website is uh wwwcinemahyphenrooms.co dot uk but like you and uh insideci we will have cinemarooms.com which should take you to our UK website but uh yeah have a look at that and we're doing a lot more news on there as well now and obviously on YouTube as well so as long with the uh HCA uh website and uh YouTube channels where we've got a YouTube channel on uh on YouTube as well so uh yeah have a look yeah did you have a look at InsideCI uh on YouTube because we are putting some of the old uh HCA stuff on there but there's also quite a lot of videos that David did previously I think the last ISE you did was 2023 so it was quite interesting going back and watching some of those videos.

SPEAKER_01 56:47

Yeah I did I did see some of those some of the older products and uh how much younger he looked and didn't we all for me you can find me personally on most social medias at Mr Stuart Burgess um and as well as Home Center Alliance and HGA Tech Talk on Instagram. So uh you can also email us if you've got any feedback or you want to get involved in this podcast if you're an integrator a brand or a distributor watching this and you think you might be interested in doing some uh podcast or some videos or some unboxings with us uh you can reach out to Halo at insideci.com that's Halo at insideci.com and uh and as I said before if you're feeling generous wherever you're watching or listening this to this please leave a review a like a thumbs up a comment whatever you do on that platform because it really does help so uh thank you very much for your time Simon we'll get another podcast up maybe in a couple of weeks and uh and in between we'll have a uh a distributed podcast up as well definitely uh have a great Easter and uh don't eat too much chocolate. No thanks everybody catch you later