Altered Geek
Television Favorites and CES Tech Roundup

About this Episode
Hey, this is Steve blue and you are listening
to the geek cast radio network Hello and welcome
to Altered Geek. This episode unfortunately had
many technical difficulties between my furnace
running, the overall call recorder not working,
Danner's audio not being captured, and some random
clicking and popping in there. I have no idea
this episode was evidently not. Meant to be released
or didn't want to be released So sorry for the
crude edits that are here. It was almost going
to be a lost episode, but I think I can salvage
it Somewhat it's still listenable. There's still
good content in there Unfortunately all the stuff
that has to do with Danner I had to cut Because
nobody would understand the conversation because
it would be highly one -sided So this episode
is irregularly short Again, we apologize and
hopefully next time We don't have the same technical
difficulties and we'll do a little bit better
testing before we start recording so on with
the show radio edit Hello and welcome to altered
geek unlimited episode 22 I'm your host as always
Steve Megatron Phillips and joining me this week
is Mike boost ninja powers What is new? Well,
I Don't know a whole lot's changed for me since
last week other than just coming up for new ideas
for the show and taking some suggestions under
advisement, but We're gonna tease one of the
new things that we're gonna try out At the end
of this show But other than that I haven't really
been doing anything I I just Well, I'd be Arc
of Origins on normal and game plus mode and I've
been going through playing the training missions
or campaigns or whatever the heck they call them
in this one. Pretty much trying to get the the
three trophies for everything and if I can and
I'm not really worrying about it if I do or don't
because I've pretty much got it beat and I'm
waiting for the expansion. Other than that, I've
been messing with site stuff and trying to gear
up for the GCRN awards. Yeah, we've been doing
that over on Off the Cuff. We've been teasing
our... Well, on the most recent episode, we've
been teasing what may or may not be on our...
What may or may not be up on our Game of the
Year lists. If anyone can guess what tone that
was, you're more than welcome to... Find out
what that is actually dinner just for just for
s &g's if you want to do it one more time So
they can get a listen to it Okay, so if any of
the listeners know what that tone is points to
you Steve do you know what it is Sounds like
a Star Trek sound effect. It is not Star Trek,
but we'll see if a listener knows what it is
and I'll let everyone know what it is was on
the next episode Anyways So Do we want to jump
into TV sure? So I've been trying to think of
the best way to tackle this because we've never
really done on all TV conversation before It
kind of just breezed over it but I was wondering
if we could go around and maybe say what um maybe
the best uh we've Steve and I had mentioned this
before but just so people have a have a a bar
for what to judge our stuff by um what you would
what you would want to say like your favorite
animation your your favorite animated tv show
is and what your favorite um live action tv show
is and maybe not Maybe not so much favor, but
what you think the best Animated TV shows and
the best live -action stuff because sometimes
the best isn't the same thing as your favorite
all right Steve I have a guess Batman the animated
series for my favorite of all time I don't know
that still it's that one's always such a tricky
one with me for animated series. I can't ever
decide if it's Batman the animated series or
If it's Beast Wars Hmm, I like them both in different
ways. So it's it's very difficult for me to choose
But under your head almost have to argue And
no one ever gets to find out I would probably
say Batman the animated series overall just It
ran a lot longer if you count all the Tim verse
kind of stuff. So right So I'd say that also
I think I think Batman the animated series I
mean we you did mention the if you add in all
the Timber stuff in that respect I think Batman
the animated series the the groundwork that it
laid was actually so rich it was able to spawn
an entire universe and I at least as far as I
know And I could be wrong cuz I'm not the biggest
transformers guy, but it seems like Beast Wars
is almost a thing unto itself I know there's
like beast machines, but does that ever run into
like any other it? Touches on some of the original
TFG one and Beast Wars continuity it didn't start
out that way But they they did eventually tie
it all back in okay It was just It's one of those
convoluted afterthoughts that a lot of shows
tend to fall into okay live -action TV show live
-action TV show that That one's tough for me
be only because I like a lot of shows that are
on right now some of them new some of them old
and Some of them have had some really crappy
seasons for the ones that have been on a while
and have had some yeah like two full seasons
Till they went back to an older showrunner But
I would probably still argue Supernatural is
one of my favorite live -action Shows just in
general because it I'm still watching it. I mean,
I've got other shows I like or I like certain
episodes but they I don't I can't really say
I like a series overall enough to watch it week
after week and not miss the episodes or to not
Have to obtain them and then rewatch them after
they've aired. Okay Okay. Well, everyone should
know what my my two are. So yeah, I That show
there's just something I don't know Maybe it's
like the time that you know it hit you know when
I was on the air and I was actually watching
and stuff like that but it just it really grew
on me and everything and it's really interesting
because a lot of actors that were in that have
come out into bigger things Like Minka Kelly
went on to the failed Charlie's Angels and now
she's on almost human we can talk about that
later because I Not that's not very high on my
list um and then there's uh you know taylor kitsch
who hasn't had a very good film career but i
do think he's a capable actor but yeah so those
are those are my two if you haven't seen them
obviously all these shows are worth checking
out i think the only one that i haven't seen
is uh buffy because i don't i don't know i can't
i can't tie myself to a um couch long enough
to watch an episode But I have no opinion on
the show, like I'm not going to say it's bad
because I haven't seen it. So I don't have an
opinion on Buffy. I don't like having opinions
and stuff that I don't really know about. So
let's see, where can we go with TV about, we
can talk about current TV shows. So what are
some of the big ones that everyone's watching?
Like we've got, obviously we've got Agents of
Shield, Almost Human, which we touched on. Anyone
else want to throw in with a couple that they're
watching? Oh, no judgment here. I'll just come
right out in the open and say that I watch vampire
diaries There now you cannot sink any lower than
that. Okay. Now you should not know now you should
feel bad I think big bang theory ranks highest
out of anything that those guys have made at
this point I actually finally drop revenge from
my torrent catcher radio edit. I haven't given
up on that yet because it's actually gotten good
Well, that's gonna change once it comes back,
trust me. I don't know, I like Pan. Well, Pan's
gonna have nothing to do with the first five
episodes that come back. Well, we'll see what
it is. The one that is awful though, I can't
really put my finger on what's wrong with it,
is Once Upon a Time on Wonderland. I'm watching
it for the same reason I watched Private Practice
for as long as I did. Because it's a tie -in.
It's also the same reason I went back and watched
all of Eureka, just so I could get the crossover
episodes with Warehouse 13. Steve, have you seen
Eureka? Uh, no. I thought the finale was great!
The way it tied all the way back to the first
episode? I really appreciated that. I honestly,
I didn't see it coming, but like halfway through
the episode I was like, if this goes out the
way I think it's going to go out, that's going
to be amazing. It was like the second to last
season that they did that and I actually thought
it was pretty I thought the way that they did
it was really interesting because the show was
kind of going off the rails And I felt like the
way that they chose to reset it In within the
confines confines of the show. I thought was
brilliant Um, it was just a way to put everything
back the way it was supposed to be after it had
been derailed and it It played out. Okay. Yeah,
I got a little hokey towards the end But I feel
like it came back around especially with the
finish plus the christmas episode with the um
like the Rudolph the red -nosed reindeer stop
-motion animation. Steve, you should check these
shows out. The first episode is kind of tough
to get through because I've tried starting over
from the beginning and sometimes I can't even
make it through the first episode. I know my
wife couldn't even make it through the first
episode. It's so dry compared to the rest of
the series. Anyways, Steve, what have you been
watching? Well, while you guys were... going
on about which shows you guys watch. I was trying
to compile my list because I've actually been
watching a lot of different shows. I've been
watching, of course, Once Upon a Time, which
I don't. I actually like the show, provided that
they don't go down some kind of a train wreck
road. Did you like Pan? Because I really did.
I like it. The only thing and we kind of guess
what was going to happen at the end of the midseason
finale. The only problem with it is, like I said,
I read ahead on certain things, so like the next
five episodes have nothing to do with that plot.
So that's another thing that kind of makes me
a little weary on it because it was such a big
chunk of the show. So I've been watching Almost
Human, which that I've been more so catching
after the fact. not on actual live showings of
it so it's it's one of those I'll watch it but
it's not something I have to watch I enjoy it
when I watch it but I just it's not one of those
ones I have to catch every single week I can
skip an episode not feel like I've missed anything
I can agree with what Steve's saying only because
there hasn't been any connective story tissue
going back to the first episode and anything
so far that's the enjoyable part of the show
it's just it's another cop drama just set in
the future with an android yeah i see i i like
the show and i don't want people to jump on me
in the comments i like the show i like kennex
i like dorian i like the acting i like the i
like the stories that they're telling i find
them interesting it's almost like someone decided
to make minority report the series and that's
fine The only problem is I'm looking I I'm looking
at it from another another perspective which
is it looks like it's a very expensive show to
produce and There were I haven't seen the latest
episode so I could be way wrong here But we're
about seven episodes in and there is no Yeah,
there's no there's nothing to invest in other
than the characters relationship But there's
nothing like there's nothing to invest in in
the show and I honestly I was really intrigued
by the pilots the story that was going on in
the pilot about how there's like a mole inside
the police force and you know you and there's
there hasn't been like that thing like at the
end of an episode where it's like hey you got
to come over here and see this blah blah blah
there hasn't been any of that stuff and i'm wondering
if they're waiting until they get a second season
renewal to start diving into the larger story
But at the same time it's like what is there
to latch on to for viewers to tune into if you're
not gonna give them a Story that they can latch
on to I mean I I understand that monster of the
week episodes are a part of every series I don't
think there should be seven episodes without
Referencing what the larger story was supposed
to be if it was dropped. That's fine, but it's
just kind of I don't know I'm kind of bummed
if we have to wait for it to get renewed for
the story to actually show up again, but I think
I said on the Said it on Facebook with a conversation.
We're having with a friend fringe went on for
five seasons Just because the network execs like
that show so maybe almost human can get the same
kind of love I kind of I don't see it sticking
around It's on Fox. I know that's that's the
other problem. I don't see it sticking around
if they if they're not gonna give people I like
that's the problem. I like I like watching it,
but at the same time. I'm like I want it to stick
around I want it to have a meaning yes yeah we're
like seven episodes in it should have been done
like an episode ago so yeah maybe there is like
story stuff in there but i don't know i so i
mean but yeah i i like like we were saying we
like the show we just want more from it um and
this actually leads into something else i want
to talk about is about tv in general as soon
as we're done talking about more stuff that we're
watching i know we cut steve off with the almost
human discussion I'll blitz through a few of
them and then I'll actually stop on the ones
that I want to talk about more. Of course I watch
Supernatural, I watch Big Bang Theory, Last Man
Standing, Revolution, which feels like it's finally
getting its footing. And it's gotten interesting
for once. I just hate the main actress still.
Yeah, Summer Butter bothers me, but again, it's
a footnote. You got Twilight dad and you got
her so I mean that's part of the problem I have
with the series is the Is um, oh my gosh, I can't
remember the guy the character's name But yeah,
he's the dad from twilight and I can't not see
him as the dad from twilight Yeah, that's what
I see him as it's awesome. Yeah, but see as awesome
as they want to make him out to be I just can't
not see him as the dad from twilight which just
makes whatever he's doing that much more funny
It's it's like he's playing the same character,
but he could he wields a sword and he's trying
to be badass Yeah, I mean, it's the disposition.
I will say that Season 2 has brought a level
of grit to the series that was sorely lacking
in the first season. Well, I think the first
season, and they even knew that, they didn't
know what the heck they were doing, and plus,
they brought in a supernatural writer. Well,
but cinematically, the visual style for it was
way too aesthetically clean in the first season.
Fudgy. Well, everyone had perfect hair and makeup
and... Now they just look like they just threw
them through a dirt patch and said here you go
Yeah, they look like they were living in a world
without power rather than you know a hairstylist
down the street has all the power No bath for
you Of course I've been watching agents of shield
Some of the ish episodes while they do have plot
development are kind of villain of the week although
with the midseason finale and then the Return
episode It has me intrigued again. I don't know
if you guys have watched it yet See that's I
agree with what you're saying partially But to
me it feels like a Joss Whedon show with unlikable
characters. I only like Coulson I don't I can't
stand anybody else I can stand all of them, but
the scientists on the ship I think I think sky
and the guy that wants to be Captain America
are the ones that annoy me the most in the series
I don't know his name, but I just feel like he's
always trying to be Captain America, and it's
annoying. I like Sky now that the recent episode.
See, I haven't. I feel really bad because we're
trying to have these conversations and some of
us haven't seen the most recent episodes of these.
But, uh, it was very revealing, but it was also
still vague. Of course. And then, uh, of course
the hashtag of... Fury lies was going across
Twitter afterwards Yuri lies. How is that even
trending? That's like a given I know well that
was agent Colson himself putting that around
too I smell propaganda and the fact that he'll
be probably back at some point. I only hope so
But it was it was definitely better, and it gave
me a reason to want to watch it again for a while
Hopefully they actually resolve that before the
first season, because I can't see them dragging
it on for another season. Oh, just wait. They
will. If they do, I'm done. I'll catch it on
the rerun and I'll watch the episodes that are
pertinent. But I think the most masterful show
out of the list that I'm going to say is The
Blacklist. I'm wondering how long The Blacklist
can go for. I don't know, they kind of switched
it up with the mid -season. Yeah, he's just free
again. Now they have to go and track him down.
That could be interesting, because honestly,
the way the show was set up... I mean, I like
the blacklist. The way the show was set up in
the first half of the season went, honestly,
it was one of those things where it's like every...
This is the thing, they have the overarching
story in there of the relationship between the
two main characters. But it was almost like every
it was almost set up so that every episode was
a monster of the week episode Which is who's
he gonna help take down this week? Well, and
and now they had one that kind of bested everybody
and so now the government wants him specifically
and he still only makes contact with agent keen
and There was a question raised that everybody
kind of figured out by the first episode and
then they left it vague before going to Mid -season
I was really hoping because everyone knows the
answer to the question I was hoping they would
just answer it and be done with it and then he
just dodges it. Yeah, I Mean I'll still watch
it. I mean, it's fun It's just and I think this
is one of the ones because they've been renewed
for a second season So I think the second half
of season one is gonna be different than the
first half I think you're gonna get more of everything
with the second half. Which is a trend I've been
noticing within the last couple of years with
TV, is that as soon as a show is renewed for
a second season, generally that first episode
tends to improve. Case in point is another favorite
of ours, which is Arrow. Damn, I forgot that
one. And I've been watching that one since season
two. The Flash. The Flash, Canary. Will say the
first half of the first half of season one was
hokey like I had more eye rolling moments and
Wtf moments and just this is stupid moments in
the first half Hey, I got an account You know
a friend on our guy that I follow on Twitter
said that he started watching season 2 and he's
like Wow season 2 is a lot better than season
1 I said I told him I said that's because they
stopped trying to be cool just to be cool And
now it's just good. So there was like a lot of
like stuff in the first season that they were
just doing because oh This is this is arrow and
he he knows parkour and blah blah blah And they
stopped doing all that dumb stuff which made
my eyes roll every single time So case in point
is like the third or fourth episode where he
goes to climb a building And he climbs up the
outside of it when there's a ladder right next
to him Wow At that moment I was like, okay, I
don't know if I'm gonna be able to stick with
this series or not because they had him climb
the building parkour style because it was quote
unquote cool rather than just have him use the
fire escape ladder which was right next to him
so that's dumb but nobody remembers the first
half of season one because i don't i quit watching
season one so all right um just real quick a
couple of a couple of shows that i'm i'm currently
watching and enjoying at the moment um one is
american horror story which i've mentioned before
um the stuff that they do with that show where
every season you know they have the same cast
of characters but they're playing different or
they say have the same actors but they're playing
different characters um is is really interesting
and i like the horror theme coming out around
uh You know Halloween and stuff like that like
the first season was like a haunted house The
second season was a haunted asylum and this most
recent series has to do with a coven of witches
in New Orleans So it's kind of that's kind of
fun. If you like the scary stuff Justified which
is another one of my personal favorite television
shows that actually it's getting to the point
where I think it might actually be better than
Friday Night Lights Season five just started
for that and Of course I'm a big Timothy Olyphant
fan. So I know Danner hasn't watched that one
yet. Another show that I actually really enjoy
as well is Person of Interest. Has anybody caught
that besides me? Nope. It's the Jonathan Nolan
created show for CBS. It stars Jim Caviezel and
I think it's Michael Emerson from Lost. Basically
it is like the Ubisoft's Watch Dogs but it's
a live -action tv show it's very it's it's it's
really really cool um i think that's all i'm
going to talk about um as far as tv shows goes
because i'm looking at my list of uh subscribed
tv shows and there's 64 of them on here so i
decided to pick a couple right off the top I
guess another thing that I kind of picked up
on because I watch a lot of UK television and
I also watch a lot of sci -fi and FX and even
AMC content. We talked a lot earlier about Monster
of the Week episodes and filler episodes and
stuff like that. Do you think storytelling in
television is kind of... Broken by the American
20 to 25 episode season Or do you think or do
you think it just depends on what kind of show
it is? If it can go If there's enough stuff for
it to go 25 episodes Or I guess is there a 20
or is there a standard season show? Which is
like 20 to 25 episodes that you think would be
better if it was? between 8 and 15 I Think a
lot of shows would be better if they're between
8 and 15. Well, I like like like what do you
think like just name a Just name a few. Like,
I'm pretty sure Supernatural would probably be
one of those. Definitely Supernatural. There's,
like, always four or five episodes that are just
complete nundergarbage. I can't say that about
Arrow at this point. I don't know. I don't know.
Maybe... Agents of S .H .I .E .L .D.? Yeah, definitely.
I think that and Supernatural, everything else
is kind of tying in. At least halfway decent
So the standard length of like, you know, American
broadcast television is like 20 to 25 episode
seasons 6 well, it's like 6 to 12 or sometimes
15 and there's you know AMC FX and In sci -fi
are like in there So do you think are there any
shows that are currently watching on TV that
are in that 20 to 25 episode structure that you
think would be? better served with the radio
edit i've the one thing i have noticed this season
and it might it might be because i think what
i think a lot of uh broadcast television they've
kind of noticed that they that the quality of
the 15 episode structure is generally better
than what they can what they can deliver um i
noticed this kind of starting with um Jesus we
were just talking about earlier once upon a time
I noticed this with once upon a time and there
was another episode I think I noticed this with
where they actually divided up the the season
schedule so you have like a story for the first
half which is from the season premiere all the
way up to the midseason finale And then when
they come back and they do the back half of the
season, it's almost like an entirely different
episode. So it's almost like they decided to
do like the, you know, you've got the season
and then you've got the season and a half. But
is it Walking Dead still the same length? It's,
I mean, they did that last year with Walking
Dead as well. It went off, it took a mid -season
break and it came back, but it is coming back
and I think it's gonna be eight more. Feel like
a lot of TV shows are starting to do that though
like person of interest I think has gone through
in the first half of its of its third season
I think that yeah in the first half of its third
third season It's actually gone through like
one and a half story arcs like they're in the
middle of their second story arc going into the
last half of the season Which I'm okay with it
makes it I was just wondering if you guys noticed
that kind of that that trend with any of the
other shows that you guys watch Like I haven't
watched revolution. I haven't seen the midseason
finale. I don't think If I have I don't remember
But Would you guys I mean Would you rather have
shorter seasons just so you can watch more But
then again, I don't think sitcoms really have
the story arcs So to speak I mean they do evolve
don't get me wrong, but they don't they're more
one -off episodes Are there any sitcoms you guys
are currently enjoying Steve I was gonna say
for me. It's just last man standing I know that
it's nothing special, but I like the messages
that are in last man standing Oh, I love the
messages and how all of it's portrayed and how
all of it's kind of sent out. It's it's kind
of somewhat reminiscent of home improvement.
But it's like kind of more in your face. I don't
know, I kind of like how. It's just kind of ballsy
to some extent. My favorite episode of the current
season has been the spanking episode. I just
like how that was handled. I don't know. So.
Because that's like a hot button issue with today's
parents. Oh, we can't spank them. But that's
for another podcast. Maybe. Never. I know we
kind of jumped all over here with TV, but we'll
be talking about it some more. I just wanted
to let people know that we were watching television
and what we were watching and what we were enjoying.
So. If you're interested in hearing more, just
let us know in the comments. Do we want to talk
about CES real quick? Yeah, we can do that. Okay.
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Oh yes, but think of the fun. And welcome back
to Altered Geek. I'm gonna get into some CES
2014. For anyone that doesn't know, CES stands
for the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas.
Steve, is there anything that you want to bring
up before I put Daner to sleep talking about
TVs? No. All right, I can just touch on this
real quick because I'm still kind of looking
into it. Last week we had the conversation about
4K and about the curved screens and all this
other stuff, the jargon that's actually coming
up out of CES going into it. I noticed on my
Twitter feed that somebody actually slash film
put out the question, what is the point of curved
screens? Like what does it actually do for you?
Um, and they actually got an answer back and
it has something to do. Basically the tweet that
came back was because your eyes are round and
the way the light reflects off your iris increases
color perception by 33%. Um, so basically it
has to do with your round eyeballs and just a
curved screen being better for those. So, I don't
know. I, again, I think, I think the curved glass
is one of those things where you have to go and
see it for yourself. just like every TV I don't
think you should ever buy a TV just off of online
research I think you should actually see it in
the store if you have them let you play with
it if they will let you I've also heard negatives
about the curved glass which means off -angle
viewing is a lot worse than normal flat TVs So
there's that basically you have to be sitting
dead center, or you're gonna or the picture quality
is going to degrade on you really quickly Which
happens with just about every TV that isn't a
plasma or a rear projection TV see so yeah other
than that I don't know last year the 4k 4k stuff
for ultra HD was like all the rage at CES and
the big guys like Samsung and Sony and everybody
came out swinging you know with their 4k TVs
and they They were all priced at over like $5
,000. And you know, at the time I told my wife,
I said, you know, I'm not going to upgrade the,
I won't buy a new TV until 4K is within our wheelhouse.
And obviously $5 ,000 is not in my wheelhouse
as much as I would like it to be. Excuse me.
It's not. Basically the big thing that I've seen
in my Twitter feed from all the people that I
follow coming out of CES was Vizio came out the
door swinging with their 4k TVs They I don't
know if anyone's familiar with Vizio. They're
an American company. They're like Apple They're
an American based company, but all their stuff
is produced in Mexico or overseas But basically
Vizio always undercuts like Samsung and Sony
and Panasonic on price by a lot Case in point
I will an example I will make here just a little
bit They came out the door swinging this year
with their 4k TVs their first allotment of 4k
TVs are gonna start at 50 inches for a thousand
dollars Which is Compared to like a price of
a reason like the same size Samsung a 50 inch
4k Samsung is in the ballpark of $5 ,000 Okay,
so You basically you end up paying for a name
with the Samsung set They basically do about
the same thing. In fact, there's some stuff that
the Vizio it's that the Vizio set does that the
Samsung one doesn't do They have a different
lighting array in it. It's actually LED backlit
with local dimming, which is actually controlled
by hardware rather than software. So it's lit
from the back and there's LED zones that can
turn themselves off at will instead of being
like edge lit where the light shoots in from
the sides, which is supposed to offer better
contrast and stuff like that. I'm actually kind
of excited to see that myself since the TV I
have right now basically destroys the Dark Knight.
So yeah, that was like the big thing. I was actually
really impressed by that. I actually started
doing a lot of research and stuff. The one that
I'm actually interested in and I've actually
started saving up for was a was a 60 inch Vizio
P Series. It's a 4K TV and it has all like the
nice special features of the of the of the pricier
guys like Samsung and stuff like that. But the
really neat thing is there's a website out there
called it's like display lag dot com. They actually,
they test all, they test an array, a range, a
range of TVs for input lag. Input lag is especially
important for gaming. And I didn't know. I didn't
know this, so I decided to look up what Vizio's
Display Lag was because I was kind of like, I've
never really thought of a Vizio as a good TV.
I mean, I knew they had the right price and the
sizes and stuff like that. They finally caught
up with the bigger guys in terms of design within
the last year. Otherwise, I really wouldn't be
paying attention to them. But I went to displaylag
.com and I went and looked up the top of the
line model for the Vizio, the current Vizio that's
the top of the line. And their display lag is
rated as excellent at like 25 milliseconds. Compared
to the TV that I have right now, which is a Samsung
was the top of the line Samsung in 2011, and
it has like an average display lag of like 50
milliseconds. Which I can't notice. I don't really
there isn't average is OK is obviously considered
OK. But I was actually kind of surprised to see
that this Cheap quote -unquote cheap via price
TV had a an outstanding You know response time
for throughput for video which I wasn't expecting
from a company that you know kind of Knocked
so many dollars off their price tag to get people
to buy them so I was actually kind of impressed
what I found about them is the more I dug into
them I I kind of I don't know I think I'm done
with the Samsung entertainment products For right
now, I mean, they're just, like I said, one of
the reasons I have the Samsung TV I have right
now, I really wanted it because I wanted the
look. I wanted that TV that was all picture.
I didn't really want to see the bezel around
the outside. I just wanted to see picture, and
Samsung was the only one that was doing that
two years ago, and now Vizio has caught up with
them. And the size that Vizio is offering, the
60 inch one is 1800 and a 60 inch Samsung was
like eight grand. Wow. And the thing about the
16 inch television is with the entertainment
center that I have, it actually fits perfectly
in that spot. Like where the TV goes, like there
is like literally no room from side to side for
that TV to move. So it'll be like all picture
in that giant hole. without the bezel the whole
thing will just disappear and I'm really excited
to see that so and I got the wife to sign off
on it her my my enthusiasm for it just kind of
washed over her but I just I I wanted to I just
I know there are some people out there in the
forums and stuff that said that they might be
looking at new TVs and the 4k stuff is really
appealing and I know that if there's a Best Buy
near you I know that they have a Sony 4k TV that
is set up so if you don't really believe the
hype I suggest you go and check that out because
it's not a gimmick the the 4k stuff is not a
gimmick in the same way that 3d is because 3d
is something that you might not notice Um, and
it's really hard to come across good 3D, especially
in the home, um, because like either the glasses
are really chintzy and stuff like that, but,
um, it's very gimmicky at home, but an increase
in resolution is not a gimmick. Um, there's a
definite, you can definitely tell when there's
an increase in that, uh, in the picture quality.
Also, another surprising thing, Vizio has dropped
3D from their lineups. Realized that it's not
something that their consumers care for So their
2014 lineup 3d is absent from all of their TVs
Although that in some regard that kind of makes
me a little sad because Vizio was one of the
people that were doing theater 3d Which is they
were using the same 3d that you get in the movie
theater So you could take your theater glasses
home with you and you'd have an extra pair of
3d glasses But yeah, they realize it's not something
that their consumers care for so rather than
throwing it in as a bullet point and charging
like an extra $500 for it they just cut it from
their cut it from their sets all together and
pass the savings out of the consumer so and The
entire time the two years I've had my TV I've
never watched an entire movie all the way through
in 3d So there's that it's not really a thing
that's about all I've got obviously we'll talk
more about it as it gets closer and stuff like
that because I I Have a savings goal set up and
I'm hoping sometime like after the summer I'll
be able to pick one up just in time for all the
4k remastered blu -rays to hit for Black Friday
So and I did order the 4k remaster of RoboCop
So I will have that to look forward to Now I
love s'mores as much as the next guy, but I'm
fresh out of marshmallows What do you say we
call it a night? All right, this is something
new that we're going to do If you're wondering
at the beginning of the show, we didn't cover
any news like we normally would we decided to
hold off on Doing the news so we could use it
as an example for future future feature that
we would like to add to alter geek unlimited
it's a way to further interact with the fans
and for you guys to engage with us and for us
to engage with you I for the moment I've dubbed
it the 10 minute wrap -up it'll be done at the
end of every show and as long as you guys you
know want us to do it What we would like to do
is have you guys submit stories or questions
to us either on the comments or via Twitter and
We'll pick the five questions or the topics that
we like the most and we will spend two minutes
discussing said topic at the end of Each show
so five questions two minutes apiece is about
ten minutes But of course resetting the timer
and stuff like that and overflow it'll probably
end up being more like 15 But I thought it'd
be a really fun way for you guys to ask us what
we might think about certain geek topics or Send
us a story that we might not have heard about
and we can you know if we find it interesting
Maybe we can we can discuss it in the in the
10 minute wrap up at the end of the episode so
Without too much more delay, I'm gonna set a
timer here on my phone and We will start with
the first with the first one Ten minute blitz
All right, the first topic that we have are the
high -res images of the Legos Simpsons house
So I don't know who wants to start first, but
I'm gonna hit the timer in three two one oh It's
insane. They have they have drawers. They have
like the piano with all the mechanisms. They
have all the you know the the papers all the
all the things that are actually from the show
are in it you can take the roof off and see the
inside of it uh the only thing i have to add
to this is uh does it have real working fireplaces
i'm sorry that's an end joke dan and i found
this really funny lego guy on youtube uh who
builds crazy awesome looking houses out of legos
And he always ends up, no matter what he's building,
he's like, we have a really fully functioning
fireplace. I'm sorry, sir, you cannot light a
fire in a Lego fireplace. What you could, you'll
just end up burning the entire house down. You
do not have a functioning fireplace. But yeah,
no, I'm not a big Simpsons fan, but I am a fan
of Legos. I just I love the detail that's in
this. I have to agree if I could afford it, I
would own it. I think that's the way a lot of
things go. so yeah okay that's it all right reset
uh next one is steam machines look slick but
who's going to buy them starting in three two
one people that hate windows but don't like games
yeah essentially what they've done is they've
just we've talked about this on off the cuff
but they've just essentially made a fourth, I'm
sorry, I almost said third because I wasn't counting
Nintendo. They've made a fourth gaming console
with all the same restrictions except it's gonna
be like the Wild Wild West because you've got
your $500 machine all the way up to your $1 ,800
machine. I don't know, Steve, you got ten seconds.
I would say that it, for the most part, just
looks nice more than anything else. I will give
it that. They have nice -looking cases, which
is something you can't do if you're gonna build
a machine by yourself, in my opinion. All right
resetting the timer next up is the steam leak
about Batman Arkham Origins Blackgate coming
to PC and 3 2 1 Steve why don't you go first?
So I I'm kind of excited about that only for
the fact that Isn't it slightly different story
than the actual Arkham Origins? It's okay It
actually takes place after Origins, and in my
opinion, I actually enjoyed it more than Origins.
And I liked Origins. I enjoyed it more of Origins
because I had more in common with Asylum. Because
I think it took the formula from Asylum, which
was essentially a 3D Metroidvania game, and put
it back on a 2D plane. Not to mention, it looked
pretty good for a handheld game. So I'm interested
to see what an HD remake looks like. And I'm
really interested to see if it comes to either
the PlayStation... Well, I can just say the PlayStation
Network. So if it comes to that, it's either
going to come to the PS3 or the PS4. Or both.
I think that if people have the season pass,
I think that this should be involved. It won't
be. Because it wasn't on the consoles. Which
is I'm saying but it should be a lot of things
or or or $20 You know it probably will be downloaders.
It probably will be a $20 download on PC. I Can't
imagine them. I can't imagine them trying to
charge Which that game looks pretty good, but
yeah black gate if it does come to steam if it's
true or if it does come to like Xbox live or
the in Steve's case the you know the Xbox arcade
or XBLA That's right. Yeah, if it comes to that
then yeah, Steve It's totally worth checking
out because like I said, it's a lot of fun and
the extra skin costumes actually do stuff Yay
So All right What is this this next one is about
who made the stacking computer? It was razor
okay razor comes to see s with their modular
stackable computer And we are going in three
two one Anyone So what do you guys think about
the the razor stackable? computer I I like the
idea of it. I just have to wonder like do you
buy III kind of skim the article for it. Do you?
Do you already buy the pre -made units? If you
wanted to get the newest Nvidia GeForce, do you
have to order it from them in their special little
container? Or can you take the graphics card
over the container that you may already have
and slap your new one in it? And it will just
work? My question is, is it modular to the point
where you need to order all the modules? from
the company or are the modules upgradable by
the user? Because I would hate to have to pay
a premium every time I just wanted to upgrade
something because I needed their special little
case for it to be modular. I'm not really sure
how it's supposed to exactly function. I like
the stackable and the fact that you can change
the lighting on the outside and just the Overall
style of it. I like the way it looks I Love I
love the looks and I love the fact that it's
less things to get dust and crammed in there
And it's also because Dan was a big fan of the
liquid cooled stuff. This one is mineral cooled
Mineral oil cooled. So apparently that's supposed
to be better than liquid cooled I'm not a chemical
engineer unlike my friend John. Otherwise, you
could probably explain that one to me But I guess
that the way that's talking it is having a slide
out kind of bays that you can just kind of It
sounds like insert Yeah, things into those and
then they just function. Unfortunately CES is
kind of like the North American International
Auto Show. You're gonna see a lot of cool stuff
That's never actually going to come to market
Mostly due to cost All right, and last one because
Danner wanted us to throw this in there Oh, the
link is actually gone for this one, so we just
get to have fun with it. Full body gaming suit
immerses gamers at CES, and we go in three, two,
one. Do you look like Tron? Did anyone see what
this thing looked like before the article got
taken down? It looks like holding Nintendo Wiimotes
and attaching them to a bunch of electronics
in your... You're back in your front. Is there
any mention about this working with oculus rift
because that might be something Well, it appears
they're trying to fund it from kickstarter. Oh
wonderful Well to be fair kickstarter has given
us a lot of interesting things By a lot of interesting
things. I mean like five The oh, yeah the oh,
yeah I think my favorite Kickstarter thing so
far that I don't own has been the pebble and
I fight myself every time I go to Best Buy Yeah,
if it looked like no, I can't even say if it
looked like Tron I'd be interested in it But
then again, I haven't seen it. I Don't think
I'd care All right So that does it for the first
edition of the 10 -minute wrap -up. I don't know
if Actually, I'm kind of interested to know if
you guys had any fun with it. I think it helps
us from getting. I mean, I think that depending
on the topic, we could always expand it past
to maybe like four minutes or something. But
I think that that gives long enough to give an
opinion and not dwell on it. We could do. I mean,
we could go from we could go from the 10 minute
warning to the from the 10 minute thing to like
four minute warning. The problem is I didn't
I wouldn't want to do like five of those because
it ends up being like 20 minutes. Alright, so
we seem to be okay with this just like the timing
thing Maybe we could go from like two to like
three minutes because it ends up being like 15
minutes So that might be okay. I just wouldn't
want to be like really long at the end of the
episode Yeah That's that's true. That is true.
So um, so I guess we could put it to you listeners
if you if you like this if you like the format
let us know and Submit your questions To us or
your or your links to like news articles either
drop them in the comment section for the episode
or Send them to us on Twitter Twitter Twitter
from Twitter and We will weed through them and
we will try and pick The five best ones that
we think would be fun to talk about so and we
will do them on the next 10 minute warning so
with that I will let the host of this episode
tell us where you can do all that wonderful stuff.
Well, as for feedback everyone, thank you for
all the feedback. Sorry we didn't get to it this
episode, but we're again trying something different.
And some of it we kind of already answered on
the website, which you can... communicate with
us on the GeekCastRadio .com website on this
episode post. You can communicate on the Facebook
fan page by searching GeekCastRadio network.
You can email us feedback at GeekCastRadio .com.
You can contact us on Twitter at GeekCastRadio.
Hashtag AlteredGeek. My Twitter handle is at
scp21 and yours are? Mine is at BoothNinja81.
Hopefully, in the next episode, we will have
more information on the GCRN Awards, which everyone
will be able to participate in. Until next time,
as always, get altered, get geeky with the Altered
Geeks. See you next time. Bye.
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