Altered Geek

Television Favorites and CES Tech Roundup

January 11, 2014 52:59 EXPLICIT
Altered Geek Television Favorites and CES Tech Roundup
0:00 52:59
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About this Episode

Steve and Mike discuss their favorite animated and live-action TV shows, including Batman: The Animated Series, Supernatural, and others, then dive into whether American broadcast television's 20-25 episode seasons are better structured than shorter 8-15 episode runs. They also cover CES announcements including 4K TVs from Vizio, Steam Machines, Lego Simpsons house, Batman Arkham Origins Blackgate for PC, Razer's modular stackable computer, and a full-body gaming suit.

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.

It has such patsas in it. The Pull Bag is GCRN's

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Join me, your host, TF2 and Mike, and the rest

of the GCRN crew as we make our way through the

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The Pull Bag every Wednesday on iTunes and on

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into comics. and jump into the pull bag today.

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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