GrandCon, Feedback, Games, and TV Technology

Hello and welcome to altered geek unlimited episode

9 I'm your host Steve Megatron Phillips and joining

me as always is Mike booth ninja powers. Hello,

sir. Hello How's it going? It's going good. Yeah

first episode since Grand Con yes, and Again,

it's been about a week and a half since we recorded

last Yeah, man, I don't like we need to find

a way to just always record on Thursdays. Although

that's not gonna be I would imagine Our Thanksgiving

episode will probably be recorded on a Monday

as well More than likely, but that's because

we want to get it to you guys Yes Consistency

is key and we're trying really hard So Grand

Con, yes, you have fun Yeah, I think that it

was it was fun. It was interesting. It was actually

kind of what I was hoping it would be Yeah, I

mean we didn't know we had an idea what we wanted

it to be But we didn't know what it was going

to be so we didn't we weren't able to plan anything

no But we did hand out some decent amount of

flyers and have Conversations and get kind of

noticed around there, so that was kind of cool

People liked our shirts. Yes, they did You know

someone someone thought it said gorn Yeah, somebody

said is that gorn which that's actually quite

funny Should turn that into a shirt on the store.

I Don't know maybe Maybe next time we make the

shirts. We should actually include the the name.

Yeah the Right below. I mean, I like the shirt.

Don't get me wrong. I just I it was it was weird

to have people ask and then have to be like,

oh, I'm just dumb and didn't put it on the shirt.

But I think the reason that ended up happening

is because that was the logo we were going to

use due to restraints put on us by the local

T -shirt people. Yeah, I think that's the only

reason. Otherwise, I think I would have included

more on that. But yeah, it was definitely a fun

and interesting con Got to meet some some people

that are familiar with us And some that aren't

I know it was um, I know you were the only there

on Saturday, but on Sunday I think everything

I kind of relaxed a little bit because everyone

Well, first of all Saturday's like kind of like

the first day of the actual con and it was the

first one of it so everyone was kind of like

Didn't know what it was gonna be or anything

like that and on Saturday on Sunday When we all

went back we were we again we were talking with

some people and We also played some we actually

got a chance to actually play some games. Oh

nice because Joe As Joe said off the cuff he

actually grew a pair and decided to go into the

game library and check out some games nice So

yeah, we played, well actually, in all fairness,

the only game that I played, I played with Danner

and with Allie, we played a game called Let's

Kill. Okay. It's a card game. I liken it to kind

of like the Grand Theft Auto of card games. So

you have, the idea is there are, some of the

cards are victims and it's like Sally the school

girl. or, you know, Petey the kindergartner and

they're on the board. They're on the table in

front of you. And then you have location cards

like coffee shops or, you know, like the post

office. So you have locations. Anyways, what

ends up happening is you try everyone's assigned

points and eventually you get weapon cards. And

you just like locations can you can stack up

people in locations Or you can kill one person

on the board with one of your weapons so you

can get like a sniper rifle that can kill five

targets Okay, and you can use it on the you can

put five people in the post office And you can

kill all five of those people with a sniper rifle

and it's it's funny because you get to build

the description because all the players have

Descriptions and and they're all signed a point

value and you're trying to get to 20 points before

anybody else can and then there's like surprise

cards that you can lay face down under any target

on the board so like you can booby trap people

so like like for instance you know with the with

cheerleader you can put a surprise card underneath

her and when someone goes to kill the cheerleader

they flip it over and it says this cheerleader

is really faithful to god thus you don't take

any enjoyment out of killing her and you don't

get any points for her wow but nobody knows this

until You know they go to kill that target That

sucks. Yeah, it was I mean it took us It was

kind of rough to get started because the rules

were a little complex. There's like some shootout

rules like for instance one of the One of the

targets that you can kill is the president of

the United States And he's worth ten points The

only problem is when you go to kill him his secret

service starts a shootout with you Okay, so you

can shoot him with I mean you can you can you

can take a weed whacker to him if you want to

and Try and kill them, but then then automatically

there's a shootout ensues and if you don't have

a gun in your In your weapons, you know you yeah,

you can't you can't fight back and when the shootouts

start It's you versus everybody else at the table.

Oh So so so what happens is you lay down a gun

And you fight back. And then everybody else at

the table has to lay down their gun cards if

they want to fight back. Because everyone else

at the table becomes a secret service. So everyone

automatically has to lay down their gun cards.

And if you have more gun cards than they do,

then you win. OK. And then whoever wins gets

the points. So I know it's it's it sounds confusing

and like a lot of a lot of those kind of games

are Confusing the first time you play them Yeah,

I mean I like games like I like games like let's

kill another one of my favorite card games is

called chrono knots It has to do with like destroying

timelines and creating alternate realities nice

It's a lot of fun to play. It can take a little

while to play. It's not exactly a quick game.

My wife doesn't really... She has fun with it,

but she never wants to actually sit down and

play it. But I like games like those where the

rules for the cards are on the cards. Like they

tell you... You don't have to go... You don't

have to look at the rules every time you pick

up a card. You just have to read the card. So

it's an ever -changing game. So it never is the

same... Right. So it's nice and then I saw I

guess um Danner and Joe played cards against

humanity It's like apples to apples, but it's

more grown -up ah, okay And then Danner found

I believe there is an Android version of it,

but we all have iOS devices It's called like

Apple seed or evil apples And it's cards against

humanity on your phone Okay, so you can play

with I have an Android so I'll have to try it

so well And I think I think the way that it's

set up. I don't think it matters I think like

I could even play with you like just because

you're on an Android. You're not limited to playing

with just Android users Okay, I think the way

the app is written is that as long as anybody

has their app everyone can play together Okay,

which is kind of which is kind of unique. I don't

know too many games that do that but Ali I Didn't

buy anything at the con my wife did She got one

of those the 3d cards the guy was okay. Yeah,

I remember her talking about that Yeah, she was

she was really excited about that actually turned

out really cool She paid like I think nine dollars

for it nine or ten not bad I mean no not not

for some guy that's actually sitting there in

front of you doing the work with an exacto knife

and a cutting board Yeah, I didn't have a problem

paying him for that Did you see or pick anything

up? Well, like when we went through the the room

I was hoping to find some model ships for one

of the games of Like Federation starships for

the Star Trek. Oh, that's right. Yeah, they had

those little well I mean, I don't know how many

people actually remember these... Micro Machines.

They look like Micro Machines. Yeah, they look

like the Micro Machines, but more detailed and

they're bigger. I really liked the... I used

to have all the Micro Machine ones growing up,

so I know exactly what you're talking about,

but... I wish I still had them. But yeah, they

didn't have anything that I particularly wanted,

and then... Some of the games I probably would

have picked up had I had more money, and... the

wife's blessing but um it's uh the only thing

i actually bought was actually i bought a couple

comics from daner at our own booth oh yeah we

had like a minikey garage sale going on it was

all in one table and uh i bought uh three comics

from daner and then uh i managed to sell four

or five of my comics to uh This same kid who

actually came by like three times and bought

two issues per shot So I actually paid Danner

with that because I didn't have enough ones on

me and then I had food money for dinner. So that

actually kind of worked out but But no, I mean

overall I I saw a lot of neat stuff. I just It

was it was interesting to take in That inaugural

year con to see what kind of thing to expect

in the future from it Yeah, I mean we didn't

again. We didn't know keep saying this I feel

bad for people are listening, but we didn't know

what to expect and I think Like before we were

going we had a conversation about maybe we don't

need a table Maybe we don't want a table and

then Joe had told me that he was actually gonna

sell stuff from our table So I was like, yeah,

we're gonna have stuff to sell Um, but it was

kind of, I mean, I, I was feeling, I was kind

of like, maybe this isn't going to be like for

us. Um, but after we got there and the day kind

of progressed, it was kind of like, no, this

is perfect. Um, I mean, it was like, Oh man,

I want to come back. And there goes your cat

pay attention to me. But, uh, yeah, no, I, um,

I felt a lot better after being there. I was

like, yeah, we can definitely be here, especially

after we heard that they actually do panels,

which we didn't know anything about. No. So now

I'm kind of like, I want to like, you know, start

hitting the pavement and running and trying to

grow the audience even more than it's already

grown so that we can actually do a panel that's

worth listening to. I know and I I'm really interested

in doing that as well and Should we do one at

a? At a grand con I actually have a buddy the

the one that I originally started the tabletop

enthusiast Podcast I did the one episode with

okay. I actually met up with him today Had I

known that or remembered that he had the day

off that day I would have invited him to come

to and I know that he's expressed interest in

sitting there and he said that he would help

if we wanted to do a gaming panel along with

other stuff and how it correlates with comic

collectors and everything else. Right. Because

I was kind of talking to him about that today.

But yeah, I mean I definitely want to pursue

that and try and grow it to the point that we

could do a panel. about something in the future.

But first, we gotta get to the point where we

can actually do a Google Hangouts. Yes. Yes.

We have two people interested. So far. We would

like to have more. Yes. So tell your friends.

So preferably if we could get ten people. Yeah.

At minimum. I think that would be nice because

then maybe we can get everyone mingling together.

Yeah, I mean that would that would be something

cool to try asking questions and everyone and

that's the one thing I've noticed about the forums

Or at least the comment threads even though the

comments have been plentiful I don't there is

a whole lot of Intercommunication going on between

the fans No, I mean That's fine. Comments are

better. You know, some comments are better than

no comments. Just, you know, I can't wait till

we get to that point where we might have to actually

start moderating. Yeah. Oh, dreams. Yes, that

would be fun. So. But yeah, I want to go back

and definitely, definitely cool and definitely.

Hope that we'll be there again next year. So

should we answer the questions from last week

before we get into the listener feedback? Yeah,

I think that would be I think that would be a

better way to go is for us to answer the questions

and then or or we can read the questions, the

question, you know, answer ourselves and then

share the answers and then move on to the next

one. You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, I

think that works. Regarding tech questions, what

program do you, this is Sean Alteria, sorry.

Regarding tech questions, what program do you

use to record your podcast? You indicated it

was done through Skype. So does Skype itself

have a recorder? Also, is that, is, I'm sorry.

Is that what you use for editing? This may sound

like a dumb question, but this process. Wow,

what's the process like for getting a podcast

on iTunes? I've heard it's a huge pain. Now this

is going to be really interesting because we

have, Steve does everything on Windows and I

do everything on OS X, so we might have a nice

round picture here. Yes. Why don't you share

your Windows side of how you do it? Yeah. I started

out using Audacity. When we originally started

the network, we used Audacity to record the audio

on our own ends. Basically, we started recording

the shows much like this podcast is recorded.

But without a master track? Is that what was

happening? What happened was is somehow because

of Skype at the time, the audio got out of sync

and we didn't really do a countdown. Is it? Well,

I mean I guess I I've heard about that because

I've looked I've read articles about syncing

multiple tracks and that I don't think it's Skype

that does that it's it's like a it's if you have

um If the audio recording settings are different

in any way Yeah, it could have been that too

because I know TFG one and I had two different

setups as far as like the settings on Audacity

and he had a newer OS than I did So this version

was slightly different. So that could have been

part of it. It could have been the microphones.

I'm not really sure, because we had real cheap

ones back in the day. If you're doing that, you

have to make sure that everyone has identical

recording settings. But anyways, sorry, I didn't

mean to come in there. Oh, no, that's fine. But

then eventually, somebody told me to use CoolEdit

Pro, and I kind of looked at it, and I was like,

yeah, I'm not messing with this. And I obtained

Adobe Soundbooth CS5, which nowadays it's Adobe

Audition. Soundbooth doesn't exist. They had

the two different suites, and they just kind

of merged them. But I still use Soundbooth because

I prefer its interface. And I find that I can

do a lot of things in that program that I couldn't

do in Audacity. Whereas there's a few features

in Audacity I can't do in Soundboost. So it's

kind of a... I use them as I need them. Like

when I record audio from DVDs, I use Audacity

to do it. So that I can cut certain clips from

it and I use Soundboost to put together the master

track and assemble all the separate tracks into

the master and export it from there. Say okay,

so we covered your your recorder and your editing

tools What is your experience with we talked

about this behind the scenes a lot? What is your

experience with getting a podcast on iTunes because

I know yours is completely different than mine

Well, I guess we also missed another step in

the recording process the there's also two other

methods that you can do which Use Skype and they

integrate into Skype. There's one called Pamela

Call Recorder, which TFG1 Mike uses, which takes

everybody's tracks and puts it in one. However,

it does also take when somebody's connection

is jittery and cuts in and out. So it does capture

that as well. So you don't get the best audio

quality, but it does capture everyone into one

file. Same thing with the free mp3 recorder for

Skype, which does the same exact thing. It's

just free. But that's neither here nor there.

It just depends on your preferred method of editing.

As for iTunes, I used to hand code all of my

RSS feeds for the site up until earlier this

year. I eventually downloaded a program called

Blueberry's PowerPress, or PodPress, I can't

remember the name of it, it's one or the other,

it's changed names. Anyways, I can take a category

and convert it to a feed, an RSS feed, so that

when it's pulled, and so I didn't have to change

the links in iTunes that were already submitted,

I use FeedBurner. To synchronize because you

can link it to wherever the whether it's an RSS

file whether it's a category thing through the

the pod press It's kind of done a dynamic link

that's there so it stays with that RSS feed and

you submit them into iTunes from that feed Which

I use the the feed burner one which is through

Google now so that it pulls all the information,

it pulls the show art, it pulls the description,

it pulls the title and then you have to wait

the three to five days. Now on the off chance

that iTunes goofs it up they want you to rename

the feed or change the RSS link or something

like that because We're currently having problems

getting Beyond the Night, his Knight Rider podcast,

on iTunes. And we had a problem with several

other shows showing up for a while and then finally

got them on there. Either they'll tell you to

change the URL, which, yes, that is a huge pain.

Like we said, it's been a year since that show's

come out and it's still not in iTunes because

they can't get it right. And I can't really change

it, so... You either have to go through hell

emailing iTunes themselves under the podcast

directory to remove your stuff and then have

to resubmit it or get them to change it on their

end, which you could email them and not get an

email response back for like two weeks. So it's

a pain if it doesn't work right. But when it

does work, right you get the show right in iTunes

and it's no hassle after that Okay Whoa the powers

go out of your house No lights flicker. Oh, okay.

That's interesting. They they for those that

don't know I'm recording in my basement of my

townhouse that I'm running and In the background

which you cannot see which you would be able

to if we're on Google Hangouts I Have my washing

machine and my dryer in the background. Well,

there's only one plug in the basement One So

they ghetto rigged a wire up the wall through

the ceiling which is dangling by the lights right

there and then it's it it goes down into a pipe

and then they put a two -prong plug on the wall

where my computer's at So it's split between

and I have another like power strip over there

with a TV and a blu -ray player So I have that

and a deep freezer down here. So it's there's

a lot of crap plugged into that one plug yeah

so it's it's not fun so every now and again the

lights just go and then they they go back to

normal i think steve's trying to set himself

up to collect insurance money no no i'd rather

not lose all my shit and have to rebuy it um

okay so now that we've figured out the flickering

lights in steve's basement uh my experience with

podcasting um has all been from a Mac or from

OS X, which Apple makes it it. I don't know,

like I don't know if it's because Microsoft just

can't do it or or just different philosophies

between the two of them, but it's like if Apple

sets out to do something, they go like whole

hog with it because, you know, iTunes is freaking

beast. Oh, I know. I mean, I like iTunes. I've

used it since it, I used it when it hit Windows

in 2003, is when I first started using it. And

it's actually what got me to buy a Mac was iTunes.

But they go all in and everything is, all the

apps get tied together into suites and they make

it so easy to just do what you want to do. In

the beginning, like the first uh I did a show

called uh the lunch room or the lunch table whatever

it depended on what day of the week it was when

we recorded if I called it table or room um I

I would uh I would record with some of my friends

who also have Macs and we would use um we wouldn't

use Skype we would use the built -in um messenger

in OS 10 uh okay which is called iChat and with

the Free audio editing software that comes with

OS 10 or with a with a Mac. I'm sorry with a

Mac It's called GarageBand If you have an open

conference call going And you're open GarageBand

you hit record It assigns a track to every single

person that's talking So it's not it's not I'm

on one track and then everybody talking in the

thing is on another one altogether If I had four

people going, I would get four separate tracks.

Um, so then I could, I can cut audio out and

you don't have to worry about sinking or any

of that stuff. You just had to worry about whether

or not you're, you had good microphones and your

bandwidth, you know, didn't do the crackling

stuff. Um, unfortunately, uh, you know, those

people that, you know, had, I had the max, they

weren't able to always be there. So I started

having people over to my basement, um, to record

shows, uh, locally. Um, and we still captured

in GarageBand, um, cause you can do that too.

It's, it's actually a pretty good, um, pro, what

do they call it? Prosumer, not professional,

but not consumer grade. Um, it's like called

prosumer. Um, and they, it's actually really

good for like creating music and jingles and

stuff like that. And, um, there's actually a

template called podcast, like already in it.

and it sets you up with like a male audio track

female audio track gives you all the different

filters like I have like when I when I go and

mix our show I put the male it's a male no radio

noisy filter over top of yours nice which completely

cleans up the entire like cleans up the track

even more but and I apply that to mine too but

Sorry side note, you know you go through and

you start doing all this stuff and it's like

They show you how to if you do it as an AAC file

They allow you to add your chapter your chapter

markers your artwork that changes all this stuff

is done right in this app And when you're done

with it at the time my website I was doing my

website on another Mac app called I web Okay,

which You can use I could use I was using my

friends hosting service For free so my website

was set up on his stuff I was editing from this

app on my computer and I can make all the changes

behind the scenes locally on my computer and

all I had to do is click publish and Then it

would it would ping his server and update what

needed to be updated and then it would be done

But so when you're when I was editing in GarageBand

and got it all done I'd say export to iWeb And

then it would send, it would export the audio,

mix it down to MP3 and then send it over to iWeb.

iWeb would open up and it would say, you have

a new podcast episode. And it'd be like, what's

the name of the episode? What's the description?

Do you have any artwork for it? Blah, blah, blah.

I say, yes. Fill in all the information, make

it a post. There it is locally on my machine.

And then I'd say publish and it would go up.

They also had, that was like the easiest way

to submit a podcast to iTunes. Too right right

in the app. It said submit podcast iTunes And

you got to see you got to see your what artwork

was going to be used What tag was going to be

used all that stuff and boom? That's it Two days

later like from from the initial setup process

of getting the show on iTunes two days later.

It was there on iTunes For me to view and episodes

publishing that way even when I switched to Squarespace

Publishing it like for me anyways using with

iTunes, it was it was it showed up almost instantly.

It might it might not have shown up in there.

Like if somebody went searching for it, the newest

episode might not have shown up. But if you subscribe

to the podcast, you would be able to download

it as soon as I publish the show. Oh, wow. So

because the because you're technically when you

subscribe to a podcast and iTunes, it pings,

you're you're paying the RSS fee that you provide.

You're not paying the RSS fee that iTunes. It's

not checking iTunes for the episode. It's checking

the RSS feed So but GarageBand presented a fair

number of problems I added more people to the

show that didn't have max and they wanted to

use Skype GarageBand also had this weird thing

that I've never been able to work out I've never

been able to figure it out. It crashes after

30 minutes of recording like you can you can

record I can record a podcast for 30 minutes

and then it will I can stop it save the file

and then continue recording for another 30 minutes

I don't have to close it or restart or anything

but if it goes like 30 if it goes to like 35

minutes I get this error that says your file

is something something something it will be saved

as it is GarageBand needs to quit the only problem

is it says it's saving but it's really not So

in your in your only option is to force quit

the app So long story short My friend Did like

one of those app bundles that you see online

sometimes or it's like pay $50 get $500 in apps

One of the apps that he got in the bundle was

it was called wiretap studio and It allowed you

to capture up to two sources of audio independently

of each other in one app. So it's kind of like

your call recorder. Okay. The only difference

is, I don't know, the call recorder is tied only

to Skype, correct? Yeah. Okay. This is anything

on the computer. So like right now I'm looking

at it and it shows that I have my channel is

being recorded as the Nessie. It says Blue Nessie,

because that's the mic that I use. And then...

The other input is the Mac audio. So any audio

that comes out of my Mac is captured by this

app. It used to used to be able to do application

specific recording. So I could say just record

the Skype audio. And then you wouldn't get any

of my like notifications or like when I get a

tweet or my instant messaging stuff wouldn't

show up in the in the record. So that's been

broken and it's been broken for a little while

now. um so i've kind of learned to mute um or

turn off system sounds uh so basically i record

using wiretap studio and i think it's like a

30 no it's a 60 app if um you know if you don't

have a way of getting it for free um but i use

that i capture all the audio in there and then

i dump it in garage band because it's still a

great editing tool um so and then from there

i export it to itunes change the metadata Sometimes.

Yeah, and then we post it as far. I mean, so

yeah, I mean, I like GarageBand. I've messed

around with OS 10, like the professional stuff

like Logic. But I didn't, you know, GarageBand

is so dead simple. There is no reason not to.

There's no reason for me not to use it. Unfortunately,

it's aging and Apple has kind of dropped updating

it. So it's kind of it's one of the more ancient

apps on my computer. So it's on its way out,

sadly. So, yeah, it happens. I mean, I had a

really easy time getting stuff on iTunes, even

like using a feed burner. I did my first show

and she was funny because I did I did the lunchroom.

like the first version of lunchroom was done

and then something happened and I stopped doing

it but I wanted to I wanted to be I because I

set it up through I web I couldn't use I didn't

know how to change make iTunes change the RSS

feed that it looked at so I couldn't I couldn't

use feed burner on the first version version

of the lunchroom so sucks eventually my I stopped

producing the show for so long that the thing

actually disappeared from iTunes. Because shows,

shows delist from iTunes if there isn't any content

or any updates on them for like six months or

a year or something like that. Really? Yeah.

I don't think they do that anymore. I think they

do. I mean, maybe not, but they I had to resubmit

the lunchroom. To iTunes. I don't know if it

was when I did which version of the show it was

when I did it, but I resubmitted it using the

the feed burner feed And did it right the second

time Whatever it is what it is I Don't know.

I mean, it's not it's not hard. It's it's not

anything hard to do It depends for me. It just

comes down to how much work do you want to put

into it? Yeah, pretty much I mean at this point.

That's what it is. I mean luckily You know Steve

and I get to experiment with this show and And

spread it around to other things So yeah, we

get to play around a good question all encompassing

right there So the other question from last week

was the Geeky things we're OCD about or we do

You want to read some of these uh, yeah Some

of the CDs Danner puts I'm super OCD about my

comics if I miss an issue I will continue to

collect the series but not read them until I

find the missing issue That happens with me with

TV shows. I have my stuff all set up to automatically

download. But every once in a while, I'll come

across one of those episodes where I'll start

playing it and it'll be like the previously on

and I'll be like, what? What happened? I don't

remember any of this stuff. And then I'll go

and look and I'll realize that I'm missing an

episode. So then I'll not watch it until I have

a chance to download the previous one. Then I

don't really blame you and I don't really like

not knowing what's going on. I don't collect

comics out of order either I do If I miss one,

I just I don't worry about it. I just I buy one

anyway, right? But I more so buy because of the

title Sean Alteria says he says regarding the

OCD thing I always tend to buy those things they

have displayed right before checkout, especially

at grocery stores. I have no intention, no intention

to buy a candy bar, but I'm stuck in line long

enough. I'll walk away from the store with three.

Guess that's why they have those there. Hook,

line and sinker, buddy. Hook, line and sinker.

Yep, you've been had. I mean, yeah, I mean, I'm

susceptible to that. I mean, we talked about

that. I see an ad. One of the reasons I'm glad

I don't get to see ads is because I'm very susceptible

to them and I will have to go and find said product

or I mean, even if I don't buy it, I have to

go and touch it. I have to go find someplace

that has it. But I don't do I mean, maybe I'll

buy a candy bar every once in a great while at

the checkout line. But usually it's like I'm

thinking about it before I even get there. Yeah,

it's. kind of how I am usually if I stand in

line long enough to to even think about purchasing

something from there I've been in line for too

long and I'm already irritated yeah that's that's

kind of my opinion on that too but that's Walmart

at two in the morning with one register and yep

yep I know exactly what you're talking about

yep that's what that is um let's see King of

Kongs said he's OCD about video game collection.

He hates to see it out of order or not properly

put away. Plus, I don't like people using my

controllers with messy hands. Don't need their...

their... ...rudge ruining my systems. Wow. Um...

I've never had a problem with... my controllers.

I mean, yeah, you break one or you throw it across

the room. We're going to have words. But I've

never had problems. I mean, I know you had something

to say about this, right? Like you have your

own controller. You don't let anyone. So so let

me get this straight. If you're playing a game

where you're going to pass the controller around,

do you not play with your controller like so

that you pass? For instance my my gamecube well

my gamecube controller. I actually saved it when

I sold my gamecube I Gave away the other controller

that had like a little bit stickier button Okay,

whereas the one that actually came with the the

gamecube I originally this I Had two game cubes

over the course of the time that it was out one

of them. I bought used because The original one

I bought brand -new in the store my parents still

had at their house and because Kind of a offshoot

tangent The only way I was the the first game

system I was allowed to own was the GameCube

because we had computers growing up and the only

reason that I had the GameCube is because I went

out with my own money from my job bought it and

the only reason they let me have it was because

The excuse I used which was It was a family gift

so that everybody could play it and when I moved

out they wouldn't let it come with me because

of that so I bought another one when I moved

out and I sold that set and then eventually my

brother wanted an Xbox and he was gonna sell

it and my mom told him no you're gonna give it

back to your brother so I ended up with my original

Gamecube and Gamecube controller which he didn't

use because he had a wireless one so I still

have that GameCube controller, so I use it on

my Wii when I play Smash Brothers. And I will

not let anybody use that controller, they have

to use the GameStop controllers. And because

I like the feel of the original controller better,

same thing with my Xbox 360 controller. I have

the wireless one, and everybody else has to use

the plug -in ones. There you go. Because I'm

an ass like that, I just, I like the feel of

it and I want... to sit on the couch right so

i think that okay if you want to get your your

pen ready for i have a question that i'd like

because you brought up the whole like you bought

it under the guise of a family thing yes and

that reminds me of how i got my parents to get

broadband internet um how'd you manage that well

i Help me figure out how to phrase the question

when I'm done with this story, but I I was it

was my first My first semester home from college

I just gone to college and they obviously colleges

have high -speed internet in the dorms and Before

I'd gone to college all I had was dial -up internet

through AOL The broadband internet in college

completely changed my life. Being able to stay

signed online to aim like all the time and getting

messages from your friends while you're out,

you know, coming back. But I came home from from

college and my parents still had dial -up internet.

And I was just going to be back. I was just going

to be back for winter break. I was like, I'm

not doing this. There's no I'm not I can't do

this. So I got my mom. I saw I sold the idea

to my mom. to get it for the family as a Christmas

gift. And I got my dad on board because, you

know, my dad pays the bills and he has to, you

know, kind of have the final say. I got my mom

to buy the hardware, but I sold my dad on high

speed internet because he was really big into

eBay. And I used the, now you'll be able to snipe

people right at the last second. And yeah, so

I wanted it for myself. um because i didn't want

to deal with for the two weeks i was home for

christmas break i didn't want to deal with dial

-up internet um but i got uh i got my parents

on board with it um so that i would with broadband

so i wouldn't have to deal with dial -up i i

guess the question is have you ever manipulated

your parents uh or hidden like or disguised something

geeky um to your parents as a family thing like

like Steve did with the GameCube or you know

I my need for like broadband internet I snuck

that in as a family thing but really I just wanted

it in the house um share those stories with us

yeah that's that's definitely something I'm interested

in hearing and and how you pulled it off if you

did it manipulative manipulative geeks yeah sounds

weird um Yeah, like I said, I don't have a problem

with people playing with my controllers Sticky

buttons though. That's what I do take good care

of my controllers But what's really weird is

my PlayStation 3 controllers these shoulder buttons

the ones that are like the triggers They if I

don't play with it for like 30 minutes, they

stick they stick and I can't figure it out But

once I start using them again, they they're fine

But I put it down for 30 minutes and it sticks

again. So it goes Like the first time you pull

the trigger. It's like snap But the other PlayStation

3 controller I have doesn't do that. Just, the

only reason I don't use that one is because my

cats chewed the nubs off the analog sticks. Oh

nice. Jerks. Connor Murphy says, I agree with

King of Kongs about controllers. I treat them

better than most people treat their kids. I also

can't stand any type of smudges on my phone.

Spend so much time making sure it is as clear

as can be. The phone, I mean, I just got the

5S and I'm very paranoid with it because the

screen is so clean. Every once in a while, I

look at it and I've got like a fingerprint smudge

on it, but it looks like it's a scratch. And

I'm like, oh, no, not already. But then I wipe

it off on my shirt and it's fine. I don't care

about the smudges on my phone, man. I care about

them unlike I care about smudges on screens that

are not supposed to be touched. Yeah, like my

computer. I hate touching my computer screen.

I hate touching my TV screen like I I will. I

will avoid dusting my TV for as long as possible

over fear of putting a streak in it. My like,

I don't say I blame you. So. The screens that

are supposed to be touched. I'm kind of okay

with it What I don't like is talking on the new

smartphones that have the giant displays and

yet You've got it pressed up against your face

and you pull it away from your face when you're

done And it's just got your face grease all over

the front of it. Yeah that I hate I Kind of agree

with you there. I yeah that I I hate that more

than I hate my fingerprints on the screen so

That bothers me as well Let's see what else we

got here We have There's a really lengthy conversation

between me and other people about TVs Dan is

OCD about movies and he says hold for surprise

in a number of ways For one when it comes to

my blu -ray collection has to be stored properly

alphabetized and I even used to used to arrange

by genre But I've gotten away from that now.

I just split up TV from movies. He says, I can't

stand it when stores combine them both. I tend

to stay away from stores that don't properly

display their movies, and ones that have things

like a specific criterion section garner my attention

more. Okay, I do this. Actually, my movies are

alphabetized. But sometimes when I'm alphabetizing

them, I'll put like franchise stuff next to each

other. Like, for instance, Batman Begins and

The Dark Knight are next to each other. Yeah.

Because they're Batman movies. So like stuff

like that goes together. And then and then I

break it down into like my anthology collections

like I have. You know, like I have the three

pack of Pirates of the Caribbean. I have the

aliens movies, the Back to the Future, the Jurassic

Park, like they're they're alphabetized, but

they're on a separate shelf. And then I have

a Pixar shelf. Which is, you know, obviously,

like, as the name implies, is just a Pixar movie,

Pixar movies. Makes sense. His the you know,

the the presentation of movies and stores, I.

Totally agree with that. I hate I used to love

going to Best Buy and looking through the movie

section Because I could just go to the blu -ray

section and find the one that I want because

I haven't bought in a DVD since 2007 when I got

my ps3 I just stopped completely But now at the

local Best Buy here they decided to it they didn't

release I don't they didn't save space It's still

the same amount of shelves, but they decided

to mash the DVDs in with the blu -rays Know that's

so annoying and I hate it because you go and

you look and they've got like the sale price

You're like, oh, it's ten dollars and it's like

the DVD. It's like, oh It's such a letdown when

you notice it too. I hate I just I don't like

the way that it's so weird I don't know why they

decided to do that because it's the same amount

of shelving space I just maybe they're trying

to like fool people into buying DVDs over blu

-rays or something. I don't I don't really get

the whole point of that. It just makes me not

want to go over there because that section looks

so ugly. I have an idea. It's because it's Best

Buy. I like Best Buy. I love Best Buy, but I

just anymore. It seems like they're kind of a

outdated thing. I think I like the side side

track here. I like the way that they seem to

be going for this tech mall approach. Where they

have like the smaller stores inside of their

big box like the Microsoft store the Apple store

the Samsung Yeah, I mean these I I kind of agree

with it there I really like what they're doing

with that that kind of makes a little bit more

sense at least for that part of it The only thing

I hate about Best Buy is that they don't they

don't help you with anything in there I mean

yeah, they'll help you find someone's on the

shelf, but if you like We're going to talk about

TVs at the end of this episode, but if you go

there trying to get help on a TV, they will not

help you. I know. They're horrible with that.

I mean, and they also kind of classify you based

on your age. I just I when I was first when I

was first doing my research and I started researching

HD TVs, I went it was 2006 and I went to Best

Buy. to see what they had because I liked Best

Buy, I liked them better than Circuit City. But

then I went over to Circuit City and was playing

around over there and looked at some of their

stuff. And I went, I found out that, you know,

that's when I found out that all store models

are like blown out and whatever. And you should

ask to actually see HD footage plugged into a

TV in the store and that you should ask to see

the remote. And so I went to Best Buy. I said,

Hey, Can I hook up an HD source box to this TV

and can I play with the remote? And the guy was

like no I Was like, okay, whatever so by your

TV. Well, yeah, I went across the street and

I went over to Circuit City I said, hey, can

I hook up an HD source box and Play with the

remote for some TVs and they're like, yes you

can In fact, we have an HD source box and you

can take it to the TVs you can hook it up and

you can play the stuff nice, so And on top of

that, they also let me bring in DVDs from home.

Like I didn't have Blu -rays yet. They let me

bring in DVDs from home and play them on the

TV just so I could see how my stuff looked on

their TVs. However, there is a two step process

when you're researching TVs. One is to find the

one that you like, and then the other one is

to find the best deal on that TV. I went back

to Best Buy because they had they were offering

the TV for like, I think it was like fifteen

hundred dollars for the TV. and they were offering

it with a $500 gift card. I was like, okay, I

can use a $500 gift card to Best Buy, not a problem.

But just to give Circuit City the benefit of

the doubt, I went back to them. I said, listen,

they're offering this TV for $1 ,500 and a $500

Best Buy gift card. I was like, can you guys

match that? And they just flat out said no. So

I went back over to Best Buy and I bought it

from them. I mean, the Best Buy got the sale,

but they didn't help me do any of the research.

It's kind of like, why help someone do the research

and why waste your time helping me do stuff and

then not actually try and get my sale? Yeah,

that seems kind of weak. It's like when you go

to buy a car, they actually try and get you to

buy it there at that moment. Yeah. Well, now...

We can talk about this later. We can talk about

at the end of the episode. Um Well, yeah, best

buy it I like actually going in there looking

at all the stuff and touching it all now they

have a There's a thing right when you walk in

the door now on the right hand side by the mobile

section Yeah, it has all these little toys that

I want to play with or that I want to own All

those little tech devices that are sitting there

at the table. Yeah They they have like I've been

looking at this Nest thermostat for my house

for like the last two years. It's just really

expensive, but it's really cool. I can't sell

it to my wife yet because one, we don't have

air conditioning and two, we don't have it. We

don't have that big of a house. The other thing

I've been looking into is like this Pebble smartwatch,

which sends all your text messages and stuff

to your tool to the watch on your wrist so you

don't have to like. Look at your phone. Yeah,

that's really cool. I like I have a Fitbit fitness

tracker that I really enjoy Now all those things

are like right there when I walk in the door

I'm like nice. What are you guys doing to me?

Like this is just I want to buy everything right

here It's and I it's like the checkout lane it

is It is. It's like it's but it's like when you're

walking in the store and it's like, man, I want

that Pebble watch so bad. Or it's like, man,

you put another Fitbit right here and I already

have one on my wrist. But no, it's it's just

I like going there because I like playing with

all the stuff and we still buy games. They have

a horrendous preorder system there. I can't ever

whatever. I don't I haven't liked their like

their DVD section anyway, since they Remodeled

it moved it where the music CDs used to be yeah,

I don't know I we can talk about this the old

location. Yeah Later, that's another day. Yeah,

but but yeah um Dan yeah, he mentions also in

his thing that uh He says for example I will

never watch a movie for the first time and basic

cable TV edits butcher movies so bad it can forever

ruin your experience each He says, each year

I also have a goal to watch at least 100 films

that have come out in that given year. In 2012,

I watched about 170 and counting. This year,

I'm up to 60 and that should double within the

next few months. Not to mention I have to log

all my movies in letterboxed and keep an Excel

spreadsheet with every movie I saw and rate each

film. In eight different categories. He says

my spreadsheet is rather crazy includes top 10

lists movies I need to see and my overall top

100 movie lists, which I rework at the end of

each year It's interesting to see how much my

taste in movies has changed from year to year

Well interesting for him at least Okay, second

part of that Wow I used to collect ticket stubs

I used to I collected ticket stubs until I moved

back from Grand Rapids and started going to the

theater that I actually work at and they printed

out on that ugly cheap ass receipt paper. Oh,

I know. And it's not even real real ticket stubs

anymore. Yeah. Like you can't save it because

if they get too hot that the ink disappears.

That's like the paper turns black. Yeah. So bad.

I hate it. So I stopped. But for a while I had

a keychain that had the ticket stubs to my favorite

movies on it. Nice. I totally agree with the

basic cable stuff, watching movies on TV. That

can ruin a movie. For me though, some of this

stuff, I take it one step further. Some people

think that Netflix is great for watching movies.

There are movies that have shown up on Netflix.

I'm like, I will not watch that on Netflix. I

will go and buy that on Blu -ray. Yeah. And so,

like, even though they're on there and I don't

own them, I still won't watch them. Like, and

it's because I don't want I want to get it the

best possible way that I can. I don't want anything

to interfere with it. So, yeah, I mean, I do

agree. They do butcher it. Obviously, that's

a thing. Some places will present a wide -screen

movie as full screen which chops off like you

know a nice portion of the picture on the sides

and Man, it's just a travesty when they do that

Not to mention you get the awkward Edits for

language Yeah one of the the namely ones die

hard to where it goes Yippee -ki -yay, and then

he goes mr. Falcon What's not always like I've

I've seen that oh wow But yeah Yeah, that's a

lot of movies. I think I have a collection of

like 1 ,400 Wait you have 1 ,400 movies. Yeah

Wow that I own but uh I've kind of gotten sparing

with it because I would say about good 300 of

them we don't really even watch or we haven't

watched since we bought it oh Man, I buy movies

and don't watch them So we're very sparing on

them now. I still have to get star trek into

darkness even though. It's a travesty of a film

Despite what two people of the GCR and staff

seem to think that it's you know. Oh, it's great

That's yeah, I just don't think it's as good

as it could have been It's a good sci -fi movie,

but it's a terrible Trek film Sure That's that's

how I equate it and I have plenty of backup on

that well I can agree with that because I even

I think it made Starfleet look like the bad guys

Well, there's no and this is another tangent,

but it's This is my pet peeve there the science

in this is so off kilter that it At least in

regular Star Trek it adds some kind of a mystery

and something to Starfleet and The science is

at least plausible whereas the Abrams verse throws

it out the window and replaces it with lens flare

and What can we pull from? Canon you know the

original Canon that's nostalgic But make it have

like an opposite or inverted version in this

film. And then you get people like, and I'm going

to throw you under the bus, Blanchard, but he

comments on his review of Star Trek the other

day on Facebook, to which it blew out of proportion.

He was making a generalized comment saying, I

am not a diehard Trekkie, so don't crucify me.

He says that he believes that it's darkness is

a great film and says that He liked the performance

of Zachary Quinto's con Better than William Shatner's

and thinks that wrath of Khan is not a very good

movie to which I Tagged on in it so that We could

gang up on him. My mom jumped in on it and then

various other geeks from all over the place ganged

up on him saying that I saw that I just stayed

out of it like I saw like the I saw the I say

this not as a Trek fan and I was like and scroll

past yeah because I yeah I took offense that

because and then Dan kind of jumped in there

saying you know well how did you see it and I

told him you know you have to see space seed

then see wrath of Khan then watch into darkness

and you'll understand whereas into darkness,

there's clearly not enough time for them to have

forged the long lasting friendships that they

had by the time that that film rolled around.

Yeah, in the 80s. So you don't have all that

past of history between the characters to cause

certain things to happen. So I yeah, that's I

have that's a whole nother topic, which that'll

be in an MWIRE soon enough and I'll get to argue

my point with everybody, but. Getting back to

his list, yeah, I have a Word document with all

of my stuff listed. There was an app I had, Delicious

Library. I don't know if it's available on Windows,

but it allows you to catalog all of your stuff,

and then it also allows you to track who you're

loaning it out to. I don't know if I have that

anymore, but I used it for a little bit. It was

pretty neat. Any more OCD? I don't think we have

any more OCD. I think Some of it's getting into

some of the TV show stuff and and TV stuff the

only other thing that's not related to those

is Superfilm fan 98 says Freddy Savage, and I

aren't the same person lol not sure where that

came from I did recommend your site to him So

not sure if that caused the mix -up we both frequent

many of the same podcast message boards So that's

probably where I screwed it up. Well, you know

what? Either way, I'm glad that I I'm sorry.

We mix it up Glad there's two of you and not

one of you. Yes so otherwise that would be awkward

because No, it would be one less listener. It

would be awkward for me. Oh I'm talking to two

people, but it's the same person Sounds like

a personal problem Steve. Yes so Do we have some

actual, like, geeky news we can hit on before

we... Yes. Uh, the geeky news is, uh, I put,

re -tweeted this earlier in the week, uh, Lucasfilm

shows off... Future of filmmaking and it shows

scenes getting rendered out in real time removing

the need for post -production Did you watch that

video? No It's this week they had I watched it

and I was quite amazed they took They had a giant

green screen room and they had these actors rigged

up with these motion sensor things so they could

Rig it into the computer right so they can animate

them and They had an r2d2 robot kind of rolling

around on the ground But they were changing and

then it shows it on the screen They were changing

they turned the one guy and he walked like c3po

and they put the c3po skin right over his entire

body in CG, but it looked just like the the episode

4 kind of Graphics to it. I mean also was real.

Okay. It was fully rendered all right, and it

was fully rendered and they had another guy as

a stormtrooper going with this like big -ass

gun and it looked like you know, just a regular

stormtrooper and They changed the backgrounds

that changed the the the angle of the Sun and

the it would affect the lighting on everything

and it Just the way that it all actively worked

together It was very mind boggling and interesting

to see. See, this is interesting to me. But at

the same time, it scares me for episode seven.

Yeah, the fact that they just did this, but.

I mean, the stuff I've heard about episode seven

is that Abrams is looking into shooting it like

it was shot like. Like two years after return

of the Jedi wrapped. Yeah, and they're trying

to use as many Supposedly they're trying to use

as many practical effects as possible and actually

building sets. So this right here, I don't know

Scares me. I I think this will apply to certain

characters where it would be too expensive to

build the thing like such as they could do job

of the hut this way they could do Characters

like that Or where it's something where you can't

physically fit somebody inside it, but you can

kind of remorph around them. They might even

use it, I think they used the same technology

when they did Gollum. That wasn't in real time

though. No, not in real time, but it's still

the same kind of technology that they used to

some degree. Oh yeah, it's the same technology

they used. They use it in video games. They use

it in they use it in Avatar. They use it in,

you know, they use it even in episodes one, two

and three. It's just a motion capture suit. Yeah.

But seeing it immediately. I mean, I'm not sure

how much I'd like that they're removing the need

for post -production because that's still. I

can see the need for some of it, but some of

it not. I mean, it's kind of a. Double -edged

sword there. Oh there will still be post -production

because you'll have to do you'll have to edit

You'll have to do color timing Extra that's like

particle effects like that that you don't all

this really means that you can see your shot

But then impose the post -production will become

how do we make it that much cooler? Yeah, but

interesting it just came to me Use this in a

Star Wars TV show Yeah, that would make it very

cost -effective because you don't have to I Mean

if it I mean it I think it would work better

if you intentionally made it like a CG Star Wars

cartoon like Slightly more realistic looking

than the Clone Wars Okay, but everything in it

being CG like even like the humans were were

CG'd, but they were played by real people It's

just that their costume was added You know with

special effects Yeah, that we don't have some

money in other areas. I mean yeah, you don't

have a set budget You don't really have a costume

budget. You know they get to design all these

crazy looking outfits I think that'd be really

interesting to see that applied to a TV show

I Would like to see them actually use that if

they did Star Trek back to the small screen because

if you think about how many different worlds

and and ship builds and Locations on the ships

and all that other stuff. I think that they could

really kind of pull that off, right? That that

would be something interesting to see We don't

just cover TV and movies. We cover some tech

stuff. Yeah Yeah, I'll put these in the show

we're gonna talk about a movie. Yes But this

one's 20 years in the waiting Don't know if it's

a good thing or a bad thing and that remains

to be seen hold up Were you waiting for this

you said 20 years in the waiting were you waiting

for this movie? No, I wasn't personally waiting

for I was wondering when it was actually gonna

happen because they've been talking about it

for six years, right Like a lot of other movies

that they've been talking about for six seven

years it says we're back and it says dumb 2 and

it shows Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels. Jeff Daniels,

that's what it was. As Larry and Lloyd in Dumb

and Dumber and they're reprising their rules,

playing them just 20 years older. Which is neat,

I think. I don't really know that I had the need

to know what they're doing 20 years later, but...

The picture was interesting because Jim Carrey

looks pretty much like he did Yeah, and Jeff

Daniels looks a little bit older a little bit

more ragged I mean they both look old don't get

me wrong. They both look older, but Carrie looks

more like his character than Geez yes Jeff Daniels

does yeah, but I mean it's I I While I did love

the film back in the day. It's one of those films

that Still enjoy it when I watch it, but it's

I can't watch it more than once a year because

it just I don't know something about it But I

still like it. It's it I'm glad that it's those

two reprising their roles and not that crap -tastic

Prequel that they've made dumb and dumber Yeah

dumber and they use two guys that were supposed

to be the younger versions of them and it just

it was just terrible It was unneeded. I mean

technically this is unneeded too, but I'm it's

kind of interesting to see Jim Carrey going back

to his roots Yes late in the game I'm This will

be the first time he's done a sequel to a movie

since Jim since he did ace Ventura to Okay Yeah,

and that's his other movies had sequels. They've

just been not with him Yeah, they've like the

mask the son of the mask it was somebody else

and then same thing with Bruce Almighty there

was Evan Almighty and I mean, he's done a lot

of good films in that 20 years and a lot of bad

films in that 20 years, but I Kind of excited

to see him come back to an old role. Yeah again,

I would like to see him do another Ace Ventura

movie You're just because just because I love

the Ace Ventura films and I didn't care as much

for Ace Ventura Jr. because it was supposed to

be like, oh it's Ace Ventura's kid he's lost

in the Bermuda Triangle and then they had another

guy with the same haircut that was supposed to

be the grandpa and it was just, it was stupid

it was like a kid version of it but I thought

it was really dumb but I would like to see him

go back to that It'd be interesting to see if

he did another Bruce Almighty or something or,

you know... Something close to one of his older

films. I think Bruce Almighty was set. I think

so too. That's why they went Evan Almighty. I

would have liked to have seen Bruce Almighty

2 than Evan Almighty. Oh, I agree. Bruce Almighty,

I think, was just... It was a one -shot but then

again, I can't I hate doing that right? I haven't

seen Evan Almighty I've seen it It's not bad

This is another mighty. No, it's not Bruce Almighty

It's yeah, his character is not even mentioned

in that film pretty much So it was kind of like

a sequel but not But yeah, I'm kind of excited

to see dumb and dumb or two coming down the pipeline.

Alright, what's the next one? Are those like

the same story? Yeah, it's the same story. It

was another image. It was showing them reading

a child's book on the Today Show. This one had

me a little bit peeved. Batman's Commissioner

Gordon is getting his own origin TV series. I

am excited that it's on Fox and not the CW. I'm

too, which means it'll be an actual adult program.

And it'll be canceled in six episodes. I agree,

too, because the problem with this is not that

Commissioner Gordon's not interesting. But trying

to base something in the Batman universe and

not having Batman is almost setting it up for

a fail. Catwoman says hi. No, no, no, no, no.

Catwoman. Halle Berry. Catwoman says hi. Oh,

yeah. Yep. Yep. I'm like, what are you talking

about? You're talking about my cat. I'm like,

oh. But yeah, pretty much anything without a

Batman character in it is going to in the Gotham

and in that universe is going to fail. It's going

to be another cop show. There's not really going

to be anything special to it other than the main

character is going to be Commissioner Gordon.

Well, Gordon, I get the people are kind of some

people are over the procedural cop stuff, but

I've seen like there are some that are kind of

interesting to me. I mean, because let's not

forget, wasn't was he always a straight shooter

like he was a detective or a lieutenant at one

time? When he discovered I mean it's some point

if you're gonna do an origin story there's at

some point where he's a lieutenant and he sees

young Bruce Wayne and Kind of helps him at that

one of those points, but then he have you seen

year one? Yeah Batman year on the animated film

mm -hmm. Yeah, he does get into some kind of

like kind of He you know the police department

shady and all this stuff, so he's kind of walking

that line I think that could be interesting to

see. I mean, I think there's things that you

can do with the characters. I'm not going to

entirely write this off because it's Commissioner

Gordon. Kind of a different thing here, right?

You still need to watch this so we can talk about

it. But the Sherlock BBC series is amazing. Based

off of the success of that show, and obviously

the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock movie, CBS decided

to do their own take on a modern day Sherlock.

They did elementary. And I originally wrote the

show off. I thought it's going to be, not only

is it like a modern day Holmes, like it is with

the BBC Sherlock, it's set in New York. It's

still a British guy. He just Sherlock in this

case has come to New York to Remove himself from

like the drug scene like he's recovering addict

So he's come to he's come to New York and Watson

is played by a female Yeah, Lucy Lou And I I

wrote it off like man This is gonna be dumb because

one of the reasons Sherlock is so good is because

the seasons are three episodes long And we've

talked about this, you know, sometimes we're

not a big fan of the 22 episode seasons because

how do you make them interesting? I originally

wrote Elementary Off and I watched the first

episode and it went to my train wreck pile and

I kept watching it, kept watching it, kept watching

it and it actually got better. It's not, it is

nowhere near the Sherlock. The BBC's Sherlock.

But it is a it is a nice appetizer. While Sherlock

is not on the air. Because when it is, it's only

on the air for three times and it's been off

the air for almost two years now. Season three

actually starts this fall or like in January.

And season two was like January of 2012. So.

but yeah i mean it was good so i'm not and it

is it is a police procedural but it's police

procedural with sherlock holmes um so i guess

it's kind of like what version of commissioner

gordon are we gonna see we're probably gonna

see a version of commissioner gordon no one's

ever seen before um my only question is like

which commissioner gordon are you gonna like

go for i mean does it because people are gonna

kind of wonder which one is he tied to does it

end up being like gary oldman's commissioner

gordon or is it like the commissioner gordon

from maybe it's the commissioner gordon from

the 66th batman just i don't know or maybe it's

a or maybe it's one for the new film yeah see

that right there i think is a nice little transition

we can do to talk about agents of shield yes

do you have anything more you want to say about

commissioner gordon as batman um Only that I

think all these superhero shows are kind of jumping

the shark and it's kind of like, I think there's

too many of them. I think, well, not that there's

too many of them. I think that it's because they're

doing it on more obscure characters or characters

that nobody really gives a rip about or they're

trying to create a spinoff series too much. Well,

I get that. I like the hero shows. that aren't

that are like like original ideas. I like the

ones that are original ideas. I don't like the

ones like like those Batman, the Commissioner

Gordon series. That one, I will watch it. Sure.

I look in on just about everything. And I but

I like I liked Alphas. It ran for two seasons.

I enjoyed Alphas. It's actually tied into Warehouse

13 and Warehouse 13 is also tied into Eureka.

They all exist in the same world. I... Well,

I liked Alpha's. I enjoyed... I enjoyed Zachary

Quinto on Heroes. I did too, until they crapped

the show out. Yeah, but anytime he was on scene...

That was a train wreck show for me, but anytime

he was on scene, I'd stop doing... Whatever I

was doing, I'd stop and watch it. Watch his scene

until he left and then I'd go back to doing whatever

else I was doing like I just I just want to know

what his character was doing Because he was so

good in it, but I like and I'm interested to

watch tomorrow people on CW Because it's another

superhero show like an original idea for a superhero

show Because it's I feel like those types of

shows they can do new things they can expand

on an idea that can go places And they get to

tell new stories versus a lot of superhero shows

that are based off of comic book properties tend

to retell the story over from the comics over

with like subtle twists on them. I feel like

there's more room for potential with the original

stuff. That's not saying like Arrow is bad. I

actually enjoyed how Arrow wrapped up. I'm looking

forward to season two and I There are moments

in Smallville that I actually enjoyed, but let's...

You want to hit on Agents of Shield? Sure. I

actually watched this last night on my On Demand.

I've seen different types of ratings from people

on Twitter commenting that... it's it's great

blah blah blah oh it's boring blah blah blah

and then then the oh and then this one I'm guilty

of what the hell is going on with agent Colson

and you know after that subtle line that Maria

Hill drops but I think it has potential I need

to give it a shot I feel like in Movery Vault,

Dan and I had a conversation on Twitter so everyone

can actually look at it if they want to. I feel

like Agents of S .H .I .E .L .D. is gonna be...

I'm geeking out here, okay? I'm not geeking out

because it's made by Joss Whedon or because it's

an Avengers TV show or anything like that. I'm

geeking out at the idea of what this show could

be in my head. Okay, and Marvel and Disney have

tons of money right now and I just imagine there's

some kind of Revenue sharing going on like kind

of like how like one movie will fund another

movie Yeah, you know like the profits and the

kind of gets all spread around so more movies

can get made and stuff like that and I feel like

For better or worse the Avengers or agents of

shield is gonna benefit from that Like, even

if the ratings don't really support the show,

the show will still stay on the air because they're

getting so much money from the movies. Yeah,

however, however. However, I'm geeking out at

the at the idea that this may be a different

beast of a TV show altogether. I envision it

kind of like the you can go to the comic book

store and you can buy the comic tie in to the

Marvel movies. Okay, I envision agents of shield

is going to be the live -action equivalent of

that which will be available to a wider audience

of people I also think that a season finale of

agents of shield could dovetail right into like

film. Yes, like I I honestly if if agents of

shield does not dovetail into Captain America

2 You have failed Like yeah And it I think that

it should I Think there needs to be a couple

like maybe a story arc or something in agents

of shield that explains What was missing from

Iron Man 3 yeah I think the show could be an

excellent way to justify some things that may

or may not be in movies, to make more sense of

things, to inform viewers of things that they

might not have picked up on. And I also think

it provides a more human element, like an everyman

human element that the rest of the Marvel Universe,

cinematically, is missing. Yeah. Because you

don't get to see how these events affect regular

people. You just get to see how they affect those

people. Yeah. But imagine this and this is just

me geeking out. Got nothing going on here. But

I imagine Agents of S .H .I .E .L .D. could be

kind of like the geek version of the Super Bowl.

12 million people tuned in to watch the season

premiere. And that's that's a look in audience,

right? That's people just tuning in to see what

it's all about. I don't really think episode

two is going to have 12 million viewers. If it

does, that's amazing. And if it can maintain

even like half of that, like imagine they could

they could like raise the ad value, like the

value, the buy in of the ads that play during

the Avengers or that play during Agents of Shield,

which in turn gives them more money. And I feel

like. What are you gonna do with all that money?

What are you gonna do with it? You work it out

somehow. You go and you find a way to get Robert

Downey Jr., or Chris Evans, or Chris Hemsworth,

or Scarlett Johansson, or anyone that's been

on the silver screen, you get them to do a walk

-on in your season finale. Just a walk -on. It

could be like 30 seconds. Just a walk -on they

could even like appear just on it like a computer

screen or something But it's like like I just

feel like that would be like huge and you could

like they could tease it and be like oh Iron

Man's gonna be in the show what and people will

tune in then you end up jacking up your price

of your ad buys and You just end up making more

money and Dan and I had a company in the conversation

Dan and I had it's like He brought up the fact

that, you know, the actors are all asking for

more money now and they don't want to do anything

that they're not contracted to do. And all this

other all this other stuff. And I just brought

up to him. I reminded him five years ago, no

one thought the Avengers was a possibility. And

yet here lies. Yes. And we're in it now. We're

post Avengers now. And I feel like with the amount

of money. Yes, they want more of it. But I just

feel like the amount of money these things are.

making and a walk -on role is such a small thing.

I mean, yeah, you can tease like, oh, Thor was

just here or, you know, oh, I just got off the

phone with Tony Stark. You can only do that for

so long. You can only play that for so long before

someone actually has to show up. Eventually.

Like I said, even if it's just a walk -on cameo,

I mean, yeah, Maria Hill has already gone from

the silver screen down to the TV show. So there's

that link there other than Colson. But that's

my initial thoughts on it, and I'm not a fan

of Joss Whedon. I'm not. The show did not blow

my socks off, and I'm not a fan of the Avengers,

but I will. Like I told you on Twitter, I think

I need to find a third category to place Agents

of Shield in, because it's not a must watch for

me, but it's not a train wreck for me either.

I think it's one of those things I just got to

play it by ear and kind of see what happens.

I think the second episode is going to determine

a lot for me. What is your opinion of Agent Coulson?

This one I'm kind of stuck because as people

know I'm more of a DC fan than a Marvel fan.

So I really don't know all that much about Marvel

other than once in the films. So going on that...

Would probably say that more than likely it's

not the real agent Colson I can only be only

because the line and this is spoilers for anybody

that I Mean you obviously know that Colson died

in Avengers, but this is a spoiler as far as

the show is concerned Maria Hill did the doctor

asks Colson about something you know asking him

if he's all right or whatever and he's like yeah

blah blah blah and then he goes off and then

uh the doctor leans over to maria hill and says

he really doesn't know does he and she says he

must never know and then that's the only lines

they leave so it makes you wonder what really

is going on because he seems to think he was

on a six -week hiatus in tahiti after the avengers

event and thinks he blacked out for 40 seconds.

Yep. And. In all reality, more than likely, he

died. And she's like some high actual level seven.

And knows what actually happens, you know, next

to because obviously she's second to Nick Fury

kind of. Mm hmm. And then he was always kind

of third anyway. um but I'm thinking he's one

of those the the model android the like model

decoys yeah the life model decoy I'm pretty sure

that's probably what he is but I I've also heard

people saying that he's probably the vision which

I wouldn't know either way it just depends on

what Josh Sweden decides to do with him but I

also can see that if he is a life model decoy,

that there are more than one of him, so I can

see them possibly having one, you know, at some

point he'll find out that he's a decoy, and not

the real Coulson. And they could use him as cannon

fodder. I hate that. I can see them doing it

though. But I can also see him accidentally discovering

the fact that he's an Android because of either

a blast that happens to him or the fact that

he has like some of the Android super strength

and healing and Aspects of that and wondering

what happened to him You know, I'm gonna throw

this out there I said this to you on Twitter

and we had a little exchange about how that can't

be it because somebody was already cast I just

want to put this out there because Things have

been misled before you know people have said

they're done Star Trek into darkness Better coverbatch

has said over and over again. He was not Khan

not Khan. They always said he's not Khan I'm

just gonna go and just put myself out there and

because I like agent Colson so much I Wonder

if he's not Ultron or like some derivative of

what becomes Ultron well Isn't and I was reading

this in some research earlier because I know

that the guy that's in the blacklist James playing

Ultron. Yeah, he's playing Ultron. I'm wondering

because it does say that Ultron creates the vision.

And some continuities. Yes, well, they're kind

of like one in the same because they're both

androids, I think. And what it is, it all spins

out of Hank Pym creating like a jailer, like

a guard for a prison. That's what Ultron is supposed

to be, but then he creates a vision to oversee

Ultron. It's so messed up. It's convoluted. I

just want to put it out there because I would

like to see him back on the silver screen, and

I think I can get hate, but you know what? You

don't know that I'm wrong. Until you know that

I'm wrong, you're just hating me for having an

opinion. But I would like to, you know, what

if he is? What if he is Ultron? I mean, they've

cast people before and said that they're not

that person. And I'm actually more, it's actually

more interesting that Marvel's actually come

out and said, yeah, this is who he is. It's like,

who does that? Like, yeah. Why reveal something

that early? But then that's the fan boy in me

wanting. Colson to come back to the big screen

because especially after watching agents of sealed

he was sorely missed from Iron Man 3 I know he

would have been such a perfect character for

that. Um No, but but I also like the references

to Iron Man 3 that I mean not only with the extremists,

but the fact that uh When Colson is trying to

call Tony Stark, he's like you're talking to

my life model decoy I need to rewind it in Avengers

or in Avengers. It wasn't in Iron Man 3. It was

in Avengers, but he So it also could lead to

the fact that maybe he you know rebuilt him well,

we don't really know where agents of shield hasn't

really placed itself has it I mean it's post

avengers it's after the avengers and it's after

iron man 3 because he knows he knows what extremis

is and there's um if you see on the screens in

the background it's scanning various different

uh iron man suits okay and they have they're

and they're wondering about the extremis and

then they're talking about hydra you know they

call them centipede well but here's the thing

the Does extremis really place it after iron

man 3? Because it could be during that's that's

that's kind of what I'm getting at I mean or

could even be before I mean does it I mean? Was

extremis actually because because shield was

absent from iron man 3 right we don't have this

answer So could shield have known about extremis

before I mean it's possible This could be an

early form of extremis, being that they had the

centipede thing on their wrists, on their arms.

And the later extremis didn't need it. Well,

no, okay. The cocktail was a mixture of everything,

and extremis was one of the additives. Remember,

they said what was in it was like the super soldier

serum, it was gamma radiation, there was something

else, and then they were like, and there's some

new compound. And Colson says it's Extremis.

So I would technically place it after Iron Man

3 then if that's the case because they would

be capitalizing on the fact that Extremis is

out there now. True. Like I said, they don't

do a good job of placing where it is. But they

do show footage of the different Iron Man suits

scanning in the background. that could have happened

at any point in time well they were flying oh

so wait was it a scene from iron man 3 was on

the screen they not exact scenes but they had

various suits kind of flying in the hologram

screen behind them at points i'll have to look

through that again um because i was picking up

different um helmet formations of the iron man

suit okay what um What are your thoughts on Colson

being alive more or less? I mean, that's entirely

possible. I mean, I've also heard that so much

could have brought it back No, just that he's

back. Oh And not that he's back in the show Yeah,

these back at all not not not not that just that

he's alive, but that he's back like that's the

only reason I'm watching this really I if it

were If it were the other people in there, like,

I mean, yeah, Maria Hill's kind of important,

but to me, it's all about Colson. Yeah, he wasn't

in this show. I don't think I would have given

it the shot that I'm giving it right now. Yeah,

I like that because of that. And I like the chick

that they brought in outside of shield. Sky,

yeah, that Colson is is trusting and talking

with because he doesn't know anything about her.

But in that sense, it also means that she's less

likely to be a spy. On the inside and there are

already people are already kind of guessing that

one of the fits or Simmons are going to be a

spy for Hydra Hmm sabotaging them from the inside

either that or it's gonna be the Yeah, that's

the only two I can think of that would fit honestly

Personally, I didn't I hated one of the things

I hate about the Avengers was that Joss decided

to kill Colson I get the argument that that is

the team building thing that brings them all

together. I understand that. But for me, like

even even before Agents of S .H .I .E .L .D.

was around, I was like, I don't think he's dead.

Like even even in that moment, I was like, there

was just something about when he throws the cards

on the table and they're bloody that just made

me think because Nick Fury is a manipulative

son of a bitch. Well and in you know I was believing

the same thing that you were coming out of that

that he was still alive that they were just like

holding him somewhere so that the Avengers didn't

know that he was still alive yeah, like they

could have put him in a like a stasis tube of

some kind and Preserved him until they could

have got him to a you know another facility or

something and Use some kind of nanites or something

or the extremists have rebuilt him. Yeah, I just

choose to believe that You know Nick Fury is

a manipulative son of a bitch and He needed the

Avengers to accomplish this goal and he was he

used any means necessary and that included telling

lying to them telling them that you know that

Colson had died and I I do not think Nick Fury

is a nice guy. I Know an asshole. Yeah, like

I don't know of an incarnation of fury. That

is a nice Yeah, he's a cool character, but he's

a dick. Yeah every time There's like there's

an issue there's a scene in the ultimate I think

it's ultimate X -Men where Wolverine gets a phone

call from Nick Fury and Fury's asking him to

go kill a guy like just straight go kill a kid

That's the kind of guy he is he's cold he's like

this is my mission this needs to get done and

I'm gonna do it by any means necessary and I

Totally think that whole scene was manipulative.

There's something like the way Maria Hill responded

to it or doesn't she say something like the blood

was a nice touch or or I don't know. I'm gonna

have to go back and watch that now Yeah, there's

this there's something about getting the cards

out of his locker like he left the cards in his

locker or something I I don't know like there's

something With there's a line in there involving

those cards that leaves that open and I just

chose it to mean that You know, Nick Fury is

in fact a manipulative dick. But yeah, let us

know. I want to know what you guys think of Agents

of S .H .I .E .L .D. Are you glad that Coulson's

back? Do you wish he would have been dead? Do

you think it wrecks the entire cinematic universe?

Personally, like I said, I could have used him

in my Iron Man 3. Or somebody like him, at least.

Maria Hill would have been nice in Iron Man 3,

but that's a whole nother story. We've been down

that road before, and I've been brow -beaten

for it. Yeah, I'm kind of interested to see what

they do. So I think that, as we discussed off

-air, we will cut this short and make the TV

part a bonus feature for the episode. Yeah, I

realized in reading through my comments on the

website that a lot of people might not care.

And I don't want to alienate the listeners by

getting ultra technical with TV talk. Yeah. So

yeah, and I don't think we'll cover... I don't

want to cover everything because there's a lot

to cover and I don't want to talk forever about

it. So I think we'll kind of break this into

parts over the next couple of episodes as like

a HDTV 101. Yeah, do like little bonus features

at the end of every episode. That way we don't

alienate people that just want to come here and

listen to us talk about everything. Stick around

after the closing music and stuff and we'll talk

about that. I'll give the contact details before

we do that. You can visit the website geekcastradio

.com where you can comment on the episode and

all of our different podcasts. You can rate our

show on iTunes. Please be sure to leave us feedback

so we know that you like the show and it helps

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a fan of us on Facebook by searching Geekcast

Radio Network. You can contact us on Twitter

at Geekcast Radio and also using the hashtag

alteredgeek. You can visit the forums at geekcastreel

.com or comment on this episode post. My Twitter

name is at scp21 and yours is at boothninja81.

And just so everyone can have something to look

forward to episode 10, the 10th episode, we're

going to have a third chair. so we'll see how

that goes um the plan is to uh every zero and

five every episode that ends in a zero or five

uh going forward should have a third chair on

it um so it's not just gonna be steve and i you

know you know we'll see if we can get any dissenting

opinions in yes in this show um so yeah that's

something uh to look forward to hope uh hope

to hear see if you guys enjoy that and hopefully

it's not too big of a mess. No. And just a few

questions that I kind of came up with on Spur

the Moment through the script. Obviously, we

have the one that you mentioned earlier of have

you snuck in something for yourself under the

guise of a family gift? And then the two that

I have from earlier are What's your favorite

new fall TV show? And I'm saying new. Not returning

new. Or even if there is, you know, something

you like about one of the returning ones that

kind of. Switch things up a little bit from previous

seasons. You know, just let us know. And then.

I think that's sufficient. You're the one I can

save. All right So until next time and Well,

stay tuned for the bonus if you want to hear

the TV stuff so He gave up on your sign off.

Yes awesome Okay, if you stuck around to hear

us talk about HDTVs, I'm assuming your name is

probably Freddy Savage. What we've decided to

do instead of just dumping everything here, we're

going to keep your questions that you asked me

in the forums. We're going to answer one of those

over the course of the next few shows. At the

end, like this, it's going to be an HDTV 101.

Obviously, anyone is free to listen and correct

us if we are really wrong about something here.

Because I don't know everything. I know a lot

about them, but I don't know everything. But

on the first episode of HDTV 101, we're going

to be addressing the first question, which you

asked saying that you're looking at a new TV

and you're not sure if you should go with a plasma,

an LED, or an LCD. So we're going to talk about

the panels. for a second here. As I said on the

forum, there are three types of panels and the

panel is just it's that is what brings you the

picture. The panel is where the pixels are. There

is LCD, there is plasma and there is a new form

of there is a new panel, at least to TVs anyways,

called OLED, which stands for organic light emitting

diode. So basically The the differences between

them really come down to the lighting for them

LCD TVs use two types. There's two types of lighting

for an LCD TV. There are CCFL, which is a cold

compact fluorescent lighting That is like the

if you're in an office building and you see like

the overhead lights and they're that long tube

Okay, that is what is in your TV There's like

probably three three to four of those behind

your TV screen And those are what add the depth

the TV is is that deep because it has those light

bulbs in them The other type of backlighting

for a LCD which can also be used as edge lighting

is called LED lighting now a LED lighting can

be used in like as as back lighting where the

light is actually physically behind the panel

or in most modern LCD TVs it can be used in what's

known as edge lighting and that's where you get

the really thin TVs like the ones are like less

than an inch thick like the one that I have in

my family room and the one that I have in my

bedroom the light the LEDs for them are are in

the bezel and shine into the screen And from

there it uses a set of diffuser panels to get

the light to spread evenly across the back of

the picture. The other way to do it is you put

strips of LEDs behind the screen, kind of like

the CCFL bulbs would be in an older TV, and the

light is shot at you. It's shot through the screen.

Does that make sense to you? Yeah. Okay. Plasma

is... All the light from a plasma comes from

the pixel itself. The pixel is actually charged

and it produces a light. That is why plasmas

get the black. The black is black. So they call

them inky black. They go from bright white to

dead black because when a plasma TV, when the

pixel is supposed to be black, it is off. Which

is great because LED or LEDs, sorry. LCD TVs

cannot do that LCD TVs cannot show you true black

And I'll explain why as soon as I get through

this OLEDs That is a new thing to me and I really

should have done my homework on this but they're

$5 ,000 plus TVs right now and I don't think

that's in your price range So I'm gonna skip

that for right now. I will look into it and I

will dress that on the next episode but Now Some

of the problems that I can talk about with I

can talk about with an LCD TV I'm looking into

plasmas as I've talked about on the show Steve

has offered to let me come over and play with

his But I can speak from an LCD standpoint because

I've had I have a CCFL LCD TV I have a rear I

have a backlit LED LCD LED TV and I have an edge

lit LCD LED TV The reason that LCD TVs will never

show you true black ever is because of something

called light leaking and Because they are actually

lit, you know, there's a there's a light source

driving, you know lighting up the picture it

the light gets between the pixels. OK, because

they're not there. They're really close together.

But light still gets between the pixels. And

so even when a pixel is off, it's well, it will

look dark. There is still light coming through

because it's it's a white light and it's sneaking

past like a really tiny sliver. Like if you if

you get really close to a TV or any. any flat

panel monitor and you can see the pixels and

you see the red green blue um in between like

the the blue and the red pixel there is there

is a black line and that is the edge of the pixel

light comes through that um and so you can't

do it now some tvs uh led tvs um really Wish

I wouldn't say that because I don't want to.

LCD TVs that are lit by LEDs have better control

over their lighting than a CCFL TV. OK, like

my my CCFL LCD TV cannot. The one the light is

on, it is on. And it is shooting light out all

the time. My LED TVs do like a local dimming.

Uh -huh where they will turn the LEDs off in

varying degrees depending on how dark the picture

is supposed to be So The best example I have

is with my flagship Samsung TV it When you watch

a show or a movie and you have the black bars

at the top and the bottom Yeah, that's where

you can really notice the difference between

a plasma and an LCD With with watching it on

a on a standard LCD TV those black bars aren't

black. They're like a really dark gray and then

on my on my flagship Samsung with this with the

Local dimming for the LEDs it turns off the LEDs

That would light up the black bars Okay, so there's

like a four four inch Strip of LEDs that gets

shut off. So no light is being shown behind those

black bars So essentially they're off because

they're not being lit But it looks great and

it works because those LEDs can be turned off

Independently of the rest of the LEDs that are

needed to light up the picture And that's fine

that doesn't happen with plasmas like I said

because they produce their own light and so when

you get the black bars the top and the bottom

it's black those pixels are off they don't need

to do that smart tricky stuff that said LEDs

LCD TVs aren't some of this is like myth and

I know some of this stuff is not like an issue

so much anymore with plasmas they are they are

immune to screen burn in And by immune I mean

you can leave it on but you can't leave it on

for like thousands of hours Yes, you can do burnt

you can burn in an LCD TV If you leave it on

for thousands of hours displaying the exact same

image repeatedly That will damage anything The

There used to be a discrepancy with like input

lag and stuff like that, but that's something

we could talk about on another episode um the

reason plasmas are susceptible to lcd or are

are susceptible to burn in is because they produce

their own light and that light is shining against

a phosphorus layer on the screen and it burns

that layer that's where you get your screen burn

in apparently that's not a thing anymore Because

they have all these like things like you talked

about how they have the picture shifting thing

And they have like this screen wipe that you

can run and it fixes all that stuff But that's

The extent I can talk about on this on this segment

about the panels if you're a gamer I think an

LCD TV would be the way to go If you like movies

a plasma is the way to go and Again, these are

my opinions and what I've learned over the last

six seven years of researching TVs like every

two months I go and look at whatever the newest

thing is And it the reason the else a plasma

TV is better for movies is because it has a wider

color range you get the rate you get the true

blacks and you get the whites and everything

in between and If Don't know I just it's so much

a personal preference because there was you know

It's it's it's really the difference between

LCD and plasma is kind of like Android versus

iOS or Windows versus OS 10 Yeah, they're both

gonna give you a good picture and most of the

stuff I can tell you about them if you see them

you won't unsee them But if you don't see them

you will you'll never see them it's it and it's

one of those instances where that phrase ignorance

is bliss Is true I yeah, I mean I I see stuff

on my TV that my wife says she can't see like

sometimes she looks at me like I'm crazy because

I'm talking about how I see The light from my

edge the LED TV because I'm sitting off -center

is washing out The side of the TV opposite me

like it's washing out the color and that's because

of the way that it's lit that wouldn't happen

on a plasma because all the light is Even keel

it's producing its own light But yeah, if you

like video games I say go with an LCD because

you're less likely to inherit problems less less

If you like movies go with a plasma you rule

of thumb when you're buying one Generally you

can get a larger plasma for a cheaper price than

an LCD That is true it It was and it was very

true like four years ago. It's not. They're about

even now. Yes. But it just depends on features.

Yeah, it's features. One, it's features. And

two, I think it's just kind of it's it's like

down to like a couple hundred dollars difference.

Yeah, one of the other features I've noticed

is LCD and LED TVs tend to have more of these

smart TV features, whereas the Plasmas don't

necessarily have it unless you want to spend

a lot more money. That I can see. I'm not sure

why that is. I think it might have something

to do with the fact that it's a static image

usually with just stuff that changes in the middle.

Yeah, you have a lot of the same interface surrounding

things, but it's the center part that changes

consistently So I I could see where that would

not be good for a plasma The the f8500 the Samsung

f8500 that my wife and I are looking at has all

the smart TV functionalities in it I Mean my

TV hasn't honey. Excuse me. I don't even use

them but So panels just going back to the panel

which ultimately affects the entire TV. Plasmas

tend to be heavier than LCD TVs. They also tend

to be a little thicker than LCD TVs. They consume

more power than LCD TVs. Although the power thing

is coming, like pricing, it is getting better.

Otherwise, I wouldn't even be looking at a plasma.

They're about an inch and a half to two inches

thick now at this point Yeah, my first plasma

was about three and a half inches thick and then

my newer one that I have now that's a 52 inch

is It is About an inch and a half inch and three

-quarters there, but they are they are heavier

Than LCD TVs. Yeah, you can carry an LCD under

your arm one -handed whereas a plasma you have

to use both hands So that's that's about it on

the panels Gaming like you said LCD Movies go

with a plasma. I think honestly I think at the

end of the day either one is gonna do exactly

obviously either one is gonna show you a picture

Yeah Can get into like on a future episode of

this I can get into the nitty -gritty of why

LCD panels aren't that great but I don't really

want to I Don't want to inform you on something

and then have you be able to see it because I'd

rather you not One well one thing I noticed and

this is kind of going off a little bit too when

I was Because I my first TV that I ever bought

was a 42 inch plasma Panasonic When the soundboard

started going bad on that and I started hearing

it it started bothering me more So I started

actually hooking it up to my surround sound so

that I didn't have to hear that problem It kind

of bypassed it, but um But when I went looking

at new TVs And usually they have the displays

of them and you have multiple TVs surrounding

each other and they Usually they'll try and sell

you on whatever one they're gonna make the biggest

profit on because they always have some kind

of particular deal running with whatever that

is Doesn't necessarily mean that that's the TV

that you have to get because even though they're

pushing their damnedest to get you to do it Right

because it may not be the best picture quality

one thing that you should check is look at the

difference in the colors Between the shows because

a lot of the time they'll have the same show

playing on multiple TVs different brands and

different sizes. So what you want to do is look

for the truest. I mean, I know you can adjust

a lot of it. But you can tell, like, just for

instance, if you're watching, like when they

show a football game, you'll see the graphics

around the edges and you'll be able to tell if

something's kind of washed out a little bit or

if the detail with the lines look proper. whether

they're grainy or not and that kind of stuff.

That's something that I look at when I look at

TVs. Well, as far as some of the detail in the

screen when you're watching something, I know

it's not optimized or anything, but it's still.

It's something that brings to my attention. OK,

the only thing I have to say, and this goes back

to the research I did, I talked about earlier

in this episode when I was researching my first

TV. The picture that you see in the store two

things about it first one that's what's called

a torch mode and Everything comes out of the

box set to its hot like the brightness comes

out Cranked to its highest setting and that is

to blow the colors out and to get you to look

at that TV so And every TV has that like my and

it's and it's a setting that I can still use

on my TV. Like I go to reset and it's like, I

can click the reset button. It says, do you want

to put are you using it at home? Are you setting

it up in a store? And if you click store, it

blows out the it turns, it cranks the backlight

all the way up to 20 and just burns your eye

sockets out. And every TV does that because they

are. You're right there. You can see the difference

in the colors when you're there because It's

but the the thing is that TV is going to look

so much better when you get it in your home.

Like if you think it looks good on the wall,

it's going to look better at home. Yeah, because

you can adjust it from there. Yeah. First of

all, when you take it out of the box, you can

say I'm using it at home and not in the store.

The other thing is the feed that is on the TV's

like on the wall. Like you go walk into a Best

Buy and all the TVs on the wall have that. That

feed is being split. It's one feed being split

amongst all those channels. And that is not the

way to use those TVs. No. And so it's like, yeah,

it's one thing to go and you see the same thing

on all the TVs and the color might pop on this.

First of all, you're in the store. An LCD TV

is going to look brighter than a plasma. Always.

But it's that content it's gonna look just as

crappy on one TV as the other all your eye is

gonna be able to perceive is which one is brighter

and That's not good. And that's why I say like

when you go into a store you're like, I want

to try out You know, you want to see HD content

on something Ask them to hook up a source box.

I Personally, I've started going to Paul's TV

Paul's TV in art van Will let you play with everything

It will give you the remote they will let you

turn auto -motion on and off and that is whole

another thing to talk about when we start talking

about frame rates, but They let you they I mean,

I'm pretty sure if I was going in there to buy

one today They would move their blu -ray player

over to the TV that I was buying and I'd be able

to play my movie on it Like so I could actually

see the difference, you know Like and they let

me adjust all the settings and tweak the colors

and yes They do the same thing their stuff is

blown out so that you know You can see the colors

and the differences between the TVs and stuff

like that. It's just really It it's gonna matter

it's gonna look completely different when you

get it home and you get the colors tweaked and

You get it set up just right But and it's just

deceiving when you go to the store Usually when

I go to the store it's so I can see it Like what

the TV actually looks like yeah More so than

checking picture quality. That's just me though

I do a lot of my my picture research stuff online

I do a lot of it by looking at multiple TVs at

different places and different brands and What's

in my price range like what can I get for the

best picture in my price range and I test I look

at? you know, reviews online and that kind of

stuff for part of it. But a lot of the time I

will go up to a TV. And kind of look at, like,

for instance, if they have that stationary, like

boxing around stuff and like when you're watching

certain like games, like, for instance, they

had like football on or something the day that

I looked at the TVs and they have the the the

letter boxing kind of stuff at the bottom of

the screen. Where they have all the statistics

of the names or the stuff I look at those when

I'm looking At the picture quality for clarity

for clarity because if it's grainy then I mean

I know that the same feeds piping into multiple

TVs for well at least for depending on the section

you're in But I look to see if the boxes look

clear because if the edging of the boxes or if

there's like greeniness in the picture on the

boxes Then I'm really gonna notice it when I'm

watching something else or playing a game That

is true to an extent. I think that is a perfect

example of the, like the TV's ability to process

a signal, like no matter how good or bad that

signal may be. I think that is a perfect example

of that. But I honestly, I think if you got,

like if you got one of the TVs, it was like,

maybe it was like $200 less than what you were

going to pay. And it had like, that signal didn't

look. as good as the one that was $200 more,

I think when you got it home and hooked it up

to your cable with your games, you would not

see that stuff. Well, this is the thing, the

TV that we ended up with was a 50 or 52 -inch

plasma Samsung. My TV was going bad and I tried

to... I really was adamant I wanted another Panasonic

plasma. Well, they said it's gonna be six weeks

out. I'm like, well, I'm not waiting six weeks

for a new TV. So they said, well, we do have,

you know, a comparable model and the Samsung

and for a hundred dollars more, you can upgrade

to the 50 or 52 inch. And I said, okay, then

let's do that. They kept trying to hard sell

me on the LG's, which were the ones that they

were making the big bucks and getting the extra

commission for. And they kept trying to hard

sell me on this LG TV that was sitting next to

the Samsung I really wanted. And I just started

noticing the picture quality, but the LG was

actually cheaper than the Samsung. on sticker

and they're like oh blah blah blah this is the

the better tv and blah blah blah and i'm i'm

looking at it and i'm like and both my wife and

i were like no we're gonna stick with the samsung

and i mean it's just the the overall quality

was looking much better on the samsung tv than

it was on the lg right all right well i think

that's that's the only other thing i would i

would say and not getting any too technical on

it. This just has to do with lighting of the

room. Oh, yeah, yeah. Or from your window. LED,

LCD and plasma, the main difference you're going

to notice is LED and LCD don't get the as bad

of sun glare. It's more of a flat screen, whereas

a plasma is the glossy screen. So if you don't

have complete darkness or some kind of thing

blocking the sun or the direct light from hitting

your screen, it'll wash out. Actually, that is

because LCDs use the glossy screen now too. Oh,

they do now too? Yeah. So that actually what

that is, is it's the lighting. It's the actual

lighting in the TV. your plasma or plasma is

fighting directly against sunlight and you know

because the light comes from the panel itself

there is no light behind it um the the plasma

is fighting with direct sunlight and that's why

it gets washed out um an led or uh an led or

a ccfl lcd tv being you know edge lit or rear

lit is a more powerful light source like you'll

still get glare but it won't get washed out the

picture won't get washed out yeah by the light

source yeah that that is an important thing again

that is something where plasmas are accelerating

they're getting better at fighting against light

sources and stuff like that so if you have any

question about just the panels in that we're

going to address in future episodes we're going

to address frame rate we're going to address

resolution we'll address the auto motion business

and stuff like that and we'll talk pricing and

the plugging in the back and yeah and brands

and stuff like that we'll talk about all that

stuff on future episodes so don't worry about

that but if you have any questions about the

panels themselves let us know if you have any

specific questions about plasma and lcd um and

i will we will try to answer them and i will

look into um the technology behind oled tvs um

because that is like the oled tvs are supposed

to be like the cream of the crop that is why

they are like five grand some things i was reading

is it's not that big of an upstep from what we

have now it it is when you go because i in layman's

terms It is an LCD TV with plasma colors. It's

an LCD that emits its own light. For example,

if you have anyone that has a PlayStation Vita,

that has an OLED screen in it. If you have an

Android phone, and it was made by Samsung, chances

are it has an OLED screen in it. Yours, unfortunately,

does not, Steve. Mine sucks. I will just say

that up front. iPhones do not have OLED screens,

and then they use LCD screens. But yeah, if you

have an Android phone or you have a Vita, chances

are you've seen the smaller version of an OLED

screen, and they are amazing. But yeah, I will

look more into it but in layman's terms it's

an LCD that creates its own light like a plasma

does and Consumes much less electricity and is

it's supposed to be like the bee's knees for

everything But I will look into that but if you

have any questions about plasmas or LCDs send

them to us Let us know and we will answer that

before we jump into the next topic on the next

show So yeah Hopefully we were able to help you

out. Yes. Hopefully it's not too convoluted for

you and you can understand everything we just

talked about. Yeah, but like I said, right before

we go, Plasma's for movies, LCE's for gaming,

and yeah, I mean, but we'll talk more on another

episode. Sounds good. So until next time, see

you guys.