Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk • Hacker News Board

Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

#341

Post by mvanbaak » Sun, May 11, 2025, 10:39 AM UTC

trentnix wrote: post #333

mvanbaak wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to be that guy but how on earth do you have a "high-end" system (your words) that does all this? Sure, there is some boot up time to warm everything up, but there are no ads and no user agreements etc on mid to high end systems. Even my entry level system (denon avr, lg c1 oled, appletv4k and ugoos as media players) does not take more then 10 seconds from totally off to showing the menu / plex interface, and n…

OP here. My system is very similar to yours. I’ve got a UHD player, XBox, Plex Server, and a half-dozen retro gaming systems in the mix. But apparently I'm not as patient as you (and others that responded) are. I find 10 seconds to be intolerable and unnecessary. I’m old enough to have been spoiled by the analog world where power meant you were ready. Not only is the time-to-wait painful, occasionally the HDMI handsh…

From what I read your problems are all traced back to CEC. I'm not using CEC, and I dont have any of the problems you describe here. but that's because I dont let my devices tell each other what to do. I use a harmony remote for that.

Logitech stopped selling new harmony remotes, but all the infra to configure them is still online and managed by them, and as soon as you have configured the hub, it does work totally standalone. I'll worry about another brand when I buy new hardware and the harmony configuration infra is no longer online (I'm pretty sure there will come an opensource alternative)

About the update: the secret here is 'dont connect your tv to the internet, there is 0 use for that'

Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

#342

Post by anton-c » Mon, May 12, 2025, 2:24 PM UTC

skydhash wrote: post #319

anton-c wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When non-tech people(ie my folks) set one up, you end up with the 3 remote thing for a cable box, receiver, and streaming stuff. It's real wild - I just let them turn stuff on when I'm over there. I do audio work but they took my brothers recommendation on the home theater so I'm a bit 'you made your bed' about it haha.

It's three remotes (TV, Apple box, AVR), but if you setup HDMI-CEC, it quickly becomes one (the Apple box). It's not like you're fiddling with the others' settings every day.

That sounds well set up. My mom's flaw is she's actually good at troubleshooting and tech so finds the weird solutions instead of addressing the actual problem lol

Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

#343

Post by mastercheif » Mon, May 12, 2025, 9:04 PM UTC

tzs wrote: post #336

hollerith wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A typical blanket will transmit about half of light at 940 nm (the wavelength used by most TV remotes).

OK, this is getting interesting. I've done some tests. First, some pictures [1]. The first picture is the front of the TV remote and what I presume is the window in front of the IR diode. The second picture is what is supposedly the location of the IR sensor on the monitor. The third picture is my hand attempting to block the IR emitter on the remote. Here is what I've found. 1. If I block the emitter with my hand th…

I should have clarified: Samsung remotes always use IR for power commands.

They use RF/BT for all other commands, as long as the remote is paired to a TV.

Note: When the remote is not paired with a TV it will also send the basic commands over IR.

Re: Samsung is paying $350M for audio brands B&W, Denon, Marantz and Polk

#344

Post by trentnix » Tue, May 20, 2025, 1:40 PM UTC

mvanbaak wrote: post #341

trentnix wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP here. My system is very similar to yours. I’ve got a UHD player, XBox, Plex Server, and a half-dozen retro gaming systems in the mix. But apparently I'm not as patient as you (and others that responded) are. I find 10 seconds to be intolerable and unnecessary. I’m old enough to have been spoiled by the analog world where power meant you were ready. Not only is the time-to-wait painful, occasionally the HDMI handsh…

From what I read your problems are all traced back to CEC. I'm not using CEC, and I dont have any of the problems you describe here. but that's because I dont let my devices tell each other what to do. I use a harmony remote for that. Logitech stopped selling new harmony remotes, but all the infra to configure them is still online and managed by them, and as soon as you have configured the hub, it does work totally s…

Your tip on CEC being related to some of my issues was absolutely correct. I turned off CEC and while things are still slow, life is definitely better.

On Logitech, for one system I still use a Harmony One that was gifted to me in 2008! I bought a Harmony Elite (and hub) off Ebay a few years ago for my upscale system.

It feels like there's definitely an opportunity for someone to build remotes or an orchestrator for A/V systems that works well.