Wireless to what? Android Auto uses your car's computer + wifi/BT chip + screen.
If you want to connect to any screen then you cannot rely on wireless connections.
That doesn't mean there couldn't be some future that is wireless, but are there any standard wireless communication protocols that have reached critical mass / popularity?
Back in 2011 the Atrix could support a desktop mode with a dock, but not simply by plugging in a USB cable.
There was also a Motorola Ready mode which I experienced briefly on a Moto G that I bought but returned because the screen was horrid mush! (Not all Moto G, some had nice screens, but that particular one was a lower resolution, slow LCD screen with a lot of ghosting.)
But if I remember, Ready isn't really a standalone thing. It's more like what Microsoft Phone Link does - e.g. running your phone "desktop" but on another computer. But I think I'm remembering wrong... so maybe newer ones are a bit more like this - https://www.tomsguide.com/news/i-spent-a-few-days-with-motor...
While Windows RT / Windows 8 were largely panned, I think they had a lot of potential.
RT / 8 went very hard towards touch interfaces. Then 8.1 made a lot of course corrections to re-establish what's good about mouse + keyboard on Windows.
But... RT was abandoned alongside Windows Phone 7 / 8 and Windows 10 Mobile, and Windows 10 focused on mouse-keyboard once again without nearly as much thought about touch.
I really think this was one case where persistence would have paid off. A focus on "Windows everywhere" instead of (or alongside) "Microsoft apps that all exclusively push cloud services everywhere" could've put Microsoft in a position of mobile and convertible device dominance.
Editing to add, I was just reminded of the Surface Duo -- Android based. (And the announced but abandoned Surface Neo...) Another odd moment I'd describe as... "oh wait let's go back and try our old strategy but without any of the advantages of Windows app support on mobile!"
Including supply and generation, we pay $0.148 / kWh, and yeah, I average $0.06 charging my EV at home on a slow, inefficient 120V / 15A. (Some day I'll upgrade, maybe.) I've never charged anywhere else (except for free at the used car dealer where I bought it.)
We make a ~180 mile trip roughly once / month and could charge on site as we always stay ~2 nights, though probably slow 120V / 15A charge (aka Level 1). My current car would probably be pushing it, range-wise, but I definitely think for the vast majority of our usage, we could be using only EVs if we got one with a 300+ mile range (based on 100% battery usage.) From what I've read some EVs (like mine) struggle a bit below 15% and start to run in "limp" mode.
Speaking only anecdotally, when I was in my 20s, I bought a Sony "home theatre in a box" which included receiver, small subwoofer, and small satellite speakers. Over time, I upgraded to an Onkyo reciever and Polk center, surrounds, and subwoofer.
But... then I decided I wanted a more minimal look, and switched to a JBL sound bar + subwoofer, which has detachable surrounds -- but I almost never utilize them.
For sure, the sound is nothing compared to what I had before, but I'm mostly OK with it. All that to say, how popular are sound bars, and how popular are dedicated receivers?
You could estimate it from sales or something, but Walmart has a huge wall full of various TVs, and barely one half of one aisle-side of soundbars, and no receivers/speaker setups.
I suspect something like 80% of people use the TV, and of those who upgrade, use a soundbar, maybe.
And even those with a dedicated theatre room, probably have other TVs that are just TV audio.
That's a really sad percentage of people listening to such subpar sound that they might as well not be. I understand not everyone can afford nice audio, but a soundbar is such a drastic improvement, VHS=>DVD level of improvement, while a soundbar to surround is a DVD=>BluRay improvement. It's great for those with discerning taste, but not noticed by the vast majority.
Granted, I'm not an audiophile, but I've been in/around audio mix bays long enough that I notice shit audio. It's one of those things that once you see/hear it, you can't un-see/un-hear it. Sometimes I really wish I took the blue pill in this regard
Modern TV speakers are so bad that you need a soundbar just to get back to the level of bad audio present in any standard stereo mid-sized CRT TV in 1990. There’s no room for decent-sized speakers, they’re often pointed some weird direction due to space or aesthetics or both, and none of the TV makers care to try to make them work as well as they possibly could (see: the tiny speakers in iPads) because anyone who gives a shit is gonna get a soundbar or receiver anyway.
On top of this, many soundbars have their own upgrade paths that are "good enough" and the end result is essentially equivalent to a surround sound system.
My soundbar can connect a second wireless subwoofer as well as a rear speaker set, and the setup process is extremely easy, which is one of the major hurdles with Hi-Fi equipment.
Average person just can’t tell the difference. My parents have a sound bar but half the time I visit the tv is set to use the built in speakers and they don’t even notice.
The average person consumes lossy-compressed movies and music through their phone or laptop. They wouldn’t know high quality sound if it trumpeted down from god.
I swear there's something genetic about it; I can see the difference between VHS and 4K clearly every time, but I have to remind and point it out to my wife (she couldn't care about the difference between the VHS-quality rip of a movie and the 4K blu-ray).
It has to be absolutely seamless; the received stopped working and the TV was making the noise instead, and it took a month for me to be finally arsed to go fix it.
We have traditional cable TV, where there are standard def channels on, say, channels 2-99 and then identical HD channels from 702-799, and my wife constantly lands in the SD channels by accident and doesn’t notice the difference. I have switched back and forth between the same show on SD and then HD to show her the huge difference and she just shrugs and legitimately doesn’t see it or care.
I did the A/B test between an OTA broadcast and the cable channel to show people just how poor the cable compression really is. The majority of people could see the difference, but like you mention there's always at least one person claiming to not see it. These are definitely not someone to hire as a QC/QA team member!
I've processed lots of sources with 5.1 audio that have "interesting" issues of various types. My favorite is when the LFE channel has a full range signal instead of a low pass filtered one. When that data is down mixed by what ever chip is doing it, there's way more data in the mix resulting in not what one would hope. These are studio provided sources that have been outsourced to 3rd parties for various reasons, but the LFE is often the red headed step child of audio data.
Idk why they have to make it so weird. My 2.1 setup just has the sub get the full signal and the built in filter takes care of it. Id been reading about how 'perfect' the atmos to stereo conversion is... what an odd issue to run into to throw a wrench in that(or just use it as a consumer). I guess theatres really need that LFE channel.
God, does 5.1 or better really shine on 90s surround sound movies. And occasionally newer ones, but a lot more back then.
They also hadn’t given up on original music. It’s crazy how much the soundtrack elevates otherwise-not-amazing films like Twister. I desperately wish they’d at least go back to caring about that.
We used to listen to a lot of music with Dolby ProLogic enabled even though the music clearly isn't encoded with that in mind. Since ProLogic works off of the audio phasing to decide what is sent to the rear speakers, a lot of the effects used in the music mix trigger ProLogic to send random things to the rear. It's an interesting experience. Maybe less so without the use herbal remedies too.??? Some of the call&response type lines from Beastie Boys would very clearly come from the rear, and was quite startling the first time hearing it. With 5.1 and beyond, everything is discrete tracks, so that trick no longer works. Do modern surround units even do ProLogic any more?
Sure, but just look at the revenue. Some do build it out (and I'm sure HN has higher percentages of "home theater types" than most) - but the average house? It's a TV.
Thinking over everyone I know who has a TV, I'm the only one with a receiver connected. I think one has a soundbar.
A lot of it is that the design of good home theater equipment is ugly and not spouse-approved. My wife simply will not tolerate big black speaker boxes and a black stack of receiver equipment in the family room. No matter how well it’s hidden away. And I know a lot of families that have the same desire for a nice looking living space.
Personally I think that the "takeover" of the living room by TVs and home theater has been one of the biggest "mistakes" in modern home design - they should be relegated to the basement or some other locale.
This is actually what I did in our previous home. Installed round Monoprice brand in-wall speakers, and hid the AV equipment in the next room, one wall away. It sounded--not too bad.
Probably one issue could also be that a lot of this stuff is actually pretty well made, and repairable. My old NAD amplifier is more than 25 year old and doing great. I don't need a new one. I've switched speakers a few times, to better fit the rooms as we've moved, but the amplifier just sits in a corner with the CD player and turntable.
I'd agree with others, speakers aren't that concerning. There are niche speaker manufacturers and used or refurbished is still a good option. To be honest, I'd also look to the used market if I where to replace my amp.
Personally I don't have anything against Samsung, but I doubt they'll be a good steward of those brands. Corporate interest and niche high quality audio seems to at opposite ends of the spectrum. I could be wrong, Sony makes nice stuff, maybe Samsung will as well.
Samsung has actually done reasonably well with their acquisition of the Harman group in 2017: AKG, AMX, Arcam, Becker, BSS Audio, Crown, dbx, Harman Kardon, Infinity, JBL, Lexicon, Mark Levinson, Martin, Revel, and Soundcraft.
I just object to the concentration of market power.
Not very popular, but popular enough. If you care about sound more than looks (...and if you get the system set up and have a convincing story for your wife that it must be this way), it's the only way to experience movies 'properly'; mixed with an OLED TV, a proper subwoofer (like PB-1000 or similar) and bluray-quality content the system will be better than your average cinema experience.
Now, whether that means anything when 99% of everything made for watching is just playing in the background while you're reading HN on your phone is debatable. Still wouldn't trade the setup even if I'm watching one movie per month. (I'm not even close to that high of a number...)
There are some nice speakers that can fit nicely in a living room, but rears placement are always a problem. Especially if the sofa is isolated in the middle of the room. But my SO has enjoyed nice sounds so there was no struggle there (It was gradual with a 2.0 setup before the 5.1).
A lot of living rooms these days are terrible for surround sound, and sound listening in general. Big, “open concept” spaces without doors and walls, often with the “living room” area occupying an odd corner of the big open blah-space. No feasible way to correctly install and aim surrounds. Also sound insulation is generally quite poor unless you deliberately do it while building the house.
There are some exaggerated setups showcased by users on reddit (/r/hometheater)
You can see people with dedicated movie theatre-like rooms in their home. If you follow the discussions they all seem to have started where you did in your 20s and continued in the opposite direction.
I never had the HTIB, but I had some old school speaker cabinets I got at a thrift store years ago and would hook them up to a broken down Kenwood amp to get nice loud music for house parties.
Just in the past few years I was finally in a position to get a nice center channel, then sub, then surrounds, and then I eventually paid an electrician to pull the wires and do a 5.1.2 setup. It's certainly far from essential and overall is still pretty budget, but I love how it sounds for movies, PS5, etc.
> Lately I’ve seen more people in their cars thwarting stoplight boredom—that is, unable to sit unmediated for even the few moments that it takes a red light to turn green, they reach for their smartphones.
I wish it was only at stoplights. But then just a few days ago, I witnessed a totally unnecessary accident. Left-lane got green, and someone in the straight lane noticed the movement but didn't look up and drove right into the car in front of them...
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