Podcast #961: Fall TV and Sonos ARC

On today's show we breakdown the Top 50 Disc sellers format market share and look at a few shows that were either canceled or renewed for the upcoming Fall season with the most thorough resource we have found on this subject from Rotten Tomatoes. Finally we take a look at the Sonos ARC soundbar with a review from the Verge. All that plus your email and news!

RENEWED AND CANCELLED TV SHOWS 2020

Want to know if your favorite television series is among the latest cancelled TV shows? Bookmark this page to learn about Netflix cancelled shows, when network series get the axe, and which cable TV limited series are being reworked as anthologies to squeeze every single drop of fan love out of them. Full article here…

Some notable shows:

• A.P. Bio: season 3 (NBC) – Renewed (moves to Peacock after being cancelled by NBC)
• The Blacklist: season 8 (NBC) – Renewed
• Blue Bloods: season 11 (CBS) – Renewed
• Bosch: season 7 (Amazon) – Cancelled (after seventh, and final, season) Season six currently streaming. Season 7 still to be released.
• Criminal Minds: season 15 (CBS) – Cancelled (after fifteenth, and final, season)
• The Crown: seasons 4, 5 and 6 (Netflix) – Cancelled (after sixth, and final, season)
• Fear the Walking Dead: season 6 (AMC) – Renewed
• For All Mankind: season 2 (Apple TV+) – Renewed
• GLOW: season 4 (Netflix) – Cancelled (after fourth and final season)
• Homeland: season 8 (Showtime) – Cancelled (after eighth, and final, season)
• MacGyver: season 5 (CBS) – Renewed
• Magnum P.I.: season 3 (CBS) – Renewed
• The Mandalorian: season 2 (Disney+) – Renewed
• NCIS: season 18 (CBS) – Renewed
• The Walking Dead: season 11 (AMC) – Renewed

SONOS ARC Review

We recently had a discussion on the Sonos Arc and wondered if the $800 price tag is worth it. We reached out to Sonos for an evaluation unit but have yet to hear back. But we did find a review of the Sonos Arc over at The Verge and will share some of the high points.We have linked to the entire review for your convenience.

Audio formats supported:

• Dolby Atmos
• TrueHD (for external Blu-ray players)
• Dolby Digital Plus
• Dolby Digital

If you've been eyeing the Arc, you might already be familiar with a lot of this terminology. It's a soundbar meant for home theater enthusiasts who, for whatever reason, aren't interested in going all-out with in-ceiling speakers and a full 7.1 surround experience. If that's you, I think the Arc delivers a phenomenal audio experience for its price. You've just got to be sure your TV is capable of unlocking that potential. It's a strange limitation; at this price point, it's reasonable to expect an HDMI passthrough so you can experience Atmos without potentially having to upgrade your TV.

This is a key point is that your TV needs to send the Atmos signal over Arc. In most cases your TV needs to support eARC for that to happen. There are some TVs that can do that over ARC but not many. Bottom line you may need a new TV to get ATMOS to work. Even still, it may not be the experience you would expect. We have talked about perfectly shaped rooms since the days of the Yamaha Sound Projector. The author comes to the same conclusion.

Box shaped Room:

Paired with the Sub, the Arc delivered sound as immersive as the multiple-speaker Atmos system. If you didn't know the Arc was bouncing sound off the ceiling and rear wall, you would easily believe that there were speakers there. Compared to the traditional Atmos system, the Arc sounded different — it's definitely tuned to deliver very loud dialogue, and it's still a soundbar, so the overall left / right soundstage isn't as wide — but it delivered a surround effect that was easily as convincing.

Large Open Room:

But if you don't have a room that's essentially a flat box, the Arc's ability to bounce sound goes away — in a large open living room with a double-height ceiling, the Arc didn't really deliver any surround experience at all. That's not a knock — the thing is designed to bounce sound off walls — but be aware of that limitation.

Pros:

• Excellent, powerful, immersive sound
• Works well as a music speaker, too
• eARC means it's future-proofed

Cons:

• Some TVs can't pass Atmos over ARC, and there's no HDMI passthrough
• Surround sound might not work well in large rooms
• Trueplay tuning available only on iPhone and iPad