Since the dawn of time, mankind has searched for ways to shelter themselves from the elements. Over the centuries, these shelters have evolved from bamboo huts to concrete towers. The last few years, there's been a push to save the planet. Are you ready to embark on a more sustainable lifestyle? Look no further. You're about to enter the adventures of container home living and now contractor, radio and tv personality and your host for Boxcar Universe, Steve Dubell.
Hi, I'm Steve Dubell, host of Boxcar Universe, along with my co host, Erica Thompson. And here's what's coming up on this week's edition of Boxcar Universe. We're talking with Greg Lowry from the definitive entertainment. His company is crafting unforgettable experiences and premium entertainment at every turn for your box, car, cabin or castle.
And speaking of Boxcar, more container home news right here in Phoenix, as we are another week closer to our local listeners to see our model container home and container pool, make sure you visit the shed Gal on 99th Avenue in Thomas and Glendale. And believe me, you will not be disappointed. And tell them that Steve from Boxcar Universe sent you all that and more on this week's edition of Boxcar Universe, your home for containers sustainable lifestyle living.
And we'd like to welcome all of our listeners to the show today. And as usual, we've got a great show planned for you. And we are going inside talking about the, the audio that you listen to. You know, it's, you know, with the, the way technology has been in the world today, there are a lot, a lot of improvements that have been made over the years. When we think about the improvements for your tv, your audio.
And I know for a fact, I was talking earlier about years ago and when I built a theater room and it was 2007, and just the technology advances from then to 2024 is just, it's just pretty amazing. But we want to get right to our show and introduce our guest and old friend and former guest of my other show, Image home improvement show, Greg Lowry from definitive entertainment. And Greg, thanks so much for joining us here on Boxcar Universe. Thanks for having me, Steve.
You know, as we were saying before, thinking about some of the things that have changed in and, you know, thinking about the improvements in technology, it's not just the, for luxury, luxury purposes, for people doing luxury homes. I mean, a lot of this stuff can be done for the average homeowner and depending on how, I guess, how much they would like to scale their experiences. But why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about you and the company and some of your company services.
Well, my name is Gregory Lowry. I started definitive entertainment back in 2003. So we've been around a little over 20 years. I used to be a manager for a couple of the high end electronic stores here in the valley, and I actually came out here because one of the stores transferred me out here to open a couple stores. But I started it with the intent of listening to the client versus just selling what we had on hand. We've been doing pretty well as far as the trends that are going now.
We're doing more home theaters these last couple of years, dedicated home theaters as well as the trend is leading more to theater rooms that you're able to use in other environments. So to maximize the space, people are getting all purpose theater rooms. And we spoke on this earlier, they don't want to see the speakers, they don't want to see the equipment, and it's more room in the, in the space, so they can. They can decorate it any kind of way they want. Yeah, I mean, and that's.
So that's important, too, because I'm sure thinking of that and with the remotes and everything else that you could use now. Um, sure, Erica, you could. You. I'm sure you could expound on that, too, because you have more space to work with in designing, other than. I mean, I know back in the day, uh, I guess before all the high tech automation and stuff came in, you know, I think it was, um. I think it was something of prestige.
When somebody used to walk into your home and see your big speakers here, your big speakers there, you know, and all this other kind of tech and your, and your amp and your preamp and everything else that was there. And, you know, it was kind of like a technology wow factor when somebody walk in, and now it's completely flipped. To less is more. Yeah, less is more and more. The more flexible the space can be for people, the better it is because everything is more expensive.
So if you need that space to work as an office and as a. As a movie theater, go at it. You know, and you can blend all of those things together, especially with today's equipment, because you can. I mean, the age of walking into your home and saying, turn the lights on, it's here, you know, just whatever you want to do. Just like the jets. Just like the jets, yeah, I mean, and I think we've. And it was funny, too, thinking about that. Okay. In the old commercial.
And what did you think the first time you saw the commercial when that lady was in her room? And they did the clap on. Clap off. Yeah, that clapper. Yeah. Remember that? Was that like 1987 or something? Yeah, it was.
Yeah, it was funny, too, because I remember my friend who actually used to buy them, he used to do Bill Clinton impersonations and he was the, he used to come on the show as, as a friend of the show and he used to come on and we used to have a conversation with him talking as Bill Clinton and he said, you know, I can't, you know, Steve, I'm very upset with you. You know, last time we were on the show, you said you were going to come over and you didn't install the clapper.
But, yeah, but thinking about that, I mean, you know, it's that alone. Just, just thinking about a noise being able to shut and turn something on. And now we're talking, like you say, the Jetsons, turn the lights on. Turn lights off. You know, I mean, it's pretty amazing. It's pretty amazing.
And who knows where it's going, but we'll talk about, we'll talk about future, future entertainment stuff that's going to amaze all our listeners because it's like everything else, technology is ever, ever evolving. So, but we're going to get into a couple of more things right here. And after break, Greg is going to guide us through some technical entertainment stuff and why that technology is important.
While you need to know if you're thinking about adding a wow factor to your home for your friends and family. So I want everybody to stay tuned. You're listening to Boxcar universe. Hi, I'm Erica Thompson, the dominating designer, a hard working artist with a sense of humor. What is the dominating designer process? It's just like what you see on tv. We discuss your wants and needs about your project, go over your ideas.
Then I provide you creative, one of a kind options that fit your budget with respect to your home's value. When we finish your project, you are set to enjoy your new space. I would love to help you with your upcoming project. Please reach out to me on Instagram. The dominating designer, Stardust building supplies is. Your home improvement thrift store. Find salvaged and gently used cabinetry, doors, windows, appliances, lighting, plumbing and much more.
Save money, be green and support the community. Shop and donate at Star building supplies Valley locations. For more info, visit stardustbuilding.org dot. All right, we are back and you are listening to Boxcar Universe. And we're here with Greg Lowry today and we're talking about his company, definitive entertainment, and what it means if we're going to be doing some enhancements in your home from an audio and visual standpoint.
But, Greg, let's get back into talking a little bit about these multipurpose theaters. Yeah. They are preferred these days over the traditional dedicated spaces. Now, it doesn't mean that people are still aren't getting those traditional theater spaces, because I do dedicated rooms all the time, but those are usually in bigger homes, and they have more rooms and are able to dedicate a specific area for only watching movies and such.
Today's spaces, they want to be able to do many other things, entertained, actually play games. A lot of people are doing karaoke, too. Karaoke at home? Wouldn't that be fun? Oh, I know people who do it at home. Yeah. Well, you know, it's a lot. I do. I keep telling it's fun, it's good time. I keep telling everybody I do. A mean sweet home Chicago. I told you. Telling you back in the day, when I was in.
I was in Chicago when that movie first came out, and it was just like, it's like when people talk about the bears, they go nuts. But no, yeah. I mean, that along with and multipurpose, you know, they, they want to be in the kitchen cooking, but they want to be able to hear and see what's going on, whether it's a football game or, or whatever. They want to be able to be able to access it from a wide kind of space. Right. And also, you have to look at the environments, apartments and condos.
You know, they have limited space, so they want to make use of it as much as they can. And if you have a television or screen that's mounted on the wall for video, you want the speakers to be hidden. So we've always used architectural speakers in wall or in ceiling speakers for years. Right. But they have invisible speakers today. So you can put them in and you can actually paint these the same color as your walls, and they just disappear. And they are awesome. They sound really good.
Yeah. Because I walked into somebody's house once, and they said, hey, you want to hear my sound system? And I'm looking in the room like, oh, yeah. But like, where's the speakers? And then they turned it on, and then I knew, but what do you do? But what do you do if somebody wants something with that, with the enhanced technology and they live in an apartment, because you can't put those speakers in the wall, they'll, you know, they'll help come back and tell me I have to fix the wall.
Well, they leave. They need a, they need a written permission first. Oh, to cut the walls open. And then once if they move, then they have to repair the walls. That's all I get. Work either way then coming and going. Coming and going. Yeah, coming and going. That's true. Can you still do like a wall mount speaker? You still can do a wall mount? Okay. Absolutely. I don't prefer them myself, but I still install them. Cause, you know, a lot of people, they get the home theaters in the box.
They still sell those and they'll want them installed and, you know, in like a room here or there and get the mounts and pop them up. Well, that could work for an apartment as well. It can, it can external, but a lot of people don't want to see the speakers and that's the thing.
Yeah, yeah, but there's the way off, like for somebody who's trying to budget this, like from my perspective, like what my brain's going through, I'm gonna pay you three grand to put them in and three grand to take them out, so. Right. You know, if it's just a couple screws, that's a better, like temporary living solution, that's all. If you're talking more of a budget, I would go with wireless speakers. The ones you just sat around. Yep. Okay. Yeah. Good to know.
And cuz you can take those with you when you move. Well, that's the solution. Hey, yeah, you go. Teamwork. That's a perfect idea. Yet wireless speakers and, you know, I know, but. Yeah, but you know, the. I was trying to think, oh, you know, I remembered that other speaker name now and it just escaped me. What do they call those bar speakers that. Sound bars. Sound bars. Thank you. I was close. Sound bar speakers that are there that you could put under the tv.
But I remember, I remember you being able to go back and try and do, and create a sense around experience in your living room, even if it wasn't in your home, and being able to place them in certain areas because I know, I know they had, I took the speakers down because they had them all on a ceiling. They had them behind you. They're trying to create that sense around experience, you know.
And I think there's a lot of great movies with a lot of great sound that, that you could, you could feel like you're. If you watch the Star wars, you could feel like you're in the millennium Falcon, you know, flying, you know, so that's pretty cool. But what about the video, the video technology aspect of it? Because we talked about the sound aspect. What about the video aspect of it? Where, where have we come to versus where we were ten years ago? Well, today we had eight k vision.
Eight k. Eight k. What happened? I thought we were at five k. We. No, we were at. So we're at eight k now. We're at eight k now. But there really isn't a whole lot of content in eight k. Vimeo Roku TV has a service and they have maybe 16 or 18 shows, but they're all basically geographical shows, images of Japan or the Arctic or animals, something like that.
There aren't any movies in eight k or tv shows in eight k. But the biggest thing, in my opinion, is, especially if you're doing larger televisions or if you're doing projection screens, the larger the screen, the more chance of you to see artifacts, or you can pick up on little slight things that isn't correct with the picture. But if it's eight k, you don't see that. You can't see it. You really don't see that. So, yeah, it makes the larger screens look even better. They're sharper. Yeah, yeah.
And then with the screens, projection screens, they have an ambient light rejection factor that they come up with, so it makes the projection screens better. Also, motorized art screens for those who have light pictures of the kids or whatever, and they want it there. And then when they want to watch a movie, they hit a button and it goes away and the screen pops up. Also, laser projectors. Awesome. Really? Oh, yeah. Great picture. The darkest dark blacks and it's really, really good.
But to me, the best part is that they last like 30 to 40, 50, 60,000 hours. Wow. Yeah. That's like twelve years. Yeah. So instead of buying four or five lamps for your projector, that costs around anywhere from three to $800. And then you having to go up and take the old lamp out and put the new lamp in, and you move the projector and then it's a big mess. Well, I remember doing that on the projector ahead in the theater room. The bulbs weren't that expensive, but. But they weren't cheap.
No, no. Yeah, but this time you just, you just get a whole new projector, pop it up. Why not? Yep. After twelve years, 1415 years, you need a new projector anyway. Yeah, yeah, I imagine. I remember doing the, when I built the house, how we. Well, I had all the rooms, they soundproofed all the rooms. I insulated all the walls. And then we actually drywalled pretty much everything. But then I remember the front, the front wall was a special screen.
I think I know this probably doesn't sound that big anymore with the screens they have now. But I remember I used to tell people I had this theater room, and he said, well, how big is a screen? I says, well, there's nothing like it being in a home theater versus going to Harkins or AMC because it's in your house and it's different. And then I used to give him the old singer.
I'm like, there's nothing like seeing 103 inches of the starship enterprise on your screen in front of you while you're watching it. But, but 103 screen was big. But in today's. Today's market, it's not that big anymore. It's still big. Yeah, it's still big, especially with the average home, you know, the average wall. Now there are walls out there that will do. There are 110 inch televisions out there. There's a 150 inch wall tv out there. It is unbelievable. Really? Yeah. Yeah, it's awesome.
It's awesome. But again, it gets to that price range where everybody's not gonna get this, but you can get a hundred inch television now for, I don't know, 1015 grand when it used to be 100, 120,000. Really? Yeah. Wow. I'd rather spend that on a horse. I'd have more fun with that. Yeah, but it'll last longer because you'd be able to use it well, now you can use a tv every day. You can watch horses on the screen. Yeah. It's one of those wow. Factors that Steve was talking about earlier.
Yeah, I get it is $120,000 horse, right? It is something. Well, you know, people spend their money on what they want to spend, they. Love and what they love, what they love their own. Yeah. And, you know, and that's exactly right. Cause I remember, you know, my, my son in law said something years ago I will never forget to, because my stepdaughter wanted to go do something, and it was quite expensive, and they went and did it anyway.
And he said, you know, steve, it's, it's not the cost that's that important. It's. It's the experience that counts. And if you're happy with the experience, if the price tag was way high, it's not going to make. It's not going to hurt you that much. And you'll say, but I enjoy what I paid for. See, I believe in that. Yeah, absolutely. I have so many clients, I'll ask them, what's your budget? And they'll tell me, I don't know what the budget should be. And I'm like, yeah. Oh, you get that, too.
I get that all the time. You know how much you don't want to spend, right? So you have a budget. But more than once, I'll tell you about the one in Glenn Goodyear. The gentleman gave me a budget of 25 grandd, and it was a third car garage, and we turned the third car garage into a dedicated home theater room. All right. And as we were working on it, we're going through it, and I'm talking to him almost every day, and he says, well, what if we got a better projector?
I said, well, you can get a better projector, but you don't have to get a better screen because you already have a great screen, but if you get a better projector, it's going to give you a much, much better picture quality. He says, well, okay, let's do that. And, well, since I have already decided to get a new projector, upgrade the projector. Let's upgrade the sound, too. So he added another 10,000 because we put in a dedicated rack in his closet for his equipment, hide it away.
And of course, we had the, we had the controls, the remotes and all of that. And we built a concession bar for him in the back for his goodies and a refrigerator, and it came out to be an extra ten grand. And he is one of the happiest guys you'd ever want to see on this planet. What's his address? We'll go over and watch him every Sunday. We'll watch some football. He loves it. He loves it. He loves it. He loves it because it's what he wanted. Exactly.
You know, and when people get what they want, they can't help but love it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You know, and it's so important. It's just, I guess that you could say it's human nature because, you know, when we spend a lot of money on things that we, we don't like, but we have to, and we just kind of like, grin and bear it. Like I tell people when we talk about putting solar systems on your house, they hand me their utility bills and I could see the pain in their face.
I have to pay this every month to AP's or SRP, and it's just too much. But they have to do it because they haven't thought about going solar. But now I give them an alternative. Now I'm trying to ease the pain a little bit for them and make it worthwhile. So if they're spending, it's better to spend money on something that is part of the house and it's going to increase the value of the house then giving it and just flushing it down the toilet to utility company, because that's all you're doing.
So why wouldn't you rather put it into your home? Whether it's solar or if it's an entertainment, you know, equipment in a center or room or something like that? I think that's, I think that's smart business. But I think people, sometimes they have like a knee jerk reaction because they'll see something on tv and the first thing they do, oh, I want it. Okay, but wait a minute.
There's a big picture here and you need to talk to a professional like yourself, you know, because, you know, you may have things in your home, you may want something, but what you're thinking of may not be conducive for your living area. Right. You know? So I'm sure that a lot of that goes through when you have a consultation, right? It does. I talked a lady out of 100 inch tv once. A hundred what? 100 inch tv. Oh, really?
Yeah. She wanted a hundred inch tv, hung up and I was like, that's gonna be a little too big. Always consult with a professional. Yes, always. We want to help save you money, not spend your money. Yeah. And make it look good. Yes. Yeah. It has to look good. It has to fit within. Make it right. Yeah. It has to be. Make it right. And you can always get a second opinion from Erica, the dominating designer, charged. By the hour and the square foot. There we go.
No, but it's really important to be able to do that. And that's what we just try and do here on the show every week, help people stop and think about making educated decisions on what they, what they want to do. But we're going to take a short break and if you are looking to elevate your audio visuals, I want everybody to stay tuned because there's something incredible on your way. It's called streamlined audio systems, which redefine sound.
And in advanced screen surfaces, which are coming along just like the sound, are taking the entertainment market by storm and to a new level. So get ready for that innovation and you won't miss this next edmit. So make sure you stay tuned. Do box car universe. Don't go away. Discover the future of sustainable lifestyle living with Boxcar Universe. Your go to source for cutting edge Container home and container pool information. Want a dream? Container home or pool? We can build it for you.
Hi, I'm Steve Dubell from Boxcar Universe. For the latest in container innovation, and expert insights. Tune into our weekly podcast, Boxcar Universe. Ready to start your project? Call us today at 602-332-6203 or email us@steveoxcaruniverse.com dot remember Boxcar universe, where your container dreams come to life. Listen, learn and build with us.
Looking to transform your space with over 30 years of construction experience and featured on radio and tv, ideal home improvement and legacy custom homes, AZ does it all, from repairs, remodeling and restorations to new builds, container homes and container pools, plus cutting edge solar systems to help homeowners save money on their utility bills. Hi, I'm Steve Dubell. Let us help you design and build your dream home with the expertise that comes from decades of experience in the business.
Call me today at 602-332-6203 or email me at steve@idealhomeimprovementaz.com to get started. Remember idealhome improvement and legacy custom homes, AZ, where your dream home becomes reality. Don't wait. Call today. All right, we are back, and you're listening to Boxcar universe. And here we are. And it's Erica. You know, it's. And Greg, it's almost time for, for Halloween.
I'm sure there could be some big screens out there with some big scary shows on out there, you know, some ghosts and goblins and, and whatever else happens during Halloween. But, yeah, these are things that people, I think it's one of the things that we living in America actually have the luxury of enjoying. Okay. I mean, there's a lot of people in the world that can't enjoy some of these things that, that we enjoy.
When it comes to audio and visual, which I think a lot of times it, I know for me, it de stresses me. You know, you watch something, and the really cool thing that I like about now, you'd have these. And I know a lot of the homeowners that I've been in their homes, they'll have the screens and their tvs on, and they'll be streaming some kind of music with, with, like, nature sounds and stuff like that.
And it's almost like, it's almost like artwork in a moving picture that you can't get with just a static picture. And I think it just, it just makes the whole room feel more inviting. So at the same time, you're creating an audio and visual experience.
You're changing and creating an atmosphere for these people to enjoy, which I think it just seems to be like a byproduct of all the other good work to you, the nuts and bolts and I'm sure a lot of these people shouldn't say all, but a lot of these people just want to know, okay, this is what I want. Just install it and make it work. And as long as they hear it or see it, they're happy. You know, they don't need to know. Well, I had to do this. Or, you know, some people.
And then some people do get into the. The technology of it. Like, I'd love to learn the technology of why the things work the way they do and where the technology is now. You know, like, when I built my house, they tried. They tried. I mean, I went and ran. I written cables. I pulled them myself, and I ran, like, two or three extra lines, and everybody said, well, you know, streaming is coming. I mean, this is back in 2007. Streaming, everybody. Streaming is coming. Excuse me.
You don't need Directv. And it was like, because I couldn't get. I couldn't get cox cable where I was. So you got to take a cable. You had either direct or dish. And then I said, well, I don't know. You know, because it was so new at the time. I was like, we'll just get a dish. Okay? And then streaming just seems to have come in and just taken over. I mean, like, now I've got. Everything is done with Wi Fi and streaming, and even if you want regular channels, you can still get them.
And it still costs less money than if you go to those two companies, because I know. I mean, I know a friend of mine, he was spending for over $200 just for a basic cable and Internet, which is just like. It's just ridiculous. It's almost like a car payment. Yeah, it's crazy. It can get nuts. Yeah, it can. But tell us a little bit about the streamlined audio systems. Well, we were talking.
We touched on it earlier about architectural speakers in wall and ceiling and invisible speakers, where you put them inside the wall and you can actually put plaster over them and then paint so that they're gone. So. But those. But those. Those speakers that they do put in the wall, obviously, they're not what some people may think is traditional speakers that have. That are. Have a lot of depth to it because. Because you only have three and a half inches inside the wall. So they've got to be.
They've got to be streamlined. They are narrow. They are streamlined. They're. They're not as deep, and they're made differently. They don't have what you would actually call a subwoofer. It's phonetically, it vibrates the wall itself, and causes the sound. So it basically uses the wall as a woofer. So that's two less components. Yeah. So we were talking about a center speaker.
So if you have a television mounted, you put one of those underneath the tv in the wall, and it disappears once you paint over it. Also known as the center channel. The center channel, which is confusing. Yeah, that. The center channel. Now there's also, if you're using a screen for a projector, you can just put a in ceiling, in wall speaker behind it, because they make a screen that sound can penetrate. Really?
So you're able to put the speakers right behind the screen itself and you won't see them because the screen's there. Very nice. Yeah. So there's a couple of ways to get around not seeing that center speed. Right now with those situations. Is it most of the time done with Wifi? No, no, no, no. You have to run a line to it. Okay. Now, Wifi, there's a company out there that makes a sound bar. Well, there's a ton of companies that make sound bars. And you can get a different mount.
If you mount the tv on the wall, you can put. Put it on the mount itself. So you'll have a tv wall mount, and then you'll have a sound bar mount that mounts to the tv. So it looks like one piece of equipment. You still see it, but if you're just glancing at it, it just looks like part of the tv. It's okay. It's okay for things to be seen and live in a delusional world where everything's invisible, things are okay to be there, you know? Yeah, but everything else, everything else you can hide.
You can put all the equipment in a different room. You don't need to see it at all. So the only thing you'll see is the screen. Yeah, I mean, I had, when I had mine done, I had a. It was like right off the wall, and it was. I almost had like a bump out where I had the equipment in the room. And then on the outside in the hallway, I had a door, so we can access the back of the closet where all the equipment was.
So in case there anything you got to ever get into, to service or anything, you can get in there and do that. So, you know, if you can do this in a lot of homes that are already existing, but, you know, for people that are thinking to doing new builds, now's the time to sit down and talk to you about, you know, what. What would I like in my new build in the way of audio and visual and because a lot of this stuff, it's a lot easier to run wires when there's no drywall up. And less expensive.
And less expensive, most importantly, it's less expensive. Absolutely. So those things are important. But what's the difference? Now, when we talk about, you know, advanced screen surfaces, what are we talking about? The actual surface or. We're not. We're not talking about plasma versus led, are we? No, no. You're talking. You're talking oled versus led. Plasma is way gone. It's in a stone age. Yeah, yeah, it's way gone. Yeah. You're talking about pixels, actually. Right.
Who can give you the most pixels in the space allowed with the darkest, with the blackest blacks? And that's what gives you the greatest color palette. Yeah. And, you know, thinking about that, like, when you go into going to Costco, we'll say, and they have every kind of tv that's up there. Okay. And, you know, you're looking at the tv, and I think, I know when I go in there, I'm like, first thing I look at, I'm looking to see what tv has the best, best picture that I like.
And then after that, I'll go look at the brand and to see. And if I like the brand name and I like the picture, well, then I'll look further. If not, you know, but you think about all those even. Are there any differences in picture with the same pixel count between brands? Yes. Yeah, see, that's what I thought. Yes. Why is that? Because the ones with the less. With the better pixels and the more pixels gonna cost you more. Okay. You're gonna get a better picture. So the ones with the. If it's.
How many ever pixels that it has is the same, it's still. They're. They're not as close. Okay, so you all have more pixels on a 150 inch television set brand than on a 75 inch television of a different brand. No. Yeah. So it's. It's really crazy, but I gotta believe that Costco or Walmart or any. Any store that, that lines them all up like that, it's. It's. It's a marketing ploy, too. It's not just a shelf with tvs on it. Actually, today it is. You think so? Yeah, yeah. When I started.
First started in a business before, actually, when. One thousand eighty p. One thousand eighty. I first came out. I remember that. Remember that? Yeah. They used to send us out a machine to hook up to the televisions with an hd picture on it, with an hd loop on it, and it would give you the greatest picture you had ever seen in your life up to that moment. But when you take it home, it was just a regular old picture. So the tvs today, what you see at home is usually what you see at the store.
At the store, yeah. Yeah. The only difference is if you get at home and you have like a. You have 4k or eight k content, then you'll see the difference. You'll see a huge difference. Really? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, I know for a fact that when I had. When I had built that house with the theater room, we had, in fact, I had the almost the same concept design for that work that I did it at your customer's house when we took out. Remember that? The niche?
Yeah. Okay. Where I had a tv sitting in there and I had built it to fit around a certain size tv, but the thing was like 2ft deep, you know, and that was, that was, that was, you know, top of the line technology back then. And it's. But then it still took two people to get. To take it out and put it in the. And then when I went out and get it, that tape, believe it or not, that tv lasted almost 15 years. I remember that. Yeah. So, but now, I mean, I got one the same size screen, almost.
And I could put it under. I could carry one arm under, you know, and with one person, just my own. Right. Just carried it right in, put it. Put this. Put the legs on, put it on the stand, and there you are. I. And the pictures are great. So, I mean, it's, it's, it. The screens are just different. And I remember some of the other ones, they. They always told you, don't touch the screen. Besides. And it wasn't just to put your finger fingerprints on it.
They just always say, don't touch the screen. Right. Yeah. Because they were so, um. You could scratch them, actually. Really? Yeah, you scratch those screens because they had the laser, they had the plasma, and, um, the other was the. I forgot what it was called. It was so long ago. But you could actually scratch the screen and you don't want to touch them. And then it was. The oils in your fingers would get in there. Oh, yeah. You could leave oil marks on the screen.
Also piggyback on what you said about your television, your old tv. One of the things that people need to stay away from is building exact niches for a specific tv. Right. Cause if that tv goes out, then you're gonna catch it. If you find. If you got a television set and they change the sizes. Oh, yeah. Yeah, then you're in trouble. You know, one of my friends, she came up with a great idea she had that same thing happened.
So when the old tv went out, she bought another tv that, that fit in, but it wasn't as high as the other one. She took an old suitcase and put the suitcase on top of the bottom of the niche and put the tv on top of the suitcase. This way it was high enough and it works for her. I'm like, what do you want to do when you need the suitcase? She said, I don't use it anymore, but people will do certain things, you know, just, but you're absolutely right.
Don't build it for that one size because you never know what's going to change. You never know what's going to change. Yeah, it's crazy. It's crazy. All right, we're going to take one more break before we get to talk about a few more things, and then we're going to wrap things up. We're going to talk about the, actually talk a little bit about voice controlled systems and get ready for that seamless high tech experience. So I don't want everybody hang tight.
We gave you all this information, so this way you know, you know what to buy for Christmas and you need to go call Greg. So stay tuned. We got his contact information, too. You're listening to Boxcar Universe. Improve your home's energy efficiency by calling ifoam, your comfort and efficiency insulators. They are the premier foam and bat insulation specialist serving Phoenix's residential and commercial community.
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All right, we are back, and you're listening to Boxcar universe, and we are talking with Greg Lowry from definitive entertainment. And one of the last things we want to talk about, which is something that we briefly touched on in the first segment, talking about voice controlled systems. And I guess, Erica, we could call it the Jetson effect. Right, slash clapper or slash slapper. Right. Clap. Okay, Greg, talk. Turn that movie on. I still have one of those. Do you really? All right.
Does it work? Yeah. Just nothing like a little nostalgia. Hey, don't kid yourself. Nostalgic, because, you know, my videographer, he. In his studio where he has. He's got this one area where he's got all these old cameras. I think he brought. I think he said he had the first professional video camera that was used in Hollywood. That was 4d going back in the day. I mean, it. He's got is. It's. It's like a camera museum. So, yeah, so embedded nostalgia is good. It's good to reflect.
But anyway, so beyond enough with a clapper. Let's. Let's talk about these voice controlled systems. Well, voice control has been around for a little bit. It's been kind of shaky when it first came in, of course, just like any new technology. But today, with the advent of Echo and Siri and Alexa and Alexa. Yeah. I call them listening devices. Cause they're spying on you. They are? They are? Oh, yeah. They are. Oh, yeah. How do you think they understand you? Well, yeah, it's always on, so.
But you have to be AI. They have to be some AI. They are AI. How are they turning around? Yeah, yeah. I mean, they're gonna turn around, they're gonna talk to you, so they're gonna. Lock you out of your house one day. I mean, can you imagine? That'd be great for somebody who's, who's, you know, elderly, single, has something, needs somebody to talk to. They don't have a pet. They'll talk to their, they'll talk to Alexa.
Well, I was in a home a few years ago, this was probably about eight years ago, seven years ago, and we were installing some televisions, and I was talking to one of my techs, and the AI came on and said, ask me to repeat the question. Really? Yeah. It just listens to everything. That's the way it works. It listens to everything. It picks up on the keywords. That's how it works. But today it doesn't happen so much. They pick up on keywords as well, like treat food, car, outside, go for a drive.
We're going to the vet, and they run away. Grandma's house. What? Yeah. Yeah. But you can connect these devices to the system, and, I mean, it can control your, you can control your lighting, you can control your sound and your playback with voice commands. You can also integrate the system so you can have them play your, pull up your. And play your favorite streaming apps.
So it's, it's, it can, it can get complicated to, to program, but once it's programmed, you won't have any problems with it. You shouldn't. Now, what happens if there's, like, an electrical outage? Does it hold all the programming? It holds the programming. Really? Yes. Yes. God forbid. I can't. Can you imagine that? If electricity goes out, you got to have somebody come over and reprogram everything? What a nightmare.
Well, depending on what system you use, as far as control, some systems, you have to come over and reprogram everything. Other systems, the more expensive systems, they have it backed up, and all you have to do is download it. Wow. Yeah. So those are the. I suggest the better systems. Sure. Because we were in Scottsdale once. I think we were on, like, six weeks on just programming. No way. Really? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Five days a week. Five days a week. Wow. And we were like, six weeks.
It was a 10,000 square foot home. And the system controlled all the lighting. Was it in silver leaf? Judson. Oh, Judson. And it controlled all the lighting. It controlled inside and outside the house. It controlled the water system, the irrigation system, the pool system. It controlled all the components for the audio system. So it did. It was a lot. It was a lot. And they wanted it a specific way, so it just took some time to get it right for them. Ring doorbell.
Yeah. I mean, I. I'm in Vegas, and someone's at your front door, and you could see who's in your front door, and you're 250 miles away or even further if you're in another part of the country, which is really good, and you can even talk to them. I mean, I know somebody went to my door once, and I was out of town, and I was like, who the heck is it? My front door? And it was somebody that was a friend of mine didn't know that I was out. She needed. She wanted to stop by and say.
And talk to me about something, and I was like, I'm in Vegas. Come back and see me in three days. You want to add a camera system to that, too? Well, it's got the camera on it. No, I mean for the. For the rest of the. All around the home. Oh, the interior. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. I was out shopping once, and my cousin came in. She flew in, and we forgot all about the time. And she calls me, hey, I'm at the house. So I get on my cameras. I see it's her.
Okay. I switch off the alarm, I open the garage door, and then I open the inside door. I turn the lock. Open the lock on the inside door. I did all that for my phone. Yeah. And then when she was in, you know, I closed everything up. Yeah. So. So you can actually control your whole home from your phone or your iPad or your tablet or your laptop. You know, you can. You can put the app on there, and then you. You can control it from wherever.
Yeah. I mean, it's just pretty amazing, these things that you could do now to be able to do that. But what do you think? And I know every. Every home that you do is a little bit different, but is there, like, maybe a range you could tell the listeners, like. Like, something that's basic versus something that's in the middle and something maybe that's more, you know, more luxury orientated. I mean, what kind of range? You know? You mean price range? Price range.
So that people might be looking at. And I know it's hard. You can't pinpoint one because they're all different. But, I mean. Well, basic is just the tv. That. That's it. It's just tv. And you mount it on the wall, or you just put the feet on and you put it on top of a table somewhere. That's basic. That's easy enough. Yeah, but if you're looking for, like, a simple surround sound, I would go with the wireless surround sound, because at that point, you're not running wires, you're nothing.
Chopping up your house, you can actually just go with the sound bar, a good sound bar and a subwoofer. That's all you need. Okay. If you want true surround sound, then add two wireless speakers for the rears, and that won't cost a whole lot. You're looking at for that with the tv, maybe 5000 from ten to 2020, you can get a full blown surround sound tv system installed. Basic, basic control. Remote control. And there's stages above that.
Sure. You know, because it all depends on, you know, the room and everything. But, I mean, I've done homes for, like I said, a couple thousand dollars. I've done homes for a couple hundred thousand dollars. And it all depends on what you want, how you want it. It's really hard to pin down specific pricing because product is so diverse. You know, I can get you a speaker, a pair of speakers for $150, or I can get you a pair of speakers for $500,000. Okay. It's that large of a range.
It's unbelievable, the sound that these speakers have. I get it. I'm sure they're amazing. I understand. It's like someone gives you a Shetland pony. They're rotten little things. And then they tease you with a Kentucky thoroughbred. Yeah. Okay. That's the difference. There truly is a huge difference in sound. Picture quality. Yeah. You can see it. There's a big difference. But sound will make you cry. Yeah, I know. Like, I understand that. The speakers in my car, they're terrible.
And, like, I'm like, does anybody hear that? They're like, no, it sounds great. And I'm like, nope, I hear it. I hear it. So I, like, hear, like, little reverbs. I'm really ultra sensitive to. And most people are. Most people are. And believe it or not, there have been tests where they'll have the same tv, one in each room, but the sound system in the two rooms are totally different. One's higher quality, and they will all come back.
And we're asked the same question, which television set looked the best? And they all picked the one that had the better sound, right? Yeah, that's right. I could see that. That's amazing. Greg, tell our listeners how they could contact you. We can go to definitiveentertainment.com and go on our website, or you can give us a call at 602-550-4513 yeah. And that's. And you basically cover the whole phoenix area and surrounding. And state. State. All right.
Actually, we've done work out of state, too, but. Really? Yeah. All right. For your listeners in state, too. Sure. I mean, we're all over the country. But, you know, for our purposes here. Yeah, yeah. Around the state. That's real. That's really good. Yeah. Even, even up in Greer. Even up in Greer. Even up in Greer where there's, there's like nothing but. Except peace and quiet. But no, Greer is a really nice place. I was up there once and I really enjoyed it. It was really good.
But Greg, thanks so much for being on a show today. A wealth of knowledge and don't be a stranger will be around. This is our home at the box car universe studio. So make sure that you will stay in touch and see what happens. And I look forward to a good 2025. Thank you for having me. You know, and then if you, if you're really good, Eric, go get your pony. Yes. I know where to find them. Oh, yeah. All right. All right. And we want to thank all our listeners for listening to Boxcar Universe.
And remember, we are your source for cutting edge information on container homes, container pools, remodeling and renovations. And, and one of those wireless systems would work fabulous in a container. His. We were going to have our model out on the west side of town, and that's something that we should probably offer, and we can work that out. Offer a sound system for your container home, which I think would really be good and make, make it even more enjoyable than it already is.
But if you are thinking of building a container home, make sure you touch base with Eric or myself, and we could help design that dream container home for you. Make sure that you could always contact us at boxcarliving@gmail.com, or Steve at boxcar universe.com. and remember, Boxcar Universe can be heard, excuse me. Can be heard weekly on any podcast player. And always remember Boxcar universe, remodeling and renovating your world. Have a great weekend. You're a great american. I love.