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Chat => General Discussion => Topic started by: Coded on March 22, 2008, 22:45:10 PM

Title: TV Too loud but then quiet ?
Post by: Coded on March 22, 2008, 22:45:10 PM
I constantly have this problem with my TV and sometimes PC. When watching movies usually (incl on normal tv) the sound of the music is loud but when people start talking it is hard to hear it.

It gets quite annoying as i have to constantly turn the volume up and down.

Does anyone know why this is?

thanks
Title: TV Too loud but then quiet ?
Post by: knighty on March 22, 2008, 23:48:23 PM
its something to do with 5/1 sound iirc..... it sounds spot on with 5.1 but doesent work quite right when its nocked back to stereo

guessing its because music is suposed to come out of all the speakers, where as talking etc.. is suposed to come out of just 1 or 2 speakers depending on where the person is standing in relation to the camera ?
Title: Re:TV Too loud but then quiet ?
Post by: Mark on March 23, 2008, 00:00:46 AM
youve got to stay in the same position in the room for the sound to be of uniform level

when you walk out to the kitchen it will be a good bit quieter :)
Title: Re:TV Too loud but then quiet ?
Post by: neXus on March 23, 2008, 00:03:28 AM
Both of the above will be correct, a number of dvds do not have the option but going into options in the menu and selecting stereo if you only have that is something you should do.
Title: TV Too loud but then quiet ?
Post by: Leon on March 23, 2008, 04:35:28 AM
Annoys me alot when Channels put adverts louder than the programs.
Title: TV Too loud but then quiet ?
Post by: neXus on March 23, 2008, 05:11:04 AM
Quote from: DoomsAnnoys me alot when Channels put adverts louder than the programs.

I was thinking that, I mean WTF, some shows are also really quite so you boost them up and then the adverts come on and your like "WTF!!!!!" looking for the remote
Title: Re:TV Too loud but then quiet ?
Post by: zpyder on March 23, 2008, 09:31:14 AM
I heard a theory was that they do that on the assumption people get up to make a cup of tea etc and its so you can still hear the ads ><

Something Ive noticed which winds me up quite a bit is Sky+. On Box Office/Pay Per View it seems that we have a problem where the signal starts getting crappy about halfway through a film. Its fine on non-pay channels, but youre guaranteed if youre watching box office, halfway through its like the signal gets lost for a split second so the picture starts pausing and the sound crackles.

Now, the sound issue, sometimes when the above happens, the speakers let out an almighty pop/crackle thats quite high pitch and loud. After this happens the volume seems to go right down. So say we had the TV on the 20 setting, afterwards it has to go up to the 30 to get the same volume. 5 mins later though the volumes crept back up and we have to put it back to 20 to stop being deafened.

Just wondering if TVs have a volume protector built in, and if the crackle could be over the controlled limit so the TV auto reduces the sound afterwards for a while?


What pisses me off the most though is my dads increasing deafness. Watching a film downstairs with the family is too annoying now. Its an endless cycle of my dad putting the volume up a good 20% more than necessary at the start of the film. It might creep up a little more when someone is being quiet on the TV. Then theres an explosion and he puts it down a little, but not back to normal levels. The volume of the explosion is loud enough to temporarily effect everyones hearing so putting it back down does make it too quiet. This continues for the next 2 hours or so until the film ends and the volume is 2x as high as at the start of the film. And for approximately half the film, we have been watching a volume bar going backwards and forwards...
Title: Re:TV Too loud but then quiet ?
Post by: neXus on March 23, 2008, 11:53:45 AM
Well the bbc for example used to have interference built into a movie and stages of the movie so if you recorded it on tape if you played it back it would look a little funny/sound funny at these places so you knew it was recorded off tv

Apparently

But basically I am sure there is all odd thoughts and features in TV we do not exactly know abou
Title: TV Too loud but then quiet ?
Post by: Sweenster on March 23, 2008, 11:54:47 AM
the quiet voices problem is due to 5.1

usually where they have done it in a lazy way and stuck the speech through centre channel, when the computer/dvd player downmixes to stereo it takes left and right with a bit from the other channels so you dont miss anything.

Unfortunately as it is mostly ambient noise (music/background) on the left and right speakers that is what you hear, it is just the extra bit they take from the centre channel that you actually get for voice.

Tis just cheap sound mixing, better dvds either have a stereo option or have the sound better mixed between speakers (true 5.1)
Title: Re:TV Too loud but then quiet ?
Post by: Serious on March 24, 2008, 00:48:58 AM
Music sound on a 5.1 goes through the surround speakers, voices go through the centre one, so if you are on sterio the above will happen. There isnt that much you can do about it unless you fancy putting your hand in your pocket and buying some new speakers. Most systems I have listened to solve this properly but it looks like yours dont.

Splash out on a cheap set of 5.1 speakers, if you are using the TV speakers even the cheapest should give you markedly better sound than at present.
Title: TV Too loud but then quiet ?
Post by: Sweenster on March 24, 2008, 01:24:02 AM
not all dvds are coded that way, generally it is only the cheaper ones, tis lazy 5.1 mixing, recorded in stereo then the extra sound added later in a studio with no effort to mix in the voice and ambience together
Title: TV Too loud but then quiet ?
Post by: Cheule on March 24, 2008, 17:12:24 PM
Generally the problems are twofold, namely the 5.1 downmixing issue and the fact that most TVs including mine have that annoying bloody volume limiter on them. Its always a pain if theres a bit of music or a gun going off for example then straight away youre craning your neck forward straining to hear the dialogue. :(
Title: TV Too loud but then quiet ?
Post by: Alien8 on March 24, 2008, 17:29:08 PM
Quote from: neXus
Quote from: DoomsAnnoys me alot when Channels put adverts louder than the programs.

I was thinking that, I mean WTF, some shows are also really quite so you boost them up and then the adverts come on and your like "WTF!!!!!" looking for the remote

IIRC most of the ads thing, is due to a sound engineering trick called compression and the way your brain works, compression makes all sounds the same db but the brain being the brain doesnt take the db level but what it should be, for example voices under an explosion/gunfire are quieter so the brain makes it so.

but when they do it in adds there tends to be no background noise so the brain hears at the same level as the ears, so voices seem really load.

but is you where to monitor the mean db rating during the ads, then tv show they should be about the same.

its like the way the eyes auto white balance in daylight, incandescent and fluorescent light, and on a projected image like a home projector or cinema( screens are grey), there is no black but the eye makes a black as it knows what should be black and makes the  grey screen the black point
Title: TV Too loud but then quiet ?
Post by: Jaimz on March 24, 2008, 17:44:54 PM
paramount and dave are dreadful for loud adverts.

Jaimz :rock:
Title: TV Too loud but then quiet ?
Post by: zpyder on March 24, 2008, 18:57:33 PM
Quote from: Alien8but when they do it in adds there tends to be no background noise so the brain hears at the same level as the ears, so voices seem really load.

but is you where to monitor the mean db rating during the ads, then tv show they should be about the same.

I bet youd find that guy on the cilit bang adverts voice is a good amount higher than most other TV generated sounds ><
Title: Re:TV Too loud but then quiet ?
Post by: Alien8 on March 26, 2008, 23:21:05 PM
it should not be a greater db its probably a  perceived loudness, but thats not to say a channel wont bent the rules a bit


link to The Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (http://www.cap.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/89548571-FA23-4642-B04D-8812C58D9FF3/0/BCAP_Television_Advertising_Standards_Code.pdf).