Why does BBC 1 now call itself BBC1 LON?
 

In article ,
Davey wrote:

Agreed about the low volume on HD, just another reason I don't bother
with it.

Is it just my TV, or has the volume on the HD channels become much
lower in the last day or so? It was always quieter than SD, but
it seems to have got worse.

-- Richard

Why does BBC 1 now call itself BBC1 LON?
 

On Wed, 1 Jan 2014 13:07:03 +0000 (UTC),
(Richard Tobin) wrote:

In article ,
Davey wrote:

Agreed about the low volume on HD, just another reason I don't bother
with it.

Is it just my TV, or has the volume on the HD channels become much
lower in the last day or so? It was always quieter than SD, but
it seems to have got worse.


Appropo of this, does anyone know why "HD Rules" regarding sound
levels seem to be applied to the quiz show, "Eggheads" on BBC2 SD?

We don't have HD Freeview so watch it in SD just like everything else
we view. Presumably, since I see it listed in the BBC2 HD scheduling,
the show is recorded in an HD studio. However, since BBC2 HD only
started 26 March last year and I'm pretty certain this has been an
issue for long enough to be labelled a perennial one, I presume the
downsampling for SD consumption has ignored the issue of low sound
levels (contrary to the OTT processing applied in other quiz show
productions such as "Mock The Week").

Quizz shows such as "Eggheads" actually need a modicum of
intelligently applied audio compression to improve their quality
(after all, it's not as if they need to preserve dynamics so that a
loud explosion in a dramatic production has the desired effect of
making you literally jump in surprise at the astonishingly more
accurate rendition of 'acoustic reality').

As far as BBC productions are concerned, it seems to be an "All or
Nothing" approach to the issue of sound processing (it either remains
untouched or else has the dynamics flattened out of it - sometimes
"with extreme prejudice" so amply demonstrated by the "Mock The Week"
example).

With Eggheads, turning up the volume by a good 10db or so suffices to
compensate (but the 'natural' dynamics provide no additional
assistance over the matter of 'intelligibility' of the questions and
answers being voiced). Unfortunately, it's the loud and shouty
continuity and trailers afterwards that prove to be the most annoying.
Bad enough at 'normal' volume level, but made all the worst by the
temporarily louder volume setting needed to properly enjoy the quizz
show itself.

I'm just astonished that this situation has persisted for so long.
I'd have thought there would have been enough complaints to nudge the
BBC production team into action on this or, failing any such
complaints, for someone in the production team to mention, off their
own bat so to speak, that it might be a good idea to apply some
intelligently applied processing to improve the 'viewer experience'.

It seems to me that the sound production team are quite happy to "Sit
on their thumbs" and for the producer of the show to do likewise
(which is remarkable in itself since most 'producers' like to make a
'contribution', no matter how stupid it might be, just to demonstrate
that they're worth their salary).
--
Regards, J B Good

Why does BBC 1 now call itself BBC1 LON?
 

On Wed, 1 Jan 2014 11:52:46 +0000, Davey
wrote:

On Wed, 1 Jan 2014 10:04:46 -0000
"Brian Gaff" wrote:

And the talking box does notcover hd. Bit pointless really as the
sound is the same except its apparently quieter on hd and the AD on
boxes that support it sounds too quiet to me.
Brian


Agreed about the low volume on HD, just another reason I don't bother
with it.

Having to adjust the volume control seem a bizarre reason to forego
high definition pictures. A friend of mine once said she would never
again buy a quartz watch because you keep having to change the
battery.

Why does BBC 1 now call itself BBC1 LON?
 

Scott wrote:
On Wed, 1 Jan 2014 11:52:46 +0000, Davey
wrote:

On Wed, 1 Jan 2014 10:04:46 -0000
"Brian Gaff" wrote:

And the talking box does notcover hd. Bit pointless really as the
sound is the same except its apparently quieter on hd and the AD on
boxes that support it sounds too quiet to me.
Brian

Agreed about the low volume on HD, just another reason I don't bother
with it.

Having to adjust the volume control seem a bizarre reason to forego
high definition pictures.

+1 The level difference between HD and SD channels is annoying, and
I've got too much of a hangover to explain the reasons HD levels can
end up in that state, but they do, and it's not ideal, but hardly
a deal breaker to ditch HD.

More annoying are level differences on the same channel between progs,
continuity shouters, and promos, (as Jonny B mentions in his post)
That's just sloppy operational practice.


--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

Why does BBC 1 now call itself BBC1 LON?
 

"Scott" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 1 Jan 2014 11:52:46 +0000, Davey
wrote:

On Wed, 1 Jan 2014 10:04:46 -0000
"Brian Gaff" wrote:

And the talking box does notcover hd. Bit pointless really as the
sound is the same except its apparently quieter on hd and the AD on
boxes that support it sounds too quiet to me.
Brian


Agreed about the low volume on HD, just another reason I don't bother
with it.

Having to adjust the volume control seem a bizarre reason to forego
high definition pictures. A friend of mine once said she would never
again buy a quartz watch because you keep having to change the
battery.

Quite a reasonable objection as you have to pay through the nose for a
battery every few years (even more for fitting) and probably lose any water
resistance. Which is why I've bought a 'kinetic' one that charges its own
battery (though no guarantee it will last any longer than a few years).

--
Max Demian

Why does BBC 1 now call itself BBC1 LON?
 

On Wed, 1 Jan 2014 17:16:03 -0000, "Max Demian"
wrote:

"Scott" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 1 Jan 2014 11:52:46 +0000, Davey
wrote:

On Wed, 1 Jan 2014 10:04:46 -0000
"Brian Gaff" wrote:

And the talking box does notcover hd. Bit pointless really as the
sound is the same except its apparently quieter on hd and the AD on
boxes that support it sounds too quiet to me.
Brian


Agreed about the low volume on HD, just another reason I don't bother
with it.

Having to adjust the volume control seem a bizarre reason to forego
high definition pictures. A friend of mine once said she would never
again buy a quartz watch because you keep having to change the
battery.

Quite a reasonable objection as you have to pay through the nose for a
battery every few years (even more for fitting) and probably lose any water
resistance. Which is why I've bought a 'kinetic' one that charges its own
battery (though no guarantee it will last any longer than a few years).

Within the context of the overall household budget, I don't see the
cost of a battery as a major concern. However, we all have to make
our own judgements, I suppose.

Why does BBC 1 now call itself BBC1 LON?
 

On Wed, 01 Jan 2014 15:40:07 +0000, Mark Carver
wrote:

More annoying are level differences on the same channel between progs,
continuity shouters, and promos, (as Jonny B mentions in his post)
That's just sloppy operational practice.

Talking of which, have you listened to Ch.5 continuity lately?
I measured about a 12dB difference between programme and the sodding
announcer blasting over the top at the end. I'd almost guess someone
has switched out a comp./lim. accidentally somewhere. Talk about
incompetence...

Who does their TX these days?

Why does BBC 1 now call itself BBC1 LON?
 

tim..... wrote:

It's almost enough to make you wonder if such people should have been
forcibly kicked into the near future by only broadcasting from the
relays in T2. I don't mean 'only in HD', but there would be no SD
duplicates of HD channels. There would be SD channels in T2.

You can't do that until there isn't a large supply of legacy TVs that
can't do HD.

And I don't mean HD "ready" screens. I mean PVRs. You can still buy,
new, SD only PVRs as they cost less because you put a *much* smaller
disk in them.

It will be at least 10 years (IMHO) before it is "fair" to obsolete this
equipment

I was only dreaming...

Bill

Why does BBC 1 now call itself BBC1 LON?
 

Paul Ratcliffe wrote:
On Wed, 01 Jan 2014 15:40:07 +0000, Mark Carver
wrote:

More annoying are level differences on the same channel between progs,
continuity shouters, and promos, (as Jonny B mentions in his post)
That's just sloppy operational practice.

Talking of which, have you listened to Ch.5 continuity lately?
I measured about a 12dB difference between programme and the sodding
announcer blasting over the top at the end. I'd almost guess someone
has switched out a comp./lim. accidentally somewhere. Talk about
incompetence...

Who does their TX these days?

It's still at Stephen Street W1 at what started life as Pearsons,
I've lot track who runs the site now, Freemantle ?

It's only C5 there, C5+1 and the C5 siblings are all done at Red Bee in W12

--
Mark
Please replace invalid and invalid with gmx and net to reply.

Why does BBC 1 now call itself BBC1 LON?
 

Mark Carver wrote:
Roderick Stewart wrote:

It's fortunate not everybody thinks like that. Just as well. If nobody
saw any point in improving anything, or just doing things well for the
sake of doing them well, then we might have decided a long time ago
that it was tiresome watching a flickering neon lamp through a
spinning disk and just given up the notion of television altogether.

Quite. In fact extend the argument further, and we'd all still be living
in caves.


In the particular matter under discussion I agree. HD is a GOOD THING.
However, as a general philosophical point, the principle that
improvements are always worthwhile is not valid.

Cost-benefit analysis might say that the improvement isn't worth the
cost. For instance, converting a road to dual carriageway might not be
worth doing.

Also, if something is already so good that any 'improvements' are
imperceptible then there's really no point. A good example would be
whether I should have plastic surgery.

Bill