TV Background noise (Music louder that the speech) problem,

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
Of course it will depend on the progs you view, but I can't say it's a
regular occurrence. Quite rare on the stuff I view, actually.

But I feed the line output of my TV into a decent external amp and
speakers - so don't have any of the processing pitfalls so many modern
sets may provide.

It would help if some actual examples were given so I could check to see
if it's the same here. Obviously it depends on your own preferences too -
some just hate background music regardless of the relative levels.
Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Hi Dave, worst programmes for me are budget type films on channel 5 in the
afternoon
but there are many others I will try and make a list.

Mick.

In article ,
S Viemeister writes:
On 4/8/2012 6:04 AM, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
Of course it will depend on the progs you view, but I can't say it's a
regular occurrence. Quite rare on the stuff I view, actually.

But I feed the line output of my TV into a decent external amp and
speakers - so don't have any of the processing pitfalls so many modern
sets may provide.

It would help if some actual examples were given so I could check to see
if it's the same here. Obviously it depends on your own preferences too -
some just hate background music regardless of the relative levels.

I don't mind _background_ music - what I dislike is _foreground_
music making it difficult to hear the actors!!!

Agreed. And it doesn't help when the actors mumble, as many now seem to
do. It may be partly due to my increasing age, but I don't think that
all of it is.
--
John Hall
Johnson: "Well, we had a good talk."
Boswell: "Yes, Sir, you tossed and gored several persons."
Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-84); James Boswell (1740-95)

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Martin wrote:
Try watching almost any BBC science programme.

On Sun, 08 Apr 2012 11:04:06 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

Of course it will depend on the progs you view, but I can't say it's a
regular occurrence. Quite rare on the stuff I view, actually.

But I feed the line output of my TV into a decent external amp and
speakers - so don't have any of the processing pitfalls so many modern
sets may provide.

It would help if some actual examples were given so I could check to see
if it's the same here. Obviously it depends on your own preferences
too -
some just hate background music regardless of the relative levels.

I'd say you fit into the category of one who hates any background music
regardless of the balance between it and dialogue.

I blame the silent movies.

The constant grinding away of the orchestra in the background; the need to
underline every emotion. Films where music is part of the story and it's
hard to tell this from the background music.

--
Max Demian

In message , Ian Jackson
writes
In message , Davey
writes
On Sun, 8 Apr 2012 07:54:55 +0100
"Mick." wrote:

TV Background noise (Music louder that the speech) problem,





I also hate it when they either whisper, or have the speech coming from
a telephone, both instances mean I can't hear it.

I'm by no means deaf. However, I often turn the subtitles on -
especially when I'm dual-tasking - ie watching TV while using the
computer. This means I don't have to concentrate so hard to follow the
TV dialogue. I also make a lot of use of the video recorder in the
watch & record (timeshift) mode, so that if I don't catch what was
said, I can do a quick rewind to the bit I missed, then continue.

I managed to cheer up a friend last night by telling him that not being
able to follow the dialogue on TV did not necessarily mean he was going
deaf.
--
Ian

"Ian" wrote in message
...
In message , Ian Jackson
writes
In message , Davey
writes
On Sun, 8 Apr 2012 07:54:55 +0100
"Mick." wrote:

TV Background noise (Music louder that the speech) problem,





I also hate it when they either whisper, or have the speech coming from
a telephone, both instances mean I can't hear it.

I'm by no means deaf. However, I often turn the subtitles on - especially
when I'm dual-tasking - ie watching TV while using the computer. This
means I don't have to concentrate so hard to follow the TV dialogue. I
also make a lot of use of the video recorder in the watch & record
(timeshift) mode, so that if I don't catch what was said, I can do a quick
rewind to the bit I missed, then continue.

I managed to cheer up a friend last night by telling him that not being
able to follow the dialogue on TV did not necessarily mean he was going
deaf.
--
Ian

Is there a system, or is any broadcaster planning a system, which will
separate the transmitted music and speech channels so that every viewer can
control the balance between them just the way they like it...?

V

This is not meant to be an insult, but a genuine question. Are you
one of a small minority of people who are tone deaf, by any chance?

While it's definitely true that some programmes and films are badly
mixed so that the music drowns the speech, I've complained about it
myself in this very place in the recent past, it's a fault of the
particular programme or film, not a general fault with all programmes
and films. It's difficult to imagine a film like "Doctor Zhivago" or
"Far From The Madding Crowd", let alone "Lady Sings The Blues",
without their music.

On Sun, 8 Apr 2012 21:46:50 +0100, "Max Demian"
wrote:

The constant grinding away of the orchestra in the background; the need to
underline every emotion. Films where music is part of the story and it's
hard to tell this from the background music.
--
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In article , Java Jive
wrote:
This is not meant to be an insult, but a genuine question. Are you one
of a small minority of people who are tone deaf, by any chance?

IIRC there are various conditions that can degrade the ability of a human
to engage the "cocktail party effect" discriminator built into our hearing
system. This normally allows us to pull out of a complex mix of sounds the
ones we need/wish to concentrate upon. (Also useful for letting us hear
sounds *without* noticing the room acoustics.)

This is quite a complex matter. I can often easily spot one off or sour
contribution to something like a symphony orchestra, which in power terms
should be drowned out. But I find it hard to listen to one voice amongst
many, or when there is a lot of LF.

While it's definitely true that some programmes and films are badly
mixed so that the music drowns the speech, I've complained about it
myself in this very place in the recent past, it's a fault of the
particular programme or film, not a general fault with all programmes
and films. It's difficult to imagine a film like "Doctor Zhivago" or
"Far From The Madding Crowd", let alone "Lady Sings The Blues", without
their music.

I suspect the problem here is the judgement of those balancing the audio.
And their ability to take into account how the result will sound in
domestic situations - which may often mean less-than-superb sound kit, room
acoustic, etc.

I'm not that interested in 'surround' but IIUC the systems do allow for a
'center' channel, and one of its nominal purposes is to allow speech to
have its own channel to some extent, and so give the user come control over
the speech/other-sounds balance in their individual home. But again, how
often this can be, and is, used I have no idea.

Sound on DVD is sometimes very sloppily done. I have more than one
commercial film DVD where the 'mono' sound is actually *antiphased*
dual-stereo. And I've encountered this live from BBC Scotland TV during
their 6:30pm news! They seem particularly 'accident-prone'.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
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"Victor Delta" wrote in message
...

Is there a system, or is any broadcaster planning a system, which will
separate the transmitted music and speech channels so that every viewer
can control the balance between them just the way they like it...?

V
That would be really good, I thought a "sound bar" would help adjust that a
bit but is makes no difference that I can find.
Mick.

"Java Jive" wrote in message
...
This is not meant to be an insult, but a genuine question. Are you
one of a small minority of people who are tone deaf, by any chance?

Yes I think I have always been tone deaf to some degree, but I can tell the
difference between sterio and mono sound output.
Mick.

Mick. wrote:

Yes I think I have always been tone deaf to some degree, but I can tell
the difference between sterio and mono sound output.

The crux for me is the help I get from surround sound. Mono and stereo
are just as bad for me when it comes to hearing the speech.

But setting my amp to generate a centre channel (which it will do
properly for multi-channel sound sources, and will emulate for stereo
sources) makes a massive difference.

I've got a speaker mounted under the TV, connected to the centre
channel output of my amp. All the dialogue comes from that speaker,
and it really has made a tremendous difference to its volume and
clarity.

I think that is all you need to do.

--
SteveT