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Dialogue hard to hear. Any thoughts? |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,094
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Dialogue hard to hear. Any thoughts?
Hi. I've been having trouble for years understanding the dialogue in some films and TV programmes, and, having discovered recently that I'm not the only one, I was wondering whether it's something to do with the AV equipment and/or source material, and not just my ageing ears.
For the last few years I've had a Panasonic digital TV with built-in stereo speakers (no home cinema or hifi speakers), and used to have a lot of troubling hearing the dialogue clearly. But since I started using a pair of cordless headphones for most of my TV viewing (I live alone), I've been OK. So I didn't think much more about the issue until this Christmas, when I was staying with my sister, who has a similar TV (Sony). Watching TV was OK, but, when we watched a couple of DVDs, we all had difficulty understanding the dialogue, and had to turn up the volume really high. So where's the problem (besides our ears)? Is it because... - TV stereo speakers are generally naff? - TV stereo speakers are not far enough apart, so there's some sort of interference between the sound channels? - Films have a lot of background noise, which is not adequately separated out when you're listening through built-in speakers? - Films are made for surround sound, and don't handle stereo well? In this case, should it help if we made a point of selecting the stereo (2.0) option in the DVD's sound set-up menu? What's the default option in these menus anyway (it seems unclear to me)? - Any other ideas? Thanks for any thoughts. |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,770
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It's not a fault, but relates to how sound is scaled in Dolby Digital.
With Dolby the aim is to offer a more realistic dynamic range, so explosions sound much louder than dialogue as they would do in real life. To hear the quieter sounds at reasonable volume you therefore need to turn up the sound on your TV. With standard TV audio the dynamic range is compressed to make everything sound as loud as possible, as the belief is that most people do not want to hear an ear splitting contrast between loud and quiet sounds. One way of looking at it is that Dolby isn't too quiet; it's normal TV sound that's too loud!
Last edited by meltcity : 27-12-2006 at 12:26. |
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#3 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,094
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Thanks for that explanation, meltcity. However I don't think that can be the whole story. When I say we had to turn up the volume when watching a DVD, I don't just mean we had to turn it up until the dialogue volume was up to what it would normally be for TV. I mean that we had to turn it up even louder, to overcome the lack of clarity. Or so it seemed.
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: West Midlands, UK
Posts: 997
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I'm relieved I am not the only one that this happens to.
I always thought my ears were not as good as they used to be
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#5 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 95
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this happens to me to,anyone suggest a cure,without home cinema,as i dont have the room
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#6 |
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Posts: n/a
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tichtich
So where's the problem (besides our ears)? Is it because... - TV stereo speakers are generally naff? - TV stereo speakers are not far enough apart, so there's some sort of interference between the sound channels? - Films have a lot of background noise, which is not adequately separated out when you're listening through built-in speakers? - Films are made for surround sound, and don't handle stereo well? In this case, should it help if we made a point of selecting the stereo (2.0) option in the DVD's sound set-up menu? What's the default option in these menus anyway (it seems unclear to me)? - Any other ideas? Thanks for any thoughts. B) Distance between speakers will not introduce interference. Having speakers too close will only destroy the stereo image. Majority of manufacturers include virtual 3D sound in an attempt to widen the sound stage. C) The content of the films soundtrack whether it be DD2.1/4.0/5.1 should not affect the the way you are listening, e.g non multichannel - mono/stereo. D) Films are recorded in surround sound (DD/DTS) but they also carry the stereo soundtrack too. A stereo soundtrack will carry the same information as the multichannel soundtrack, the difference being, instead of being decoded into 5.1 channels it decodes it into just 2 channels. At a guess I would say that if you are connected via scart then the player will be stereo (2channel) by default. Worth checking. Multichannel/bitstream options are normally only available when the digital connection (optical/coaxial) is in use. Last edited by TommyW : 27-12-2006 at 18:42. |
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