Hold the phone!

Does anyone else struggle to hear wtf anyone is saying on TV dramas these days but they cannot increase the volume because the music and SFX would burst their ear drums?

I have an idea for a gizmo which would “normalises” the volume, increasing the low volume bits and decreasing the high volume bits. There has got to be other people other people having the same problem out there no? Does anyone know of a TV that does this already?

Find this happens on a lot, especially with films. It is very annoying. Think you can alter the sound settings, which helps a little (well it did on the last TV we had)

You may very well already have a “dynamic range” setting buried in the audio settings menu of the TV.

Most modern TVs will have something along these lines, sometimes its called “Midnight Mode”

Personally I uses home cinema and having a dedicated centre speaker for the dialogue makes everything a lot clearer without increasing the volume.

Its called a hearing aid isnt it?

Pretty much any modern TV or amplifier/sound system has that built in. Normaliser, Dynamic Range, or ‘night mode’ they are sometimes called.

Haha, not only can I not type properly but it seems this is not a new idea.

Sonos soundbars have a setting to boost speech also

I have a better millionaire TV idea.

There should be an app where you enter your region and what streaming services you have access to and membership of. Then, when you want to watch a movie or series, you search the title and it tells you that you can watch it for free on Netflix or Prime etc. If you can’t watch it for free then it sorts by price order where you can buy it.

prime already does that

Can you add auto-mute for adverts while you’re at it?
Also, maybe while the adverts are on, it could show pictures of funny cats or something. Everyone loves a lolcat 👌

There should be an app where you enter your region and what streaming services you have access to and membership of.

Think the new Google TV dongle does this! Plus then recommends what you can buy if you don’t have access. Although I think it tends to point you at Google’s own store, but other options are also listed.

Think the UK version needs some work, but broadly it’s designed to be a one stop app for all sources e.g. iPlayer, All4, Prime, Now TV etc etc

Google TV

@franksinatra: it’s called Reelgood.

I already have my TV set to ‘clear speech’ in the audio menu otherwise the booming noises drowns out the dialogue.

Can you add auto-mute for adverts while you’re at it?

I’d pay good money for this.

Yup, most TVs and set top boxes have limiters, to reduce the dynamic range.

They don’t help when quiet dialogue is mixed in with louder noises at the same time though… which I find now happens all the time. Or perhaps I’m going deaf.

I have a better millionaire TV idea.

Apple TV does this.

It’s called something like ‘amplify speech’ on mine.

Anyway I think the basic problem is that the people doing the sound have good quality surround setups, and plebs like me have a cheap stereo soundbar over non-HD Freeview. At some point the downmix to stereo sucks and the plebs suffer.

Also avoid Christopher Nolan films – he’s notorious for drowning out dialogue with sounds effects/ambient noise and actually thinks it’s something audiences should appreciate as it’s part of his art… Even other directors have tried to have a word with him about it.

Film 4 (on Sky) is atrocious for this, film level low, ads come on and blast out the speakers. Give me the gizmo!

At some point the downmix to stereo sucks and the plebs suffer.

Yes.

I’d like a smart TV that linked to my kettle and turned it on 2 mins before the adverts start please

I believe the Film Programme had an article on this recently. As I remember the blame lies with directors wishing to hold the audience attention, alongside larger scale action scenes and more readily-available technology to replicate every sound you can think of (as opposed to yesteryear when a couple of coconut halves was your lot). Add all this together and dialogue becomes just another noise among many others.

Can you add auto-mute for adverts while you’re at it?

I’d pay good money for this.

we could call it a ‘License Fee’ 🙂

As above, I have an LG soundbar and it has various settings like ‘night mode’, ‘clear voice’, ‘gaming’, ‘cinema’ etc.

When you are sorting this out – can you get a sound level normalisation into youtube videos? especially if I watch them through the TV I find I have to adjust the volume for each video – either too quiet or too loud.

I find it’s much worse with HD stuff like Blu-Ray or UHD. For some reason every aspect apart from the dialogue is louder. Even with dynamic sound or whatever it’s called it is still like the cast are whispering ninety percent of the time. The only cure appears to be forking out for a sound bar.

Also avoid Christopher Nolan films – he’s notorious for drowning out dialogue with sounds effects/ambient noise and actually thinks it’s something audiences should appreciate as it’s part of his art… They’re pretentious nonsense.

FTFY.

Plex has a really cool feature where it scans the tv shows in your library, identifies the opening credits (by looking at common sound signatures between the same shows) then gives you the option to skip the opening credits – very clever!

Really useful when the kids have Peppa Pig / bluey / Octonauts on repeat.

Can you add auto-mute for adverts while you’re at it?

Especially the Sky one with the Beach Boys screeching. It gives me serious tourettes everytime I hear that!

There should be an app where you enter your region and what streaming services you have access to and membership of. Then, when you want to watch a movie or series, you search the title and it tells you that you can watch it for free on Netflix or Prime etc. If you can’t watch it for free then it sorts by price order where you can buy it.

https://www.justwatch.com/uk

Oh mah gahd. At the ripe old age of 51 I’ve turned into my Dad. All the gear and no idea.

So, my posh Sony surround amp that I’ve had for well over a year has a ‘Dynamic’ mode to equalise music / sfx / speech. Who knew? Well not me, but thanks for the folk up the thread that did.

And “justwatch.com/uk”? What an utterly brilliant idea! We’ve got Sky, Nflix & Amazon can sometimes be frustrating trying to find where a movie is. Thanks for that!

The worst recently for it was “Lost in Space”… when things happen it’s like the end of the world !!! then silent for talking… Grrrrrr.

Plex has a really cool feature where it scans the tv shows in your library, identifies the opening credits (by looking at common sound signatures between the same shows) then gives you the option to skip the opening credits – very clever!

I love that Netflix-esque feature. Always wondered how they did it!

There have been lots of complaints about this, especially drama series where the actors seem to mumble a lot. One explanation is that due to multi angle camera positions the good old fashioned boom mike can’t be used Because it would be in view so recording isn’t so direct. HD sound is even worse as it’s mixed for Dolby 5.1 so the wide dynamic range is stifled when heard in stereo. Drives me nuts that with all the high tech around for audio visual the sound is worse than 20 years ago.

I’ve resorted to using subtitles quite a few times

I’m well aware of that predicament myself.

It’s especially noticeable when listening to Jeremy vine on radio2.

You set the volume to make the regional dialects discernible, and then they blast out ABBA or fleetwood Mac at Motörhead style volumes. So you turn down the volume, and then there’s another regional dialect, so you have to turn up the volume again, etc, etc.

A lot of the problem is due to the ‘loudness wars’, as each artist aims to make their song grab your attention in terms of sheer volume.

But it becomes annoying in no short order.

So the way around this is to use a ‘compressor’ in the signal path to reign in some of the spikes in volume.

Until the media producers include a compressor and/ or other effects like ‘reverb’ in their apps, it’s up to us to go out and purchase something like this..

https://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Behringer-XENYX-QX1202USB-USB-Mixer/IPG

You’ll have to plug it in between your tv output and your speakers.

Each column of knobs controls each separate input (tv, radio, blu-ray player, games console), so you can tailor the sound to your liking.

The next question is what kind of desk do you sit it on…