The Closer on TNT-HD - Page 10

I just watched my recording of Closer on a Dish 622 DVR which has just received a new software update - 6.21 and it was full of audio drops and clicks. Very annoying. However two other recordings I watched from different channels were fine so methinks it is TNT. All recordings were made before the new software and watched after.

Well, since this seems to be an ongoing thing, here in Plantation (just west of Ft. Lauderdale), Florida, watching via a Comcast Motorola DVR all was fine and good! No video issues and no audio issues!!!

Well, although there seems to be evidence that the issues, at least the audio problems this week(we're talking about the DD 5.1 feed BTW), are a TNT problem, the folks that claim they had no audio problems with this week's episode make me think there might be 2 different uplinks for TNT-HD. That, or there are some transmission linkages somewhere that are different between providers causing the different experiences.

All I really know for sure is that these issues are overwhelmingly predominate with TNT-HD - what's causing them, I don't know, but when I watch TNT-HD I've come to expect them as opposed to almost all other channels of which I don't seem to have any problems with at all. USA-HD sounds as if their audio has been run through some sort of compander on occasion which causes the surrounds to be nearly as loud as the center/dialog, but other than that...

I've only just caught up and so far don't remember any audio or picture glitches at all. Which makes a first, because previously the reds in The Closer nearly always had compression noise.

So far the picture quality has been fine. I think TW are trying to offset the abysmal quality of Burn Notice.

I'm really enjoying this season so far. The opener was powerful stuff. The second was a bit slow and casting easily recognizable actor Miguel Sandoval as a seemingly minor character (the dead chauffeur) made it obvious his role would be important, I did like the way they ended just as the body was discovered.

Looking forward to the (hopefully) now obligatory Provenza and Flynn episode.

I wonder if the people who aren't seeing (hearing) audio problems on TNT are using surround sound or not? It could be an issue that shows up for those of us processing the 5.1 surround vs those who do not?

I agree that the sound dropout glitch we have been complaining about is likely attributable to TNT's 5.1 feed. I have experienced dropouts on both my TiVo and a Cox owned SA 8300HD. The TiVo's audio is received by my receiver via optical coax, while the 8300HD uses HDMI. I'll try to check how The Closer's audio sounds on my TV's built in speakers. I'll report further when I check that out.

As I've said a couple of times, Ive not experienced any audio (or video) issues with this show.

My audio is an optical feed (5.1) from a Comcast Motorola DVR to a Pioneer receiver (which is quite a few years old now but still works very well). Come to think of it, I've never used the TV speakers, not even once!

I always watch HD with the receiver for audio and usually that makes it easy to spot audio problems like 2.0 sound and missing center channels, but I noticed nothing here.

Watching the replay of Monday nights episode this morning and the audio seems fine. I do hate the way they are jerking around the schedule, it's always to the best of my knowledge been shown later in the night after the original airing until this year. Now you have to run it down if you missed the original or had problems like so many of us did with last Monday's broadcast.

As noted in an earlier post, one of the recent rerun telecasts of a preceding Monday episode saved me because my recording of the Monday airing had been unwatchable. Although the video of the rerun was fine, it had the same mild audio dropout glitch I had heard before.

I was fairly excited to see David Hewlett at the beginning of this episode, but he was wasted. I hope he comes back in a recurring role.

Makes me remember the one thing I really do miss about SG:A going off air.

Any episode that start with Flynn and Provenza is going to be good and last night did not disappoint. The casting of the apartment building deskman was great (please check out the Jack-In-The-Box commercial for the 2 Tacos for $.99).

I liked this episode, too. It was goodnatured fun and very exciting. I thought the guy who guest starred as the deranged wannabe cop was terrific.

I'm still laughing at this episode.

Richard Tracy indeed -- what a great character. I think I'd like to see the outtakes from this show -- it had to be really hard to keep a straight face playing this whole story playing as a serious tone.


I'm going to guess that rezzy didn't find much to like since he hasn't posted in close to 4 years -- the original quote threw me until I found it was on the front page of Season 1.

and this week i had some audio drops in the first 10 minutes. But an improvement over last week, since when I came to watch that episode tonight it was a slideshow. The compression noise was everywhere which made it unwatchable. Ironically the audio seemed okay.

Can't blame it specifically on TNT since I've seen the same thing happen to other shows infrequently. Has to be the amazing power of TWC service or their fantastic DVR software.

Watching History HD tonight and the SDV signal dropped out mid program so I guess I should be grateful TNT isn't on SDV too.

Did anyone else have lots of split second audio drops for the first part of the episode or can I just chalk it up to Cox HD compression again?

No problems here, Comcast, Lansing, MI

I thought tonight's episode was excellent, probably the best this season.

Yes, Comcast San Francisco, typical TNT crap broadcast. Got a lot of it in Raising The Bar as well.

audio issues via E*.

Same/typical for lately audio glitches on Dish here for me as well. Seems to be unique to TNTHD for me (i.e. no other channels doing it).

I'm sure I'm not the only one, by the way... but it's interesting to me the Mary McDonnell character is a lot like season 1 Brenda.

That being... Brenda caused a lot of her own problems in season 1 by not trusting her team, so they didn't trust her... but by the end of season 1 she was one of the gang, with mutual trust earned across the board. Over the last couple of seasons even Captain Taylor has mellowed and she cooperates with him more often than being adversarial.

So... now this new Captain character is the outsider... who actually seems to mean well and care about her job, but she keeps working as an outsider so Brenda and company treat her that way... and conflict ensues.

I agree that this week's show was the best of the season so far. The opening scene, shown from the perspective of the police helicopter, was riveting. The transmissions from the guy in the helo made my hair stand on end. The Closer knows how to tell gut wrenching stories when it wants to do it. This was one of them.

Mary McDonnell, as Captain Sharon Raydor, has been a welcome addition. She is a terrific actress. Raydor is an uptight control freak but she has met her match in Brenda. I agree that she thinks she is doing the right thing but her excessive righteousness often impedes Brenda's investigations. The tension between Raydor and Brenda has created an interesting dynamic and has been extremely well written, it seems to me. As noted by HDMe2, in Season 1 that kind of tension existed between Brenda and most of those who worked for her and it made great television. I am hopeful that the writers can recreate that kind of magic this season.

EDIT: Typo corrected.

THE CLOSER is the best show on cable.

I've been asleep at the wheel, I didn't even know that Charlie(Brenda's niece on the show) is actually her daughter. Sosie Bacon, I like her on the show.

It's taken me a while to catch up but I agree, that was a great intro. Not only from a dramatic perspective but also because it was something I don't remember seeing to such an extent in any crime show. It gave me a new appreciation for those guys in the air.

The nepotism of casting Sosie Bacon would normally rub me the wrong way, but this season has been so consistently good that I can overlook it and she seems to be a decent actress too. Cutting back the appearances by Brenda's parents has helped.

This week was another example of the fine balance between comedy and drama this shows straddles with ease. The Sanchez, Tau and Provenza garage scene and the ring reveal were very funny. The ending the complete opposite.

-snip-

As someone who did that job for 15 years, the perception of being "in charge" until someone on the street takes over was accurate. However, the actual radio traffic would be a little more sedate as the observer reports the situation to respnding units.

I do understand dramatic license rears it's ugly head in this case.

Tony

Very interesting, I had no idea that young Sosie Bacon was Kyra Sedgwick's daughter. I agree that she is a talented actress, she has been perfect as Brenda's smart but troubled niece. The apple didn't fall far from the tree.

Her father, Kevin Bacon, isn't too much of a slouch either...

Well duh...I had no idea, either that the girl playing Charlie was Kyra's daughter. When I look at the picture above, the resemblance is clear, to me anyway. She's got a promising future in acting, IMO.

I love The Closer...I just discovered it recently, and have spent some time catching up on previous seasons on DVD. GREAT show!

DGK

I think she looks even more like her father (if you can find pics of him when he was a lot younger).