Quote:
Originally Posted by Adrian7724 /forum/post/13903116


So, what can I do to improve this?

Most TVs don't handle 5.1 input very well at all. You want basic stereo sound for a TV, which only has two speakers. The TV may have a setting to that effect. Or, you may need to go into the setups on the disc players and tell them to output two channel PCM instead of 5.1. I ran into a similar issue on a Panasonic bedroom TV that was taking an HDMI audio feed from a Comcast DVR. The dialog and overall mix improved significantly when I set everything to two channels.

Quote:
I assume I should probably get some type of "home theater" audio setup or something like that, but will that help?

It sure will. Audio is a big part of the theater experience. A surround processor will properly reproduce a 5.1 sound track.

 

Audio is even more essential than the video. I wouldnt mind having a 12 inch crt if I could just have my audio setup. It really makes or breaks the experience. I would highly suggest you invest .

 



Quote:
Originally Posted by BIslander /forum/post/13903241


Most TVs don't handle 5.1 input very well at all. You want basic stereo sound for a TV, which only has two speakers. The TV may have a setting to that effect. Or, you may need to go into the setups on the disc players and tell them to output two channel PCM instead of 5.1. I ran into a similar issue on a Panasonic bedroom TV that was taking an HDMI audio feed from a Comcast DVR. The dialog and overall mix improved significantly when I set everything to two channels.


It sure will. Audio is a big part of the theater experience. A surround processor will properly reproduce a 5.1 sound track.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll give that a try.

 

I know I know... but 47"LCD, PS3, Xbox360... it adds up

I have a vision of what I want it all to sound like, and I will invest in a little bit, but can't afford it right now.

 

Two other things to try besides choosing 2 channel output from the player:


- while the player will downmix surround channels to stereo, you'll almost certainly be better off selecting a 2 channel soundtrack from the DVD's Audio/languages menu if one is offered. A soundtrack mastered in only 2 channels at the studio will almost always be better than a down-mixed surround track.


- you said that you have the TV set to Surround Sound:On. Turn that setting to Off. Pseudo surround settings often make things sound unclear because they play fancy games with the phase of some of the sound.

 



Quote:
Originally Posted by David Aiken /forum/post/13905574


- you said that you have the TV set to Surround Sound:On. Turn that setting to Off. Pseudo surround settings often make things sound unclear because they play fancy games with the phase of some of the sound.

I'll try that tonight... when I turn it to OFF it sounds pretty crappy, but maybe I just have to turn the overall volume up more.

 

Undoubtedly your TV is at best stereo. A good choice if available on many discs a 2-channel audio track, which often has reduced dynamic range and will aid in dialogue intelligibiliy. The surround track is definitely best experienced on a proper audio system with the capability to reproduce fully the dynamic range contained therein. Try also to see if your TV has any dynamic range reduction features available in it at all, or if the source devices have a stereo-output option as well (I am pretty sure the 360 does). Also try turning off the faux-surround feature on the TV, that is undoubtedly crap.


And then buy a proper stereo or surround setup when possible. Don't underestimate yardsales for old stereo gear and add cheap but excellent internet direct speakers to do good sound on the cheap. It will be WAYYY better than any television "speakers."

 

Well ether you have pants for hearing or have ruptured your ear drums, otherwise I’m watching War of the Worlds (2005)at the present time and for the 4 screening today, and its got all sub bass turned off at present and the fader is at -25db and DRC is turned ON and I can hear the soft “thank you” as Ray’s wife thanks her husband at the end, now then.


Its all to do with dynamic range and since some voice must have realistic tone range and in cinema with good acoustical background noise level its should sound realistic.


Heat (1995) when Neal is talking softly to Trejo its had mean leaning forwards in the front row at the ABC screen 1 Bournemouth, because it was so well played out and it sounded realistic even though the JBL 4675-A stage channels where 30 feet away it sounded pucker on the louder moments in Dolby stereo, not sure if they had Dolby SR cards with the CP200 at the time, I know they had SR cards on hand, but chances are it was Dolby stereo A type, and it was clear as bell!


I’d say you’ve got high noise background level, as do I because I live near to main road and an airport that is 3 to 4 miles away, and I can still make out what is being said on my JBL control 5, and I'm 41 years old now then.

Make that the 5th screening of War of the Worlds now!

and the 50th or 60th I've lost count since 2005, LOL


Also stressing an important matter don’t play it loud and pretend to be hero, why that’s like looking at the sun though telescope without a sun filter!

 

Buy a new center channel.

 



Quote:
Originally Posted by David Aiken /forum/post/13905574


- you said that you have the TV set to Surround Sound:On. Turn that setting to Off. Pseudo surround settings often make things sound unclear because they play fancy games with the phase of some of the sound.

I agree

 

Turn on dynamic range compression/control. You can do this in both the X360 DVD player, and the PS3 settings. The TV may also have a function like this, but try doing it in the players first.


This will tone down the sound effects and even out the volume level, so you can hear the dialog without loud parts being way too loud.

 

My wife and I kind of have the same problem - we can't understand dialogue as good as we used to. Maybe our hearing is a little off (as we get a tad older). Or maybe now tv shows and movies just have blurred the dialogue with extra sound and loud music and also actors mumble more. Anyway it is just harder for us to hear the dialogue. Seems like my wife and I are spending half of our time asking each other 'what did they just say?' Well not really half of the time, but some of the time. Just on certain shows and some of the time, but during those shows and those times, how can we improve our hearing of the dialogue? Most of the time when we watch tv we route the sound thru the tv. But sometime we do listen to 5.1 sound thru our receiver.


What can we do improve to our ability to hear the dialogue?


The TV has audio options of AI Sound, and Audio Leveler, but I don't know if these are like the Dynamic Range described above. I didn't see Dynamic Range on my Onkyo TX-DS656.


Thank you

 

This class of Aquos TV's have poor audio. I had the D82 model and even at max volume it was weak and harsh. I moved to a Toshiba model and the sound is now relatively ok.


Your only real option is to a add a receiver if you intend to stay with the Aquos.

 



Quote:
Originally Posted by XBR11 /forum/post/13945481


My wife and I kind of have the same problem - we can't understand dialogue as good as we used to. Maybe our hearing is a little off (as we get a tad older). Or maybe now tv shows and movies just have blurred the dialogue with extra sound and loud music and also actors mumble more. Anyway it is just harder for us to hear the dialogue. Seems like my wife and I are spending half of our time asking each other 'what did they just say?' Well not really half of the time, but some of the time. Just on certain shows and some of the time, but during those shows and those times, how can we improve our hearing of the dialogue? Most of the time when we watch tv we route the sound thru the tv. But sometime we do listen to 5.1 sound thru our receiver.


What can we do improve to our ability to hear the dialogue?


The TV has audio options of AI Sound, and Audio Leveler, but I don't know if these are like the Dynamic Range described above. I didn't see Dynamic Range on my Onkyo TX-DS656.


Thank you

Try listening through the receiver for the shows you usually have trouble with, and see if that helps. You should at least get better, clearer sound, which will make it easier to hear the dialog.

 



Quote:
Originally Posted by cyberbri /forum/post/13946821


Try listening through the receiver for the shows you usually have trouble with, and see if that helps. You should at least get better, clearer sound, which will make it easier to hear the dialog.

Actually it a little worse thru the 5.1 receiver than thru the tv. I'd guess that the tv speakers are more trebly and less bassy than my 5.1 speakers, which is why I can hear it better that way.

 

Yea, I wouldn't put too too much credence in a notion of going with bigger separate speakers to provide you with superior dialog in comparison to the small cheap built-in tv speakers. In my experience with aftermarket speakers, my assumption going in was that surely big quality woofers would make a huge difference in terms of bringing dialog clarity. They don't, at least not in my experience. It might be as you say, the limited trebly range of the tv speakers might be better for dialog since your other speakers are tasked with covering much more of the audible frequency range.


My next step will be incorporating some wall panel treatments to (hopefully help) tame some of the reverberations, smearing, etc., which I'm thinking are the biggest culprits with respect to hampering dialog intelligibility in the average room.

 

The problem described by Adrian7724 is very difficult to solve with standard audio/home theater equipment. The combination of overly-dramatic mixing techniques and aging baby boomer ears results in many people not understanding TV dialogue. A number of audio companies, including the one I work for, are trying to address this issue. ZVOX (yes, I work for them - hope this isn't breaking an forum rules) uses technology that mimics a hearing aid, reducing non-dialogue audio.