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ok rms
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Same. I can’t watch English movies on a TV because I just don’t understand it… But then with headphones on everything is perfect.
Secret i learned on my raspberry pi running stereo speakers on Kodi is you can set a seperate volume for the dialogue channel so i just bumped it up like 14 decibels and now it matches the action fairly well. You can set it from the audio settings inside the movie and its called something like center channel downmix i cant remember exactly
Center channel downmix boost or something is the name. Iirc the phenomenon with quiet dialogue is due to most streaming content being delivered with surround audio. The shitty cheap video players used by the streaming services will do a cheap flat downmix to stereo which results in the center channel being too low when split into two mono channels for playback on stereo speakers compared to if it would be played on a dedicated center speaker. This is due to maths or something.
Back in the day dvd and even vhs movies had proper stereo mixes where the center channel would be boosted to audible levels.
Tl;dr: just pirate shit and use a proper video player instead of the cheapass players used by netflix, disney, etc.
Yeah I have ‘em on by default now
I have tinnitus and I have a hard time hearing low volume audio … so yes subtitles are a requirement now.
The funny part to that is if I decide to watch some dumb action flick … I set the sound for the explosions and I really don’t care if I can hear the dialogue because I know it will be stupid
I’m here to preach Loudness Equalization. If you’re watching on Windows, enable it for SURE.
(I’m also a tinnitus boi)
There are ways around that, for example I watch my Plex server on an Apple TV and there is an option that will reduce loud sounds so I can hear dialogue without being blasted away at other parts
shibas are crazy tho
Subtitles ruin native-language movies. I’ll enable them if I’m watching something in public because I’m not a monster but otherwise I hate them.
Get some decent speakers, FFS. A ‘sound bar’ does not qualify. A good center channel speaker is essential. Don’t even need the rear surrounds with a good front setup.
Try dubbing for ruining native-language movies.
Agree in many cases. I wouldn’t watch a dub of Seven Samurai for instance. But Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon? A dub is fine there IMO.
Subtitles ruin native-language movies.
Why is that?
You end up reading and not watching the movie. Focus is split between the two instead of just enjoying the experience.
I have this problem with games, but there’s no rewind on games, and for some reason every game maker has decided that the most critical information you ever get happens when there’s loud sounds going on as some climatic event is happening and you can’t understand a fucking thing they say.
So most of the game I don’t need it, except for what ends up being the most important times I need it and don’t have it, so I have to leave them on in games.
And ya it’s distracting. At best I’m concentrating on not reading them which is distracting itself.
I doubt most people even have a soundbar…
Ok it can’t just be me. It feels like at a certain point sound levels got messed up. When I watch older stuff it’s fine the new stuff I feel like I am skipping backwards to catch what they said.
It isn’t just you. Vox has a good video on it.
What an obnoxious conclusion they have - we need to buy better speakers. I have good speakers. Old things sound great, but new shows sound like crap. This is their problem to fix, not ours.
I completely agree, it’s ridiculous. There are settings on both my TV and streaming devices to try to combat this “problem”.
This has driven me crazy for a long time too. It really feels like this picture and takes something away from any enjoyment.
That’s why subtitles became so popular in the recent times
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Haha, I’m glad somebody can benefit
Yeah it’s bad… It’s gotten to the point that I have unironically said “Wait! Where are my subtitles? I can’t hear without my subtitles!”
You said that watching a video or in a real life conversation?
yes
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If you make a movie you make it with multiple audio tracks (lines), often there are dozens of lines for cinemas and more for IMAX. If you mix all those lines together, e.g. to 5.1 for home cinema you’ll lose dynamic range. Now if you mix it into 2 lines (stereo) this means you basically have everything (explosion, whispers) on the same two lines for left and right and that’s why you either need at least a front speaker for dialogue (so only effects are muddy but voices are clear) or bear with it.
Or studios could go back to properly mixing their audio when making versions for home setups
They do for 5.1, which is a pretty common home setup, even 3.0 or 3.1 works quite okay with it. How many people do actually watch movies with a stereo setup nowadays?
Most people I know use their TV speakers. Maybe sound engineers should engineer the sound so that it sounds good in stereo OR 5.1
Anyone with a perfectly good tv that doesnt need a sound system.
There are no TVs with built in speakers which don’t sound like a tin can.
Everyone with a sound bar. Depending on the sound bar you might have a dedicated base - but you might not.
Most sound bars have more than 2 channels nowadays.
Really? TIL.
I have a center channel. New shows sound like crap. Old ones sound great. It’s not people’s equipment.
This is why I turn on the audio normalization on my TV. It makes the explosions sound super weird but it’s impossible to watch movies with kids sleeping otherwise. The mixing is so bad.
The mixing isn’t for your home. Which it obviously should be.
Watching TV is also shit. When an ad break comes, I have to mute the sound or turn down the volume, regardless of normalization. That should be illegal in my opinion but it’s the status quo.
Buy a sound system.
I personally like high dynamic range. Most receivers, and I’m guessing most smart TVs, have some form of dynamic range compression if you don’t. Bad quality, “realistic” voice recordings are a different issue. Having a center channel speaker also helps a lot.
Center channel speaker FTW
Most TVs seem to default to playing the surround audio track, which is a terrible idea when you only have stereo speakers, but I guess the TVs do it in case you decide to hook up a multi speaker system mid movie?? Choosing the down mixed stereo audio instead, makes for a much better experience for most people.
