"Here's Why Movie Dialogue Has Gotten More Difficult To Understand (And Three Ways To Fix It)"

[mtrycrafts]

Also, some actors are hard to understand no matter what and I also find Englis from England and Australia hard to understand as well.

 

[lovinthehd]

Watching "RRR" tonight with the english dub and subtitles, like different scripts at times....

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Poor dialogue sound mixing (bad source) has been an issue for a long time. It’s not just on a few contents - it’s on many contents.

So in many cases, it’s not the problem with the HT system - it’s the problem with the source. It does not matter how great our HT systems are if the contents have poor sound mixing.

I recall when DTS intentionally boosted the center channel by 4dB on their Laserdiscs.

That’s why many AVR’s have features like “Dialogue Level adjustments” to allow users easy access to adjusting the dialogue levels.

Sure, you could also just increase the Master Volume, but then you would also boost all the other speakers volume which will make everything too loud.

And that’s why some of us have recommended time and time again that for these exact situations, there are 3 solutions- use subtitles, adjust the center level (like adjusting the ATMOS levels when the source is poorly mixed) or just avoid poor sound contents like Christopher Nolan movies because he’s still stuck in the dark ages with his analog films and poor sound mixing.

 

[Hobbit]

LOL. No worries, it just sounded odd as written. Yes, the choice is generally DD+ or 2.0 on my Netflix apps (using FireSticks). You can upmix either with Dolby Surround, tho. I generally just turn subtitles on if dialog is hard to understand (whether due to volume, the basic mix or just hard to understand english, like some of the british "dialects" ). With one of my older generation FireSticks I often had a glitch where I would only get surround info, no mains....I'd go into audio settings and flip from 5.1 to 2.0 to get it to trigger proper 5.1 again.

I use captions when it's just a phrase or word here and there and I don't get. I only do sound change on the worst ones.

I'm glad I found this, I used to think it was just me who couldn't hear.

 

[cpp]

Yes separate systems the other tv is 4k, the box was hooked directly to the tv. Both running on spectrum app , no cable box .I want to bring that tv downstairs but my tv stand has no room for the center channel til i find a bigger used one.

Thanks for the clarification.

 

[highfigh]

I should've mentioned my crappy HT is full of voice comprehension issues, but none then I use headphones.

Are you sitting at the center of the speaker array?

I had a customer whose wife is a runner and when she runs, she uses her iPod or iPhone with ear buds. LOUD! She has permanently damaged her hearing to the point of not being able to hear dialog when the system hasn't been Eq'd to help. I was doing some other work at their house and he asked about doing something, so I boosted the range where speech intelligibility could be improved, but didn't want to make it unbearable for him or the kids and after I had changed the settings, we had her come in to listen. They were both happy with the results and I explained that using the ear buds at high SPL was the cause, that it was permanent and the only way to prevent major loss in the future is to reduce the SPL.

Maybe you could experiment with the equalization and find a way to make dialog more intelligible with your system

 

[Teetertotter?]

The Bravo program I have to turn the caption on is, Below Deck. It moves around to fast and they talk to fast or at times, not loud enough. I'm sure the filming audio is hard to maintain, in enclosed quarters. I have one of the audio EQ's turned off in my AVR, as eliminates background noise, like when watching NFL football. There are times, when I have turned up the center channel, but very limited.

My hearing has to do with to much bass and not enough treble, in some instances. It is all about the program one is watching. I do have the top of the line Phonak hearing aids, with all kinds of adjustments, including bass and treble. I only use them when away from home or if a crowd is in our home. The hearing aids can adjust background noise and a setting for that too. I have on occasion used the aids for watching TV, and has an adjusted setting for that, as well as a couple other indoor environment adjustment settings. The hearing aids can really help with speech understanding, with proper adjustments.

 

[highfigh]

The Bravo program I have to turn the caption on is, Below Deck. It moves around to fast and they talk to fast or at times, not loud enough. I'm sure the filming audio is hard to maintain, in enclosed quarters. I have one of the audio EQ's turned off in my AVR, as eliminates background noise, like when watching NFL football. There are times, when I have turned up the center channel, but very limited.

My hearing has to do with to much bass and not enough treble, in some instances. It is all about the program one is watching. I do have the top of the line Phonak hearing aids, with all kinds of adjustments, including bass and treble. I only use them when away from home or if a crowd is in our home. The hearing aids can adjust background noise and a setting for that too.

A lot of the audio recorded during filming/recording is just used as a guide and much of the dialog/most sound effects are overdubbed if the process is very noisy. If you ever wondered what a 'Foley Artist' is, they're the ones creating the non CG sound effects.

Have you tried using phantom center? That can reveal a lot about the speakers- turning off Center channel worked fine when I used an AVR- dialog that was supposed to come from the center has always been very realistic, here.

 

[Kingnoob]

Looks like you're using Roku device and its apps, so not sure what Spectrum has to do with it....

I brought it up because compresses audio has issues , with vocal clarity I have to use tv logic mode. The bad video is a big issue on my 4k non hdr tv , over pixelated sports . That app is cable without the box .

Thanks for the clarification.

Yeah I haven’t used that set up much til testing the tv out , my chair broke and they want me to switch rooms. But until I get a new/used tv stand that tv is stuck up there . The issue is moving a 55” tv is really challenging I’m not sure how to do it / protect the screen causing my anxiety thinking about it.
As for the bad audio that tvs speakers aren’t good I need to hook it to an avr .

 

[William Lemmerhirt]

My ATV4k has a cool feature. Press the Siri button in the remote and say, “what did he say”, and it bumps back like 10sec and plays the section back with subtitles. Then they shutoff automatically. Works great so you don’t have to screw around toggling subtitles etc.

 

[Eppie]

This popped in my feed today

I was just going to post the same thing and saw you beat me to it.

 

[Mr._Clark]

This popped in my feed today

Vox also has an article and video entitled: "It’s not you - movies are getting darker."

It’s not you — movies are getting darker

Blame technology for how often you can’t see anything.

www.vox.com

Here's another article on the topic:

>>>We’ve all been there. You tune into a show, often something in the fantasy or sci-fi genre, and you end up squinting at the screen because you can hardly make out what’s happening. Game Of Thrones is a notorious repeat offender (the season-eight episode “The Long Night” is often cited as one of the most egregious examples of this), but it’s not the only show or movie doing this. From The Batman to Daredevil to Ozark to The Mandalorian, the same complaints come up again and again. Is this a creative trend, the result of technical advances, or just bad filmmaking? We reached out to some experts for answers, and while it turns out to be a combination of all three, it seems that viewers also share some of the blame for the way they’re watching this content on their home screens.<<<

Dark scenes are here to stay, here's what you can do about it

It's not your imagination, filmmakers and showrunners are intentionally dimming the lights on their productions—and here are your (limited) options to adjust

www.avclub.com

A lot of The Mandalorian is too dark for my taste, but it might be dark on purpose:

>>>YouTube channel HDTVTest is known for doing quality analysis of the HDR implementations in popular media like films, games, and TV shows, and it found that Disney+'s The Mandalorian live-action Star Wars series is the latest in a long line of high-profile content that is just SDR wrapped up in an HDR package. The show has none of the actual benefits of HDR and a number of additional downsides, such that viewers might actually prefer to disable HDR on their TVs when viewing. . . . The test found that at no point did any part of the image in The Mandalorian—even highlights like blaster fire, a forge of molten metal, or the Sun—appear at more than 200 cd/m². . . . "I think it will give people a really bad HDR experience," said HDTVTest's host in the Mandolorian test video, "And they may be disillusioned about HDR, because proper HDR is truly transformative."<<<

Perhaps part of the problem is "The Volume" used to film it:

>>>“The Volume” is ILM’s innovative replacement for greenscreen, employed throughout The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. It uses a massive, curved LED screen to create photorealistic backdrops, circumventing the need for outdoor locations or extensive physical sets. As the camera moves within the Volume, the perspective and light sources shift to encourage the sensation of exploring a real environment. . . . Actors and directors understandably prefer the Volume over greenscreen, describing it as impressively immersive and (from a practical perspective) a huge time-saver when envisioning what a scene will look like. The resulting visual product, however, is a mixed blessing.<<<

https://www.dailydot.com/unclick/star-wars-disney-the-volume-obi-wan/

Like the song says:

Space may be the final frontier but it's made in a Hollywood basement
And Cobain can you hear the spheres singing songs off Station To Station?
And Alderaan's not far away, it's Californication