• 9point6@lemmy.world
    24·
    7 days ago

    TBF this always ends up with a lot of misplaced blame on the consumer

    TV manufacturers decided/figured out long ago that Joe public cares more about a screen being thin, at time of purchase, than it having any semblance of audio quality. And they assume anyone who cares about audio will buy a set of speakers or (increasingly) a sound bar anyway, so they just need the bare minimum included.

    This has gotten to the absurd point now where the speakers included in your average TV aren’t much better than a particularly loud phone speaker.

    It’s basically impossible to get something that sounds even audible on those speakers, without doing what adverts do and compressing the shit out of the signal, which has the bonus of sounding loud and bad for everyone, there’s no bringing the detail back that was squashed out. Movie studios aren’t going to mix a movie that sounds bad on a system designed remotely properly (e.g. a cinema or reviewer’s TV), so we’re in the current situation.

    The unfortunate situation today is you basically need some kind of separate speaker(s) with a TV because the manufacturers all have cheaped out across the board and don’t include anything good enough any more. The consumer shouldn’t be expected to know this and have to pay extra, the TV should come with speakers capable of producing audio properly.

    • HerbGrower@slrpnk.net
      1·
      7 days ago

      How much do you need to spend on a sound bar for something decently better, how much difference does it even make with a fairly cheap one?

      • 9point6@lemmy.world
        2·
        7 days ago

        Honestly you shouldn’t need to break the bank at all to be better than the built in speakers in most cases. I don’t want to say definitively because I’m sure there’s some basically scam products out there, but pretty much any sound bar will be an upgrade in 99% of cases.

        A quick search shows a number of well known brands with offerings under £100, and one from a company I don’t recognise that apparently seems to have a number of positive reviews and available for £40

        You’ll obviously get a further improvement if you go above the budget level, but that’s definitely not to say you can’t get a decent improvement over not having one at all.

        • HerbGrower@slrpnk.net
          1·
          7 days ago

          Its just so hard to know what something will be like and I dont want to spend a lot of money for minimal improvement. While display specs are far easier to read.

  • Rawrosaurus@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    6·
    7 days ago

    I remember one movie I tried watching that was exceptionally bad in this department. I want to say it was Interstellar from 2014? I gave up not long into it because it was just torture to watch.

  • stevles@aussie.zoneEnglish
    51·
    7 days ago

    I’m just happy the Apple TV has a “reduce loud sounds” setting. It’s not perfect, but it’s definitely helped! I imagine the Nvidia Shield might have similar?

  • Valorie12@lemmy.world
    3·
    6 days ago

    There’s already a solution to this. Limiters / compressors. TVs should have them built in as software with easy to use controls. Whenever I watch movies via VLC I turn the compressor on.

  • BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world
    2·
    7 days ago

    Modern filmmaking. I had this issue with Minority Report many years ago alredy. Now I mostly use headphones - so this isn’t as pronounced, but it’s still an issue

    • Bonje@lemmy.world
      732·
      7 days ago

      You can usually skip all of it by telling people to get an actual sound system and not using built in TV speakers

      • marzhall@lemmy.world
        3·
        7 days ago

        Fuck that, use vlc and turn on volume normalization in the audio settings, or turn the volume down to barely audible and use subtitles if you’re doing some weird “paid service” to play your video files.

      • otacon239@lemmy.world
        13·
        7 days ago

        Yeah, but that unfortunately is asking someone to spend some decent money. It’s a problem that could definitely be fixed in softw- Oh no. Don’t get me started… Nice try.

      • D_C@sh.itjust.works
        1·
        7 days ago

        My new TV and its speakers sound a lottttt better than my old TV and soundbar.

        I had two basic options. Thin and light TV with a new soundbar. Or ‘chunky’ TV with decent speakers, and the option of soundbar going forwards.
        I went the chunky route and, at the moment, I hear no need for a soundbar. It’s passed the Christopher Nolan test with ease.
        Both Interstellar and Tenet were watched with no issues at all.

        But, generally, yeah TV speakers are tinny rubbish.

    • Honytawk@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      2·
      7 days ago

      It isn’t mixed for home theatre setups is the thing.

      But you can easily enable Loudness Equalization in Windows to increase low volume sounds and decrease high volume sounds.

      • Mr.Chewy@lemmy.world
        1·
        7 days ago

        As an autistic with a hypersensitivity to sound, I support this cause, as a someone surrounded by people love to interrupt unless they hear a sound coming from whom they’re interrupting, I need to have SOME noise in the background and if it’s not fitting the TV, it breaks the immersion :(