4 ms·

Never had an issue with Stranger Things. Maybe you're using the internal speakers?

by redox99 10mo ago

KeplerBoy 10mo ago
Most people do, I reckon.
- throw-12-16 10mo ago
  Its why captions have become so popular.
InsideOutSanta 10mo ago
I agree. There are absolutely tons of movies and TV series with indecipherable dialogue, but Stranger Things isn't among them.
szszrk 10mo ago
> Maybe you're using the internal speakers? Which is just another drama that should not be on consumers shoulders. Every time I visit friends with newer TV than mine I am floored by how bad their speakers are. Even the same brand and price-range. Plus the "AI sound" settings (often on by default) are really bad. I'd love to swap my old tv as it shows it's age, but spending a lot of money on a new one that can't play a show correctly is ridiculous.
- throw-12-16 10mo ago
  Just buy a decent external surround sound system, has nothing to do with the TV and will last a long long time.
  - epistasis 10mo ago
    I really don't want to install multiple new devices. I don't care about the cost, the inconvenience and hassle is a PITA. Plus then you had to fiddle with multiple volume controls instead of one to make it work for your space. No thank you. We should make the default work well, and if people want a sound optimized experience that requires 6x the pieces of equipment let those who want to do the extra work do what they need to for the small change in audio quality. Without that change in defaults more and more people will switch to alternatives, like TikTok and YouTube, that bother to get understandability as the default rather than as something requiring hours of work and shopping choices.
    - Avamander 10mo ago
      > Plus then you had to fiddle with multiple volume controls instead of one to make it work for your space. Most AVRs come with an automatic calibration option. Though there are cheap 5.1 options on the market that will get results multiple times better than your flatscreen can produce. > We should make the default work well Yep, movies should have properly mastered stereo mixes not just dumb downmixes from surround that will be muddy, muffled and with awful variations in loudness.
    - throw-12-16 10mo ago
      Ok sure. However getting a better sound system is a current solution to the problem that doesn't require some broad systemic change that may or may not ever happen.
      - epistasis 10mo ago
        A far better solution that I take: not consume the media at all. Not only is there an abundance of media these days, but there are many many other better ways to spend time, such as writing comments on Hacker News that very few people will ever see. I have spent about half an hour investigating sound bars as a result of these discussions, and that's a loss of life that I can never get back, and I regret spending that much time on the problem.
        throw-12-16 10mo ago
        It feels like you are trying to turn this into an ideological debate when all I am saying is "buy some better speakers if you care about audio".
- sfn42 10mo ago
  I am floored that people really expect integrated TV speakers to be good.
  - KeplerBoy 10mo ago
    Couldn't they be miles better if we allowed screens to be thicker than a few millimeters? I believe one could do some fun stuff with waveguides and beam steering behind the screen if we had 2 inch thick screens. Unfortunately decent audio is harder to market and showcase in a bestbuy than a "vivid" screen.
    - School-Cotton 10mo ago
      Anyone who cares about audio will have dedicated speakers, so it barely even makes sense to make TV speakers good.
      - spoiler 10mo ago
        I'm a bit on the fence about this. If someone buys a TV (y'know, a device that's supposed to reproduce sound and moving pictures), it should at least be decent at both. But if people want a high-end 5.1/7.1/whatever.1 sound then by all means they should be able to upgrade. My mum? She doesn't want or need that, nor does she realistically have the space to have a high-end home-cinema entertainment setup (much less a dedicated room for it). It's just a TV in her living room surrounded by cat toys and some furniture. So, if she buys a nearly €1000 TV (she called it a "stupid star trek TV") it should at least be decent—although at that price tag you'd reasonably expect more than just decent—at everything it's meant to do of the box. She shouldn't need to constantly adjust sound volume or settings, or spend another thousand on equipment and refurbishment to access to decent sound. In contrast, they say the old TV that's now at nan's house has much better sound (even if the screen is smaller) and are thinking of swapping the TVs since nan moved back in with my mum.
        Hikikomori 10mo ago
        Good speakers isn't really compatible with flatness of modern tv's. You can certainly make one with good speakers, but it would look weird mounted on the wall. Buying external speakers seems like a decent tradeoff for that.
- timc3 10mo ago
  There are a couple of models with good sound. I got a Philips OLED910 a short while ago and that sound system surprised me. I turned it off though and use an external Atmos receiver and speakers.
tuetuopay 10mo ago
I watch YouTube with internal TV speakers and I understand everything, even muddled accents. I cannot understand a single TV show or movie with the same speakers. Something tells me it's about the source material, not the device.
- sotix 10mo ago
  A YouTube video is likely a single track of audio or a very minimal amount. A movie mixed for Dolby Atmos is designed for multiple speakers. Now, they will create compromised mixes for something like a stereo setup, and a good set of bookshelf speakers will be able to create a phantom center channel. However, having a dedicated center channel speaker will do a much better job. And using the TV's built in speakers will do a very poor job. Professional mixing is a different beast than most YouTube videos, and accordingly, the sound is mixed quite different.
  - tuetuopay 10mo ago
    Yup, I definitely do agree those are wildly different beasts. But the end result is, the professional mixing is less enjoyable than amateur-ish youtube mixing. Which is a shame, really. Mixing is a craft that is getting ruined (imho) by the direction to perform theatrical mixes (where having building-shaking sfx is not an issue) or atmos mixes (leaving no budget/time for plain stereo mixes). The crux of the issue IMHO is the theatrical mixes. Yes I can tune the TV volume way up and hear the dialogue pretty well. In exchange, any music or sfx is guaranteed to wake the neighbors (I live in a flat, so neighbors are on the other side of the wall/floor/ceiling).
  - zargon 10mo ago
    As someone with a dedicated center speaker, people doing audio mixing do not effectively use it. I even have it manually boosted. Sometimes it's 10% better than without one, but nowhere near enough to make a real difference.
- redox99 10mo ago
  Well of course, YouTube is someone sitting in front of the camera with no background noise and speaking calmly. In a movie the characters may be far away (so it needs to sound like that, not like a podcast), running, exhausted, with a plethora of background noises and so on.

Never had an issue with Stranger Things. Maybe you're using the internal speakers?

by redox99 10mo ago

Never had an issue with Stranger Things. Maybe you're using the internal speakers?

KeplerBoy 10mo ago

Most people do, I reckon.

throw-12-16 10mo ago
Its why captions have become so popular.

InsideOutSanta 10mo ago

I agree. There are absolutely tons of movies and TV series with indecipherable dialogue, but Stranger Things isn't among them.

szszrk 10mo ago

> Maybe you're using the internal speakers? Which is just another drama that should not be on consumers shoulders. Every time I visit friends with newer TV than mine I am floored by how bad their speakers are. Even the same brand and price-range. Plus the "AI sound" settings (often on by default) are really bad. I'd love to swap my old tv as it shows it's age, but spending a lot of money on a new one that can't play a show correctly is ridiculous.

throw-12-16 10mo ago
Just buy a decent external surround sound system, has nothing to do with the TV and will last a long long time.
- epistasis 10mo ago
  I really don't want to install multiple new devices. I don't care about the cost, the inconvenience and hassle is a PITA. Plus then you had to fiddle with multiple volume controls instead of one to make it work for your space. No thank you. We should make the default work well, and if people want a sound optimized experience that requires 6x the pieces of equipment let those who want to do the extra work do what they need to for the small change in audio quality. Without that change in defaults more and more people will switch to alternatives, like TikTok and YouTube, that bother to get understandability as the default rather than as something requiring hours of work and shopping choices.
  - Avamander 10mo ago
    > Plus then you had to fiddle with multiple volume controls instead of one to make it work for your space. Most AVRs come with an automatic calibration option. Though there are cheap 5.1 options on the market that will get results multiple times better than your flatscreen can produce. > We should make the default work well Yep, movies should have properly mastered stereo mixes not just dumb downmixes from surround that will be muddy, muffled and with awful variations in loudness.
  - throw-12-16 10mo ago
    Ok sure. However getting a better sound system is a current solution to the problem that doesn't require some broad systemic change that may or may not ever happen.
    - epistasis 10mo ago
      A far better solution that I take: not consume the media at all. Not only is there an abundance of media these days, but there are many many other better ways to spend time, such as writing comments on Hacker News that very few people will ever see. I have spent about half an hour investigating sound bars as a result of these discussions, and that's a loss of life that I can never get back, and I regret spending that much time on the problem.
      - throw-12-16 10mo ago
        It feels like you are trying to turn this into an ideological debate when all I am saying is "buy some better speakers if you care about audio".
sfn42 10mo ago
I am floored that people really expect integrated TV speakers to be good.
- KeplerBoy 10mo ago
  Couldn't they be miles better if we allowed screens to be thicker than a few millimeters? I believe one could do some fun stuff with waveguides and beam steering behind the screen if we had 2 inch thick screens. Unfortunately decent audio is harder to market and showcase in a bestbuy than a "vivid" screen.
  - School-Cotton 10mo ago
    Anyone who cares about audio will have dedicated speakers, so it barely even makes sense to make TV speakers good.
    - spoiler 10mo ago
      I'm a bit on the fence about this. If someone buys a TV (y'know, a device that's supposed to reproduce sound and moving pictures), it should at least be decent at both. But if people want a high-end 5.1/7.1/whatever.1 sound then by all means they should be able to upgrade. My mum? She doesn't want or need that, nor does she realistically have the space to have a high-end home-cinema entertainment setup (much less a dedicated room for it). It's just a TV in her living room surrounded by cat toys and some furniture. So, if she buys a nearly €1000 TV (she called it a "stupid star trek TV") it should at least be decent—although at that price tag you'd reasonably expect more than just decent—at everything it's meant to do of the box. She shouldn't need to constantly adjust sound volume or settings, or spend another thousand on equipment and refurbishment to access to decent sound. In contrast, they say the old TV that's now at nan's house has much better sound (even if the screen is smaller) and are thinking of swapping the TVs since nan moved back in with my mum.
      - Hikikomori 10mo ago
        Good speakers isn't really compatible with flatness of modern tv's. You can certainly make one with good speakers, but it would look weird mounted on the wall. Buying external speakers seems like a decent tradeoff for that.
timc3 10mo ago
There are a couple of models with good sound. I got a Philips OLED910 a short while ago and that sound system surprised me. I turned it off though and use an external Atmos receiver and speakers.

tuetuopay 10mo ago

I watch YouTube with internal TV speakers and I understand everything, even muddled accents. I cannot understand a single TV show or movie with the same speakers. Something tells me it's about the source material, not the device.

sotix 10mo ago
A YouTube video is likely a single track of audio or a very minimal amount. A movie mixed for Dolby Atmos is designed for multiple speakers. Now, they will create compromised mixes for something like a stereo setup, and a good set of bookshelf speakers will be able to create a phantom center channel. However, having a dedicated center channel speaker will do a much better job. And using the TV's built in speakers will do a very poor job. Professional mixing is a different beast than most YouTube videos, and accordingly, the sound is mixed quite different.
- tuetuopay 10mo ago
  Yup, I definitely do agree those are wildly different beasts. But the end result is, the professional mixing is less enjoyable than amateur-ish youtube mixing. Which is a shame, really. Mixing is a craft that is getting ruined (imho) by the direction to perform theatrical mixes (where having building-shaking sfx is not an issue) or atmos mixes (leaving no budget/time for plain stereo mixes). The crux of the issue IMHO is the theatrical mixes. Yes I can tune the TV volume way up and hear the dialogue pretty well. In exchange, any music or sfx is guaranteed to wake the neighbors (I live in a flat, so neighbors are on the other side of the wall/floor/ceiling).
- zargon 10mo ago
  As someone with a dedicated center speaker, people doing audio mixing do not effectively use it. I even have it manually boosted. Sometimes it's 10% better than without one, but nowhere near enough to make a real difference.
redox99 10mo ago
Well of course, YouTube is someone sitting in front of the camera with no background noise and speaking calmly. In a movie the characters may be far away (so it needs to sound like that, not like a podcast), running, exhausted, with a plethora of background noises and so on.