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Crank it up!

GKarsEye

GKarsEye

Regular
Hey, does anyone else think that the volume on the sci fi channel during Babylon 5 is very quiet? I have to turn it significantly louder than when I watch any other channel.

If I watch B5, sometimes I jump to FOX to watch Seinfeld or the Simpsons during commercials, and the volume difference is pretty significant.

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"You do not make history. You can only hope to survive it."
 
I've noticed this, too. Not particularly with Babylon 5 but with all of SCIFI channel. I've noticed other channels being quieter or louder as well. I guess there is no standardized broadcast volume, so all the channels are a little bit different.

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change the channel?! oh my! I think you should just leave it on the sci-fi channel and concentrate on absorbing what you just saw on Babylon 5, IF you know what's good for you. What if you forget to change back to sci-fi and you miss even a second of B5... I hate to even think about it
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The TNT broadcast had the same problem. When I watch em on tape, I have to turn the volume up real loud. If there isn't any sound going on, then I hear distortion crap from it being too loud.

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We're all born as molecules in the hearts of a billion stars, molecules that do not understand politics, policies and differences. In a billion years we, foolish molecules forget who we are and where we came from. Desperate acts of ego. We give ourselves names, fight over lines on maps. And pretend our light is better than everyone else's. The flame reminds us of the piece of those stars that live inside us. A spark that tells us: you should know better. The flame also reminds us that life is precious, as each flame is unique. When it goes out, it's gone forever. And there will never be another quite like it
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> I guess there is no standardized broadcast volume, so all the channels are a little bit different. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Actually there IS a very Strict standard, but the industry is notorious for Cheating.

The Standard was originally intended to keep stations from cranking up the volume during Commercials.

I'm sure we've all noticed how well That is getting enforced.
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There is a Practical limit, as well. If a Broadcast station cranks up the volume too high, the Audio causes interference patterns in the Video.
The Herringbone Weave effect is very noticeable in the picture when it happens.

It's an unescapable side effect of the way the Sound and Video signals share the carrier in a broadcast signal.



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The 3 most common elements in the Universe:
Hydrogen, Greed, Stupidity!
 
It's called a mute button, people.

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The writer's life is not meant to be a happy one. We all accept that going in. -JMS
 
Yea,

I have to jack up the volume too. I listen on a Home Theatre as well, which makes things interesting. Nothing better than when those Sci-Fi channel commercials cut in and I practically shatter the windows.

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'I don't believe in the no-win scenario' - JTK
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Recoil:
Nothing better than when those Sci-Fi channel commercials cut in and I practically shatter the windows.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

ROFL! It's especially fun when the commercials cut in at ~3-4AM, and and they seem both loud and brassy. Kinda like Narn Opera.
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KoshN
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Vorlon Empire

"To Live and Die in Starlight"
pilot movie for "Babylon 5 - The Legend of the Rangers"
January 19, 2002 at 9PM & 11PM EST, January 20, 2002 at 5PM on The Sci-Fi Channel (US).
http://www.scifi.com/b5rangers/
 
Okay, a couple of things are important here. JMS pushed the audio to make it as dynamic as he could. That means that if you want to be able to have a great variation in volume, or dynamic range, the lows , and normal passages, are lower. This happens in movies a lot too. Also, some times, especially with movies, they use the wrong equalization, which makes stuff too low. And if you have digital cable, the digital portion of the channels, that is 100 or higher, I think in most systems, will usually be softer, also because they are using more dynamic range. Most tv shows deliberately compress the highs and lows of volume. The Scifi channel on my system is 54, and B5 is nearly as loud as anything else.

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You're speaking treason! Olivia De Havilland as Maid Marian
Fluently! Errol Flynn as Robin Hood
You're talking treason! Olivia De Havilland as Arabella Bishop
I trust I'm not obscure. Errol Flynn as Dr. Peter Blood

Pallindromes of the month: Snug was I, ere I saw guns.
Doom an evil deed, liven a mood.

[This message has been edited by Jade Jaguar (edited December 13, 2001).]
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> And if you have digital cable, the digital portion of the channels, that is 100 or higher, I think in most systems, will usually be softer, also because they are using more dynamic range. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hmm, I've never noticed that. And the sci-fi channel is not above 100.

I guess it's just that channels broadcast the sound differently.

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"You do not make history. You can only hope to survive it."
 
I noticed the sound when I taped the last few episodes that I needed to finish my B5 tape collection. (I now have all 110 eps on tape....Woo hoo!!!!). The commercials, which I would pause for so that I didn't get them on my tape, are louder than the show. Lots of times, I'd have to turn the volume down when the commercials came on, then turn it back up when the show came back on. That got annoying after a while. Then when I watch the tapes with the eps from Scifi on them, I have to turn the volume up louder then I do my Warner Bros or TNT tapes.

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Lorien: Who are you?
RW: The salad man.
Lorien: Why are you here?
RW: To be the salad ambassador.
Lorien: What do you want?
RW: Everyone to know the joys of salad.
Lorien: Do you have anything worth living for?
RW: Yes, my salad bars.
 
G's Eye, if your cable box will let you select advanced matrix stereo, and you listen through the audio line outputs from it (stereo is not available from the RF coax output on digital channels), do so, and you will notice an immediate decrease in the volume. Standard stereo is only slightly lower volume than the analog channels.

The strangest audio defect I have ever encountered is on an Ohio PBS station. It seems to have auto circutry to synthesize stereo from a mono signal, and they never switch it off. So, when you listen to a stereo program, the stereo will be fine, but if the audio gets quiet, and one person speaks, it comes from everywhere!
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You're speaking treason! Olivia De Havilland as Maid Marian
Fluently! Errol Flynn as Robin Hood
You're talking treason! Olivia De Havilland as Arabella Bishop
I trust I'm not obscure. Errol Flynn as Dr. Peter Blood

Pallindromes of the month: Snug was I, ere I saw guns.
Doom an evil deed, liven a mood.
 
Wait, Jade, I am doing that: matrix stereo with audio outs. Are you then suggesting I use regular stereo?

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"You do not make history. You can only hope to survive it."
 
No, I'm not suggesting you use regular stereo, just that this can result in lower volumes. If you can select compression, high compression will increase the usuall volume, but reduces the dynamic range. If you select light compression, like I do, be prepared to turn up the volume, or gain,if appropriate when listening to digital channels especially. With light compression, soft passages are really soft, and loud passages can really blast. I like that, some don't. Surround lets you do a lot of interesting things. If you have some old or hard of hearing relatives, they can buy surround and turn up the center channel to always hear the dialogue, which can be drowned out for the hard of hearing.

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You're speaking treason! Olivia De Havilland as Maid Marian
Fluently! Errol Flynn as Robin Hood
You're talking treason! Olivia De Havilland as Arabella Bishop
I trust I'm not obscure. Errol Flynn as Dr. Peter Blood

Pallindromes of the month: Snug was I, ere I saw guns.
Doom an evil deed, liven a mood.
 
Yeah, I'm using light compression also.

However, there's still the fact that sci-fi channel is significantly more quiet than other channels, and that B5 is quiter than the commercials.

I was also thinking about raising my reference volume, but I'll see.

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"You do not make history. You can only hope to survive it."
 
I can't say that I have had a problem with the volume level of the Scifi channel, or specifically B5. The volume level of my recorded tapes (from TNT and one and two episodes from B5's day of being a syndicated series) was at normal level and it is the same with the episodes that are shown on Scifi. I have had problems with the volume level with other channels, but Scifi has never been one of them.

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Ivanova is always right. I will listen to Ivanova. I will not ignore Ivanova's recommendations. Ivanova is God. And if this ever happens again, Ivanova will personally rip your lungs out.
 
I can't say that I have had a problem with the volume level of the Scifi channel, or specifically B5. The volume level of my recorded tapes (from TNT and one and two episodes from B5's day of being a syndicated series) was at normal level and it is the same with the episodes that are shown on Scifi. I have had problems with the volume level with other channels, but Scifi has never been one of them.

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Ivanova is always right. I will listen to Ivanova. I will not ignore Ivanova's recommendations. Ivanova is God. And if this ever happens again, Ivanova will personally rip your lungs out.
 
No problems with the sound on any of the channels. My source for the SCIFI channel is DirecTV. It also helps to have a powered subwoofer and a 600 watt DD EX / DTS ES receiver.
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Remember dear readers, you heard it here first. Off the record, on the Q.T., and very hush-hush - Danny DeVito as Sid Hudgens in L.A. Confidential
 
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