Subtitles are great for this, but also investing in actual speakers instead of a soundbar or the tv’s speakers.
If the movie has multiple sound channels beyond left/right, then dialogue is usually one of those channels and can come from a specific speaker, making it less muddied than when mixed with other sounds.
If the movie doesn’t have multiple channels, the speakers might still help a little just by being better quality.
There are a ton of reasons why audio mixes for movies are fraught with quality issues during home viewing, and “people have crappy equipment” is the weakest and lest-compelling of them.
This is a great article, but given your context, I chuckled when I stumbled across this line: “There is yet another important variable in this sprawling equation, and it might be the most important one of all: the home theater experience.”
It is definitely under-appreciated. A lot of people don’t care, or don’t know what they’re missing. Some people get intimidated with the technical aspects of the setup. So even people that want a better experience are shy about it. Then they see lies on the sound bar box and think that’s a great solution. Sound bars are better than TV speakers, but they’re not a replacement for a real surround sound system.
What’s wrong with sound bars? I don’t want my whole living room redesigned with speakers everywhere, I just want stereo and each frequency to sound decent.
No amount of software will make speakers in front of you sound like they’re behind you. Plus there’s not really much distance between the speakers in the sound bar, so even the main speakers are very center focused. Lastly, they’re small speakers. You can create a lot of sound with small speakers, but it will never fill a room like large speakers, they just can’t push enough air. I can hear my big floor standing speakers at reasonable volume throughout the house. I’d have to turn smaller speakers up to painful levels to hear them in the other room.
HRTF is designed to replicate the way that humans perceive where a sound is coming from.
It’s not perfect, and it’s not going to create an identical experience to a full-range speaker in every corner, but it does a remarkably good job tricking our brains when done right.
I do not understand where this comes from. I do not want sound behind me. Thats also why I stare at a flat screen in front of me. To each their own, but there should be the option to have a decent nighttime stereo mix.
Have you never enjoyed a movie at the movie theater? They use top-tier surround sound systems and it’s amazing! You can recreate a lot of that at home with a 5.1 surround sound system. The more channels you add, the more immersive the experience. Like in the beginning of Saving Private Ryan, the sounds are coming from all around. You can feel the bass from the boats churning below you, hear the bullets go whizzing past you and hit the boats & people behind you, hear the guns firing in front of you and people screaming to advance. It completely changes the viewing experience. Idk why you wouldn’t want that if you’re into movies. But you can’t really re-create that with a sound bar. Sure, it’s usually better than the TV speakers, but it’s not true surround sound.
I know and that’s all good and everything. If I want that experience I would go to the movies. At home though I prefer the action to be in a confined space; why take away the option? You can still opt for a surround experience if that is more your thing. Just let the customer pick.
I’m intrigued by this - do you mean that the smaller speakers sound unpleasant at the same volume you need to hear it in the other room, or that a literal higher volume is required? The latter goes against how I thought sound worked!
If you have the system calibrated for reference levels then it will be the same volume, but it’ll require more power to produce it. Yes, it will sound unpleasant, and feel less “full”. Unless they’re very good small speakers it will sound harsher and can cause more listening strain.
The quality of your speakers has a big effect on the audio, sure, but it should not have an effect on speech intelligibility. I could put my phone on speaker and lean it against the TV screen and be perfectly able to hear better mixed videos.
Subtitles are great for this, but also investing in actual speakers instead of a soundbar or the tv’s speakers.
If the movie has multiple sound channels beyond left/right, then dialogue is usually one of those channels and can come from a specific speaker, making it less muddied than when mixed with other sounds.
If the movie doesn’t have multiple channels, the speakers might still help a little just by being better quality.
There are a ton of reasons why audio mixes for movies are fraught with quality issues during home viewing, and “people have crappy equipment” is the weakest and lest-compelling of them.
https://www.slashfilm.com/673162/heres-why-movie-dialogue-has-gotten-more-difficult-to-understand-and-three-ways-to-fix-it/
This is a great article, but given your context, I chuckled when I stumbled across this line: “There is yet another important variable in this sprawling equation, and it might be the most important one of all: the home theater experience.”
An interesting read. Yeah, it’s complicated.
I think sound has been a bit under-appreciated compared to visual effects/quality in recent years.
It is definitely under-appreciated. A lot of people don’t care, or don’t know what they’re missing. Some people get intimidated with the technical aspects of the setup. So even people that want a better experience are shy about it. Then they see lies on the sound bar box and think that’s a great solution. Sound bars are better than TV speakers, but they’re not a replacement for a real surround sound system.
What’s wrong with sound bars? I don’t want my whole living room redesigned with speakers everywhere, I just want stereo and each frequency to sound decent.
No amount of software will make speakers in front of you sound like they’re behind you. Plus there’s not really much distance between the speakers in the sound bar, so even the main speakers are very center focused. Lastly, they’re small speakers. You can create a lot of sound with small speakers, but it will never fill a room like large speakers, they just can’t push enough air. I can hear my big floor standing speakers at reasonable volume throughout the house. I’d have to turn smaller speakers up to painful levels to hear them in the other room.
HRTF is designed to replicate the way that humans perceive where a sound is coming from.
It’s not perfect, and it’s not going to create an identical experience to a full-range speaker in every corner, but it does a remarkably good job tricking our brains when done right.
I do not understand where this comes from. I do not want sound behind me. Thats also why I stare at a flat screen in front of me. To each their own, but there should be the option to have a decent nighttime stereo mix.
Have you never enjoyed a movie at the movie theater? They use top-tier surround sound systems and it’s amazing! You can recreate a lot of that at home with a 5.1 surround sound system. The more channels you add, the more immersive the experience. Like in the beginning of Saving Private Ryan, the sounds are coming from all around. You can feel the bass from the boats churning below you, hear the bullets go whizzing past you and hit the boats & people behind you, hear the guns firing in front of you and people screaming to advance. It completely changes the viewing experience. Idk why you wouldn’t want that if you’re into movies. But you can’t really re-create that with a sound bar. Sure, it’s usually better than the TV speakers, but it’s not true surround sound.
I know and that’s all good and everything. If I want that experience I would go to the movies. At home though I prefer the action to be in a confined space; why take away the option? You can still opt for a surround experience if that is more your thing. Just let the customer pick.
You can pick. I haven’t seen a single modern system without a sound mode option.
I’m intrigued by this - do you mean that the smaller speakers sound unpleasant at the same volume you need to hear it in the other room, or that a literal higher volume is required? The latter goes against how I thought sound worked!
If you have the system calibrated for reference levels then it will be the same volume, but it’ll require more power to produce it. Yes, it will sound unpleasant, and feel less “full”. Unless they’re very good small speakers it will sound harsher and can cause more listening strain.
The quality of your speakers has a big effect on the audio, sure, but it should not have an effect on speech intelligibility. I could put my phone on speaker and lean it against the TV screen and be perfectly able to hear better mixed videos.