[78-L] Carlin Mark Twain award ^

[Stewart, Joseph R]

David Lennick wrote:

> Warning: the sound is TERRIBLE. Either that or the Buffalo station
hasn't 

> figured how to deal with HD..the entire perspective was reversed, the
announcer 

> and the people speaking into mikes were inaudible but the orchestra
was at full 

> volume, the ECHO of the comic could be heard but not his original
voice. On 

> clips that weren't being played at the Kennedy Centre, like a Stephen
Colbert 

> bit (okay, I still haven't figured why he's on television), the sound
was fine. 

> I'm going to check it at midnight on the Seattle channel and see if
the same 

> problem appears.

 

Were you watching on cable, satellite, or off-air?  I was watching the
HD transmission off-air from my local PBS station (my colleagues across
the hall) on a Sharp HD set last night, and noticed somewhat DIFFERENT
audio problems:  several of the CLIPS, like the Stephen Colbert bit and
one or two of the announcer voice-overs, had bad audio, with a honking
mid-range that sounded like some sort of phase shift. Conversely, the
"live" bits inside the Kennedy Center were okay (though NOBODY in
television knows how to clip those damned little "tietack" mics on
someone's chest and get any kind of decent sound out of them!).  I
noticed something similar on the recent "Great Performances" telecast of
the Met's "Doctor Atomic" production (audio from the stage and orchestra
pit was fine, but the audience applause sounded phase-shifted or
something).  I'm listening in stereo only (no 5.1 capabilities for me).
When checking these same programs as fed over my local cable system, or
from the regular ANALOG off-air signal, I hear no such problems.  Was
the Carlin show being fed in Dolby Surround, I wonder?  I wandered
across the hall a few minutes ago and asked our TV Chief Engineer for
his thoughts, and he wonders if perhaps the program producers aren't
occasionally getting the 5.1 audio mix and/or encoding screwed up. (He,
of course, is certain that it's NOTHING on our end that's at fault...! I
wouldn't know, I'm not an engineer-I only play one in bed.) Certainly
doesn't happen with every PBS program.

 

Randy Stewart, Arts Producer

KSMU

Springfield MO