How I discovered the best way to hear TV I
THOUGHT I was going deaf because I couldn’t hear the dialogue on TV drama.
Then I listened on earphones and clarity descended. New TV sets are elegant, have great picture quality and can sit flush on a wall but often have rubbish audio.
There just isn’t the room for the sort of speakers you got in those fat sets, a couple of decades ago, that were as big as a tank and took two strong men to move unless you fancied a hernia attempting to pick one up solo.
These days, dramas and films can be ruined by muffled dialogue that sounds as if it was recorded under water and can only be understood by mermaids and lip readers.
In desperation, viewers splashed out money on sound-bars to discover what was actually being said by Tom Hardy in Taboo or Simon Riley in SS-GB or just about any quality production.
“Modern TVs might have fantastic picture quality, but their sound is often disappointing as new slimline TVs have limited space for built-in speakers,” said a report in consumer magazine Which?
Sound technicians and Equity
Dramas and films can be ruined by muffled dialogue that sounds as if it was recorded under water.
have said the same. I discovered they were right by accident. We have been invaded by family. Daughter Sian, husband and grandchildren have moved in after selling their house and Maria and I are waiting to move out into a smaller, but perfectly formed, house in two weeks’ time. It’s downsizing while keeping the family home in the family. In the short-term we are using our bedroom as a bedsit, which is IS Mike Shaw, former editor of the Colne Valley Guardian, showing his age or does he have a point?
Is the internet taking over the world? He tells me of a couple from Linthwaite who went to the garden centre at Shelley to buy Christmas presents.
While they were there they saw a sign for Christmas lunch. Two courses or three courses. The lady took a table in the delightful kitchen garden restaurant, and the gentleman joined the queue.
When he eventually reached the front, he said: “Two Christmas dinners, please.”
To which he was told: “Sorry. You have to book online.”
They ended up with two cups of fine, except that it’s next to Jeanie’s bedroom and seven-year-olds need their sleep. What to do?
I bought a five-metre stereo extension cable and a headphone splitter, so that two people can listen at the same time. Total cost £11.98 from Amazon.
I already had the sort of simple headphones you can use with a smartphone.
We felt a bit daft the first time I plugged in and we sat side by side on the bed like extras in Star Trek. Then the police drama started and we realised we could actually hear dialogue clear as a bell, plus all the background noises that are never tea, a packet of biscuits and a pie. The website for the Pennine Wyevale Garden Centre states you can book online for a Festive Lunch from now until December 24, two courses £14.95 and three courses £16.95 (reduced prices for children). They also have breakfasts and teas with Santa and a Santa’s Grotto.
I use the internet every day and can understand that for something like an expensive lunch, the garden centre will prefer bookings in advance.
But Mike, who is one of the thousands who don’t use it, says: “The internet is taking over the world. It takes the biscuit ... or rather, the Christmas lunch.”
What do you think? distinguishable. This was sound as it was meant to be heard. The stereo was so good Maria kept looking over her shoulder.
The only downside is when Maria is reading while I watch football on what is, to her, a silent TV screen, and I suddenly react verbally to the state of play or refereeing.
We are moving into a detached house, so will be able to have the volume turned up without annoying the neighbours, but now we’ve discovered the wonders of stereo clarity I may just invest in a pair of decent earphones.
They’ll be cheaper than a soundbar.