Bass Bowl I

[Karma]

HI All,
I thought I would make a quick observation about ABC's Superbowl broadcast audio during halftime. The Stones are wailing in the background but I would rather be with you all :P .

It still seems that DD is beyond the engineers. They can't figure out how to get the audio levels consistent. It's like they don't know which button to push with program and commercial levels all over the place. And you can't hear the Ref's calls. Can this technology be that complicated?

That said, we must be happy with the bass. It sounds like an action movie without intermission. Both the game and the commercials have great bass. I think bass is finally here to stay. ABC is providing a real sub buster broadcast. It's about time.

Sparky

[Kevin P]

I agree. They botched up the halftime show sound bigtime. I had to crank the volume way up during the Stones, and the vocals were barely audible. Then at the end of the song, when the crowd applauded, it got REALLY loud.

The game sounded pretty good though, and the bass was nice. The most bass was during the ads for movies and TV shows though (Lost, Grey's Anatomy, etc.)

[Chris D]

Agree totally, dude, about HD broadcasts in general. I think there will be a big learning curve over the next 1-2 years as every channel learns how to film and broadcast in HD.

I am so tired of watching HD shows and then being deafened when a commercial starts. Or switching from a HD channel to a non-HD channel and can't hear the volume because comparitively so low. Or watching a HD show that is broadcast in a widescreen format that is DOUBLE LETTERBOXED with black bars on the top/bottom AND sides. (this happens so often with commercials on HD channels, too)

(sigh)

[Foxman]

I use a OTA antenna and had 7 or 8 people watching in HD. For most it was their first time watching HD tv and I was proud of how marvelous the HD looked. The sound sucked though for us the whole broadcast. I could barely hear Al Micheals and John Madden (Which I usually don't want to hear) and when your watching the Super Bowl you often end up with a lot of people who want to hear the broadcasters. The surround was great but that was by far the loudest part of the game. I can't comment on how bad the half time show was because that was everyones chance to dig into the food, but I understand from ESPN radion this morning I didnt miss anything.

Overall I think HD is fantastic VQ and SQ wise in fact I watched almost every Panther game in HD this year, but the sound last night stunk.

[George Bellefontaine]

No HDTV here. Just watched it on my 36" Tosh. Sound was about as good as can be expected from tv speakers.

[aud19]

Yup the half-time audio SUCKED BIG TIME! I mean why bother even booking a big band like the Stones if you're going to mix them like that. I could've been up there belting out tunes and you wouldn't have heard the difference! I also agree about he announcers and the crowd in the surrounds. Too quiet, and too loud respectively. Actually the surrounds/crowd probably was about right, the announcers were just too damn quiet in comparison.

Looked great though :T