NHL preview needs tweaking.

[Clancy]

After switching back and forth last night to various NHL games on the 540 channels, to see how scores were going, I noticed that the audio levels were not always balanced. I had to quickly turn levels down and then up after switching somewhere else.
A minor inconvenience but none the less can be corrected with a conscientious uplink crew.
Other than that, I thought Dishnetwork had done a pretty good job. :up

 

[JohnH]

After switching back and forth last night to various NHL games on the 540 channels, to see how scores were going, I noticed that the audio levels were not always balanced. I had to quickly turn levels down and then up after switching somewhere else.
A minor inconvenience but none the less can be corrected with a conscientious uplink crew.
Other than that, I thought Dishnetwork had done a pretty good job. :up

Yeah and when some viewer has set their level for a particular game, the engineer comes along and changes it so you can surf. Not good either. For the most part the problem is at the source.

 

[Clancy]

The thing is that all remote locations send an audio level back to master control prior to gametime. Once the game starts, it is sent to the various areas including Dishnetwork.
Dishnetwork receives their feeds in this case from all the various hockey cities and has to balance the feeds for distribution to the uplink centres.
The uplink centres have the final task of making sure that amongst other things, that the audio levels are all of a balanced nature.
When the various NHL Centre Ice channels are not balanced, the viewers at home, much like a football or baseball fan who wants to do some surfing for those sports, they don't want to have large changes in audio levels.
Last night was one of those nights.

 

[oggusfoo]

Aren't the c.i. games just retransmissions of the FSN signal? If so, correcting it will help not only the NHL fans, but baseball and college football/hockey/soccer/volleyball. It's funny how none of the baseball subscribers have noticed it. I guess there isn't that much for those announcers to raise their voice about.

 

[Clancy]

Aren't the c.i. games just retransmissions of the FSN signal? If so, correcting it will help not only the NHL fans, but baseball and college football/hockey/soccer/volleyball. It's funny how none of the baseball subscribers have noticed it. I guess there isn't that much for those announcers to raise their voice about.

Not only feeds of FSN games but hockey also has feeds from different Canadian sources.
The job of the eventual satellite provider is to make sure that a 0db level is maintained throughout all games. If one or two games are down -15 or -20 then the viewer has a hell of a job not disturbing someone who may be trying to sleep while you are juggling the beer, popcorn, chips and the remote all at the same time.
Life is such a beach.

 

[JohnH]

Now if you can get the audio man at the site(s) to follow the reference signal which is sent before the game, all is great. It don't happen that way anymore. Nobody monitors audio level and sometimes video level is left to chance.

 

[Clancy]

Now if you can get the audio man at the site(s) to follow the reference signal which is sent before the game, all is great. It don't happen that way anymore. Nobody monitors audio level and sometimes video level is left to chance.

I don't know where you have worked but that is not the case with top quality remotes. I know I've been there.

As I have mentioned earlier, the balanced levels have their final correction not at the remote site but at the uplink centre. The audio man at the site is just the first link, after him it goes through suppressors ,TOC, master conrols, out to uplink.
The level has to be and should be matched by then.

 

[grb]

I have gotten so used to extreme variations in audio because HD (DD 5.1) is very low, so I turn the volume way up. When I change the channel to an SD program, the volume needs to be adjusted way down. So adjustments between SD channels are minor in comparison...

 

[Clancy]

I have gotten so used to extreme variations in audio because HD (DD 5.1) is very low, so I turn the volume way up. When I change the channel to an SD program, the volume needs to be adjusted way down. So adjustments between SD channels are minor in comparison...

Dishnetwork at times on the hockey the other night had games with 20db difference. Not acceptable and correctable.
I can only juggle so many things at once without spilling my drink and trying to ride audio levels for someone else. Geesh!

 

[JohnH]

I see the backhauls directly. Reference tones are a joke.

They will try to fix it. Hope the crowd don't blow you out of your seat.
dishquality@echostar.com

 

[grb]

Dishnetwork at times on the hockey the other night had games with 20db difference. Not acceptable and correctable.
I can only juggle so many things at once without spilling my drink and trying to ride audio levels for someone else. Geesh!

How does 20 db translate on a numbered volume level? For example, I may have a volume level of 12 on a typical SD channel for my surround sound system, but I will turn it up to 17 for 5.1 DD. Was your volume adjustment greater than that?

I scanned the hockey channels last night (between innings of the Dodger/Mets game) and I didn't notice a major audio level difference; but, then, again, I am used to adjusting the sound between HD and SD and that can be a real pain!