ATTN JMS: Awful sound problem on Shadow Dancing

[B5JMS Poster]

Subject: ATTN JMS: Awful sound problem on Shadow Dancing
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 No. | DATE        |  FROM
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s  1: Oct 26, 1996: drmorris at athena.mit.edu (David R. Morrison)
+  5: Oct 26, 1996: mibenedetto at vassar.edu (Michael Benedetto)
*  6: Oct 27, 1996: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)

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From: drmorris at athena.mit.edu (David R. Morrison)
Lines: 33

Shadow Dancing was fantastic, except for one minor flaw.  The audio -
two awful problems!

The first is that there was an unusual amount of background noise and
atonal buzz, almost a rattle.  The buzz was primarily in the center
channel.  There was bad noise in the back channels.  This was not as bad
as the buzz.  It sounded like a cross between white noise and the static
you here on an empty AM channel.  I have a 5 channel dolby pro-logic
system.

The second problem is that high levels of the audio were distorted,
sounding clipped.  Voices had a rattly sound when they were loud.  It is
not as discernible on the music, but the music doesn't approach the
voice level as much.  I would say it is present, though.

Both problems persisted through some, but not all the commercials.  The
commercials which I believe are the local spots did *not* have the
problems.  My guess is that it was not a local station problem (and not
a B5 production problem), but a distribution problem.  Anyone for WB
domestic distribution listening?

Both problems are also only evident on moderately decent systems turned
up higher than moderate levels.  TV speakers or soft stereo doesn't make
the problem very noticeable.

I watch on KBHK through cable, here in San Francisco.

I'm eagerly awaiting the day when LaserDiscs come out, so I can enjoy
this show with the audio and video quality it deserves.  Well, I waited
5 months over reruns, I'll survive another 4 or so years.  Sigh.  If
you've got a spare set, feel free to drop it in the mail...

Dave

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From: mibenedetto at vassar.edu (Michael Benedetto)
Lines: 25

In article <54tnp1$idu at darla.visi.com>, neckro at visi.com (JoE CulberT) wrote:

>   it seems that KMSP-9 (in Minneapolis) had some sort of audio problem,
>either it was their fault or it was a dubbing problem.
>
>   It happens at the very end of the battle.  Delenn says something (no
>audio, but the music/etc. is still present).  Ivanova says something. 
>Marcus says something.  No voice audio at all, just the music.  Was this
>intentional, or a dubbing problem, or what?  Did anybody else notice this? 

I assumed it was intentional -- that they were saying fairly predictable
stuff that we didn't need to hear, and our attention should be focused on
the battle itself.

-Mike

-- 
In the depths of her interior
Were fears she was inferior
And something even eerier,
But no one dared to query her
Superior exterior.
                                     -Stephen Sondheim
                                      from FOLLIES, 1987


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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Lines: 9

We've been running this down, and we suspect that the tapes are being
transmuted from digital to analog and back again when they insert the
commercials after we turn over the eps to WB.  We're working to fix this,
it happened before and we beat the crap outta some people at the
subcontracting company.  We may have to do it again.


 jms

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