The actual reason, for anyone curious, is that movies and shows now are recorded and mixed for 5 or 7 chanel surround audio systems. The dialogue is meant to rout to the speakers closer to the viewers so it’s tuned lower, while big loud shit is meant to come from the bigger, bassier speakers up front farther from viewers so they tune it louder.
If you watch on a laptop, invest in surround sound headphones. I got a decent pair for $40 USD and it has vastly improved both my movie watching and gaming experience.
In the US HD and even some SD OTA (antenna) channels are usually broadcast in at least 5.1 Dolby Digital and the upcoming ATSC standard update will allow 7.1 and Atmos broadcasts. This is also true for most streaming services, DVDs, Blu-ray’s, and even some VHSs and video games going all the way back to the N64 (Dolby ProLogic).
That people are watching (or listening to in this case) that kind of signal on a basic TV is the issue being described.
What I was getting at is why is the signal like that if most people don’t have the hardware to utilize it, and it’s a really bad experience with the more common hardware. Unless people with basic stereo is actually the minority
Stereo headphones are surround sound. It’s how ears work. You percieve position by how late the sound comes to one ear compared to the other. There is a bit more, but I don’t want to write on the phone more. Google HRTF for that part.
That’s my bad, I should have been a lit more specific. Most basic stereo headphones are straight dual channel and have the same issues as listening through laptop or tv speakers. I’m talking about the ones that actually use multi-channel signal to simulate a 5.1 or 7.1 environment.
Not really. It’s up to the software, soundcard, and/or recording.
Stereo headphones are surround. The reason laptop speakers are not is because they are in front of you. Headphones are one for each ear, separate.
Our brain is very sensitive to phase difference between sound in either ear. That is how we can tell sound direction. It’s like triangulation, except the third variable is the shape of our ears (is it comming from the front or the back, see HRTF again).
There is no such thing as surround headphones. There can not even be such a thing. All headphones are surround. It’s either sound card drivers, software in the chain, the recording itself, or just marketing. Get “normal” headphones and check out some directional audio videos on youtube.
Headphones can emulate multi-channel spacial audio because the speakers are right on your ears. Tvs and laptops could do the same thing my headset does, it just wouldn’t do any good because speakers are too far away and in the wrong orientation.
If you have stereo speakers… surround is not a concern. The device should just assume the audio will be originating from the front of the listener, and mix it at equal levels and call it a day.
Most systems should be capable of downmixing to stereo. I have found that sometimes this issue comes from a double downmix where the streaming box converts to stereo but still sends it encoded in DTS or similar so the TV or soundbar downmixes it again. The result is that it reduces the volume of the left and right where the dialog now is and increases the now silent center channel.
The actual reason, for anyone curious, is that movies and shows now are recorded and mixed for 5 or 7 chanel surround audio systems. The dialogue is meant to rout to the speakers closer to the viewers so it’s tuned lower, while big loud shit is meant to come from the bigger, bassier speakers up front farther from viewers so they tune it louder.
If you watch on a laptop, invest in surround sound headphones. I got a decent pair for $40 USD and it has vastly improved both my movie watching and gaming experience.
Do most people have that kind of setup? Almost everyone I know is watching from a basic tv, a shitty laptop, or with midrange headphones
In the US HD and even some SD OTA (antenna) channels are usually broadcast in at least 5.1 Dolby Digital and the upcoming ATSC standard update will allow 7.1 and Atmos broadcasts. This is also true for most streaming services, DVDs, Blu-ray’s, and even some VHSs and video games going all the way back to the N64 (Dolby ProLogic).
That people are watching (or listening to in this case) that kind of signal on a basic TV is the issue being described.
What I was getting at is why is the signal like that if most people don’t have the hardware to utilize it, and it’s a really bad experience with the more common hardware. Unless people with basic stereo is actually the minority
Nobody wants to advertise that they don’t support the latest and greatest tech. Also regulatory capture to an extent.
Stereo headphones are surround sound. It’s how ears work. You percieve position by how late the sound comes to one ear compared to the other. There is a bit more, but I don’t want to write on the phone more. Google HRTF for that part.
That’s my bad, I should have been a lit more specific. Most basic stereo headphones are straight dual channel and have the same issues as listening through laptop or tv speakers. I’m talking about the ones that actually use multi-channel signal to simulate a 5.1 or 7.1 environment.
Not really. It’s up to the software, soundcard, and/or recording.
Stereo headphones are surround. The reason laptop speakers are not is because they are in front of you. Headphones are one for each ear, separate.
Our brain is very sensitive to phase difference between sound in either ear. That is how we can tell sound direction. It’s like triangulation, except the third variable is the shape of our ears (is it comming from the front or the back, see HRTF again).
There is no such thing as surround headphones. There can not even be such a thing. All headphones are surround. It’s either sound card drivers, software in the chain, the recording itself, or just marketing. Get “normal” headphones and check out some directional audio videos on youtube.
Openal is an audio library used by some older games and they patched HRTF into it to make it sound even more surround.
Decent headphones that are comfortable are better then even more expensive full room setups, although just for one person.
Edit: Funny enough the last time I explained this was to an audio engineer. Took him a bit, but he got it when I used sharks ears as an example.
Ok… so why isnt audio devices mixing the stereo from a 5 channel source? I mean thats exactly what your ‘$40’ headphones are doing.
Headphones can emulate multi-channel spacial audio because the speakers are right on your ears. Tvs and laptops could do the same thing my headset does, it just wouldn’t do any good because speakers are too far away and in the wrong orientation.
If you have stereo speakers… surround is not a concern. The device should just assume the audio will be originating from the front of the listener, and mix it at equal levels and call it a day.
Fair enough.
Most systems should be capable of downmixing to stereo. I have found that sometimes this issue comes from a double downmix where the streaming box converts to stereo but still sends it encoded in DTS or similar so the TV or soundbar downmixes it again. The result is that it reduces the volume of the left and right where the dialog now is and increases the now silent center channel.