[BC] DTV Audio Levels

[Rich Wood]

------ At 08:23 AM 6/15/2009, Cowboy wrote: -------

>  This one is bigger than radio guys can ( at first ) imagine !

Why is that? The concept is easy to imagine. Does my TV experience 
make me more smarter than most everyone else here? It's a nice 
fantasy, but that's all.

Understanding the combobulation and discombobulation of digital 
signals isn't really the problem. What's hard to fathom is why the 
FCC would approve a system that virtually guarantees ongoing 
violations of their regulations. Unless, of course, the industry's 
designers of the implementation of the system didn't understand it 
and used the analog model which assumes levels should be tolerable 
and easy to manipulate.

>  The "old school" producers still seem to want to control that 
> level, until they
>  find out how much trouble it really is.

There's a dramatic advancement. The manipulation of levels is often 
part of the creative process. I'm going to assume there's some way 
for the folks creating the product to make level changes without 
starting from scratch, though I think we're talking about something 
further down the signal path.

One way or another there's got to be a way to make digital levels 
acceptable to viewers. If not, there's plenty else to do. Note that 
Bob Orban's letter to the legislator references the occasions where 
the FCC ruled against loud spots. This will be the third time, 
possibly more, that complaints have driven authorities to take 
action. It's interesting that bad video doesn't draw nearly the 
attention loud audio does. In analog, stations weren't broadcasting 
bad video. They were transmitting bad audio. We might see some 
different complaints with digital but it's still not normally the 
station's fault. The bad audio is.

I'm encouraged that Bob Orban and Frank Foti found ways to fix the 
problem. I believe that because I respect them both. The same with 
Tom O's claim that the unit he saw did the trick.

Now we have to convince the stations to install the equipment and 
force the CEO's to forego the new car or the titanium golf clubs. The 
fact that the situation is against regulations should be a good 
incentive. I suspect the FCC will give stations a grace period as 
everyone learns the traps of digital.

I wonder if we'll have the same luck with the satellite services.

Rich

.

>  At least, that's what I've seen in my limited TV experience.
>  Couple more TV projects, hopefully a full studio conversion, and I'll have
>  a much better idea.
>  Any takers ?
>
>--
>Cowboy
>