Digital sound on TV sucks! Digital TV sucks!

I suppose I am going to be labeled an "old-fart" for posting this; however, I believe that if you honestly consider what I am going to say, you might actually agree with me.

I recently switched from a normal (old school) 24" television to a wide-screen high-def television. The first thing I had trouble adjusting to was that everyone looked short and fat and flat-headed. But, in time I grew to accept this because I knew that it was the format of choice for those who are cool, and of course, we should ultimately all be cool, right?

Then, I began trying to adjust to the sound. (This was actually more annoying than the short, flat, fat people video aspect of this new age wonder. )

The sound brings to the forefront every single little bump, clack, click, tick, lick, crack, irk, bump, scrape, scratch, wheeze sound that a human can possibly make in the process of just being human.

Then, when music begins to play, this is truly an unnerving experience...the music is metallic and hollow and thin and totally takes the forefront above dialog. I absolutely cannot turn it up loud enough to hear dialog above music. I find this extremely frustrating when watching movies that i once watched on normal television where I didn't have these issues to deal with. Music is supposed to augment a movie or scene, not dominate it to the point of totally obliterating conversation or mood.

I tried to watch 'Jurassic Park" on this new age TV. I tried to watch many other older movies on this new wonder and found myself completely annoyed, distracted, and totally uninvolved with the story line at all. The sound is so annoying that the true essence of the story is completely obliterated. Perhaps this was the intention, make it loud and obnoxious enough to disguise the fact that there really is no good story line or actual acting involved.

Tomorrow, I am going to a flea market or a pawn shop and purchase an old TV that has normal sound so I can actually enjoy a movie again.

Do any of you other ATS'ers think I am just an old fart who should go back to listening to radio, or do I actually have a valid point?

F**k technology....sometimes we just need to use our imagination.

As for the picture being short and fat, you have to change the aspect setting for it to look normal.

I have had no problem with the digital change as of yet but you never know.

reply to post by daikaiju

Thanks for the advice. I am so not enjoying this tv at all, visually or audibly. I will check into what you suggested.

Before you ditch an expensive tv, get someone to come help you. The things you're describing are all settings that can be changed.

Could be the speakers on your tv, or even the sound setting. Alot of times TV's come with a default sound setting and it can be adjusted. Many times the choices are like, Jazz, Pop, Rock, etc. and they adjust the tone, bass or just the details in the sound.

Changing that usually helps considerably to match the sound type you like the best.

Hope that helps!

reply to post by scaredlady


It's worth noting that new televisions typically are thin nowadays. This thinness limits the thickness and depth of the speakers. Shallow speakers in a thin tv, translate into shallow sound... If you do in fact have a thin tv then a set of speakers or a sound bar should fix that right up! If it's an older tv I'm not sure what could help you!

i couldn't agree more and im 21 so i should be able to embrace this crap. the sound and picture quality actually deal with he tv being flat panel (or at least flatter). old tv's were big for a reason, more tubes and hardware. the picture quality will always be superior on a fat tv with a lot of room for the speakers. its truly a matter of bigger being better; if you could find an hd big tv then that would be the best possible quality.

mass hypnosis on a global scale is what you have just described. Stimulating the brain into particular thought patterns through the use of visual and audio frequency's is nothing new to those who are aware of it, but now its become a house hold item and sitting comfortably in the center of your home similar to how once places a pillar for one to pray and seek refuge.

...are you getting the picture ?

Thanks for all the input, guys. This is why I love ATS.

I will follow your advice and have someone adjust the settings.

As far as the poor sound quality being part of mind control , you are probably on to something there. Gonna do some research on that!

reply to post by scaredlady


you got that right and the way the volume jumps from channel to channel it's not so much the quality but levels they transmit at as I have an older tv in the bedroom and that is fine but on the plasma in living room you either have to have it that loud just to hear the voices (not in my head either lol) and then it is just intolerable or you can't hear the background noise they can't seem to strike a balance yet when you play a blue ray the sound is excellent

We had the same problem with our HD TV. Unfortunately those type of TVs are really made to be use with an actual sound system not just the speakers that come on the TV. Stupid I know, but my husband is a cable guy and customers complain about it all the time. When hooked up to an external sound system it sounds pretty good.