DVR Chatter

Frank · 07-13-2006 1:01:46 AM

We got The Tube out here as a sub channel to our (soon to be not WB) WB station WPHL 17. I guess they're looking for something else to do, since UPN 57 will be the one to go CW in the fall.

Anyway, at first glance it's pretty great. Good variety of some hits and some forgotten gems. But that's not why I'm posting. I'm posting because it shows up as "DD 5.1." I fired up the old receiver and, sure enough, I'm getting signal out of all 5.1 channels and it registers as DD.

I'm sure they're running the sound through some sort of Dolby processor to turn the stereo videos into DD 5.1 (creating fake surround sound). Does anyone have any details on what they're doing? I've played around with different processes to turn stereo recordings into surround, so I find it interesting that someone is doing it professionally (with un-horrible results).

andyross · 07-13-2006 4:23:56 PM

It's the same here in Chicago, where it's WGN-DT 9.3, or Comcast 197.

My complaint is that what I see from Comcast seems to be contrasty, with crushed blacks. Many concert videos often look a bit like floating hands and heads in a sea of black and near-black.

Frank · 07-13-2006 5:11:55 PM

I'm sure it's like the other digital versions of the locals, where Comcast is just feeding through whatever the station is sending over the air without manipulation.

I have noticed some digital artifacts and questionable compression on The Tube like you have. However, for the most part, it is very much more well done digitally than Comcast's Digital Simulcast of analog channels is. They are soft and red and blurry (a big improvement over analog, though).

I can live with a little shaky picture quality, though. I already like it better than MTV, VH1, MTV Hits, VH1 Classic, etc.

I'm impressed with what they choose to play. Last night I saw a bunch of current hits and a bunch of obscurities from the likes of Prince and Santana and Pink Floyd.

I also like that I can zoom their little "The Tube" bug at the bottom right off my screen when I want to protect my RPTV.

So far, they seem to be doing a lot right. They have "No Game Shows, No Reality Shows, No News Shows, etc" promos that amuse me, too.

Does anyone have any info on their Stereo -> DD 5.1 conversion process?

cheer · 07-21-2006 10:52:14 AM

They're not really remixing it to 5.1 or anything...it's just two channels replicated to 5. Pseudo-surround, if you will. WCIU-DT does the same thing -- try watching Enterprise reruns. Upscaled to 720p and 5.1. An engineer there said they do that with the sound because otherwise the transition between actual 5.1 programming and 2.0 programming causes sound to be missed and/or receiver popping.

Frank · 07-21-2006 11:17:43 AM

cheer wrote:
They're not really remixing it to 5.1 or anything...it's just two channels replicated to 5. Pseudo-surround, if you will. WCIU-DT does the same thing -- try watching Enterprise reruns. Upscaled to 720p and 5.1. An engineer there said they do that with the sound because otherwise the transition between actual 5.1 programming and 2.0 programming causes sound to be missed and/or receiver popping.

Actually, it's not just two channels replicated to 5. There is definately different information coming through the channels. The center channel appears to be l minus r, and the rear channels have almost no vocals but appear to have some effect (echo, delay or both) to make it different than the front channels.

DVR Chatter

#1 07-13-2006 1:01:46 AM

The Tube

#2 07-13-2006 4:23:56 PM

Re: The Tube

#3 07-13-2006 5:11:55 PM

Re: The Tube

#4 07-21-2006 10:52:14 AM

Re: The Tube

#5 07-21-2006 11:17:43 AM

Re: The Tube

cheer wrote:

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