Does anyone else think that Cranky Geeks sounds like crap?

Bob · 10-07-2007, 11:38 PM

What does you sub-woofer do when they cut from the show to the commercials?
Do you have a low frequency rumble throughout the show?

I e-mailed them and got a polite response, but there has been no change in their crappy sound.
Does anyone have any problems with the sound from other Tivo Cast programs?
(Such as large audio volume changes between Tivo Cast programs and broadcast programs.)

My local high school produces better sounding product than Cranky Geeks. (Then again, I am in Hollywood.)

TiVoStephen · 10-08-2007, 04:42 AM

Hi Bob, can you check out the source to see if the problem is the same when you download it from crankygeeks.com? I'm trying to understand if the problem is in our process or what you hear from their site as well.

pkscout · 10-08-2007, 05:23 AM

Yea, that group never seems to say anything useful. Oh wait, you meant how it sounds, not the content.

shiffrin · 10-08-2007, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob

Does anyone have any problems with the sound from other Tivo Cast programs?
(Such as large audio volume changes between Tivo Cast programs and broadcast programs.)

On my set, the volume is extremely loud on all the Tivo Cast programs when compared to regular TV. I always have to lower the volume significantly when playing a Tivocast. For example, comfortable volume level for regular TV is -25db while for Tivocasts it is -40db.

mick66 · 10-08-2007, 02:34 PM

Other than the freakin loud Tivocast audio in general that shriffin mentioned, Cranky Geeks sounds normal to me.

pfunky · 10-08-2007, 02:55 PM

Yeah, I'd say the audio dynamic range on the CrankyGeeks shows suffer a bit, probably because of compression. But, I don't get a rumble when listening to it (Bob, you may want to check the low-pass frequency on your sub if it has one).

I have noticed that the volume is quite high when listening to tivocasts though...I always have to jump for the remote to turn it down. Then again, I've always thought a cool feature that Tivo could add would be volume normalization (for everything, including the commercials during shows that do that). But, sound quality would suffer by turning that on anyway.

TiVoStephen · 10-08-2007, 05:15 PM

Thanks all for the feedback on TiVoCast audio. We'll investigate.

WebHobbit · 10-08-2007, 09:50 PM

CrankyGeeks has WAY more bass for me than normal TV stuff. I do hear a weird rumble coming from my sub during CrankyGeeks. Sound like some sort of background distortion. Totally goes away when I return to any regular TV channel or recorded show.

destek · 10-09-2007, 07:22 AM

Anyone with any television production experience can see that this show is done completely on "the cheap." There simply are no production values to the show - as if it is done at the local high school studio using high-school kids to put it together.
You never get any orienting shots at the beginning of the show, the studio is basically a table in front of black curtains - yuck. You can't be surprised that the audio is garbage too!
I am shocked that John D. associates himself with it. It lowers his status in my opinion and instead of positioning him as the very smart technologist that he is - it positions him as a whiny blogger using notepad to do his HTML.

bmgoodman · 10-09-2007, 07:22 AM

I'm not listening to CG over a stereo, but even through my TV speakers, the audio sounds pretty crappy. I always assumed they were just using an old PC microphone from the Windows 3.1 days.

Bob · 10-09-2007, 10:13 PM

Just downloaded Cranky Geeks and burned a dvd so I could play it in my home theater.

Opening music and ads are fine. Whenever they cut to the Geeks, there is that horrible low frequency noise. On the downloaded version, it sounds more hum like, on the TivoCast version, there is also a rumble characteristic. It is defiantly a problem with the Cranky Geeks audio, not TivoCasts in general.

As stated above, ALL TivoCasts are louder than regular programing, and cause you to jump for the remote.

But only the Cranky Geeks sound like doggy do do.

Bob · 10-27-2007, 01:27 AM

They finally fixed the low frequency problem.

The show sounds much better now.

d_anders · 10-27-2007, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by destek

Anyone with any television production experience can see that this show is done completely on "the cheap." There simply are no production values to the show - as if it is done at the local high school studio using high-school kids to put it together.
You never get any orienting shots at the beginning of the show, the studio is basically a table in front of black curtains - yuck. You can't be surprised that the audio is garbage too!
I am shocked that John D. associates himself with it. It lowers his status in my opinion and instead of positioning him as the very smart technologist that he is - it positions him as a whiny blogger using notepad to do his HTML.

You're actually dead-on, in all front's.

The show is an ego thing for John Dvorak and the production values equate it to basically a public access "John's World". It's John's way of showing that he's relevent (or at least trying to be) in a very rapidly evolving world of tech.

John is a whiny blow hard, but in an entertaining sort of way...people either like him, hate him, or simply like to read and laugh...finding mostly humor and every now and then he get's on to something in a fleeting sort of way.

From his unique "world view" of technology....and his historical perspective of the industry is also fairly unique given the state of current tech journalism....this is why I read his column in PC Mag...and his editors know this too....he gets readers and that's all they care about. He's the "cranky" talent that they have to put up with.

WebHobbit · 10-27-2007, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by destek

Anyone with any television production experience can see that this show is done completely on "the cheap." There simply are no production values to the show - as if it is done at the local high school studio using high-school kids to put it together.
You never get any orienting shots at the beginning of the show, the studio is basically a table in front of black curtains - yuck. You can't be surprised that the audio is garbage too!
I am shocked that John D. associates himself with it. It lowers his status in my opinion and instead of positioning him as the very smart technologist that he is - it positions him as a whiny blogger using notepad to do his HTML.

I only have one quibble with the above:

WTF is wrong with doing HTML in Notepad??? It's a lot better than using Frontpage!