MovieChat Forums > Elementary (2012) Discussion > Dialogue is inaudible!

Dialogue is inaudible!


At first I thought it was my imagination but the show is getting worse. The dialogue is literally inaudible. I have to use closed captioning. I don't have to do this for any other show but Elementary. I even used a meter to check and it has nothing to do with my TV or amp volume.
Come on guys, mumbling is not creativity. Diction should be a requirement for acting. What's next, blurring the video? .

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We got a sound bar which moves the sound to the front of the tv instead of coming out the back speakers as it is with most TV's. That worked well, but recently, hubby started working from home a few days of the week, and the tv is near his "work" station. So we bought an adapter that makes the tv Bluetooth enabled and I bought a really cheap pair of Bluetooth headphones, about $15. Best. Solution. Ever. I don't need the volume really loud, it's just that it's right in my ears so I'm not distracted. There is a volume control easily accessible and if there is music, I can turn it down, and then turn it back up for the dialogue.

I record the show and watch it the next day, and I can't use CC on my recorded show. We also record Vera, and that show has accents I'm not used to hearing, so I use the headphones to help me concentrate. Even my husband uses the headphones for Vera and a few other UK shows.

I really recommend this. The volume of the dialogue has been a complaint on this board since season one--it's not going to get better.

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No, David. No one is happy in a poodle skirt and a sweater set.

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they're not even mumbling; they've moved from that to literally whispering. Lucy Liu, and I'm a fan of hers in everything else she's done, never speaks a word of dialogue in a normal conversational tone.

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It is worse on CBS than on any other station (reruns). It is hard enough to understand Holmes with his British accent and his propensity to talk low, mumble and talk fast. Closed captioning helps, but viewers have a tendency to watch the captions instead of the scenes. Which results in the viewers missing a lot.

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I have to agree that Jonny Lee Miller's Holmes character having the propensity to talk very fast can sometimes leave me saying "What was that?", and rewinding the scene.
He also has the habit of accentuating certain syllables of words which adds to the confusion.
I remember in Season 3 there was a scene where the character of Kitty Winter made a joke of Holmes by mimicking his speech pattern.
Fortunately, I am also British so I don't have to battle with his accent as well.

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It's true. Lucy Liu is starting to mirror Miller's mumbling, whispering style. It's hard for an actor to walk the line between enunciating and sounding more natural. These guys are going off the edge towards incomprehensibility.
Where does it end? Full-on Batman-like stage whispering?

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I watch on my laptop, so using earphones really helps. I watched the most recent episode at my parents house on a tv, and they kept asking what people were saying, and I couldn't help much. It was really bad. It's several actors, not just Miller, it's like they all have to match each other with the mumbles. I think it's getting worse, too. I used to just up the volume, but now I have to really watch and concentrate to not lose things.



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"Do you feel fortuitous? Well, do you? Hooligan?"

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I see this criticism a lot on this board.

People can't understand Jonny Lee Miller. Or alternatively, they complain about the terrible sound quality.

All I can say is I have no idea what you people are talking about.

I have never had any trouble understanding him and the sound quality seems fine.

Either you're all deaf, or I unknowingly have an extremely astute ear (or not astute, as it may be in regards to the sound quality allegation).

I'm at a loss. haha...

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I have also never once had a problem hearing or understanding anything on that show...but I acknowledge that many other viewers have. ;-)

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It's not that we can't understand Johnny Lee Miller. It's that we can't hear him. He speaks at a low pitch and he DOES mumble at times. Plus, sometimes (not usually on this show) the background 'music' or sound is loud enough to detract from the dialog.

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[deleted]

Exactly. Thank you.

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I don't understand your need to respond at all. It's not a problem for you, move along, visit another thread. But your response that because *you* can hear the dialogue, the rest of the viewers must have a problem....well, we knew that. We have a problem hearing the dialogue, whether through hearing loss, poor sound quality on our tv or a failure of the actors to project their voices, we don't know and don't care. We just want to see if anyone has a solution besides CC, which doesn't work on a dvr'd episode.

We also don't understand why it is just *this* show, and wonder if others who watch more programs on CBS find this a common problem on this network.

I really don't know why people who *don't* have this problem feel the need to point out that they don't have this problem. It seems such a strange thing to do. Or just snarky.

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No, David. No one is happy in a poodle skirt and a sweater set.

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I was merely responding to engage in the conversation.

I saw the post stating an individual's experience. Didn't have the same experience. Voiced my alternative experience.

But I see your point that in this case, this thread is functioning less as your typical "discuss/argue a given opinion" thread and more as a "help/how-to/hello I'm [Name] and I have audio issues" thread.

So consider me moving along. ;)

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I actually feel bad, but so many people have, on previous threads, responded in a way that made people feel defensive. I know this isn't a problem everyone experiences; perhaps input from the more acute hearers is what we need. But it is an ongoing problem that seems to have gotten worse for some people.

I did ask on a different board about a CBS show, and some people felt it was a problem with the network, that many shows had whispery dialogue, or music drowning out voices.

I'll stick with my earbuds when I need them, but for the most part, the sound bar on the front of the tv has helped a lot.

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No, David. No one is happy in a poodle skirt and a sweater set.

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Okay so I didn't move on haha.

Thought I'd mention something.

I watch mine without using any external speaker system. That is, my audio is just from my TV's built-in speakers. No surround sound or anything.

So I'm dealing with no additional bass from a subwoofer. (I seem to recall someone mentioning bass as a possible influencing factor).

Then again, I would think a surround sound setup would separate out the dialogue channel, so wouldn't it be easier to hear in theory?

IDK. I'm no expert nor audiophile.

Anyway, thought I'd mention that.

Best of luck.

EDIT: I had to correct my erroneous usage of "on-board". I meant built-in.

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That was the theory behind our purchase of a sound bar! It simply moves the sound from the TV's external speakers--which are usually in the back, so the sound goes to the wall behind the tv--to the front of the tv. It also gave us the option of isolating and bringing voices to the forefront. This has helped enormously.

I use the Bluetooth headphones when my husband is working from home. I also use them for Vera, and a few other UK shows that have accents I'm not used to...but I'm used to all of them on Lewis. Miss Fisher's friends and family sometime leave me confused, but that *is* an accent thing.

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No, David. No one is happy in a poodle skirt and a sweater set.

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The problem is not that you, RowdyWichman, said it is not a problem for you. You were not "merely responding". The problem is that you were sarcastic about being able to hear and understand the show and implied there is a problem with anyone else that has a problem hearing or understanding. It is not that you said it is not a problem for you, it is the way you said it that is the problem.

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the show also pumps up the low frequencies so the dialogue doesn't sound so crisp, if it gets too bad i just disable the bass on my home theater system (denon)


Lee's Daniel's' THe Butler'

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I agree, it's nothing to do with accents but for some reason the bass is incredibly distorted. I'm watching on DVD at the moment and even turning the base right down I have to use subtitles. It also varies quite a large amount during an episode.

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I think CBS is the main problem. I always have to turn up the volume when watching CBS shows, but Elementary is the worst. Then when I start watching a show on a different channel, it blasts my eardrums until I turn it back down. It is very annoying.

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Look - Spartacus draws blood. ~ Lucretia

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I agree izzybee. I think CBS is the main problem. When I watch Elementary on other stations (reruns) the sound is not as bad.

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mythreesense replied just now
Interesting izzybee3 but good to know. I would have thought that the audio was fixed by the production team and would therefore be the same everywhere. I'm in the music industry that's how it works when we mix a song. You can turn it louder or softer with the base up-and-down but the mix is part of production and pretty much set in the studio. Glad to be wrong :)

I'll give it a try, watching it somewhere else. I like the show. I'm a sucker for almost any variation of the Sherlock theme :)

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Exactly. I have no problem with Miller's accent. I grew up on British shows.  When I watch Elementary, I have to push the volume way up, and when I watch another show, I have to quickly bring the sound way down again. I don't have sound issues with any other show, just Elementary.


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"Do you feel fortuitous? Well, do you? Hooligan?"

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