Last night of the Proms

platty

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Just a quick heads up guys .......on BBC HD tonight ...Land of Hope and Glory in all its glory :D ....:thumbsup: ......watched it last year in HD and its spectacular ....:smashin:
 
Got to agree picture and sound super, got at levels that'll shake the plaster loose. Next doors techno loving kids are now getting a real lesson in bass extension and control.....

Regards (and totally proud to be British)
Rob...............
 
I too love watching it every year but don't agree with the comments about picture and sound quality this year.

When it was good it was very good but it seemed like they were having major technical problems.

Picture dropped out at least 4 times. Sound was fluctuating between stereo / multi-channel and levels kept changing.
 
Did anyone else get occasional dropouts of both picture and full sound? I had a few scattered instances where everything disappeared momentarily, and several more where the picture stayed put but the audio level dropped right down (though not to zero) and the surround information seemed to vanish altogether

I'm in south east Kent.

Edited to add:

Thanks, Piers. You must have posted that just as I was composing my own post.

And edited again to add:

The con announcer has just said, "This is the new trial service - BBC HD" with a faint but definite emphasis on the "trial". So that explains it: they're still trying to get it right...

Bert
www.bertcoules.co.uk
 
I too love watching it every year but don't agree with the comments about picture and sound quality this year.

When it was good it was very good but it seemed like they were having major technical problems.

Picture dropped out at least 4 times. Sound was fluctuating between stereo / multi-channel and levels kept changing.


Yeah i was disappointed in the break up of picture,:( then right at the end we seemed to have the SD feed :mad: ...but when it was good ...it was bloody brilliant ..:smashin:
 
Yep, I too got the picture breakup and reduction of 5.1 sound to what sounded like mono during Rule Brittania and at the end when they were singing Auld Lang Syne.

For a moment I thought my HD box had thrown a wobbly but it would seem like a problem with the broadcast as other people on here seem to have problems as well.
 
Glad to hear it wasn't just me. And yes, at its best it was stunning technically.

I too enjoyed it very much. Now all they have to do is (a) find a way of banning those damned hooters and taming the extra-musical noise-making in general, and (b) lose the nonsensical regional contributions during the Sea Songs.

Both of which never happened in my young day... (!)

Bert
www.bertcoules.co.uk
 
Glad to hear it wasn't just me. And yes, at its best it was stunning technically.

I too enjoyed it very much. Now all they have to do is (a) find a way of banning those damned hooters and taming the extra-musical noise-making in general, and (b) lose the nonsensical regional contributions during the Sea Songs.

Both of which never happened in my young day... (!)

Bert
www.bertcoules.co.uk

:D Victor Meldrew ? ...is that you ?... :hiya:
 
Imagine if all these technical problems plagued Sky's live broadcasts, we'd never hear the end of it on these boards. OK, so the BBC channel is a "trial", but how long can it take for them to get things right, it's been on air for over a year!!
 
Imagine if all these technical problems plagued Sky's live broadcasts, we'd never hear the end of it on these boards. OK, so the BBC channel is a "trial", but how long can it take for them to get things right, it's been on air for over a year!!

WEll the US networks still have trouble occasionally and they've been at it for almost 10 years... And it's not uncommon for there to problems on the SD links, for which there have been 60years of practice :)

Looked to me like they had problems with the line/satlink between the Albert Hall and TVC esp. as their decoder popped up 'Loss of signal' at one point (obviously theirs as the DOG was still burnt in on top). And when you've got 40-60Mbps of data to backhaul the chances of having problems increases...

Steven
 
My amp showed the sound as "Dolby Digital 5.0" - first time that has ever happened - and Commentators voice was incredibly "tinny".

Ken
 
My amp showed the sound as "Dolby Digital 5.0" - first time that has ever happened - and Commentators voice was incredibly "tinny".

Yep, quite probably was. After all there's no point sending an LFE channel for something like the Proms since all the music will be carried in the otehr 5 channels.

REmember that the LFE channel is for Low Frequency Effects and according to the spec should only carry sound for environmental purposes (e.g. to reinforce an explosion).

Steven
 
Yep, quite probably was. After all there's no point sending an LFE channel for something like the Proms since all the music will be carried in the otehr 5 channels.

REmember that the LFE channel is for Low Frequency Effects and according to the spec should only carry sound for environmental purposes (e.g. to reinforce an explosion).

Steven

Cheers, Steven.

You learn something new every day.

Many thanks..

Ken
 
Yep, quite probably was. After all there's no point sending an LFE channel for something like the Proms since all the music will be carried in the otehr 5 channels.

REmember that the LFE channel is for Low Frequency Effects and according to the spec should only carry sound for environmental purposes (e.g. to reinforce an explosion).

Steven

It didn't stop the BBC using 5.1 on a DVD of the Last Night a few years back, though :)

You're right about what it should be used for, of course, but I can't help feeling that a lot of systems will struggle with the very deep organ notes that provide all that impact as Jerusalem builds up (or the table-rattling woomphs in Pomp and Circumstance) unless they mix the front L&R into their SW.

John
 
Imagine if all these technical problems plagued Sky's live broadcasts, we'd never hear the end of it on these boards. OK, so the BBC channel is a "trial", but how long can it take for them to get things right, it's been on air for over a year!!
How true Martin - The voice of the 'excuse-nics' is wearing a bit thin and last nights broadcast in HD was reminiscent of a bunch of amateurs or for the new recruits to try their hand. How can they get it so wrong so often?

The presentation itself was not that good with lots of awkward pauses which are quite usual but not prepared for. Why can we not have an experienced music presenter?

Regards
 
5.0 on my decoder too. Saying that, my Rel Stentor III was getting a good work out so they were definiately putting full range down the L+R channels. Top notch. :thumbsup:
 
Thought the sound was stunning at times, funnily enough I was most impressed in the quieter moments, when you'd hear a sudden clap or similar behind. Probably the most immersive surround sound I've ever heard, and that includes HD-DVD and Bluray...:eek:. My room's not ideal for surround sound - square, lots of hard surfaces, speakers high up in the corners - but that sounded fantastic.

Have noticed the sound dropping out on a few HD programmes recently. Yesterday's England v Israel match - my amp said it was receiving 5.1 but I only got sound from the front surrounds. Was beginning to wonder if it was a fault with my amp or toslink cable, but it seems others had the same problem last night:confused:
 
Its strange, sky don't seem to have the same problems with their live HD broadcasts.
 
Got around to watching this yesterday afternooon (was off work and neighbours were at woek, so no one to annoy). After fast forwarding through the first half to the more lively stuff, i was very very impressed witht the audio. Ignoring a couple of drop outs late on (only counted 4 in total 2 of which were within a minute of each over).

I loved the fact that the audiance were coming out of the rear speakers, it really gave the felling of actually being there, well almost.

Will listen again, next time i can turn the volume up again.
 

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