Audio Description drowned out by soundtracks etc

laticsrblu

I am registered blind and rely on Audio Description (AD) when watching TV.

When I first started to use AD a few years ago the volume of the background

noise/music was reduced whenever AD come on but now it isn't. Whether I watch live TV or recordings, audio description is now often drowned out by the background music or by loud background  noise say  in action scenes or by the general background noise in say a pub. This makes some programmes unwatchable for me.

I have the AD volume set to max..

However if I watch the same programmes  via catchup the background noise etc IS reduced and I can hear the AD.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Regards
Ian Broadbent

John L

Hi laticsrblu, Does it make any difference if you change your Youview sound setting from surround to stereo (or vice versa)? If not, this is a feature that really needs updating by Youview. I don't use the audio description, I have tried it out, but I can fully understand your problem. Maybe it is either something to do with broadcaster or maybe a "codec" feature (can't think of the term) that Youview need to look into. Have a try & maybe contact Youview support directly for more help. John L

Roy

@John L

There is no YouView support that @laticsrblu can talk to any more 

He is supposed to be able to go to his ISP, if that is BT or TalkTalk; otherwise posting on the Community is it, though that does get the matter laid before @Sarah and @Louise, who can maybe take it further for him.

Yasha Noke

@laticsrblu

This used to be a known issue on the Huawei youview units.

For a post from the year 2013 see the following link:

https://community.youview.com/youview/discussion/comment/18887825

However, it could be that since then Huawei have partially corrected the fault.  Check in the settings that you do still have the volume for Audio Description set to maximum.  With Humax and BT boxes, (ie. the other make of youview boxes), the Audio Description volume has to be set to maximum to make Audio Description almost as good as iPlayer.

I am not hopefully that this will work, especially as you stated that you have set it at maximum already. The last time I tried it on a Huawei box any adjustment to the Audio Description volume setting made absolutely no difference to the boxes' usability for Audio Description.

John L

Roy said:

@John L

There is no YouView support that @laticsrblu can talk to any more 

He is supposed to be able to go to his ISP, if that is BT or TalkTalk; otherwise posting on the Community is it, though that does get the matter laid before @Sarah and @Louise, who can maybe take it further for him.

Hi Roy, appreciate what you mention. What will the ISP do? Hopefully submit a "job ticket" sent back from ISP back to youview to investigate bug/problem reported? It does seem a long-winded way to get things reported rather than report to Youview. From a consumer/user point of view it is confusing at this moment in time(!). All good fun! John L

Roy

Well, we are talking about BT and TalkTalk here, who must be pretty adept at sussing issues with these boxes, from developing their own variants of them.

redchiz

Ha-ha, very good @Roy.    

Sarah

Hi @laticsrblu
Can you let me know which YouView box model you are using and roughly how long you've had this issue for? 
Thanks,
Sarah

laticsrblu

Hello

Many thanks to all the posters.

I am with TalkTalk and the box is a Huawei DN372T 01.03.P.

Thanks for the interesting 2013  link Yasha Noke .

I've always had the talktalk Huawei youview box, but ack in 2013 I wasn't using AD but since maybe 2015/16 I have used it and strangely at first the background noise did fade when AD came on.

For me I think the problem started  a year or so ago or less, so maybe the problem reported in 2013 had been fixed but was undone with a subsequent update.

I have reported the issue to Talktalk who sent an technician around but he hadn't heard of the problem (I guess not many people need touse AD) and couldn't fix it with the settings, he said he would report it to his manager.  Talktlak have subsequently sent me a new box and I've tried using it with a new HDMI cable and a different HDMI socket on the telly  but it has the same AD non  fade problem.  I  have also tried changing to surround-sound  to no avail.

My brother has a Humax box that doesn't have the problem so unless TalkTalk get their act together I think I'll have to ditch them  as they only use the Huawei box.

Roy

@laticsrblu

If you want to keep TalkTalk as your ISP, you can perfectly well use a Humax box with them, even with TalkTalk TV. And you can get a Humax box very inexpensively off eBay.

But if you want a seamless service, which in your circumstances you may prefer, then BT broadband is available pretty much anywhere except where the handful of FTTP ISPs operate, as fast as or faster than anyone else, and BT TV will bring you a hassle-free Humax box on a low monthly subscription.

Damn them......