Sound Off

Got to brag a little... just a little.  I finally con(ned)vinced my wife into a 60 inch LED Smart TV. I ordered it and it arrived on Wednesday.  I was elated.  I had also ordered a 32 inch for the office area.  I connected the smaller one and was amazed at the clarity and picture. Yeah, I HAD to set up the big one immediately.

OMG!  Talk about huge.  I love it.  I love it.  I love it.

I wanted to attach it to the wall and also ordered a wall mount.  It advertised as a universal mount that tilted and allowed the television to "roll, pitch and yaw" as needed for viewing.

Uh, the only thing the package I got would perform was - tilt.  Okay, I can call that pitch.  What happened to my roll and yaw?

For those who aren't familiar with the terms - I prior U. S. Navy.  Our ship would roll - that means it would rock left to right on the waves  The ship could also pitch - in other words, the bow (front) of the ship would dip down into the wave and then move upwards sort of like a teeter-totter moves.  Now the yaw if more difficult to describe.  It basically is all the other directions now covered by roll and pitch. The rear view mirror sort of does a yaw movement. It allows you to place the mirror in almost any angle and direction.

So, for me, paying for a mount that just tilt - not a happy camper.  Where I wanted to put the TV on the wall, it would be near the ceiling and about 5 inches from the corner on the one side.  Take a peek at the drawing. The red line in the corner indicates the TV as per how the mount will install. The blue line in the way I need it to be mounted for viewing - hence the roll, pitch and yaw requirements. The green lines are seating and the long lines are couches. The couch by the hall arch is for "overflow" seating when the family comes to visit and at that time, the TV is seldom on.  Just image having to sit on the couch and be the person nearest the door? With the blue line, you have a chance. With the red line, the viewing is going to be terrible.
Don't ask me to rearrange the furniture.  I despise having the TV being the focal point of the room. And that little green line at the upper corner is my lounger - need I say more?  Not all the furniture is shown and things are quite to scale, but close. The room is 24x15.

Now, let me get to the real meat of this discussion.  SOUND!!

I was watching a movie Friday night and the music practically blasted me out of my seat and then the characters would start to talk.  Actually it was more like a whisper.  I'd have to raise the volume and then the movie would have the dramatic music and once again I was blasted to become one with the stuffing of the chair. So I would lower it and then dialog whispering would start and I'd have to once more ... Long story short.  My finger got tired of raising and lowering the volume.  The next movie on and did the same thing.

WHY? Why do producers feel that we need to have our butt shaken in the seats?  I think it started back 1977, at the theaters when Star Wars was introduced to the public and the introduction blared and rumbled our seats.  We were hooked.  It was awesome!!

I was busy on Saturday and most of Sunday so I didn't get to watch much television. My #1 son came over, I had the TV on and of course, the music blasted us and I started to rant and rave.

He showed me a setting on the "Audio" menu.  I couldn't believe it.  "Sound Leveling."  If you think your teenage son is a smart-ass - just wait until he is over 40.  My son gave me an innocent stare and said: It's a smart tv, dad. Let it do its job.

Ah, yeah.  I wanted to rant and rave here about movie producers not have the brains they were born with and only wanting to destroy what little ability we have remaining to hear things.

But, in the infamous words of Roseanne Rosannadanna, Oh, never mind. It just goes to show you, it's always something - if it ain't one thing, it's another.

The mount I think is going to be shipped back and we'll get a large piece of furniture to hold the TV up close to the ceiling.  I don't want my little munchin grandchildren stopping between me and the screen as they try to remember why they were going/doing what they were going/doing.

Until next I ramble on...