X-Files season 4 audio problems? (1 Viewer)

[Mike Franklin]

Is it just me or does several episodes in this season have audio drop outs. I wanted to see if anyone else having the same problem?

 

[Scott Kimball]

Could you specify some episodes / locations?

I just picked up my set today, and will probably watch a couple of episodes tonight...

-Scott

 

[Mike Franklin]

Where do I begin, the easiest place to tell you is on the 2nd disk 4th ep when Mulder is getting help form that chick in her apartment just before he goes to russia and there are other episodes but I cant remember. I have only watched the first for disks but in just about every episode I have notice and audio drop out.

 

[Chad R]

I've been able to get through the first 2 discs and have had no problems. "tunguska" (4 episode 2nd disc) played flawlessly. Perhaps you would do better to list your equipment to see if it's equipment/disc incompatibility.

I have a Panasonic DVd Player and a Pioneer Elite (33TX I think) receiver.

 

[MichaelO]

I am just about through disc 4 and haven't had any problems whatsoever except one episode on disc 3 pixelated on me for a split sec.

I too have a Panny DVD player.

 

[Mike Franklin]

I the disk plays fine true indeed, but when I play it throught my reciever the sound will get real quite and then become normal again. I know its not my player cause this has never happend on any other disk. I just wondering if I had a defective disk cause I know these things can happen from time to time. I'll finish watching the rest of the series and see if it happen on any of the other disks.

 

[Mike Franklin]

I guessed I should have mentioned that my player is a Pioneer Elite DV 09 and a Pioneer Elite 24TX reciever.

 

[DeborahK]

This probably isn't your problem here (and my season 4 has yet to be delivered so I can't check myslef) but I always thought that TXF had rather poor sound, compared to other shows, with a lot of drop outs in the audio. Is it possible that it could be the source materials and not the disks or the equipment?

Just a thought,

Deborah

 

[Mike Franklin]

I was thinking the samething as well but wasnt sure so I anybody runs into anything simalar please let me know.

 

[DeborahK]

Mike,

I will check the scene you referenced as soon as my disks arrive and see what I think. I think I have this same epi on commercial tape as well, so I will check this out also and see how it sounds.

Deborah

 

[MichaelO]

I'll jump back in here. I have actually been quite impressed with the sound on these X-Files discs. Sure it is only Pro Logic but I have always thought that they sounded pretty good for a TV series and this season 4 set is the best yet IMO. I am a very critical listener and I haven't heard one single drop out yet with this season. I honestly can't remember any dropouts in any of the other seasons but can't say for sure since it has been a few months since I have watched any of them. I will add that my bedroom DVD player, which is a ProScan, frequently produces audio dropouts from 2.0 sources and that player isn't run through any processor whatsoever, just straight to the TV. So in that case it is most definitely the DVD player.

 

[Mike Franklin]

I to am a long time fan of the show, an mark the calander as soon as, I find out that a new set is comming out. I the other three sets are very good no problems at all and I am impressed by the video imporvement over the other years, that is why I cant wait for season 5 and 6 which has some of the best ep's IMHO. Hopefully its just a glitch and it will pass and we can all go back to enjoying our favorite show, and thank you for all of your responces you have been a big help.

 

[DeborahK]

Let me clarify a bit. I think dropout was not really the word I meant to use when describing the sound problems I have noticed on the show. It may be a mixing or dubbing problem instead, but I have definitely noticed that it is often hard to hear what the characters are saying if there is a lot of ambient noise in a scene. Bare in mind that I have a very basic system --no external sound system hooked up so perhaps I am not a good test subject for this, but one particularly problematic scene that comes to mind is the season 2 scene in Ascension (I think) where Mulder and Mrs.Scully are talking in front of a fountain. I can barely make out some of the dialoge because the fountain and street noise basically drowns it out. The sound on the commercially released video is no better than the one I recorded off the air, but to be honest, I have not checked my Season 2 DVD of this episode. Having a real home theater sound system might imporve the balance between background noise and dialogue, but in vanilla stereo I have definitely noticed that the dialogue is sometimes problematic in the broadcasts and on the videos. I will try to remember to check out the season 2 scene when I get home.

Deborah

 

[DeborahK]

Let me clarify a bit. I think dropout was not really the word I meant to use when describing the sound problems I have noticed on the show. It may be a mixing or dubbing problem instead, but I have definitely noticed that it is often hard to hear what the characters are saying if there is a lot of ambient noise in a scene. Bare in mind that I have a very basic system --no external sound system hooked up so perhaps I am not a good test subject for this, but one particularly problematic scene that comes to mind is the season 2 scene in Ascension (I think) where Mulder and Mrs.Scully are talking in front of a fountain. I can barely make out some of the dialoge because the fountain and street noise basically drowns it out. The sound on the commercially released video is no better than the one I recorded off the air, but to be honest, I have not checked my Season 2 DVD of this episode. Having a real home theater sound system might imporve the balance between background noise and dialogue, but in vanilla stereo I have definitely noticed that the dialogue is sometimes problematic in the broadcasts and on the videos. I will try to remember to check out the season 2 scene when I get home.

Deborah

 

[Max Leung]

On the earlier sets (especially seasons 1 & 2) I had trouble with crackly dialog...I too had difficulty understanding what the characters were saying. But that was worth an old Panasonic A310 DVD player. My newer Panny RP91 player seems to have fewer problems. I suspect you may want to exchange your set with another one and see if you get the same results...anomalies in the pressing could be the source of your problems.

I had terrible audio problems with the Cosmos DVD set, which was resolved by using the external decoder on my DVD player. If I used the digital audio output while playing Cosmos, I would get high-pitch squawks once or twice per episode, but somehow the Panny's builtin decoder removed them.