Sucky sound quality on news broadcasts

[Xiao Kui]

I've been in China for 10 yrs now, and it continues to amaze me the crappy sound quality of many of the news reports and TV shows. Static, background noise, etc, all seem to be acceptable. Happens a lot on regular TV talk shows, too. This is considered to be unprofessional in the west, and we rarely experience it on even our local news broadcasts. Has anyone else noticed this? Any ideas as to why the standards for sound quality are so low when it's apparent that Chinese broadcasting is pursuing excellence in so many areas?

[Mouseneb]

Well I was just at the Haikou (Hainan Provincial Capital) TV and Radio broadcast center to record some announcements about the H1N1 flu for broadcast at the Haikou Meilan Airport, and I was shocked to see the poor quality and general age of the equipment. We recorded our announcements onto TAPE and later they were re-recorded onto CDs. The age of much of the equipment as well as the general upkeep of the environment (we saw TONS of cockroaches and rats, as well as people smoking in the same room with the sound equipment) may negatively impact the sound quality.

[Xiao Kui]

We recorded our announcements onto TAPE and later they were re-recorded onto CDs.

Sounds like the HSK tingli section. Your experience explains a lot. I guess sound quality's just not a priority.

[liuzhou]

I've done a fair bit of recording in the local Radio and Television Centre here in Liuzhou, Guangxi.

The studios are 100% digital and very state of the art.

[dalaowai]

Any tingli course was garbage audio, usually on cassettes, or cassettes ripped to cd. haha

TV improved a lot in Shanghai since they've introduced the digital cable boxes. It still depends what kind of TV you have, however with a good TV/speakers and the digital box it's just like back home.

[Xiao Kui]

Probably the things I'm taking issue with have more to do with the attentiveness of the sound technician than the the equipment itself. They seem to have a "cha bu duo" attitude. But I guess the upside is it's great tingli practice - if you can understand a news report with static, feedback, and an echo, then you can understand anything!!

[Yang Rui]

I've noticed this too. I've also noticed that on some Taiwanese dramas the sound is awful. It sounds like they've shot all the scenes on camera mike and in some cases it sounds like the actors voices are dubbed on afterwards.

I've also always wondered why on Chinese TV the sound so often seems out of sync with the picture. Does anyone know why this is? Could it be because of a terrible TV, or something to do with the way they broadcast it, or the way they record the sound?

[gato]

I've also always wondered why on Chinese TV the sound so often seems out of sync with the picture. Does anyone know why this is? Could it be because of a terrible TV, or something to do with the way they broadcast it, or the way they record the sound?

This is the result of dubbing, I think.

The static/bad microphone problem mentioned by the OP, I have not noticed. Definitely not in the CCTV news coverage. CCTV is well able to afford the top-of-line equipment.

[Xiao Kui]

The static/bad microphone problem mentioned by the OP, I have not noticed. Definitely not in the CCTV news coverage. CCTV is well able to afford the top-of-line equipment.

haha, actually, watching the CCTV Xinwen channel is what inspired me to post this, yesterday morning once on a news report, and then again on a documentary. i don't doubt their equipment is top of the line - i think perhaps the sound quality is considered acceptable as long as we can understand the speaker, and so perhaps the sound technician doesn't take time to adjust the sound. Anyway, thanks for everyone's feedback