[davethestalker]

If you watch NBC's national coverage of ND Football (live on NBC), are you getting the game in 5.1 or 2.0?

For 3 years, I've been calling the engineers at the local NBC (WNDU) regarding the games coming across in 2.0. The Chief Engineer has claimed all of this time that the games are in 2.0 and WNDU has no control over it, they broadcast it out exactly how they get it from the truck.

Well, much to my surprise Universal HD rebroadcasts the games at around 3am. Guess what? The games are actually in 5.1.

The grumpy engineer returned my call this morning at about 7:30 berating me for calling his voice mail at 3:45 in the morning. Despite abundant proof that the games really are in 5.1, he claims they are still 2.0. The game sounded just as good as the Bears game, Heroes, or any other 5.1 broadcast should.

Oddly enough, they guys in engineering and master control do not have a full 5.1 sound system so they can properly monitor the sound. Perhaps if they did, they would not get "annoyed" when viewers call and let them know there is a problem.

 

[BattleZone]

Universal may be creating a fake "matrixed" 5.1 feed from the 2.0 source.

Given the dynamic nature of football and the need to mix it in real time, putting together a useful 5.1 mix would be extremely difficult at best. It isn't surprising that they don't.

 

[davethestalker]

If this is a matrixed 5.1, it sounds just as good as any other live 5.1 source. Maybe, they're (all sporting events) all fake 5.1? Whatever this matrixed 5.1 is, it blows away Pro Logic II and should be the standard as a replacement for Dolby's feeble matrixed 5.1.