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Youtube TV sound quality or lack thereof

Blumlein 88

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Was planning on switching to Youtube TV (not to be confused with regular youtube online videos). I started a free trial. Picture was very nice which was a good surprise for a streaming real time service. My first problem with the sound is no Dolby Digital Surround. Stereo only. That was a disappointment. The sound quality of that stereo was worse than disappointing it was abysmal. It was bright, and harsh, and metallic sounding. It would give you a headache or at least an ear ache in a few minutes time. I almost canceled my other service. So glad I tried the free trial.

This was from a recent Roku streaming stick. It sounds fine on Amazon music or movies or on Netflix or some of the other free channels. So I can only surmise the Youtube TV is the culprit. I could switch to the same channel on satellite TV and sound was alright.

The cloud DVR worked well, and a good selection of programming for a good price, but the sound is so harsh it makes this a non-starter. A complete no go.

Anyone else tried this and found the same thing? I'm getting sound from the Roku over HDMI that is that way, and the same problem using my desktop computer streaming thru a browser window. Why would they do that?
 

HemiRick

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I too recently joined YouTube TV and yes the sound is disappointing, stereo only from what I've seen, no movie watching here. Glad I have Netflix. As soon as college basketball season is over, I'm switching to something else.
 

majingotan

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It was bright, and harsh, and metallic sounding.

That sounds like analog TV broadcast here in my country which is still the most popular way to get TV broadcast. I don't know how digital TV broadcast sounds there, but if you can get an HD antenna and stream digital TV broadcast and compare it to YouTube TV then you might have a clue whether YouTube TV streams the same format as digital TV broadcast since I know for a fact that Netflix uses formats closer to Blu-Ray/DVD codecs rather than digital TV broadcast streaming
 
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Blumlein 88

Blumlein 88

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Alright did some checking on this today. Haven't captured the digital signal, as doing that is inconvenient at the moment. I did record using an Earthworks microphone 1 meter from my speakers (which have a response to 24 khz). The Youtube TV sound via two different sources has a dead sharp cut-off at 15,700 hz. Don't know why this would sound icky to me unless such a sharp filter in the audible band is the problem (such things are known to be audible). I wouldn't think that alone would cause this, but it indicates some different processing. The bottom end on some programming seems reduced below 50 hz, but that wasn't consistent on everything.

Recording satellite programming to the DVR so I could measure it after the fact for comparing to Youtube, response dropped off at 20 khz, and it wasn't a complete chop off. General balance below 15 khz and above 50 hz seems if not exact very close to the same for both sources. So not mystery solved, but something is definitely different.
 

milan616

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Any current rumors on YouTube TV bringing 5.1 surround sound?

The rumors are 4 years old and unending. The YTTV program managers just lie to anyone who asks and keep saying it's coming.
 

milan616

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As a day 1 sub to YTTV (and too many other Google services) I suffer along with everyone else. And at the current prices I'm almost missing cable!
 

chris719

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It sounds ok, but obviously worse than my Verizon FIOS TV service on the same channel playing through the same hardware using a CableCard tuner. Not sure what processing they are doing, but it’s more than just some compression.
 
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