[mythtvnz] [OT] "tinny" audio when not playing through myth

[Håkon Alstadheim]

This is off topic, but I hope for understanding.

I'm in norway where we also have DVB-T with AAC audio. Listening to 
direct broadcasts I get "digital artefacts" in the audio. The weird 
thing is that it seems that mythtv recordings do NOT sound as bad. 
Playback is through hdmi cable to the TV, and from there either as 
analog signal to a stereo amp, or toslink to a separate DAC (Gefen tv 
GTV-DD-2-AA). Using the built-in DAC in the TV or the separate one makes 
no difference. Playback from myth is always smoother. I usually do some 
processing in alsa to allow redirecting sound to headphone output on the 
PC when needed, but even if I Select ALSA:hdmi:CARD=NVidia,DEV=0 and 
turn on digital pass-through it seems myth is able to rid me of the 
digital tinnyness. I only have stereo speakers, so I keep myth informed 
of that.

By "digital artefacts" I mean high pitched tones timed to go with 
specific frequencies in the proper signal, like some instances of the 
letter "s", high-hats or even high pitched fairly intense human voices. 
The hard part is that it seems I am the only one in the family who can 
hear theese frequencies :-(. Some shows/channels seem to have this 
happen more often than others, possibly to do with the bandwitdth 
allocated to the audio signal. I have heard other people in Norway 
complain about the sound quality in the norwegian DVB-T, and it seems 
this hits people with proper home theater equipment aswell.

I believe /some/ of these artefacts are present in the original 
recordings or the signal source from the broadcaster, but definitely not 
all.

So, I wonder, does anyone have ideas on how I can make normal TV 
straight from the air sound better?

I'm in the market for a low-end home-theater receiver, but I don't want 
to lay down the cash until I know what equipment to avoid. Good stereo 
sound is just as important to me as 5.1 capability.