To think a lot of dramas these days are so visually dark they’re unwatchable?

[FinGizz]

I’ve checked all my settings on tv and they’re as bright as can go.

feeling so old now muttering but honestly is so difficult to see the action on the screen

I know what you mean.

TBH though, referring to it as a "lost art" when you see the general production values of series like Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon is nonsense. These are some of the finest TV shows ever produced, and the lighting is an actual choice rather than a lost art.

I get it. Castles are dark and moody and really didn't have fantastic lighting and the director wants to convey some of that. Some of the contrast lighting scenes in those series are also amazing, when you get a generally dark scene and light flooding through the windows it's incredibly atmospheric.

Part of the problem is though it doesn't work well on standard AV equipment such as the bog standard TVs and also the limited streams that a lot of digital TV services offer which may be in 4K and HDR but lack fidelity due to compression.

If you have HDR it gets better and if you have "scene dynamic" HDR like Dolby Vision it gets better still, where the picture characteristics are actually adjustable on a scene by scene basis. Unfortunately to get these you need a 4K blu ray player, a 4K dolby vision compatible TV (a lot of TVs will have 4K but not so many Dolby Vision unless they are higher end) and to actually purchase the series on 4K blu ray which is not inexpensive. You're probably looking at above £1K on AV equipment to watch this, which is probably not as far as "enthusiast" level but some way above what the ordinary telly watcher wants to splash out, with most people having TVs in the £250-£500 range.

TBH I think they ought to produce two versions, one for the digital streaming services that is adjusted to give better levels and one for the high end AV equipment that can actually cope and give a good experience.

So the TLDR is the moody low level scene lighting looks great if you have the equipment to watch it, and a lot less great if you don't. And most peoples equipment falls into the lot less great catagory.

All of this is a real shame, as GOT and HOD for example are some of the best television ever made (GOT before the last season anyway).

YANBU. I have eye issues and struggle to see in the dark, so wasn’t sure if it was linked to those! I don’t bother with many dramas now, as I can’t see what’s going on in the dark scenes.

@GasPanic I think they ought to produce two versions, one for the digital streaming services that is adjusted to give better levels and one for the high end AV equipment that can actually cope and give a good experience.

^This. There are countless useless and unwatchable Freeview channels that could be re-dedicated to provide standard quality picture and sound. Relatedly, they might also offer a 'red button' option to turn off/down intrusive music.

Yes, exactly.

People will sneer about "where does the light come from" if a dark scene is well-lit enough for you see what's going on, and to them I say: "the light comes from the same place as the music". It's television, not real life, I want to be able to see what's going on!

TBH though, referring to it as a "lost art" when you see the general production values of series like Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon is nonsense. These are some of the finest TV shows ever produced, and the lighting is an actual choice rather than a lost art.

True, but it may as well be actually lost if nobody is bothering to light a scene well enough for the average viewer to be able to see what's going on. They've lost sight (hah, ironic) of the audience requirements.

For me I spent some money on the visual but not so much on the audio.

So I have a cheap 5.1 sound setup. It has exactly the problem people on here describe, you turn up the sound to get the dialog, but that drives the bass to neighbour annoyingly loud sound levels. I would like to be able to adjust the relative sub woofer volume but on my cheap as chips system I have no ability to do it. I suspect in higher cost/more modern systems there is an option for this.

I think there is also the issue that integrated TV sound is beginning to get better and the bass more powerful over time, which also presents its own issues for people using low end equipment.

To add to the post above, these modern drama series are just amazing TV and incredible entertainment. But they should be for everyone to enjoy, and in fact their commericial success depends on it. Not just a small % of AV nerds.

"They've lost sight (hah, ironic) of the audience requirements."

I agree.

Yes!!! I have to have the curtains drawn and the subtitles on to watch anything, I hate it.

As a pp said, you can have full lights and still convey the impression of it being in darkness / night time. They used to manage it in old films anyway.

I find the shows on Apple TV too dark. Some scenes, you can hardly see anything. Even adjusting the settings. makes no difference.

I've just looked up the film that caused DH and to start referring to this phenomenon as "blackovision": Godzilla, 2014. It's dark to the point of absurdity.

Sometimes I put on Downton Abbey just to reassure myself that my eyes are functional 😂

You are not wrong @FinGizz

Here's such an article concurring, by the tv critic from The Independent

and the comments after are worth a read.

This drives me insane! And I agree with pp, it's not just the bloody darkness, it's the dialogue being so quiet and the music being SO LOUD.
Don't even get me started on having to read text messages on a phone that are intrinsic to the plot.
I spend half the programme saying to DP "ffs, what does that say??" 🤣

We don't have a TV for various reasons and watch things on an ipad in bed. Sometimes the programmes are so dark that we start just seeing the fingerprints all over the screen!

And another thing... why, in the soaps, is the decor blue in pretty much every single blinking living room? Apart from being boring to look at, it often has a darkening effect imo, which doesn't help matters.

The sets on Emmerdale are so dark now that they have lamps on when it’s supposed to be the middle of the day. It never used to be like that until a couple of years ago. I wonder what the reason is?

Omg I thought it was just me. I’ve been watching 80’s/90’s/2000’s movies with the kids and they’re so much brighter and more vibrant than the movies and shows now. Even dc have commented on the difference. Even comedy & romance films these days. They’ve lost that ‘feel-good’ factor as the lighting is often dark and dinghy and you can’t even hear what they’re saying. The actors also mumble a lot and then the music is so loud. I genuinely don’t enjoy watching new things anymore.

You are not alone! My in-laws recently upgraded their telly, so we managed to wangle getting the old one - it's a whole new world, being able to read the crucial text messages and letters etc. It aggravates me that getting a bigger TV made such a measurable difference, it shouldn't be necessary 😂

This! It’s awful and depressing.

So many use that 'teal wash' effect over everything so it looks like people are under the sea. It was interesting at first and now it's just ubiquitous and muddy. I agree with the sound issue too - I increasingly find myself having to use subtitles due to background music overwhelming dialogue or just general mumbling.

I am old and here was me thinking it was just my eyesight getting worse! Ive just watched some series that date from the 1990s and the colours seem to be so much brighter. Not to mention the dialogue is clearer.

Sigh of relief that younger folks than me also find it all dark and murky.

Definitely! I'm relieved to see this thread because I have both hearing & visual issues and I thought it was me.

No pro lemon two out of our three tvs here. But the Samsung is absolutely awful in daylight. Especially Amazon shows. They are unwatchable. It evidently compensated for the light. I’ve tried all sorts of settings and can’t sort it.

Yep definitely agree teal and purple everywhere.

Like watching a big bruise blossom!

Yes but I thought that about the 1992 version of Last of the Mohicans. Also needed subtitles pretty much throughout.