| Raising the standards | |
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| Apr 6, 2008 03:25 |   |
 | I live in Guangzhou and have cable television in my apartment. I have about 90 channels to choose from, yet not one of them has the correct lip sync. Most of them have the sound about half a second behind the picture, but some are over a second out. This is obviously an error on behalf of the cable company, but after a year, they haven't seemed to have noticed. I have explained this to a couple of local friends, including my girlfriend who lives with me, and they don't see what the problem is! They can't understand why I would want to watch TV and have the sound and picture in sync. I tell them it looks ridiculous when someone's mouth is moving, but the words they are speaking don't correspond, and they say I am being "too picky"!!!!!!!. Television was invented to broadcast pictures and sound in syncronisation, so it poses the question - what the hell is going on? Obviously not one person out of the millions who view this company's output has complained, and the technical team at this company don't seem to think it is a problem. Are standards really that low in China? This is such an easy problem to solve, and I have often thought about going to their broadcast centre and showing them how to solve the problem myself. Does anyone have any similar experiences? |
| Apr 6, 2008 20:33 | #1 |
| Baron, I guess that the signal is bad. I assume that you watch English TV programmes (HBO,BBC etc). These English channels are not broadcasted in cable Television. I mean most Chinese can't watch these English channels in their cable TV. To watch them, they resort to the satellite television receiver (it looks like a big pan) at their home or at the top of their apartment. With satellite TV, you have more TV channels. However, the signal is not as good as cable TV. Perhpas, this is the reason why you have problem in watching TV programmes. |
| Apr 6, 2008 21:42 | #2 |
| If I was going to make a list of complaints about the hotel I stayed at in Beijing, it would be the following: 1. heater was not heating the room enough 2. the bed was hard compared to most hotel beds I’ve been on 3. the bed was making creaking sounds everytime I move 4. there was a foul odor in the bathroom that seems to be coming from the sewer However, I never said anything. On the 4th day of my stay, a group of French tourists who checked in the day before talked to the receptionist about the foul odor problem in their rooms. They wanted to change rooms. Apparently, there were not aware that it’s the same in every room. The receptionist seemed clueless. A German couple left the hotel after just two days complaining the same thing. Later, I mentioned this to my Chinese friend and he said they shouldn’t be ‘too picky’. I told him that people are just expecting good service for what they are paying for. The hotel costs 800 yuan a day. Not exactly cheap. I paid 680 yuan a day because I booked through the internet a month before that so I got a discount. I didn’t say anything about the inconveniences because I intended to stay in a traditional siheyuan accommodation. I used to do mountain climbing and slept on tents so I wasn’t exactly roughing it out in Beijing. Besides, I was only in my room during the night. Maybe it is a difference in culture. In the West, people will complain under such circumstances but my impression was that in China, people do not think anything of it. |
| Apr 8, 2008 22:26 | #3 |
| I also live in Guangzhou and I also have cable TV (not satellite, so no BBC or HBO). However I have no lip-sync problems with the service I receive. Is your cable box and TV a standard set-up? Everything going into the right holes? I can only think that you've got the audio and video coming from two different sources. I'm not a technician, though. |
| Apr 9, 2008 01:41 | #4 |
| Tom. I am a technical person, and I can assure you that the signal coming into the apt is consistently out of sync. I have had 3 different cable suppliers in GZ, and the 1st and current one are the same company. The middle one was ok. I can only assume it is leaving the cable control room with someone having universally put about 400ms delay on the audio. It's all very very strange. BBQQ - Thanks for your explanation of satellite dishes. I always wondered what those "big pan" shaped things were!!!!!!!!!!!! However, this is not the problem. SHESGOTOBE - Maybe you should complain more often when things are not right. If you don't, then standards will never improve. If you pay for something, then you should receive a service or product which is satisfactory in relation to the cost. If not, then something needs to be said. I am a professional person, and I welcome criticism, as it helps me perfect my trade. |
| Apr 9, 2008 02:25 | #5 |
| Baron, this is the 'big pan'. |
| Apr 9, 2008 23:46 | #6 |
| "SHESGOTOBE - Maybe you should complain more often when things are not right. If you don't, then standards will never improve. If you pay for something, then you should receive a service or product which is satisfactory in relation to the cost. If not, then something needs to be said. I am a professional person, and I welcome criticism, as it helps me perfect my trade." My field is Quality Assurance. Anyone at work who interacted with me in some way, in person or through emails knows how picky I am. In my line of work, we call these cases ‘opportunities for improvement’. However, in China, it is called ‘loss of face’, especially at a time when China is proudly projecting itself as modern and progressive. Criticisms will not sit well. I don’t think a complaining foreigner would be appreciated. Sure, I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy about their service but I also do not intend to stay with them again, so they just lost one customer plus the ones I could have recommended them to. It’s been months but I wonder if the complaints made by the other tourists even made a difference. Maybe the Olympics would raise the standards, or maybe they’d think that their system is fine as it is, thank you very much, and that they don’t have to change anything. Either way, it is their choice. In the same breathe, foreigners have choices, too. “The race for Quality has NO finish line, so technically it’s more of a death march.” |
| Apr 10, 2008 20:45 | #7 |
| She, Ive stayed in Hotels in Beijing and SH for US$30.00 a night and the sevice and food have both been great with very friendly staff. I did have a local friend make the booking however. I have never found a soft bed anywhere in China, either in Hotels or private houses. You just need to remember not to flop onto the bed! Service IMO has come a long way in the Hotel industry in China since my first visit in 79. Staff where rude and their uniforms filthy along with the rooms.I did not complain about the service as there was none. If you compere the service given in a 5 star Hotel in China to othere countries you would find they are on an even par. So I think the filter down affect will start to happern soon in regards to service. My other observation is that back in the late 60's and early 70's sevice in Oz was terrible. They mistook sevice for servitude. This may be the case in China today. Dodger. |
| Apr 11, 2008 00:51 | #8 |
| BBQ. Thanks for your photo of a satellite dish. However, please look up the word "sarcasm" in the dictionary, and then read my previous response. I forget sometimes that Chinese people don't understand sarcasm, but thanks again for your help - you are very kind. |
| Apr 23, 2008 21:27 | #9 |
| "She, Ive stayed in Hotels in Beijing and SH for US$30.00 a night and the sevice and food have both been great with very friendly staff. I did have a local friend make the booking however." Dod~~ger…heheheh…. can you tell me the names of the hotels you are talking about? ^_^” Why can’t you book it yourself? Don’t they have a website or something? |
| Apr 24, 2008 00:43 | #10 |
| When I was in China in January I noticed my wife had people wherever we went finding us hotels and even getting our train tickets for us, it seems local knowledge helps, Jing works in the hotel industry, so she would go and inspect the room before we handed over any cash, she came up trumps everytime. Alan |
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