Deadpoet’s Cave

Complaints. We are famous for making them. We even sing songs of complaints (w/o foreign input).

It is with interest that I read two contrasting complaints, both by men named Richard, in ST on Saturday. Let me deal with the one that had me going “ST has space to print this?”

Channel logo leaves its mark on plasma TV

IN THIS age of advanced technology we can still get TV burn-in, a shadowy image left permanently on the screen, depending on how long the image stays stationary on the screen.

I bought a Toshiba plasma TV nearly five years ago and recently MediaCorp’s channel logo got burnt in on the top right-hand corner of my TV screen.

I e-mailed MediaCorp to suggest that it moves the logos around instead of having them stay in one place for a prolonged period of time.

MediaCorp advised me to buy an LCD TV instead. I do not know whether LCD TVs will also face the same problem.

I wrote to Toshiba and it said all brands would suffer burn-in if any logo is displayed for too long.

How long a logo stayed in one spot is beyond our control unless I switch channels every couple of minutes.

I took some timings and found that the channel logo lasted about eight minutes before a commercial came on.

Fortunately for me, I had purchased an extended warranty or else I would have no recourse.

Would the Media Development Authority or Case care to comment on burn-in and what can be done to alleviate this problem?

Richard Foo Shay Hiap

I have an alternative solution: Get cable. You’ll never watch Channel 5 again.

You will be less likely to get burn-in from the logos if you watch many different channels. Also, many channels (at least, the sports ones) have to move the logos around to accommodate the scoreboard graphics.

Is this a burning national issue that requires MDA’s or Case’s attention and intervention? (Not like Case has done anything useful.) I think not. This brings me to another letter written by a Richard.

Funny English makes its way to trains  

DID I hear wrongly, or did the new announcer on the MRT train actually say, ‘Door are closing’? And did she call Braddell Station ‘Bladel’?

This, surely, is the most atrocious-sounding announcer in the history of the MRT. Her manner of speaking is neither English nor Singlish. Nor is it American, Australian, Indian English, Hong Kong English…

It is funny English. Bad enough that we sometimes hear such English in department stores. Now we hear it on public trains as well.

Some of the previous MRT announcers were actually quite good. They sounded like Singaporeans who speak English well, which is how it should be. Why was there a need to replace them?

Richard Seah Siew Sai

I admit I may be slightly hypocritical here in saying that this issue is something worth bringing up because it affects lots of people. I am sure burn-in affects lots of people too, but it seems quite trivial in comparison.

This one really gets to me. I thought I was alone, until I read this letter. Not only does she mangle ‘Braddell’, she does a very good job at making me cringe when I hear her say ‘Bishan’.

As I have described to some of my friends, “It is like they yanked a random Ah Lian off the street, plonked her in a recording studio and asked her to read the announcements for free.”

Some of the station names sound barely passable at best. And there are some which make me want to max the volume on my iPod, ironically to protect my ears. This new announcer does not sound like she has had any vocal training.

Like Richard Seah, I would like to know why MRT had to change a good thing. We had a terrific announcer who spoke English clearly and announced properly. Now, we are stuck with a third-rate announcer for no apparent reason. Change for change’s sake? Thousands of young commuters and foreigners learning the language are now going to think that her way is the right way. *Shudder*

Thankfully, the previous announcer’s recording is still being played on some trains. For how long, I wonder…

• The old voice of MRT
• A minority among the minority
• I Do
• New customer service paradigm