peacock background noise

Yes, how can they not figure it out?

Noticed it too.  I don't know squat about A/V production stuff but seems like it'd be a fundamental, easy thing to check/set correctly before even going on the air.

It doesn't seem to be there on RDL, only the night show.

Want to know something crazy, it was pumped into the audio of the NASCAR race last weekend too (Bristol)..  I thought it may have been just something weird about the SX broadcast equipment, but no, it was the exact same thing watching the NASCAR race too.  I started to pull out my tinfoil hat, it was too weird to hear it in other motorsports too.

Yes, I heard it last weekend. I thought I could hear it the weekend before as well, but it was really faint and I now wonder if my brain has now been programmed to hear it.  

Yep. It’s back

I cant stand it.... I literally have to turn off the volume and annoy my wife with stupid old stories about racing. She hates it. 

Its been there the whole season. Just at different levels. 

Have they tried removing the cartridge and blowing in it?

I legit thought maybe it was just hitting my tinitus in a weird way; my wife has never mentioned it.

I hear it constantly and it's annoying!

Still there this week. 

I noticed it this week for the first time. Up till now, I have not been able to detect it on my TV's at home.  This wknd was out of town, I was watching on my phone listening through earbuds.  

When in doubt ask ChatGPT:

1) Other viewers are hearing the same thing

There’s a pretty consistent pattern of complaints specifically about Peacock Supercross audio having a faint tone / “robotic” background sound.

From recent user reports:

“robotic chime… 2 times per second”
“odd 2 tone droning sound”
“heard it every broadcast this year”

And interestingly:

• Some people hear it only on certain TVs or apps
• Others say it disappears on laptops, phones, or different audio setups

That last detail is a big clue.

2) This is very unlikely to be an intentional audible anti-piracy signal

Your original theory (audible tone to protect rights) is logical—but in this case, it doesn’t line up well with how broadcasters actually operate:

• Real protection uses inaudible watermarking + fingerprinting
• Audible tones would:
  • degrade the broadcast (big no for NBC/Peacock)
  • be easy to filter out
  • generate complaints (which… is happening)

There’s no credible evidence Peacock is deliberately inserting a tone for rights enforcement.

3) What it most likely is (and this fits your observation well)

A. Audio encoding / compression artifact

Peacock streams are heavily compressed, especially for live sports like Supercross 
That can create:

• high-frequency “ringing” tones
• repetitive digital chirps
• artifacts that become noticeable when engine noise drops

Supercross is actually a perfect storm for this:

• constant high-frequency engine sounds
• rapid dynamic changes
• lots of crowd + PA system bleed

B. Surround sound / downmix issue (very common)

This is the leading explanation.

Many Peacock streams use multi-channel audio (5.1 / Atmos). If your device:

• downmixes it to stereo poorly
• or your TV speakers can’t handle the mix

you can get:

• faint tones
• phase artifacts
• “synthetic” background noises

This matches the reports:

• TV app = noise
• laptop / headphones = clean

C. Frequency sensitivity (why you notice it)

Some people are more sensitive to:

• narrow-band high frequencies (think 8–12 kHz range)

So a subtle artifact:

• is invisible to most viewers
• but very obvious (and annoying) to a few

Bottom line

• Yes, the tone is real (for some viewers)
• No, it’s almost certainly not intentional DRM or anti-streaming audio
• It’s far more likely:
  • encoding artifact
  • surround → stereo conversion issue
  • or device-specific audio processing

Quick ways to test / fix it

These usually work:

• Switch audio from 5.1 → Stereo (if available)
• Try:
  • phone / tablet
  • laptop browser instead of TV app
• Turn off:
  • “virtual surround”
  • “auto volume leveling”
  • “AI sound” modes on TVs
• If you have a soundbar: force PCM stereo output

To me... it sounds like a piece of their electronics is going out... they fukkking NEED to figure it out... people pay for the privilege to watch/listen to this chit and both are fuked... oh well... the billionaires that run this chit would rather us suffer than put out a quality production.. ever see that lawsuit about them torturing elephants??? Used to be the riders were the elephants, now it's us consumers too!!!! 

Probably something to do with RC and a slide job...

A compression artifact makes perfect sense. The noise sounds like a digital overlay that just went haywire on natural background noise. I'm going to try the stereo trick and see.

Still never heard it. 

I always watch the race on my laptop with head phones on.

Seems to be plausible. To me it sounds like a bad MP3 downloaded from Limewire back in the day.

I've never heard it.  This year I have watched SX with 3 different methods:

- Broadcast on NBC from a TiVo recording to my TV that uses a Denon sound bar

- Peacock streaming using an Nvidia Shield to my TV that uses a Denon sound bar

- Peacock streaming using a Roku to my TV that uses an LG sound bar

I finally heard it this week. Streaming from a laptop plugged into my LG tv. 

Sidenote, anyone notice the god awful audio on mobile. If I'm doing stuff around the house and listening to RDL, it just sounds bad. I don't know how else to say it. It sounds fine on my tv, but through my phone it sounds like it's playing through the PA at a highschool football field. Even if I'm playing it through my car's stereo from my phone. 

Rewatching the 450 main event tonight with headphones. The background noise can be heard very clearly. It's definitely could be something like this, but I have a alternate theory.

Phones make some crazy noises/frequencies. Anyone who plays electric guitar knows what I'm taking about. If your phone gets too close to the pickups on an electric guitar, you can hear some crazy beeps and drones through the amplifier.

Do we think that someone is placing their phone on top of an important pice  of audio equipment and causing some interference? Perhaps a microphone receiver in a pocket?

The noise ultimately doesn't bother me that much because I can't hear it on my TV, but I notice it every time I watch on my phone for whatever reason. 

^It could definitely be something like that. In fact, my first thought when I originally heard it was, "interference." Now that someone has mentioned that it could be compression artifacts though, I think that's more likely. Either way, it's the result of some A/V system manufacturing noise from a background source that is not intended to go live. 

EDIT: Now that I typed that, I think it could be from the wireless mics that the floor correspondents use. If those batteries are low, who knows what signals they send out. 

Slide...job...

Never heard this mysterious background noise. Maybe my ears are shot

Mine was gone for a few weeks. Then it came back. 

Mine has done it the whole time on a Roku tv. It’s terrible. 

mine usually only starts when RC or doofey toss it to Will … then i can hear this weird shrill droning on for what seems like an eternity and then mysteriously it goes away but then the cycle starts again 😏