AC3 Decoding Issue

[Farshid420]

Hey guys! I've looked around the forum, and others forums as well, including the official forum for AC3Filter, and I haven't been able to get any straight answers anywhere, so I thought, why not ask the experts :)

The problem I'm having is most probably a hardware/software issue, so I wasn't sure where to place this thread, so mods, please feel free to move it at your discression.

Here's the issue: For the longest time I've been trying to configure my audio so that the sound in AC3 encoded files would provide better sound quality when it came to voices in movies, etc. I've tried changing hardware, software, codecs, players, etc, but I seem to not be able to get any better quality... this is my current setup, and please ask if you need to know more:

Soundblaster Live! 5.1
Zalman 5.1 ZM-RS6F Headphones
AC3Filter 1.01a RC5

If anyone would be so kind as to give me some assistance with this problem, or even point me in the right direction (other boards, sites, etc), it would be GREATLY appreciated! Thanks in advance guys ;)

[Skelsgard]

better sound quality when it came to voices in movies, etc
What exactly do u mean?

[Farshid420]

Well, first off, thanks for replying so quickly! :)

By better sound quality with voices, I pretty much mean so that I can hear them without having to blast up the sound and make myself go deaf with the rest of the sounds in the movie clip.

I've already tried messing with the options in AC3Filter configuration panel, boosting the centre speaker, the voice gain, the master gain, etc., but nothing has given me the effect where all other sounds stay the same but the voice becomes more audible, which is exactly what I'm trying to do :/

[CWR03]

With mine I had to disable Auto gain control, Auto matrix, turn off all LFE and crank voice to max while leaving all other sliders in the center in order to keep the speech equal to or above other sounds.

[Farshid420]

Ok, I will definately try that out, thanx CWR03.

Any other suggestions would definately still be appreciated :)

[Skelsgard]

These settings will allow u to get good center channel volume level.
http://img475.imageshack.us/img475/4808/ac3filter2bp.jpg
As u can notice the center level bar is way up compared to the the rest of the channels.

Also disable DRC, since it makes the volume level fluctuate and will alter the voice levels depending on the surrounding information. I.e. if a loud sound is present during a conversation, the DRC will decrease the volume to avoid excessive power being send to the speakers but then the voice level will drop too to maintain the overall volume level..

[Farshid420]

Sweet! Thanx wonderbra! :) Any suggestions regarding DRC and what, if any changes, I should make to the levels for it?

I'm off to upgrade to the version of AC3Filter you're using, and hopefully this will be the answer I'm looking for, but hey, I'm still open to any and all of your suggestions, cause I'm sure I'm not the only shmuck having this issue :D

[Skelsgard]

Some people have reported some bugs with the Test8 version, to me it has worked flawlessly since the second I installed it.
Regarding DRC, if u have full-range speakers and that can handle massive sound volume, u might wanna stay away from using DRC. On the other hand if u have the standard 5.1 system with high-range satellite speakers + separate subwoofer, then u might wanna consider using DRC to prevent overloading the speakers (but at a low DRC power so the volume won´t be "too" low) let´s say in heavy explosions for example.
I personally use full-range speakers (with at least 4 inches woofer cones) so I like to blast the s**t out of the sound (if somethinig it´s going to explode, then it better sounds like it is exploding :D ).
Another thing, AC3Filter has a 4-5dB down level compared to other decoders, so to get the same volume level has u would in other decoders (Cyberlink´s, ffdshow´s, intervideo´s, etc) u should boost the Master Gain to 4 or 5 dBs up.

[Farshid420]

That's excellent advice wonderbra, thanx! :)

I was just wondering though, would my Zalman 5.1 Headphones be "full-range" or "standard"? What would you personally recommend for me? Would the sound be better without DRC enabled?

I'll definately keep in mind what you said about the Master Gain :)

Keep the advice comin :thanks: :goodpost:

[Skelsgard]

I´m not familiar with the Zalman Headphones but is a fact that there are no 5.1 headphones. We have 2 ears, wich means that our head is basically a 2.0. Headphones have 2 speakers, that makes them only able to be 2.0 too, no matter what they say. If I´m not wrong your 5.1 Headphones mean that they recreate the environmental perception of a 5.1 speaker system.
The specs sheet of your headphones should state what frequency range they can reproduce. To consider a speaker as a full-range it should be able to reproduce form approx. 20-40 Hz to 20.000 Hz frequencies. Probably your headphones reproduce from 100-200 Hz up (check it).
Regarding the sound being better wihout DRC, that depends of your preferences.
DRC was created so that movie soundtrack as heard on movie theaters could be delivered to home-theater systems without destroying the HT system´s speakers. Theaters don´t need DRC since their speakers are built to handle and deliver huge amounts of sound power without being damaged. DRC does not affect the actual sound level per se of the soundtrack but it determines what fluctuation the master gain should handle in order to maintain similar volume throughout the entire movie.
If it doesn´t bother u (in listening terms) to have volume-blasts on explosions or any other boosted sounds, then u can do without DRC just fine.
But if your headphones have problems reproducing the low frequencies on boosted sounds (i.e. jerky sound, heavy vibration with distortion, etc) then u can use DRC, or just lower the Master Gain.
Hope this helps to clarify a little more.
In the end, it´s always a personal decision what sounds optimal for each person. The best way is to try and try until u´re satisfied with the results...

[Farshid420]

Ok, so after trying for the past 3 hours straight (no exaggeration) to get this thing right, or at least to a tolerable volume, I have to say that I'm stumped.

wonderbra, thanx for the continued advice, I just don't know what I'm doing wrong. I made my settings look exactly like yours, and still no noticable improvement to the voice audio. Furthermore, when I do turn up the gains, the sound just gets hissier and impossible to listen to. Other than that, why is it that you're able to see, in the indicators in the picture you provided, of the sounds in each category and I'm not? Is there any way you could also please post your settings (picture) for the "Gains" tab? Thanks again for the continued help, and all advice is still much appreciated! ;)

UPDATE: wonderbra, here's a link to the Zalman Headphones (http://www.zalman.co.kr/usa/product/view.asp?idx=110&code=023) I'm using. Hope that helps.

[setarip_old]

I made my settings look exactly like yours, and still no noticable improvement to the voice audio. Furthermore, when I do turn up the gains, the sound just gets hissier and impossible to listen to.Perhaps this is a silly question but, is this ONLY through your headphones? If so, perhaps your headphones (and/or their connection to your PC) are the cause of your problem

[CWR03]

why is it that you're able to see, in the indicators in the picture you provided, of the sounds in each category and I'm not?In order to see the levels and realize active control, you'll need to open AC3Filter from within the player while a problematic video is playing, not from Control Panel (at least mine is that way). With ffdshow and the tray icon enabled, you can open it with a right-click there using WMP 9 or 10. With Media Player Classic, click File > Properties, then the Advanced tab.

[Farshid420]

CWR03, thank you for the advice, I will definately try that out asap ;)

setarip_old, unfortunately, I don't have a 5.1 speaker set other than the headphones, so even if they were the problem at hand, I wouldn't be able to test it otherwise, but, since I've read many reviews on these headphones saying that perform very well in 5.1 mode, I don't see why they aren't able to provide me with the type of sound I'm looking for. Don't get me wrong, they have a great sound quality for headphones, problem is, the way they sound right now, it feels like the voices are coming from inside a tunel compared to the enironmental sounds :/

[Skelsgard]

The headphones seem to be really 5.1, that´s impressive.
The hissing sound might be more related to the way your headphones process the information. If the speakers within the headphones that deliver the center information are range-impaired (sort of speaking), is more likely that they only handle high frequency sounds.
I´m posting the full config for ac3filter.
Rendering on BSPlayer with volume at 100%, audio renderer selected to "Directshow:SB Audigy 2 ZS" and "AC3Filter" selected as AC3 decoder.
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/7468/ac3filter015ul.jpg
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/7792/ac3filter027pk.jpg
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/5818/ac3filter038tr.jpg
http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/4993/ac3filter048wc.jpg

[Farshid420]

Thank you so much for the effort wonderbra, but it seems like I'm never gonna get this one right. I changed the setting to the exact way you said, and I see absolutely no change. I tried unregistering and reregistering the codecs, tried different players (and for some reason, BSplayer and PowerDVD now give me nothing more than a crackling noise for sound when I try to play the files, a sound that doesn't sound too good for the headphones), and still no luck. In fact, it seems I may have made things worse by messing around so much.

Maybe one day I'll get it, or find what's wrong with my setup... till that day, I'm still open to all of your suggestions, and I will keep coming back and checking till I fix this problem :/