Poor DVD sound balance?

[AtomicShroom]

Okay this is something that has been bothering me for a very long time, and no one seems to be able to give me a definitive answer to this.

With almost every DVD that I watch, be it at home or at friends', often the sound volume balance will be very poor. Voices will be very low in volume, but when music starts playing in a movie, or there's explosions and the like, it's so loud that we have to turn the volume down. I can't count the times I have experienced this.

My question is: Why is this? Doesn't it bother anyone else? Why is no company caring about having a proper sound balance on their DVDs? This is something I never experienced before.

Some people told me it's because of how a DVD player will mix a 5.1 signal into a 2.0 output and that a 5.1 system would fix this. Well I finally got a 5.1 sound system, and the problem is still there.

It's my belief that when I watch a movie, I shouldn't have to touch my remote control to fiddle with the volume. Only very few DVDs that I have seem to have proper volume balance, and most are TV series.

Can anyone explain? Give some info? Or link to somewhere that could help me with this?

Thank you very much in advance.

[Shinigami-Sama]

I;v ehad the same problem of peopel not answering questions in this forum too
but I'll help out
it;s ac3's "dynamic range control" you need ot "normalize" the audio IIRC ffdshow can do that or you can simply re-encode the audio with belight or something along those lines

[AtomicShroom]

Thanks but I'm not trying to encode these DVDs. I'd just want to be able to enjoy them on my regular DVD player/TV with a good volume balance.

[Shinigami-Sama]

well I guess you're SOL then I know no standalone dvd player that will normalize audio
look like you;re jsut ganna hafta get used to it :P

[ultimatebilly]

I too think that the sound balance on most DVDs is very annoying, especially on Disney-DVDs, it seems! ;)
If you have a 5.1-setup, you can try to just increase the volume of the center-channel, because usually almost all of the dialog will be encoded into that channel.
Many DVD-Players offer something that is called "Dynamic Range Control".
If I understand this feature correctly, it offers you a way to control the amount of difference in loudness that is allowed.
If you allow the full Dynamic Range, you will have both very loud and very quiet noises.
If you restrict the Dynamic Range, the maximum loudness will be limited accordingly.

Hope this helps!

[mpucoder]

A lot depends on your player and sound system. Dolby Digital carries information for changing the dynamics (the difference between the loud and soft parts) for different listening environments. I use Sony players, which are very configurable for audio - speaker balance and phase, dynamics, downmix, and enhancements can all be changed to fit the room. There is even a walkthrough with listening tests to help you get it right. Most other players have some form of setup for audio. The most important thing is to get the dynamics to fit the listening area (and sound system, as small systems don't have the overhead to handle 120+ Db required for full "theater" dynamics). You should be able to reduce the loudness of the explosions, and increase the dialog track.

btw - I'm very happy with most mixes, although the consistency is not there (something that Dolby and THx are trying to fix)

[Soulhunter]

Originally posted by AtomicShroom

With almost every DVD that I watch, be it at home or at friends', often the sound volume balance will be very poor. Voices will be very low in volume, but when music starts playing in a movie, or there's explosions and the like, it's so loud that we have to turn the volume down. I can't count the times I have experienced this...

Guess the idea is to reproduce the reality as close as possible...

Coz in real-life a explosion is also much louder than a human voice !!!


Bye

[KpeX]

Originally posted by AtomicShroom
Okay this is something that has been bothering me for a very long time, and no one seems to be able to give me a definitive answer to this.

With almost every DVD that I watch, be it at home or at friends', often the sound volume balance will be very poor. Voices will be very low in volume, but when music starts playing in a movie, or there's explosions and the like, it's so loud that we have to turn the volume down. I can't count the times I have experienced this.

My question is: Why is this? Doesn't it bother anyone else? Why is no company caring about having a proper sound balance on their DVDs? This is something I never experienced before.

Some people told me it's because of how a DVD player will mix a 5.1 signal into a 2.0 output and that a 5.1 system would fix this. Well I finally got a 5.1 sound system, and the problem is still there.

It's my belief that when I watch a movie, I shouldn't have to touch my remote control to fiddle with the volume. Only very few DVDs that I have seem to have proper volume balance, and most are TV series.

Can anyone explain? Give some info? Or link to somewhere that could help me with this?

Thank you very much in advance. The problem is that in a good movie theater sound setup, the audio is very loud and there is very little ambient noise. Therefore even soft dialogue can be heard throughout the theater and a large dynamic range (difference between soft sounds and loud sounds) increases the dramatic effect. The problem is how to use the same audio in a home environment where in some cases the volume is much lower (tiny TV speakers) and there may be significant ambient noise ( in the form of a wife or girlfriend ;) ). The solution was to use DRC or dynamic range compression, which allows the difference in the volume of the sounds in your AC3 soundtrack to be compressed on the fly. Therefore Joe TV user can set the DRC to maximum and have little difference between the dialogue and explosions, and the movie is watchable even on his tiny TV speakers at low volume. With the same DVD, Joe Huge Surround Sound System can disable DRC and crank the volume up and have a theater-like experience at home.

In theory this is a very elegant solution. The problem is the implementation. Very few cheap DVD players have a DRC option. Additionally their hard coded setting is usually to not use DRC at all. IMO if a player is to not allow the user to control the DRC it should be hard coded to at least a medium level. This would allow for more sane dynamic ranges on a standard TV set.

Hope this helps clear things up somewhat,

[Mug Funky]

hehe... i like the dynamics you get on movie soundtracks.

i suppose if you're used to listening to CDs it can seem weird that not everything is at the same volume (CDs are compressed so hard there's no difference at all between a loud bit and a soft bit... i wish the recording/mixing/mastering engineers wouldn't do that).

anyhow, DVD players are supposed to support dynamic range compression (it's in the spec), so you might be able to find settings for it in your player's setup.

but i'd recommend just choosing a nice quiet time to watch your movies, and enjoy the huge variance in volume - a good trick is to turn it up (or down) so that dialogue is at a realistic level - ie. the same as if someone was talking in the room with you. it'll be a more engaging experience (if your speakers can take it). don't worry - explosions aren't so realistic they'll make your windows shatter (or give you tinnitus).

interesting note: for some reason, ac3 tracks tend to have less dynamics than DTS tracks. or maybe the DTS is just quieter (there's a 3db drop on the rear channels with DTS for some reason i can't remember). the LFE channel seems to get more of a workout on ac3 as well. i put it down to the encoding, as they all come from a common source AFAIK.

[AtomicShroom]

Alright. Thanks for the answers guys. The DVD player I'm using at home, my PS2, doesn't have any DRC option that I can see. I'm going to have to invest into a real DVD player, I guess. I wouldn't mind that kind of audio if I had a huge room and wouldn't be bothering anyone... but when watching a movie at night, I don't want to wake up the whole home and piss off the neighbours.

[ukb008]

The discussion is very lively, and informative. The problem posed by AtomicShroom is real; this has been the experience of most of us. The solution I have adopted is:

1. A good sound system (say, Bose). That's, unfortunately, costly, but nonetheless rewarding.
2. A quieter ambience. Watching a film requires some seriousness and dedication (sounds funny, I know). You can't have your companion munch popcorn or answer cellphone calls, and enjoy the movie. No way.
3. Legal discs. You'll be amazed at the difference in quality of pirated vis-a-vis legal discs, despite annoying restrictions on the legal ones.
4. Projection facilities. A bigger picture commands increased attentiveness and condones differences in sound-volumes (e.g., an explosion looks more impressive on a 100-inch screen and therefore seems to support a bigger bang).

One thing is certain. At least a good sound system is a minimum must. With ordinary low-cost sound equipment, watching DVDs are pretty much as AtomicShroom complains.

Regards.

[theReal]

often the sound volume balance will be very poor.

It's not at all poor, it has a very large dynamic range - that's not poor, it's the dream of every sound engineer!
But seriously you are right, a too large dynamic range is hardly watchable at home when your neighbours can't sleep and keep calling the police ;)

However too much compression on the other hand is not good for the acoustic feeling of a movie. For example I think the sound effects/musical atmosphere is great in "Lost" - I recently watched an episode of the dubbed version on German tv and the whole atmosphere was gone because the dynamic range was maybe 3dB :rolleyes: :(