I assume its dynamics as there are extremely loud passages and quiet passages. I can be real annoying. My wife just bought the Lord Of The Rings DVD Sunday. Her an dthe kids were watching it, but I couldn't hear anything else in my office as they had it jacked up so high. All the music and background stuff drowned out everything else, but they could barely hear the vocals! Wazzup? Chris
Dynamics, and most are mixed primarily for surround systems. Even with a center channel, some soundtracks just aren't mixed well. Having your system calibrated with an SPL Meter helps, but some soundtracks are still hard to hear dialog on.
Actually- I just realized I haven't even hooked up the stereo in that room. It is being played back on a Panasonic carousel model 52????? and directly into the Sony 27" TV using its onboard output. NO WONDER IT $%^&* !!! Chris
Your center channel is where you should hear dialog/vocals more than clearly. Yes, dynamics is the key. Most AC3 tracks are fairly quiet in comparison to CDs on the same scale.
I've never had a problem since I got the 45a. My old Panasonic seemed to be low with dialog, now with the Pioneer, it's fine.
I had the same problem until I took time to adjust the settings on the dvd player itself. I just increased the volume on the center channel where most of the dialog is.
its important to have a very good center channel speaker. when I first set up my HT many Pro-Logic moons ago, I spent extra to get a better than average center channel speaker (a Cambridge Soundworks Plus). This is back when their wasn't many HT speakers for sale and most CC speakers were small. These days many speaker companies promote their HT speakers setups and the CC speaker is quite large nowadays. Subs have also come a long way. I started with a 8" Velodyne and have since graduated to a 12" Velodyne and a 12" SVS subwoofer. Rock n Roll!!
I don't know if this is a solution to the problem here, but my DVD-V player has a "compression" mode (I guess at Sony it is called "bedroom mode"). This helped to raise the low levels a bit - at least in my configuration (my dvd player is digitally connected to a 2 channel DAC (at 48 kHz) and to my stereo system)... Maybe this helps? Thomas
I still notice varying levels between DVD titles...some are a lot louder than others. However, I'm still using the Dolby Pro-Logic circuitry until I can find a digital surround setup to my liking. I found the voices got MUCH clearer when I dumped my muddy Cambridge Soundworks center channel for a Boston 525V center channel that has an actual tweeter in it. It is practically voice-matched to my existing speakers, and I can hear things so much better now...it also handles dynamics far better IMHO. I really pushed it with the Star Wars Ep. 2 DVD last night and it didn't even break a sweat. Can't wait to hear how much better the digital surround sounds in my living room...
my wife and i have resorted to putting on the subtitles on some cd's. we don't have surround, and there are times in almost every movie where the music or sound effects drown out the voices. renny
Maybe every other format is just too (((((((loud))))))), especially the current maxed out Cee Dee's, VHS
We just knew the answer all the while DVD is peaceful to the ears and much more enjoyable It sounds like it should...real life. If you need it louder...TURN IT UP! I like the freedom of choice in this matter, especially when watching my favorite movie.
